March 10, 2010 9:59 am
The Washington Post, “Obama’s plans for NASA changes met with harsh criticism”
by Joel Achenbach
Harrison Schmitt’s credentials as a space policy analyst include several days of walking on the moon. The Apollo 17 astronaut, who is also a former U.S. senator, is aghast at what President Obama is doing to the space program.
“It’s bad for the country,” Schmitt said. “This administration really does not believe in American exceptionalism.”
Schmitt’s harsh words are part of a furious blowback to the administration’s new strategy for NASA. The administration has decided to kill NASA’s Constellation program, crafted during the Bush administration with an ambitious goal of putting astronauts back on the moon by 2020. Obama’s 2011 budget request would nix Constellation’s rocket and crew capsule, funnel billions of dollars to new spaceflight technologies, and outsource to commercial firms the task of ferrying astronauts to low-Earth orbit.
The Washington Post article continues here.
February 16, 2010 11:23 pm
The Register, “Now IPCC hurricane data is questioned”
by Andrew Orlowski
More trouble looms for the IPCC. The body may need to revise statements made in its Fourth Assessment Report on hurricanes and global warming. A statistical analysis of the raw data shows that the claims that global hurricane activity has increased cannot be supported.
Les Hatton once fixed weather models at the Met Office. Having studied Maths at Cambridge, he completed his PhD as meteorologist: his PhD was the study of tornadoes and waterspouts. He’s a fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, currently teaches at the University of Kingston, and is well known in the software engineering community – his studies include critical systems analysis.
Hatton has released what he describes as an ‘A-level’ statistical analysis, which tests six IPCC statements against raw data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA) Administration. He’s published all the raw data and invites criticism, but warns he is neither “a warmist nor a denialist”, but a scientist.
The Register article continues here.
February 1, 2010 10:47 pm
Guardian, “Politicians fight to keep America’s moon mission alive”
by Richard Luscombe
The announcement of an end to immediate ambitions for an American to again reach the moon, on the seventh anniversary of the Columbia space shuttle disaster, sets the stage for a furious battle in Congress over US manned space exploration.
Politicians from Florida, Texas and Alabama, three states that have lost thousands of jobs in the space industry from this year’s planned retirement of the ageing shuttle fleet, promised a fight to keep the moon programme, Constellation, alive.
“They are replacing lost shuttle jobs too slowly, risking US leadership in space to China and Russia, and relying too heavily on unproven companies,” said Bill Nelson, a Democratic Senator for Florida and former astronaut who flew one mission in 1986.
Guardian article continues here.
January 30, 2010 12:52 am
Mail Online, “Scientists broke the law by hiding climate change data: But legal loophole means they won’t be prosecuted”
by David Derbyshire
Scientist at the heart of the ‘Climategate’ email scandal broke the law when they refused to give raw data to the public, the privacy watchdog has ruled.
The Information Commissioner’s office said University of East Anglia researchers breached the Freedom of Information Act when handling requests from climate change sceptics.
But the scientists will escape prosecution because the offences took place more than six months ago.
The revelation comes after a string of embarrassing blunders and gaffes for climate scientists and will fuel concerns that key researchers are too secretive and too arrogant.
Mail Online article continues here.
January 27, 2010 10:36 pm
Orlando Sentinel, “Obama aims to ax moon mission”
by Robert Block and Mark K. Matthews
NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon are dead. So are the rockets being designed to take them there — that is, if President Barack Obama gets his way.
When the White House releases his budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program that was supposed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The troubled and expensive Ares I rocket that was to replace the space shuttle to ferry humans to space will be gone, along with money for its bigger brother, the Ares V cargo rocket that was to launch the fuel and supplies needed to take humans back to the moon.
There will be no lunar landers, no moon bases, no Constellation program at all.
Orlando Sentinel article continues here.
January 26, 2010 11:27 am
Scotsman News, “Now climate-change scientists say ozone hole stops global warming”
by Jenny Fyall
Now there is mounting evidence that the ozone hole above the Antarctic has been protecting the southern hemisphere against global warming.
The bizarre side-effect of ozone depletion has been studied by scientists at the University of Leeds.
The ozone hole, caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) released into the atmosphere, is now steadily closing, but the research has suggested this could actually increase warming.
Scientists discovered brighter summertime clouds had formed over the area below the hole, which reflect more of the sun’s powerful rays.
Scotsman News article continues here.
