The Planetary Society
Practical, getting things done, no flash, considerable results. How much more cred could they possibly need now that they're launching their own space vehicle (and a solar sail at that?)
Review Date: 5/14/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it?
Ratings Coolness factor:10 Credibility:10 Look:8 Information Depth:10
Save The Pluto Mission
A concrete goal, known means. With the project all laid out and solar system alignment slipping away, the Pluto Mission are trying desperately to get back the funding already promised by Congress to do a cheap and very useful survey of the outer solar system. We blow this and another opportunity won't come along for an awfully l-o-o-o-o-n-g--t-i-i-i-i-me.
Review Date: 5/14/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it? Pluto Mission Group
Ratings Coolness factor:9 Credibility:10 Look:6 Information Depth:7
Space Access Society
"Space Access Society's sole purpose is to promote radically cheaper access to space, ASAP." Amen.
Review Date: 5/14/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it? Space Access Society
Ratings Coolness factor:10 Credibility:10 Look:2 Information Depth:7
Space Frontier Foundation
Crawl, walk, orbit. The SFF puts its agenda right up front, planning to get us to the moon and space if they have to do it themselves. Check out the External Tanks links, they'll make you nuts (in a *good* way).
Review Date: 6/12/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it? SFF
Ratings Coolness factor:10 Credibility:9 Look:5 Information Depth:7
Fiction
Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy
Debunking misconceptions from belief that the moon landings were faked to mistakes in Tomb Raider. He spends a lot of time (where does he get so much time?) taking on easy targets (bad science in Austin Powers? I'm shocked! shocked!) but he's got his facts down.
Review Date: 5/14/02 Site Type:Analysis
Whose Site is it? Phil Plait
Ratings Coolness factor:7 Credibility:10 Look:6 Information Depth:10
Unofficial "The Cape" Site
Simple but good, this fan site gives a NASA employee's view of the short-lived television drama "The Cape"
Review Date: 5/11/02 Site Type:Zine
Whose Site is it? Kurt Leucht
Ratings Coolness factor:4 Credibility:9 Look:2 Information Depth:3
Star Wars Technical Commentaries
For people with *way* too much free time (or for an occasional reference for bar bets)
Review Date: 5/14/02 Site Type:Analysis
Whose Site is it? TheForce.Net
Ratings Coolness factor:3 Credibility:1 Look:7 Information Depth:10
The Force.Net
A truly vast gathering of Star Wars news, fan films, backmatter, and so on. Kinda scary when you think that most of these folks have jobs.
Review Date: 6/14/02 Site Type:Compilation
Whose Site is it? TheForce.Net
Ratings Coolness factor:8 Credibility:8 Look:8 Information Depth:9
Science Fiction&Fantasy Net
An organization for writers of speculative fiction, this low tech, unassuming site is not the place to go for general SF. But... if you're serious about your interest in the field, then drop by some time and look around. there are some hidden gems.
Review Date: 5/12/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it? SFF
Ratings Coolness factor:7 Credibility:9 Look:2 Information Depth:3
News
FLORIDA TODAY Space Online's Space Today
Space program news from a local perspective, done by a Brevard County Florida paper
Review Date: 5/14/02 Site Type:Magazine
Whose Site is it? space.com&Florida Today
Ratings Coolness factor:8 Credibility:8 Look:2 Information Depth:5
SPACE.com
Ohh, look! Real spaceships! Kin I get t-shirt, mom? Huh? Huh?
Lou Dobbs puts millions of dollars and the best minds in publishing into something and this is the best they can do? Feh! Glossy, occasional scoops, but mostly combining the depth of People magazine with the bravery of Reader's Digest.
Review Date: 6/12/02 Site Type:Magazine
Whose Site is it? Space.com
Ratings Coolness factor:4 Credibility:9 Look:8 Information Depth:3
Spaceflight Now
You want the news in spaceflight? Go here and get matter of fact coverage through a clean interface. Breaking stories every day. Check 'em out.
Review Date: 6/21/02 Site Type:Magazine
Whose Site is it? Spaceflightnow
Ratings Coolness factor:9 Credibility:10 Look:8 Information Depth:9
Private Launch Groups
Armadillo Aerospace
Funded with videogaming money and staffed by their own techies, these folks mean to go to space in VTOL craft they'll build in a Dallas office park. And theyÕre eager to share their knowledge with you. Who could not be thrilled by journal entries laconically describing tests done in the parking lot while their launch pad is being built?
Review Date: 6/12/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it? JP Aerospace
Ratings Coolness factor:10 Credibility:10 Look:4 Information Depth:10
The PongSat Program
A wonderful idea, they will take any student experiment that can fit within a ping-pong ball and launch it to near-space (90 degree below zero temperatures, near vacuum, microgravity, etc.) for free. They plan to do over six hundred in the next year.
Review Date: 6/3/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it? JP Aerospace
Ratings Coolness factor:10 Credibility:10 Look:6 Information Depth:5
JP Aerospace - America's OTHER Space Program - Space, Rockets, Balloons, Microgravity
With determination, innovation, brains, work, and a mostly working pickup truck, JP has my favorite technique in mind. First lift the platform to the edge of space on balloons, then launch up where the air is much thinner, the distance to orbit shorter, and you can launch anywhere without ever bothering the neighbors.
Review Date: 6/3/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it? JP Aerospace
Ratings Coolness factor:10 Credibility:10 Look:5 Information Depth:6
Technology Resources
Advanced Propulsion Home Page - JLN Labs
Are they crazy? Are they geniuses? I dunno. In the "Quest for Overunity" JLN presents the "lifter" concept of charged foil propulsion that's so obviously bogus I should have known that it's been credibly replicated hundreds of times. This stuff works and maybe it really *can* make working flying saucers.
Yet again truth is *way* stranger than fiction.
Review Date: 6/12/02 Site Type:Overview.Structured
Whose Site is it? JLN
Ratings Coolness factor:10 Credibility:9 Look:3 Information Depth:8
Bruce Simpson Pulse-Jet Engine Guide
This guy has been building progressively more sophisticated jet engines in his shed for over ten years. Plans, guides, logs, images, and some projects (such as a jet engine beer cooler) that look like a Home Improvement episode right before the explosion.
BTW, He's now selling engines and wants to sell out. Feel like buying an aerospace company? $12,000 US gets it all.
Review Date: 6/3/02 Site Type:Creator Site
Whose Site is it? Bruce Simpson
Ratings Coolness factor:10 Credibility:10 Look:5 Information Depth:6
Buckminster Fuller Institute
The official voice of the world of Buckydom. When it comes to ideas for lightweight, deployable structures, let's not forget these folks.
Review Date: 5/12/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it? BFI.org
Ratings Coolness factor:10 Credibility:8 Look:8 Information Depth:9
SKYLON Project: Table of Contents
British cooperative effort to build a single-stage, delta-wing low-earth-orbit capable launch vehicle with current technology. To my eyes this looks solid enough but it's hard to tell through the science fair formatting and very spread out task distribution. I expect to read at any moment that some key component is being built by a model rocket club on the Isle of Wight.
Review Date: 6/12/02 Site Type:Organization
Whose Site is it? GBNet
Ratings Coolness factor:9 Credibility:8 Look:2 Information Depth:8
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