[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
starship-design: The URANOS Club Newsletter No. 5
---------------------------------------------------------------
--> http://www.uranos.eu.org/ <--
* * **** *** * * *** ****
* * * * * * * * ** * * * * * *
* * * * * **** ***** * * * * * *** * * *
* * * * * * * * * ** * * * * *
*** * * * * * * *** ****
CLUB * for * EXPANSION * of * CIVILIZATION * into * SPACE
---------------------------------------------------------------
No. 5 URANOS CLUB NEWSLETTER 11.IX.2000
This is the new issue of our irregularly published
electronic newsletter.
To receive further issues of this newsletter,
please send a letter stating so to the address:
<uranos@uranos.eu.org>
---------------------------------------------------------------
Changes to the URANOS site
--------------------------
- The Mars section has been significantly changed and extended:
-- the general information about Mars has been extended
with more astrophysical, climatic and areographic data,
and with information about the two Mars moons;
-- a separate page, grouping links to other Mars sites, has
been added and its collection of links significantly
extended;
-- separate pages about the problems and possibilities
of building Martian permanent manned bases and future
colonization of Mars have been added;
-- information about Mars Society Polska (i.e., the Polish
Chapter of The Mars Society) has been updated.
- The biographical section has been also extended considerably:
-- biographies of von Braun and Korolyov have been added
(unfortunately, we were not yet able to provide their full
English translations);
-- a new component has been introduced, namely short
biographical notes (without portraits, containing only
the most important information) for persons whose larger
biographies are either not yet ready, or are not planned
to be included; at present we have provided such short
notes for Esnault-Pelterie, Goddard, Oberth, Szternfeld,
and Ulam;
-- several small corrections and additions have been made
in biographies of Banachiewicz, Bekker, Hevelius, Sagan,
and Siemienowicz.
- To the "What to do in Poland" page, an information about
Shoemaker NEO grants has been added, and information about
the "Red Rover Goes to Mars" competition has been updated;
also, information about two new interesting space initiatives
in Poland (see below) has been added.
- The pages of Polish names in space, Polish organizations and
institutions, as well as WWW link pages (both Polish and
general) have been updated and extended.
- As usual, we have introduced numerous small improvements
of navigation aids, graphics, etc., and corrected various
errors.
Other information
-----------------
- On the list <klub@uranos.eu.org> a discussion started,
several months ago, on further possibilities of action toward
development of space exploration in Poland. As a result,
two new initiatives originated - PolSEK (Polish Space
Exploration Society, in organization) and an informal
"Garage Rocketmen Club", see the URANOS website for details
(the page "What to do in Poland" and the page of Polish
organizations). Several persons connected with the URANOS
Club take active part in those initiatives - a step worthy
of praise, despite that it also resulted in a significant
delay in launching the new edition of our site...
- The Polish Astronautical Society, together with the journal
"Astronautics" published by it, launched their websites on
the URANOS webserver. We welcome them and wish them many
successes!
- The URANOS Internet server started also to host the new closed
e-mail list of the Mars Society Polska governing board.
- The <klub@uranos.eu.org> discussion list now counts
54 subscribers.
Special information - The URANOS Club is over two years old!
------------------------------------------------------------
- On August 18, 2000, exactly two years have passed since
the official appearance of our site on the Web. In that
time our site has been rebuilt and extended many times,
gathering many new supporters and fans on our two e-mail
lists <devel> and <klub>, and on the distribution list
for the Club Newsletter. An excerpt from the usage
statistics for the second year of activity shows among
others:
-- the total number of hits: over 210,000 (i.e., three
times more than during the first year!);
-- average numbers of hits:
. per month: around 17,000 (peak values: 23,951 in March,
23,643 in February, and 22,202 in May, all in 2000),
. per day: around 1,150 (peak values: 2,814 on Dec. 3,
1999, 2,492 on Feb. 10, 2000, and 1,304: on Sep. 1,
1999).
-- the principal domains of the visitors: 50-70% from
Poland; over ten percent "unknown" and the US (mostly
.com, and some .edu), then .net, followed by the rest
of the world (around one percent or less for a domain),
from all continents, including some far away and exotic
countries.
An appeal to our sympathizers
-----------------------------
Unfortunately, lately no new collaborators, actively working
on the development and maintenance of our website, appeared
on our <devel@uranos.eu.org> working list. As a result, many
of the long planned and important extensions to our site
(see advance notices on the Contents page) experience continuous
troubles with their realization, and some sections of the site
(e.g., link collections) are not updated often enough.
Hence our appeal:
- We invite you warmly to join us and help us in the development
of the site - details how to do it can be found
on the "Activity" page. Active collaborators, who contribute
to the development of the site, will be of course listed
on our pages, or incorporated into the team of site editors,
not counting their personal satisfaction coming from
contributing to the realization of the Club goals.
- All our visitors are encouraged to send us reports about
any errors noticed on the site. We are especially interested
in verification of all the links to other websites included
in our pages: please send us wrong addresses and dead links,
providing the exact indication of the page containing them,
the wrong address, and its anchor (i.e., the text fragment
to which the link is attached). If possible, provide also
the correct address in case you knew it, or were able
to find it. Your cooperation will help us in providing
an up-to-date information on our site, useful for current
and potential fans of our Club and other space enthusiasts.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Please forward!