An update on Boeing’s CST-100 capsule.
The competition heats up: An update on Boeing’s CST-100 capsule.
Year: 2013
A new U.N. report states that Iran has moved one step closer to building its own nuclear weapon.
The day of reckoning looms: A new U.N. report states that Iran has moved another step closer to building its own nuclear weapon.
R.I.P. Dr. David S. McKay: 1936-2013
R.I.P. Dr. David S. McKay: 1936-2013. More here.
Though he was most famous for being the lead author of the 1996 paper suggesting that fossil life had found in a Martian meteorite, McKay was one of the giants of planetary science whose work was far more extensive and important. He will be missed.
New data has allowed scientists to lower the chance that the asteroid Apophis will hit the Earth in a future orbit.
New data has allowed scientists to lower the chance that the asteroid Apophis will hit the Earth in a future orbit.
Recent observations from Pan-STARRS PS1 telescope at Haleakala, Hawaii have reduced the current orbital uncertainty by a factor of 5, and radar observations in early 2013 from Goldstone and Arecibo will further improve the knowledge of Apophis’ current position. However, the current knowledge is now precise enough that the uncertainty in predicting the position in 2029 is completely dominated by the so-called Yarkovsky effect, a subtle nongravitational perturbation due to thermal re-radiation of solar energy absorbed by the asteroid. The Yarkovsky effect depends on the asteroid’s size, mass, thermal properties, and critically on the orientation of the asteroid’s spin axis, which is currently unknown. This means that predictions for the 2029 Earth encounter will not improve significantly until these physical and spin characteristics are better determined.
The new report, which does not make use of the 2013 radar measurements, identifies over a dozen keyholes that fall within the range of possible 2029 encounter distances. Notably, the potential impact in 2036 that had previously held the highest probability has been effectively ruled out since its probability has fallen to well below one chance in one million. Indeed only one of the potential impacts has a probability of impact greater than 1-in-a-million; there is a 2-meter wide keyhole that leads to an impact in 2068, with impact odds of about 2.3 in a million.
The second paragraph basically says that the keyholes that might bring Apophis back to Earth are very small, making it unlikely that the asteroid will fly through any one of them in 2029. The first paragraph however notes that it will be impossible to chart the asteroid’s course accurately enough to rule out this possibility until we have more data on the asteroid itself.
In an interview in Australia, the head of the IPCC has admitted that the climate has stopped warming now for the past seventeen years.
Consensus! In an interview in Australia, the head of the IPCC has admitted that the climate has stopped warming now for the past seventeen years.
No computer climate model offered in any IPCC report predicted this long pause in warming. They all instead insisted that because of the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the global temperature would have to rise, and do so quickly and with catastrophic results.
In other words, those models were wrong. The climate is very complicated, and we don’t yet understand very well how it functions.
“Whose side are you on?”
Sarah Brightman – Don’t Cry For Me Argentina
An evening pause:
How to see Comet PANSTARRS, expected to be visible to the naked eye in the evening sky in March.
How to see Comet PANSTARRS, expected to be visible to the naked eye in the evening sky in March.
Using Kepler scientists have discovered a three planet solar system with one planet slightly larger than our Moon.
Using Kepler astronomers have discovered a three planet solar system with one planet slightly larger than our Moon.
Kepler-37’s host star belongs to the same class as our sun, although it is slightly cooler and smaller. All three planets orbit the star at less than the distance Mercury is to the sun, suggesting they are very hot, inhospitable worlds. [The moon-sized] Kepler-37b orbits every 13 days at less than one-third Mercury’s distance from the sun. The estimated surface temperature of this smoldering planet, at more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit (700 degrees Kelvin), would be hot enough to melt the zinc in a penny. Kepler-37c and Kepler-37d, orbit every 21 days and 40 days, respectively.
The TSA detained a wheelchair-bound three-year-old girl, took away her stuffed doll, and refused to allow the parents to videotape the child’s pat down.
Doesn’t this make you feel safer? The TSA detained a wheelchair-bound three-year-old girl, took away her stuffed doll, and refused to allow the parents to videotape the child’s pat down. Videotape at the link.
It is necessary for more people to challenge these thugs. (I don’t care that the agents in the video tried to be polite to the mother, they were still acting like brainless thugs.)
In an effort to save money and protect the environment, the U.S. Navy has decided to move away from fossil fuels and back to non-toxic and environmentally friendly wind power.
In an effort to save money and protect the environment, the U.S. Navy has decided to move away from fossil fuels and back to non-toxic and environmentally friendly wind power.
Not letting Republican obstructionism of the budget process go to waste, President Obama’s national defense team is putting together a plan to retrofit US warship with ‘tried-and-true’ sails, taking advantage of free, naturally occurring wind rather than diesel and nuclear fuels that put crews at constant risk of causing an ecological disaster.
Used by many advanced cultures for thousands of years, sails were the environmentally sound propulsion system for naval vessels until the 20th century.
Many experts agree that their return might just usher in a new era of ‘green military technology’ – if it can overcome opposition from the generals and the fossil fuels lobby, whose alleged “concerns” about military readiness only serve to ensure more profits for the military-industrial complex.
Read the whole thing. It makes perfect sense!
The anti-choice left’s disarming of the American woman.
The anti-choice left’s disarming of the American woman.
As I said, the fascists are out, and they appear no longer timid about telling us who they are and how they want to control our lives.