Author: Robert Zimmerman
Despite the continuing lack of an agreement, Kazakhstan today gave Russia permission to resume launches from the Baikonur spaceport.
Despite the continuing lack of an agreement, Kazakhstan today gave Russia permission to resume launches from the Baikonur spaceport.
Their new as yet unfinished spaceport in Vostochny must appear increasingly important to the Russians.
Despite the continuing lack of an agreement, Kazakhstan today gave Russia permission to resume launches from the Baikonur spaceport.
Their new as yet unfinished spaceport in Vostochny must appear increasingly important to the Russians.
Vertical Video Syndrome – a PSA
Geologists think they have finally identified the volcano that in 1258 AD produced the largest eruption in 7,000 years — an event that was completely unnoticed by humanity at the time.
Geologists think they have finally identified the volcano that in 1258 AD produced the largest eruption in 7,000 years — an event that was completely unnoticed by humanity at the time.
Geologists think they have finally identified the volcano that in 1258 AD produced the largest eruption in 7,000 years — an event that was completely unnoticed by humanity at the time.
On exhibit in New York: A mock mission to Mars, built by an artist using, among other things, duct tape.
On exhibit in New York: A mock mission to Mars, built by an artist using, among other things, duct tape.
On exhibit in New York: A mock mission to Mars, built by an artist using, among other things, duct tape.
Orbital Sciences has delayed the first testing firing of its Antares rocket until late July or early August.
Orbital Sciences has delayed the first testing firing of its Antares rocket until late July or early August.
This fact is buried about halfway down in the article, and does not mention what caused the delay. (Hat tip to Clark Lindsey.)
Orbital Sciences has delayed the first testing firing of its Antares rocket until late July or early August.
This fact is buried about halfway down in the article, and does not mention what caused the delay. (Hat tip to Clark Lindsey.)
Scientists have concluded that a 460 foot diameter asteroid only has a 1 percent chance of hitting the Earth in 2040.
O goody: Scientists have concluded that a 460 foot diameter asteroid only has a 1 percent chance of hitting the Earth in 2040.
Observations to date indicate there is a slight chance that AG5 could impact Earth in 2040. Attendees expressed confidence that in the next four years, analysis of space and ground-based observations will show the likelihood of 2011 AG5 missing Earth to be greater than 99 percent.
It appears that they won’t really be able to pin down the impact odds for 2040 until 2023, when the asteroid passes the Earth at a distance of 1.1 million miles.
O goody: Scientists have concluded that a 460 foot diameter asteroid only has a 1 percent chance of hitting the Earth in 2040.
Observations to date indicate there is a slight chance that AG5 could impact Earth in 2040. Attendees expressed confidence that in the next four years, analysis of space and ground-based observations will show the likelihood of 2011 AG5 missing Earth to be greater than 99 percent.
It appears that they won’t really be able to pin down the impact odds for 2040 until 2023, when the asteroid passes the Earth at a distance of 1.1 million miles.
The federal government is on a pace to exceed its $16.394 trillion debt limit sooner than expected, by October, just before the election.
The day of reckoning looms: The federal government is on a pace to exceed its $16.394 trillion debt limit sooner than expected, by October, just before the election.
The day of reckoning looms: The federal government is on a pace to exceed its $16.394 trillion debt limit sooner than expected, by October, just before the election.
The Sun’s fizzle continues
On June 4 NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center posted its monthly update of the ongoing sunspot cycle of the Sun. Now that I am back from Nevada, I’ve had a chance to take a look at it, and have posted the new graph for April below the fold.
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The EPA will propose today stricter standards for the release of soot by factories and power plants.
This should help the economy: The EPA will propose today stricter standards for the release of soot by factories and power plants.
This should help the economy: The EPA will propose today stricter standards for the release of soot by factories and power plants.
The nightmare of being a conservative on a modern college campus.
The nightmare of being a conservative on a modern college campus.
From my experience, the author only scratches the surface. The level of intolerance for conservative thought in academia has worsened in recent years, and in many cases has even risen to the level of physical danger for those who express any criticism of liberalism or the left.
The nightmare of being a conservative on a modern college campus.
From my experience, the author only scratches the surface. The level of intolerance for conservative thought in academia has worsened in recent years, and in many cases has even risen to the level of physical danger for those who express any criticism of liberalism or the left.
The IRS’s budget has grown by almost a billion dollars due to Obamacare.
And you thought Obamacare was about healthcare: The IRS’s budget has grown by almost a billion dollars due to Obamacare.
And you thought Obamacare was about healthcare: The IRS’s budget has grown by almost a billion dollars due to Obamacare.
China’s next manned mission, with one female astronaut aboard, will launch Saturday.
We have a date: China’s next manned mission, with one female astronaut aboard, will launch Saturday.
We have a date: China’s next manned mission, with one female astronaut aboard, will launch Saturday.
A UCLA professor who exposed corruption while also challenging the legitimacy of certain California fuel regulations, has sued the university for firing him.
The McCarthyism of the environmental movement: A UCLA professor who exposed corruption while also challenging the legitimacy of certain California fuel regulations, has sued the university for firing him.
Enstrom charged in 2008 that his colleagues exaggerated the adverse effects of particulate matter in order to justify expensive diesel fuel regulations to the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Enstrom testified in the same year to the state Senate that the lead contributor to the CARB report, Hien T. Tran, paid $1,000 for his Ph.D. from a fake university, and members of a CARB panel had exceeded their mandated three-year term limits by decades.
Shortly after Enstrom revealed the misconduct, UCLA began sending him notices of termination and has refused to compensate him for more than a year’s worth of work….
Tran was eventually suspended for 60 days, and one professor who had served on the CARB panel for 26 consecutive years was removed and later put back on the panel. John Froines, who has publicly supported diesel fuel regulations, was on a committee that voted to dismiss Enstrom.
Read the whole thing. It illustrates why attending UCLA for a science education is clearly a waste of time. They don’t want to teach their students science. They want to teach them propaganda.
The McCarthyism of the environmental movement: A UCLA professor who exposed corruption while also challenging the legitimacy of certain California fuel regulations, has sued the university for firing him.
Enstrom charged in 2008 that his colleagues exaggerated the adverse effects of particulate matter in order to justify expensive diesel fuel regulations to the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Enstrom testified in the same year to the state Senate that the lead contributor to the CARB report, Hien T. Tran, paid $1,000 for his Ph.D. from a fake university, and members of a CARB panel had exceeded their mandated three-year term limits by decades.
Shortly after Enstrom revealed the misconduct, UCLA began sending him notices of termination and has refused to compensate him for more than a year’s worth of work….
Tran was eventually suspended for 60 days, and one professor who had served on the CARB panel for 26 consecutive years was removed and later put back on the panel. John Froines, who has publicly supported diesel fuel regulations, was on a committee that voted to dismiss Enstrom.
Read the whole thing. It illustrates why attending UCLA for a science education is clearly a waste of time. They don’t want to teach their students science. They want to teach them propaganda.
“The latest data indicate that we are clearly in a new region where things are changing more quickly. It is very exciting. We are approaching the solar system’s frontier.”
Engineers have successfully tested a spare reaction wheel on Mars Odyssey in their effort to bring the spacecraft back into full operation.
Engineers have successfully tested a spare reaction wheel on Mars Odyssey in their effort to bring the spacecraft back into full operation.
After more than 11 years of non-operational storage, the spare reaction wheel passed preliminary tests on Wednesday, June 12, spinning at up to 5,000 rotations per minute forward and backward. Odyssey engineers plan to substitute it for a reaction wheel they have assessed as no longer reliable. That wheel stuck for a few minutes last week, causing Odyssey to put itself into safe mode on June 8, Universal Time (June 7, Pacific Time).
Engineers have successfully tested a spare reaction wheel on Mars Odyssey in their effort to bring the spacecraft back into full operation.
After more than 11 years of non-operational storage, the spare reaction wheel passed preliminary tests on Wednesday, June 12, spinning at up to 5,000 rotations per minute forward and backward. Odyssey engineers plan to substitute it for a reaction wheel they have assessed as no longer reliable. That wheel stuck for a few minutes last week, causing Odyssey to put itself into safe mode on June 8, Universal Time (June 7, Pacific Time).
Copenhagen Suborbitals: The crazy DIY spaceflight project that just might work.
Copenhagen Suborbitals: The crazy DIY spaceflight project that just might work.
Copenhagen Suborbitals: The crazy DIY spaceflight project that just might work.
Billy Joel – Piano Man
A painted red disk of cave art has now been dated at 40,800 years old, making it the oldest known art that might even have been painted by the Neanderthals.
A painted red disk of cave art has now been dated at 40,800 years old, making it the oldest known art that might even have been painted by the Neanderthals.
A painted red disk of cave art has now been dated at 40,800 years old, making it the oldest known art that might even have been painted by the Neanderthals.
The real estate crash: We’ve only just begun
A real estate industry group today announced that there was a nine percent jump in foreclosures during the month of May.
RealtyTrac reported that 205,990 U.S. properties received filings last month, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, marking the first monthly increase since January. Bank repossessions climbed steeply, up 7% to 54,844, after hitting a four-year low in April.
The report also noted that foreclosures made up 26% of U.S. home sales in first quarter and that more than 30% of mortgage borrowers were still underwater.
As someone who just moved to Tucson and spent more than six months searching for and finally purchasing a home, I can add a bit of personal experience to these dry statistics. And my perspective is sadly not encouraging.
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Has Voyager 1 finally left the solar system?
A new poll in Nevada repeats what was found in North Carolina: Obama appears to be losing a significant percentage of the black vote.
A new poll in Nevada repeats what was found in North Carolina: Obama appears to be losing a significant percentage of the black vote.
Both polls could be noise. If true, however, the Democrats cannot win. Without 95% of the black vote they just do not garner enough votes from any other group to win.
And if this is true, it will also mean that the racism in the black community might finally be abating. Voting for a candidate merely because of skin color is still bigotry, no matter what the skin color. If the black community is finally gaining the ability to see past skin color it will be a very good thing.
A new poll in Nevada repeats what was found in North Carolina: Obama appears to be losing a significant percentage of the black vote.
Both polls could be noise. If true, however, the Democrats cannot win. Without 95% of the black vote they just do not garner enough votes from any other group to win.
And if this is true, it will also mean that the racism in the black community might finally be abating. Voting for a candidate merely because of skin color is still bigotry, no matter what the skin color. If the black community is finally gaining the ability to see past skin color it will be a very good thing.
Watch an asteroid a third of a mile across zip past the Earth tonight.
Watch an asteroid a third of a mile across zip past the Earth tonight.
Watch an asteroid a third of a mile across zip past the Earth tonight.
China is in its final preparations for the launch of its next manned mission.
The new colonial movement: China is in its final preparations for the launch of its next manned mission, expected any day now.
This is the key quote from the article:
China aims to build a space station around 2020 based on the space rendezvous and docking technology that is currently being tested. Several components will be sent into space separately before being assembled into a space station through a variety of docking procedures.
The new colonial movement: China is in its final preparations for the launch of its next manned mission, expected any day now.
This is the key quote from the article:
China aims to build a space station around 2020 based on the space rendezvous and docking technology that is currently being tested. Several components will be sent into space separately before being assembled into a space station through a variety of docking procedures.
Scientists have developed a genetically altered mosquito that does not transmit malaria to humans.
Yow! Scientists have developed a genetically altered mosquito that cannot transmit malaria to humans.
Yow! Scientists have developed a genetically altered mosquito that cannot transmit malaria to humans.
More lakes on Titan
Vaughan Williams – Sea Songs
A global view of Vesta
The accumulating data from Dawn has now allowed scientists to compile a global picture of the varied surface makeup of the asteroid Vesta.
The colors were chosen to highlight differences in surface composition that are too subtle for the human eye to see. Scientists are still analyzing what some of the colors mean for the composition of the surface. But it is clear that the orange material thrown out from some impact craters is different from the surrounding surface material. Green shows the relative abundance of iron. Parts of the huge impact basin known as Rheasilvia in Vesta’s southern hemisphere, for instance, have areas with less iron than nearby areas.
It also makes for a very nice image of the giant asteroid.
Mars Odyssey put itself into safe mode on Friday when it detected problems with one of the three reaction wheels used to orient the spacecraft.
Mars Odyssey put itself into safe mode on Friday when it detected problems with one of the three reaction wheels used to orient the spacecraft.
If this space probe goes down, it will make it more difficult to rely data back from Opportunity, now on the Martian surface, and Curiosity, due to land in two months.
Mars Odyssey put itself into safe mode on Friday when it detected problems with one of the three reaction wheels used to orient the spacecraft.
If this space probe goes down, it will make it more difficult to rely data back from Opportunity, now on the Martian surface, and Curiosity, due to land in two months.
Cave exploration in the western mountains
Anthony Smith struggling up a scree mountain slope.
I have only visited Nevada twice before, and those visits had been limited to the area around Las Vegas. Thus, my impression of the state had been similar to what most other people assume: a big ostentatious urban city surrounded by boring flat deserts.
Instead what I found is that Nevada is probably one of the most beautiful states in the nation. It has many mountain ranges, interspersed with wide flat valleys, a number of which have lakes or swampy areas because the water is trapped there, draining neither to the Pacific or Atlantic.
Yet, it is desert country. The limited amount of water means that the state is lightly populated, and the few farms or ranches that you pass actually act to amplify the feeling of emptiness. This is further enhanced by the frequent mountain ranges. Every time you cross over a range, you find yourself high in the air with a spectacular view of the vast valleys below.
The Forest Service job that I was part of this past week was focused on inventorying and surveying a number of known caves covering a large area in northeastern Nevada. The work had actually started several years earlier, so that this particular week was the final wrap up, mapping the last few known caves on the list while also ridge-walking several different canyons in an effort to find some new discoveries.
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