News Round Up

Iran threatens U.S. and Britain after Guard bombing | Reuters

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed on Monday to “retaliate” against the United States and Britain after accusing them and neighboring Pakistan of backing militants who blew up six Guards commanders.

Seems to shoe is now on the other foot, eh? Not that I support terrorism in any form. Just noting a islamic terrorist supporting regime complaining about muslim terrorism and the irony is claiming that non-muslims are responsible for the terrorist actions of other muslims. Got to love the mullahs twisted logic.

Karzai set to announce decision on Afghan run-off | Reuters

Hopefully Karzai will be smart and agree to a runoff. Though Obama’s an idiot to try and tie American security concerns (i.e. whether he sends more troops or not) based on another nation’s election. That’s obvious waffling and trying to put off a decision instead of being a decisive President .

Honduras de facto government scolds Zelaya, cools talks | International | Reuters

Why do I suspect the Honduran government is giving Zelaya the rope he needs to hang himself? Starting an insurrection would certainly do the trick.

Woe to the Republic 3: Raptor down

Today the Senate voted to cut funding for the F-22 Raptor. Per norm, the corrupt officials of Congress and Administration used numerous excuses to try to effectively kill the program rather than admit they are intentionally harming both the United States military along with American workers and industries for political purposes.

40 Years Ago Today

Aldrin Apollo 11 (Image via NASA)

Here’s hoping we get that adventurous, enterprising spirit back in America.

40th Anniversary of Apollo 11

As many are aware today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

Apollo 11 Launch (Image courtesy of NASA)

Science News

Articles that caught my attention:

Martian Lightning / Science News

LRO Achieves Lunar Orbit:: Aero-News Network::. (more info: http://www.nasa.gov/lro)

.:: Staying In Space Harder Than It Sounds : Aero-News Network::.

Tech Reading: Spacecraft Structures

From Welcome to Space Structures Laboratory I’ve been browsing through their research thesis particularly those involving design, health monitoring, and deformation of spacecraft structures. (See Introduction)

links for 2009-06-07

• Pro/Engineer Tutorials
  (tags: Engineering Tutorial cad Pro_E proengineer)
• Pro/ENGINEER Tutorials – Free Pro/ENGINEER Tutorial at Tutorial Hero
  (tags: Engineering CAD/Design Tutorial Pro_E)

links for 2009-06-05

• The Artemis Project: Private Enterprise on the Moon
  Main Entrance for the Artemis Project, an
  international venture to establish a privately owned and operated exploration
  base on the moon.
  (tags: Tech Space Science astronomy technology business moon)
• Spacedebate.org
  Spacedebate.org is an effort to expand the debate on the weaponization of space through a collaborative wiki-like tool for structured debate on a topic.
  (tags: NASA Space Science technology military war debate)
• Commonwealth Institute of Cambridge, MA USA
  The Commonwealth Institute is a non-profit, non-governmental public policy research organization located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
  (tags: Publications research security policy military thinktank strategy defense war)
• Military Factory – Military Weapons covering airplanes, tanks and guns throughout history.
  Military reference for the casual observer covering weapons from ancient times through tomorrow.
  (tags: Aircraft History guns reference research aviation airplanes weapons military photos)
• FlightBlogger – Aviation News, Commentary and Analysis
  (tags: Blogs Aerospace Boeing news aviation blog airplanes flight)

Space News 24 Feb 2009

Nearly 9 out of 10 Americans See Value in America’s Space Program

It’s actually refreshing to see that most Americans value the space program in some manner. It bodes well for space exploration in that regards. Not so great is teh fact that so many people still overestimate NASA’s budget. But another plus is hpw many support the U.S. trying to retain being the world leader in space exploration. The article is slightly misleading in presenting the aerospace industry as thriving, which in some aspects it is. The problem is the article ignores the fact that aerospace job losses and reduction have been high since the economy started to turn sour.

NASA’s global warming satellite falls to Earth – Space.com- msnbc.com

Definitely a blow for mapping carbon dioxide levels especially as it could potentially hinder future satellites intended to study potential climate change, information that could held determine the truth or falsity of climate change.

DPRK prepares to test-fire satellite

Interesting given current tensions on the Korean peninsula and the region in general. Given DPRK’s previous actions I’m more in line with those thinking this is just  a cover for a long range missile test than an actual civilian use space launch.

Sea Shadow and Hughes

US Navy Sea Shadow Stealth Craft (public domain image)

The Navy Has a Top-Secret Vessel It Wants to Put on Display – WSJ.com

I still say Sea Shadow is a cool vessel. And Hughes is certainly notable for its own uniqueness. I hope someone comes forward to save the ship in some sort of naval museum.