photo credit: neossat.ca

Dynacom, a Canadian company specializing in microsatellites, is preparing the Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite which, as its name implies, will keep an eye on both natural and man-made NEOs.  Via The Globe and Mail:

PRIDDIS, ALTA. — The space telescope will be no bigger than a hefty suitcase and weigh just 65 kilograms, but the Canadian scientists behind the project say when the device is launched two years from now, it may well go on to save the world.

And not a moment too soon:

March 18, 2004 saw a very close recorded approach of an NEO. Asteroid 2004 FH, about 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter, passed approximately 43,000 kilometers (26,500 miles) above the Earth's surface (one-tenth of the distance to the Moon). Astronomers had detected it just three days before. While the time from detection to nearest approach may seem short, Asteroid 2004 FH is extremely small. A NEO with globally cataclysmic potential would have a better chance of being discovered earlier.

NEOSSat can be expected to determine the orbits of a large percentage of the hundred thousand-odd rocks, satellites, and bits of space junk the U.S. Congress wants cataloged.  The media spin focuses on this part of the mission, but it goes without saying that a satellite capable of tracking all of that can also track functional satellites, something the Canadian and United States military are very interested in.  Neossat.ca makes the defense industry connection clear:

NEOSSat will demonstrate the ability of a microsatellite to enhance the CF’s contribution to the NORAD mission – providing accurate knowledge of the traffic orbiting our planet. This would contribute to the safety of critical Canadian assets, military and civilian, in an increasingly congested space environment.”

It says a lot about humanity that our first early warning system against extinction events is a side effect of a military project - but that can be said of the space program as a whole.  That we get all this for $12 million dollars is pretty amazing, but about half the commenters to the lead story don't share that view.  We should spend the money instead on ocean research which is far more interesting, or not at all, so as not to "line some monkey's pocket."  Others feel that it would be better not to know about the approach of a killer asteroid, or that we would be more likely to be killed by NEOSsat itself falling to Earth.

The problem with gaining support for things like NEOSsat and the SpaceGuard survey is the same faced by those concerned with global warming.  We "know" the polar ice caps are melting, just like we "know" a flying mountain could come hurtling into Earth at any moment.  Everyone saw Armageddon, after all.  But the scales invoved are too massive, the distances too great, and the danger too remote.  Sure the ice caps are melting, but I don't live there.  Thus, global warming isn't much of an election issue, and NEO surveillance programs don't get much sway, because half the public doesn't give a damn.

Infelizmente, ninguém aprendeu com seu concorrente sobre como criar um controle decente. A maioria utilizava o conector tipo DB9 (mesmo encaixe do Atari, Master System e Genesis/Mega Drive) e apenas o Bit System insistiu no padrão Nintendo. A anatomia do controle preferida foi a "meia lua", como no Genesis/Mega Drive. O Phantom System o utilizava, assim como um outro console (esse é difícil, tenho que pesquisar para descobrir o nome) só que "ao contrário". Terrível idéia...

Top System da Milmar

Top Game da CCE

Aparentemente essa divisão poderia causar um certo desconforto para os consumidores uma vez que a incompatibilidade dos cartuchos poderia gerar muitos equívocos aos pais desavisados mas, o padrão foi logo estabelecido e os cartuchos de 72 pinos prevaleceram. Aos consoles de 60 pinos restou uma alternativa simples: um adaptador de 72 para 60 pinos que foi muito utilizado.

Neste período algo curioso acontece que hoje é exaustivamente discutido na mídia, a pirataria. Como se classifica um equipamento criado a partir de outro? Pirata? A terminologia usada na época foi "clone" e ironicamente foi graças aos clones que houve a popularização do vídeo-game no Brasil.

O conceito de clones não se limitou aos consoles, pequenas empresas de eletrônica passaram a reproduzir cartuchos de jogos para alimentar o mercado nacional ainda muito sem expressão, surgiram então os famigerados cartuchos de 96, 120, 32 jogos, Rockman, que é a versão janonesa (60 pinos) do Megaman, só que para 72 pinos, entre outros, todos a um preço acessível. Enfim, diversão para as massas.