BREAKING: Third time’s a charm, Congress passes science act | Bad Astronomy

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uscapitolAfter Republicans twice stalled it, the America COMPETES Act was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 262-150.

Hurray!

I have the history of this bill outlined in an earlier post. It failed the first time it went to vote because a Republican Congressman used some shameful politics to derail it, and the second time because to bring the Act to the House Floor for a vote, the Democratic majority had to put it in to pass with a 2/3 majority. Too many Republicans still voted against it, claiming it was too much spending.

That, to be blunt, is garbage. This Act makes sure we have enough money funding science and technology to grow our economy. Not passing it would be like eating your seed corn. As Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) says,

"It shouldn’t take three votes to pass legislation to support the research vital to long term economic growth. If half of economic growth in the last half century is attributable to technological developments and innovations, then we can’t afford to presume that U.S. leadership in innovation is a given. If we intend to lead the global economy, we must tend to our innovation infrastructure, as this bill does."


This bill will continue the funding of the first Act, which was passed with broad bipartisan support under the Bush Administration (when Congress still had a Republican majority as well) in 2007. This time, to get it passed, the Democrats did something clever (I know):

When consideration resumed, Chairman Gordon moved a division of the question on the amendment included in the Republican Motion to Recommit passed by the House on May 13. This effort allowed the House to consider and vote separately on several parts of the Motion to Recommit.

Ha! This "division of the question" forced Congressmen to vote separately on the amendments added last time to scuttle the bill, so they are on record. This is clever because the first time the Republicans sank the bill, they did so by adding an amendment forbidding salaries to be paid to government employees who downloaded porn. The only way to vote on the bill would have been to kill that amendment, so then the noise machine (cough cough Fox cough) could say the Democrats voted to pay people who surf porn on government machines*.

By forcing this amendment-by-amendment vote, the Democrats could vote for the porn amendment, shutting down the right-wing machine before it can even get started. Even so, I’ll note that only 17 out of 167 Republicans voting voted to pass the bill. Every Democrat voted to pass it, and every single one of the 150 no votes came from the right.

Fascinating.

The bottom line is, I am very happy this finally passed. It will fund a lot of science research as well as educational efforts for the next few years. As Rep. Holt points out, science always pays off far more than you invest, always. America will be better off and stronger because of this.

* See? I told you it was shameful.

Image credit: kevindooley’s Flickr photostream, used under the Creative Commons license.


Bigelow on commercial crew and NASA’s interest in inflatables

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Mike Gold

Mike Gold talks about Bigelow Aerospace's plans at the ISDC in Chicago on Friday.

Mike Gold, director of Washington operations for Bigelow Aerospace, spent much of his 45-minute speech at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Chicago talking about the history of Bigelow’s development of inflatable (or, as the company prefers, “expandable”) modules, including the successful launch of Genesis I and II in 2006 and 2007, respectively; familiar ground for most who have followed the company. He also discussed the company’s future plans, including how NASA’s proposed new direction in human spaceflight may directly and indirectly affect the company.

Bigelow’s plans to launch a series of larger habitable modules, starting with the 180-cubic-meter Sundancer, are dependent on the introduction of commercial crew transportation services, a key element of that plan. “The long pole in the tent for our operations is that while we could have Sundancer ready very quickly, we don’t have a way to get people back and forth,” he said. Without it, the company’s investment “will be for naught”. He believes that commercial crew services will be as safe, if not safer, than government systems, as companies have a lot more riding on the line than a government agency: while NASA could (and has) survived fatal accidents in the past, a company could lose hundreds of millions of dollars or go our of business entirely in such an event. “We’re more incentivized to be safe than a government agency because we have a lot more riding on it.”

However, Bigelow is a bit particular about who they work with on commercial crew. “We love SpaceX,” he said, “but the rocket we’re most excited about, at least in the near-term, is the Atlas 5.” He cited the rocket’s 100-percent record of success since its introduction in 2002 as the reason they prefer it over the as-yet-untried Falcon 9. “If your goal is safety and reliability, this is the system you would go to.”

Another area where NASA’s new plans intersect more directly with Bigelow’s plans is the agency’s focus on “flagship technologies”, including inflatable modules. “The good news is that NASA is paying attention to the technology,” Gold said. “The bad news is that NASA is paying attention to the technology.” He said the company would be responding to a new request for information (RFI) from NASA on the proposed technology demonstration program, and that Bigelow has been “actively” talking with NASA about building something called a “Bigelow Aerospace Module”, or BAM, that could be installed on the ISS.

One criticism the company has of NASA’s interest in inflatables is that the RFI talks about adding a “full scale” module to the station. He said even adding a small module to the station involves a lot of issues such as structural fatigue and outgassing. “I’m not sure whether you could safely put a full-scale inflatable on the ISS,” Gold said. A free-flyer would be much safer and cost effective, he said. Asked after his presentation whether there was the feasibility and/or interest in putting a Sundancer module on the ISS, he again raised the technical concerns about adding a relatively large module to the station. The BAM concept would be closer in size to the Genesis demonstration modules, he said, more like “a closet” than a full-fledged module.

Point of Inquiry Hosts to Convene With Listeners and Students in Amherst, New York | The Intersection

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I've just confirmed that I'll be joining my fellow POI hosts, Karen Stollznow and Robert Price, at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York in late June. The occasion is the Center for Inquiry's summer annual leadership conference, which brings in freethinking student leaders from across the country for workshops, lectures, and to finally get to know each other. This is a blast from the past for me, in many ways, as I worked at the Center for Inquiry to organize student freethinkers back in 1999. (Matt Nisbet worked there too, at the time.) So going back to Amherst ten years later--as a speaker this time--is really something that stirs a bit. Plus, it will be great to finally meet Stollznow and Price. I've been admiring their shows from a distance, and I hope now that we've all gotten our feet wet, we can try to collaborate and cross-pollinate a bit more. More details can be found here....if you're a student freethinker, or are just generally interested, I hope you'll attend. And now the very difficult question becomes...what shall I speak about?


How can you Get any Smaller?

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Having described advances in semiconductor technology for nearly 50 years, can Moore's Law continue to accurately predict the doubling of circuit complexity every 18 months? Is there a practical limit? Industry prognosticators have been predicting the law's demise for a long time, but technological

Are Your Customers Moving Offshore?

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The current U.S. government administration and the Department of Commerce are actively studying how to get more small- to medium-sized businesses to export over seas, including the consideration of several new trade agreements. Are you a small or medium business, or a larger company with more than $

distortion

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dear sir ;

we have an ESG monitors and another monitors in the operation theaters connected to a UPS , There is aproblem wih these monitors some times that the signals appears not as same as the normal signals so the signal be wide .

please help me to avoide this problem

two motors

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hi, i have two motors in that one is forword and onther revers dairection i given connection like this from mcb RYB to M1 RYB and M1 temrinal box RYB to M2 RBY then i started, ofter some time M2 burned. plz tell me what happend

Propeller Shaft Machining Advice?

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I would like to repair a damaged stainless steel hollow propeller shaft. It is damaged where the cutlass bearing runs.

Can I turn the shaft down to take a sleeve and heat fit the oversize sleeve to the shaft. Then turn the "new shaft area" with oversize sleeve down to its correct size? What all

Simple Stator coiling question

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Hello all, I am currently working on a project that requires a stator ring like the ones found in electric motors where there are 2-3phases of electromagnetic coils placed in a circular fashion with a pole pointing towards the center (look at picture below). The coils would be powered by

NASA’s Webb Telescope Has ‘Made It’ to New York City!

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The Webb telescope full scale model lit up at night in Munich, Germany in 2009The James Webb Space Telescope has finally made the "big time" at least according to the old Frank Sinatra song "New York, New York." The life-sized model of NASA's next generation space telescope is being set up in New York City's Battery Park for the 2010 World Science Festival, which runs June 1- June 6. The opening ceremony will be held in front of the model on June 1.

As the song goes, "if (the Webb telescope) can make it there, it'll make it anywhere" and scientists are hoping that it will safely arrive in its orbit one million miles from Earth.

"The World Science Festival is a great opportunity for people to get a look at, and learn more about, the future of astronomy from space," said Eric Smith, NASA's Webb Program Scientist. "The Webb telescope full scale model dramatically highlights how far the next generation of space telescopes will be from its predecessors. It’s unlike any telescope you’ve ever seen."

The James Webb Space Telescope is the next-generation premier space observatory, exploring deep space phenomena from distant galaxies to nearby planets and stars. The telescope will give scientists clues about the formation of the universe and the evolution of our own solar system, from the first light after the Big Bang to the formation of star systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth.

For six days in June, New York City residents can get a free look at the full-scale model of the Webb telescope as it sits on display in Battery Park. The model viewing hours run from Tuesday, June 1 from 9:00 a.m. to Sunday, June 6 at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The actual size model is highly detailed. It is constructed mainly of aluminum and steel, weighs 12,000 pounds, is approximately 80 feet long, 40 feet wide and 40 feet tall. It is as large as a tennis court. The model requires 2 trucks to ship it and assembly takes a crew of 12 approximately four days. The model will be lit up from its base so that night-time viewers can take in all the details.

The full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope was built by the prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, to provide a better understanding of the size, scale and complexity of this satellite.

Visitors will also be able to learn about what the Webb telescope is going to show scientists. They can play with interactive exhibits, watch videos about what the Webb will be exploring in the cosmos, and even ask a scientist about the telescope.

On Friday June 4, from 8-9:30 p.m. EDT, there will be a special event at the base of the full-sized model, called "From the City to the Stars," where scientists will talk about the possible discoveries that the Webb telescope could make.

The event is also free and open to the public. Dr. John Mather, Nobel laureate and the Webb telescope’s senior project scientist; Dr. John Grunsfeld, astronaut, physicist and "chief repairman" of the Hubble Telescope and planetary astronomer Dr. Heidi Hammel will be at the event to talk about the discoveries anticipated from the Webb telescope. NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will be a featured speaker at the Festival kick-off. She will share with the New York audience NASA’s strong commitment to continued scientific discovery, with missions like the Webb telescope, and talk about some of the other exciting endeavors on NASA’s new path forward.

Since 2005, the model has journeyed to Florida, Germany, Ireland and Washington, D.C. The actual Webb space telescope is going a lot further, about a million miles from Earth!

Related Links:

> "From the City to the Stars"
> World Science Festival
> James Webb Space Telescope
> Model on display in Washington, DC - May 10-12, 2007

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