Senator Bill Nelson of Florida claims that NASA is going to park a 500-ton, 25-foot asteroid into lunar orbit in 2019, with asteroids to visit in 2021.
I wonder if this notion is based on THIS.
A new fusion rocket concept, funded by NASA, is generating a little press:
Researchers at the University of Washington say they’ve built all the pieces for a fusion-powered rocket system that could get a crew to Mars in 30 days.
The concept is straightforward enough. It’s a variant of the inertial confinement class of fusion rocket. In this particular concept, magnetic fields slam down on aluminum or lithium rings. The rings are very rapidly collapsed inwards by the magnetic field. The momentum of the imploding metal ring is theoretically enough to spark enough heat and pressure in a magnetically suspended deuterium plasma to create fusion conditions.Importantly, the metal ring also absorbs most of the fusion products; it gets vaporized and stripped of electrons, and directed aft by the magnetic fields. This is an efficient way to couple the reaction to the spacecraft without impinging hot gases on physical structures.
Performance is not spectacular, as fusion engines tend to go… specific impulse of 2,440 to 5,720 seconds. But it ranks up there with the best of the Orion systems.
Some of their publications are HERE.
Just back from the vet… took my three chuckleheaded cats in to get their annual vaccination shots. It was not a popular decision.
Buttons looking out plaintively, Fingers looking upset
Raedthinn hid out in the back of the travel crate
Fingers was the most upset of all
Being locked up gave Buttons a sad.
It didn’t help that a dog in the back was extremely vocally unhappy. That disturbed the cats to no end.
They took the hypos to the scruff of the neck without complaint… I’ve never had a cat that really seemed t even much notice that. But the FIP was injected nasally… that was NOT a fun time for any f ’em.
This is unsurprising (especially if you watched Penn & Teller), but remains sad.
If you want to get your mad on, or get your sad on, take a look at the photos here. If you don’t want to get mad and/or sad… DON’T take a look at the photos.
Some highlights:
in the last 11 years, PETA has killed 29,426 dogs, cats, rabbits, and other domestic animals.
In 2012, 733 dogs entered this building. They killed 602 of them. Only 12 were adopted. Also in 2012, they impounded 1,110 cats. 1,045 were put to death. Seven of them were adopted. They also took in 34 other companion animals, such as rabbits, of which 28 were put to death. Only four were adopted.
I took her to the vet today just for a quick checkup. I let her out of the travel crate this time, just to see how she’d handle auto travel… she was actually quite interested in the world going by. It didn’t stop her *complaining* nonstop, but rather than hiding in terror as Raedthinn does, she wanted to see the world.
The main points: all evidence points to her not having FIP, so in about a week she’ll be out of quarantine and introduced back to the general population. Her gums are great, but she’s missing a number of teeth, has badly mangled canines and some disease on one molar. All evidence now points to her being old… vet estimates (based on her teeth, her gait and her coat) 8 to 12 years. That’s pretty up there. Otherwise she appears to be doing well.
Two DJs told their listeners that dihydrogen monoxide was coming out of the water taps. People apparently panicked. Suspensions all around, with rumblings of felony charges since it’s illegal to make false water quality claims.
Ugh.
Politicians want to institute mental health screenings before allowing people to buy guns, but they won’t institute IQ tests before allowing someone to vote?
Much smaller and cheaper than the likes of Delta Clipper or even the SpaceX Grasshopper, the Masten Space Systems’ XA-0.1B “Xombie” is nevertheless doing some impressive things. Like flying to 1626 feet and returning for a safe powered landing.
[youtube NmrLaFNM_yU]
Putting ads in front of urinals seems a dubious business prospect, but I’m seeing more and more of it. It’s rare, at least from what I’ve seen, for these ads to poke fun at what the reader is actually doing at the time. Saw this one yesterday:
One of the first modern attempts to field a battlefield drone was the Lockheed MQM-105 Aquila (Eagle). Designed in the 1970’s and test flown in the first half of the 1980’s, the Aquila was intended as a target designator… a laser in a belly turret would pick out targets for Copperhead and Hellfire missiles. The Aquila looked pretty spiffy, but was expensive, didn’t quite work as hoped, and had a complex launch and recovery system (a pneumatic truck-mounted catapults, and a large truck-mounted catch-net). It was cancelled in 1987.
