[meteorite-list] SOLAR SAIL UPDATE, or is it down?

[MexicoDoug at aol.com]

Sterling W. wrote:

>Hi, The uncertainty  deepens.

Unfortunately, the uncertainty is diminishing if we are to  believe The 
Planetary Society, who are not yet ready to concede a very  disillusioning failure. 
 Sadly it reminds me of the moment in Sagan's  sci-fi novel "Contact", when 
the alien contraption "Assembled in Earth with  designs from somewhere else in 
the cosmos" was falling to the ground as rubble  to the uninitiated observer, 
in a few seconds, while on the other hand  astronomer Jodie Foster inside was 
transported into another dimension for a  peaceful nuturing of her spirit.

PS.  Carl Sagan during his lifetime  laughed about some people thinking he 
was a sci-fi writer, no doubt due to the  company he kept.  His son, Nick, 
www.nicksagan.com, on the other hand is a  sci-fi writer...
"At the same time, it's a big responsibility trying to live up to his  
legacy. My attitude is that I'm certainly not going to be the next Carl Sagan.  I'm 
the first Nick Sagan. All I can do is be the best Nick Sagan I can be, and  
hopefully inspire and move people through fiction and encourage people to go and 
 do wonderful things. And if it allows them to pass the time entertained, 
that  makes me very, very happy. That's they best way I can think of giving back 
to my  dad's legacy, and also my mother's legacy for that matter. Since she 
taught me  so much, too."
Saludos, Doug