Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
China’s second lunar probe, Chang’e 2, has been boosted out of lunar orbit and beyond.
The second X-51 hypersonic flight is now scheduled for the week of June 13.
Magnetic bubbles at the edge of the solar system.
The ironies are endless: An Ohio restaurant referenced by President Obama last week as a beneficiary of the auto bailout is going out of business this week due to the bad economy and increased regulation.
A camera has been installed on the last shuttle external tank so that its destruction in the atmosphere can be observed.
Space weather expert downplays threat to Earth from solar flare.
My god, a reporter actually talked to a scientist on this subject, instead of the normal political hacks swilling for bigger budgets, and found out that we aren’t going to die!
Opportunity’s target on the rim of Endeavour crater has been dubbed “Spirit Point” by the science team in honor of the now defunct rover.
Human bones were part of the cargo on board the Soyuz capsule launched to ISS today.
“The fragments of human bones will be used to study the causes and dynamics of decalcination of bone tissue in a long space flight,” the head of the experiment, Tatiana Krasheninnikova told Itar-Tass. The problem of decalcination is a headache for medics responsible for spacemen’s health. Researches in this area are conducted by scientists from many ISS member states. However it is impossible to take sample of spacemen’s bones, only their urine is being examined, and a complete picture of dynamics of changes in human bones is not clear, she noted.
The remnant of supernova 1987a lights up.
This supernova is the only naked eye supernova since the invention of the telescope, and has been tracked by Hubble for two decades.
Another example of airline stupidity, which is why I drive whenever I can: Delta Airlines charges returning GIs $2,800 in bags fees.
Most of the GIs, it seems, had four bags. Delta only allows three for free in coach, “and anything over three bags, you have to pay for,” another soldier said, “even though there’s a contract between the U.S. government and Delta Airlines.”
A NASA Inspector General report issued today [pdf] notes continuing worries about the Mars Science Laboratory, scheduled for launch later this year.
Remaining Unresolved Technical Issues: Although Project managers have overcome the majority of technical issues that led to the [2009] launch delay, as of March 2011 three significant technical issues remain unresolved. . . . Because of technical issues related to these three and other items, Project managers must complete nearly three times the number of critical tasks than originally planned in the few months remaining until launch. [emphasis mine]
The abuse of power: The U.S. Department of Education used a SWAT team to break down a man’s door and hold him and his three children, aged 3, 7, and 11, for six hours, all because his wife had defaulted on her student loans.
A whistle-blower from a Wisconsin research lab claims his accusations cost him his job.
After months of friction that culminated in his openly questioning the reproducibility of data published by his supervisor, a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s zoology department was presented with three options. The department’s chairman said he could wait to be fired, resign voluntarily or accept a “gracious exit strategy” that would give him time to prepare a paper for publication, if he dropped his “scientific misconduct issues”.
When geneticist Aaron Taylor objected that the third option sounded like a “plea bargain” meant to discourage him from pressing his concerns about the lab’s data, the chairman, Jeffrey Hardin disagreed. But Hardin also said: “I think you’d have to decide which is more important to you.” He later added: “You have to decide whether you want to kind of engage in whistle-blowing.” [emphasis mine]
A bright future for commercial space: A market research firm predicts the launching of more than 1,600 satellites, worth $250 billion, in the next fifteen years.
Arizona wildfire grows to cover 389,000 acres.
A Newark TSA supervisor has been sentenced to prison for bribery and aiding the theft of passengers.
So how is his action any different than what Congress does?
A new crew, launched by Russia, is heading to the International Space Station.
There was a small fire in Endeavour’s landing gear when it landed last week.
Even in its relatively quiet state: The Sun has a blast.
The Chile volcano eruption and ash cloud is disrupting air traffic throughout South America.
Jim Hoft has a nice historical summary: Corrupt Democrats never resign, no matter the scandal.
My question is this: why do the voters keep voting for these scum?
NASA has finally released the photos of Endeavour docked to ISS, taken from a departing Soyuz.
Fiddling while Rome burns: An Iranian atomic bomb may be only eight weeks away.
Repeal it! The right to issue waivers to Obamacare by the Health and Human Services administration (HHS) appears to be illegal.
Language granting HHS that power was never in the original law. Instead, through new rules and regulations, HHS gave itself the power last summer using a broad interpretation of certain parts of the law.
The abuse of power: Cruise passengers tell of seven-hour security “revenge” nightmare, forced on them by U.S. immigration officials.
But when a handful of them questioned whether the lengthy security checks at the port were strictly necessary for a group of largely elderly travellers officials were not amused. Although they had already been given advance clearance for multiple entries to the country during their trip, all 2,000 passengers were made to go through full security checks in a process which took seven hours to complete.
Leftwing civility: Comic Chris Titus hints at assassinating Palin “if she gets elected president.”
New poll: Romney 49, Obama 46.
Romney is no joy, but for any poll to show an incumbent president losing at this early stage of the campaign is a strong indication of that incumbent’s weakness.
