Author: Robert Zimmerman
Looking for Beagle 2
SpaceX outlines its new design goals for Falcon 9
What competition brings: SpaceX outlines its new design goals for Falcon 9 and its Merlin rocket engine.
[U]pcoming upgrades to the engine (Merlin 1D) will provide a vast improvement in performance, reliability and manufacturability – all of which could provide a timely boost to aiding the potential for success for the fully reusable Falcon 9.
Increased reliability: Simplified design by eliminating components and sub-assemblies. Increased fatigue life. Increased chamber and nozzle thermal margins,” noted SpaceX in listing the improvements in work.
Improved Performance: Thrust increased from 95,000 lbf (sea level) to 140,000 lbf (sea level). Added throttle capability for range from 70-100 percent. Currently, it is necessary to shut off two engines during ascent. The Merlin 1D will make it possible to throttle all engines. Structure was removed from the engine to make it lighter.
Improved Manufacturability: Simplified design to use lower cost manufacturing techniques. Reduced touch labor and parts count. Increased in-house production at SpaceX.
That’s just the engine. Most of the article however talks about the company’s effort to make as much of Falcon 9 reusable as possible. Hat tip to Clark Lindsey.
What competition brings: SpaceX outlines its new design goals for Falcon 9 and its Merlin rocket engine.
[U]pcoming upgrades to the engine (Merlin 1D) will provide a vast improvement in performance, reliability and manufacturability – all of which could provide a timely boost to aiding the potential for success for the fully reusable Falcon 9.
Increased reliability: Simplified design by eliminating components and sub-assemblies. Increased fatigue life. Increased chamber and nozzle thermal margins,” noted SpaceX in listing the improvements in work.
Improved Performance: Thrust increased from 95,000 lbf (sea level) to 140,000 lbf (sea level). Added throttle capability for range from 70-100 percent. Currently, it is necessary to shut off two engines during ascent. The Merlin 1D will make it possible to throttle all engines. Structure was removed from the engine to make it lighter.
Improved Manufacturability: Simplified design to use lower cost manufacturing techniques. Reduced touch labor and parts count. Increased in-house production at SpaceX.
That’s just the engine. Most of the article however talks about the company’s effort to make as much of Falcon 9 reusable as possible. Hat tip to Clark Lindsey.
“I’d hoped for something different.”
“I’d hoped for something different.”
Me too. But Rome wasn’t built in a day. And this is all the more reason to vote more conservatives into power. And to not be afraid of new faces whom we’ve never heard of. The familiar names surely aren’t doing what is necessary.
“I’d hoped for something different.”
Me too. But Rome wasn’t built in a day. And this is all the more reason to vote more conservatives into power. And to not be afraid of new faces whom we’ve never heard of. The familiar names surely aren’t doing what is necessary.
Man charged after baby was found abandoned in an Occupy DC tent
Man charged after a baby was found abandoned in an Occupy DC tent.
Which immediately makes me think of this video comedy sketch:
Man charged after a baby was found abandoned in an Occupy DC tent.
Which immediately makes me think of this video comedy sketch:
How it’s made – Bubble gum
A solar system in miniature
Another space tourism company moves forward with flight plans this year
Another space tourism company, Xcor, has announced its test flight schedule for 2012.
Taxi tests are scheduled to begin in October or November, which will be quickly followed by a short hop and finally a brief first flight by the end of the year.
Another space tourism company, Xcor, has announced its test flight schedule for 2012.
Taxi tests are scheduled to begin in October or November, which will be quickly followed by a short hop and finally a brief first flight by the end of the year.
The EPA is fining companies millions because they didn’t use a fuel that doesn’t exist
Touching our lives every day: In 2011 the EPA fined companies millions because they didn’t use a fuel that doesn’t exist.
Touching our lives every day: In 2011 the EPA fined companies millions because they didn’t use a fuel that doesn’t exist.
“Who wouldn’t firing these people?”
“the EPA touches on the lives of every single American every single day.”
Obama today: “The EPA touches on the lives of every single American every single day.”
Truer words were never spoken, but not in the way the President intended. He was speaking to a gathering of EPA employees in Washington, DC, and was praising them for their work. To the rest of the nation, however, the EPA’s effort is increasingly seen as a terrible burden that is squelching both the economy and the freedom of Americans.
Obama today: “The EPA touches on the lives of every single American every single day.”
Truer words were never spoken, but not in the way the President intended. He was speaking to a gathering of EPA employees in Washington, DC, and was praising them for their work. To the rest of the nation, however, the EPA’s effort is increasingly seen as a terrible burden that is squelching both the economy and the freedom of Americans.
Democratic dead people receive ballots to vote in New Hampshire primary
The dead, mostly Democratic, get to vote in the New Hampshire primary.
The story includes video of election workers handing out the voter ballots for deceased voters to whomever asks and telling them they didn’t need to show id to use those ballots to vote.
The dead, mostly Democratic, get to vote in the New Hampshire primary.
The story includes video of election workers handing out the voter ballots for deceased voters to whomever asks and telling them they didn’t need to show id to use those ballots to vote.
Kepler finds more planets orbiting double star systems
Kepler has found two more planets orbiting double star systems.
The data also suggests that there will be millions of planets in the galaxy orbiting double stars.
FYI, all this astronomy news is because the American Astronomical Society is having its conference this week in Texas, and today is releasing has what I consider the best news stories.
Kepler has found two more planets orbiting double star systems.
The data also suggests that there will be millions of planets in the galaxy orbiting double stars.
FYI, all this astronomy news is because the American Astronomical Society is having its conference this week in Texas, and today is releasing has what I consider the best news stories.
Astronomers have concluded that the stars in the Milky Way must average at least one planet per star.
Billions and billions! Astronomers have concluded that the stars in the Milky Way must average at least one planet per star. More importantly, the data says the galaxy should have billions of habitable planets.
[According to astronomer Uffe Gråe Jørgensen], a statistical analysis … shows that out of the Milky Way’s 100 billion stars, there are about 10 billion stars with planets in the habitable zone. This means that there may be billions of habitable planets in the Milky Way.
Billions and billions! Astronomers have concluded that the stars in the Milky Way must average at least one planet per star. More importantly, the data says the galaxy should have billions of habitable planets.
[According to astronomer Uffe Gråe Jørgensen], a statistical analysis … shows that out of the Milky Way’s 100 billion stars, there are about 10 billion stars with planets in the habitable zone. This means that there may be billions of habitable planets in the Milky Way.
New data suggests that the crash of two white dwarf stars caused the nearest supernovae in 25 years
New data has found that the crash of two white dwarf stars not only caused the nearest supernova in 25 years, but appear to be the prime cause for these types of supernovae.
The data also says that there are no white dwarf primary systems in the Milky Way that are candidates to go supernova in this way. Thus, we can all sleep easy tonight!
New data has found that the crash of two white dwarf stars not only caused the nearest supernova in 25 years, but appear to be the prime cause for these types of supernovae.
The data also says that there are no white dwarf primary systems in the Milky Way that are candidates to go supernova in this way. Thus, we can all sleep easy tonight!
The most distant supernova discovered so far.
The most distant supernova discovered so far.
SN Primo is the farthest Type Ia supernova whose distance has been confirmed through spectroscopic observations. The supernova was discovered as part of a three-year Hubble program to survey faraway Type Ia supernovae, enabling searches for this special class of stellar explosion at greater distances than previously possible. The remote supernovae will help astronomers determine whether the exploding stars remain dependable distance markers across vast distances of space in an epoch when the cosmos was only one-third its current age of 13.7 billion years.
The most distant supernova discovered so far.
SN Primo is the farthest Type Ia supernova whose distance has been confirmed through spectroscopic observations. The supernova was discovered as part of a three-year Hubble program to survey faraway Type Ia supernovae, enabling searches for this special class of stellar explosion at greater distances than previously possible. The remote supernovae will help astronomers determine whether the exploding stars remain dependable distance markers across vast distances of space in an epoch when the cosmos was only one-third its current age of 13.7 billion years.
Hubble takes a close up of the double nucleus of the Andromedea galaxy
The Hubble Space Telescope has taken a close up of the double nucleus of the Andromedea galaxy, and found an interesting cluster of hot blue stars in between the two clusters.
Click on the image for the full resolution version of the image.
The Hubble Space Telescope has taken a close up of the double nucleus of the Andromedea galaxy, and found an interesting cluster of hot blue stars in between the two clusters.
Click on the image for the full resolution version of the image.
Obama Gets Only 82% of Democrat Vote in New Hampshire – Running Unopposed
Forget about the Republican primary. I think this tidbit is far more instructive: Obama got only 82% of the Democrat vote in New Hampshire – running unopposed.
Forget about the Republican primary. I think this tidbit is far more instructive: Obama got only 82% of the Democrat vote in New Hampshire – running unopposed.
The Supreme Court looks hard at the EPA and doesn’t like what it sees
The Supreme Court looks hard at the EPA and doesn’t like what it sees.
This case is about the EPA’s ongoing effort to steal property from private landowners.
The Sacketts wanted to build a home on a 0.63-acre lot near Priest Lake in the Idaho panhandle that they bought for $23,000. But after three days of bringing in fill dirt and preparing for construction in 2007, officials from the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ordered the activity stopped and said they suspected the land contained wetlands.
Months later, the agency sent the Sacketts a “compliance order” that said the land must be restored as a wetlands before the couple could apply for a building permit. The government acknowledged Monday that fines for failure to comply with the orders could be as much as $75,000 a day.
The Supreme Court looks hard at the EPA and doesn’t like what it sees.
This case is about the EPA’s ongoing effort to steal property from private landowners.
The Sacketts wanted to build a home on a 0.63-acre lot near Priest Lake in the Idaho panhandle that they bought for $23,000. But after three days of bringing in fill dirt and preparing for construction in 2007, officials from the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ordered the activity stopped and said they suspected the land contained wetlands.
Months later, the agency sent the Sacketts a “compliance order” that said the land must be restored as a wetlands before the couple could apply for a building permit. The government acknowledged Monday that fines for failure to comply with the orders could be as much as $75,000 a day.
Two TSA workers who pleaded guilty to stealing $40,000 from a drug mule’s luggage were each sentenced to six months in prison today.
A slap on the wrist: Two TSA workers who pleaded guilty to stealing $40,000 from a passenger’s luggage were each sentenced to six months in prison today.
I wonder if the TSA will give them their jobs back when they get out. They seem perfectly qualified for the work the TSA does.
A slap on the wrist: Two TSA workers who pleaded guilty to stealing $40,000 from a passenger’s luggage were each sentenced to six months in prison today.
I wonder if the TSA will give them their jobs back when they get out. They seem perfectly qualified for the work the TSA does.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has renamed the thirty-one year old Very Large Array (VLA) after Karl Jansky, the man who invented radio astronomy.
A fitting honor: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has renamed the recently upgraded thirty-one year old Very Large Array (VLA) after Karl Jansky, the man who invented radio astronomy.
Karl Guthe Jansky joined Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey in 1928, immediately after receiving his undergraduate degree in physics. He was assigned the task of studying radio waves that interfered with the recently-opened transatlantic radiotelephone service. After designing and building advanced, specialized equipment, he made observations over the entire year of 1932 that allowed him to identify thunderstorms as major sources of radio interference, along with a much weaker, unidentified radio source. Careful study of this “strange hiss-type static” led to the conclusion that the radio waves originated from beyond our Solar System, and indeed came from the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.
His discovery was reported on the front page of the New York Times on May 5, 1933, and published in professional journals. Jansky thus opened an entirely new “window” on the Universe. Astronomers previously had been confined to observing those wavelengths of light that our eyes can see. “This discovery was like suddenly being able to see green light for the first time when we could only see blue before,” said Lo.
A fitting honor: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has renamed the recently upgraded thirty-one year old Very Large Array (VLA) after Karl Jansky, the man who invented radio astronomy.
Karl Guthe Jansky joined Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey in 1928, immediately after receiving his undergraduate degree in physics. He was assigned the task of studying radio waves that interfered with the recently-opened transatlantic radiotelephone service. After designing and building advanced, specialized equipment, he made observations over the entire year of 1932 that allowed him to identify thunderstorms as major sources of radio interference, along with a much weaker, unidentified radio source. Careful study of this “strange hiss-type static” led to the conclusion that the radio waves originated from beyond our Solar System, and indeed came from the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.
His discovery was reported on the front page of the New York Times on May 5, 1933, and published in professional journals. Jansky thus opened an entirely new “window” on the Universe. Astronomers previously had been confined to observing those wavelengths of light that our eyes can see. “This discovery was like suddenly being able to see green light for the first time when we could only see blue before,” said Lo.
Cesar Espinoza – Unchained Melody
Tebow riots begin
NASA in negotiations with ESA to have them provide the service module for Orion
NASA is in negotiations with ESA to have them provide the service module for Orion.
Orion is costing billions, yet NASA hasn’t the ability or budget to build its service module?
NASA is in negotiations with ESA to have them provide the service module for Orion.
Orion is costing billions, yet NASA hasn’t the ability or budget to build its service module?
An iPad survives a fall from 100,000 feet and still works
An iPad, dropped from 100,000 feet, still functioned afterward. With video.
An iPad, dropped from 100,000 feet, still functioned afterward. With video.
The six weirdest cities people actually live in
The New Authoritarianism
If Obama does win, 2013 could possibly bring something approaching a constitutional crisis. With the House and perhaps the Senate in Republican hands, Obama’s clerisy may be tempted to use the full range of executive power. The logic for running the country from the executive has been laid out already. Republican control of just the House, argues Chicago congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., has made America ungovernable. Obama, he said during the fight over the debt limit, needed to bypass the Constitution because, as in 1861, the South (in this case, the Southern Republicans) was “in a state of rebellion” against lawful authority. Beverley Perdue, the Democratic governor of North Carolina, concurred: she wanted to have elections suspended for a stretch. (Perdue’s office later insisted this was a joke, but most jokes aren’t told deadpan or punctuated with “I really hope someone can agree with me on that.” Also: Nobody laughed.)
Read the whole essay. It is a remarkably concise and accurate description of the beliefs and desires of my liberal readers, which was further illustrated by their quick willingness in the comments here, here, and here to excuse an unconstitutional power-grab by Obama. This quote says it all:
Let leaders lead.
Very depressing.
If Obama does win, 2013 could possibly bring something approaching a constitutional crisis. With the House and perhaps the Senate in Republican hands, Obama’s clerisy may be tempted to use the full range of executive power. The logic for running the country from the executive has been laid out already. Republican control of just the House, argues Chicago congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., has made America ungovernable. Obama, he said during the fight over the debt limit, needed to bypass the Constitution because, as in 1861, the South (in this case, the Southern Republicans) was “in a state of rebellion” against lawful authority. Beverley Perdue, the Democratic governor of North Carolina, concurred: she wanted to have elections suspended for a stretch. (Perdue’s office later insisted this was a joke, but most jokes aren’t told deadpan or punctuated with “I really hope someone can agree with me on that.” Also: Nobody laughed.)
Read the whole essay. It is a remarkably concise and accurate description of the beliefs and desires of my liberal readers, which was further illustrated by their quick willingness in the comments here, here, and here to excuse an unconstitutional power-grab by Obama. This quote says it all:
Let leaders lead.
Very depressing.
Phobos-Grunt is now expected to fall to Earth sometime around January 16
It’s official: Phobos-Grunt is now expected to fall to Earth sometime around January 16.
Meanwhile, the head of the Russian space agency is looking for a scapegoat for his country’s recent space failures.
Roskosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin told the Izvestia daily he could not understand why several launches went awry at precisely the moment the spacecraft were travelling through areas invisible to Russian radar. “It is unclear why our setbacks often occur when the vessels are travelling through what for Russia is the ‘dark’ side of the Earth — in areas where we do not see the craft and do not receive its telemetry readings,” he said. “I do not want to blame anyone, but today there are some very powerful countermeasures that can be used against spacecraft whose use we cannot exclude,” Popovkin told the daily.
With leadership like this, Russia might soon join the U.S. as a country unable to get astronauts into space.
It’s official: Phobos-Grunt is now expected to fall to Earth sometime around January 16.
Meanwhile, the head of the Russian space agency is looking for a scapegoat for his country’s recent space failures.
Roskosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin told the Izvestia daily he could not understand why several launches went awry at precisely the moment the spacecraft were travelling through areas invisible to Russian radar. “It is unclear why our setbacks often occur when the vessels are travelling through what for Russia is the ‘dark’ side of the Earth — in areas where we do not see the craft and do not receive its telemetry readings,” he said. “I do not want to blame anyone, but today there are some very powerful countermeasures that can be used against spacecraft whose use we cannot exclude,” Popovkin told the daily.
With leadership like this, Russia might soon join the U.S. as a country unable to get astronauts into space.
A Hubble Space Telescope study of massive galaxies two to three billion years after the Big Bang has challenged the widely accepted theory that major mergers are how galaxies grow
The uncertainty of science: A Hubble Space Telescope study of massive galaxies two to three billion years after the Big Bang has challenged the widely accepted theory that major galaxy mergers are what make galaxies grow.
The uncertainty of science: A Hubble Space Telescope study of massive galaxies two to three billion years after the Big Bang has challenged the widely accepted theory that major galaxy mergers are what make galaxies grow.
Homeland Security is monitoring journalists
Gotta have my KGB: Under an initiative that came out in November, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun monitoring journalists.
Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security’s own definition of personal identifiable information, or PII, such data could consist of any intellect “that permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information which is linked or linkable to that individual.” Previously established guidelines within the administration say that data could only be collected under authorization set forth by written code, but the new provisions in the NOC’s write-up means that any reporter, whether someone along the lines of Walter Cronkite or a budding blogger, can be victimized by the agency.
Gotta have my KGB: Under an initiative that came out in November, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun monitoring journalists.
Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security’s own definition of personal identifiable information, or PII, such data could consist of any intellect “that permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information which is linked or linkable to that individual.” Previously established guidelines within the administration say that data could only be collected under authorization set forth by written code, but the new provisions in the NOC’s write-up means that any reporter, whether someone along the lines of Walter Cronkite or a budding blogger, can be victimized by the agency.
The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Monday it will close nearly 260 offices nationwide.
The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Monday it will close nearly 260 offices nationwide.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the goal was to save $150 million a year in the agency’s $145 billion budget. About $90 million had already been saved by reducing travel and supplies, and the closures were expected to save another $60 million, he said.
Though this is probably a good thing, the article only notes the amount supposingly saved, without showing how it would actually reduce the agency’s budget. Furthermore, I am puzzled why these cuts are necessary, since the USDA’s budget in 2011 still exceeds what it got in 2008. Both facts make me wonder if these cuts are nothing more than smoke-and-mirrors, designed to make us think they are trimming the budget when they actually are not.
The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Monday it will close nearly 260 offices nationwide.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the goal was to save $150 million a year in the agency’s $145 billion budget. About $90 million had already been saved by reducing travel and supplies, and the closures were expected to save another $60 million, he said.
Though this is probably a good thing, the article only notes the amount supposingly saved, without showing how it would actually reduce the agency’s budget. Furthermore, I am puzzled why these cuts are necessary, since the USDA’s budget in 2011 still exceeds what it got in 2008. Both facts make me wonder if these cuts are nothing more than smoke-and-mirrors, designed to make us think they are trimming the budget when they actually are not.