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Climategate whitewash

July 10, 2010 at 3:53 pm Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

It appears that the chief investigator of the recently released climategate investigation of Phil Jones and the University of East Anglia never attended any of the investigation’s interviews of Phil Jones. What a strange way to do an investigation!

Leave a comment climate, climategate, Jones, science, whitewash

Webcast of Rosetta flyby of 21 Lutetia

July 10, 2010 at 8:01 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Today (July 10) is when the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft is scheduled to fly past asteroid 21 Lutetia. The webcast can be seen here, starting at 12 pm, Eastern time, including the release of the first pictures, beginning 5 pm Eastern.

Leave a comment asteroids, flyby, Rosetta, science

Rosetta approaches asteroid

July 9, 2010 at 3:59 pm Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Rosetta has sent back its first picture of the asteroid 21 Lutetia. The flyby is scheduled for July 10.

Leave a comment asteroids, flyby, Rosetta, science

More info on Senate compromise

July 9, 2010 at 1:37 pm Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

More hints that the Senate is crafting a compromise bill for NASA’s budget that will continue Orion as a full scale manned spacecraft.

Leave a comment Congress, Constellation, NASA, Obama, policy, shuttle, spaceflight

Problems on ISS

July 9, 2010 at 9:34 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Equipment problems on the U.S. portion of ISS, and it takes the Russians to tell us.

Leave a comment ISS, NASA, policy, redundancy, Russia, spaceflight

Water found around carbon star; Bok globule

July 9, 2010 at 9:31 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Water vapor detected in deep space, first near the carbon star V Cygni and second in two dark starless cores. The second detection is a first time water has been seen in these black clouds. Fun quote from the abstract of the first paper notes how the detection “raises the intriguing possibility that the observed water is produced by the vapourisation of orbiting comets or dwarf planets.”

Leave a comment astronomy, science, water

Senate deal on NASA budget

July 9, 2010 at 1:38 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Bad link fixed. Sorry.

The Senate committee that authorizes NASA’s program is nearing a deal that would “reverse large swaths” of President Obama’s budget proposal. The proposal would add one more shuttle flight, restore the full scale Orion capsule, and add funds to immediately build a heavy lift rocket to replace the shuttle. More to come, I’m sure.

Leave a comment Constellation, NASA, Obama, policy, shuttle, spaceflight

Largest hoard of Roman coins found in England

July 8, 2010 at 11:08 pm Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

The largest hoard of Roman coins, more than 52,000 total, has been found in Britain.

Leave a comment archeology, history, Roman, science

Vitter slams Obama plan

July 8, 2010 at 8:28 pm Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Apropos my previous post, which noted the hostility of Congress to Obama’s budget proposal for NASA, Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) slammed Obama in his opening remarks at the ceremony marking the delivery of the last external shuttle tank. Key quote: “You all deserve better, and the nation deserves better,”

Leave a comment Constellation, NASA, Obama, policy, shuttle

Orbital’s COTS capsule taking shape

July 8, 2010 at 12:46 pm Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

The Cygnus capsule is taking shape. Orbital Sciences signed a COTS contract with NASA in 2008 (as did SpaceX with its Falcon 9 rocket) to provide cargo ferrying services to ISS, and they are making real progress toward their first demonstration flight in the spring of 2011. That they have subcontracted most of the work to foreign companies, however, limits how much their work can help the American aerospace industry.

Leave a comment cargo, Cygnus, ISS, NASA, Obama, policy, spaceflight

Solar powered plane flies for over 24 hours

July 8, 2010 at 9:20 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Icarus truly rising. A solar-powered plane has successfully flown for over 24 hours.

Leave a comment aeronautics, engineering, science

More particles discovered in Hayabusa capsule

July 8, 2010 at 1:10 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

More tiny particles have been detected in the inner return capsule of Hayabusa.

Leave a comment asteroids, Hayabusa, space

Rocketplane goes bust

July 8, 2010 at 1:07 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Rocketplane, one of the new space companies that was going to cash in on the space tourism boom, has gone bankrupt.

More Layoffs at NASA

July 8, 2010 at 1:03 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

More layoffs in the Constellation program at NASA, this time at the Marshall Space Flight Center

Leave a comment Constellation, layoffs, NASA, Obama, policy, spaceflight

Anniversary of the discovery of chocolate

July 8, 2010 at 12:26 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Today, July 7, is the 460th anniversary of the introduction of chocolate into Europe!

East Anglia violated FOI rules

July 8, 2010 at 12:11 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

The University of East Anglia has been found in violation of the UK’s freedom of information law in connection with the climategate emails, suggesting again and strongly that the final conclusions of the investigation of Phil Jones was a whitewash.

Leave a comment climate, climategate, Jones, science, whitewash

Another climategate whitewash

July 7, 2010 at 1:11 pm Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Updated. Also, bad link fixed. Sorry.

Another climategate whitewash. Phil Jones, at the center of the scandal, has been reinstated by the University of East Anglia. Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit has an excellent analysis of the some of the absurd rationalizations the investigation adopted to clear Jones.

This Daily Mail article on the investigation gives a somewhat balanced description.

Leave a comment climategate, Jones, whitewash

upcoming Ares I solid rocket test

July 7, 2010 at 12:55 pm Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

The Ares I solid rocket motor is now fully assembled on its test stand in Utah, ready for the motor’s second test firing, planned for September.

Leave a comment Ares, Constellation, policy, rocket, test

Cernan calls for Bolden resignation

July 7, 2010 at 10:28 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon, calls for Bolden’s resignation.

Leave a comment Bolden, government, NASA, policy, spaceflight

Orion capsule passes first review

July 7, 2010 at 10:15 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

The fullsized Orion capsule has passed its first safety review. This is the design that the Obama adminstration wishes to cancel.

Leave a comment Constellation, NASA, Orion, policy, spaceflight

Lockheed buyouts

July 7, 2010 at 1:12 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Lockheed Martin, under pressure from the Pentagon, is trimming is management ranks.

Leave a comment buyouts, defense, government, space

NASA layoffs

July 7, 2010 at 1:08 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

United Space Alliance, the contractor that provides support during every shuttle launch, announced significant layoffs today in anticipation of the end of the shuttle program.

Leave a comment government, layoffs, NASA, policy, space

First photos from inside Hayabusa capsule

July 6, 2010 at 8:36 pm Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Update and bumped: More details have been released about what was inside the Hayabusa capsule. In total, two 0.01 millimeter particles have been found in the inner capsule, and about 10 large particles in the outer capsule.

The first photo from inside the Hayabusa capsule has been released, showing the presence of a tiny 0.01 millimeter particle. It is still unknown whether this is an asteroid particle or something captured on the return to Earth.

Leave a comment asteroids, Hayabusa, science

Another climategate whitewash?

July 6, 2010 at 11:38 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

Another climategate whitewash? The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency has reviewed the 2007 UN IPCC report and decided that, though the report did have some really embarrassing errors (including some new ones uncovered by the review), the IPCC’s conclusion — that global warming is happening and that it is caused by humans — must still be correct.

Leave a comment climate, climategate, government, ipcc, science

Government and the impending shortage of helium

July 6, 2010 at 10:05 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

The law of unintended consequences strikes again! We are going to run out of our supply of helium, and it is all because the government first tried to manage and control the resource in the early 20th century, and then decided in the 1990s to extricate itself from that management. For those of us following the continuing space war over NASA’s future, this story is most instructive in illustrating how difficult it is to get the government out of our lives, once we have let it in.

Leave a comment government, helium, policy, science, supply

Leave a comment journalism, policy, space

Progress successfully docks, July 4, 2010

July 5, 2010 at 12:44 am Robert Zimmerman Behind The Black, Points of Information

After its docking failure Friday, the Russian unmanned Progress freighter successfully docked with ISS today.