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Man, space travel is just getting weirder and weirder. For some time now, the International Space Station has been wretchedly maintained and sorely underfunded, such that it’s currently about as safe as a flying, pressurized Volkswagen. Worse, mission control keeps sending both astronauts out on space-walks simultaneously — leaving that leaky assembly of Meccano parts to fly on autopilot. What’s more, every time they actually do go outside, the nearly-extinct gyroscopes — responsible for keeping the whole mess in orbit — freak out, and the station begins pinwheeling slowly through space.
This week, though, our DIY space program outdid itself when it launched a new satellite … by hand. That’s right: Salizhan Sharipov grabbed a foot-long, 11-pound sputnik, wandered out onto the surface of the Space Station, and just sorta tossed it off into the howling void. As CNN reports:
Sharipov let go of Nanosputnik on the count of two as Chiao photographed the event. “Off it goes,” Sharipov said as the satellite floated away with a spin. Minutes earlier, he commented: “Everything is like in the movies, and it’s hard to believe.”
I admit I’m impressed at the sheer low-fi ingenuity of the launch. But it’s clear that the space program is becoming less and less governed by physics and engineering, and more and more by, I don’t know, punk rock or something. I wouldn’t be surprised if NASA announces that the astronauts are now permitted to smoke inside their space suits.
I'm Clive Thompson, a writer on science, technology, and culture. This blog collects bits of offbeat research I'm running into, and musings thereon.
Currently, I'm a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired magazine. I also write for Fast Company and Wired magazine's web site, among other places. Email or AOL IM me (pomeranian99) to say hi or send in something strange!
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» visit the Collision Detection archives
September 26, 2008 » 01:57 PM
From an interview with ethnobotanist and anthropologist Wade Davis:
One of the cultures you celebrate in Light at the Edge of the World is the Inuit. What do you most admire about them?
Davis: The Inuit didn’t fear the cold; they took advantage of it. During the 1950s the Canadian government forced the Inuit into settlements. A family from Arctic Bay told me this fantastic story of their grandfather who refused to go. The family, fearful for his life, took away all of his tools and all of his implements, thinking that would force him into the settlement. But instead, he just slipped out of an igloo on a cold Arctic night, pulled down his caribou and sealskin trousers, and defecated into his hand. As the feces began to freeze, he shaped it into the form of an implement. And when the blade started to take shape, he put a spray of saliva along the leading edge to sharpen it. That’s when what they call the “shit knife” took form. He used it to butcher a dog. Skinned the dog with it. Improvised a sled with the dog’s rib cage, and then, using the skin, he harnessed up an adjacent living dog. He put the shit knife in his belt and disappeared into the night.
September 25, 2008 » 11:21 AM
“Video from a camp north of Toronto in December 2005 shows a car spinning around in a nearby, snow-covered parking lot. Prosecutors characterized that as special driver training but the defense, and many outsiders, said it was nothing more than “cutting doughnuts,” a favorite winter pastime of young Canadian motorists.” - A key piece of evidence submitted in the trial of a gang of alleged young Canadian terrorists.
September 24, 2008 » 11:21 PM
“Life imitates art imitating life: just thought a gnat crawling across my monitor was part of a Flash-based ad. I clicked it.” - A Tweet from Bill Braine.
September 24, 2008 » 02:37 PM
“Funniest FB friend request ever: “Twitter friend hoping to get to second base (Facebook!) ;-).”” - A recent Tweet by Pistachio
September 24, 2008 » 12:28 PM
Chinese powdered-milk crisis creates a new market: The return of the wet nurse
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