Royal Society Publishes Science Sees Further

The Royal Society – Britain’s oldest and most prestigious scientific body – has been celebrating its 350th anniversary. As a conclusion to the celebration, some of the society’s most eminent experts having published Science Sees Further, a report that selects the 12 key issues that will do most to shape science in the 21st century, and offers an educated guess about what we can expect in the years to come.

Saturn's Enceladus Shows Active Fissures

New images and data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft give scientists a unique Saturn-lit view of active fissures through the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus. They reveal a more complicated web of warm fractures than previously thought. The new images of the unique moon are available at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/.

X-37 B Military Mini-Shuttle to Land Friday Dec. 3rd at Vandenberg Air Force Base

After more than seven months circling the planet, the United States Air Force’s unmanned miniature space shuttle, known as the X 37B or USA-212, is poised to land at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California possibly as soon as Friday.

The military has released the typical notices to pilots and mariners, or NOTAMs, warning of an upcoming operation at the base. The notice advises of a military operation between 10 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday. It will be the second reusable spacecraft to perform an automated landing after returning from orbit, the first being the Russian Buran spacecraft in 1988.

The small unmanned vehicle — boasting a wingspan of nearly 15 feet, a height of more than 9 feet and a length of 29 feet — launched aboard an Atlas 5 rocket that blasted off in late April from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. More from The Los Angeles Times, Discovery News, Aviation Week, and Spaceflight Now.

SpaceX Falcon 9-Dragon Plans Flight Dec. 7

SpaceX is charging ahead with Tuesday, December 7, 2010 launch of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The flight plan putting launching the Dragon into orbit and recovering it hours later, after a hot re-entry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

The Tuesday launch window at Cape Canaveral is set for 9:03 a.m. Tuesday with the launch window extending to 12:33 p.m. The same window is available Dec. 8 and 9 if technical or weather problems stall the first attempt.

The 180-foot rocket to be rolled from its horizontal hangar Thursday (Dec. 2) and erected at Launch Complex 40 in preparation for a brief test firing Friday (Dec. 3) of nine first-stage engines.

A pre-launch news conference is planned at 1:30 p.m. Monday (Dec. 6), featuring SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell and Washington NASA executives involved with the commercial space launch program development followed by a launch Tuesday (Dec. 7).

Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., plans at least one test flight next summer from the commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia of the Taurus II rocket and Cygnus spacecraft.

oktapodi

oktapodi is a short film worth watching!



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A Day in Dearborn, MI

When I was down state, I had a week between the Saline and East Grand Rapids shows. I spent time with friends, including one day when I went to Dearborn, MI with friends Marsha and Jim. We went to the Henry Ford Museum to go to an IMAX film, which is one of my favorite things to do. I've been to IMAX theaters all over the country. That day we saw a film about Tahiti. It was well done and made us feel like we went on vacation.



Afterwords, we were looking for somewhere to get a bite to eat. We spotted the Dearborn Inn, which is located just down the road from the museum. The inn was built by Henry Ford so that visiting dignitaries had a five-star hotel to stay in. The inn opened in July 1931. It is now a registered historic landmark.





Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was a prominent American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism", that is, mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put a dealership in every city in North America, and in major cities on six continents.



In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. After his promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough time and money to devote attention to his personal experiments on gasoline engines. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of a self-propelled vehicle which he named the Ford Quadricycle. He test-drove it on June 4. After various test-drives, Ford brainstormed ways to improve the Quadricycle.

Also in 1896, Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives, where he was introduced to Thomas Edison. Edison approved of Ford's automobile experimentation; encouraged by him, Ford designed and built a second vehicle, completing it in 1898. Henry Ford and Thomas Edison became and remained friends.



After a series of business ventures, the Ford Motor Company was founded on June 16, 1903 with $28,000 capital. In a newly designed car, Ford gave an exhibition on the ice of Lake St. Clair, driving 1 mile (1.6 km) in 39.4 seconds, setting a new land speed record at 91.3 miles per hour (147.0 km/h). Convinced by this success, the race driver Barney Oldfield, who named this new Ford model "999" in honor of a racing locomotive of the day, took the car around the country, making the Ford brand known throughout the United States. Ford also was one of the early backers of the Indianapolis 500.

Ford astonished the world in 1914 by offering a $5 per day wage, which more than doubled the rate of most of his workers. (Using the consumer price index, this was equivalent to $111.10 per day in 2008 dollars.) The move proved extremely profitable; instead of constant turnover of employees, the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford, bringing their human capital and expertise, raising productivity, and lowering training costs. Ford called it "wage motive."

Here are some shots taken at the Dearborn Inn.

no standing

there will be absolutely NO STANDING!!! ... especially when a bench is provided.

What's Up for December 2010?

December 2010: Catch a lunar eclipse and a meteor shower this month, and don't miss a morning trio of planets, (Saturn, Mercury and Venus) either!

The annual Geminid meteor shower – one of the year’s best if skies are clear - peaks on the night of the 13/14th. The fourth full moon of the season rises at 4:13 p.m. EST, on the 20th, only to be darkened by a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse begins at 1:32 a.m. on the 21st, and is total from 2:40 to 3:54 a.m. The winter solstice arrives later the same day, at 6:42 p.m.

NASA Astrobiology Press Conference Set

Astrobiology Video Premier: NASA will hold a news conference to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life beginning at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010 at the NASA Headquarters auditorium. The live broadcast of the conference will be available at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

Though the science journal has embargoed details of the discoveries secret until the conference, it can be expected to be related with three fundamental questions from NASA's Astrobiology Program: How does life begin and evolve? Is there life beyond Earth and, if so, how can we detect it? What is the future of life on Earth and in the universe?

The briefing participants will include Mary Voytek, director of Astrobiology Program, Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Steven Benner, distinguished fellow from Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution and James Elser, professor from Arizona State University.

Space Agencies Focus on Moon and Mars

Twenty-six space agencies from around the world will carry out a joint flight to Mars after the year 2030, says the Head of the Russian Space Agency Roskosmos Anatoly Perminov. According to him, all 26 space agencies have signed a declaration to that end to point out that it is expedient to make joint flights to deep space.

When answering a question about the solar system planets that will be set as priorities for the first joint flight, Perminov said that the agencies in question are keenly interested in the Moon, especially now that it has been found out that there is water on the Earth’s satellite. But the main planet that everybody is focused on is, of course, Mars, Anatoly Perminov said.

DEVELOP and SERVIR Reach Out to Indian, Pakistani Delegation in Richmond, VA

A delegation of 20 leaders from India and Pakistan learned about applied science research in their own countries and about a federal and local government partnership between NASA and Wise County, Va., during a stop in Richmond.

The American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL), which fosters bipartisan, non-profit educational exchanges among nations, invited Wise and NASA to brief the delegation on November 18. ACYPL is supported by the United States Department of State.

Wise County representatives offered an overview of local government operations, including the use of geospatial technologies.

The presentation included Wise's partnership with NASA, which fosters applied Earth science training for students and early career professionals. The presentation highlighted the partnership’s research on ecological forecasting in India, natural disaster assessments in Pakistan and water quality/public health research in Haiti and Mexico. More from the NASA Langley Research Center.

This week at NASA ...

Dr. John Lewis Lectures on 'China Moon'

Doug Messier of Parabolic Arc points to the esteemed Prof. John Lewis' talk about Asia’s road to the moon during the Space Studies Institute’s Space Manufacturing Conference last month in California.

Dr. Lewis is well regarded within the space community through his three popular science books, Rain of Iron and Ice (on comet and asteroid bombardment of Earth; also in German translation), Mining the Sky (on space resources for use in space and on Earth; also in German and Chinese translation), and Worlds Without End (on the nature and distribution of planets in the universe from ancient writings on the plurality of worlds to the current flood of observations of planets in orbit about other stars).

Rock Collection -- Post 2

Today's posting includes the remainder of the photos from the collection of my friend, Robert. He had more cases filled with rocks than I took photos of. Here are a few of the cases:





Most of the cases were in the basement, but Robert had a lot of the small to medium Lake Superior agates in egg cartons upstairs. Here is a photo of only a few.



My favorite part of the day was using his very expensive microscope to look at some of the micro specimens. For those of you who want to collect rocks but don't have a lot of space, this may be an option for you. Each of the micro specimens were in a little 1" plastic case. Most of the specimens are less than a half inch in size. To get these shots, I placed my camera up to one of the eye pieces and went for it. Not every picture turned out, but here are a few. These micros are certainly nature's art.

massive bubbles

this footage of massive bubbles on a beach is fascinating.  i'm mesmerized by watching the progression of the pop.

Shuttle Discovery E-Tank Under Review

Despite the large amount of progress made towards flight rationale – called for in relation to Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137) stringer cracks – teams are heading into another week of deliberations, with a large amount of work ahead of them. Although STS-133 launch is threatening to move into next year, NASA managers will continue to evaluate the opportunity to make a late December orbital window, according to NASA Spaceflight with Chris Bergin, providing details.

The next window officially extends from Dec. 17 to Dec. 20. The next status review will be Thursday, Dec. 2 to determine flight readiness. The tank's problems began Nov. 5 as Discovery was fueled for launch with supercooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

NASA engineers believe the top risk is that a broken stringer could dislodge a chunk of foam, causing it to strike the orbiter and damage its heat-shielding tiles. That type of damage doomed shuttle Columbia during re-entry in 2003.

Iran May Have North Korean Missiles

Iran obtained 19 advanced missiles from North Korea, potentially giving the Islamic nation the capability of attacking Moscow and cities in Western Europe, according to embassy cables posted by WikiLeaks.org and provided to The New York Times, reports Bloomberg.

The 19 North Korean BM-25 missiles, based on a Russian design known as the R-27U, might give Iran the “building blocks” for producing long-range missiles, according to a Feb. 24 cable posted on WikiLeaks. The cable didn’t provide specific evidence and Russia calls the missile shipment a 'myth.' The Russians noted that Iran has an estimated 100 of the Shahab-3 and a few of the Sejil-2 missiles operational.

Meanwhile, China has dismissed U.S. requests for information on North Korea's shipment of missile parts to Iran via Beijing, although U.S. officials believe the North has shipped to Iran a number of long-range missiles that could hit Western Europe, Yonhap news agency reported Monday in a dispatch from Washington.

Citing a U.S. diplomatic cable leaked from WikiLeaks devoted to revealing secret documents, The New York Times said China has repeatedly refused to "act on detailed information about shipments of missile parts from North Korea to Beijing, where they were loaded aboard Iran Air flights to Tehran,” according to Yonhap.

According to The Hill, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said that Iran is clearly on a path to building nuclear weapons and that military options have been on military leaders' minds "for a significant period of time." Mullen added, "Iran is still very much on a path to be able to develop nuclear weapons, including weaponizing them, putting them on a missile and being able to use them," [CNN].

The Commander of Iran's Basij Force, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, called the remarks by the US military leader "a joke." Naqdi also said that U.S. forces would immediately be surrounded by Basij forces if it tried to step ‘an inch’ into Iranian territory. Russia Today-TV reports more on the Iranian nuclear issue.

North Korea Missile Threat Capability

North Korea's missile arsenal currently threatens South Korea and Japan, but the Taepo Dong-2 missile in development could reach Alaska and parts of Hawaii with a range of over 3,000 miles. Experts fear that within 10-15 years a three-stage version could be developed that could deliver a 200 kilogram payload to the continental United States with a range of 6,000 to 7,500 miles.

The No-Dong-A operational missile has the capability to strike South Korea and parts of Japan with a range of about 800 miles. It is believed that the North Koreans have several operational Scud B and Scud C missiles fully functional with ranges of 200 to 350 miles. More information about the missile capability of North Korea from Global Security.

Meanwhile, the USS George Washington continues military exercise operations in the Yellow Sea near Korea with Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter aircraft. The exercises will take place over four days, but no live-fire drills are planned, said Cmdr. Jeff Davis, spokesman for the 7th Fleet in Japan. South Korean troops are being deployed on islands along North Korea, according to a SkyNews report.

Regional updates from The Korean Herald, The Korea Times, The Seoul Times, and The (North) Korean News.

The Cold War That Never Freezes Over

THE BIG PICTURE: "The Cold War That Never Freezes Over" is a US Army documentary from years ago about the Korean War conflict. It is an interesting short movie in light of the latest actions between North and South Korea.

Americans in Orbit: 50 Years (in 2012)

Americans in Orbit - 50 Years is working to inspire students to pursue careers in space exploration, aerospace engineering, and space science. Interesting educational project is also on Facebook.

Ariane-5 Launched from Kourou Spaceport

On 26 November Ariane V198, an Ariane 5 version, two telecom satellites: Intelsat 17 and Hylas-1, from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana at Kourou. The flawless launch delivered Hylas-1, ESA's first public--private partnership in a full satellite system, into space. The satellite was released into its transfer orbit after a textbook launch by an Ariane 5 vehicle from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The Ariane 5 booster is the primary launch vehicle of the ESA.

Rock Collection Photos -- Post 1

As a result of owning an agate museum, I occasionally get an offer to visit rockhounds and view their agate collection. I had this opportunity while I was down state. Given the value of this collection, I don't want to provide the identity of the owner or the city in which he lives. Let's just say it is Robert who lives in southeastern Michigan. He is in his 80s and has been collecting agates, fossils, and other items his whole life. His collection is not only extensive, but he has a very large number of museum quality specimens. I especially liked his Mexican agates.









He also had a lot of Lake Superior agates. Here is just one of many groupings.

supercell storm

fantastic storm photo for national geographic by sean heavey.

Anti-Stuff Captured by CERN in Geneva

Many Americans who overindulged on Thanksgiving may be thinking a bit of antimatter might not be a bad idea right about now. Well, you don’t really want to run into the stuff — we mean, the anti-stuff.

But an international group of scientists working at CERN, the particle lab near Geneva, Switzerland, has, more or less, done exactly that. They have capped five years of work by containing, for the first time, a few atoms of antimatter, as described in a light-hearted editorial footnote from The Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.

Is this antimatter the first step to a new space propulsion system?

Big Bang Inflationary Theory Upended?

Renowned cosmologist Roger Penrose said that analysis of this cosmic microwave background showed echoes of previous Big Bang-like events. The events appear as "rings" around galaxy clusters in which the variation in the background is unusually low.

The ideas within it support a theory developed by Professor Penrose - knighted in 1994 for his services to science - that upends the widely-held "inflationary theory", reports the BBC.

China and Russia Look to Space Cooperation

Russian space delegation attends an international aerospace salon recently in China. The Chinese are advancing their space technologies to launch interplanetary probes and more lunar missions. The Chinese are also planning to launch their own space station and human missions in the early part of this decade. The level of international participation by nations with the Chinese has yet to materialize in human space missions. The Russians are planning a joint Mars mission with the Chinese commencing next year. The video features a visit by the first Chinese taikonaut, (yuhangyuan), to orbit Earth Yang Liwei meeting with Russian aerospace representatives, more from Parabolic Arc).

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden recently visited the Chinese space facilities but little more than conversation and transparency has been demonstrated. No international spaceflight plans were made in the largely diplomatic mission. Some see the visit as a missed opportunity.

Miles O'Brien Looks at Private Space Flight

Judy Woodruff of PBS looks at the future of space exploration with the NewsHour's Science Correspondent Miles O'Brien. The segment reviews the retirement of the space shuttle system and the post-shuttle era. The Washington Post provides a summary of the private sector efforts now underway.

spitzer song

upon my first viewing of this video about the infrared spitzer space telescope, i couldnt tell if i loved the song or hated it.   i've come around to like it though, so i hope you enjoy it too!



via one small step

Saturn's moon Rhea has oxygen atmosphere

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected a very tenuous atmosphere known as an exosphere, infused with oxygen and carbon dioxide around Saturn's icy moon Rhea. This is the first time a spacecraft has directly captured molecules of an oxygen atmosphere – albeit a very thin one -- at a world other than Earth, reports the BBC.

The oxygen appears to arise when Saturn's magnetic field rotates over Rhea. Energetic particles trapped in the planet's magnetic field pepper the moon’s water-ice surface. They cause chemical reactions that decompose the surface and release oxygen. The source of the carbon dioxide is less certain. No alien life forms are expected, suggests New Scientist.

Oxygen at Rhea's surface is estimated to be about 5 trillion times less dense than what we have at Earth. But the new results show that surface decomposition could contribute abundant molecules of oxygen, leading to surface densities roughly 100 times greater than the exospheres of either Earth's moon or Mercury, in a NASA statement released today.

Here comes the Sun: Our Star and SOHO

The Sun is the source of life on Earth therefore we must understand how it works and affects our planet. Thanks to space science we now have a better knowledge of the mechanisms inside the Sun and many of its effects on the Solar System. Many more are yet to be fully understood or discovered. Linked also is video visually denoting some of the SOHO research.

the art and science of cooking

this is a photo from the upcoming book modernist cuisine: the art and science of cooking. WANT!

via fresh photons

Soyuz TMA-20 to Launch December 15, 2010

Russian cosmonaut Dmitri Kondratyev (center), Expedition 26 flight engineer and Expedition 27 commander; along with NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Paolo Nespoli, both Expedition 26/27 flight engineers are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in December 15, 2010 aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

With the launch of the Soyuz TMA-20, the International Space Station will enter into a busy traffic period. The STS-133 Space Shuttle Endeavor is tentatively scheduled for a December 17, 2010 lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center which is slated to return prior to the end of the year. The commercial Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX is to fly close to the ISS next month as well.

On January 20, 2011, the Japanese HTV-2 cargo spaceship will launch from Japan for the ISS followed by a Russian Progress 41 cargo spaceship on January 28, 2010. On February 15, 2010 the European ATV-2 cargo spaceship will launch from the French Guiana spaceport. STS-134 Endeavour is now scheduled for a February 27, 2011 departure from Florida bound to the ISS.