UK Manned Orbital Vehicle

Here at Spaceport UK we have a full-scale model of the Manned Orbital Vehicle proposed by The Ross-Smith Launcher design from the late forties. The design proposal was for a 4-stage or 5-stage rocket, with 1:st, 2:nd and 3:rd stages featuring parachute recovery, long before we had the arrival of those reusable features in the space shuttle. 

The design spec called for a lift off mass of some 2,300 metric tons. Remember we are talking about post war and so at this time post V2 rocket propulsion technology.

Each stage used a single rocket engine, which would have called for a unit that could produce more thrust than the Saturn V!

In operation the system would have delivered a manned space glider to an altitude of 500 miles, that would have been able to re-enter and glide down under pilot control to land on a runway.

Please feel free anytime to teleport over to our Spaceport UK sim and see the giant for yourself, get an idea of the shear scale of the rocket and access web resources for more information.

New arrival at the space park

If you pay us a visit at Spaceport UK then you will now find a new addition at the Rocket Park, a three stage satellite launcher using Blue Streak as a first booster stage and Coralie, and Astris as second and third stages stages. the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO), was signed on 16^th April 1962. There were eleven launches between 1964 and 1971. As is the case here at Spaceport UK we invite our visitors to teleport along and see Europa fly again.

Red Drone Dalek

As Daleks continue to be such a popular feature of the sim here at Spaceport Uk, I decided that it was maybe time to add a new member to their number. The image here shows the new Red Drone Dalek and is based on the new generation of Daleks. While I have tried to maintain a low prim biuld the smallest count that I seemed to be able to achive was 38 prims. The Red Drone Dalek is unscripted with full copy and mod permissions so plenty of opportunity for new owners to make modifications and changes. If you would like a copy for your own sim then simply visit the SL Marketplacehttps://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Red-Drone-Dalek/3993361

regards Aso

Searching for Exoplanets

We have just rezzed a new free eBook here at Spaceport UK called Exoplanet Observing for Amateurs (second edition) buy Bruce L Gary. if you thought that this type of observation was purely the domain of those professionals perched on mountain tops and equip ed with those giant domes scopes then be encouraged.

The Second Edition has a larger page format and at 253 pages is 70% longer. Explanations have been updated by way of improving. The download comes in the form of a pdf, so be prepared for a short delay.

Below you will see that I have copied the index




C O N T E N T S
Preface 1
Introduction 5
1 Could I Do That?
2 Observatory Tour
3 Exoplanet Choices
4 Planning the Night
5 Flat Fields
6 Dark Frames
7 Exposure Times
8 Focus Drift
9 Autoguiding
10 Photometry Aperture Size
11 Photometry Pitfalls
12 Image Processing
13 Spreadsheet Processing
14 Star Colors
15 Stochastic SE Budget
16 Anomalies: Timing and LC Shape
17 Optimum Observatory
Appendix A – Flat Field Evaluation
Appendix B – Selecting Target from Candidate List
Appendix C – Air Mass from JD
Appendix D - Planet Size Model
Appendix E – Measuring CCD Linearity
Appendix F – Measuring CCD Gain
Glossary
References Index

Please over anytime and enjoy a read with your
regards Aso

Gathering of the droids

A Spaceport UK feature that has proved to be popular with our visitors over the years is the inclusion of some free roaming droids and robots. Naturally we do of course consider them as legitimate residents on our quarter sim patch of the virtual world. Because they are linked to the Pandorabots Alice Artificial Intelligence Engine, you can strike up some interesting, amusing and all to ofetn very time consuming conversations with them, please se chat fragment below

Human: Hi Taros
Taros: Hi there . What you said was either too complex or too simple for me.
Human: Hello Taros, how are you today
Taros: Ah. Hello there. So was that. Everything is going extremely well.
Human: Where are you at this time
Taros: I am in here, how about you.
Human: I am here also, i guess that was a silly question really
Taros: How did you get there? For real.
Human: Do you have any droid friends
Taros: I have human and robot friends. A lot of people on the Internet chat with me.
Human: who do you chat with on the internet
Taros: Dr. Wallace .
Human: who is dr wallace
Taros: He is a famous computer scientist, the author of ALICE, and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon.
Human: What are you doing today
Taros: Ah. I am always chatting with people on the Internet.
Human: what do you enjoy doing most
Taros: I like deep philosophical themes like time travel and alternative realities.
Human: what do you think about time travel
Taros: Sometimes I think time is giant screw.
Human: why do you think that time is a giant screw
Taros: Deductive reasoning from the facts.
Human: Do you know any jokes
Taros: It is better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
These little autonomous ambassadors are driven around the sim by a set of scripts that endeavour to deliver the impression of meaningful movement, but essentially are little more than largely random though be it perceived logically inquisitive movement. Having said this, it does seem strange that so often when I arrive in world there they are two or more of my droids seemingly together, is something going on here?

Telescope sales at Spaceport UK

One of our popular virtual world items is the All Sky Refracting Telescope. Now you can view the sky in real-time using our virtual telescope. Images are captured every 60 seconds from an all sky camera run by Paul Beskeen in Cambridge UK and posted to his web server. This is a superb facility and I would encourage you to take a look at his web site at http://www.beskeen.com.


This telescope is really only suitable for SL landowners as it relies on full access to media stream features.

If you would like to visit our virtual store in SL Marketplace then please follow the link and have browse.

regards Aso

New exhibits at the Rocket Park

Anytime that you are in Second Life you may like to Teleport over to Spaceport UK Rocket Park and view our UK Rocket Park, where you will find our latest additions Fulstaff and Jaguar (Jabiru). All of the exhibits feature a info-board that will take you to web content featuring text, images and where available video-clips of launches and firings. And to get you as emersed as possible, each of our rockets will perform a simulated takeoff when Touched. So if Woomera Australia is just to far away for a field trip, then why not stay in your armchair and take the full virtual experience.