Space Tourism Rocket Failure

Witness' say that Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo exploded during a test flight.

In an ABC News release that the space tourism craft was released from its shepherding plane (that  is used to carry it to high altitude) ignited its rocket motor and then exploded seconds later.

Witnesses put the wreckage in the desert north of Mojave Air and Space Port.

CHP's report states that there was one fatality and one major injury.  (SpaceShipTwo is flown by two pilots.)

Virgin Galactic has said little more than to confirm the loss of the craft but has given no details.
More ABC US news 

Two Short SF/Horror Flix That Will Surely Disturb & Entertain

One of my anime people is also a decidedly hard core science fiction fan.

In a recent post he send me a couple of robot based science fiction (with a healthy dollop of horror) links:

The first film is titled ABE ( http://www.abemovie.com/) which portrays a much loved house hold robot who loves his family back.  But when they stop, ABE must find a way to fix them.....





Next up is is Blinky   a kid's helper and playmate, who wants nothing more that to carry out his owner's wishes:

TSA Confiscates Raygun Beltbuckle

Yes sir, you read that correctly - a TSA supervisor confiscated a raygun belt buckle belonging to one Sean Malone - Her reason being -  terrorism!  Wait, it gets better!

When Mr. Malone pressed the TSA agent for an explanation of the  confiscation, the agent's response was a hypothetical one of waving said belt buckle in a threatening manner.  This of course has to take place in front of a policeman in hopes he doesn't know the difference between a toy and as my mom would say his touchhole (use your imagination.....)

Sean has the bulk transcribed in this Boing Boing article HERE 

Don't you feel safer flying now?!!!

John Anealio releases a new album

 John Anealio just sent in a note to tell us about his newest album.    Here in part is what he wrote:

• I put together four of my Halloween/October themed songs into one E.P.
• You can click here to listen and download it for free (or pay what you want):
• The Halloween E.P.
• The E.P. includes A Stormtrooper For Halloween, Undead Love Song, Angels & Vampires, and Lonesome October Night.

Click HERE or the Halloween E.P. link in the article  for more information or to listen to a few of the tunes!

BMU # 429 is now online with the Halloween themed program

Well this is episode 429 of Beam Me Up and being that it is the last program of this October, I am going for our annual Halloween show.

The first item presented is a great piece of music from none other than the vocal group Manhattan Transfer doing Twilight Zone.  Nope, not that one by Golden Earring but one more closely attuned to the TV show of the same name.

Next a very unusual and wonderful short tale from Deborah Walker that combines a rural church in the English country side and quantum mechanics!


Colin Davies has graciously let me play Happy Halloween again.  This is a crystalWizard production and between the two of them, they turn out a great story.

To the Moon & Back

CNN reports that China, in the very near future, will launch a craft  to the moon and then return to Earth, landing in Mongolia, a first for China's space agency. 

Previous Luna missions included a rover called the Jade Rabbit, which was fraught with technical difficulties and was designated incapacitated. 

China has also had good success with its manned missions to low Earth orbit, sending up several individuals and teams, since 2003.  But it is the unmanned missions that will grab the headlines in the coming months.

Ultimately China is aiming at a Luna probe mission, dubbed Chang’e-4, to take place possibly in 2015. and the Chang'e-5 in 2017 that will put a rover on the surface to collect samples, then returning them to Earth.

Read the complete CNN article HERE

Things I Bet You Never Have Seen Before: High Speed Film of Apollo 11

I know, we have all seen the launch of Apollo 11 on its way towards history.  But I am willing to bet that most (myself included) have never seen footage of the launch taken at extremely high speed from various points around the craft.

In this great piece of film we see the frames from camera E8 on pad 39b shooting at 500 frames a second for about 8 minutes of watching but is in truth only about 30 seconds of real-time!

The film shows ignition of the 5 f-1 engines and lift-off.  The narration is wonderful in describing what it is we are seeing (quite frankly you could have told me it was the gates of hell opening and I would have had to consider it, just from the hellish amounts of flame and smoke ) .

I am stunned by just how much material is out there, but this short is an excellent jumping off point.

Enjoy!

Bwaiiinz! Yes Igor Let's Transplant Brains....

Ok, blame it on the season.  All levity aside, there has been some startling strides (really - no pun intended) being made in the field of brain tissue transplant.

Darek Fidyka was stabbed in the back four years ago,  paralyzing him from the chest down.

Now we hear of a stunning success after experimental treatments that Fidyka has regained some feeling in his lower body and is learning to walk again.  According to the Popular Science article, the treatment involved removing part of Fidyka's brain and then injecting those cells into the damaged area of his spinal cord.  

The tissue removed were olfactory bulbs (this is the part of the brain that allow you to smell) growing cells from the bulb and eventually injecting them.   Curiously the reason this brain tissue was used is because the nerves in the olfactory system are the only part of the human nervous system known to regrow after being damaged.  (Fidyka reported no ill effects from the removal)

Read full article HERE

BMU # 428 Now online

here we go guvna....

My opening comments for episode 428 are pretty much all over the place but I did manage to discuss some of the anime I have been following plus I jump down the x-37b rabbit hole.

My first piece of music is the opening to the Anime Series Wakfu, this series is without a doubt one of the oddest but most fun fantasy quests out there, and yes I am including One Piece.  The characters are thoroughly endearing and the quest is something of a secondary goal that I would thing it would be only the hardened few who would pass on this fun series.

After the music, I spend a few moments (because so much of my "tv" entertainment is now coming from alternative sources of which cable is  not even a strong minority.) wondering what might be coming once cable  loses its' strangle hold on tv entertainment.

Next up is CrystalWizard's Wizard Bane Chapter 4 pt3

From the blog Boeing's X-37b who's whole fleet of 2, One of which just returned from a 22 month mission.

A new animated movie called Ambition looks to be a wildly entertaining film.

Cassini has treated us to a wonderful high rez photo of Hyperion.

Alexandra Grenberg's "Echo" finishes off the afternoon. This enigmatic short story will give you a chill and in the end well, it WAS one simple act....

Direct access to podcast file HERE

Airforce X-37b Returns

The Air-force's ultra secret, space shuttle looking, X-37b has returned from space to Vandenberg Air-force Base after an astonishing 674 days or 22 months.  That is virtually all the public knows about what the X-37b is conducting.  That and the enigmatic "on orbit experiments"

"The mission is our longest to date and we're pleased with the incremental progress we've seen in our testing of the reusable space plane," the Air Force said in a statement.

The Cnet news article went on to report that "The Air Force also said it plans to start the next X-37B mission sometime in 2015, launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida."

 

The X-37b space plane is unique in that the Air Force owns the entire fleet of two craft. 

 

Here is the complete C/Net article which has some really good info on the X-37b

"Ambition" a new sci-fi movie from Tomek Bagiński

Tomek Bagiński is not a name I am very familiar with but IS one that I am going to try and reverse that mistake.

His newest project is Ambition, which will see release in late October, looks to be a very interesting movie.   Check out the trailer below.



Ambition:  tells of a young apprentice struggling to master nanotechnology on an alien world and prove herself to her enigmatic master.

I really began to build interest after I saw  Bagiński's short  film The Cathedral, which got an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film in 2002. 



"The Cathedral" is based on a story by Jacek Dukaj under the same title.   If the more (if I may)
Ambitious work is anywhere near the work of Cathedral then I suspect it is going to be a treat in its' own rite.

Space Going Wasp?!!!

This ultra hi resolution photo comes from the Cassini spacecraft, working hard out at Saturn.  This example is of Saturn's plane Hyperion which we can all agree that this is a wonderful photo but damn if this ultra crisp photo does not appear to be a space going wasp nest! 

This stunning view of Hyperion was obtained during Cassini's close flyby on Sept. 26, 2005.  The image were taken as Cassini passed about 310 miles above the moon's surface. Hyperion itself 165 miles in diameter.   The moon has a decided red coloration which was toned down so other false colors could be added to the photo to highlight the highly unusual landscape and the massive impact event.


You can read more at SPLOID blog   and more info from the Spaceflightnow blog

BMU #427 now available

Well finally huh?!! lol  Here is episode 427.  The description is foreshortened so I can just get it listed.

Two stories this week:

A human Hunter story, David sent us Leaving the Kickass House
Second is chapter four, pt2 of CrystalWizard's Wizard Bane

Also selected articles from the Beam Me Up Podcast.

The Flash Review, (COOL)

            Well, the easiest thing to say first off, is that they did not screw it into oblivion. They actually did a pretty decent job all in all.

            It is far better already than the last attempt was all put together.

            They did alter the origin story somewhat, and you all know how I get at times about that. Not this time. They did alter it from the original, but in a way that works out fine.

            Apparently a lot of people think as I do, as it has a 9.4 for the pilot episode at moment of write up here.

            From my view point, (and knowing nothing of the new 52, or whatever silliness Dc is up to), it seems as though they basically combined old and new here. They are using the Meta Human concept like with Static, but he is still more the old style Flash and Barry Allen in his views on things.

            As to the effects. Well, I have to say not bad at all. Flash was always a problematic character in this respect. The live action attempt done in that TV fiasco back 1979 titled “Legends of the Superheroes” just had him vanishing from sight basically. The last one he looked silly to put it nicely, and so did their attempt at effects. This time it is more like the comic book in terms of his speed being seen as his name, The Flash, (including the streak  he leaves due to his speed), given to him in this series by Green Arrow.

            Well worth the watch. Always was a fan of The Flash, and this time they seem to be doing things right. Not original, but right. 

The Flash Pilot Tonight, Tuesday

     After weeks of hearing coming soon, it premieres tonight on WB. Thanks for the time and date you DC idiots. I just watched a commercial, that said premiering soon. Yeah, no crap, it's tonight. Just wanted to get this up for a notice folks. Since DC, or WB, or maybe both want to act like smart ass idiots for some reason now.
      Morons. I wonder if they will hide the Supergirl release date for that series also when they get it going. Freaking idiots.

Orion Closer to December Test Flight

In a recent NASA notice, the space agency reported that Orion was moved out of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA also noted that the Delta IV Heavy rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, made its move Tuesday night, to nearby Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was raised Wednesday from the horizontal position into its vertical launch configuration.

Orion now awaits the installation of  the launch abort system.


Once the launch abort system is stacked on the  crew and service modules,  the Orion spacecraft will be considered complete. It then will wait inside the launch abort system facility until mid-November, when the Delta IV Heavy rocket is ready for integration with the spacecraft.
 
NASA has already tested, processed and attached to each other the three Common Booster Cores of the Delta 4 Heavy,  to form the first stage that will connect to Orion’s service module.

Orion is capable of  providing living quarters for up to 21 days.   An additional habitat module will be made available for longer missions.  This will  provide extra space for crew and equipment.

Read the complete NASA release HERE

A very funny Kerbal Space Program video!

 

Danny2462's YouTube video

Kerbal Space Program is a pretty awesome program that the user can creature a multitude of crafts from a pretty large selection of parts. The game is a really good sandbox (also the game creators are working on a challenging mode). Instead of the earth, we have Kerbin, home of the green Kerbals. As you might expect, the planets have different names, too.

   One YouTube user by the name of Danny2462 loves to find glitches and has fun creating all sorts of things in the game. In the past he made a "planet buster" of sorts, and in this video he makes another glitch discovery about a device he makes that has properties of a "planet buster". He experiments with the glitchy device he makes and the end result is quite a riot to behold!

More information about Kerbal Space Program can be found here:
https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/

Danny2462's YouTube channel can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Danny2462

BMU #426 is NOW Online!

hoooooooooo! Yep it's that time of the week again. This week - episode 426. This week in my opening comments I discuss the time paradox in A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Plus the stunning success of the Indian Mars mission.

My first story of the afternoon is by Jason Kahn and his Darke Inspectre series. Because I dropped the ball in September, and for continuity, I rerun episode 28 and continue straight on to episode 29.

Our next stop is the Beam Me Up blog, The first thing this week, what do you get the nero-scientist that has everything? How about a hard to believe demo of the state of CGI in the industry. SNC is calling foul with NASA's choice of Space X and Boeing when one of the selected companies was higher in its bid than SNC!

Finally Crystal Wizard's Wizard's Bane Book 1 ch4,pt1

Listen to the podcast HERE

Almost Sounds Like a Zombie Wedding!

There is an old tradition that not to many engaged couples practice just before marriage. 

It used to be highly popular for the bride and groom to be, to exchange small trinkets or gifts, now for the most part, these "gifts" take the form of wedding rings.  

I read an article where one groom took this tradition to a higher level.  As Michael Mack said recently on his blog:  "I wanted a special gift for my wife on our wedding day," 

It seems both of the soon to be newly weds  are neuro-scientists  at the University of Texas at Austin, studying human memory.

Michael had a 3D printing company,  print a  model of his brain using a scan he had done earlier.  He then put it in a jar, wrapped it up and sent it to her. 

Her maid of honor said that when his wife to be received the gift she exclaimed "Is this his brain? OMG!  Michael reported on his blog that she love the gift.

Read the complete c/net article HERE

This Is the State of CGI!

Get ready to get your minds blown.....This has to be one of the best demos of high end CGI I have ever seen.