Sword_Of_Truth
14th June 2008, 12:35 AM
According to Air & Space magazine, a group of japanese researchers have a plan to launch paper airplanes from the international space station. (http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/The_Ultimate_Paper_Airplane.html)
The interesting thing that caught my eye from this article was about a known and documented incident where paper survived the destruction of a spacecraft on re-entry:
Last year Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata expressed an interest in joining the project, after he’d learned that some materials made of paper—including a flight diary and notes taken by Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon—had survived space shuttle Columbia’s violent breakup on reentering the atmosphere in 2003. Suzuki now had a means to launch his aircraft from orbit. Wakata or one of his crewmates will release about 30 eight-inch-long origami airplanes during a spacewalk planned for his STS-127 shuttle mission early next year. The Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, recently announced its support for the research, one of four projects that will receive a combined total of 30 million yen ($285,700) a year for a maximum of three years. Success could pave the way for designing lightweight space reentry vehicles, says Suzuki.
It makes the recovery of terrorist passports from the World Trade Center rather tame by comparison, doesn't it?
The interesting thing that caught my eye from this article was about a known and documented incident where paper survived the destruction of a spacecraft on re-entry:
Last year Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata expressed an interest in joining the project, after he’d learned that some materials made of paper—including a flight diary and notes taken by Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon—had survived space shuttle Columbia’s violent breakup on reentering the atmosphere in 2003. Suzuki now had a means to launch his aircraft from orbit. Wakata or one of his crewmates will release about 30 eight-inch-long origami airplanes during a spacewalk planned for his STS-127 shuttle mission early next year. The Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, recently announced its support for the research, one of four projects that will receive a combined total of 30 million yen ($285,700) a year for a maximum of three years. Success could pave the way for designing lightweight space reentry vehicles, says Suzuki.
It makes the recovery of terrorist passports from the World Trade Center rather tame by comparison, doesn't it?