Digest Number 713

Michael wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Do we need 20 line signature files?
> It takes up a lot of space.
>

That they do lol

>
> >I apologize if I'm presuming too much, but it appears you
> >haven't really seen much of the science and concepts that O'Neill et
> >al have developed.
>
> I'm in Australia. Our exposure to space-related media is very limited.
> It's
> probably cause we have so many bloody UFOs that the media rarely
> reports on
> anything that would make people look up at the sky. We have no space
> industry. We are almost wholey reliant on the net for space stuff.
>
> If it wasn't for Star trek, the occassional astronomy magazine or an
> american satellite with a plutonium reactor about to fall on Sydney, then
> sadly most Australians aren't interested in space beyond: "don't the stars
> look pretty tonight"
>
> Take care
> Michael
>
If you had been in Canberra last month you could have gone to a
Seminar/forum on Science and Business in Space ( Was broadcast at a
later date on Radio National as part of the Buzz ) which was part of
National Science week, it was pretty well attended by a wide variety of
people. (I posted a list of topics covered on the ssi list on the
19/8/2003 if you want to search the archives)

I would definitely disagree about us having no space business, it is
just they aren't publicized very much. As one example one of the
speakers at the seminar was the CEO of Electro Optic Systems -
http://www.eos-aus.com/default.htm . As part of their work with lasers
over the years they have a method of using them to provide altitude
boost using ablative plasma propulsion, basically hitting the satellite
with a laser taking off the outer two layers of atoms and providing
propulsion in the process. They are also looking at this as a method of
dealing with Space Debris using the same method. This came from their
working in using lasers to track Space Debris, along with Satellite
ranging. Could be quite eerie standing on the local oval looking up at
the stars and seeing their laser stab out from Mt Stromlo, as it was
tracking a satellite. Unfortunately the facility was lost as part of
the January bushfires.

Not sure if you consider Uni based research industry or not, but for a
prime example (which does get publicity) There is hyshot at UQ (
http://www.uq.edu.au/news/hyshot.phtml )

While the public in general doesn't seem overlly interested, I would
hardly call that unique in the world. IIRC the Australian Mars Society
chapter is one of the most active in the world. ( though it is a number
of years since I read about that snippet of info so may not be the case
any more )

Speaking of info on the net, Spacedaily.com ( http://www.sapcedaily.com
) is run from south of Sydney.

One of the good things about living in Canberra, The stars are usually
quite pretty at night ;)

Brett