Centauri Dreams focuses on the long-term, which almost always means deep space missions and interstellar possibilities. But building an industrial infrastructure in the outer Solar System also means finding much less expensive ways into space, a fact illuminated by the upcoming launch of SpaceX's Falcon rocket from Kwajalein atoll in the Pacific. CEO Elon Musk talks about building the 'Ford of space,' and as noted by Michael Belfiore, Musk went on to say this in a personal interview: "Ford didn't invent the internal combustion engine. But he found out how to make one at low cost." Similarly, "We didn't invent the rocket engine; what we're trying to do is figure out how to make it low-cost." Belfiore's weblog is a good place to monitor as we approach launch, which is set to occur at 1300 PST on November 25. Also be aware of Jim White's postings from Kwajalein; White is a member of the FalconSAT-2 satellite team and is reporting on final preparations. Finally, Jeff Foust provides...

Sonoluminescence -- the emission of light from bubbles in a liquid that has been excited by sound -- is a mystery. How does a sound wave put enough energy into such a small volume as to cause light to be emitted? The concentration of energy needed is something like a factor of one trillion, according to this Los Alamos National Laboratory introduction to the phenomenon. And not only that; the spectrum of the emitted light implies extremely high temperatures. Fusion, anyone? Well, not yet. But the slang term for sonoluminescence, 'star in a jar,' seems a little closer to reality now that the first direct measurements of the phenomenon are in. They show that the temperature inside a collapsing bubble can reach 20,000 degrees Kelvin, which is four times the temperature of the surface of the Sun. This work, by Ken Suslick and David Flannigan (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), comes two years after controversial findings by an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team that found...

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa spacecraft (formerly known as MUSES-C) is demonstrating the advantages of ion propulsion in its mission to land on the asteroid Itokawa and return samples of its surface to Earth in 2007. When it performed an Earth flyby in May, Hayabusa became the first spacecraft to accomplish such a maneuver using an ion engine as its main thruster. In cruise mode, the craft's four ion engines were designed to burn throughout the flight. JAXA's recent announcement that Hayabusa's engines had marked 20,000 hours of 'accumulated operational time' points out the ion advantage: the spacecraft's engines consumed a mere 20 kilograms of propellant during that time. You can see the JAXA news release here. Ion engines operate continuously for long periods because their thrust levels are low, but their high efficiency makes them ideal for deep space missions. Hayabusa uses ionized xenon gas sent through a strong magnetic field and expelled at high speed as...

Can ion propulsion really lead the way to the outer planets? No one can know for sure, but recent advances in solar-electric propulsion surely make ion methods a prime candidate. Not only has SMART-1 conducted a thorough ion engine shakedown on its lengthy and circuitious route to the Moon, but a variety of new studies are showing the way to more powerful ion thrusters that will eventually lead to the nuclear-electric systems we'll need for deep space missions. Today's standard ion engine is called NSTAR (it's a short acronym for a long term: the NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Application Readiness thruster). The agency used one of these on its highly successful Deep Space 1 mission. In tests at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an NSTAR thruster was operated for a continuous 30,352 hours. That's almost five years of operation for an engine whose design life was only 8,000 hours. You can read more about that test in this NASA news release (PDF warning). Image: This xenon ion...

It used to be said that the Sun never set on the British Empire. Those days may be long gone, but there is still a place where the Sun forever shines, and it's on the Moon. The Peak of Eternal Light is a mountain at the lunar south pole that is always in view of the Sun. Its year-round temperature is a comparatively mild (by lunar standards) -20C, making it possibly useful as a site for a future lunar base. The possibility of water ice in nearby craters, though not proven, could be an attractive bonus. No wonder the European Space Agency is fascinated with the Peak of Eternal Light. Fascinated enough to make it a prime survey target for SMART-1, the ion-powered spacecraft that entered lunar orbit on Monday. SMART-1's studies of the Moon's south pole will surely be fascinating, as will its look at the South Pole-Aitken Basin, a huge impact crater that punches deep into the Moon's mantle. At stake may be new theories about the Moon's formation. But for deep-space enthusiasts, the...

Fusion is often in the picture when interstellar propulsion systems are discussed, but so far we don't know how to sustain the process past the breakeven point. Ongoing research is intensive, however, and the latest in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concepts will be examined in mid-November in Savannah, GA. That's when the American Physical Society's Division of Plasma Physics holds its 46th annual meeting. Inertial confinement fusion works by heating and compressing tiny fuel capsules with laser beams. Significant advances have been reported from the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics, whose researchers will present the results of their tests of OMEGA, a 60-beam laser facility that is designed for the National Ignition Facility, a fusion laser facility scheduled to be completed later in the decade. Image: Inertial confinement fusion at the Trident laser facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Here is a description of ICF from Los Alamos National...

The X Prize Foundation says it will provide live streaming video from the cockpit of SpaceShipOne tomorrow morning as Scaled Composites makes its first bid for the X Prize. The second, and potentially winning attempt, is scheduled for October 4. Coverage begins here at 9 am ET.