Silly me, I should have checked here first to see the full story (since the 90s) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu Amara -- Amara Graps, PhD www.amara.com Associate Research Scientist, Planetary Science Institute (PSI), Tucson INAF Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), Roma, Italia