« September 7, 2021 | Main | September 9, 2021 »
September 8, 2021 Archives
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
THE HAPPENING WORLD: Launch Date Set for James Webb Space Telescope
18 December 2021 is the target launch date for the James Webb Space Telescope!
— ESA Webb Telescope (@ESA_Webb) September 8, 2021
This was jointly defined by @esa, @NASA and @Arianespace. @ariane5 flight VA256 will fly #Webb to space from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. #WebbFliesAriane
👉 https://t.co/EIu6wmbAou pic.twitter.com/0KdSopZBFR
After twenty-five years of development and an order of magnitude cost overrun to US$ 10 billion, they're going to “push the button” and see what happens.
Posted at
14:03
CONTEXT: Alvy Ray Smith, Computer Graphics Pioneer, and A Biography of the Pixel
— Scott C. Ripley (@scottripley) September 8, 2021
Alvy's book, A Biography of the Pixel, was published in August, 2021.
Posted at
12:42
TRACKING WITH CLOSEUPS: Why Cranes Collapse
Posted at
11:40
CONTINUITY: Gun Launch to Earth Orbit
An SDI-era paper assessing the Gun-Launch-To-Space technology to send the Brilliant Pebble fleet into orbit being applied to commercial 100-1000 kg smallsat business.
— ToughSF (@ToughSf) September 4, 2021
With hypersonic lift and ablative nosecones, $30/kg would have been possible.https://t.co/z8cUkaRyvu pic.twitter.com/2Nlaz2DpD3
The 1991 paper, “A revolution in access to space through spinoffs of SDI technology” is, thirty years later, behind an IEEE paywall because, of course, it's only fair that the taxpayers who paid for this research should have to fork over US$33 to a private organisation in order to read it. Fortunately, Sci-Hub rides to the rescue with the full text.
Posted at
11:10
CONTEXT: The Area of a Super-Circle: Elliptic Integrals and Lemniscate Biscuits
Posted at
10:42