Hawaii Could Become Launch Site for Space Tourism

Friday , July 10, 2009

 

HONOLULU — 

Space pioneers envision launching high-end Hawaii tourists from the sand to the stars, taking island-hopping to new heights.

Hawaii could become the first place where travelers can use the planes for real transportation. Planners envision planes taking off in one place, traveling through space, then landing in another, going from the Big Island to Oahu. Within a decade, space travelers could island hop from Hawaii to Japan in 45 minutes.

And promoters promise a unique perspective during the flight.

“Flying down the Hawaii island chain, it’s a completely different view of the planet than you’ll see when you launch from landlocked states,” said Chuck Lauer, vice president of business development for Oklahoma City-based Rocketplane Global. “It’s the blue planet view of the world.”

Hawaii’s tourism leaders recognize the potential for attracting visitors with the promise of space travel, but it’s unclear whether Gov. Linda Lingle will release the licensing money at a time when the state is facing big budget problems and possible government employee layoffs. A new law authorizes the state to spend $500,000 to apply for a spaceport license from the federal government, which is the first step toward allowing commercial space travel from the islands.

Lingle has indicated she will either sign the legislation this month or let it become law without her signature. But she has the authority to withhold the money even after the bill becomes law.

If the plan goes forward, tourists would pay $200,000 for a weeklong package including spaceflight training, resort accommodations and short test flights to simulate weightlessness.

At the vacation’s finale, five voyagers would embark on a horizontal takeoff aboard a special rocket plane, climb to 40,000 feet before rockets fire, accelerate to 3,500 miles per hour, coast for a few minutes of weightlessness 62 miles above the Earth, flip over and then return to ground.

Jim Crisafulli, the state’s director of aerospace development, is confident many people would come to Hawaii to fly to space. “They wouldn’t bat an eye at spending that amount of money to fly to space,” he said. “It’s going to be a soul-energizing experience.”

Hawaii could become the eighth state granted a spaceport license. The process will take about three years, meaning space flights wouldn’t start earlier than 2012.

Hawaii would use existing runways on Oahu and the Big Island for its space program, which would use a rocket plane that looks like a mid-size business jet. The plane is still in the design phase, with actual construction expected to begin in a year and a half in Burns Flat, Okla.

The spaceport licensing process will involve studying the rocket plane’s potential effects on the environment, said state Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert.

“I’m trying to stay as neutral and calm as possible on this,” she said. “As we plan for the future, I agree that we should consider all opportunities, and hopefully the environmental impact statement will show that it is an opportunity.”

Lauer said the space planes wouldn’t harm the environment because they’ll be powered by liquid oxygen and synthetic jet fuel.

Several space tourism companies, including Rocketplane, have shown interest in coming to Hawaii if they could, said John Strom, vice president of business development for Enterprise Honolulu, the Oahu economic development board. Those businesses’ studies show they can turn a tidy profit if the Hawaii market opens.

Space tourists will come away with a different understanding of how fragile the earth is, said Strom, a private pilot.

“The higher you go, the smaller it gets,” he said. “You definitely get a sense of the uniqueness of this fragile blue marble that we live on.”

Uncle Sam Enters the Great Nanny State Debate

 

By JOSEPH B. WHITE

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124570917254538707.html#articleTabs%3Dcomments

From President Barack Obama’s first hour in office, he has been urging the American people to shape up.

“The time has come to set aside childish things,” the president said, quoting the Bible in his inaugural address. In his own words, he called for “a new era of responsibility.”

Andrew Zubko

Since then, Mr. Obama and his allies in the Democratic Congress have been working on a wide range of proposals designed to encourage citizens to change their behavior in the realms of health, finance and the environment.

Conservatives denounce the efforts as a “nanny state” that undermines personal responsibility by taking decisions out of citizens’ hands. And according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, nearly seven in 10 survey respondents said they had concerns about federal interventions into the economy.

President Obama and his circle of advisers think of it as a “nudge” state — a government that gives citizens the freedom to make choices, but arranges those choices in ways designed to leverage their lethargy for their own good, or the common good. It’s like a parent who puts a bowl of fruit within easy reach while stashing the cookies inconveniently on the pantry’s top shelf.

Mr. Obama isn’t the first president to see room for improvement in the way citizens conduct their lives. Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan told Americans to “Just Say No” to drugs. And Bill Clinton enacted a sweeping welfare overhaul that aimed, in part, to push recipients into the labor force.

But Mr. Obama’s efforts go beyond exhortations to a wide-ranging series of policies ready to warn you off bad behavior and favor good choices.

“What’s new here is the idea of ‘nudging’ and changing the choice architecture,” says Eric Patashnik, associate professor of politics at the University of Virginia.

Still smoking? The Food and Drug Administration will clamp down on marketing practices designed to encourage the habit — one that has had a hold on the president himself.

Mr. Obama says Americans should go for a run, or hit the gym. If that poke in the love handles from the presidential pulpit isn’t enough, members of Congress are working on proposals to levy taxes on sugary drinks and to require that restaurants put calorie information on menus.

Kenneth Baer, communications director for the Office of Management and Budget, says the administration’s goal is to help people make better informed decisions, not to mandate choices. “Steering is preferred over rowing,” he says.

The government’s track record as an agent of behavior change is mixed. Jimmy Carter’s efforts to preach the virtues of energy conservation from the Oval Office during the 1970s earned him the scorn of political rivals. Pat Caddell, a former Carter adviser, says such efforts can work — but they take time. When he was younger, littering was widespread, but the culture changed to the point that it “became socially unacceptable,” he says.

Erwin C. Hargrove, an emeritus professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, says the Obama administration appears to be trying to couch its calls for self-improvement not so much in moral terms, as President Carter did, but in terms of national self-interest — at least, for now.

“A moralist who preaches to people doesn’t get anywhere,” Mr. Hargrove says.

Japan Creates Next-Generation Female “Cybernetic Human”

(Comment: Japan is forging ahead of most industrialized countries, including the U.S., in the development of robotic technologies and “humanoid” robots. The day is drawing near when such ‘droids will work in factories and homes, and even provide companionship to the elderly. Could these be the new “housepets” of the 21st century?—Michael Zey)

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama, Ap Business Writer Mon Mar 16, 10:14 am ET

TSUKUBA, Japan – A new walking, talking robot from Japan has a female face that can smile and has trimmed down to 43 kilograms (95 pounds) to make a debut at a fashion show. But it still hasn’t cleared safety standards required to share the catwalk with human models.

Three Faces of Eve?

 

Developers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, a government-backed organization, said their “cybernetic human,” shown Monday, wasn’t ready to help with daily chores or work side by side with people — as many hope robots will be able to do in the future.

 

“Technologically, it hasn’t reached that level,” said Hirohisa Hirukawa, one of the robot’s developers. “Even as a fashion model, people in the industry told us she was short and had a rather ordinary figure.”

 

For now, the 158 centimeter (62.2 inch) tall black-haired robot code-named HRP-4C — whose predecessor had weighed 58 kilograms (128 pounds) — will mainly serve to draw and entertain crowds.

 

Developers said the robot may be used in amusement parks or to perform simulations of human movement, as an exercise instructor, for instance.

 

HRP-4C was designed to look like an average Japanese woman, although its silver-and-black body recalls a space suit. It will appear in a Tokyo fashion show — without any clothes — in a special section just for the robot next week.

 

The robotic framework for the HRP-4C, without the face and other coverings, will go on sale for about 20 million yen ($200,000) each, and its programming technology will be made public so other people can come up with fun moves for the robot, the scientists said.

 

Japan boasts one of the leading robotics industries in the world, and the government is pushing to develop the industry as a road to growth. Automaker Honda Motor Co. has developed Asimo, which can walk and talk, although it doesn’t pretend to look human.

 

Other robots, like the ones from Hiroshi Kobayashi at the Tokyo University of Science and Hiroshi Ishiguro at Osaka University, have more human-like faces and have been tested as receptionists.

 

But demands are growing for socially useful robots, such as ones that can care for the elderly and sick, said Yoshihiro Kaga, a government official in the trade and industry ministry.

 

“We want this market to grow as an industry,” he said.

 

The robot shown Monday has 30 motors in its body that allows it to walk and move its arms as well as eight motors on its face to create expressions like anger and surprise.

 

In a demonstration for reporters, the robot waddled out, blinking, a bit like an animation figure come to life, and said, “Hello, everyone,” in a tiny feminine voice while its mouth moved.

 

The demonstration didn’t all go smoothly. The robot often looked surprised, opening its mouth and eyes in a stunned expression, when the demonstrator asked it to smile or look angry.

 

Its walk was also not quite ready for the Paris Collection, partly because its knees are permanently bent. It has sensors in its feet but lacks the sensitive balance of a real human.

 

The big challenge in creating HRP-4C was making the parts small enough so it looks female, especially its thinner legs, said Shuuji Kajita, who leads the institute’s humanoid research group.

 

“But this is just the first step,” he said