Virgin Galactic's Private Spaceship Makes First Crewed Flight

Reuters

March 22: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which can hold six passengers, is seen on its maiden flight over the Mojave Desert.

A private suborbital spaceship built for the space tourism firm Virgin Galactic made its first flight with a crew onboard Thursday as it soared over California's Mojave Desert beneath its enormous mothership.

The commercial spaceliner – called VSS Enterprise, one of the company's fleet of SpaceShipTwo spacecraft – did not try to reach space in the test flight. Instead, it stayed firmly attached to its WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve mothership.

The two crewmembers riding onboard VSS Enterprise evaluated all of the spacecraft's systems and functions during the 6-hour, 12-minute flight, Virgin Galactic officials said in a statement. In addition, automated sensors and ground crews conducted thorough vehicle systems tests. [Photos from the SpaceShipTwo test flight.]

"Objectives achieved," Virgin Galactic officials said in a statement on the company's website. "Congratulations to the whole team!"

Three other crewmembers flew aboard the Eve mothership, which is designed to carry SpaceShipTwo to an altitude above 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) before the spacecraft drops and fires its hybrid rocket motor to launch into suborbital space.

Virgin Galactic was founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. The SpaceShipTwo spacecraft and their WhiteKnightTwo motherships are built for Virgin Galactic by Mojave, Calif.-based Scaled Composites, which was founded by veteran aerospace designer Burt Rutan.

SpaceShipTwo is built to carry eight people (six passengers and two pilots) on suborbital flights that would reach outer space for a few minutes, though would not go high enough to enter Earth orbit.

The flights will provide a weightless experience and a view of the blackness of space and glowing Earth below. Tickets cost $200,000 per person.

Rutan and Scaled Composites also built SpaceShipTwo's predecessor, the smaller suborbital craft SpaceShipOne financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, which won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for reusable, manned suborbital spacecraft in 2004.

Thursday's captive flight test was the 33rd voyage of the mothership VMS Eve, one of company's the WhiteKnightTwo craft. It was the third captive-carry flight for VSS Enterprise. The first of these joint flights occurred earlier this year in March.

The mothership crew consisted of Mark Stucky, Peter Kalogiannis and Brian Maisler, while Peter Siebold and Michael Alsbury rode aboard VSS Enterprise.

The VSS Enterprise is the first in a planned fleet of suborbital SpaceShipTwo spacecraft for Virgin Galactic. While the first test flights are being flown from Mojave, Calif., Virgin Galactic is building a terminal for space tourism flights at Spaceport America in New Mexico as well.

The VSS Enterprise named after the fictional starship of the same name from the science fiction television franchise "Star Trek."

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/07/16/virgin-galactics-private-spaceship-makes-crewed-flight/

NASA Robot Solves 19-Year-Old Murder Mystery

Dawn Sanchez was last seen alive when she stepped into Bernado Bass' car in 1991. Her disappearance and death remained unsolved until recently when—thanks to a little NASA robot—her murderer was sentenced to six years in prison.

Bass was Sanchez's boyfriend at the time of her disappearance and there were witness reports claiming that he shot the girl "in a vacant lot after the two got into a fight." The only problem was that no evidence to support this explanation was anywhere to be found. No car. No gun. No body.

This meant that Bass got away with the murder until recently when parts from the suspect's car were found buried in a large abandoned lot. They most likely would not have been found without the aid of the NASA equipment borrowed for the investigation. Using this equipment, investigators were able to figure out just where they needed to excavate:

The case was dismissed in 1991 due to lack of evidence. The case was recently reopened, when an informant reported that the car may have been disassembled and buried in a large abandoned lot in Alviso. The exact location in the lot was not specified, and the cost to excavate the entire area was too high. Further, the lot contained a substantial amount of buried and surface metallic debris, making a simple survey with metal detectors insufficient.

[...]

[T]he mixed team of scientists and engineers from CMIL, NASA Ames and the USGS deployed an instrumented Senseta MAX 5.0A rover hosting the research technologies under development, and mapped the magnetic environment of the survey area. The USGS received the processed data set, and after further post-processing, presented the county DA's office with their analysis and possible locations for excavation. Based on this data, the county excavated the site and retrieved car parts that matched the suspect's car.

The suspect, Bass, was apprehended and sentenced to six years of prison for manslaughter. [NASA via Smart Planet via PopSci]

Send an email to Rosa Golijan, the author of this post, at rgolijan@gizmodo.com.

Shell Oil Slide Show: How to Drill a Deepwater Well

This will be my last tout of Aspen/Atlantic Ideas Festival sessions. The video is not yet up on the main Aspen archive site, here, but please check in a few days to see if they've posted a July 9 session called "How Will We Drill for Oil?" The main presenter was Joe Leimkuhler of Shell.

The obvious caveats: Shell was a sponsor/underwriter of this conference and is an Atlantic advertiser. Shell of course has every interest in distinguishing its drilling practices from those of BP, as part of its case that deepwater drilling its not inherently dangerous and should continue -- as Shell has said it intends to do. (When asked directly about the now-disputed moratorium on offshore drilling, Leimkuhler said: After a 737 airplane crashes, sometimes you ground all 737s until you are sure what went wrong. But you don't necessarily ground all 747s too.)

With that noted, the presentation was different from anything I had seen before, in laying out step-by-step the differences in how you could design a deepwater well, with multiple, redundant fail-safe points and blowout-prevention systems (which is what Shell says it does), and how, according to Leimkuhler, BP did design and drill the well that has so catastrophically failed in the Gulf. On one side of his chart, Leimkuhler showed the multiple check points and controls on one of his wells; on the other side, the BP well with most of those controls and fail-safe points omitted.

A recent industry-news story quoted Shell's chief executive Peter Voser thus: "Voser said Shell would not have drilled the [BP] Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico in the same way as BP did. But he did not elaborate." While Leimkuhler was very careful to keep saying, "We have to wait until all the evidence is in" and not explicitly to blame BP, his charts provided the elaboration for the contrast.

Again as caveat: I can't independently vouch for Shell's presentation, and I don't know what BP would have said in response. I am not making a case about the drilling moratorium or saying that the Shell design is "safe." I am saying that at face value, this was a more easily-comprehensible -- and therefore infuriating -- indictment of the drilling practices behind the BP disaster than I have previously seen. I think that was the general crowd reaction too. (I discussed this briefly on Weekend All Things Considered, with guest host Lynn Neary, yesterday.)

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/07/shell-oil-slide-show-how-to-drill-a-deepwater-well/59508/

11 Essential Online Resources for Consultants

Sharlyn Lauby

11 Essential Online Resources for Consultants

Jul 09, 2010 -

One of the keys to being a successful consultant is information - having it at your fingertips the moment you need it.



While some sources might come and go depending upon the projects I'm working on or the hot topics of the day, there are a few that I keep bookmarked and ready, because I seem to need them on a regular basis.



My top 12 suggestions for online resources that cater to the needs of consultants are listed below. This is just a starter list -- add your own suggestions in the comments below.



1. You're the Boss: Because small business owners oftentimes get very little formal training, The New York Times has started a blog where you can read about what's keeping entrepreneurs up at night. The topics covered on the blog enhance the lessons you are already learning on the job. A couple of my favorite posts include "Inside a Family Business: Maybe This Isn't the Best Place for Everyone" and "It's the Economy, Mr. Bernanke".



2. Workshifting: Even solopreneurs need a place to turn and the Workshifting blog focuses on independent workers. Their mantra is about making work more productive so people can work from anywhere - home, an airport or your local coffee shop. I enjoyed reading "The Great Debate: Coffee Shop vs. Home Office" and "The Nature of Remoteness."



3. CNN Travel: I don't know a consultant out there who doesn't travel, whether it's to client sites or conferences. And trends in travel can impact business. CNN Travel does a good job of reporting tips and information on everything from baggage fees and security screenings to situations that might impact your travel plans. You can even access their information on the go via Twitter.



4. LinkedIn: We've talked about using it for recruiting, but you can also use LinkedIn as a marketing tool. Be sure to regularly change your status update and share with your connections those projects you're working on. Also get out there, join some groups, and answer questions.



5. MarketingProfs: Every business, regardless of size, needs to market itself. MarketingProfs offers resources in the areas of email marketing, branding, SEO, lead generation, and so on. They offer a free membership as well as a pro level with enhanced benefits. I find their data very useful. For some examples, take a look at "Consumers Want Print Magazines, but Also Relevance" and "Average Value of Facebook Fan $136.38."



6. Help a Reporter Out (HARO): Let's face it… we all want free PR. But we can't all afford a public relations firm. HARO connects reporters with sources. Sign up to get their regular queries - it's not only good from a response perspective, but it gives you some sense of what writers are researching and the hot topics. You can also follow HARO on Twitter for fast breaking stories that need experts.



7. USA.gov: The official website of the U.S. Government provides tons of resources for the self-employed. If you need information about starting a business, being self-employed, small business loans, or government contracts, it's all on the USA.gov site. You can also follow them on Twitter for regular updates.



8. IRS: Speaking of government, the Internal Revenue Service is another site with a seemingly endless amount of information. You can apply for your Employer Identification Number (EIN), download required tax forms, and check on the latest mileage rate. The IRS also has a Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center that includes news, events and videos to help you with your tax-related questions.



9. LegalZoom.com: Sometimes there are situations where you need an attorney, but for those times when you just need a form, this is a great option. There are other online legal document companies as well that offer trademark documentation, partnership agreements, and other business services. Of course, I don't need to remind everyone that you have to do your homework about when and how to use a site like this.



10. Evernote: Consultants are always working on multiple things - on one hand you're working with a client project and in the other you're running your business. Evernote is a web-based application that allows you to save your ideas and inspiration. You can record a message, write a note, clip an article or take a picture. I really like their blog because it profiles people and companies using Evernote. I've discovered many ways to make my work life easier. It integrates with the iPhone and Android, allowing you to capture your best thoughts on the go.



11. Google Docs: Speaking of ways to make life easier, Google docs and Wave are great collaborative tools as well. And Microsoft is offering free online storage and document sharing via Office Live.



As you can see, there is no shortage of places for consultants and the self-employed to get tips, tricks and resources that help with the everyday running of a business. What websites are on your "go-to" list? Tell us in the comments.

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/11-essential-online-resources-for-consultants-sharlyn-lauby