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.

After 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.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 7, 2008 8:47 AM
Comments

The world would be so much poorer without the Japanese.

Posted by: Brandon at February 7, 2008 11:03 AM

Definitely the wierdness quotient would go way down.

Posted by: Mikey [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 7, 2008 1:56 PM

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 AM

Lou, I have no recollection of the tiny fire bomb attempt. When did that happen?

Posted by: erp at February 8, 2008 11:19 AM

Around 1944, IIRC.

Posted by: Mikey [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 8, 2008 1:48 PM

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 PM

No 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 PM

JAG 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

Posted by: Lou Gots at February 8, 2008 6:39 PM
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