Actually, the US does have cheaper launch vehicles than the shuttle. As the Wired News article says, "The big players in the space-launch business are Boeing and Lockheed in the United States..." These people don't make manned rockets, but if your goal is to put a satellite in orbit, carrying people along for the ride is an enormous waste of money and resources.
The big new thing is Boeing's Delta IV. It recently (March 10) put a satellite in orbit for the Air Force.
I doubt that these guys are in the business of manned space flight. I couldn't imagine a for-profit firm trying to develop a manned vehicle, unless the entire effort were under a goverment contract.
The most recent article linked in the post is Feb 27.
While I am looking forward to the enhanced Mac performance that the 970 promises, this doesn't bring any new information to the table.
Google has patents, but M$ can afford more and better patent laywers.
In the world of patent law, the question isn't how good or novel the idea is. The question is how good is your law firm.
In spite of the downturn, the cost of living in Silicon Valley is still way too high. A typical mortgage on a modest three bedroom house (typical middle-class, nothing fancy, under $200K in Omaha) can easily run well over $3000/month in Mountain View. There is absolutely no affordable housing within reasonable commuting distance. The bottom line is that anybody who would consider re-locating to Silicon Valley for fewer than six figures is insane.
Now I feel ripped off. In fact, we have all been ripped off. If this future was promised, there must have at least been an implied contract. Can you say "class action lawsuit?"
They're communist! It will be a worker's paradise. Isn't that good enough?
Re:BTW: ozone problem is political not enviromenta
on
Ozone As Pesticide
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· Score: 1
Wow, I hadn't heard that one before.
There is so much information regarding the ozone loss in the upper atmosphere, I don't know where to start. It's clear that molecules which are sources of reactive chlorine and bromine destroy ozone. This has lead to loss throughout the atmosphere.
The situation regarding the antartic ozone hole is a different story. Polar stratospheric clouds form during the winter. Molecules containing non-reactive chlorine are condensed into these clouds. In the absence of sunlight, the clouds are more or less inert. However, at the onset of spring, photochemistry in the clouds leads to a large release of reactive chlorine species.
The problem is compounded by the vortex that forms during the winter. The winter and early spring polar weather conditions prevent mixing with the rest of the atmosphere, so all the ozone depletion is local. In late spring, the polar vortex breaks up, and the ozone hole goes away through mixing with the rest of the stratosphere.
Furthermore, this is not just speculation. These theories have been confirmed by high altitude U2 and baloon flights that actually measure the concentrations of the relevant chemicals. There is a direct correlation between the release of reactive chlorine in the spring and ozone depletion. There has also been plenty of laboratory effort dedicated to measurement of the kinetics of all the relevant reactions. Ozone depletion is a well-understood problem. It can be modeled, and the models have confirmed by experiment.
Finally, all these ozone hole posts are really off topic. There is no connection between ground level ozone and the stratosphere.
That's right, ozone is a potent oxidizer, and grain dust explosions are a real hazard even without ozone. If the ozone concentrations were significant (say over a few percent) I too would be concerned. However, I suspect that we're talking about substantially lower concentrations. Yes, I did read the article; it doesn't mention concentrations.
I also suspect that concentrations sufficient to really add to the explosion hazard would probably also be an unacceptable inhalation hazard to the operators.
I would like to add a bit more info for the skeptics. The isotope ratios are a pretty good key. The material in our solar system has already been subject to a couple of generations of stellar processing. (Otherwise, there would be nothing by hydrogen.) The isotopes generated by the prior stars in our neck of the woods were determined by a particular set of fusion processes (dependent on stellar mass) that occurred during the life of those stars.
Some of the matter from outside our solar system was generated by stars with different fusion processes which generate different isotopes for particular elements. These isotope ratios have been determined precisely from the microwave spectral signatures measured by radio telescopes.
The fact that some extra-stellar grains drift into our solar system isn't surprising. However there a couple of big questions that I have. (Note that the wustl web site has been/.ed.)
First, can the nano-SIMS system do chemical analysis, or is it limited to elemental analysis? That depends on how destructive the primary electron beam is. It probably needs to be fairly high energy in order to get the spatial resolution.
If it can do chemical analysis, then we have a potential probe of the extra-solar chemistry. That's always exciting. However, there are some caveats. We don't know how long the grains have spent in our solar system. They could have been contaminated with some of the crud from our neighborhood.
Furthermore, heat from the sun has probably evaporated many of the more volatile compounds and decomposed some of the more reactive species that one might find in interstellar space.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, the US does have cheaper launch vehicles than the shuttle. As the Wired News article says, "The big players in the space-launch business are Boeing and Lockheed in the United States..." These people don't make manned rockets, but if your goal is to put a satellite in orbit, carrying people along for the ride is an enormous waste of money and resources. The big new thing is Boeing's Delta IV. It recently (March 10) put a satellite in orbit for the Air Force. I doubt that these guys are in the business of manned space flight. I couldn't imagine a for-profit firm trying to develop a manned vehicle, unless the entire effort were under a goverment contract.
The most recent article linked in the post is Feb 27. While I am looking forward to the enhanced Mac performance that the 970 promises, this doesn't bring any new information to the table.
I suppose this could lead to interference in some analog electronics. How about a $20 filter on the wall socket?
By they way, anybody who spent 5 grand on high end analog electronics that didn't include a good power line filter got ripped off.
Google has patents, but M$ can afford more and better patent laywers. In the world of patent law, the question isn't how good or novel the idea is. The question is how good is your law firm.
Would submitting a story to Taco regarding TCP/IP header bits be good for my karma?
Less noise for Echelon
In spite of the downturn, the cost of living in Silicon Valley is still way too high. A typical mortgage on a modest three bedroom house (typical middle-class, nothing fancy, under $200K in Omaha) can easily run well over $3000/month in Mountain View. There is absolutely no affordable housing within reasonable commuting distance. The bottom line is that anybody who would consider re-locating to Silicon Valley for fewer than six figures is insane.
So what's the alternative? M$ develops a de facto standard?
Great, we know the M$ track record for security.
Now I feel ripped off. In fact, we have all been ripped off. If this future was promised, there must have at least been an implied contract. Can you say "class action lawsuit?"
They're communist! It will be a worker's paradise. Isn't that good enough?
The situation regarding the antartic ozone hole is a different story. Polar stratospheric clouds form during the winter. Molecules containing non-reactive chlorine are condensed into these clouds. In the absence of sunlight, the clouds are more or less inert. However, at the onset of spring, photochemistry in the clouds leads to a large release of reactive chlorine species.
The problem is compounded by the vortex that forms during the winter. The winter and early spring polar weather conditions prevent mixing with the rest of the atmosphere, so all the ozone depletion is local. In late spring, the polar vortex breaks up, and the ozone hole goes away through mixing with the rest of the stratosphere. Furthermore, this is not just speculation. These theories have been confirmed by high altitude U2 and baloon flights that actually measure the concentrations of the relevant chemicals. There is a direct correlation between the release of reactive chlorine in the spring and ozone depletion. There has also been plenty of laboratory effort dedicated to measurement of the kinetics of all the relevant reactions. Ozone depletion is a well-understood problem. It can be modeled, and the models have confirmed by experiment.
Finally, all these ozone hole posts are really off topic. There is no connection between ground level ozone and the stratosphere.
I also suspect that concentrations sufficient to really add to the explosion hazard would probably also be an unacceptable inhalation hazard to the operators.
Some of the matter from outside our solar system was generated by stars with different fusion processes which generate different isotopes for particular elements. These isotope ratios have been determined precisely from the microwave spectral signatures measured by radio telescopes.
The fact that some extra-stellar grains drift into our solar system isn't surprising. However there a couple of big questions that I have. (Note that the wustl web site has been /.ed.)
First, can the nano-SIMS system do chemical analysis, or is it limited to elemental analysis? That depends on how destructive the primary electron beam is. It probably needs to be fairly high energy in order to get the spatial resolution.
If it can do chemical analysis, then we have a potential probe of the extra-solar chemistry. That's always exciting. However, there are some caveats. We don't know how long the grains have spent in our solar system. They could have been contaminated with some of the crud from our neighborhood.
Furthermore, heat from the sun has probably evaporated many of the more volatile compounds and decomposed some of the more reactive species that one might find in interstellar space.