Fixing the Webb telescope
NASA has concluded that it will cost an additional $30 million to fix the degradation problem on the James Webb Space Telescope’s scientific instruments.
Category: Points of Information
Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Two NASA climate missions face one year schedule slip
Continue budget problems at NASA: Two climate missions each face a one year schedule slip.
Virgin Galactic surpasses $10 million in ticket sales
Virgin Galactic surpassed $10 million in space tourism sales in 2010.
Space Duct Tape Could Confuse Mars Rover
The kapton tape used on the next Mars rover, Curiosity, releases enough methane of its own that it could mess up the rover’s other science.
No, the “supermoon” didn’t cause the Japanese earthquake
No, the “supermoon” didn’t cause the Japanese earthquake.
Homeland Security claims it has the authority to routinely strip-search air travelers
Does this make you feel safe? The Department of Homeland Security told a federal court it has the authority to routinely strip-search air travelers.
235 Years Later, the Invisible Hand Still Matters
235 years later, the invisible hand still matters.
Panic buying as Hawaii and Pacific islands braced for killer waves to strike across thousands of miles of ocean
Hawaii and Pacific islands brace for killer tsunami waves to strike across thousands of miles of ocean.
More here about the situation in Japan.
Video:
Putting ISS to use
Putting ISS to use. Key quote:
Under consideration is using the entire station and its six-person crew as an analog for a deep-space human exploration vehicle en route to Mars. An internal team is studying the feasibility and value of such an exercise in the summer of 2012. “We might start with a small window, like a 30-day window, with actual time delays with what we’d expect with a Martian communications system,” Gerstenmaier says. “We may freeze our consumables on station, in the sense of saying that we’ve started our voyage to Mars, and see how well we do in our predictions.”
L.A. Community College District fires building program chief
Los Angeles community colleges have fired the building program chief who wasted millions on pie-in-the-sky envionmental projects.
New NPR video
A new NPR video from James O’Keefe: This time NPR executives are shown arranging an anonymous donation from the Muslim Brotherhood front group, in direct contradiction to their official claims after the first video was released that “The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept.”
Bill would set aside $60 million to develop in-vehicle alcohol detectors
There are so many ways this is wrong and illegal I can’t begin to count them: Senators Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) and Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) want to set aside $60 million to develop in-vehicle alcohol detectors that could be installed in all cars. You would have to use it before your car would start.
Putting aside the constitutional issues, isn’t there that federal debt to worry about?