The Leading Edge

Explore space! Promotional video.

2007-02-02T21:31:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since I last got round to post on the blog. Sorry for the 5/6 month delay, but I was busy with some other projects. I simply couldn't get round to finding time for blogging much. I'm back and hopefully things will be going smoother in 2007.

For all those dropping by, thanks for your support and I hope this year will bring exciting things. As a suprise I created a little promo video for the space wallpaper site. Check it out, share it with your friends and let me know what you think!

Atlantis launch successful

2006-09-09T17:28:00.000+02:00

Space Shuttle Atlantis has had a successful launch today after various previous delays to the launch schedule. The fifth launch attempt on 9 September was a great success with no problems being experienced despite some concerns.

The Atlantis crew will participate in spacewalks and further construction of the International Space Station. Good luck to them, and may they return safely!

Discovery Launch a Success

2006-07-04T21:32:00.000+02:00

Third time lucky. The Space Shuttle Discovery has been successfully launched during the third launch attempt on Tuesday, 4th of July 2006. The previous two attempts on Saturday and Sunday were both cancelled due to unfavourable weather conditions.

The third launch attempt also faced some challenges and the possibility of being called off when a crack in the protective foam layer on the fuel tank was discovered. NASA investigated the crack and decided to go ahead with the launch.

This succesful launch comes at a crucial time for the shuttle program. If this launch ended in failure it would have meant the end of the shuttle program. The ageing shuttles are going to be retired in 2010.

NASA Postpones Second Discovery Launch Attempt

2006-07-02T19:22:00.000+02:00

NASA has just scrubbed the second launch attempt for space shuttle Discovery due to bad weather conditions. The launch director has stated that they will wait for a period of 48 hours and attempt to launch on Tuesday, 4th June. It is unclear at this stage if they will aim for a morning or afternoon launch. This will be established according to the prevailing weather conditions.

Update: NASA has just confirmed that the next attempt will take place on Tuesday, with liftoff scheduled to occur at 2:38 p.m., EDT

View the newest Discovery preperation/launch wallpapers

UFO Crash near Port Shepstone, South Africa

2006-05-21T13:07:00.000+02:00

The South African National Sea Rescue Institute is monitoring the seas near Port Shepstone, South Africa, after numerous eye witnesses reported a Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) crashing into the ocean on Saturday, 21 May 2006.

Witnesses described seeing a craft crashing into the waves. They saw smoke and the water boiling after the alleged crash.

The NSRI and local police searched the sea in an area of 12 square nautical miles, but couldn't find any debris or indication of a crashed craft. They are keeping their eyes on the situation.

No aircraft has been reported as missing or lost. The possibility exists that it could have been some sort of space debris or a meotorite that was seen crashing into the waves.

All the witnesses are convinced that they saw something. It remains to be seen exactly what it was and if indeed it was a craft of alien origin.

Stardust makes it home

2006-01-15T19:01:00.000+02:00

The US probe "Stardust" has had a safe landing in Utah after it's 4.63 billion kilometer journey in space. The stardust probe has been able to collect around a teaspoon full of space dust which is hoped to offer some vital clues to the origins of our solar system.

Analysis of the sample can take as much as 10 years to complete. In an effort to speed up the analysis process the University of California, Berkeley, has launched a project to recruit volunteer students who will help identify the samples.

Meteor shocks Perth, Australia

2005-12-04T22:16:00.000+02:00

Citizens in Perth, Australia was witness to an unexpected light show, when a meteor passing through the atmosphere and appeared as a spectacular fireball in the night skies.

The fireball could be seen for hundreds of kilometers in Western Australia and was accompanied by a loud noise. A sonic boom caused by the meteor's speed shook buildings in a large area, and gave people quite a fright. One witness described it as being a "cataclysmic-like event".

It is believed that the meteor was about the size of a basketball and that it was around 100km up in the atmosphere when it exploded.

Scientist are hoping that debris will be found that can be used for further studies.

The BBC has a video containing amateur video footage of the event:
Meteor Shock (RealPlayer)
Meteor Shock (Windows Media Player)

Space wallpapers for your PSP

2005-12-01T22:29:00.000+02:00

I'm pleased to announce that Spacewallpapers.net is now offering space wallpapers specifically created for use on your Playstation Portable. Now in-between your gaming frenzy you can stare at the PSP wallpapers featuring some of our best space images selected and reworked from the desktop wallpaper selection.

So if you are lucky enough to own a PSP, be sure to check it out!

More funding for NASA

2005-11-19T16:12:00.000+02:00

Things are looking up for NASA again, at least in part. The US Congress has approved a motion to privde NASA with total funding of the $16.2 billion it sought for 2005. These funds will be used to return the Shuttles to flight and to design a replacement vehicle.

It's really a pity to see that NASA is struggling to get funding for their projects. If you consider that the whole space program can be funded by building one or two less military platforms such as nuclear submarines or other weapon systems, it is a great shame. Instead of workign together to ensure a future for mankind amongst the stars it seems that goverments would rather spend more money on new ways to destroy humanity, than to fund space exploration.

The best news however is about the Hubble Space Telescope. Congress has approved funds for a repair mission provided that NASA thinks it will be safe. Hubble is currently only functioning on two gyros. A repair mission is need to repair and replace the gyros and to breathe new life into the Hubble telescope.

I think it would be a more than fitting end to the shuttle fleet if one of their last missions are used to keep our "eye in the sky" operating for quite a few years more. If no repairs are done, Hubble could stop functioning by 2010.

Let's hope everything works out and Hubble is there to stay.

NASA doesn't have the needed funding

2005-11-06T15:42:00.000+02:00

According to recent news reports it seems that NASA is facing a huge funding problem. The shuttle program alone appears to be headed for a deficit of around $3 billion to as high as $6 billion during the next 5 years.

NASA simply can't afford all the projects it currently has on it's plate. They are already busy cutting funding to non-essential projects and focusing on just one mission - the return to the moon.

Existing funding is prioritized for the development of a new spacecraft. Other projects are simply put on the shelves for the time being. It seems that the return to the moon might be a very difficult objective to achieve. Not to mention a mission to Mars.

Hopefully funding will be increased in time for the projects to receive to needed priority and make the plan for space exploration announced 21 months ago a reality.

Alternatively perhaps it's time for the world to create a "Global Space Agency", with all countries contributing funding and expertise. After all, space belongs to no one nation and the future of humanity is indeed amongst the stars!

Space wallpapers for your PSP

2005-10-29T18:47:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since my last post, but I've been busy updating Spacewallpapers.net with a new streamlined design and 25 new space wallpapers. Quite a task!

I'm also happy to announce that I'm implementing a PSP wallpaper page on the site as well. This is a limited test at the time with only a few PSP sized wallpapers to select from, but if there is a demandt for it, I'll be adding a lot more in the future. So those of you who own a PSP and are crazy about astronomy and all things space related should make sure that you check it out!

CryoSat Crashes

2005-10-09T18:10:00.000+02:00

Cryosat, a satellite developed to monitor changes in the ice caps have crashed into the Artic Ocen shortly after the launch from Russia's Plesetsk launch pad on the 9th of September.

It's beleived that the carrier rocket's booster system failed during the launch causing the loss of Cryosat, which was developed by ESA (the European Space Agency). The loss is quite a blow to ESA who planned to used the satellite for a period of 3 years to do some intensive studies on the polar ice caps.

The Russian Space agency has suspended all further launches of the rocket used in the failed launch attempt pending the results of an investigation.

NASA and Google Team Up

2005-10-02T10:09:00.000+02:00

NASA and Google are partnering up on space research. Google will be building the Nasa Research Park - a million-square-foot facility within Nasa's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. Researchers will focus on various aspects including supercomputing and other technologies.

Google is an expert in handling and sorting information, and NASA has technologies that will be beneficial to Google.

This might be the start of wonderful things to come. Let's face it, Google is great when it comes to innovation and bringing new things to the world. We can only wait and see what this will bring.

Go Google!

New Space Wallpapers

2005-09-25T19:40:00.000+02:00

New space wallpapers have been added to www.spacewallpapers.net.

The new wallpapers are:

Alternatively you can view thumbnails of all the newly uploaded space wallpapers.

The site now offers a total of 395 high quality space wallpapers for download, free of charge and without any pop-ups or extra software required. The only restriction is that you may only use the wallpapers as personal desktops, and not re-distribute or print the copyrighted material.

Space Tourism

2005-09-24T20:37:00.000+02:00

There's been a lot of information going around about the future of space tourism. It seems that the future is looking quite exciting and we might even see space tourism as the driving force behind future space exploration and the creation of better space vehicles and space stations.

Virgin Galactic is the first real commercial offering. If everything goes according to plan they will be up and running in around 2008 offering you a space flight for a mere $200,000 (US).

Although this is only the start. I'm actually quite excited about the prospects. Newer, cheaper and better space vehicles can only mean great things for the future.

Moon.google.com

2005-09-22T00:19:00.000+02:00

For those of you who haven't come accross this yet. Google has launched moon.google.com. It works the same as Google maps, showing you the surface of the Moon.

It also has markers, depicting the landing sites of the different Apollo missions. Very useful and interesting.

For a suprise be sure to zoom in to the highest level!

Get excited about Space Exploration

2005-09-10T21:43:00.000+02:00

As a kid I could spend hours just lying on my back looking up at the stars. I wanted to know more about them. What are they, why are they there, where are they... That’s how my love of all things space related started. Today, almost 15 years on, I’m still a self-confessed space fanatic. I’m not an astronomer or scientist. I’m just a guy with a love for space and the untold possibilities it holds.

It amazes me how ignorant people are about what goes on around them. I’ve met people that haven’t even taken the time to look at the stars in years! They couldn’t care less about space, and to them space exploration is just an immense waste of money. I can’t disagree more.

Carl Sagan once described space exploration as a “journey in humility” and that is the most apt description I’ve heard so far. Once you start exploring the universe you soon realize how unimportant we really are. There are billions of stars out there, with billions of star system, many of which might contain planets. Earth is just one pale dot amongst billions of others. How’s that for insignificance?

In learning more about our place in the universe, we ultimately learn more about ourselves, and the little piece of rock we call home. The knowledge gained from exploring space and other planets have direct, tangible benefits to Earth and humanity in general.

Just think how much damage CFC’s could have done if their use continued unchecked. Many everyday technologies also have their roots in the space program. We might not realize it, but everyone is affected by space exploration and the knowledge gained, either directly or indirectly.

People need to get interested and excited about space again. We are living in amazing times as far as space exploration goes. We are building an International Space Station, Cassini is orbiting Saturn, and there are rovers on Mars. There is so much to be excited about... yet the general public ignores many of these things.

Expand your horizons, learn something new and be prepared to be amazed. Our future is amongst the stars. Who knows what wonders we will uncover in our very own galactic backyard...

Hubble running on two gyros

2005-09-09T22:20:00.000+02:00

Well, this is the beginning of the end for Hubble. It seems that NASA has deactivated one of Hubble's gyroscopes in an effort to prolong the usability of the telescope to 2008. Hubble was designed to make use of 3 gyros at a time with 3 in reserve. Currently there are only 3 operational gyroscopes, and with the one being deactivated it means that Hubble will now be running on only two gyroscopes.

There seems to be little impact on the quality of images, but it will now be more difficult to maneuver the telescope and to focus on certain objects.

The James Webb Telescope, Hubble's successor doesn't seem to be going too well either. The costs involved to build the JWT has risen with $ 1 billion which need to addressed. I think it would just be MUCH cheaper and better to take the risk, and send a manned space shuttle mission to repair Hubble... but it doesn't seem as if NASA quite agree with me.

Although there might be a very small possibility of a servicing mission, it's highly unlikely. The repairs to the space shuttles have set back the building of the ISS quite a lot, and that's currently the highest priority.

If Discovery's Return to Flight, and the following mission went well, the possibility would have been greater, but obviously there are still some problems with the shuttles. NASA's space shuttle facilities has also recently suffered hurricane damage. As a result the next shuttle mission, which was scheduled for March 2006, has been reassessed and no new date has been set.

Hubble's future is looking bleaker by the day. So it seems that our eye in the sky will soon be going dark. What a pity it would be, not to be able to see great Hubble images anymore.

Spacewallpapers.net Launched

2005-09-03T22:51:00.000+02:00

Spacewallpapers.net is the newest incarnation of my space wallpaper site. The original site was started a year ago and was known as Final Frontier. After careful consideration and a bit of extra revenue I decided to get a top-level domain for the site and so Spacewallpapers.net was born.

The site offers only the best space wallpapers you can find. The wallpapers are devided into six galleries featuring planet, galaxy, nebula and space art wallpapers. They are free to download and use for personal desktops.

If you like the site please link to us and tell your friends.

Casale Advertising Network

2005-08-28T12:18:00.000+02:00

After some time, I've finally gotten my own top-level domain - www.spacewallpapers.net for my space wallpaper site. Being totally free, I rely heavily on advertising to pay for the hosting costs of the site.

I'm happy to say that with the top-level domain I also got into a first-tier advertising network: Casalemedia.com, and I must say they are great.

I register on Monday, there was some problem with my e-mail address and Jason Blake, their Senior Account Manager, contacted me personally to sort it out. By Wednesday I was a registered member and could start serving ads.

Their interface is EXTREMELY easy to use. I didn't even have to read any FAQ or anything to get started. What's more is that you have total control over the campaigns you allow on the site, and their payout is the highest I've seen so far.

If you are a webmaster and looking for an advertising network, I can highly recommend them, so if you are interested you can sign-up here

Cosmos 1 Unsuccessful

2005-06-26T13:27:00.000+02:00

If you are following what's going on in the space arena, you'll know that Cosmos 1 was the first privately funded space mission as well as the first ever solar powered spacecraft.

Unfortunately there was problems during the launch, and Cosmos 1 never made it to space. The mission however was not a failure, but showed that privately funded space missions can be done.

Hopefully this bodes well for future space missions.

New wallpapers added

2005-04-04T00:47:00.000+02:00

I've managed to finally getting round to updating www.spacewallpapers.net with some new wallpapers. It took a while to get them uploaded but now they are there waiting for your perusal.

The 14 new wallpapers are:
Jupiter & Galilean Satellites
The Galilean Satellites
Mercury (4 versions)
Phoebe
Europa
Moon from ISS
Moon over Earth Atmosphere
NGC2467
Birth of an Unusual Planetary System
Star Forming Region
Earth

View the new space wallpapers

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

2005-04-03T14:10:00.000+02:00

When Knights of the Old Republic first came out, I was amazed at what they managed to achieve in a genre that was slowly being forgotten by most gamers. KotOR brought a whole new viewpoint to RPG’s.

The first game was excellent and exceeded most if not all my expectations. I anxiously awaited the arrival of Kotor II: The Sith Lords, ever since I heard that it was in development.

Sadly I must say that I’m disappointed with Kotor II. It promised so much, but in the end it’s just more of the same. The Sith Lords could actually have been an expansion pack to the first game instead of being a standalone game. Except for storyline changes, some new characters and a few new powers, it is exactly like the first one. I at least expected “something” new.

Don’t get me wrong. The game is still well worth playing. The storyline is excellent as usual and provides for some interesting twists and turns. I finished the game in about a week of casual playing.

For me the game had a severe bug when I reached Dantooine. For some reason it slowed down to such an extent that I had to limp along and pray that I reach where I was going. Luckily that only affected the game when you are on the surface of the planet, and not inside buildings. Luckily the problem was only limited to that one planet.

Another gripe I have with the game is the poor quality of the cutscenes. I think Obsidian could definitely have spend more time on creating some eye candy for the players. At least that would have made finishing certain stages and in the end, the game, so much more rewarding.

The ending definitely leaves the possibility for Kotor III wide open. Let’s just hope that if they ever decide to work on it, they give us a new game engine, and some more revolutionary changes, that will leave us in awe like the first one did.

My rating: 4/5
Pros:
Good storyline.
Star Wars (need I say more).

Cons:
Very buggy.
Nothing new.
Graphics look dated and still uses the old engine.

Still going strong

2005-04-02T13:13:00.000+02:00

Who could have thought that having a website of your own could be so much work! I almost forgot about updating the blog while I was running around working on the website. Sorry guys and gals. I now promise I'll try to keep you up to date. So in no particular order here's what I've been up to:

Firstly I've moved my website to new hosts. That was quite a job, but luckily everything is working fine and I'm getting much better speeds and control over the site. I've also added a new domain name for the site, so you can now use http://www.finalfrontier.za.org to get to the site.

It's nearly a year that Final Frontier has been online. I can't believe it. As far as content goes, the site now has 291 space wallpapers for you to browse through. I've also recently added a space art gallery. You should definitely check out the works of Greg Martin - he is amazing!

Some people asked for more information about the images/wallpapers I have on the site. I've decided to add an article section to the site. So be sure to check it out and let me know what you think.

A busy month

2005-03-06T13:30:00.000+02:00

Well as you might have noticed, I haven't posted anything in exactly a month. Luckily I've got a very good reason for that.

After some very needed exposure for the www.finalfrontier.za.net website, I decided to move the site to new hosts. The move took quite a while, due to me having to upload a 100MB+ site using only a very ropey dail-up connection (3.3KB/s max upload). It took almost two days just to move the files!

After that two weeks of testing the new server followed. Several small bugs have been found, and luckily (hopefully) all of them have been sorted out.

The site is finally running as it should and best of all, now I've got loads of space to be able to expand the site and there's no reason why I could suddenly be kicked of the server (as was previously my fear).

So feel free to visit the new and slightly improved www.finalfrontier.za.net for some of the best space wallpapers out there. If you have any problems you can also visit the site using www.crusader.websensei.com.

Please let me know what you guys think, and how I can improve the site.