Show Date:October 5, 2005  
Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line

THE SCIENCE OF GOLF
AND
THE HISTORY OF SPACE

Greetings and welcome to The Deep column and the deepest radio show on Earth. The Deep is the science talk radio program that takes you from the depths of the ocean to the farthest reaches of the universe. This week on The Deep, aired at 6:00 this evening on K-57, we’ll talk about some amazing new advances in sports science and learn a little space history. Then we’ll have some expedition calls. Maybe we’ll hear from kayakers in Hawaii, or perhaps we’ll talk to Bob Silver. We’ll also have some science news updates and we’ll be taking your phone calls. Tune in tonight and join host Jim Sullivan, Pam Eastlick and our expedition coordinator Peter Melyan for the latest in scientific news! Then log on to www.thedeepradioshow.com for more information on all the latest and deepest news!

SCIENCE AND THE LONGEST DRIVER

New records are being set in sports every day. Although much of this has to do with better-trained athletes, a lot of it stems from new sports equipment. New materials like fiberglass, high impact plastics and new metal alloys have revolutionized sailing, tennis, paddling, hockey, baseball and golf over the last century. Some of the most recent advances have taken place in golf. Revolutionary new golf clubs that promise you longer and straighter drives come to market with such frequency someone should start a "Club of the Month Club." The most significant innovation in driver head design came in the early 1990s with the Callaway Big Bertha--the first steel-head oversize driver. Its larger head made it easier for the average golfer to hit the ball. This started a trend toward larger and larger driver heads. The larger club face offered more contact with the ball.

But if you make the head heavier, you must reduce its weight or your golf game becomes an exercise in weight lifting. Manufacturers began to use thinner-gauge steel in driver heads, but the big step toward bigger drivers came with the switch from steel to titanium. This allowed drivers to be made with much thinner walls, which reduced the weight even further.

These thin walls had an added benefit called the "trampoline effect." The titanium in the driver head is so thin that it deforms slightly when the golfer hits the ball. The metal quickly rebounds giving the ball extra speed. Tests have shown the trampoline effect is most pronounced at higher club head speeds--in excess of 100 mph.

These higher velocities have led the USGA (United States Golf Association) to set an upper limit on the speed at which the ball leaves the club head. Ball speed is measured in a strictly controlled test using something called the coefficient of restitution (COR). Drivers that register a COR higher than .83 are deemed to be illegal, or nonconforming, under USGA rules.

Because of this, drivers have reached a plateau. Although the larger heads make it easier to hit the ball, the walls can’t be thinned anymore because the heads cave in on impact. Perhaps the next step would be golf on the Moon!
Join us this week on The Deep as we talk to local golf pros about the science that has allowed such big strides in the world of golf.

ROCKETS AND FAXES
We’ve had some very exciting space news recently. We’re going back to the Moon and then on to Mars; the new 10th planet seems to have a Moon and the crew of the International Space Station is being changed thanks to the Russians since we’re still struggling with our own shuttle program.

But while we look to the future, we shouldn’t forget the past. The spirit of cooperation that keeps the ISS manned is certainly fairly new. We probably wouldn’t be where we are in space if it weren’t for the Russians that are now our allies. This is World Space Week, and the United Nations designated it because of several very important space anniversaries that happen this week.

Last Saturday was NASA’s 47th birthday. The federal agency was founded on October 1st, 1958 in direct response to another of October’s important dates. Yesterday, October 4th marks the 48th anniversary of the beginning of the Space Age (and the race for space with the Soviet Union). On that date in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and the whole world watched the burned-out third-stage of a rocket speed across the sky. Although we all thought we were watching Sputnik, the actual satellite was about the size of a basketball and too small to see with the unaided eye. Sputnik had two radio transmitters and the signals from them were used to gather information about the number of electrons in the upper atmosphere. The satellite’s temperature and pressure were also encoded in the radio beeps. This allowed Soviet scientists to ensure that Sputnik hadn’t been punctured by a meteor. Sputnik burned up during reentry on 3 January 1958. Visit thedeepradioshow.com to hear a recording of Sputnik’s radio signals.

SPUTNIK

And today we have a very important birthday celebration. Robert Goddard, the man who invented the modern-day rocket and made the Space Age possible was born on this day in 1882. Happy 123rd birthday, Dr. Goddard! Tomorrow marks the 46th anniversary of a very important fax. One of the frequent questions that I’m asked in the Planetarium is “How do we get the images back that are taken by our robot spaceships?” Well, they certainly don’t drop them off at the nearest photomat! Today, all images are transmitted pixel by pixel and assembled here on Earth in a similar process to making a TV image. But 46 years ago, it wasn't done that way. In 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 3, the very first spacecraft to take pictures of the far side of the moon; the side humans had never seen. Luna 3’s pictures were true photographs taken on film and developed in an onboard film-processing unit. These pictures were scanned on board the spacecraft and then faxed back to Earth. Like most faxed pictures, the quality was lousy, but we had our first pictures of the far side of the moon. We’ll have a waxing crescent moon in our sky all week. Have a look at it and remember our first faxed pictures of its far side.
	Robert Goddard

Whether we’re learning about golf or space history, The Deep, hosted by Jim Sullivan with Pam Eastlick and Peter Melyan is the place to be on K-57 tonight at 6:00 p.m. Don’t miss it!