After 166 days in orbit, three astronauts safely returned to Earth this evening in a Soyuz capsule.
After 166 days in orbit, three astronauts safely returned to Earth this evening in a Soyuz capsule.
Year: 2013
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An evening pause: I think this video captures the thoughtfulness and objectivity of the Obama voter and today’s progressive left better than anything else I have seen or read.
The first commercial launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has been pushed back to September 14.
The first commercial launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has been pushed back to September 14.
I must apologize to my readers. I completely missed this news item last week. However, in my defense SpaceX has been unusually tight-lipped this time with information.
The launch itself also seems dependent on a hot fire engine test that SpaceX wishes to do first, which means that the September 14 date might still be pushed back again.
After more than two weeks the labor strike at the ALMA telescope array in Chile has ended.
After more than two weeks the labor strike at the ALMA telescope array in Chile has ended.
“The face of the sun is nearly blank.”
Today NOAA posted its monthly update of the solar cycle, and as I do every month, I am posting it here, with annotations.
Before we take a look at that, however, there is other climate news that is apropos. The Daily Mail in the UK put out an entertaining article on Saturday with the headline “And now it’s global COOLING! Record return of Arctic ice cap as it grows by 60% in a year.”
The article is entertaining because, after illustrating the ice-cap’s recovery this year, it then notes the 2007 prediction by global warming climate scientists that the Arctic Ocean would be “ice-free” by 2013. If this isn’t a good example of the dangers of crying wolf, I don’t know what is.
I should emphasize that the ice-cap recovery this year does not prove that global warming has ceased. A look at this graph from satellite data shows that even though the Arctic icecap has recovered, it is still remains small when compared to the past few decades. The increase this year might only be a blip, or it could be indicating a new trend. We won’t really know for another five years, if then.
The article is also entertaining because it outlines the confusion that is right now going on behind the scenes at the IPCC. The next IPCC report is scheduled to come out next month, but no one agrees with its conclusions because it apparently ignores or minimizes the approximately fifteen year pause in warming that has now been documented since the late-1990s.
In its draft report, the IPCC says it is ‘95 per cent confident’ that global warming has been caused by humans – up from 90 per cent in 2007. This claim is already hotly disputed. US climate expert Professor Judith Curry said last night: ‘In fact, the uncertainty is getting bigger. It’s now clear the models are way too sensitive to carbon dioxide. I cannot see any basis for the IPCC increasing its confidence level.’ [emphasis mine]
It appears that scientists and governments are demanding approximately 1500 changes to the IPCC draft, which suggests its release will be delayed significantly.
Meanwhile, the Sun continues its lackluster and weak solar maximum.
» Read more
A tea party leader in Oklahoma has been charged with a felony because he sent an email to an state senator demanding he do his job or face the political consequences.
Modern America: A tea party leader in Oklahoma has been charged with a felony because he sent an email to an state senator demanding he do his job or face the political consequences.
NASA engineers have successfully fixed the glitch on the LADEE spacecraft.
NASA engineers have successfully fixed the glitch on the LADEE spacecraft.
Having completed its investigation into its scrubbed launch two weeks ago, Japan’s space agency JAXA has announced a September 14 launch date for its new Epsilon rocket.
Having completed its investigation into its scrubbed launch two weeks ago, Japan’s space agency JAXA has announced a September 14 launch date for its new Epsilon rocket.
The first and second launch of the Space Launch System are likely to be delayed due to budget issues.
The first and second launch of the Space Launch System are likely to be delayed due to budget issues.
“It’s very clear that we could have slips of a year or two,” said [deputy administrator Lori] Garver, referring to both the 2017 launch — which won’t have a crew — and the first planned flight of NASA astronauts aboard the SLS rocket in 2021.
Garver claims that it is insufficient funds for SLS that will cause the delays, despite getting $3 billion per year, or ten times the money the private commercial program is getting.
I’m on a hike today, but so any additional comments about this insanity will have to wait.
NASA’s lunar probe LADEE was successfully launched tonight from Wallops Island.
NASA’s lunar probe LADEE was successfully launched tonight from Wallops Island.
Update: A computer glitch occurred shortly after reaching orbit, causing the computer to shut down the spacecraft’s reaction wheels.
Engineers seem unworried, and expect to have the problem solved within a couple of days.
The project manager said today that all the problems outlined in a December GAO report have been resolved.
Some good news from the James Webb Space Telescope: The project manager said today that all the problems outlined in a December GAO report have been resolved.
Some of these issues are also described here.
The Russians are including a bathroom in their next generation manned vehicle, something they note Orion will not have.
The competition heats up: The Russians are including a bathroom in their next generation manned vehicle, something they note Orion will not have.
A new Russian spaceship for trips to the moon or the International Space Station will have at least one crucial advantage over its American rival – a toilet, one of the craft’s developers said Friday. “I don’t think I need to elaborate on how a waste-collection system is much more comfortable than the diapers that astronauts aboard the [US spacecraft] Orion will have to use,” said Vladimir Pirozhkov of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, which is involved in the development of the Russian ship. “Besides, the Russian segment of the International Space Station [ISS] has a limited number of toilets, which means a spacecraft with an extra ‘space toilet’ will come in handy,” he added.
As much as I am skeptical of Orion and SLS, I am equally skeptical of the Russian claims of a next generation manned spacecraft. They have been unveiling these proposals now for more than a decade, with nothing ever getting built. With Orion we at least have an existing capsule, even if its bulkhead needed to fixed.
Though I will agree with them on one point: Putting a toilet on a vehicle intended to go beyond Earth orbit, which Orion is supposed to be designed to do, makes common sense. That NASA didn’t include this essential item in Orion reveals to us the unseriousness of the spacecraft.