SPACEPLANE FLIES INTO TROUBLE
The race to build a privately funded reusable spacecraft has reportedly suffered a setback after tests of one of the main contenders revealed its design may need to be modified. SpaceShipOne, a manned rocket plane built by California aerospace firm Scaled Composites (New 杏吧原创, 10 May, p 12), pitched up uncontrollably during its third test flight in September, Aviation Week reports. The pilot regained control of the craft and landed safely.
SpaceShipOne鈥檚 designers used computer simulations to see how it would behave in flight, but did not put it through wind tunnel tests. It is not yet clear if the setback will affect the company鈥檚 plan to claim the $10 million 鈥淴 prize鈥� 鈥� for the first private reusable spacecraft to reach an altitude of 100 kilometres 鈥� by the end of the year.
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APPLE ROLLS OUT DOWNLOADER FOR PC
Macintosh maker Apple launched a Windows version of its fast-growing iTunes music download service last week. The news comes as Napster, the pioneer of free online music, is busy reinventing itself as a pay-as-you-go site. Like iTunes, Napster 2.0 鈥� launching on 29 October 鈥� will have hundreds of thousands of tracks available for download at 99 cents each. Napster shut down in 2001 following legal action by the music industry.
Many Linux users feel left out because they don鈥檛 have their own version of iTunes. Some contributors to the slashdot.org website said that proprietary innovations like iTunes are leaving the open-source movement struggling in their wake. Other commentators condemned authors of open-source software for concentrating on 鈥渨ork-alike鈥� versions of established software, like Microsoft Word, rather than on novel applications for the open-source Linux operating system.
鈥淢ORTAR-CAM鈥� PUTS EYE IN THE SKY
A digital camera, signal processor, transmitter and parachute have been packed into a 15-centimetre mortar shell ready to give troops an aerial view of a battlefield from 800 metres up. The pictures taken by the camera as it descends are beamed to a laptop on the ground. When the device hits the ground it self-destructs so that the enemy cannot exploit the images. At present, aerial views are provided by satellites or 鈥渦nmanned aerial vehicles鈥�. But the mortar-cam, devised by Charles Stancil of the Georgia Institute of Technology, is claimed to be cheaper and easier to use.
