Word: rockets
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Right now cars competing in a "Gambler's Race." One car will spot the other a head start, then play catch-up. A long, narrow, rocket-like dragster, the kind that often has to spit out a parachute to slow down, lines up beside a red Camaro. "Now this guy's going to give the Camaro a huge lead, but he's got a 400 to 500 cc engine there putting out about 2,000 horsepower. He'll still win." We don't get the chance to find out; jittery Mr. Camaro takes off too early and is disqualified...
What is most remarkable about the spacecraft is how it gets from place to place. After being launched by an ordinary rocket, DS1 will be pushed through space by an engine that works by firing electrons into atoms of xenon gas, stripping each of an electron and giving the atoms an electric charge--ionizing them. The ions are then accelerated through an electric field and emitted from thrusters at 65,000 m.p.h. Despite that speed, the particles produce little thrust, comparable to the weight of a piece of paper...
Coming second is Globalstar's chief drawback. Its service is not scheduled to kick off until 1999--a year behind Iridium's schedule. And this month Globalstar ran into a potentially more serious snag. Minutes after a Ukrainian-built Zenit-2 rocket carrying 12 Globalstar satellites thundered skyward from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 10, its engine failed. The 460-ton rocket fell back to Earth, showering debris across southern Siberia and driving Globalstar's stock down 40% overnight. The $190 million payload was covered by insurance, but the disaster delayed the system's debut even further...
...nonprofit company designed to help fund and promote mass-market space travel. ShareSpace's vision for cosmic tourism includes Earth-orbiting ships carrying as many as 100 people and clusters of modules that could act as orbiting hotels. "All we have to do," Aldrin says, "is use existing rocket technology and wrap an airplane around...
Much to Schaeffer's dismay, not one but two Crimson scoring threats, in the form of Foster and junior midfielder Ashley Berman, were waiting on the weak side to field the rebound. Berman struck first, bouncing a second rocket off the body of the beleaguered Schaeffer...