starship-design: URANOS Club Newsletter No. 3.

[Zenon Kulpa <zkulpa@zmit1.ippt.gov.pl>]

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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!