Cluster analysis
The entrepreneurs of new technologies like to flock together. Those behind “New Space” are no different. And the place they are clustering is the middle of a desert
IT BEGAN with a boom. In 1947 Chuck Yeager, a pilot in the newly formed United States Air Force, became the first man to break the sound barrier and thus create a sonic one. He flew from Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, America’s main centre for experimental military flights. This base was out of the way of prying eyes and surrounded by landscape into which a crash (and there were many) would not inconvenience anyone except the pilot, if he failed to eject. And its very isolation promoted an intensity of purpose. It was perfect.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline "Cluster analysis"
Science & technology December 21st 2013
From the December 21st 2013 edition
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