August 2006 Archives

So the wonderful people at the International Astronomical Union today voted in favour of a resolution which changes the definition of a planet. A planet is now defined as:

"RESOLUTION 5A ... (1) A planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit."

So based on this definition Pluto is not a planet as it has not "cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit". What a crock of ...

Pluto is now a Dwarf Planet which is defined as;

Scott Deveau of the Globe and Mail is reporting today that Cape Breton, yes, Cape Breton could be the site of a Canadian spaceport joining other newly announced wannabe spaceports in the Mojave, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Australia, Bharain and yes even Singapore. From the article ...

PlanetSpace, a consortium of international companies and stakeholders, have announced a "team agreement" with the province of Nova Scotia and are in talks with the Canadian Space Agency that would see Cape Breton become the launching site for Canada's first commercial manned space program.

They claim they can get their first suborbital flight launched by 2008 and first orbital flight by 2010. I wish them luck. Oh, and why are they doing this in Cape Breton you ask? A good question it is too.

It's because it's on the same latitude as the Russian space station, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which supplies many of the parts for the International Space Centre and is better positioned to save fuel flying to the site than the Kennedy Space Centre. NASA is intending to put out contracts for those wishing to fly there by 2010.

PlanetSpace though has their head office in Chicago, not a very Canadian city the last time I looked, but a great city none the less. Oh and you remember the Canadian Arrow, one of the entries in the X Prize, well Geoff Sheerin from the Canadian Arrow team is the President and CEO of PlanetSpace. Joining him in this venture is a MirCorp founder Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria.

Peter Rakobowchuk of Canoe is reporting that Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk could begin a 3 month stay on the International Space Station in Dedcember 2007. If true it would be great for the Canadian program which is in flux right now. And with so few spots available on the space station you have to wonder why the US is willing to give up a 3 month slot to an international partner. Could it be payback for all the rollbacks on the space station program?

As a Canadian I don't usually get awards from my American cousins, especially from the Republicans, but yup, yesterday I did. A Mr. Kevin Siegert saying he represents Congressman Tom Reynolds (Who??) from New York state called and said the congressman wanted to give me this award and they wanted to put out a press release right away.

I'm sure he got one of my US numbers and thought I was an American because you see, you have to pay to receive your award. That's right, it's a fundraising scam. For only $300 to help offset the cost of putting out the press release I would get my award. WOW! All I can say is that American fundraising tactics are the most aggressive, sleazy I've ever heard of. Something like that would never happen in Canada would it? Well if it is happening, let me know about it.

If you haven't heard, and I would be suprised if you haven't since everyone I know keeps asking me about it, Mars is going to be as big as a full moon on August 27th. Now think about that for second, even if you're not a physicist, do you really think Mars will look as big as a full moon does? I have news for you, if it was that big we'd all be in big trouble, as in end of the world trouble. ;-)

For the whole truth about Mars in the sky this month why not visit SpaceRef (ooh a plug for my company) and read this article put out by Sky and Telescope.