		It is always great fun to sit down and chat with Terry Pratchett. He is a witty conversationalist who easily turns his stories about the travails of being on a book tour into an evening's entertainment. But more than that, he is a talented author who can speak at length on the art and craft of writing. When Terry passed through LA a couple of months ago I had the chance to sit with him and chat about his books and writing and a loads of other subjects. It was a great pleasure getting to spend some time with him again and tonight I have the pleasure of sharing that conversation with you.
Sometimes authors just don't know what they are starting when they write a book. Over twenty years ago Terry Pratchett sat down to write a fun little book that would satirize the tropes and foibles of fantasy fiction. {The "F-word" as they say in Hollywood.} The result of that exercise was the book The Colour of Magic, in which he created Discworld. A place filled with all the characters would would expect to find in fantasy, plus a lot more, and carried though time and space by four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle. {Don't ask why, just go with it.} Well Terry must have enjoyed writing that story, and his readers certainly enjoyed reading it. One thing led to another, one book lead to another and here we are in the 21^st Century and Terry has written something like 30 Discworld books. With no end in sight.

He has become one of the most popular authors in the UK, received an O.B.E. for his literary efforts in 1998 and it is rumored that no British train can leave the station until someone onboard is reading a Terry Pratchett book.

In Terry's new book, Monstrous Regiment, War has again come to Discworld and for the strictly fundamentalist duchy of Borogravia things are not going well. All of its young men have been sent to battle, including Paul Perks, which has left Polly Perks to run the family's inn. But the duchy's national deity has ruled that females cannot own a business. If Polly is going to keep the family business in the family she will have to impersonate a man, join the army and go off to find her brother and bring him back home. In the company of other equally misfit 'soldiers' - hey, times are tough and standards had to slide - Polly goes off to war and proves that sometimes the best man for the job is a woman.

For long time fans of Discworld Monstrous Regiment is a chance to return to a place they know and love. For persons new to this series, this book is an invitation to laughter, fun and adventure. Enjoy.

Dateline: Mars

Late Breaking News
One Tuesday - March 2nd - NASA announced that data taken by the Opportunity rover provides conclusive proof that large amounts of water existed on Mars in the past. Although no clear evidence for life present or past was found, this new data indicates that Mars has had conditions that would have been conducive to life.

Finding evidence for current and past water on Mars was one of the prime objectives of the Mars Exploration Rovers. With this announcement the mission has achieved that which it set out to do.

The evidence for the past presence of water on Mars comes from the distinctive mineralogy of several of the rocks that have been studied along with physical structures in the rocks that are indicative of the action of water on rocks.

This data includes the discovery of an iron bearing mineral called jarosite that contains water along with a unique distribution of elements in several rocks that would be consistent with the precipitation of dissolved salts from a brine solution. Additional observations showing the presence of chloride and bromide salts are consistent with the presence of deposits formed when salty water evaporates.

The presence of extensive water in the Martian past is also indicated by the presence of vugs - small cavities - on several of the rocks imaged at high resolution by the Opportunity rover. Several of these vugs have shapes that are consistent with sulfate minerals that can crystallize within a rock matrix. The mineral grains forming the rocks with vugs are well rounded with a uniform size distribution. Again, this is something that is consistent with movement of these grains through a liquid medium prior to their being deposited and formed into rocks.

All in all, this is really exciting news. We have long had evidence for water on Mars, but the amounts that could be detected were small. There has been clear evidence for geological structures formed in the past by a flowing fluid, but it was never certain that that fluid was water. With this new data from Opportunity we have unambiguous evidence for the presence of large amounts of water on Mars in the past. This has vast implications for the history of Mars and for the possibility of Mars having had life in the past.

The NASA press release concerning these discoveries, along with many pictures and other data, can be found at this NASA Web Page.

NASA is releasing all of the images from the two Mars Exploration Rovers almost as soon as they arrive at JPL. The raw images for the Spirit rover can be found at this Web Page and raw images for Opportunity can be found here. The images that have been released to the press, along with animations and other images, can be found here.

Opportunity
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Above you have the the Lander that delivered the Opportunity rover to the Meridiani Planum region of Mars.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL		Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Here are a pair of close-up images obtained by the Opportunity rover. {Be sure to put on your red-blue glasses when viewing the image on the right, its a 3D anaglyph.} No one knows what those spheres are. And what could be making some of the objects in the left image so shiny? Aren't mysteries wonderful!
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
A few days ago Opportunity photographed these layered rocks. Notice how the layers angle together, suggesting that some tectonic or erosional forces have modified these rocks. Notice also how the layers appear to be eroded by different amounts, suggesting that this rock consists of alternating soft and hard layers of stone. This looks suspiciously like a sedimentary rock, i.e. a rock formed by the action of flowing water. Could this be the evidence for water on Mars that everyone has been looking for? Or is it something else? Only time and more study will tell.

Spirit

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

Above we have the path before Spirit and below the tracks it left as it drove across the Martian surface. Wonders and mysteries await our discovery on each new day.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

Listen to this show
	Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:50:38} Or Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41} Click here for the show's opening. {15:47} Click here for our interview with Terry Pratchett. {1:32:22} Click here for the show's closing.{1:48} Click here to listen to an interview we did with Terry Pratchett that was originally aired in 2002. Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

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Links for more information relating to this week's show

Terry Pratchett

You can learn more about Terry Pratchett and his books at thisWeb Site operated by his publisher, Harper Collins.

There are many wonderful and witty web sites dedicated to Terry and his books that are produced by his many fans. Two of these include; The L Space Web and Terry Pratchett and The Discworld.

Here is an interview with Terry from January Magazine and here is another from The Internet Writers Journal.

Space News - Mars

For more information about the Mars Exploration Rovers be sure to check out the MER Web Site at JPL or this Mars Rover site at Cornell University.

To learn more about the Mars Express mission you can go to this ESA Mars Express Web Site, this Mars Express Web Page from JPL, this NSSDC Mars Express Web Page, or this Web Page from Mars News.Com.

For more information about the Exploration of Mars be sure to go to the JPL Mars Exploration Site, the Center for Mars Exploration at NASA Ames, or the Mars Missions Web Site at the Planetary Society.

Information about the data returned by previous Mars missions can be found at this Mars Web Page at the NSSDC.

Information about the Phoenix Mission to Mars can be found at this Press Release from the University of Arizona. You can view a 3D picture of the Mars Phoenix spacecraft here.

For more Mars news be sure to check out the Mars News.Com Web Site.

Percival Lowell did much to shape our ideas about Mars in the early years of the 20th Century. You can learn more about his work by reading this on-line copy of his 1895 book Mars.

For On-Going Updates on Space News

The Reusable Launch & Space Vehicle News Web Site Web Page that is part of the Hobby Space Web Site is a really good place to watch for news about, well... Reusable Launch Vehicles and related subjects. I check it out just about every day and often find news there that doesn't show up anywhere else. Give it a look. {And while you're there be sure to check out some of the site's other pages. Wow! Is there a lot of information there.}

The Space Today Web Site is a great place to find space news from all over the 'net.

The Spaceflight Now Web Site carries real time information about current space missions and presents a lot of space and astronomy news. This is the place I go to when I want up to the minute information about current space missions. Do I need to say more?

The NASA Watch Web Site is another great place for getting information about current space missions. Check there also for news about other 'goings on' within NASA. Highly recommended.

Space News - The Columbia Accident - On-Going

The Columbia Accident Report

You can read the Report of the Columbia Accident Investigation on-line or download it by going here. {You will also find a link there in case you want to order a hard copy.}

The Smoking Gun

Ongoing testing by NASA seems to have found the "smoking gun" in the Columbia accident. {At least as far as the technical problems go. For information about NASA's management problems, see the news item below.} Tests found that a foam impact on the leading edge of the Shuttle's wing would blow a 16 inch hole in that structure as well as cracking and damaging other parts of the Shuttle's wing. For more information check out these stories from the Orlando Sentinel, Florida Today, Reuters, Spaceflight Now and The Houston Chronicle.

The Management Problem

Be sure to read this story from the Orlando Sentinel which discusses previous Shuttle missions where foam from the ET damaged the Shuttle's TPS and NASA's approach to dealing with this problem in the future.

During the Apollo 13 accident the words of Flight Director Gene Krantz, "Failure is not an option", set the tone for what NASA would do and went a long way toward getting the crew safely back to Earth. But during the flight of the Columbia things were quite different. Linda Ham, the head of the Mission Management Team, was not interested in getting better data about the result of the foam impact or coming up with a crash program to rescue the Columbia astronauts because, as she said, "I don't think there is much we can do". Read more about this shocking revelation at this report from the Washington Post and at this story from the Florida Today Web Site .

Be sure to check out this story from the Florida Today Web Site which details a long history of unresolved safety issues affecting the Shuttle.

Concerning Future Developments

For an interesting assessment of the Orbital Space Plane project, be sure to read this report by Jeffrey F. Bell. You might or might not agree with him, but his calculations certainly give you something to think about.

More information about the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) can be found here, another view about the OSP can be found here and another opinion about this project can be found here.

On-Going Coverage and Reference Sources

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board Web Site is a good source for information about the results of the on-going investigation into the loss of the Columbia.

NASA has a Web Site with information about the loss of the Columbia, the on-going investigation into this accident, the crew and other related subjects.

CAD Digest has a very good compilation of information about the Columbia accident.

Florida Today has a Web Site with updated coverage of the loss of the Columbia.

This NASA Web Page contains pictures of the crew of the Columbia along with other pictures from their mission. {Audio files from STS-107 can be found here and video files can be found here.}

You can find the Press Kit from the STS-107 mission here.

ISS News

The Florida Today Web Site has a very interesting report about the causes of the ISS budget problems and their impact on the space program. It makes very interesting reading.

Click here to view the press kits for various ISS missions.

Check out the NASA International Space Station Web Page or the Boeing Web Page to learn more about this project.

A great source of news about Russian space activities, including their work on the ISS, can be found at the Russian Space Web.

Do you wonder where the Space Station is right now? You can use your browser to view real time maps showing the location of the ISS by going to this link at the NASA Space Link Web Site or here at the Johnson Spacecraft Center. Please note that your browser must support Java to make use of this satellite tracking software.

You can find out when the ISS - or many other spacecraft - can be seen from your location by going to this NASA Web Page. Please note; your browser must support Java for this application to work.

Click here for information about the audio files used for Hour 25 and for information about configuring your browser and downloading audio players.

Please note Web Pages from external sites will open in a separate browser window and that Hour 25 Productions are not responsible for the content of any external Web Sites.

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Gary Tigerman Listen to this show

		On Wednesday - February 11^th, 2004 - our guest was author Gary Tigerman. One of the great mysteries of the 20th Century is that during the 1960's America developed the capability to send people to the Moon and following the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, after just six Lunar landings, it stopped the program. Having spent over 20 Billion dollars to develop the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn V launch vehicle it was poor economics to not use those systems for their intended purpose. {Carl Sagan once said that stopping the Apollo project because of cost was like buying an expensive car and then not driving it because you didn't think you could afford to pay for the gasoline to operate it.}
Something must have made America stop going to the Moon. Was it just bad judgement or was there something else going on behind the scenes that we didn't know about that could explain that strange decision? Author - as well as actor, songwriter and screenwriter - Gary Tigerman has just published a novel, The Orion Protocol, that addresses that question. In this novel he tells the story of a person who uncovers a conspiracy that explains why America stopped going to the Moon, along with secrets that are shaping the destiny of the human race. Originally developed as a screenplay this story evolved into a novel over a seven year period. {And having been published as a novel, there is now serious interest and development activity going on to turn it into a movie. Funny how things work in Hollywood, isn't it?} Fast paced and exciting, I found this book to be very enjoyable. But there is something I should mention. People who know me know that I like my Science Fiction written with attention to all those nitpicking details that can be such a pain to keep straight. I'll be honest with you, there are several places in this book where Gary got some of the technical background wrong. And the book would have been better had those technical foibles been corrected. Nonetheless, the book held on to my attention and had me turning the pages as fast as I could to find out what would happen next. And that was what made it a good read.

Hudson the dog in a quiet moment following the interview.

Dateline: Mars

Click this image to view a wonderful animation of the Mars Exploration Rovers. Animation by Dan Maas/Maas Digital LLC. © 2002 Cornell University. All rights reserved.

Credit: Maas Digital LLC
Click here to go to Web Site for Maas Digital to view some phenomenal - and very accurate - animations of the Mars Exploration Rovers. You will be delighted and amazed when you see how the rovers unfolded themselves in preparation for their drive across Mars. A finer example of "spacecraft origami" you'll never see.

NASA is releasing all of the images from the two Mars Exploration Rovers almost as soon as they arrive at JPL. The raw images for the Spirit rover can be found at this Web Page and raw images for Opportunity can be found here. The images that have been released to the press, along with animations and other images, can be found here.

Opportunity

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

Shown above is a color image of the bedrock that is exposed in the crater that the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover landed in. Scientists plan to drive the rover over to these rocks so they can study them and gain insights into the geology of the Meridiani Planum region of Mars.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

On Monday the Opportunity rover drove up near the rim of the crater that it landed in and saw, off in the distance, the parachute and backshell for the aeroshell that delivered it to the Martian surface.

Spirit

Having solved the problems with the computer on Spirit, the engineers and scientists are again sending the rover off on traverses across the Martian surface in search of mysteries and wonders.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

On February 2nd NASA named some of the hills visible in the images taken by Spirit after the astronauts killed in the crash of Columbia last year. These hills are probably beyond the traverse range of the rover, so they will remain goals to be reached someday, perhaps once humans travel in person to Mars.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL		Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Shown above are the tracks left on the sands of Mars by the Spirit rover and a closeup of one of the rocks - Adirondack - that the rover is studying.

Listen to this show
	Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:20:29} Or Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41} Click here for the show's opening. {30:27} Click here for our interview with Gary Tigerman. {47:42} Click here for the show's closing.{1:39} Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

Links for more information relating to this week's show

Gary Tigerman

You can learn more about Gary Tigerman and The Orion Protocol by going to his official Web Site.

A wonderful collection of images from Mars, including pictures of some of the really weird features seen on that planet along with many wonderful anaglyphs, can be found at the Mars Unearthed Web Site.

The Apollo Project

One of the best compendiums of information about the Apollo missions to the Moon can be found at The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal and at the companion Flight Journal web sites for Apollo 8, Apollo 15 and Apollo 16.

Information about the scientific data returned by the Apollo missions to the Moon can be found at this NSSDC Web Site.

The National Air and Space Museum has a content rich Apollo Web Site as does the NASA SpaceLink Web Site and this KSC Apollo Web Site.

The Apollo Society has a very useful Web Site with links to many images and other information.

The Encyclopedia Astronautica is one of the most useful web sites on the 'net. It contains comprehensive entries for just about every spacecraft or rocket that has ever been built, flown or imagined. And its information about the Soviet and American Lunar programs is second to none. Most highly recommended!

The Romance to Reality web site contains a wealth of information about various Lunar and Mars missions that have been contemplated in the past. It is a great place to go to discover the many ways that we have imagined exploring the other worlds of our solar system. Most highly recommended!

Some of the very best books about the Apollo program are published by Apogee Books. Their books are always filled with loads of information, well written and packaged with CD-ROMS or DVDs that extend the books far beyond the normal constraints of book publishing. To find out about their current books and to learn about some of the books they have planned for the future, you should go to their Web Site. Their books all get my highest recommendations.

Space News - Mars

For more information about the Mars Exploration Rovers be sure to check out the MER Web Site at JPL or this Mars Rover site at Cornell University.

For more information about the Beagle 2 Mars Lander be sure to check out the Beagle 2 Official Web Site, the ESA Beagle 2 Web Page or this article about Beagle 2 from Astrobiology Magazine.

Images of the Beagle 2 landing site as seen from the Viking Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor can be viewed here {Part 1} and here {Part 2}.

To learn more about the Mars Express mission you can go to this ESA Mars Express Web Site, this Mars Express Web Page from JPL, this NSSDC Mars Express Web Page, or this Web Page from Mars News.Com.

To learn more about the Nozomi Mars Mission you can view this Web Site from the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science or this Web Site from the National Space Science Data Center. For more information about the ending of the Nozomi Mars Mission you can read this report at Spaceflight Now.