Super Volcano: Discovery Channel tonight!

Today's Images: Volcano on Io and plume from Io volcano

Today's Term: Hybrid Rockets

Last week I mentioned the supervolcano lurking beneath Yellowstone (Link). Tonight Discovery Channel is premiering a special which promises to show us "what could happen when Yellowstone erupts."

If you like scary movies I suggest you tune in. Nothing is quite as scary as a mass extinction event, especially when we're the ones who could go extinct. No funny business here, just actual scientists trying to explain just how big this thing could be when it blows and what would happen to the world if it did.
Check it out.

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is hoping for success with its latest plan to lower launch costs and increase launch capabilities. (The U.S. Air Force is co-sponsoring the research.) Flush with success after 2004's Grand Challenge, the agencies hope to spur development of low cost rocket hardware.
At stake, defense department contracts worth billions. What DARPA hopes to get is an autonomous rocket capable of putting a 1,000 pound satellite in orbit more than 100 miles up in less than 24 hours. They also need to do it for $5 million or less.
Several companies are already hard at work. According to the Space-travel.com story, one company, SpaceX, already has a bit of a head start:

"DARPA will be able to choose among a broad array of technologies and systems. SpaceX is building a two-stage, liquid-fueled reusable booster that also is the model for the firm's larger Falcon 5 launcher. Company president Elon Musk -- creator of the highly successful Internet business PayPal and other ventures -- plans to use his rockets eventually to launch people into space. In working on the DARPA contract, Musk will attempt to undercut his own already under-market $6 million launch fee."

I wrote about Musk last week too. It's here.