Check out some awesome pictures over at The Big Picture of the Ares I-X launch.

I’m not a huge space buff.  But I can’t help but be amazed by the space programme and I’m always interested in launches of new craft.  I’ve been listening to NASA TV for a couple of days while they went through the process of test launching the new Ares I-X Rocket, and they got it off the ground today.

There’s a longer video on the NASA TV site, but I can’t seem to generate a direct link, and certainly can’t embed it.  Here’s the link to their main site and you can find the video under Most Recent, Ares I-X Lifts Off on Flight Test.

I read about this last year, and have seen the odd article every now and then, but thought I’d make a post.  It’s not just living animals and plants on this little rock that are endangered.  There are not infinite supplies of the raw materials we use to build our technology.  For example, the gallium we use in our high-tec electronics probably won’t last more than 20 years.

From New Scientist (last year),

It’s not just the world’s platinum that is being used up at an alarming rate. The same goes for many other rare metals such as indium, which is being consumed in unprecedented quantities for making LCDs for flat-screen TVs, and the tantalum needed to make compact electronic devices like cellphones. How long will global reserves of uranium last in a new nuclear age? Even reserves of such commonplace elements as zinc, copper, nickel and the phosphorus used in fertiliser will run out in the not-too-distant future. So just what proportion of these materials have we used up so far, and how much is there left to go round?

Have a read of the full article.

All science fiction becomes reality.

All.

From the BBC.

SpaceX got their launch vehicle (Falcon 1) into earth orbit on their fourth go.  This is a spaceship designed and built from the ground up by a private company.  It’s not built using second hand rocket gear.

The only phrase I can think of which really expresses how I feel about this is the highly clichéd,

And so it begins.