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starship-design: URANOS Club Newsletter No. 3.
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CLUB * for * EXPANSION * of * CIVILIZATION * into * SPACE
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No. 3 URANOS CLUB NEWSLETTER 27.VIII.1999
This is the new issue of our irregularly published
electronic newsletter.
To receive further issues of this newsletter, please send
please send a letter stating so to the address:
<uranos@uranos.eu.org>
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Changes to the URANOS site:
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- The Club website is now accessible at two addresses -
the old one ( http://www.uranos.eu.org/ ), and a new one,
with Polish domain ( http://www.uranos.org.pl/ ).
It makes us more visible to Polish web indexes.
The old address now automatically directs the incoming
access requests to the English version of the site,
while the new one accesses the Polish version first.
Of course, once at the site, you may switch freely between
both versions of all bilingual pages.
- We have extended the site significantly with new sections
"Poland and Poles in space exploration" and "Mars exploration".
- The new Polish section contains:
-- information about Polish space research institutions
(research institutes, university faculties, astronomical
observatories, planetariums) - addresses (postal and
electronic), phone numbers, links to WWW sites;
-- information about Polish organizations related to
space exploration - addresses (postal and electronic),
phone numbers, links to WWW sites, publications;
-- a list of space objects with names of Polish origin;
-- information about Polish scientists who made significant
contributions to space exploration - short biographical
notes like that found on the main explorers page;
-- information about Polish cosmonauts and astronauts.
- The section on Mars exploration initiates a new large
section "The Settler's Guide to the Solar System",
and includes:
-- general astronomical and physical data on Mars,
with a short commentary;
-- an extensive list of links to the most interesting
websites on Mars and its exploration;
-- a description of Robert Zubrin's "Mars Direct" proposal
for manned missions to Mars;
-- information about The Mars Society, including its
Founding Declaration (both in English and Polish)
and information about its recently formed Polish chapter
(named "Mars Society Polska") with which our Club started
a close collaboration.
- We have added many new links - in the list of Polish space
websites, and in the general list of recommended websites
(including a whole new category "Transport to orbit" and
significant enlargement of the "Commercial activity in space"
category). We also have done a general checking of the links,
deleting the dead ones and updating many others.
- We have added two new entries to our list of recommended
Polish-language books ("Comets" by Yeomans and advance
notice of the "NASA Solar System Atlas").
- Portraits of great contributors to space exploration
have been added to our biographical pages.
- We have introduced numerous improvements of navigation aids,
graphics, etc., and corrected various errors.
Other information:
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- Our appeal for help in verifying the English language
versions of our pages drew the response of several people.
Currently two persons are helping us to do this - thank you!
- Now we are looking for people willing to translate our
remaining Polish texts into English - our only translator
noticeably lags behind schedule...
- On the list of our site contributors we distinguish
the positions of Site Editors - those members of our group
who personally have developed and maintained some sections
or parts of our pages.
- The <klub@uranos.eu.org> discussion list now counts
36 subscribers.
Special information - The URANOS Club is now one year old!
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- On August 18, 1999 exactly one year has passed since
the official appearance of our site on the Web. In that time
our site has been rebuilt and extended several times,
gathering many new supporters and sympathizers of our Club,
on our two e-mail lists <devel> and <klub>, and
on the distribution list for the Club Bulletin.
An excerpt from the usage statistics for the first year
of activity shows among others:
-- the total number of hits: over 65,000;
-- average numbers of hits:
. per month: around 5,000 (peak values: 7,417 in April,
7,414 in May, and 7,098 in July of 1999),
. per day: around 170 (peak values: 811 on Aug. 28, 1998,
831 on Dec. 9, 1998, and 704 on Apr. 10, 1999 r.).
-- the principal domains of the visitors: over 60% from
Poland; over ten percent "unknown" and the US (mostly
.com, and some .edu), then .net, followed by the rest
of the world (one percent or less for the domain),
from all continents, including New Zealand, Taiwan,
Brasil, etc.
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Please forward!