John, another 6 months have passed and AA still not relevant

In my experience, companies that are too secretive about their work actually more often than not don't do anything...

Has anybody even heard anything from Blue Origin since their "PR-Stunt-Rocket-Hop" years ago?

I actually do understand MSSs Situation: they have recently "lost" a lot of their key employees and basically have to rebuild their entire team.

Regarding AA and fewer information because they are now run commercially: Heck even SpaceX puts out more information these days than AA does. I totally understand that they have reached a point where they can no longer be completely open about their designs but they could at least continue to tell their "fans" what their doing currently, what are their next steps etc.

although I deplore secrecy, it's not the issue here. it doesn't matter how many updates they give you if the course is useless. and it is.

if when you die in a few decades, all you got was rocket racing league and rocket jumps for wealthy tourists will that really have fulfilled your dreams? will that have put Nasa in its place? or is that just another nail in your coffin
WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!don't be fooled by the carrot. see the stick you dumb mule!

AA has a unique window of opportunity. something that can make a real difference and that is to go for ultra light payload to low earth orbit, specifically for light weight mirror telescopes. it has 3 very critical qualities. it takes only a very small rocket, something AA can afford to do, it will shame nasa greatly because it will match their capability in many ways and it was achieved by a few freaks in a garage, not with 20bn$ a year. and the third, it is commercially viable because the telescope time can be sold to many. both up and down.
a mirror can weigh very little, solar cells, cmos sensor, radio electronics, battery

WAKE UP!!!!!!

and there I was thinking that you would actually be able to change... guess I better just stop reading your posts.

@Dan

Have it ever occurred to you that the highest ambitions of Armadillo Aerospace is to for fill their own dreams, and not yours?

I don't understand how you can not see the benefits of the the rocket racing league and boosting tourists on suborbital trips to space, by doing this they get funding for development of better engines and they cultivate a market for investment in further travel into space.
This is in my opinion way better for the whole industry than providing more telescopes. Of course telescopes are also nice, but why not do something new, with potential for a far greater marked, and there by advancements in space travel for everyone!

SAN, you don't understand because you don't dare try to understand.
you tell yourself lies to support the status quo as valid. like what they are doing is building up to something good. when in reality it's just beating around the bush instead of getting to the good right away which they can.
same as you tell yourself that I'm just being selfish and not thinking about what they want. when in reality I understand what they want and it's the same thing as I do. they just don't have the courage to really realize that they think nasa is the enemy and that they could go for real space now and what they are doing isn't building up to anything other than waste everyone's lives.
I appreciate it is a daunting idea to go for real space and stop [censored] around like children. but I would ask that they at least admit to themselves that that's the real situation. because the current chosen course will never lead to anything that actually matters.
a lot of people are content with playtime. a little hoopla once in a while then we forget about it. I'm just more serious than that. I can see a world in a horrible state that requires very serious action. not hobby rocketry for decades until he's old enough to start with the it's-all-for-the-children bullshit and sitting in the park feeding pidgeons waiting to drool.

try to understand that AA was started with the intent to do better than Nasa despite thousands of times smaller budget. even though they are too cowardly to admit this truth, that's no small accusation of incompetence at Nasa. that despite thousands of times larger budget they think they can do better.

but they forget... John forgets.

Have any of the readers here ever seen a video clip of the Earths surface shot from space? I never have and I'm pretty sure I understand the reasons why these clips don't exist. If anyone can point me to a video clip of the Earths surface which was shot from a satellite I would really like to see it.

thanks,

johno

I have a poster of the Earth shot from space in my living room . . .

Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwwioJhQzeg
It's time lapse photography, but then again, so is any video - although usually videos have very small lapses . . .

another video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxs970FMYIo
Just beautiful

@Dan
- a few questions that:

Do you think that Armadillo Aerospace was founded by John Carmack's subconscious?

Do you think that AA has unlimited funds?

Do you think that the best way to revolutionize space travel is to ask companies to change their business strategy on some internet forum?

Are you actively doing anything yourself other than posting on this forum, with regard to space travel?

Is it possible to forget something that you have never realized?

And last, do you want AA to put people into orbit or just hardware?

SAN, your first questions were beastly and mindless and don't deserve answers. your last one was almost a real question.
only light hardware. manned is much harder and rarely serve a purpose.

Thanks for the links, they are pretty but not what I was looking for. The second one you linked is a cgi animation, and the first one is just panning across some sections of terrain photographed from space. It's my fault because I should have been more specific in my post. The resolution of those clips is more than 1km/pixel. I am looking for highly magnified video with a resolution of 1 meter/pixel or better. Something like Dan is suggesting is possible with a 1 meter telescope. FWIW I know this is pretty much impossible despite the theoretical limits suggested by optical physics equations.

johno

why would it be impossible johno? hard to believe? difficult for you to accept it could be as easy as I suggest? hard to accept the implication that nasa is a lie..
because the physics certainly allows it and much better than 1 meter res too

What you're looking for, I think, are videos from spy satellites. Naturally, such videos are probably not available to the general public.
From the wikipedia entry on Israel's Ofeq 5 reconnaissance satellite:
>>
Some early reports stated the reconnaissance capabilities as such that would allow "reading license plates in Baghdad", but that can be ruled out on grounds of physical optics. Other reports more plausibly place the imaging resolution at 0.8 meters for Ofeq 5.
<<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofeq

My brother is learning optical engineering at the Jerusalem College of Technology. I'll ask him if he can give me more info.

unless the effective aperture is known you can't rule out resolution. I'd guess that the atmosphere will allow reading of license plates from above. maybe even much more than that