Camino del Rey
An evening pause:El Camino del Rey (The King’s Road) is a crumbling walkway high on the cliff walls of El Chorro canyon in Andalusia, Spain. The hike is not for the faint-hearted.
Year: 2010
Spacewalk a complete success, old pump removed
Today’s spacewalk on ISS was a complete success. The astronauts successfully removed the failed coolant pump and made preparations to install the replacement pump on their next spacewalk.
NASA narrows asteroids to visit to three
NASA officials have reviewed the list of Near Earth Objects and found only three that meet all the constraints for a manned mission. Key quote:
Out of the 44 reachable asteroids, 27 were too small, and only 15 have orbits that allow for exploration between 2020 and 2050 — the timeframe NASA wants to pursue for NEO missions. The 180-day mission constraint further cuts the list to three.
It must also be noted that none of these asteroids are reachable without a heavy-lift rocket like the Ares V.
Rebuilding the American space program — the right way
In reading my post, Both for and against the Obama plan, reader Trent Waddington emailed me to say that this “is so fatalistic that it seems you don’t think it is worthwhile even spending a few minutes explaining why the policy is good. It’s easy to dismiss something a politician says as the stopped clock that is right twice a day. It’s harder to set aside your skepticism and explain why something is good policy.”
Trent is absolutely correct. What I wrote was very depressing and fatalistic. However, I think it very important to be coldly honest about things, no matter how bad they look. Once you’ve done that, you then have the right information necessary for fixing the situation.
My problem with most of the debate about the future space policy of the United States, — as well as innumerable other modern issues faced by our government — is that people don’t seem to want to face up to the reality of the problem. In the case of space and Obama, I doubt any advice, gentle or otherwise, is going to move him into putting forth a plan for NASA that has any realistic chance of getting passed by Congress. As I noted in a different post, he doesn’t play the game. He acts like the worst sort of autocrat, convinced that if he simply says what he wants to do, everyone must agree.
The reason the good part of his plan (commercial space) is not passing Congress is not because people think it is a bad idea. It is being rejected because » Read more
National anthem forbidden at Lincoln Memorial
Freedom of speech alert! Plus a bit of stupidity. A security guard at the Lincoln Memorial ordered students to stop singing the National Anthem, staying that their actions were a violation of federal law.
California budget a billion over in first month
The great disconnect, part 2,345: In July, the first month of California’s fiscal year, the state spent $1 billion dollars more than had been forecast. Meanwhile, the state legislature has not yet passed a budget.
Diversifying your research portfolio
In this paper [pdf] adapted from a lecture he gave at an astronomy conference, Harvard researcher Abraham Loeb warns young scientists that their tendency today to take on safe research projects is unwise. Moreover, he notes the increasing “herd mentality” due to “stronger social pressure”, “more competition in the job market,” and the “growing fraction of observational and theoretical projects . . . done in large groups with rigid research agendas and tight schedules.” Key quote:
It is always prudent to allocate some limited resources to innovative ideas beyond any dogmatic “mainstream,” because even if only one out of a million such ideas bears fruit, it could transform our view of reality and justify the entire effort. This lesson is surprisingly unpopular in the current culture of funding agencies like NSF or NASA, which promote research with predictable and safe goals.
Hubble image of face-on galaxy
Another spectacular Hubble Space Telescope image was released today, showing a face-on spiral galaxy in the Coma cluster, located about 320 million light years away. Key quote:
The galaxy, known as NGC 4911, contains rich lanes of dust and gas near its center. These are silhouetted against glowing newborn star clusters and iridescent pink clouds of hydrogen, the existence of which indicates ongoing star formation. Hubble has also captured the outer spiral arms of NGC 4911, along with thousands of other galaxies of varying sizes.
More details about tomorrow’s planned spacewalk
Here’s another detailed look at tomorrow’s planned spacewalk, and what NASA engineers are doing on the ground and what the astronauts will do in space to eliminate the ammonia leak.
SpaceX readies Dragon for first flight
SpaceX is readying its Dragon capsule for its first test flight, sometime this fall.
ISS tour, part 2
An evening pause: Mike Finke’s tour of ISS continues, showing us the Columbus module, a crew cabin, the Destiny module, and into the Harmony module.
Protesters arrested on Texas campus during Obama visit
Freedom of speech alert? I’d like more information. Four protesters arrested on a Texas campus on Monday during a visit by Obama.
Update on plane crash: O’Keefe and son survive
Update: Keith Cowing of SpaceRef reports that Sean O’Keefe and his son have survived the Alaskan plane crash today that killed former senator Ted Stevens.
Update: Thanks to commenter Ric who noted that Ted Stevens was not governor but senator. Too much travel and not enough sleep. I’ve corrected the webpage.
State Department: The Taliban is not a terrorist organization
Talk about having trouble with reality: According to a new State department report listing worldwide terrorist organizations, the Taliban does not qualify.
We don’t have a deficit problem
In an amazing illustration of what I call the great disconnect, AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka blandly claims in this interview that the United States does “not have a deficit crisis.”
Interview with Elon Musk
Spacevidcast has posted on YouTube as well as on their own webpage the first 10 minutes of a 20 minute interview with Elon Musk of SpaceX. You can see the full 20 miutes if you sign up for their Epic service.
For me, the interesting part of the interview is when he discusses the recent story about SpaceX’s plans to build a heavy-lift rocket, dubbed Falcon X. He explained that the proposal was not actually part of the company’s official plans. but the brainstorming ideas of one of the company’s engineers at an engineering conference. He also made it clear that he did not reject the idea. He likes giving his engineers the freedom to talk about such things publicly, even if the company is not yet ready to pursue them.
Democratic official attacks videographer
Watch the reaction of Democrat Bill Skaggs, the Kansas City mayor pro tem (1st district councilman) and former member of the State House of Representatives when he notices that he is being videotaped on this public street, then ask yourself if this is a reasonable reaction for an elected official.
Plane crash in Alaska, Stevens, O’Keefe on board
A plane crash in Alaska with nine passengers included former Alaska senator Ted Stevens and former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe. Though five deaths are reported, the identities of the dead and suvivors has not yet been releasted.
Historians identify early English scribes
Two University of York researchers have identified the scribes who first made copies of some of English literatures most important early works. Key quote:
The discoveries were the result of painstaking research in the London Metropolitan Archives, where the York scholars matched the handwriting of scribes copying important early English literary manuscripts with the hands of Guildhall clerks copying documents and custumals.
Iridium profits up
Rising from the dead. The satellite phone company Iridium, once bankrupt, reports strong growth in sales and subscribers.