Robert Lemos

Rocket Scientists Say We'll Never Reach the Stars

Many believe that humanity's destiny lies with the stars. Sadly for us, rocket propulsion experts now say we may never even get out of the Solar System.

At a recent conference, rocket scientists from NASA, the U.S. Air Force and academia doused humanity's interstellar dreams in cold reality. The scientists, presenting at the Joint Propulsion Conference in Hartford, Connecticut, analyzed many of the designs for advanced propulsion that others have proposed for interstellar travel. The calculations show that, even using the most theoretical of technologies, reaching the nearest star in a human lifetime is nearly impossible.

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The Helicopter: A Hundred Years of Hovering

One hundred years ago Frenchman Paul Cornu piloted a twin-rotor helicopter of his own design, and rose about one foot (0.3 meter) off the ground. He hovered for about 20 seconds. Or he didn't. A century after that maiden flight, some engineers and historians question whether Cornu's craft could have taken wing as he described it.

But despite the skepticism, most helicopter historians -- especially in France -- still mark the first helicopter flight on Nov. 13, 1907. That makes this centennial the perfect time to take a look back at the long history of stationary flight, from its roots in ancient China, to concept vehicles being touted as the flying cars of the future.

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Ion Propulsion Helps Spacecraft Cruise Solar System on the Cheap

The Dawn mission to the asteroid belt passed a critical test last weekend, exercising its gentle, yet reliable, ion-propulsion system to accelerate its mission to two destinations during an eight-year voyage through our solar system.

The key: Ion propulsion only needs a tenth of the fuel of a chemical rocket system to reach the same destination, and that means a smaller rocket -- and a lot less fuel -- is needed to launch missions, such as the Dawn probe. The miserly use of propellant will allow the Dawn probe to become the first to orbit two separate objects -- in this case, the asteroid Vesta in 2011 and the dwarf planet Ceres, where it's expected to arrive in 2015.

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Sputnik Stunned the World, and Its Rocket Scared the Pentagon

The standard Sputnik story goes like this: It was the launch of this metal ball that forced the United States to elevate the pursuit of science. But that's not quite true.

Technically speaking, Sputnik was no more sophisticated than a cheap transmitter from Radio Shack attached to 120 pounds of batteries. It was the R-7 launch vehicle that scared the pants off the U.S. military. The Soviets proved they not only had a rocket with precise guidance systems, but one that could launch a heavier payload than anything the Americans had.

The launch system on Oct. 4, 1957, was a one-shot deal. It was preset before takeoff and its trajectory could not be changed during flight. The Russians had to fire and pray. Despite its apparent simplicity, the impact of the R-7 rocket cannot be overstated. Sputnik was the first satellite humans launched into orbit, and it stunned the world.

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State Might Make Pluto a Planet

For New Mexico, the fight for Pluto is not over.

Seven months after a conclave of scientists downgraded the distant heavenly body to a "dwarf planet," a state representative in New Mexico aims to give the snubbed world back some of its respect. State lawmakers will vote Tuesday on a bill that proposes "as Pluto passes overhead through New Mexico's excellent night skies, it be declared a planet."

The resolution, House Joint Memorial 54, was introduced by Rep. Joni Marie Gutierrez (D-Dona Ana County). It reiterates the importance of astronomy to the state of New Mexico and calls for March 13 to be "Pluto Planet Day."

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Goodbye TV, Hello Broadband

It was the ultimate challenge for any lifelong TV watcher. Wired News asked me to cut the coax cable snaking into my HD-ready television, and for 30 days rely solely on legally available internet content to satisfy the video entertainment needs of my family of five. We posed the question: Is the internet finally ready to kill old-school television?

The rules were simple: Anything I could download was fair game, but there'd be no TV signal via cable, satellite or the airwaves. We decided that watching television that had been cached on the family's TiVo box was also cheating, so that went into the closet. At my editor's insistence, I physically severed the cable between the wall and my television with wire clippers. And on a blustery November day, my cable company came and took my set-top box away.

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Second Life Figures Get a Life

For those who have spent umpteen hours in the virtual world of Second Life, reality may be the next step.

That's the hope of Michael Buckbee, a real-life resident of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and founder of Fabjectory, a startup that sells real objects custom-created from the digital items coded by denizens of Second Life.

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