February 7, 2008
WHICH WAS THE ONLY GOOD PART OF SCIENCE CLASS ANYWAY:
Japanese astronaut to throw paper planes to earth (Justin McCurry, February 7, 2008, Guardian Unlimited)
Countless paper planes have been launched across classrooms from the hands of mischievous schoolboys; now Japanese scientists are preparing to unleash a high-tech version from 250 miles (400 km) above the Earth.Posted by Orrin Judd at February 7, 2008 8:47 AMAfter successfully testing them this week, aeronautical engineers from Tokyo University believe the planes, made from heat-resistant paper treated with silicon, will survive the fiery descent back to Earth when they are released by a Japanese astronaut on the international space station later this year.
The world would be so much poorer without the Japanese.
Posted by: Brandon at February 7, 2008 11:03 AMDefinitely the wierdness quotient would go way down.
Posted by: Mikey![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
We recall that these are the folks who tried to fire-bomb the West coast of the United States with tiny balloons.
Posted by: Lou Gots at February 8, 2008 2:53 AMLou, I have no recollection of the tiny fire bomb attempt. When did that happen?
Posted by: erp at February 8, 2008 11:19 AMAround 1944, IIRC.
Posted by: Mikey![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
No, it was earlier - 1942, I think. One landed near Portland and I believe there was one casualty.
Just how big is this thing going to be? Wouldn't it be weird to be flying along and see a smoking paper airplane zip past your window?
Posted by: ratbert at February 8, 2008 2:32 PMNo matter how old you get, there are still surprises. This is astonishing -- "Japanese bomb-carrying balloons were 10 meters (33 ft) in diameter and when fully inflated, held about 540 cubic metres (19,000 ft³) of hydrogen."
Posted by: erp at February 8, 2008 6:37 PMJAG note: the Japanese balloons were an ILLEGAL WEAPON, being totally indiscriminate. We could approve deploying incendiary devices this way, but not anti-personnnel bombs.
Here's one account, which puts the balloon bombs in a '44-'45 time frame. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_bomb