September 2013

Yesterday’s launch of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) space probe went perfect. However, after it separated from the upper stage of the Minotaur V rocket and its gyroscopic system that uses reaction wheels was set in motion to stabilize it, there was a small problem that led to an automatic shutdown. The problem has already been resolved.

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) space probe during its test phase (Photo NASA)

A few hours ago, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) space probe was successfully launched on a Minotaur V rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), part of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) on Wallops Island, Virginia. Its purpose is to study the lunar atmosphere but also to test a very high speed laser communications system.

Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter (Italian edition)

The novel “Infernal Devices” by K.W. Jeter was published for the first time in 1987.

George Downer inherited from his father a store of mechanical devices but some of them are automata far more sophisticated than those usually found in Victorian London. One day, a strange man brings a machine built by his father asking him to fix it. George has never learned his father’s secrets but accepts only trying to earn something.