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Special Section:
Life on Mars?

Sites of the Week for December 1996

Week of December 2, 1996

The Astronomy Cafe

Astronomer Dr. Sten Odenwald answers astronomy questions... lots of them. Ask him a question at The Astronomy Cafe and he'll reply within a few days. The questions range from very basic to deep philosophical topics, although the most popular question is "How long are you going to keep doing this?" Also check out the articles and other resources on the site.

http://www2.ari.net/home/odenwald/cafe.html

Solar Power on Mars

The Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, to be launched this week, will use solar power on the surface of Mars. Is solar power is viable power source for future long-term missions to the Red Planet? How will the environment, especially the dust, affect solar cells? This Web site at NASA Lewis Research Center discusses these problems and the research in progress on these topics, including experiments on the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft.

http://powerweb.lerc.nasa.gov/pv/SolarMars.html

Week of December 9, 1996

Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazard

There have been a plethora of books in recent months about the threat asteroids and comets pose to the Earth, but how serious is the threat? The Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazard page at NASA ames goes a long way towards answering those questions, with information about the statistics of impacts, previous impact events, and what we can do to detect and deflect possible future threats.

http://ccf.arc.nasa.gov/sst/main.html

The Delta Clipper Experimental Archive

The Delta Clipper program is history now, due to the unfortunate landing accident after a test flight July 31. However, a record of its flights and its impact on future launch vehicle development lives on at the Delta Clipper Experimental Archive. This site has a wealth of information, including lots of images, from the DC-X/DC-XA test flights.

http://www.engineering.usu.edu/Departments/mae/Space/dcxa.html

Week of December 16, 1996

The Aerospace Navigator

Looking for a site on a particular space-related topic, and Yahoo! can't seem to find it? Turn to The Aerospace Navigator, a compilation of links to hundreds of sites. There's links to pages about particular spacecraft projects, space agencies worldwide, space news (including SpaceViews!) and archives of data and images. A good starting place when surfing for space on the Web.

http://www.ultranet.com/~adjm/aero/aeronav.html

Japan Space Net

News about Japanese space efforts can be difficult to find outside Japan or the pages of Space News. Japan Space Net remedies this problem with updated news and articles specifically about Japanese space projects, including their participation in the International Space Station, unmanned satellites, and launch vehicle development.

http://www.spacer.com/spacenet/

Week of December 23, 1996

Liftoff

Liftoff is an outgrowth of a site created for the Astro-2 shuttlew mission in 1995, but it has certainly grown far beyond its original plans. The site is full of information about the shuttle and Mir, current and upcoming space events, and educational information. The site has an excellent design, with great graphics and cool Java applets. Our only question: why doesn't NASA promote this site more?

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/

Week of December 30, 1996

The Satellite's Encyclopedia

The Satellite's Encyclopedia (or perhaps more properly the Satellite Encyclopedia) is an online compendium of information about satellites. Look for information about satellites (spacecraft in Earth orbit, as defined here) divided by missions, country of origin, historic firsts, and more.

http://www.tele-satellit.com/tse/online/