THIS WEEK ON  SCIENCE FRIDAY...

Science Friday > Archives > 1997 > July > July 11, 1997

Hour One: Space Update / Aviation Technology

Pathfinder has successfully landed on Mars -- and with amazing results. The Pathfinder, along with its robot rover Mars Sojurner, are rapidly bringing planetary scientists information beyond their wildest dreams.

They've found out that there was once a LOT of water on Mars. In the area around the landing site, now named the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, evidence of a tremendous flood has been found. They're learning that some of the rocks on Mars aren't that different from those on Earth. And perhaps most importantly, they're learning that a mission designed to be 'faster, cheaper, better" may not be such a pipe dream after all.

We'll talk about the latest findings on the Red Planet, and find out where the mission goes from here. Plus, will an experiment on the space shuttle lead to cleaner burning engines here on Earth?

Then on this hour of Science Friday, we'll look at two aviation technologies that may be the wave of the future. One, a new breed of supersonic aircraft, promises to top the Concorde's limit by 500 km/hour, a speed capable of chopping Los Angeles-Tokyo flight times to as little as four and a half hours.

The other technology is one that once was popular, before it was superceded by the helicopter. It's called a gyrocopter, and it offers a simpler, faster method of air transport that's been catching on in private flying circles. Could it be something that commercial air services will take note of? We'll talk about it.

Listen to this program in RealAudio!

Guests:
Jim Bell
Senior Research Associate
Astronomy Department
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY.

Paul Ronney
Principal Investigator
Sofball Combustion Experiment
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA.

Davd Groen
President
Groen Brothers Avaiation
Salt Lake City, UT

Joe Shaw
NASA Engineer
Lewis Research Center
Clevelend, OH

Books/Articles Discussed:


Related links:

Check out our special Mars links page!
More about Mars...
The Sofball Experiment
Other NASA Combustion Experiments

Gyrocopters:
Groen Brothers Aviation
Carter Copters
rotorcraft.com
Popular Rotorcraft Association

Supersonic Flight
NASA High Speed Research Project
A Bibliography on Supersonic Aircraft Design