RETRO ROCKET STORE AND KEANU REEVES MOVIE

At Starcruzer we love retro designs, especially when they are space or sci-fi orientated. So we thought you’d like to see these funky items from an outfit called Rocket USA, which has a company philosophy that includes: “Create Cool Things” and “Have More Fun”.

The pictures here show off some Rocket USA’s product lines, such as Mars Patrol, Futurama and Gort. The robot is loosely styled on the original mechanoid that appeared in the 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.

The 2008 movie remake, starring Keanu Reeves, featured a re-imagined Gort (bottom picture) composed of a cloud of nano machines that could form and reform in various shapes. The new Gort handily retained its eye-beam disintegrator ray though!

You can visit Rocket USA here, and find out about The Day the Earth Stood Still here at IMDb, the Internet Movie Database.

MORE ROBOTS HIT THE BIG SCREEN WITH TERMINATOR: SALVATION

Well the reviews are in for the fourth in the Terminator series - and on the whole they read pretty well. Michael Moran in The Times of London reckons that, “It’s a big daft B-movie rammed with incident and accident that, as long as you’re willing to leave all rational criticism at the popcorn concession, will make you grin for almost 130 minutes straight”.

So that’s all right then! But yes, there really are some dubious parts to the movie, like using A-10 tank-buster planes to take on futuristic robots. Good as the A-10 is, even here in 2009 it’s been flying for more than three decades.

Still, the rebels in the extraordinarily dim Battlefield Earth (my vote for John Travolta’s worst part) used Harrier jump-jets that were centuries old, yet they still managed to beat the bad guys!

The trailer for Terminator: Salvation (above) shows that visually it’s pretty good, in a gloomy sort of way. The most satisfying thing for me perhaps, is the nicely conceived microverse of differing robotic species - the water-dwelling eel-types are pretty cool, but I reckon the deadly motorbikes hit the spot as stars of the show. I'd like to train one out of its nasty habits and use it as daily transport.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAR WARS!

Well strictly speaking, it's 'Happy Birthday' of yesterday, for it was May 25 1977 when the first Star Wars movie hit the cinemas. The mighty roar and seemingly endless length of an Imperial Star Destroyer, sliding down the screen after the text-crawl intro, helped make the opening sequence one of the best ever.

In the decades since, the storyline of the original three movies has been fleshed out with a trio of prequels. Certainly money (and lots of it) was spent on the excellent effects, but the storylines and acting hardly cut it, compared with the vim, vigour and sheer chutzpah of Episodes IV, V and VI.

Still, among sci-fi fandom, the humour-force remains strong. Here we present a delicious parody of Star Wars and Star Trek, as in, who would win a space battle? Enjoy!

ROBOTS: COMING OUR WAY ON THE BIG SCREEN

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen "Greatest Enemy" from Bay Films/Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

We have only a month or so to wait for Michael Bay’s follow-up to the hit movie Transformers. This was a surprisingly well made piece of sci-fi hokum - a decent plot, terrific action sequences, and a tasty heroine into the bargain.

The only real downer was the intro sequence that purported to show the ‘missing’ Beagle 2 Mars-probe that was lost in the last few moments before it was due to land on Mars in 2003. Beagle 2 was, of course, a bin-lid shaped lander, not the wheeled rover shown in the movie.

Here’s a trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - it looks like more transformerbot fun, but let’s hope it has a good plot, and hasn’t succumbed to the corporate suits’ desire for bangs and chases above all else!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SETI @ HOME

Tomorrow marks the 10th anniversary of the Seti@home project, set up with $100,000 USD to link the spare capacity of home computers across the world into a giant virtual number-cruncher that could process information coming from deep space.

Today the SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) project has nearly a quarter-million computers - in homes, schools and offices - that use special screensaver software to analyse radio data received by the giant Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

The aim is to see if any patterns emerge from the random radio signals coming in from space. If so, then such a pattern may indicate that ‘something’ out there is trying to say hello. So far there have been no convincing signs that ET exists, but that doesn’t stop the project.

Ten years is just a blip in time, and it may take a century or more before researchers are ready to give up - or perhaps to send a reply.

Find out more about Seti@home here.


Picture courtesy NASA

BEYOND HUBBLE - ALIEN LIFE IN SIGHT?

A new generation of space telescopes will soon be launched into space, their target to look for signs of life on planets of other stars.

Both the present-day Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have found signs of carbon dioxide and water vapour on alien gas-giant worlds. But evidence of life itself - called a biosignature - on much smaller Earth-sized planets, has to wait for more powerful telescopes.

A biosignature could include oxygen and methane, produced here on Earth by plants, microbes and animals. The upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) might be able to spot such a biosig, as a small planet transits across the face of its parent star. But a future NASA telescope, still in the concept stage, could do even better. The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) should be powerful enough to find a biosig directly, by analysing light reflected from the planet itself.

Such a discovery would be truly revolutionary, proving for the first time that we are not alone in this vast universe.

Meantime, it’s fun to hypothesise on the appearance of alien critters. And all ideas are equal in this game, whether it’s nasty beasts like the creature from the ‘Alien’ movie series (top picture), or the scientists arguing about their catfish-creature on the charming Ed Emshwiller ‘Galaxy’ magazine cover from the 1960s.

Visit the TPF here, and a thoughtful review of the Alien movie here.

FREE MODEL OF THE HUBBLE

Here's a post that I've filched from Starcruzer's sister site Scale Model News. For anyone who likes making models, there's a free download from the Hubble site that enables you to make a biggish scale model of the HST.

There's a choice of three models to build - a children’s version, a more detailed paper project, and a highly detailed expert model with interior detail. To build, you download the plans as a pdf, then print out on your home printer. The picture shows the more detailed, 'middle' version.

Visit here to see the three choices of model, and here to go straight to the downloads page.


Picture courtesy Hubblesite.org
Model based on a design by Ton Noteboom

ATLANTIS SILHOUETTED AGAINST THE SUN

You may have seen this amazing pic elsewhere, but STARCRUZER just has to show it too. Taken earlier this week, on Tuesday 12 May, the Space Shuttle Atlantis is shown transiting the Sun, on its way to the Hubble Space Telescope.

The photo was taken through a 5-inch refractor telescope and a Canon 5D MkII digital camera, by photographer Thierry Legault. The Canon is quite a camera, and includes a superb video mode that can shoot at full 1080HD, giving results that rival or better most consumer camcorders.

Picture courtesy NASA/Thierry Legault

'MOON': MOVIE COMING SOON

This looks like it could be a little different from the usual CGI-fest. 'Moon' has been given various awards from places like the well regarded Sundance Festival, and is due for release on 12 June.

The story goes like this, "Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the Moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive. Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, in only a few short weeks. Finally, he will leave the isolation of “Sarang,” the moon base that has been his home for so long, and he will finally have someone to talk to beyond “Gerty,” the base’s well-intentioned, but rather uncomplicated computer..."

Shades of HAL-9000 anyone?

CLIMBING THE MOUNTAINS OF MARS

When the HST is fully operational again, it should enable us to get regular pictures of Mars (top picture), as well as most of the planets.

And one day we’ll get to Mars, even if the idea is still science-fiction that’s achingly slow turning into science-fact. But there is at least one long-range organization that’s willing to put its money into a future red planet achievement. The Earth and Space Foundation has had a prize award offered since 1994, for the first person to climb Olympus Mons (above) on Mars. It’s a shield volcano that is the highest mountain in the Solar System, far bigger than the Earth’s Mauna Kea or Mt Everest.

The prize money is $10,000 USD that was placed in a high-interest account in 1994. Adding compound interest to that amount means that a tidy sum could await the first mountaineer to plant the flag of Earth on the summit of Olympus Mons.

There are other Earth and Space Foundation awards too, including one for circumnavigating the Moon, a distance of some 11,000 km (6835 miles). The Earth and Space Foundation is an international charity, which you can find out about here.

BACK TO THE MOON!

While astronauts work on the HST, STARCRUZER’s thoughts go beyond, to the Moon and the Google Lunar X PRIZE. With a total of $30 million to win, privately funded teams are working hard to land a robot safely on the Moon, travel at least 500 m across the surface, and transmit images and data back to Earth. The longish video above gives you a good outline of the project.

There’s no time to pause for the 18 teams presently competing, as there’s less than six years to go before the prize closes, on 31 December 2014. Latest team in the ring is the multinational White Label Space, with a six-wheel rover design, but the German-Chinese Selene team’s Spiral lander (pictured top) has a unusual extra mission target after touchdown - to set off the first lunar firework display, celebrating the Year of the Dragon!

And here’s a bonus for the rest of us - if you have any ace-high thoughts for a future exploration X PRIZE, you can propose them here. And you can meet all the teams involved here.

TWEETS FROM SPACE!

The Twittersphere went into space this week with the first post from beyond Earth. NASA Mission Specialist Mike Massimino tweeted the message above, after Monday’s launch aboard the Space Shuttle to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

Massimino had already tweeted before leaving the launch pad, saying, “I'm going to put my spacesuit on, next stop: Earth Orbit!!".

Good luck Mike - just wish the crew of STARCRUZER could join you.

AAAAR2D2!

STARCRUZER loves Star Wars, and Lego too. So... this little Lego pirate from 'KaptainKobold' deserves its place in the sun.

Others think so too - KK reckons that views of his Flikr photostream spiked hugely when the little droid appeared, captioned, "This be not the droid that ye're seekin', matey!".

See KaptainKobold's photostream here.

DEEPLY COOL SOLAR SYSTEM CALCULATOR

As the Shuttle astronauts work on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), it’s salutary to get a sense of the scale of things. The HST orbits the Earth some 350 miles (563 km) above the equator - but our nearest natural satellite, the Moon, is nearly 700 times further away, some 239,000 miles (385,000 km) distant.

And if you’d like a reminder on space object relative sizes, take a visit to the simple but amazing calculator here. Just key in and get the results - it’s back to school time, and so much fun. There are other calculators too, including ‘your weight’ and ‘your age’ on other worlds.

Incidentally, the planets are not to scale in the picture above. See the calculator for their true sizes.

Picture courtesy NASA.

SKY-HIGH MOBILITY COMES A STEP NEARER WITH THE MARTIN JETPACK

Last summer, New Zealander Glenn Martin showed off an early version of his jet pack, actually a pair of ducted fans powered by conventional engines. Videos of early tests showed it hovering just above the ground.

Now, Martin has developed the jet pack further, and the latest video shows that it can now be flown accurately. There’s no precise data as yet, but apparently it can carry enough fuel for a half-hour flight at up to 60 mph. Will it take over from the 1960s James Bond version? Maybe, as Martin is planning to make a batch of 10 for sale later in 2009.

Jet packs of course, have quite a history in both fact and fiction. NASA astronauts used the Manned Manoeuvring Unit (MMU) in 1984, and these days have the SAFER unit for emergency rescues. In fiction, one of the better jet packs is sported by Iron Man, and before this The Rocketeer was a delightful graphic novel series, written and illustrated by Dave Stevens. The 1991 movie version wasn’t a smash hit, but it deserved more - it still makes good viewing today. You can buy it from Amazon.

SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION: HUBBLE'S GREAT PICTURES

Space Shuttle Atlantis should launch later today - mission, to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for the fourth and last time.

All being well, the HST will be good for up to another decade of top-class astronomy. It'll be a mission tinged with sadness for the Shuttle program though, as it marks a series of 'last' flights, before we say farewell to the winged space truck.

And then, there'll be multi-year gap before any US astronauts fly high, except as passengers aboard a Russian spacecraft. And to think, July this year will mark four DECADES since the first Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Many space enthusiasts of the time thought the Moon was set to become the 51st state. All that was needed was long-term vision, and to keep making the hardware.

On a brighter note, the video slideshow above shows many of the HST's best pictures. Play and enjoy.

FROM THE VAULT OF AMAZINGNESS: ET VISUALIZED

The latest Space Shuttle launch reminds the STARCRUZER team that, however good a job the astronaut crew make of servicing the Hubble, the Shuttle itself has been forever limited to close Earth orbit. And that’s a huge shame for those of us who want to travel to other worlds, and maybe meet ETs one day.

The idea of extraterrestrial life is hardly new - pictures showing possible denizens of other worlds date back hundreds of years, but a serious scientific look really goes back only to the mid-20th century.

The years following the end of World War 2 saw society’s fears range from the threat of nuclear armageddon to the ‘flying saucer’ UFO scare - and the magazines of the time were happy to run feature after feature on such subjects.

The retro pic here comes from the pages of a 1951 Mechanix Illustrated magazine found in a used book store, and show one author’s idea of life across the Solar System. In reality, we haven’t yet found even a single alien bacterium beyond Planet Earth!

However, faint hopes still linger on - latest discoveries that reveal water make the chances for some sort of life of Mars slightly brighter than they were when the first spaceprobes landed there in 1976.

Picture: Mechanix Illustrated magazine

WILL FUTURE SPACE TRAVELLERS HAVE TO KEEP TECHNOID VERMIN UNDER CONTROL?

So far, we’ve got no further than the Moon – and sad to say, the last trip there was more than three-and-a-half decades ago. However, there’s now a pan-global thrust to get off-planet again, with countries as diverse as the US, Russia, China and India all having plans for a return to the Moon someday.

And that means more people in space, and even Moon bases eventually. And once Earth-Moon travel becomes commonplace, we will take at least a few of our fellow lifeforms with us. There’ll be ones we want to take, such as foodcrops, and some we don’t want, such as disease bacteria, insects, and even the odd mouse.

And here is one person’s vision of an extra nasty that might creep out of the metalwork one day. Designed by New Zealander Benjamin Parry, the R.A.T. is a digital vision of what could happen when the machines come too. Benjamin works with an arts collective called 3D Cluster, which you can visit here.

BODY FLYING: FREE-FALL FOR THE REST OF US?

Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis will spend their entire mission in near-zero gravity conditions (strictly speaking, it's 'micro gravity'). Here on Earth, the nearest we can come to it is by underwater scuba diving or by jumping from an aircraft.

But there's another way to get a somewhat similar effect, and that's bodyflying. Here, powerful fans push out a high-speed vertical breeze that's strong enough to support your entire weight, allowing you to do some of the things you see skydivers and astronauts doing - spinning, cartwheels, spreadeagles and more.

The video shows one such place, at the Xscape entertainment centre at Milton Keynes, UK. Bodyflying here is presented by an outfit called Airkix, and starter packages cost from £34.99 GBP ($52.85). You can visit the Airkix site here.

HUBBLE SERVICING MISSION: ON SCHEDULE FOR MONDAY LAUNCH

The much delayed Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to give the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) a final service is due to launch 11 May.

The servicing mission was first planned to fly in 2004, but has been delayed over half a decade by various problems and one disaster, ranging from the Columbia destruction to various technical faults. However, things finally seem ‘go’. glitches. Sad to say, it will be the last service the STS gets - very soon the Shuttle fleet will be grounded, and that means the end of such missions. A robotic replacement was considered at one point, but the probability of failure meant it was a no-go.

There's a seeming googolplex of video and other info at the main NASA site here.

SPACESHIP AWAY MAGAZINE: DAN DARE AND BEYOND

First off, I’ll say right away that this is one of the very best magazine productions around - 44 thick, glossy, colour pages mean that SPACESHIP AWAY (SA) feels a substantial item as it thuds through the letterbox. In these days of internet publishing a trad-style paper publication has to offer a bit extra to make it collectible, and for me, SA’s production values give it the needed sparkle dust.

SPACESHIP AWAY is a nostalgia-buff’s treasure, dedicated to the British space-hero Dan Dare. Conceived and drawn mostly by the award-winning Frank Hampson, Dan Dare and his adventures in the weekly EAGLE comic were a must-read for an entire generation of British baby-boomers - and foreign-language editions sold in many other countries, too.

The magazine is not just a rerun of old stories: editor-publisher Rod Barzilay commissions fresh material, much of it set in the original 1950s-era Dan Dare universe. In the latest issue, Dan Dare shares SA with text stories, features, and other scifi stuff that includes guest articles, such as the 'Eagle and TV21' item, penned by the multiple award-winning British scifi writer Stephen Baxter.

You might think I’m overselling SPACESHIP AWAY. I’m not - it’s good, and the physical quality gives it that ‘keep-it’ character needed in the internet age. The magazine is available from the publisher directly here.

ORION SPACE CAPSULE IN TEST MODE

STARCRUZER has already reported on a sub-scale Orion capsule passing its seaworthiness float tests. Now a full-size model has been tested in a NASA anechoic chamber to see that its various antennas will work properly in space.

The Johnson Space Center chamber is a sound- and energy-absorbing environment that NASA has used in the past to make similar tests on Apollo capsules and for the Shuttle program.

Orion is part of the Constellation program that aims to return astronauts to the Moon, and eventually perhaps onward to the far-distant red planet, Mars.

Picture courtesy NASA/David Boldt.

ALIEN SPACE SKULL FOUND ON MARS?

An oddly shaped space boulder that appears to show eye sockets, nose and mouth, has led alien-spotters to speculate that it might be a Martian skull.

The picture was taken by a camera on board the US Spirit rover, and has led to one detailed analysis that claims, "The skull is 15 cm with binocular eyes 5 cm apart. The cranial capacity is approximately 1400 cc. There appears to be a narrow pointed small mouth, so this creature most likely is a carnivore."

Well, much as we'd like to find aliens on Mars, STARCRUZER'S official reaction is, "Hmm... we'll just wait and see". Don't forget that the infamous 'Face' that was imaged by the Viking 1 spacecraft in 1976, turned out to be a trick of the light, when new pictures were taken in 1998.

Pity though... evidence for alien life is what we'd all like to see.

RON TURNER: A PAST MASTER OF SCIFI ART

One of the best illustrators in the world of children’s comics and scifi novels from the 1930s to the 1990s was the British artist Ron Turner. His work seems to be relatively little known, compared to the likes of today’s Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) and yesteryear’s Frank Hampson (Dan Dare), but Ron's hugely long illustration career was evidence of how the publishing community respected his work.

A bold, economical style gave all his art a totally unique look, and I have bought books over the years on the strength of his cover-art alone. Ron illustrated a pocket-sized series called Rick Random Space Detective, and ten of these tales are now bound up into the super-thick single volume shown in the picture above.

To be honest, the storylines are pretty ordinary, but the art is there for looking at over and over again, though one of the adventures is drawn by... ‘someone else’. The art in this one is functional enough, but serves mostly to show just how vibrant Ron’s art was. Rick Random is available from Amazon and is terrific value at the moment, at £8.99 ($13.36). The insides are mono, but the cover has been specially tinted by John Ridgeway, one of today’s best graphic story colourists.

The wonder of the internet never ceases to amaze me, for - treat after treat! - there’s a huge Flikr gallery of Ron’s covers here. It’s droolworthy stuff indeed. Sad to say, Ron died in 1998.

DOOMSDAY 2012: IS THE EARTH IN PERIL?

According to the various doomsday scenarios, the year 2012 will mark THE END... with forecasts for our demise that range from killer meteors hitting the Earth to a takeover by super-beings from another universe.

Bearing in mind that apocalypse predictions have been going strong for hundreds, if not thousands of years, how likely are these on the Starcruzer DDR or DOOMSDAY REGISTER , which has a five-point scale, with 1 being 'nothing will happen' to 5 being 'game over'?

Bearing in mind that this blog is titled Starcruzer, we'll leave aside some of the more outlandish ideas and concentrate on a few that we can look at from a technical standpoint. The 2012 doomsday prediction itself is a cultural MEME – an idea passed by word of mouth and media sources – that proposes cataclysmic and apocalyptic events will happen in the year 2012.

The 2012 forecast seems to be based mostly on the end-date of the Mesoamerican (central America including the Mayans) Long Count calendar. This has lasted 5125 years and comes to an end on December 21, 2012.

So what are the predictions? Well, there's Global Warming of course, which could well generate mass extinctions, though whether such events are likely in just three years is a matter of debate. DDR, let's say 3.

The nearest large SPACE OBJECT we know about is the asteroid Eros (pictured above), a chunk of rock some 34 km long, but its nearest pass in 2012 will be much further away than the Moon, so we can cross that off the danger list. DDR, perhaps 1.5.

Another theory suggests that an object 20 times bigger than the planet Jupiter is on the way. However, there's no evidence as yet, so for the moment the DDR on this one is another 1.5.

However this last item is a fascinating theory – and Starcruzer will put it under the microscope very soon.

DOOMED DC-X: A TASTE OF SPACESHIPS PAST

The new Russian rocket-braked capsule concept is a reminder of the McDonnell Douglas ‘Delta Clipper’ DC-X that was developed in the 1990s. This really looked like one of the designs of early science fiction – a craft shaped like an arrow, taking off and landing on a blast of rocket flame.

Appropriately enough, the DC-X was conceived in the living room of renowned scifi writer Jerry Pournelle, and was planned as a totally reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle, made of ultra-lightweight materials. The uncrewed DC-X itself was built to check out takeoff and landing, and was not intended to make the trip to orbit.

After several test flights, an improved model, the DC-XA, was destroyed on touchdown when it fell sideways, after a landing leg failed to extend. Then the program was cancelled. But might the DC-X design have a future, even now? Some say yes, pointing out that a design like this could be ideal for making future missions to the Moon and to Mars.

The video makes fascinating viewing, and at the end shows the doomed craft’s final moments.

ARTHUR C CLARKE AWARD: ‘SONG OF TIME’ WINS

The year’s ‘Arthur’ went to Brit writer Ian R. MacLeod for his Song of Time which takes place near the end of this century.

Amazon reviewer 'OxfordSlacker' gives the synopsis thus: "Roushana is an aging violinist, dying of a degenerative disease in her cottage on the Cornish coast. She's preparing for the end by looking through her keepsakes, mentally arranging and reassessing the memories that they summon. Also, she just found a buff, naked, amnesiac dude on the beach and he's hanging out in her house, listening to her talk and play, and cooking her food.

The summation? OS goes on, "...a very well written book; to the extent that I genuinely enjoyed it rather than simply being forced to acknowledge that it was Good". His review in full is here.

The title beat books from Paul McAuley, with his space combat novel The Quiet War and Alastair Reynolds with House of Suns.

Well done Ian, you are a hugely talented writer, as are the runners up. All the books mentioned here can be bought from Amazon.

YUM YUM: THE SMELLS OF SPACE

It’s weird but true: space is smelly... or at least, stray molecules that attach themselves to space objects seem to combine in ways that our senses interpret as smell and taste.

International Space Station (ISS) astronaut Don Pettit (pictured above) puts it this way, “...space has a definite smell. Being creatures of an atmosphere, we can only smell space indirectly. Sort of like the way a pit viper smells by waving its tongue in the air and then pressing it to the roof of its mouth where sensors process the molecules that have been adsorbed onto the waggling appendage. I had the pleasure of operating the airlock for two of my crewmates while they went on several space walks. Each time, when I repressed the airlock, opened the hatch and welcomed two tired workers inside, a peculiar odor tickled my olfactory senses. At first I couldn't quite place it... Then I noticed that this smell was on their suit, helmet, gloves, and tools. It was more pronounced on fabrics than on metal or plastic surfaces. It is hard to describe... reminded me of pleasant sweet smelling welding fumes”.

Weird huh? Other ISS astronauts have added fried steak to their scent sensations! And only recently, astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany, have detected molecules at the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Among them is ethyl formate, one of the prime movers in giving rum its smell and raspberries their distinctive taste.