First Flight 100th Anniversary Lecture by Ireland's First Rocket Builder:Martin Houston on Monday September 8th at 8:00pm in Dublin City University (main lecture hall CG86 in Henry Grattan Building) ALL WELCOME [Watch Martin on TV3 and hear him on The Pat Kenny Show (RTE Radio 1) both on Monday morning.] 100TH ANNIVERSARY: 100 years ago the first flight happened at Kittyhawk in 1903 when the Wright brothers flew for the first time. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of this history event, Astronomy Ireland is delighted to announce that the builder of Ireland's first rocket, Martin Houston (details below), will deliver a special Public Lecture to mark the anniversary at the above venue and date. That first flight was only for a few seconds and a few feet above the ground but 100 years later just look at us! Jetting around the world on our holidays in our millions, at 500mph (over 1000mph in Concorde!) 30,000 feet above the ground, almost on the edge of space! If we had told the Wright bros this in 1903 I'm sure they would not have believed us, any more than if I were to tell you that in 2061 (100 years after Yuri Gagarin's first spaceflight) that we will be zooming around the planets in a few hours at close to the speed of light! Yet surely it must happen. The rate of progress is accelerating. And, as Martin Houston will explain, current rockets are not the future, new technologies are already on the drawing board and WILL dramatically and radically change the way we get access to space. Reducing the cost incredibly. Even the new ideas Martin will explain must surely be supplanted one day in the future (the invention of the Jet engine many decades after the Wright bros was the 'breakthrough' in air travel) and we simply have no idea what the future holds, but I think it would be unwise to say space travel will not one day be as common as air travel is today. I can hardly wait to get old! Martin Houston has excellent and unique credentials to give this lecture as the launcher of Ireland's first rocket. He has been working in this cutting-edge field so we will be very interested to hear what he has to say next Monday Sept. 8. MONEY WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN: The space tourism business is valued billions, perhaps trillions, per year (one study is over 1 billion as early as 2021). Not yet of course, but ultimately. Big hotel groups have paid professional consultants to plan space hotels and survey interest with a view to their long term strategic business plans. It's big business and if one thing will drive the future of space exploration it is money! Of course, there have only been 2 space tourists so far, Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth and both paid about 20 million for a 10 day trip! This promises to be a fascinating lecture looking at the sort of technologies that are coming online. SPEAKER BACKGROUND: Martin Houston's aerospace career started while studying at the University of Limerick. There, he led a group of students to build and launch Ireland's first liquid fuelled rocket, which took place in August 2000. He graduated from UL with a BEng in Aeronautical Engineering in 2000, then worked for ESA at ESTEC in Holland for a year, before going to the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. He recently graduated from there with a Masters in Aerospace Engineering, specialising in Propulsion. Martin writes that his lecture will look at "Recent advances in spacecraft propulsion": A talk summarising the current state of the art in spacecraft propulsion and a glimpse into the future of advanced spacecraft propulsion, from nuclear fusion to solar sails. We hope to have pictures of Martin and his 'Irish' rocket and group on our website so click on http://astronomy.ie/nextlecture.html MEDIA EVENTS TO WATCH: You are sure to hear more of this talk in the press, TV and radio. Already confirmed are: Martin will appear on "Ireland AM" on TV3 (7:45am is the scheduled time but just in case there are any changes tune in from 7am-9:30am or set your video for that range), and on Today with Pat Kenny show on RTE Radio 1 (10am-12pm) both on Monday morning Sept . 8 (no radio in the office? listen on the net: BOOKING: You can book places in advance at the Public Lecture on (01) 847 0777. Please bring friends. There should be loads of space on the night. Admission is only 5euro and 3euro under 18s,students,unwaged,65and over, and members of Astronomy Ireland (show the latest issue of A&S at the door!) Please bring exact change to speed up entry procedure, and a few euro for the book raffle at the door (tickets 1euro each). ===== David Moore BSc FRAS, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. Editor, "Astronomy & Space" magazine. ASTRONOMY SHOP: open until 6pm Mon.-Sat. Tel (01) 847 0777. Fax (01) 847 0771. WWW: http://www.astronomy.ie Email: info@astronomy.ie