Aggieland2015 It’s not too late to order your copy of the 2015 Aggieland yearbook. The 113th edition of Texas A&M's official yearbook will chronicle the 2014-2015 school year - traditions, academics, athletics, the other education, the Corps, Greeks, residence halls, campus organizations, and student portraits. Distribution will be in Fall 2015. By credit card go online to http://aggieland.tamu.edu or call 979-845-2613. Or drop by the Student Media office in Suite L400 of the MSG Aggieland2015 Senior Boot Bag NEWS The Battalion I 1.29.15 Price Includes Logo and Name (More logos available) Shop for Little Aggies to an Aggie Xmas: etsy. com/sh op/aggiesan dbows by Charlotte, Reveille’s Seamstress Store Location: A&B Self Storage 1701 N Earl Rudder Fwy Bryan, TX 979-778-2293 charboeg@yahoo.com Second Location: Craft and Antique Mall CS 2218 Texas Ave. South College StatioN, TX 979-255-8905 Over $65,000 in weekly cash prizes ! Food at Orest Prices Qf? 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NEW DONORS EARN IN YOUR FIRST 2 DONATIONS $ ioo TWO LOCATIONS TO DONATE AT! 1973) 315-4101 I {979) 314-3872 4223 Wellborn Rd 700 University Dr E., Ste 111 Bryan, TX 77801 | College Station, TX 77840 .-r-- ' ' : ;; ;r G. z* 4 - : A - A v \ 3: VI3 : TM- V ' v - ^ A ' , G • •'S 1 ■ ' " •/' i, ' ^ VV'T v'jiSaiaM RENDERING PROVIDED The Planetary Society will launch its LightSail spacecraft in May to test whether light is a feasible propulsion system. Pushed by starlight 2015 kicks off with innovative space exploration test John Rangel (S)JohnRangel2016 azing at the stars nearly 400 I Vj years ago, Johannes Kepler no- ticed something out of place — comet tails seemed to be blown about by a “solar wind,” a phenomenon he described as a possible way to propel space ships throughout the heavens. Europeans at the time were eagerly sailing to the New World on wind- driven ships; why not do the same in space? Kepler’s “solar wind” never gained traction with 17th century explor ers and was eventually disproved, but the idea to harness the sun as propul sion has fascinated science fiction fans and scientists ever since. For much of written history, people have seen something fascinating from afar, raised a sail and explored it. The idea that outer space might be so easily traveled is a dream for space enthusiasts every where and it took a small step closer to reality this week. The Planetary Society, a private non-profit space advocacy group, announced Monday that its LightSail spacecraft would launch in May. The launch is just a test — the satellite will only have enough time to test its systems upon deployment before it burns up in re-entry — but LightSail’s emergence is a milestone for two reasons. It will give engineers valuable data about how to successfully launch a second LightSail in 2016, which is expected to fully deploy and use the sun’s light to navigate. And the entire project was developed and funded by private citizens, not governments. The science behind LightSail is an exploration into the quirky contradic tions beyond classical physics. People walk through sunlight every day of their lives, but no one I know of has ever been knocked over by a strong gust of solar wind. Light feels warm, looks beautiful and for everyday rea soning has no mass — unless you’re a rocket scientist. Light is made up of particles called photons. The massive forces that keep the sun burning emit streams of" photons, among other things. While photons don’t have mass in the clas sical sense, they do have momentum and thus can be modeled as tiny tennis balls. If you throw a tennis ball at a toy boat’s sail, the impact will force the boat forward by a transfer of momentum. LightSail will do the same, but on a larger scale. It will deploy a reflective sheet just 1/4 the thickness of a trash bag over an area of 344 square feet. Millions of photons will strike this surface every second, each imparting a tiny amount of mo mentum. It is a slow but continuous process that may one day accelerate spacecraft to speeds faster than con ventional rockets. If such technology can be proven, it would open up untold opportu nity for space exploration. Spacecraft would no longer need heavy rockets or complicated thrusters. Future men and women may one day see a star that fascinates them, point a spacecraft in the general direction, raise a sail and explore it. And if you venture too far from a star, no worries — future ground-based lasers could one day accelerate lightsail ships far into deep space and beyond. Who knew space travel could be so easy? John Rangel is an aerospace engineering junior and science and technology editor for The Battalion. FOUCAULT CONTINUED in hard political times ... and socio-economic hard times.” Guy Whitten, political science professor and di rector of the Program in Scientific Political Meth odology, said he found Foucault’s presentation insightful and thought the data on public opinion in the French democracy reflected events in Ameri ca’s recent past, namely in the aftermath of 9/11. “What he was show ing and what he is starting to see in some of the data they’ve taken since the Charlie Hebdo events is that things have temporar ily gotten better, but this is what always happens,” Whitten said. “I mean this is what always happens, we saw this after 9/11, Bush’s popularity soared to a sort of all-time record and then sort of steadily went down.” Whitten said although this spike in unified pub lic sentiment is a common short-term trend, it is not something that tends to last. Whitten said the long-term data typically shows public opinion turn fairly pessimistic. Whitten said these trends happen across the histories of all longer- standing Western democ racies. “I think we see this across a lot of major de mocracies — the older, more mature democracies — people don’t like the national politicians, they don’t like the national po litical parties, but they still think with all its flaws that democracy is the way to go,” Whitten said. Claire Stieg, political science graduate student, said she found the lecture very timely and applicable with current events. “I think in light of the recent events and what’s happening in France it’s very relevant, and he broke it down so it was easy for someone who’s not necessarily an aca demic to see what’s going on in France right now and see how the popula tion is reacting to current events,” Stieg said. MACBETH CONTINUED Dan Martinez, leadership senior and acting chair of the Aggie Screenwriting Acting and Production Club, said Macbeth would be an inter esting role to play because the character kills his king for power, then kills his friend out of fear of losing that power and deals with guilt throughout most of the play. “I actually got to see the London actors last year,” Martinez said. “They did a spectacular job and they only had five actors there as well. I don’t think that just five people are going to limit the performance of it, because there’s so much liberties you can take.” Greenwald said the com plexity of Macbeth adds to the play. “Fie knows what he’s do ing, he knows he’s literally playing with fire and by fire I mean Fiell,” Greenwald said. “To kill anybody is bad, but to kill a king — they said a king was the ultimate act of sacrilege, because who puts the king on the throne? God. So to kill a king was, in a sense, to lash out on God "'Macbeth' is a taie of revenge and greed and fust for power." Laura Estiil, assistant professor in the Department of English himself. ” Estiil says the campus is fortunate to have the Actors from the London Stage come to College Station to portray Macbeth and other charac ters. “I’m really looking for ward to this production,” Es- till said. “Despite the fact that the play is cursed, it’s actually a blessing for us to have the actors coming.” The performance is at 7 p.m. Thursday in Rudder Theatre. Tickets are $5 per student and $10 general ad mission. JWiscxxvoJRcisoarieli in< . FLU BUG GOT YOU? % BAT 7 Mark Dore, Editor in Chief Individuals, 13-65 years oTage ■ Fever, Chills, HeadacHej^-o^ryC G' Body Aches, Cough, Cong&Mf [ l y ■ Up to $540 for time & travel. ^ - «4 ' s jSF