Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
This weekend, Saudia Arabia celebrates the 25th anniversary of the shuttle flight of their first astronaut, Prince Sultan bin Salman.
An evening pause: August 2, 2010: The first flight of a human powered ornithopter, an aircraft propelled by flapping wings.
So, how does this prove that Islam is the religion of peace? In Iran today a blogger was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Key quote:
Hossein Derakhshan was “convicted of cooperating with enemy states, making propaganda against the Islamic system of government, promoting small anti-revolutionary groups, managing obscene web sites and insulting Islamic sanctities,”
It appears that Derakhshan’s worst crime might have been to visit Israel, though speaking freely in an Islamic state might also have been considered blasphemous.
Here’s a further update on SpaceX’s plans for the second test launch of its Falcon 9 rocket, now set for November 8.
Faced with the loss of the space shuttle yet committed to the ISS at least through 2020, the European Space Agency is moving forward in its plans to upgrade its Automated Transfer Vehicle, which is only able to bring cargo to ISS, to what they call an Advanced Re-entry Vehicle, which will be able to also bring cargo back.
We won’t know if the Japanese probe Hayabusa actually brought asteroid materials back to Earth until spring 2011. Key quote from the project scientist:
Kawaguchi said his science team found “tens of particles” in Chamber A of the canister. The tiny particles are being removed one-by-one in an extraction process that is stretching longer than anticipated.
Note that they still have not opened Chamber B, which is thought to have had a better chance of capturing asteroid material because it was the chamber in contact with the asteroid Itokawa.
Crystal ball alert: Eleven correct predictions about 2010 that the Simpsons television show made in 1995.
A Russian company says it plans to launch its own commercial space station by 2016.
Back from the dead! A new study has found that scientists are significantly over-estimating the number of animal extinctions, with approximately one third of the so-called “extinct” species turning up alive. This quote makes one wonder if politics have been a factor:
The mistakes cannot be blamed on primitive technology or old fashioned scientific methods. “Mammals missing in the 20th century were nearly three times as likely to be rediscovered as those that disappeared in the 19th century.”
New world speed record — 96.5 miles per hour — for lawnmowers.
The United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) today denied any plan to name an “ambassador” to act as a point of contact with extra-terrestrials.
NASA climate scientist James Hansen was arrested yesterday in a Washington, D.C. protest against mountaintop mining.
Victory for freedom of speech: Charges have been dismissed against a Maryland man for videotaping a policeman who pulled him over for speeding.
Vile dishonest congressman alert! A comparison of Congressman Alan Grayson’s (D-Florida) campaign commercial with the actual facts demonstrates clearly that Grayson should be digging ditches rather than representing American citizens in Congress.
The launch of China’s next lunar probe, Chang’e 2, could occur as soon as this Friday.
Lost video footage of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the Moon found in Australia.
Volcanic activity in northwest Saudia Arabia.
Freedom of speech update: The four men arrested for handing out the gospel of St. John in Deeborn, Michigan, have been found innocent.
The space war appears to be over. Based on several news reports, the House will vote this week on the Senate plan for NASA, not on the House plan.
Despite this agreement in Congress, the future of NASA remains murky, at best. As written, this plan forces NASA to continue construction of some form of heavy lift rocket similar to the Ares I and Ares V it was building under Constellation, but gives the agency less money and time to do it. It also hands out a lot of money to commercial companies for so-called launch services, but outlines few details about how that money should be spent.
A new survey telescope, designed to scan the entire available sky approximately three times every month, has discovered its first potentially hazardous asteroid (PHO) , 150 feet in diameter and set to speed past the Earth at a distance of 4 million miles in mid-October. Key quote:
Most of the largest PHOs have already been catalogued, but scientists suspect that there are many more under a mile across that have not yet been discovered. These could cause devastation on a regional scale if they ever hit our planet. Such impacts are estimated to occur once every few thousand years.
How most popular press science articles are written.
A new study suggests that the glacier ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland is less than originally thought.
NASA administrator Charles Bolden’s diplomatic efforts aren’t ending in Saudia Arabia. He will also be heading to China in October.
Update: Bolden is right now in Prague, the Czech Republic, attending the 61st International Astronautical Congress. You can watch some of his remarks during one panel session, posted on SpaceRef.
Freedom of speech alert: Rather than criticize the Islamic terrorists who are killing people, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) wants the United Nations to supervise speech in order “to prevent incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims and to take effective measures to discourage negative stereotyping of people on the basis of religion, faith or race.”
In yesterday’s elections in Venezuela, things went both good and bad, with the opposition to power-hungry Hugo Chavez winning a majority of votes but barely capturing a third of the seats (62 out of 165) in the new Congress. Key quote:
The government was always likely to get a higher percentage of seats than votes due to changes in electoral districts and voting rules.
Whether these results will slow Chavez’s efforts to make himself dictator remains unclear.
Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic said today that his company is on schedule to begin flying the first tourist flights in eighteen months.
The bad economy since 2008 was only worsened by the Obama stimulus, according to one economist. Key quote:
“Today there is a dependency on people who have never been able to forecast anything,” Taleb said. “What kind of system is insulated from forecasting errors?
The United Nations in charge! They have decided that — should extra-terrestrials ever arrive on Earth — an obscure Malaysian astrophysicist/UN bureaucrat must be in charge of negotiations. In her words:
“We should have in place a co-ordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such co-ordination.”
New details about the Chilean miner rescue.
More proof why it is foolish to be a bigot: A Polish Neo-Nazi couple discover that they are Jewish.
