Author Archives: Gray Rinehart

New Horizons: Launch to Pluto

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Five years ago today — January 19, 2006 — we sent a deep space probe from Cape Canaveral to rendezvous with Pluto and study the Kuiper Belt.


(Artist’s conception of the New Horizons spacecraft in the vicinity of Pluto. NASA image from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.)

New Horizons launched atop an Atlas-5 rocket on its way to Pluto and Charon (Pluto’s moon). It will reach Pluto in July 2015, where it will map Pluto, study its atmosphere and other characteristics, and continue on to other objects in the Kuiper Belt.

This page has compelling details about the mission, including a countdown to the rendezvous and the mission’s Twitter feed.

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Hermes, Messenger of the Gods … in Space

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Thirty-five years ago today — January 17, 1976 — a Delta launch vehicle out of Cape Canaveral launched the Communications Technology Satellite into geosynchronous orbit.


(Artist’s conception of the Hermes satellite. Canadian Space Agency image.)

Also called Hermes, after the messenger god of Greek mythology, CTS was an international mission to test new global communications techniques and equipment. According to this informative Online Journal of Space Communication article:

Under the agreement with NASA, Canada designed and built the spacecraft. NASA provided an experimental 200W traveling-wave-tube amplifier (TWTA) and environmental test support. In 1972, DOC/CRC [Canada’s Communications Research Centre] signed an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA), under which ESA agreed to provide 20W TWTAs, a SHF parametric amplifier and to develop the solar blanket.

NASA provided the launch vehicle, launch and operational support to place the spacecraft in the geostationary satellite orbit. Following the handover from NASA to DOC/CRC of the satellite in orbit at 116 [degrees] W longitude, DOC/CRC configured the satellite for its operational mission, and operated the satellite for U.S. and Canadian communications and spacecraft technology experiments.

The Hermes operations proved very successful, and led to much-improved geosynchronous satellite communications that we all enjoy today.

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January 15th Space History: Spacecraft Launching and Returning

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Thirty-five years ago today — January 15, 1976 — a Titan-IIIE rocket with Centaur upper stage launched from Cape Canaveral carrying the Helios-B spacecraft on a unique deep-space mission.

Helios-B was developed by the Federal Republic of Germany, but as a cooperative program with NASA it carried both German and U.S. experiments. Its mission was to characterize the “interplanetary medium” inward from Earth’s orbit. Within only a few months, Helios-B had reached perihelion — the closest point in its orbit to the Sun — at a distance of 43.432 million kilometers (26.987 million miles, or 0.29 astronomical units), meaning that it was closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury. That’s the closest any space probe has ever gotten to the Sun.

From sending probes into space to welcoming them home …

Fast forward 30 years, to January 15, 2006, when the Stardust capsule returned to Earth with samples taken around the vicinity of Comet Wild-2.


(Microscopic view of one of the “Calcium Aluminum Inclusion” particles returned to Earth by the Stardust mission. NASA image.)

Scientists have been studying the materials trapped in Stardust’s aerogel, with surprising results including “a remarkable set of minerals that form at extremely high temperature” and the amino acid, glycine. Pretty amazing, considering the capsule entered the Earth’s atmosphere at over 28,000 miles per hour: the fastest-ever reentry of anything we’ve ever sent into space.

[BREAK, BREAK]

In other news, the first day of the MarsCon science fiction & fantasy convention went well. (Nothing like showing up at a panel to provide moral support and being invited to participate.) Today I’m sequestering myself, trying to finish writing a short story before I venture back out. That’s my next task, as soon as this post is live … wish me luck.

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On Unpreparedness

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I was not a Boy Scout for long — one of many childhood endeavors I didn’t complete, and opportunities I squandered — but I was a Scout long enough to remember the motto: “Be Prepared.”

Would that I had lived up to it last night.

It’s not that I didn’t prepare at all for my part of the “Speculative Fiction Night” sponsored by Bull Spec magazine (fourth issue on newstands now!). Before I left the house, I thumbed through Orson Scott Card‘s Characters and Viewpoint and a couple of novels to check my memory of their treatment of point of view — including, for instance, Robert A. Heinlein’s The Number of the Beast, with its multiple first-person storytelling.

Then, having made no notes and instead trusting to my memory, I drove to Durham. My intent was to conduct a thoroughly unscientific poll of the forty or fifty attendees on their reading preferences (which I did, though not well) and to ask them how much an author’s choice and handling of point of view affects their reading enjoyment (which I botched most thoroughly). That’s right: after stumbling through the first few questions, I forgot the key question I meant to ask the audience.

Overall, and despite my poor performance, the event went quite well. I chatted with several author friends and SF&F fans, and heard some nice praise from the audience for Baen Books (and especially the new Baen website). I finally snagged a copy of The Greyfriar — with a name like Gray, how could I not? — and got Clay and Susan Griffith to sign it, and also picked up Forbidden Cargo by newly local author Rebecca Rowe. If I didn’t have to go to work this morning (thanks, Tuesday’s ice storm, for throwing off my schedule), I could’ve spent more time with Samuel M. Blinn, Bull Spec editor and our host for the evening, Ada Milenkovich Brown, James Maxey, et al. But, alas, my devotion to Ben Franklin’s dictum forced me home.*

In sum, it was a nice evening — I just wish I’d done better for my part. For anyone who might have been there, I apologize for my unpreparedness. The next time I go to something like that, I’ll just plan to read from a short story and be done with it.

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*I don’t know why I follow his advice. So far it hasn’t made me particularly healthy, wealthy, or wise.

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First Congressman in Space, a Quarter Century Ago

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Twenty-five years ago today — January 12, 1986 — the Space Shuttle Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center carrying into orbit the first member of U.S. House of Representatives to fly in space.


(In-flight portrait of the STS-61C crew. NASA image.)

The entire STS-61C crew consisted of astronauts Robert L. “Hoot” Gibson, Charles F. Bolden, Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, George D. “Pinky” Nelson, Steve A. Hawley, and Robert J. Cenker, plus Congressman William C. Nelson. In addition to being the first time a sitting Representative flew in space, it was the first flight for Bolden, who is the current NASA Administrator, and for Chang-Diaz, the first Costa Rica-born astronaut.

The crew deployed the SATCOM KU-1 communications satellite and conducted a number of different experiments. Their landing was originally moved up one day, then had to be delayed because of weather.

The NASA mission summary doesn’t mention how much concern they had over seeing a piece of thermal insulation in orbit alongside the shuttle:


(One of the shuttle’s thermal insulation tiles photographed from inside Columbia. NASA image.)

I imagine that sort of thing, even if not uncommon, would increase the “pucker factor” when it came time for landing. But such is the life of the “steely-eyed missile men.”*

___
*And women, of course, but there weren’t any on this mission.

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January 11 Space History: STS-72 Launched

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Fifteen years ago today — January 11, 1996 — the Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from the Kennedy Space Center with an international crew.


(STS-72 clears the launch tower. NASA image.)

U.S. astronauts Brian Duffy, Brent W. Jett, Jr., Leroy Chiao, Daniel T. Barry, and Winston E. Scott were joined by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata on mission STS-72.

The crew retrieved the Japanese “Space Flyer Unit,” a microgravity research satellite originally placed in orbit by a Japanese H-2 rocket the previous March. They also deployed and retrieved the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) “Flyer,” a free-flying platform rigged with a number of different experiments, during their 8-day mission.

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So I'm Officially a 'New' Writer

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This week I confirmed that my one publication in 2010 — “Memorial at Copernicus,” in Redstone Science Fiction — did, in fact, make me eligible for the Campbell Award. For folks unfamiliar with Science Fiction and Fantasy awards, the full title is the “John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.”

One story, of course, is not enough to justify actually being nominated by WorldCon (specifically, Renovation) members. But … since eligibility runs by calendar year, I wonder if I can sell enough stories to have something to show by the time 2011 winds down and my eligibility ends. Probably not at the rate that I write and submit them. And even if everything I sent out got accepted tomorrow, I doubt I would have a great shot at winning.

Still, it’s a delicious irony whenever someone my age is eligible to be the best “new” anything.

And in the end, I don’t want to feel as though I let my eligibility go to waste. So back to the grindstone I go. And to the Post Office, as soon as I print out a couple of manuscripts.

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Latest From the Slushpile: Authors, Proofread Your Cover Letters

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At Baen Books, we receive many more electronic submissions than paper submissions, and in both formats we get all manner of different kinds of cover letters. Most of them are fine, along the lines of “here’s my book, it’s this long and in this genre, thanks and hope you like it,” but some stand out — and not for good reasons.

Most surprising in the electronic slush are the letters addressed to other publishers. That’s understandable for a physical letter, at least for those of us who have mixed up letters and put them in the wrong envelopes, but when I picture the author filling out our online submission form it’s much harder to savvy.

How likely is it that an author would fill out the Baen Books online submission form at the same time that they’re filling out another publisher’s online submission form? (Forgive me for the tricky, rhetorical question.) I realize that it’s likely a cut-and-paste error from a word processing file, but when you’re on the Baen web site, using the Baen submission form, it shouldn’t be too hard to make sure your your cover letter is addressed to Baen.

Thankfully, that situation is very rare.

Much more common in the e-slush is the cover letter that offers to send the full manuscript when the author is uploading … a full manuscript. That’s right, an author submits the complete manuscript (which our guidelines request), and their cover letter ends with a statement like, “The complete manuscript is available upon request.” Pardon?

Of course, I understand what happened in those cases, too: the authors cut-and-pasted the letters they usually send when they only submit a query or a partial manuscript. Still, it’s a matter of attention to detail … and if you don’t have the details right in your 1-page cover letter, are you sure you have them right in your 500-page manuscript?

In the end, it’s not surprising that some editors skip cover letters entirely. But if you’re going to include one, make it as good as you possibly can.

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Starting 2011 Off Right … and 'Write'

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For this introvert who rarely ventures forth into polite company, or even impolite company, last night was especially uncommon: I had two New Year’s Eve parties to attend.

First was a soiree hosted by James Maxey, featuring many of our fellow Codex Writers who live in North Carolina. (Last year James convinced us all to go to breakfast together on New Year’s Day, and he’s hosted movie nights and other parties — he’s a great instigator of these get-togethers.) Terrific conversation, some truly excellent food, and of course some folks were just arriving when I was getting ready to leave for the next event. C’est la vie.

Driving at 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve is quite pleasant, because hardly anyone else is on the road. So I made good time getting to the second party, a small gathering of folks from North Cary Baptist Church. I arrived too late for the games, but still found plenty of wonderful food to eat, and it was good to ring in the New Year with family and friends.

Which brings me to this morning. As usual, I was the first person awake in the house, so after feeding the dog and the cat I decided to start off 2011 by adding a few paragraphs to the short story I’ve been writing. I didn’t write much — maybe 150 words — so the gesture was more symbol than substance, but it feels good to have started the year doing what I think I’m supposed to be doing.

And with that, I wish for all of you a 2011 that starts off right, gets progressively better, and ends with spectacular success.

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Cassini's Jupiter Slingshot

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In today’s space history installment, ten years ago — December 30, 2000 — the Cassini spacecraft made its closest approach to Jupiter on its way to its rendezvous with Saturn.


(Jupiter, taken by the Cassini spacecraft. NASA mosaic image.)

Cassini used Jupiter’s gravity in the now almost passe “slingshot” maneuver to propel it farther out in the solar system toward Saturn. It flew by Jupiter at a distance of 6 million miles (9.7 million kilometers).

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