Carnival of Space #104 - The Arrow Edition

Welcome to ...
Carnival of Space #105 #104
... at Mang's Bat Page!

I'd like to thank Fraser for this my second time hosting the Carnival. While my first effort was a real blast, I do hope you all get a lift from this one.

This 105th 104th edition of the Carnival of Space is dedicated to Canada's CF-105 Avro Arrow the most advanced and ill-fated aircraft of its day.

Before we begin, I'd like to reflect on this amazing aircraft and its bittersweet legacy.

Arrow Reflections

In the 1950's Canada wanted a twin engine, all-weather, two seat, supersonic interceptor to defend against the Soviet bombers. The Arrow was our answer. Only it was never to be.

The Arrow was a source of national pride and shame for Canadians. An advanced fighter interceptor, widely believed to be superior to British and US projects. It incorporated many innovations including fly-by-wire, computer control, an integral missile system, and internal weapons pod. The Arrow was capable of exceeding Mach 2 with a 60,000 foot ceiling. It was even able to reach supersonic speeds without afterburners! A Mach 3, 80,000+ foot version was under study. The Iroquois engine being designed for the mark 2 Arrow was the most powerful turbojet in the world at the time. Ultimately the Arrow failed because of politics, changing roles, and a lack of buyers outside the country. For the US, Britain, and France - it was not invented there. Sadly, the five Arrows were reduced to scrap. There is even a conspiracy theory about a missing Arrow. The real tragedy was the damage to our aerospace industry and in true Canadian fashion the cancellation may have cost more than completing the program.

I grew up within sight of the production and test facilities. One of my mothers friends was a friend of Jan Zurakowski, the first test pilot, and I believe also one of the chase pilots. And when I was a child, I built models of the plane. Little did I realise that families living just down the street had been hurt by the 30,000+ layoffs and job losses resulting from the cancellation.

Others gained from Canada's loss. A group of 32 engineers went to NASA and worked on manned space programs. Others worked on the Concorde. The legacy of this project is an amazing tale.

And now the 105th 104th Carnival of Space ...

Startup, Blueprints, Models and Test Flights

• Alan over at MSN's Cosmiclog shows how Young star trekkers shine. But it's not quite what you might expect.


• Ethan at Starts with a Bang! contributes "The Lazy Astronomer" on how you can start exploring the night sky with no knowledge and good pair of binoculars for less than $100.


• Rob at the Orbiting Frog wants to know how people got into astronomy by sharing how he got into astronomy.


• David at Robot Explorers recalls Project Hyreus a clever and impressive student designed Mars Sample Return mission.


• Lousie at "A Babe in the Universe" get a looks at NASA's full-scale “Moonbase” mock up under construction with the cylindrical and toroidal modules and docked lunar rover.

Look off the Port Wing. Higher. Higher!

• The Bad Astronomer presents this unusual and awesome view of Saturn! There's a lot going on in the shadows and it takes someone with Phil's knowledge to explain it.


• The Lab Lemming catches on of those rare moments when both Scorpio and Orion are visible at the same time. Keep running oh boastful hunter ....


• Astroblogger presents this photo of the anomalously bright Comet C/2008 Q3 Garrad near a Globular Cluster.


• Nancy at Universe Today reports on The Brotherhood of Hubble Warriors: Jeff Hoffman Reflects on HST Repair Missions .


• Nicole at One Astronomer's Noise reflects on the STS-125 Hubble Repair and the different challenges facing terrestrial and space telescope repair.


• Bente at Planetbye has a little fun with a female perspective on the awesome Hubble fix.


• Steinn at the Dynamics of Cats shows a video of the STS-125 Hubble Wrap-up STS-125 Hubble Wrap-up.


• The Cosmiclog looks at why space repairs aren't easy.


• Mang (oh that's me) presents a third article using the JPL orbit simulator, this time looking at Strange Orbits: Quasi-satellites, Horseshoes, Corkscrews and Earth Stalkers - Earths Other Moons II. As an added bonus, meet Asteroid David Dunlap inspired by the fight to save Canada's largest telescope and observatory.

In-Flight Entertainment

• Jazz Singer, Diane Nalini launched a new album "Kiss Me Like That" in Toronto on Sunday May 24th. The album features 13 songs bringing astronomical themes to Jazz. (h/t to Ray Khan)


• The Space Writer reviews the new Star Trek movie.


• Cosmiclog looks at the lighter side of spacewalking. And no, it is not boomdiada!

Landings

• Ian O'Neill has taken over the role of Producer at Discovery Space and the Space Disco blog replacing Dave Mosher.  Good luck Ian (and Dave).
  

Science and Engineering

• We continue to learn from mistakes and disasters, this time Space Disco shows How the Chernobyl disaster may help plants grow on Mars.


• OrbitalHub presents Glory In The Sky a look at a science mission that will look at Earth?s energy budget and hopefully allow us to anticipate changes to the climate


• Cheap Astronomy presents a podcast "One Crowded Second" the first of a two part series on the time line of the Big Bang and subsequent evolution of the cosmos.


• Do you find you have less energy and are less active as you get older? Do you wonder why you never see grannies brake dancing? It turns out stars aren't that much different, find out about the interesting science of gyro-chronology.


• Bruce at 21st Century Waves looks at a mega-engineering project from the late19th and early 20th century and what we may learn about the future of manned spaceflight in  "10 Lessons the Panama Canal Teaches Us About the Human Future in Space".

Imagine the Possibilities

• Centauri Dreams looks at "The Hunt for Centauri Planets" about an ambitious but tracking low-key hunt for planets around the nearest star(s). In less than five years we might discover an Earth sized planet orbiting one of our nearest neighbours.


• Cosmiclog looks at the past and future of private space flight from Mircorp to Space-X in "The Past and future of 'New Space'".


• Out of the Cradle offers up an EVA interview with Paul Eckert about the 6th Space Investment Summit


• Cosmiclog presents a Time Travelogue looking at that staple of fantasy and science fiction from Dickens to Star Trek and the Terminator. It turns out that some of these scenarios may be testable at a quantum level.


• CumbrianSky looks at some historical events and asks what might have been if things had gone slightly differently?

Belated

• Music of the Sphere's provides insight into the "Super-cool Spacecraft" Herschel and Planck.

Arrow Footnotes
We now conclude our regularly scheduled Carnival and leave you with some more Arrow references:

• The Canadian Air and Space Museum in Downsview (Toronto)
• The Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa
• Wikipedia on the Arrow
• Wikipedia on Avrow
  
• An arrow site at avro-arrow.org
  
• A Video on the Arrow at google
  
• The Arrow site and links at the University of Saskatchewan Archives
• The Iron Warrior (U of Waterloo) looks back on the Arrow
• The Arrow at Fighter-planes.com
• The Arrow at Global Aircraft.com (suggested by a reader)
  

If you are in Toronto check out the Canadian Air and Space Museum where you can see a full sized replica of the Arrow. Or in Ottawa, the Canada Aviation Museum has some of the remaining components of the Arrow.

You may want to read one of Peter Zuuring's books "The Arrow Scrapbook", "Arrow Rollout", or "Arrow Countdown".

There was also a 1997 made for TV movie called The Arrow starring Dan Ackroyd that was loosely based on the Arrow story.

So long until the next carnival!

Space Carnival Chain

Last Week (103) : @ The Chandra Blog

Next Week (105) : @ Space Disco

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