News Pieces 1/30/09: Cassini, GDP, Exxon and Winter Storms

NASA’s Cassini mission managers want to extend the mission another 7 years.  Doing so would allow them to investigate the Saturnian system for 1/2 of a Saturn year.  I hope they get the go-ahead.

The economy shrank at a 3.8% annual rate in the last quarter.  That’s a preliminary reading – one which is expected to get worse as the numbers are looked at in more depth.  That number won’t get better any time soon.  Millions are losing their jobs and their houses.  Millions more have lost access to credit, which was the economy’s driving force for the past twenty years.  Americans are going to realize they aren’t being paid enough when their credit lines are shut down as the recession deepens and lasts longer than most people are estimating right now.  All these things are the direct results of Con-servative policies being implemented (exactly as Cons wanted them to be, by the way) in the U.S.  It’s happened to every other country in the world where America tried to export “capitalistic democracy”.  The Cons finally got their chance to implement their policies to their fullest extenet here in America.  We’re living with the consequences now.  What are Cons doing in Congress? Pushing the same failed policies that got us here.  Thankfully, voters made better choices in this last election.

Did you hear that even poor ol’ Exxon Mobil is huring – just like the rest of us – in the recent economic downturn?  Okay, maybe not just like the rest of us.  After all, their 2008 profits were only $45,200,000,000.  Only $45.2 Billion.  Does anybody remember $4.50 gas last summer?  Guess where it went.  Autocratic regimes in the Middle East and mega-corporations like Exxon Mobil.  That’s correct – that disgusting number is only the profits of one corporation.  Keep those numbers in mind when you see their advertising claiming they’re doing all  kinds of critical research, developing better things for tomorrow.  In the face of the worst economic downturn since the last Republican Great Depression, in the face of record energy prices, the mega-fossil fuel corporations are making billions in profits and distributing millions more to executive bonuses.  When will their new technologies and “cleaner” fuels be available?  Eh, just keep buying gas for a few more decades.  Maybe after another $500 Billion or so in profits, they’ll actually come up with something.  Or Americans can continue to play the sucker in the relationship and continue buying their fossil fuels and never expect more out of them.

I heard about this last night on the radio.  Plenty of people in the eastern half of the U.S. are without power from … an average January winter storm.  The excellent questions raised were the following.  How many billions of dollars is the Dept. of “Homeland Security” sucking down every year?  The purpose of DHS is to protect the “homeland”, correct?  What kind of target do you think terrorists would like to strike?  Maybe power plants or power infrastructure more generically?  Our economy would certainly suffer even more if extensive power outages occurred.  Do you think DHS is doing its job protecting the homeland if a common, well-forecasted winter storm puts millions of people into the dark and cold?  I certainly don’t.  Given these circumstances, I have no faith in DHS to protect any American from a terrorist attack.  There are plenty of problems with our current infrastructure.  This kind of problem should receive some attention in the recovery package making its way through Congress now.

Hubble Takes Perfect New Pix & Other Space News – 10/31/08

Just prior to the scheduled launch of the last Hubble Space Telescope’s repair/upgrade mission, an onboard data router failed.  The shuttle launch was delayed until next year.  Scientists and engineers worked to use an onboard backup (thank you, redundancy!).  That backup unit is up and running.  A test photo was released by NASA and things look real good!  Unfortunately, the already delayed upgrade mission was delayed a little more.  NASA wants to send up a replacement part to the unit that failed last month.  It won’t be ready for another six months.  That could delay NASA’s plans to reconfigure the launch pad to accomodate the next generation of launch vehicles.  Fortunately, Endeavour’s Nov. 14th launch to the International Space Station remains on schedule.

A Google Lunar X-Prize contestant is not only planning to send their craft to the Apollo 11 landing site, they’re planning to launch five additional missions for lunar polar exploration.  To win the Grand X-Prize ($20 million), a private company must achieve a series of goals by Dec. 31, 2010.  Astrobotic now wants to send it main craft to the moon in 2010, then two smaller rovers in 2011 and 2012.  An additional lander would also land in 2012, then another rover in 2013.  This is exactly the kind of plan I want to see: a medium-term, aggressive approach to lunar exploration.

NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander entered an inactive safe mode late Tuesday.  Very cold overnight temperatures and a dust storm has reduced Phoenix’s ability to generate enough power to conduct full science.  It’s not supposed to be a permanent condition.  Phoenix’s primary mission phase ended in August.  It has had its mission extended ever since.  Eventually, Phoenix will not be able to power itself.

NASA’s shuttle replacement might come online one year sooner than originally planned.  Plans are being drawn up to try to move the first test launch date up from 2015 to 2014.  They will be finalized in December.  This news came out prior to NASA’s announcement that the Hubble upgrade mission was going to be delayed again.  As I wrote above, the launch pad needs to be reconfigured for the Orion vehicle launch aboard the Ares rocket.

Cassini is going to pass by Saturn’s mood Enceladus for the third time tomorrow.  A number of very cool things have come from the previous two flybys.

News Items 10/14/08

NASA has kept October 2009 as the target launch date for Mars Science Laboratory, despite hardware and software delays.  It is the flagship mission in NASA’s plans for Mars.  Decisions to be made for future missions depend on data gleaned from MSL.  MSL is a wheeled rover, and much larger than Spirit and Opportunity (which continue to function!).  After landing in July 2010, MSL should be able to move up to 20km away from the landing site.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has taken a closer look at Saturnian polar storms.  After pictures of Saturn’s south pole a couple years ago showed a hexagonal band surrounding a giant cyclone, scientists’ interest was piqued.  They wanted to take a look at conditions over the north pole and compare the two.  Conditions turned out to be similar between the two poles.  Clouds are circling Saturn’s north pole at about 325mph, vastly higher than wind speeds found over Earth.  It turns out that vigorous convective storms form inner rings of both cyclones, much like hurricanes do on Earth.  The difference between storms on the two planets is hurricanes move across Earth’s oceans while the cyclones over Saturn’s poles don’t move.  Fascinating stuff.

Republicans’ inability to admit responsibility for anything continues.  The sub-prime mortgage crisis?  CONServatives are saying it’s the fault of poor people.  And the government.  Which is strange, since this is what really happened: more than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages in 2006 were issued by private lending institutions.  CONServatives got exactly what they wanted in 2005 and 2006 after winning elections in 2004: no government regulations on those private lenders.  CONServatives are busy pointing their fingers at everyone else, again.

John McCain has lied 132 times so far in the 2008 presidential race.  Heroes don’t lie.

George Bush sets yet another all-time record – 73 percent disapproval [h/t DailyKos]:

Banks around the world are being nationalized.  Do CONServatives realize that their president and their party’s elected officials in Congress and their party’s appointments to the government have socialized massive portions of the U.S. economy?  In the future, any time a corporate-con talks about how Democrats want to socialize things and how horrible it would be if they got away with it, it will be easy to point to the largest socialization project in world history.  The Republican “socialization” talking point is now moot.

Erin Rosa has a piece up at Colorado Independent about one of the Amendments Coloradans will vote on this year.  Amendment 54 would restrict political contributions by certain unions and from family members of union officials.  Advocates for A54 have described it as being a ‘clean government’ intiative.  Why then have $405,000 in individual contributions come in … from anonymous sources.  Unsurprisingly, the nonprofit accepting these donations has ties to the Independence Institute, a right-wing “think-tank”.

A majority of Coloradans want a new administration to decide how to treat 4.4 million acres of roadless areas in forest lands.  It’s another vote of no confidence in the current administration’s 8-year long effort to open up the public’s forests to loggers, drillers and miners.

20 out of 22 candidates for federal office in Colorado haven’t responded to Environment America’s questionnaire.  There are a lot of things going on in America and in Colorado right now – I understand that.  But I’d sure like to go into 2009 equipped with the answers to the following questions:

Do you support or oppose mandatory limits to reduce global warming pollution 80% by 2050?

Do you support or oppose producing at least 20% of America’s electricity from clean power sources?

Do you support or oppose additional subsidies to build new nuclear power plants?

Do you support or oppose more federal funding for public transportation?

Do you support or oppose increasing fuel efficiency standards to at least 50 mpg by 2030?

A majority of respondents support issues 1, 2, 4 and 5.  A minority support additional subsidies for new nuclear power plants.  Overall, good news.  Garnering additional answers will help activists channel their efforts appropriately next year.

News Items 9/7/08: Economy, Bailouts, Shuttle Delays

Larry Bartels has written an interesting book, as this write-up shows. The differences between a future Democratic president and a Republican one are stark, just in potential economic prosperity:

Data for the whole period from 1948 to 2007, during which Republicans occupied the White House for 34 years and Democrats for 26, show average annual growth of real gross national product of 1.64 percent per capita under Republican presidents versus 2.78 percent under Democrats. That 1.14-point difference, if maintained for eight years, would yield 9.33 percent more income per person, which is a lot more than almost anyone can expect from a tax cut.

Over the entire 60-year period, income inequality trended substantially upward under Republican presidents but slightly downward under Democrats, thus accounting for the widening income gaps over all. And the bad news for America’s poor is that Republicans have won five of the seven elections going back to 1980.

The two Great Partisan Divides combine to suggest that, if history is a guide, an Obama victory in November would lead to faster economic growth with less inequality, while a McCain victory would lead to slower economic growth with more inequality. Which part of the Obama menu don’t you like?

My thoughts exactly.

It was reported yesterday that the Federal government was prepared to bail out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Between the two of them, they secure over $5 trillion in home loans. The two giants straddle the public/private divide in a way that I don’t think any other company does. The private side of the equation has, as we all have been forced to learn again, failed quite spectacularly. Well, the U.S. has seized Freddie and Fannie.

Fannie and Freddie have become virtually the only source of funding for banks and other home lenders looking to make home loans. Their ability to do so is crucial to the recovery of the battered home market and the broader U.S. economy.

Thanks to conservatives’ obsession with deregulation, American taxpayers have been forced to bail out Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae. Elections do have consequences. The billions of dollars that taxpayers will fork over could have gone instead toward programs or policies that would have made us all more prosperous. Stop falling for the false images Republicans like to put on display during campaign season. It’s how they govern that matters.

The last two space shuttle missions of 2008 are being delayed by two days due to delays associated with Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna. Atlantis will now launch no earlier than October 10. An International Space Station mission will launch no earlier than November 12.

NASA’s Cassini mission has discovered ring arcs orbiting two of Saturn’s smaller moons. The partial rings extend ahead of and behind the moons Anthe and Methone. Cassini has helped scientists discover some amazing things during its mission so far.

Lake Erie could lose 1.5 feet of water to climate change by the end of the century.  That might not sound like much, but for every inch less of water, ships have to carry 8,000 fewer tons of cargo.  That has real economic impacts over the course of just one year.  Can our economy withstand this and the countless other results of climate change?

Science Goodies 8/2/08

The tropical Atlantic has been quiet for a while. A few tropical waves have exited Africa only to dissipate in unfavorable conditions over the open ocean. Two waves recently moved off that might bear watching.

Invest-90 has the better long-term chance of development, I think (the link may not be up forever). It’s the more southerly of the two, located about 11N, 27W. Its maximum winds are 30mph and is moving W @ 20mph. There isn’t any circulation associated with this system yet. I don’t buy the model intensity forecast – they’ve strengthened everything out there all season long so far into tropical storms and then hurricanes. I think we’re a few days away from seeing it organize. Then again, things can happen quickly out there. The tracking forecast is good for this system – the models keep it between 10N and 15N for five days, at which point it could pass over the Lesser Antilles. After that, a more NW course is forecasted through the Caribbean.

Invest-99 has the better short-term chance of development. It’s located about 19N, 43W. Cooler ocean temperatures exist there currently than they do under Invest-90. But some slow rotation associated with it. The model solutions are in good agreement that it will continue moving NW across the Atlantic before turning NE at about 25N, 60W. Model intensity forecasts make it a Storm in about a day, reaching strong Tropical Storm force within five days. I’m not sure that will be the case. The system is encountering a region with fairly strong vertical wind shear, so it will have to fight to develop.

[Update 1:45P MDT]: Things just got a little bit more exciting. A new system is being watched: Invest-91. It’s centered at about 29.5N, 87W: in the Gulf of Mexico just south of the Florida panhandle. Waters there are plenty warm as they’ve been undisturbed the entire season so far. It looks like it was the trailing feature of a surface trough. Visible satellite image. Infrared satellite image. A good burst of convection is apparent near the surface low. Weak upper outflow can also be seen. The system is too far out to sea to get good radar imagery from it. Mid- to high-level steering is essentially SW to W. Model track forecasts see this continuing – they agree that I-91 will move through the northern Gulf for a few days before coming ashore. It looks like that could happen anywhere from west of Timbalier Bay, LA to Corpus Christi, TX. Needless to say, the exact landfall point is pretty irrelevant. If this system grows and strengthens, heavy rains and flash flooding is likely to occur over a wide area. With the large ridge in place over the U.S., this system should move inland until dissipation later in the week.

Invest-99 has two more model solutions available. They keep the storm more to the south on a westerly heading over the next couple days than the other three models. We’ll see which pattern is correct over the next day.

For what it’s worth, the NWS thinks Invest-90 and Invest-91 have the best chances of development: 20-50% over the next day. Invest-99 has <20%.

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A large lake has been confirmed to exist on Saturn’s moon Titan. Ontario Lacus is located at Titan’s south pole. You can find the details in the July 31, 2008 issue of Nature. The lake, like Titan’s atmosphere, is composed of hydrocarbons. A beach, left behind by evaporating ethane, is visible in the imagery. Important findings continue to be made by Cassini.

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SEPA has released its first annual Top Ten Utility Solar Integration Rankings (large pdf). There’s lots of good information in this report and I’ll write more on its significance to Colorado.

Space and Science News Updates: 3/16/08

NASA astronauts are making good progress this weekend at the International Space Station. Work includes installation of the first portion of Kobi, Japan’s science laboratory, and assembly of Canada’s Mr. Dextre, a large robotic appendage designed to perform tasks on the outside of the ISS so that humans don’t have to suit up and do them.

Kobi

Everything has run smoothly and the initial module of Kobi was opened for the first time Friday. The hatch was opened at 7:24 MDT March 15, marking the first time the space station’s 15-nation program has full on-orbit participation. Kobi is in a temporary berth at the station, and will likely be moved prior to the arrival of the next portion.

Dextre

Not everything ran smoothly with Mr. Dextre’s installation. A power problem prevented its initial deployment. The problem was eventually traced to a flawed cable in the pallet containing the robot during shuttle delivery. Once power from the station was introduced, the robot responded to controls. The cable ended up not being the correct type for the powering system.

Last night’s work focused on attaching Dextre’s two arms. Work with the arms was temporarily slowed due to stubborn bolts, but things were wrapped up by 12:57 MDT this morning. Initial tests of Dextre and it’s two arms indicate a nominally operative piece of equipment, which is excellent news.

Cassini

I wrote a post a few days ago regarding Cassini’s planned fly-through and testing of Encaladus’ eruptive geyser. Unfortunately, a software glitch prevented instrument from determining the make-up of the geyser material during the fly-through. The good news is that cameras were operating at the critical time. They discovered that the north pole of Enceladus appears much older than the moon’s south pole.

All is not lost with regard to determining the make-up of the ejecta. NASA officials said that Cassini’s Wednesday flyby is the first of four close-up swings past the moon this year. A similar plume pass is slated for October 9th.

And that’s just Enceladus. Cassini continues to probe the remainder of the Saturnian system.

Space & Science News

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting the Saturnian system for over 3.5 years now. During that time, many exciting discoveries have been made. One of those is the moon Enceladus: it’s south polar region is ejecting frozen water vapor into space. So Cassini is being directed to fly through the edges of the geysers to determine what they’re made up of. The geysers were discovered by Cassini in 2005. Of additional interest, the material is bolstering Saturn’s E-ring.

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NASA has invited other nations to place instrumentation in a Lunar Network. To kick off the ILN, NASA would lob on one launcher two small landing packages, one each to the poles of the Moon. The target launch date is 2013-2014. A second pair of U.S. nodes would fly in 2016-2017. Ideally, by year’s end, what nations are joining in on the network, what core instruments are to be flown, and a landing site working group will be agreed to.

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It was reported last week that our nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, might contain Earth-like planets. From the article:

“Several factors mark the system, particularly Alpha Centauri B as friendly to planet formation, [study co-author Gregory] Laughlin said. The metallicity of Alpha Centauri B (or how much of its matter is made up of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium) is higher than our Sun’s, so there would be plenty of heavier-mass material for planets to form from, he said. [...] The Doppler detection method, which has revealed the majority of the 228 known extrasolar planets, measures shifts in the light from a star to detect the tiny wobble induced by the gravitational tug of an orbiting planet.

Because Alpha Centauri B is so bright and nearby, detecting a small terrestrial planet’s miniscule wobble would be that much easier. Also, its position high in the sky of the Southern Hemisphere means it is observable for most of the year, just as the Big Dipper is observable for most of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.”