avatars, titles, etc.

The avatars are cool, good work by the mods. Lets just hope we can get more than 18 people on at once before the big day though! As commerce will be the defining feature of future space exploration, we need to get in some practice. I can recommend http://bbc.co.uk/celebdaq to get your hand in for free on the markets!

User Titles:

0+ Earthbound
5+ Troposphere
10+ Stratosphere
20+ Mesosphere
50+ Thermosphere
100+ Suborbital
250+ Low Earth Orbit
500+ High Earth Orbit
1000+ Geostationary Orbit

Sigurd,did you get a chance to observe Venus yesterday? I got a lovely view through a large scope at work projected onto card. Guess I will never see it again...

Nope.. I didn't got a chance.. and I guess I won't live to see next time..
Anyway, I'm sure there're (or there will come) pictures on the internet of Venus yesterday

You won't see it from Northern Europe again but I believe the transits occur in pairs about 8-11 years apart. Just give the wife a carrot to holiday in South Africa around that time, wine tasting trip anyone? On a serious point however, can large ground based telescopes ever hope to give us real-time images of x-prize/x-prize 2 attempts? If they ever go for a sub-orbital USA to South Africa or Australia race, Tenerife and the Azores may be on route.

Anyway, it isn't that special (in my opinion) to see some object appear before an other

Maybe sub orbital planes can soon land in Atlantis (spain)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3766863.stm

What is this Atlantis facility in Spain? I haven't heard of it. I have been hoping that something would land at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire so I can watch the approach. It was recently designated as NASA's European emergency landing site after this was moved from Italy for some reason.

oke.. my bad.. it was some sort of joke they can't land in atlantis..
I'm talking here about the old Atlantis plato described.
They apprently found it... or atleast.. they think they found it.
>>: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3766863.stm

Oh, I see! Very good. Nice to see the Beeb using its license money on the serious reporting of the 100th sunken septic tank in the Mediterranean

Thank you, Sigurd! I looked up Mesosphere and it is said to be the coldest layer of the atmosphere. Having just moved up in the Thermosphere, I am feeling warmer already.

--Ralph

I hope to go sub-orbital by mid-August, I just might beat Rutan yet!

lol

very nice titles, good idea

Me and spacecowboy have the best

For the 1.34 people who may have noticed, I changed my avatar. This one is also my original art (part of a study for a new logo for our book publishing imprint, Farthest Star SF). A full version is at:

http://ralph.nuoj.com/gallery/rocketlogo.jpg.html

This art did not make the cut for the logo ("looks like a corncob" was one of the comments ), but I think it's usuable here and I likes it.

The full version of the old avatar is at:

http://ralph.nuoj.com/gallery/cincy2.jpg.html

Just having fun while waiting for the X Prize to be won.

--Ralph

Just wondering if it's possible to achieve orbit in this forum:



Wow! Yes it is.

--Ralph