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Laurie R. King Listen to this show
On Friday - April 30th, 2004 - our guest was author Laurie R. King, chatting with us about her newest book The Game.|
Suzanne and I have been fans of Laurie R. King from the time of her first novel featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell, The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Though I must admit, when I first heard about that book I was more than a little apprehensive. Being quite the fan of the world's first consulting detective I wasn't sure if I would accept the premise of his taking a young woman on as an apprentice. That idea came dangerously close to violating what we had come to know about the character of Sherlock Holmes. But my fears proved to be unfounded. Laurie worked within the constraints of the Holmes canon and told a marvelous story that fit in perfectly with everything we had previously learned about Holmes from the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle. Her story was a wonderful and believable extension of the Holmes canon. I heartily commend it to anyone with an interest in Sherlock Holmes. It is quite good. |
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Laurie has gone on to write a number of books featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell, as well as continuing to write more Kate Martinelli books and various stand-alone projects. All of her books are characterized by well drawn characters who change as a result of their experiences in the books along with interesting and well thought out plots. Her newest book, The Game, is no exception to that pattern. In this book Laurie has Holmes and Russell traveling to India to investigate the disappearance of the British spy Kimball O'Hara. {Yes, this spy is the namesake for the Rudyard Kipling book Kim.} While in India they are drawn into intrigues that are as deadly as any faced in our world today. Most highly recommended. |
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| Above are presented the covers for Laurie's first Mary Russell book The Beekeeper's Apprentice and her most recent book in this series The Game. These books, along with the rest of the books in this series, are a wonderful addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon and should not be missed. They are all highly recommended. | ||
Dateline: Mars
NASA is releasing all of the images from the two Mars Exploration Rovers almost as soon as they arrive at JPL. The raw images for the Spirit rover can be found at this Web Page and raw images for Opportunity can be found here. The images that have been released to the press, along with animations and other images, can be found here. You can find larger versions of the images shown below at that last NASA Web Site.
Opportunity |
Image Credit: NASA/JPL and Ohio State University
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Shown above is the route that Opportunity has traversed across Meridani Planum as well as the route that it will be following as it heads for Endurance Crater. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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This small depression is Fram Crater, which is identified on the traverse map above. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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This true color image shows an 11 cm deep trench in the Martian surface that was made by the wheels of Opportunity. The scientists who are using Opportunity to study Mars are greatly interested in learning how various erosion processes have altered the properties of the rocks on the Martian surface. They are addressing this question by scraping away those surface layers and studying the rocks that are thereby exposed. Sometimes they do this by using the Rock Abrasion Tool (the 'RAT') and at other times they have the rover move back and forth in one spot thus digging a trench in the soil. {Anyone who has driven off-road or in snow is familiar with this process. Though in those cases you are generally not trying to dig a trench, it just happens.} Studies of this and other images have shown that there are significant differences between the composition of the materials on the Martian surface and those just a short distance below. This could indicate the action of various post-deposition processes that either add or remove various minerals. It might also mean that the surface materials were laid down at various times by different processes. Only time and more study will answer these and other questions. But whatever the reason, the scientists have observed that there are significant differences between the amounts of the mineral hematite - a mineral associated with the past presence of water - found in deposits on the surface and in deposits just a small distance below the surface. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Here we see the rim of Endurance Crater sitting off on the horizon as Opportunity rolls across the sands of Mars. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Here is closer view of Endurance Crater taken a few days later. Notice the expanse of light colored rocks near the rim of the crater in the upper center of the picture. Those same rocks appear in the image below, only much closer. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Almost there. Sometime in the next few days Opportunity will reach the rim of Endurance Crater and take a peek inside. I wonder what it will find there? |
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Late Breaking News - May 3, 2004 Opportunity has reached the rim of Endurance Crater! The pictures below are the first images released from this event. I am sure that color pictures will soon follow. You can follow this link to view the original images in a much larger format. Take some time to go to that JPL Web page and download the large format images, they will take your breath away. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Here's our first look into Endurance Crater. Notice the exposed rock layering on the rim and the drifts of dust and sand on the crater floor. Don't you wish you were standing there, seeing this view in person?
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 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Here's a detail taken from the above image showing you those drifts on the crater floor. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Now it's time to get out your red-blue glasses so you can view this 3D anaglyph image of Endurance crater. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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And here's another 3D anaglyph image showing more details from the above picture. I wonder if all those little dots in the foreground are blueberries or are they something new? Only time and analysis will tell. |
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Spirit |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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The image above shows the traverse route that Spirit has followed across the floor of Gusev Crater as well as the route it will follow as it heads for the Columbia Hills region of Mars. The base map used for this picture was created from images taken by orbiting spacecraft. The colors are based on spectroscopic and thermal data and are related to the composition of the rocks as well as the relative amounts of dust and rocks in the various areas. {This is another of those 'false-color' images that we talked about on the last show.} Images like this are used to identify the most interesting areas to be examined by the rover as well as delineating the safest traverse routes. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Off in the distance the Columbia Hills beckon. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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This image is a 360 degree pan of the area around Spirit. Be sure to go to the JPL Mars Rover Web Site Image Gallery where you can find larger versions of this and the other images from the Mrs Exploration Rovers. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Here is an enlarged portion of the above image showing Spirit's shadow cast across the Martian surface. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Here's another enlargement from the 360 degree pan image showing drifts of sand and dust on the Martian surface. This image, like many of the other rover images, was stitched together from a number of smaller image strips. This explains the black scallops across the top of the image as well as those straight lines where the brightness of the image changes abruptly. |
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Links for more information relating to this week's show
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Laurie R. King
Space Related Organizations If you are interested in learning more about current space activities there are many local and national organizations you might want to know about. Joining these organizations and taking part in their activities is a good way to stay abreast of things going on in space as well as a way to show your support for those activities. Listed below are some of those organizations. Space News - Mars For On-Going Updates on Space News ISS News |
Christopher J. Faranetta Listen to this show
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On Monday - April 19th, 2004 - our guest was Christopher Faranetta, Vice President of "Special Projects" at Space Adventures. For many years travel into space was a dream that no one could fulfill. For the last forty years it was a dream restricted to just government employees. But in the last few years space travel has become something available to anyone who could afford to buy a ticket. One of the companies that is behind this change is Space Adventures. Last year I was giving a talk at a space conference in San Jose and while there I met Chris and quickly realized that he would have some interesting stories that I would want to share with all of you. |
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Dateline: Mars
NASA is releasing all of the images from the two Mars Exploration Rovers almost as soon as they arrive at JPL. The raw images for the Spirit rover can be found at this Web Page and raw images for Opportunity can be found here. The images that have been released to the press, along with animations and other images, can be found here.
Opportunity |
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
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The above image shows Eagle Crater where the Opportunity rover landed. You can see the tracks made by the rover and the places where it tried to drive out of the crater, only to slide backwards because the regolith was too soft to allow the rover to gain enough traction to continue moving forward. For a time the engineers were worried that the Opportunity would be unable to get out of Eagle Crater. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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However, the rover was able to successfully leave the crater when the JPL engineers had it drive diagonally across the rim of the crater. The image above shows Eagle Crater and the rover's tracks leading out of it. Opportunity is now free to roam across the sandy expanse of Meridani Planum. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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This image shows the area where Opportunity will be driving. Having made an interplanetary 'hole-in-one' by landing in Eagle Crater, the rover will be now headed off toward Endurance Crater. Along the way it will be sampling the rocks it finds as well as making investigating the various geologic terrains it passes over. Only time will tell if the Opportunity will reach Endurance Crater before the cold of the Martian nights and the gradual accumulation of dust on its solar panels brings the mission to an end. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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When Opportunity was landing on Mars it bounced off the rock shown above. {This is the largest rock in the area where Opportunity landed. Anyone care to guess what the odds were for that(!) happening?} Scientists are excited by this rock because data taken by the rover has shown it to be similar to meteorites found on Earth that are thought to have come from Mars. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Here is a panorama of Meridiani Planum showing a shallow depression in the Martian surface called Anatolia. |
Spirit |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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No, the surface of Mars it not covered by blue-green rocks. The image above, which shows the hills to the east of Spirit's current position, is a false color image. Scientists create pictures like this by photographing the Martian surface through filters that are keyed to the light reflecting characteristics of various minerals and then turn them into pictures where the colors correspond to the mineral content of the the various rocks. The images are then processed in the computer to enhance the colors to bring out subtle variations in mineralogy. The fact that this creates striking and colorful pictures is just a pleasant side-effect of the process. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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The above image is a true color representation of the Martian surface and shows you what you would see if you were standing on Mars. The large scalloped rock in the center of the frame is called "Mazatzal Rock". |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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This black and white image shows the area where the previous color picture was taken. |
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
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The picture above shows the route that Spirit has been following in its traverse across the floor of Gusev Crater as well as the path that it will be following in the coming months as it heads for the Columbia Hills. |
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If you enjoyed this show and would like to know when other interviews are uploaded to the Hour 25 web site, then send an email to me at wwjames@earthlink.net and I will add your name to the free Hour 25 Newsletter mailing list. That way you'll get a brief notice in your email every time a new show gets uploaded to the web.
Links for more information relating to this week's show
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Space Adventures and Space Tourism
Space News Space News - Mars For On-Going Updates on Space News ISS News |
Copyright © Warren W. James, 2000-2004. All rights reserved.