Scotch: The Final Frontier

The BBC reports that A limited edition whisky has been launched to mark a unique experiment in space.

A rocket carrying vials of chemical compounds from Ardbeg's Islay distillery was blasted up to the International Space Station last year to test the effects of near zero gravity on the maturation process.
The micro-organic compounds will spend up to two years in space interacting with charred oak in near zero gravity conditions.The results will be compared with a control sample currently maturing at Ardbeg's Islay distillery.

Dr Bill Lumsden, director of distilling and whisky creation at Ardbeg, said: "So far so good. The experiment went live in January when the scientists broke the separating wall between the two components. "We will not know the results for another year or so but in the meantime we thought we would celebrate the experiment by the introduction of Ardbeg Galileo - our own earthly tribute to the scientific experiment taking place far up in space."


Ardbeg has now released "Ardbeg Galileo" to celebrate the event. The limited edition 12-year-old single malt whisky is a vatting of different styles of Ardbeg laid down in 1999.

Ardbeg was invited in late 2011 by Texas-based space research company NanoRacks to take part in the two-year space experiment. The vials that were launched by Soyuz rocket from Baikanur in Kazakhstan in late 2011 contain a class of chemical compounds known as "terpenes".

Ardbeg said the experiment could explain the workings of these large, complex molecules and help uncover new information about the change they undergo in a near zero gravity environment.
The test should also help Ardbeg find new chemical building blocks in their own flavour spectrum and could have applications for a variety of commercial and research products.

The space programme helping the wisky industry. That's what science is for! I wonder how a single malt will rank against Romulan ale and Klingon blood wine.... time will tell!

Rubber Chicken Astronaut

 The Mail  rports that a rubber chicken has been sent to the threshold of space as oart of  High school project to study a solar storm. 

The bird, called Camilla, was attached to a helium balloon and sent to an altitude of 120,000ft to test the levels of radiation in one of the strongest proton storms in years.It was the second time she has been sent to space.  


The flight was carried out by Bishop Union High School students in California, as part of their science project, last month.  Rachel Molina, 17, told NASA: 'Later this year, we plan to launch a species of microbes to find out if they can live at the edge of space.'

Romeo Durscher, of Stanford University, said: 'Camilla's trip to the stratosphere gave us a chance to talk to thousands of people about the radiation storm.'

During the two-and-a-half-hour flight, Camilla spetnt about 90 minutes in the stratosphere where temperatures and air pressures are like those on the planet Mars.

On the outside of her specially knitted space suit, she wore a pair of radiation badges She was recovered intact from a landing site in the Inyo Mountains.

Her spacecraft - a modified department store lunchbox, carried four cameras, a cryogenic thermometer and two GPS trackers.
Seven insects and two dozen sunflower seeds also rode along to test their response to near-space travel. The insects did not the survive the trip however. Camilla's radiation badges have been sent to a laboratory for analysis.


I only wish I had that sort of science project at school. I might have taken more interest in physics than I did

Only a small number of nations have successfully launched a satellite into orbit so far: The USSR (and following its break up, Russia and Ukraine); The USA; France; Japan; China; The UK; India; Israel and Iran. In addition, the European Space Agency launched its first satellite in 1979. Many nations have satellites in orbit but these would have been launched by one of these nations.

Much of the international press carries reports of North Korea's latest attempt to to join the select band of satellite launchers. unlike its previous two attempts North Korea has admitted failure. KCNA has apparently issued a brief report stating:

The DPRK launched its first application satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province at 07:38:55 a.m. on Friday.

The earth observation satellite failed to enter its preset orbit.
Scientists, technicians and experts are now looking into the cause of the failure.

Claimed to be an earth observation satellite, it was intended that the launch of  Kwangmyongsong-3 would mark the centenary of the "Great Leader", Kim Il Sung's, birth.

This is not the first time that North Korea has failed to launch a satellite but it is the first time that it has admitted the faliure.

North Korea's first attempt to reach space took place in 1998 with Kwangmyongsong-1 (above). Although the launched failed the North Korean media claimed that it completed more than 100 orbits broadcasting such stirring songs as "the Song of General Kim Jong-Il and "Juche Korea", albeit in morse code.



Good isn't it!

 It wasn't until 1999 that North Korea tried another launch. Once again, the satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 (launch pic above), failed to reach orbit. This did not stop KCNA issuing a press release claiming success:


The successful satellite launch symbolic of the leaping advance made in the nation's space science and technology was conducted against the background of the stirring period when a high-pitched drive for bringing about a fresh great revolutionary surge is under way throughout the country to open the gate to a great prosperous and powerful nation without fail by 2012, the centenary of birth of President Kim Il Sung, under the far-reaching plan of General Secretary Kim Jong Il. This is powerfully encouraging the Korean people all out in the general advance.

Everone one else, except the likes of Alexandro Cao de Benes and his Korean Friendship Association lackeys, said "it ain't there dude!"

For North Korea third time wasn't lucky. Perhaps it's time to give up and try macrame instead.

The first cosmonaut

There has been a lot of speculation about whether the USSR attempted to send a cosmonaut into space before Yuri Gagarin. Most of the discussion has been within the realm of the conspiracy theorist and quite honestly, the supporting evidence is pretty thin… until now that is.

 model of a Vostok era cosmonaut

A new book published today reveals that there was in fact one partly successful space flight prior to Gagarin but the cosmonaut was so badly injured that Nikita Kruschev himself ordered the suppression of all records pertaining to the flight.


Ivan Ivanovich Maketov was born in Begemodsk, near Moscow, in 1923. Commissioned into the Red Air Force in 1941 he served with distinction and it was his exemplary war record that landed him a position as a test pilot for the Mikoyan Gurevitch design bureau.

In 1958 Maketov was one of six Air Force officers selected for cosmonaut training. Maketov was considered the most able candidate, better even than Gagarin and so it was no surprise whent he was selected for the first Vostok flight in March 1961.

Vostok 1 was launched on 9 March. Maketov made three successful orbits of the earth before returning to earth. During re entry, an electrc malfunction caused a fire in the capsule burning Maketov severely. Despite this he was able to bail out of the capsule but landed badly breaking his back, hip and legs.

An injured Matekov after bailing out of Vostok 1

Because of his injuries it was decided that a severely injured cosmonaut would not present the Soviet Union’ in the best light. All information about Maketov’s was suppressed. On 12 April Gagarin made his historic flight. His vessel was originally designated Vostok 2 but was renamed Vostok 1 as part of the cover up.

Maketov after reconstructive surgery

Maketov, spent two years undergoing rehabilitation after the incident but was unable to make a full recovery. Despite numerous reconstructive operations his face remained severely disigured. In 1963 he was granted a pension and flat in Sochi where he lived until his death in 1988.

The First Cosmonaut was written by scientist and aviation historian Matyob Govnovsky.. He had been was granted unprecedented access to the Soviet spacet archives. Even so he was shocked to discover several files on Maketov.

“There has been a lot of speculation about failed missions before Gagarin”, he said “It was a genuine shock to discover that the speculations were actually based in fact”.

Govnovsky has already petitioned the Russian government to erect a memorial to Maketov. “Gagarin was a true hero but so was Maketov. It would take nothing away from Gagarin’s achievement to erect a memorial to another true hero of space,” he said.

The Great Gagarin cover up

Today’s Telegraph carried an article titled Soviet Union lied about 1961 Yuri Gagarin space mission

Ach here comes the great “Gagarin space flight hoax,” I thought. Given that a lot of people do not believe that there was ever a Moon landing, why not deny the first manned space mission.

Well it isn’t quite like that:

Apparently Soviet officials and covered up the fact that he had landed more than 200 miles away from where they were expecting him… according to a new book.

The book 108 Minutes That Changed the World apparently reveals revealed that scientists twice miscalculated where he would land which is why there was nobody there to meet him when he finally touched down some 500 miles south of Moscow.

The Soviets also lied about the manner of his landing, claiming that he had touched down inside the capsule itself when in actual fact he landed separately via parachute. The reason they lied, said the book, was to skirt strict rules that would have prevented them from officially registering the flight as a world record.

Is that it? It must be a slow news day…

The Smell of Space

It was, Hubert Farnsworth, the mad scientist in Futurama who invented the smelloscope, which allowed him to smell anything anywhere in the universe. Of course that should be impossible but hey, it was a cartoon...

Strangely Discovery On reports that NASA astronauts aboard the US space shuttle Discovery have said that the space in fact does have a smell and it is strong, metallic and unique.

“There is one smell up here that is really unique though and that is the smell, we just call it ‘the smell of space’,” said NASA engineer and astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who is on board US space shuttle Discovery.“I haven’t had a chance to do a spacewalk yet, but when the other guys did and they came back in, there’s this really, really strong metallic smell,” he added.

For rookie astronaut Kevin Ford, Discovery’s pilot, both the sounds and smells of space have surprised him.
“It’s like something I haven’t ever smelled before, but I’ll never forget it,” he said. “You know how those things stick with you,” he added.

I bet you didn’t know this, did you

Space Sponge

The Cassini probe has already provided a wealth of stunning images of Saturn and its satellites. One of the most unusual is the planet’s eighth largest moon, Hyperion looks like a huge potato-shaped sponge. It is unlike any other object imaged to date. The appearance is due to the fact that it is peppered with largely well preserved craters, probably caused by meteor bombardment which blew part of its surface away.


A paper published in Nature yesterday states that a Cassini flyby in September 2005 revealed the presence of hydrocarbons in the craters as well as water and carbon dioxide ices. "Of special interest is the presence on Hyperion of hydrocarbons " said Dale Cruikshank, the paper's lead author. "These molecules, when embedded in ice and exposed to ultraviolet light, form new molecules of biological significance. This doesn't mean that we have found life, but it is a further indication that the basic chemistry needed for life is widespread in the universe.... Most of Hyperion's surface ice is a mix of frozen water and organic dust, but carbon dioxide ice is also prominent. The carbon dioxide is not pure, but is somehow chemically attached to other molecules," explained Cruikshank.


Maybe this is not earth shattering stuff but still it is quite interesting.