Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
That test flight of a Danish privately built suborbital rocket has been delayed from today till tomorrow due to weather, with tomorrow’s flight having a 70% chance.
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New research now suggests that it was premature to conclude that Mars has no life, based on the data from the Viking missions to Mars in the 1970s. This is vindication for Gilbert Levin, one of the chief scientists for those missions, who had said so then and was subsequently pilloried for it.
NASA managers have decided to defer that spacewalk to finish up the work items leftover from the spacewalks to repair the station’s cooling system, leaving the work to the space shuttle astronauts during the upcoming the November shuttle flight.
Bill Harwood gives a good write-up of the uncertain status of the extra shuttle flight, approved by the Senate but not by the House.
This won’t be good for home life: The wife and mistress of one of the Chilean miners happened to meet, at the entrance of the mine.
UCLA has fired a scientist after 36 years because according to them, his “research is not aligned with the academic mission” of his department. In other words, his research uncovering flaws in the such politically correct subjects as secondhand smoke and diesel emissions is something the academic community at his campus cannot stomach. Key quote:
[The fired scientist] questions the science behind the new [California diesel] emissions standards, and he has raised concerns about the two key reports on which they were based – exposing the author of one study as having faked his credentials and the panel that issued the other study as having violated its term limits.
Meltdown of the climate ‘consensus’. Key quote:
What does the best evidence now tell us? That man-made global warming is a mere hypothesis that has been inflated by both exaggeration and downright malfeasance, fueled by the awarding of fat grants and salaries to any scientist who’ll produce the “right” results. The warming “scientific” community, the Climategate emails reveal, is a tight clique of like-minded scientists and bureaucrats who give each other jobs, publish each other’s papers — and conspire to shut out any point of view that threatens to derail their gravy train.
No cigarettes or wine for trapped Chilean miners.
Here’s another Congressman who has a problem with free speech, and it appears he wants [pdf] to use campaign laws to silence his opponents.
South Korea and Russia fighting over rocket construction.
Here is what one elected governor thinks of freedom of speech: “It’s a free country. I wish it weren’t.”
NASA might not be able to build any rockets, but its outreach to the Muslim community continues.
Not my idea of reasoned debate: A man was arrested on Saturday after he threatened to shoot two pro-life demonstrators outside an abortion clinic.
Government gone wild! The town of Barre, Vermont, is about to pass a law requiring all cats to be on a leash.
The space war continues. Now a group of 30 Nobel Laureates, astronauts, former NASA officials, and others have sent a letter to the House Science Committee, supporting Obama’s proposals for NASA’s budget and criticizing the House’s own budget plans.
Better late than never. An independent academic panel has concluded that the IPCC needs reform.
The solid rocket first stage of the Ares I rocket successfully completed its second test fire yesterday.
It appears that the Chinese have successfully maneuvered two unmanned satellites to a rendezvous in space. It is even possible that they might have touched!
This guy is thinking ahead: a paper extolling the scientific benefits of interstellar space travel (published in a 2009 issue of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society) was made available today on the Los Alamos astro-ph website. Fun quote from the abstract:
Significant benefits are identified in the fields of interstellar medium studies, stellar astrophysics, planetary science and astrobiology. In the latter three areas the benefits would be considerably enhanced if the interstellar vehicle is able to decelerate from its interstellar cruise velocity to rest relative to the target system. Although this will greatly complicate the mission architecture, and extend the overall travel time, the scientific benefits are such that this option should be considered seriously in future studies.
Still doubt the magnitude of the turnover expected in the November 2010 election? Then consider Gallup’s most recent generic poll, which has the Republicans now up by 10 points, the most in history. Key quote:
The Republican leads of 6, 7, and 10 points this month are all higher than any previous midterm Republican advantage in Gallup’s history of tracking the generic ballot, which dates to 1942. Prior to this year, the highest such gap was five points, measured in June 2002 and July 1994. Elections in both of these years resulted in significant Republican gains in House seats.
More news from Chile: The trapped miners are not only getting food and toiletries, they are getting Playstation Portables for playing video games to pass the time!
A four person team of NASA scientists are heading to Chile to aid in the mine rescue efforts.
Evidence continues to build that volcanic activity on Venus has occurred in the very recent past, and might even be going on today.
India announced today the scientific instruments it plans for its second lunar probe, scheduled for launch in 2013. India is building the orbiter and Russia is building the lander/rover.
SpaceX has requested from the launch range Oct 23 as its next Falcon 9 test launch date. In this test they will give their Dragon capsule its first test flight.
Japan and Europe are both considering an upgrade to their unmanned cargo carriers so that each can also return cargo from ISS.
That was quick! EPA backs down on the ammo ban that I noted Wednesday night.
The last refuge of a liberal. Key quote:
The Democrats are going to get beaten badly in November. Not just because the economy is ailing. And not just because Obama over-read his mandate in governing too far left. But because a comeuppance is due the arrogant elites whose undisguised contempt for the great unwashed prevents them from conceding a modicum of serious thought to those who dare oppose them.
The summer Olympics has decided to replace the use of air pistols in the 2012 Olympics with laser guns. Air pistols shoot actual pellets, and using lasers instead will, according to the powers that be, “reduce the cost of shooting by two thirds in the sport and the improved safety of the event could mean new venues are used.” Of course, no one can cite any actual accidents from the use of air pistols, so this decision is essentially political correctness gone wild.
Update: Several shooting friends have emailed me to note that this change only applies to the Pentathlon, not to the air pistol events. Mea culpa.
Scientists have confirmed that the just ending low solar minimum had considerable influence in shrinking the Earth’s outer atmosphere. Key quote:
[The scientist] says the research indicates that the Sun could be going through a period of relatively low activity, similar to periods in the early 19th and 20th centuries. This could mean that solar output may remain at a low level for the near future. “If it is indeed similar to certain patterns in the past, then we expect to have low solar cycles for the next 10 to 30 years.”
