All things Science related. λν = c

SS2 Test Flight (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22344398#TWEET738502)

The spaceplane being developed by UK billionaire Sir Richard Branson has made its first powered flight.

The vehicle was dropped from a carrier aircraft high above California's Mojave Desert and ignited its rocket engine to go supersonic for a few seconds.

Sir Richard's intention is to use the spaceship to carry fare-paying passengers on short pleasure rides above the Earth's atmosphere.

His company Virgin Galactic has already taken hundreds of deposits.

The rocket vehicle is known as SpaceShipTwo (SS2).

Although it has been in the air on more than 20 occasions, this was the first time its hybrid motor had been ignited.

SS2 Test Flight (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22344398#TWEET738502)

The spaceplane being developed by UK billionaire Sir Richard Branson has made its first powered flight.

The vehicle was dropped from a carrier aircraft high above California's Mojave Desert and ignited its rocket engine to go supersonic for a few seconds.

Sir Richard's intention is to use the spaceship to carry fare-paying passengers on short pleasure rides above the Earth's atmosphere.

His company Virgin Galactic has already taken hundreds of deposits.

The rocket vehicle is known as SpaceShipTwo (SS2).

Although it has been in the air on more than 20 occasions, this was the first time its hybrid motor had been ignited.

Thats pretty awesome.
What you are seeing here is our first private sector run spaceship that can do what the space shuttle did.
This a big step towards making civilian space travel become a lot more frequent and another way to service space stations.

SOPA creator’s latest bill proposes stripping peer-review from science funding (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/29/sopa-creators-latest-bill-proposes-stripping-peer-review-from-science-funding/)

A draft bill obtained by Science Magazine‘s blog ScienceInsider, sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), would strip the peer-review requirement from the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant process, inserting a new set of funding criteria that is significantly less transparent and not inclusive of the opinions of independent experts.

Smith, sponsor of the highly controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that threatened to fundamentally change how the Internet works, has long been a critic of the NSF grant process. In furtherance of those views, Smith recently conducted a hearing supposedly meant to consider how the grant approval process might be improved, an early indication that such a bill was forthcoming.

Another indication came in February, when Smith published an editorial in Roll Call describing how his vision of science funding is based not upon the impacts new research may have on the scientific community, but whether that research will “create jobs.” He went on to boast about how much of the House science committee’s $39 billion in agency budgets gets dumped onto nuclear, fracking and “clean coal” projects.

What could possibly go wrong?

SOPA creator’s latest bill proposes stripping peer-review from science funding (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/29/sopa-creators-latest-bill-proposes-stripping-peer-review-from-science-funding/)

A draft bill obtained by Science Magazine‘s blog ScienceInsider, sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), would strip the peer-review requirement from the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant process, inserting a new set of funding criteria that is significantly less transparent and not inclusive of the opinions of independent experts.

Smith, sponsor of the highly controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that threatened to fundamentally change how the Internet works, has long been a critic of the NSF grant process. In furtherance of those views, Smith recently conducted a hearing supposedly meant to consider how the grant approval process might be improved, an early indication that such a bill was forthcoming.

Another indication came in February, when Smith published an editorial in Roll Call describing how his vision of science funding is based not upon the impacts new research may have on the scientific community, but whether that research will “create jobs.” He went on to boast about how much of the House science committee’s $39 billion in agency budgets gets dumped onto nuclear, fracking and “clean coal” projects.

What could possibly go wrong?

If this happened in the 1860s we'd still be harpooning whales for oil since that created far more jobs than oil drilling.

Watch NASA's Emergency ISS Spacewalk Live Right Now (http://gizmodo.com/watch-nasas-emergency-iss-spacewalk-live-right-now-501627379)

thanks SS.

Ruins of Lost City May Lurk Deep in Honduras Rain Forest (http://news.yahoo.com/ruins-lost-city-may-lurk-deep-honduras-rain-130008608.html)

New images of a possible lost city hidden by Honduran rain forests show what might be the building foundations and mounds of Ciudad Blanca, a never-confirmed legendary metropolis.

Archaeologists and filmmakers Steven Elkins and Bill Benenson announced last year that they had discovered possible ruins in Honduras' Mosquitia region using lidar, or light detection and ranging. Essentially, slow-flying planes send constant laser pulses groundward as they pass over the rain forest, imaging the topography below the thick forest canopy.

What the archaeologists found — and what the new images reveal — are features that could be ancient ruins, including canals, roads, building foundations and terraced agricultural land. The University of Houston archaeologists who led the expedition will reveal their new images and discuss them today (May 15) at the American Geophysical Union Meeting of the Americas in Cancun.

Ciudad Blanca, or "The White City," has been a legend since the days of the conquistadors, who believed the Mosquitia rain forests hid a metropolis full of gold and searched for it in the 1500s. Throughout the 1900s, archaeologists documented mounds and other signs of ancient civilization in the Mosquitias region, but the shining golden city of legend has yet to make an appearance.

Whether or not the lidar-weilding archaeologists have discovered the same city the conquistadors were looking for is up for debate, but the images suggest some signs of an ancient lost civilization.

"We use lidar to pinpoint where human structures are by looking for linear shapes and rectangles," Colorado State University research Stephen Leisz, who uses lidar in Mexico, said in a statement. "Nature doesn't work in straight lines."

The archaeologists plan to get their feet on the ground this year to investigate the mysterious features seen in the new images.

This lidar is bad ass

Stephen Leisz, who uses lidar in Mexico, said in a statement. "Nature doesn't work in straight lines."

Mr. Leisz's pantaloons have recently spontaneously combusted.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_WCOYkmz1veI/S9cUn3bFSBI/AAAAAAAAB-Y/xbKK2zltrjI/s1600/straight+line+1.jpg

Man I hate to egg RR on,

But this is one kickass computer:

Google Buys a Quantum Computer - NYTimes.com (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/google-buys-a-quantum-computer/?partner=yahoofinance)

Timelapse: Landsat Satellite Images of Climate Change, via Google Earth Engine (http://world.time.com/timelapse/)


Show's time lapses of the world changing over the course of 3 decades.