Health Issues of Proposed Cedar Hills Landfill Expansion – Voice of the Valley

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On Monday, December 2, the Area Council held its monthly meeting. As a followup to our September Monthly Meeting, at which we convened an Expert Panel, we invited as our Guest Speaker, Dr. Richard C. Honour, who presented and discussed the various health and environmental issues related to the proposed continuation and expansion of the Cedar Hills Landfill. Also invited was Rick Hess from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to speak of Landfill air monitoring. The King County Comprehensive Plan also was discussed.

Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA)

Rick Hess, PSCAA Inspection Manager described the PSCAA as a special-purpose four-county regional agency established under the Washington Clean Air Act in 1967. In a brochure made available, it described the Agencys vision as: everyone, everywhere to breathe clean, healthy air all the time regardless of whom they are or where they live. In addition to reducing air pollution overall, we also focus on equity, so nobody is more at risk because of where they live or their socioeconomic status. No community in our region should bear disproportionate burdens and exposure from air pollution. To be relevant and serve all people in our four counties, we reach out and listen to community concerns and make room to work with issues new to us. Our commitment to equity and environmental justice means taking the time to build and invest in relationships with a range of constituents, from partner institutions to academic and grassroots organizations.

Mr. Hess described air inspections at the Cedar Hills Landfill, which is a Title 5 facility under Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines as established under the Federal Clean Air Act. The Act requires major sources of air pollutants to obtain and operate in compliance with a Title 5 Operating Permit. Being a delegated program by EPA, PSCAA ensures the conditions of such permits are followed.

During inspections, PSCAA visually inspects the landfill gas collection system and incineration equipment to ensure its being maintained in good working order and constructed and operated as approved. For example, the gas flares when landfill gas is not directed to the on-site Energy-to-Waste facility must operate at 98% destruction efficiency. Ongoing monitoring for Methane emissions on the surface of the landfill is another requirement. In addition, PSCAA reviews temperature logs, gas concentration logs, and air monitoring reports, as well as assures correct test methods are used. Other requirements include reviewing maintenance records, operation and maintenance plans and their complaint monitoring and response program.

Mr. Hess explained how the Cedar Hills Landfill also must self-monitor for compliance, which includes monitoring and measuring emissions. Under Title 5, deviations of permit requirements must be reported to the PSCAA. Air Permits issued for new and modified sources of emissions at the landfill requires use of best available control technology. PSCAA ensures permit requirements are met with monetary penalties leveled for non-compliance. There are Federal rules that also must be met that address hazardous air pollutants.

PSCAA acts as Federal representatives for the EPA to ensure Federal rules are met and as State representatives for the Department of Ecology to ensure State rules are met.

Citizen complaints can be filed with the PSCAA (see: https://www.pscleanair.gov/262/File-a- Complaint).

Cedar Hills Landfill Proposed Expansion

Dr. Richard C. Honour is a founder and principal of Save Our Soil (https://saveoursoil.us) and The Precautionary Group (TPG), which are environmental organizations dedicated to ending land disposal of toxic sewage sludge. Dr. Honour has a BS in Biology from San Diego State University and a PhD in Plant Pathology/Soil Microbiology from UC-Riverside.

Dr. Honour discussed his work, which emphasizes sampling, analysis, and documenting adverse environmental impacts of Land-Disposed Toxic Sewage Sludge in western Washington, as well central Washington agricultural regions. His focus has been on the presence, concentration, and impacts of many toxic chemicals, including PFAs, Dioxins/Furans, PCBs, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether

(PBDE) Flame Retardants, as well as several toxic Metals.

Dr. Honour also has investigated volatile toxic gasses generated and released into the environment by the Land-Disposal of Toxic Sewage Sludges. These volatile gasses contribute directly to air pollution, including the emission of identified Greenhouse Gasses (GHGs).

Land-Disposed Toxic Sewage Sludge is proving to be a major contributing source of toxic volatile GHG chemicals, i.e., toxic volatile chemicals of the Toxic Sewage Sludge Volatilome. His test results reveal high levels of carcinogenic and neurotoxic volatile chemicals in Land-Disposed Sludges. Dr. Honour seeks the abolition of land-disposed toxic waste, such as non-recyclable plastics; toxic sewage sludges; municipal solid waste; and industrial waste.

Solutions presented by Dr. Honour include both green-waste solutions and thermal decomposition of solid wastes by clean and green Waste-to Energy (WTE) solutions. He provided examples from Spokane where they prioritized the waste stream cycle: 1. reduce, 2. recycle, 3. WTE, 4. Landfill (restricted to drywall glass and other non-hazardous or less hazardous waste). Spokane reduced its waste products, generated energy from landfills, and created byproducts such as valuable ashall through the thermal decomposition of solid wastes. Such thermal decomposition facilities use extremely high heat to break down substances to their basic chemical compositions.

Unfortunately, much of what we recycle really isnt recyclable anymore due to reduced markets and mixed products that arent just paper or just plastic. Dr. Honour also stated that the problem is growing, since 62% of Americas GDP is consumptionwhich increases our waste streams. This percentage keeps increasing (i.e., grows faster than the GDP).

Dr. Honour also emphasized the externalities associated with decision making. Concluding that it is less costly to fix pollution today than to pay for the future Public Health consequences, but these latter costs are seldom considered when making discussions, especially on landfilling and toxic sewage sludge. He stated the savings in health care costs alone would pay for it all.

He also discussed King Countys actions or inactions in this area. Currently, King County toxic sludge (Persistent Organic Pollutants; Chemical of Emerging Concerns; Persistent, Bioaccumulative Toxics) from our municipal sewage plants is trucked to Eastern Washington6,800 double dump trucks (170,000 tons) per year. However, King County and the State do not test for the most critical pollutants. Dr. Honour indicated they need to test for Dioxins/Furans, PCBs, PDBEs, and PFAs, plus a large percentage of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) which contribute to GHG emissions. Concerned members of the Public can contact the Area Council at: info@gmvuac.org to connect with the Environment Committee on these issues.

King County Comprehensive Plan (KCCP)

The Area Council discussed submitting two Docket Item (D.I.) Requests to amend the KC Code.

The first D.I. Request would ensure that any site-specific rezones not be reviewed during any KCCP update, but rather go through a Type 4 permit review process before a Hearing Examiner, along with a Public Hearing, for a recommendation to the King County Council regarding any changes to the KCCP and zoning.

The second D.I. Request calls for the King County Council to prepare and publish written responses to Public Comments on KCCP updates, as does the King County Executive already does.

The Area Council voted to approve both D.I. Requests and submit them to KCCP Manager, Ivan Miller. For more information please see the Area Councils KCCP web pages: http://gmvuac.org/hot- off-the-presses/ and http://gmvuac.org/kc-comprehensive-plan/.

Upcoming Area Council Meetings

All regular monthly meetings are held on the first Monday of the month, from 7 9:30 PM, at the Maple Valley Fire Station located at the SE corner of SE 231st St & SR-169 intersection (directly across from the Police Precinct). All members of the Public are welcome. Each meeting begins with an open Public Comment period. Guest Speakers for upcoming 2020 monthly meetings are being planned.

Your Area Council serves as an all-volunteer, locally elected advisory body to King County on behalf of all rural unincorporated area residents living in the Tahoma School District. Please see the Area Councils web site: http://www.gmvuac.org.

Area Council Vision Statement: Our communitys Rural Character will be supported by facilitating strong local ties and communication between the public, organizations, and government; promoting locally owned businesses and supporting quality education; protecting the environment, and maintainng landowners rights and responsibilities; promoting controlled and well-planned growth with appropriate infrastructure; ensuring proper representation for rural interests and needs; and supporting the health and safety and the privacy of our vibrant community.

The sixteen-seat Area Council currently has several open seats. If you have an interest in joining please send us an e-mail at: info@gmvuac.org or attend one of our monthly meetings and express such interest for consideration by the Area Council.

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Health Issues of Proposed Cedar Hills Landfill Expansion - Voice of the Valley

We need to talk about money | Opinion – Building Design

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Fees. Ill be blunt; Ive been nervous about approaching this topic. The most significant shift in this area the abolition of mandatory fee scales happened eight years before I was born. Fees are also an emotive topic, shrouded in the touchiness that always accompanies discussions of money in our culture.

A couple of brief caveats. I have a limited word count so this is not an exhaustive examination. I also cant touch on architects wages. Though theyre inextricably tied to fees I just dont have space to consider this properly. Caveats firmly in place, let me get on with it!

Fees are now a bit of an enigma. Rumours swirl and some publications and agencies have attempted to publish fee surveys. However, information is patchy, and surveys are usually from a small, self-selecting sample and therefore of limited value statistically speaking. One friend told me of an unethical but practical part III tutor who, as he saw it, had found a way to overcome this problem. He admitted to his students that he had little interest in teaching them he had mainly taken the job to harvest their PEDRs and case studies for fee information.

This lack of guidance is a fairly recent development. In the early days of the RIBA a focus on the client being able to select on ability, rather than cost, was seen as key in professionalising the architect. Therefore, the RIBA set mandatory fee scales, based on a percentage of construction cost. Clients could select on talent, and architects didnt have to concern themselves with what to charge for their services. This may have been an oversimplification in terms of fee calculation, but projects at the time rarely approached the level of either complexity or duplication that they do now.

The Restrictive Trade Practices Act of 1956 made collective restrictive practices in the supply of goods illegal. This was shortly followed by the Monopolies and Mergers Act of 1963 which extended this principle to the supply of services. A Monopolies Commission Report from 1970 began to erode the legality of mandatory professional fee scales, suggesting the introduction of price competition is likely to be the most effective single stimulant to greater efficiency and to innovation and variety of service and price. Under pressure from government mandatory RIBA fee scales became recommended in 1982.

RIBA fee scales exist in a mythical world one where the architect was god on site

Considering these policies to be successful, the government of the early 1990s built further on this principle by introducing compulsory competitive fee tendering for public-sector projects. Many private-sector projects followed suit, and in 1992 recommended RIBA fee scales became indicative.

These indicative charts were finally abolished in 2009 with the RIBA stating at the time: The RIBA practice committee felt that the application of percentages based upon fee survey data was an increasingly outdated method of calculating fees, and potentially harmful in the current economic climate. The RIBA now points to its publications A Clients Guide to Engaging an Architect (2013) and Good Practice Guide: Fee Management (2009) for guidance on fee calculation.

The government intended that the abolition of fee scales would lead to a more innovative, competitive marketplace. Thirty-seven years on, few would argue that the marketplace for architectural services is competitive, though some have suggested that there has been a race to the bottom on fees, leading to lower standards. While this argument may carry some truth, I think it oversimplifies the issue.

I spoke with Helen Logan, a partner at Allies & Morrison, who described the difficulties she sees in drawing too neatly a comparison between then and now. She acknowledged that fees as a percentage of construction cost are often half what they might have been in the last recommended scales (1992). But she also said the construction landscape has changed. Fees are not always a percentage now they may be on a per unit or time charge basis. Some practices are even beginning to tie their fee to the commercial success of the project.

Additionally, efficiencies in the way we practice have shifted the time and resources required for architectural work. Drawing by hand was the norm in 1992; CAD, and now BIM, has increased the ability for straightforward duplication of, for example, flat layouts, and increased the efficiency of coordination within large teams or between disciplines. Large and complex projects can now be carried out with more accuracy and speed than when everything was drawn with a Rotring pen on trace.

Nevertheless, Logan cautioned that many of the productivity improvements that have come about in her working life are difficult to easily quantify or communicate to clients when demonstrating value or negotiating fees. Since 1992 the regulatory environment has dramatically shifted: Part M has doubled in size; Part L is notably more challenging; there has been a new Planning Act; CDM legislation has come into force; as have new parts of the Building Regulations, for security and high-speed broadband; not to mention the de-facto legislation emerging through the Ojeu process to name but a few.

Architects must now grapple with considerably more information and coordinate ever more complex technical detail. Very little of this is readily apparent from a surface glance. It has, however, resulted in better, safer, healthier buildings that, broadly, cause less damage to the environment and the workforce that created them, not to mention dramatically increasing the social value of modern construction projects.

For me, RIBA fee scales exist in a mythical world one where the architect was god on site, projects were smaller, and where architects didnt advertise but sat behind their brass plaques waiting for work to knock on the door.

This picture bears almost no resemblance to the profession I joined two years ago. Fee scales abolition undoubtedly made life harder for some architects, especially those who are not so keen on the business side of practice life.

But it is short sighted, I think, to suggest that the progress both social and technological made in the last 30-odd years is entirely unrelated to a more competitive market place for fees.

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We need to talk about money | Opinion - Building Design

The Vatican’s Nuclear Diplomacy from the Cold War to the Present – War on the Rocks

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In June 1982, Pope John Paul II broke with over three decades of Vatican policy when he emphatically stated in front of the United Nations General Assembly that nuclear deterrence could be judged as a morally acceptable step on the way toward a progressive disarmament. This statement stood in marked contrast to his predecessors, who rejected peace based on the threat of mutual annihilation. Since the beginning of the nuclear age, the Vatican has placed nuclear issues at the top of its foreign policy agenda. Though the Cold War superpowers were very concerned with the Vaticans position on nuclear arms, it has, nevertheless, received little scholarly attention in historical analyses of the arms race. For example, when President Ronald Reagan decided to pursue his Strategic Defense Initiative a controversial missile defense system to render nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete, he actively sought the popes support. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union lobbied, unsuccessfully, to get John Paul II to publicly condemn the program. In the 1980s, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Vatican City became a forum for scientists from both sides of the Iron Curtain to exchange ideas on nuclear issues.

In the post-Cold War era, the Vatican remains very active in its effort to influence the international dialogue on nuclear weapons. Pope Francis has made nuclear arms control a primary objective of his foreign policy. He has changed course from John Paul IIs position on deterrence and stated that not only the use, but also the possession of nuclear weapons is immoral. In addition to advocating comprehensive arms reduction agreements, Pope Francis is committed to raising awareness about the potentially destabilizing effects of artificial intelligence on the future of warfare, including nuclear stability. The pope no longer has a large military at his disposal, nor significant economic resources. The Vatican does, however, have diplomatic relations with 183 countries in addition to its international moral authority. From the Cold War to the present time the Vatican has been a significant but understudied player in international deliberations on nuclear weapons and disarmament.

The Vatican Enters the Nuclear Age

Throughout the Cold War, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences served as the main forum for the Vaticans scientific and moral debates regarding nuclear weapons. It has served to inform the nuclear diplomacy of the Vatican from the dawn of the nuclear age until the present time. Pius XI founded the modern academy in 1936, but it can trace its lineage back to the 16th century and even had Galileo as one of its members. Pius XI wanted to establish a forum for dialogue between faith and science in the modern age, and appointed over eighty academicians from many different countries. Notably, since its founding, members of the academy do not have to be Catholic or have any religious affiliation. The academy has had more than forty Nobel laureates Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, and Niels Bohr were just three of the many prominent 20th century scientists who were elected members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Pius XI believed that the search for truth was the primary objective of the academy. This goal would have significant political repercussions when the academy began examining the morality of nuclear weapons in the coming decades.

In March 1939, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected by his peers to become the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He chose Pius XII as his regnal name. Like his predecessor and mentor Pius XI, he was a seasoned papal diplomat and intimately understood the political landscape of Europe. He was profoundly anti-communist and believed that cooperation with and accommodation of the Soviet regime was not only inadvisable, but indeed also impossible. He remained in Rome during World War II and witnessed first-hand the devastation wrought by allied strategic bombing. What he is perhaps least recognized for is his intense interest in the scientific and technological changes taking place in the 1930s and 1940s.

Pius XII was especially concerned with developments in atomic research during this period. He had extensive contact with German physicist Max Planck about the potential consequences of nuclear power for warfare. In 1941, the pope told a gathering of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that in the hands of man, science can become a double-edged weapon capable both of curing and killing. At the urging of Planck, in 1943 the pope said that scientists were informing him that nuclear technology could create an amount of energy that could take the place of all the largest electrical power plants in the world. He warned, however, that such technology should only be used for peaceful purposes because otherwise the consequences would be catastrophic for the whole planet. The pope became distraught when he learned that the United States used atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He described nuclear weapons as the most terrible weapon that the human mind has ever conceived.

Pius XII did, however, maintain that the use of force could be justified in a modern context. In 1953 he said, It is certain that even in the present-day circumstances war cannot be considered illicit for a nation to efficiently defend itself and to achieve victory when it is attacked unjustly and all efforts to avoid it have proved futile.He did declare, nevertheless, that nuclear weapons could not be employed within the boundaries outlined by St. Augustines writings on just war theory this body of work guided the Vaticans position on war.

In the 5th century, St. Augustine claimed that defense could be a necessity when justified by a legitimate authority and that the wise man will wage just wars. Nine hundred years after St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas expanded on the formers writings about conflict and stated that war must occur for a good and just purpose, that war must be waged by a properly instituted authority (e.g. a state), and that peace must be the central motive. Pius XII specifically identified Aquinass condition of peace as a central motive as a primary problem with the use of nuclear weapons. He stated that when the harm wrought by war is not comparable to that caused by tolerating injustice, we may be obliged to suffer injustice. For the pope, because nuclear weapons would likely kill so many non-combatants, they could never be employed within the just war theory framework outlined by Augustine and Aquinas.

Pius XII used scientific arguments against the testing and deployment of nuclear weapons. More specifically, he focused on the potential effects of nuclear fallout as a compelling reason why nuclear weapons should never be used. He used his Christmas message in 1955 to articulate the harmful effects of nuclear testing and the use of atomic weapons, saying, a nuclear explosion releases an enormous amount of energy in an extremely short period; it consists of radiations of an electromagnetic nature of very high density launched at speeds close to that of light wreaking havoc. Thus, he emphasized the use of science in addition to moral imperative as a rhetorical weapon in his passionate arguments against the possession and use of atomic weapons.

In October 1958, Pius XII died and was succeeded by John XXIII, who was also a seasoned papal diplomat. Like his predecessor, he was very concerned with the threat of nuclear war. A little over one year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, on April 11, 1963 he issued his encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth). In it, he acknowledged that nuclear weapons could indeed act as a deterrent but he also stated that the very testing of nuclear devices for war purposes can lead to serious danger He also rejected the idea of peace based upon mutually assured destruction, observing that, lasting peace among nations cannot consist in the possession of an equal supply of armaments, but only in mutual trust. In addition, he expressed grave concerns about the economic costs of the nuclear arms race.

John XXIII emphatically rejected the idea that nuclear weapons could be justified on moral grounds when he said in this age which boasts of its atomic power, it no longer makes sense to maintain that war is a fit instrument with which to repair the violation of justice. He did, however, break with Pius XIIs vocal anti-communism. He wanted to lower the overall tension between east and west. So, while he maintained that nuclear weapons were not acceptable, he did reduce the Vaticans direct moral and political pressure placed on the communist world in particular.

In 1963, John XXIII died and was succeeded by Paul VI, who carried on his predecessors legacy on nuclear weapons. He stated that peace created by nuclear deterrence was a tragic illusion. Most significantly, he instituted the Vaticans policy of Ostpolitik (Eastern Politics) aimed at rapprochement with the Soviet Union. He believed that the USSR could last indefinitely and that it was better to seek a peaceful accommodation than to maintain a policy of hostility and isolation. This policy represented a complete departure from Pius XIIs vocal anti-communism. In 1978, Paul VI passed away and was replaced by John Paul I. His papacy lasted for only 33 days, and thus he did not make any significant foreign policy changes. His successor would, however, lead the Vatican in a completely new direction and change the course of the Cold War in the process.

A New Pope Accepts Deterrence

When Cardinal Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II in 1978, he was the first non-Italian pope in over 400 years. The election of a Polish pope during this tense period in the Cold War immediately drew the attention of the Soviets. The KGB and its Polish sister service had been closely following the career of the man who would be John Paul II for many years. After he became pope, the Kremlin was intensely concerned with his diplomatic agenda. According to Vatican scholar George Weigel, John Paul II rejected Ostpolitik and he pursued a strategy of resistance through moral revolution. In 1981, he visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki and spoke about how the arms race was getting out of control and placing the future of humanity in jeopardy. In June 1982, he stated in front of the United Nations General Assembly that nuclear deterrence could indeed be judged as a moral intermediate step toward disarmament. He continued, nevertheless, to encourage world leaders to push for arms reduction.

When Reagan became president in 1981, he very much saw John Paul IIs position on communism and nuclear weapons as in line with his own. He abhorred nuclear weapons and wanted to find a way out of the arms race. During his presidency, questions about the morality of nuclear strategy became a central point of concern. Adm. James Watkins, Reagans Chief of Naval Operations, was a devout Catholic and stated openly in 1983 that mutually assured destruction was not a morally sound long-term strategy. In 1983, the Reagan administration was deeply disturbed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops report on nuclear weapons that also questioned the morality of mutually assured destruction. In light of the significant doubts about the morality of American national strategy, Reagan sought the popes support for his plan to change the nature of the American-Soviet arms competition.

In March 1983, Reagan announced his intention to create a capability that would render nuclear weapons obsolete and move the world out from under the threat of mutually assured destruction, a vision that ultimately became the Strategic Defense Initiative. Reagan sought out the Vaticans support for this program. A declassified Central Intelligence Agency memorandum details a January 1986 trip of a Strategic Defense Initiative briefing team to the Vatican. Members of this group provided senior Vatican officials and scientists from the Vatican observatory a briefing on the program. Multiple high-ranking clerics informed the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican that it would be impossible for them to support a military program, which potentially takes food from the mouths of the poor.

While Pope John Paul II did not overtly support missile defense, he refused to criticize it either. Many Pontifical Academy of Sciences members believed that the program could have negative repercussions for the arms race. The pope was very concerned about the implications of emerging technologies for superpower relations. In the early and mid-1980s, the academy hosted conferences on nuclear security issues that drew distinguished scientists such as American physicist and national security expert Richard Garwin and Soviet physicist Evgeny Velikhov. In 1985, the academy began compiling a report on the implications of the Strategic Defense Initiative for strategic stability. When the Reagan administration discovered this, it began lobbying the Vatican not to publish the report. At the same time, the Soviet foreign minister flew to Vatican City and tried to convince the pope to publicly criticize the program. John Paul II, however, in no way wanted to appear to be supporting a Soviet cause. In the end, the pope ensured that the report was never published. While both superpowers were in a race over strategic technology, they were also competing for the support of the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

Vatican Nuclear Diplomacy after the Cold War

On April 19, 2005 German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger succeeded John Paul II and became Pope Benedict XVI. He was the first post-Cold War pontiff. Even though the Cold War was officially over, he remained intimately concerned with nuclear proliferation and its effects on the developing world in particular. Benedict XVI was especially worried about how expenditure on armaments served to perpetuate domestic and local inequalities and he emphasized the urgent need to both revitalize non-proliferation efforts and move to decommission existing nuclear weapons. In his first World Day of Peace Message in 2006 he declared that, in a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims. He thus built upon the arguments of his predecessors and also emphasized the socio-economic consequences of a strategy based on nuclear deterrence. His successor would, however, go even further in his advocacy for abolishing nuclear arms.

In February 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope since the 15th century to resign the papal office. He was succeeded by Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who took Francis as his regnal name. Since the beginning of his papacy, Francis has made the elimination of nuclear weapons a top priority of his foreign policy. In 2015, he said in front of the United Nations General Assembly that we must therefore commit ourselves to a world without nuclear weapons. He condemned even the possession of nuclear weapons as immoral with his statement that the threat of their use as well as their very possession is to be firmly condemned. He broke, therefore, completely with John Paul IIs position that nuclear deterrence could be considered a moral intermediate step towards disarmament. Pope Francis has also put his words into action. In July 2017, the Vatican voted in favor of a treaty that prohibits the development, testing, production, manufacture, otherwise acquisition, possession or stockpiling [of] nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

The current pope is also very concerned about the potentially negative implications of emerging technologies that could affect nuclear command and control. He has placed a spotlight on artificial intelligence and is worried about its likely influence on the future of warfare. In May 2019, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences hosted a conference on artificial intelligence that specifically considered its possible consequences for military operations. The implications of artificial intelligence for nuclear stability looms very large in the minds of many academy scientists who directly advise the pontiff on scientific and technological matters.

While the Vatican has placed great emphasis on working towards a world without nuclear weapons, has it had an impact? During the Cold War, Reagan certainly believed that the popes moral authority added significant momentum to the arms control negotiations taking place in the 1980s. In 2015, Rose Gottemoeller, President Obamas senior arms control official in the State Department, stated, I think there is a huge moral impact of the Vatican on issues that relate to nuclear weapons deterrence and the disarmament agenda overall and that you cant just wave a magic wand and make nuclear weapons go away. It takes hard work and it takes a lot of very practical steps, but we can get there. Obama was receptive to the popes message on nuclear weapons and sought to work with him towards the elimination of nuclear weapons, though no significant strides were made as a result of Washingtons and the Vaticans shared vision.

Events of the past 75 years strongly suggest that the Vatican is unlikely to make any significant headway with its nuclear diplomacy without support from the United States. The present popes declaration that even the possession of nuclear weapons is immoral will likely alienate the nuclear powers and actually impede the Vaticans objectives in the realm of nuclear diplomacy. John Paul II, by contrast, had a realist perspective on the international system, which enabled him to formulate policies that gave the Vatican a greater voice in international affairs. The alignment of Vatican and American policy on arms control began to unravel, however, in the post-Cold War era.

The Limits of Moral Authority

In the 1940s the Vatican recognized that nuclear weapons would fundamentally change the nature of the international system. Since that time, each pope has consistently lobbied against their use. The Cold War environment created a willingness among popes, John Paul II in particular, to accept nuclear deterrence. In the post-Cold War period, the Vatican has passionately condemned nuclear deterrence and made the abolition of nuclear weapons a primary foreign policy objective. World leaders recognize that the pope is the head of an institution with over one billion members. He has diplomatic relations with over 180 countries, including Russia and Iran, and has been recognized by both Moscow and Tehran as having significant influence in international relations. The United States and the Soviet Union both lobbying the Vatican to support their respective positions on the Strategic Defense Initiative strongly suggests that the moral authority of the pope is not an insignificant consideration in international affairs.

The nuclear age does, however, demonstrate that the moral authority of the papacy has significant limits. The Vatican recognizes that it cannot achieve its objective of nuclear disarmament without the agreement of all the nuclear powers, which is an outcome that is unlikely in the near future. For the past seven decades, the Vatican has persistently engaged with world leaders on shaping norms surrounding the possession and use of nuclear arms. Its policy of political non-alignment and its intellectual arguments based in the just war tradition have solidified its place among the prominent voices shaping the dialogue on nuclear issues. The reality is that hard power still supersedes the moral influence of the oldest institution in the world and moral arguments have not solved the security dilemma facing the nuclear powers.

Nevertheless, the Vatican has grown accustomed to confronting substantial political challenges over the last two millennia, so the pope is willing to wait patiently.

Aaron Bateman is pursuing a Ph.D. in the history of science and technology at Johns Hopkins University. Previously, he served as a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer. He has published on a wide variety of subjects including technology and international affairs, diplomacy, and Cold War history.

Image: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

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The Vatican's Nuclear Diplomacy from the Cold War to the Present - War on the Rocks

Where are the real 2020 centrists? – The Week

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The most persistent narrative of the 2020 race for the Democratic nomination is that it amounts to a battle between leftists (Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren) and centrists (Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and now Michael Bloomberg) over who is best suited to take on and take down President Trump.

But what if there are no true centrists in the 2020 race at all?

Oh sure, there are plenty of candidates who portray themselves as centrists and other candidates, like Sanders and Warren, who delight in skewering these less left-leaning options for ideological heresy. But do the three Bs Biden, Buttigieg, and Bloomberg really speak for "the center" of the Democratic Party or the broader American electorate?

We have reason to doubt it. What they speak for is the center of public opinion in elite circles, where there is a broad consensus in favor of cultural liberalism and the primary point of disagreement is over economic policy. Should policymakers defer to markets, fiddle at the margins with tax rates, and work to soften the churning of capitalism but ultimately favor the encouragement of growth over fighting inequality? Or should they intervene more drastically in the economy by imposing sharply higher taxes, proposing sweeping regulations, and launching ambitious new social programs that might even include the nationalization of whole industries? That is the primary political dispute among Democratic elites, with the latter defining the left and the former supposedly defining the center.

This may have been how the center was understood in the country at large during the 1980s and '90s, in the immediate aftermath of the Reagan revolution. But that was also a time when Democrats were far more moderate on social issues than they are today. There were plenty of pro-life Democrats in the '80s, and Bill Clinton won two presidential elections while pledging to make abortion rare in addition to safe and legal. Both Clinton and Barack Obama (in the latter's first presidential campaign) opposed same-sex marriage. And until just a few years ago, most Democrats with national ambitions staked out positions on immigration far to the right of just about every candidate currently running for president.

To be a left-wing Democrat today is to combine maximally leftward positions on both social and economic policy, while to be a so-called centrist Democrat (at least in the eyes of the party's establishment, donor class, and activist base) is to combine precisely the same stances on social issues with somewhat less left-leaning positions on economic policy.

But why should that be considered the centrist option? What if the true electoral center of the country in our populist age is found somewhere else in the ideological overlap between the economic left and social and cultural right?

As I argued in a series of columns last March, there is survey research to suggest that this is in fact the case. The Voter Study Group's June 2017 report on the 2016 election includes data showing that there are large numbers of voters who fall into an underserved ideological space that combines support for economically and socially populist views. These are people who would be powerfully drawn to a candidate who combined the economic message of Sanders or Warren with the sociocultural outlook of a Republican. (At times during his 2016 presidential campaign and in some of his speeches since, Trump has talked like a right-wing socialist who aims to transform the GOP into a "worker's party." But he has governed mostly like a plutocrat out to enrich himself and his wealthy friends.)

This doesn't mean that Democrats can or should stake out an absolutist opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, and immigration. But it probably does mean that they would be well-advised to return to (and update) the general cultural outlook of the Clinton administration while combining it with a more left-wing economic agenda. In the present context, that would translate into a refusal to push the left's side of the culture war any further, and a willingness to pull back from some of the Democratic Party's more extreme stances on immigration in recent months and years.

Imagine a Sanders who defined himself as an economic nationalist promising to expand access to health care and college for American citizens instead of favoring the abolition of ICE and the decriminalization of border crossings. Imagine a Warren who spoke about her respect for religious freedom and the moral convictions of pro-life voters with half the passion that she reserves for the topic of economic injustice.

I'm hardly the only pundit to suggest that Democrats could scramble the Electoral College in all kinds of favorable ways by making an effort to place themselves smack dab in the middle of this alternative ideological center. Indeed, The New York Times's Ross Douthat recently went so far as to argue that Sanders is already close enough to staking out that territory that a social conservative like himself finds something reassuring about voting for him on the grounds that Sanders is "the liberal most likely to spend all his time trying to tax the rich and leave cultural conservatives alone."

I wouldn't go that far myself. A Democrat wouldn't need, and shouldn't try, to mimic Trump's distinctive brand of xenophobic nastiness. But to reap electoral benefits, a Democratic nominee would need to show some sign of backing off from the most extreme ambitions of the cultural left. Other than displaying a good, old-fashioned socialist disinterest in non-material issues, Sanders has given no such sign, and neither has Warren. On the contrary, they've done everything possible at every point in the race to placate the very-online activists who play such an outsized role in Democratic politics these days.

And that is the main reason why such a shift toward the true American center is unlikely to happen anytime soon because it would mean picking a fight with electorally marginal but interpersonally significant left-wing activists on Twitter and other social media platforms. Whether it's in the newsrooms of mainstream media outlets or in the campaign headquarters of first-tier presidential candidates, young staffers tend to take their cues from the online activists, and the people ostensibly in charge take their cues from the young staffers.

As long as that dynamic persists, so will the Democratic denial about the true center of American politics.

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Why Uhuru visits Ethiopia more than any other country – The Star, Kenya

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Kenya has enjoyed a good relationship with its neighbour Ethiopia for decades. Though divided by artificial boundaries, their people have shared dreams and aspirations, says Ethiopian Ambassador Meles Alem.

In an interview with the Star, the envoy said this relationship is not just for neighbours but of close families and siblings just living in two countries. He said as the leaders of the two countries work to enhance and integrate the bilateral relations, the people-to-people relations founded by the founding fathers has remained critical. Kenya has stood with Ethiopia in all her struggles.

"Our diplomatic ties are punctuated by our consistent relationship, which is undaunted. Ethiopia and Kenya have not been in any form of conflict and that is the relationship that has kept us strong, he said.

Alem said the abolition of visas for the past 55 years has also enhanced deep ties. This, he said, has allowed Ethiopians easy access to Kenya and vice versa.

We also enjoy excellent political relations. It is evident that President Uhuru Kenyatta has visited Ethiopia more than any other country in his state visits. This can only be attributed to the strong ties, he said.

The ambassador said infrastructure connectivity like electricity and the Lapsset project are game-changers that have provided equal opportunity for trade and investment.

It is true that trade favours Kenya, but it should be noted that Ethiopia provides a conducive environment for Kenyans. It is a big market with over 100 million people, he said.

Kenya has a vibrant private enterprise that has made its way to Ethiopia. Though we might be having small issues to do with security, the environment remains dependable and safe.

Alem said though Ethiopia has a big trainable youth population, his government is working to put measures in place for economic reforms that would attract more foreign investors.

In Kenya, we have Ethiopian investors who have taken over the hotel industry. Others are doing well in transport and real estate, among others, he said.

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Why Uhuru visits Ethiopia more than any other country - The Star, Kenya

Reds duplicity prevents kin from reclaiming body of slain rebel – pna.gov.ph

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Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Civil-Military Operations (PNA File photo)

MANILA -- Further proof of communist rebels' duplicity and deceit is further gleaned from the family of a ranking New People's Army (NPA) leader, killed in a clash with government troops in Antipolo City, Rizal, which cannot recover his body and give it a decent burial as he is known by another name in the rebel movement, a ranking official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) said Monday.

Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., who is also Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Civil-Military Operations, was referring to the case of Armando Lazarte alias "Pat Romano" who was killed last week.

Lazarte is the secretary of the communist rebels' Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee's Sub-Regional Military Area 4A.

"Days after Armando Lazarte alias Pat 'Romano', secretary of Sub-Regional Military Area 4A was killed in a raid in Antipolo City, his body still cannot be retrieved by the family. It is because he is known by another name in a classic duality of the CPP(Communist Party of the Philippines)-NPA," Parlade said in a statement to the PNA Monday.

Lazarte is also known as "Ermin Bellen" in Pampanga where he lived with his family and is known to be a kind individual working for a non-government organization (NGO), he added.

Unknown to many, Lazarte is also the leader of one of the NPA's violent group responsible for many atrocities in the Southern Tagalog area.

"Little did people know that he was the head of a dangerous and violent terrorist group of the NPA who was responsible in the ambush of police forces in Rizal and Laguna, the burning of equipment in Calabarzon, and the death of young child recruits and students from UP Los Banos, PUP (Polytechnic University of the Philippines) and other schools. Among them was John Carlo Capistrano Alberto and Josephine Lapira," he said.

Even Lazarte's family, he added, was unaware of his connections with the CPP-NPA and it took the announcement of one member of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog to make the connection.

"But Bellen's family did not know that the Lazarte alias 'Pat Romano' who was reported killed was the same guy they know in Pampanga until Casey Ann Cruz of Karapatan - Southern Tagalog informed family members that Bellen was killed in that encounter. Recovered at the scene were several subversive documents, Kamatayan (Makabayan) bloc paraphernalia, bomb-making materials and manuals, other NPA paraphernalia, as well as uniforms and flags used by underground mass organizations like Kabataang Makabayan and its chapters in UP," Parlade said.

Because of the NPA leader's multiple identities due to the communist movement's duplicitous character, he said Lazarte's family will have a hard time claiming his body for a decent burial.

"His multiple identities were further complicated by Karapatan's intervention to make a situation out of it," he said.

He also scored Karapatan as it has consistently proven that they are not dissenters but a legal front whose purpose is to bail out captured CPP-NPA personalities and claim bodies of slain NPA fighters and supporters.

Karapatan's actions, he said, are consistent with the CPP-NPA doctrine calling for the strengthening of all organizations allied to it .

"This is consistent with the 'Limang Taong Programa ng Partido (2017-2021)'. This is why the document says 'kailangan palakasin ang mga progresibong kaalyado..upang makasuporta ang mga 'HAYAG sa mga LUBOG'. It is talking about Karapatan and the NUPL(National Union of Peoples Lawyers), who are now complaining of being vilified in Leyte. In truth the CPP document is very clear about their role in the armed revolution," he added.

He said the NTF ELCAC has already communicated with the family of the slain NPA leader in Albay and assured them that the body will be released for the proper burial rites.

"The CPP already stole one of our family members from us for a very long time. Now that he is dead, we request Karapatan to please leave us alone so we can give Erwin the proper burial. We do not want CPP rites for him," Parlade quoted one of Lazarte's brother as saying.

He also slammed Karapatan for maintaining alleged government human rights violation records abroad even while it goes about with its grisly work of accounting for the dead rebels in the Philippines.

"So tell us Cristina Palabay, Secretary General of Katapatan? Are these one of the reasons why you are getting international recognition for your works? Accounting for your dead NPAs while making sure that government human rights statistics are maintained abroad? Meantime, you also make sure that the case of child warrior Litboy Binogcasan, who was recently killed in Butuan City does not reach your European donors?" he said.

The death of Lazarte and recently captured of CPP-NPA Central Committee member Jaime Padilla are among the reasons why communist rebels are worried about the continued existence of the NTF ELCAC, he added.

"This is also why Renato Reyes of Bayan Muna has been very vocal in calling for the abolition of the NTF ELCAC. These are just few of the many reasons why the CPP-NPA is just too happy to hear about another round of peace talks with this administration," he added.

"The CPP wants to see light at the end of their dark tunnel. Incidentally it is an upcoming train from the NTF ELCAC and they are not happy with it," Parlade said.

The CPP-NPA has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)

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Fun Space Travel Facts for Kids

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You will know more about space travel after reading and understanding this part of the journey. Since the early part of the 20th century and even before scientists have been trying to discover how space travel would be possible.In the late 20th century after much research and testing, space travel has become a reality.Year after yearthrough advances in technology humans are making major advances in space travel.

How we get to anywhere we can possibly get to in space is by specially built rockets, using rocket power. There are many different things that are sent into space by rockets. We send people into space on these speciality rockets thesepeople that train all their lives for this are called Astronauts or Cosmonauts, but we can only send people so far into space before their lives come into danger.

So before space rockets were ever invented, we needed to understand how space travel could work and how people could spend periods of time in space without it becoming dangerous.

We needed to put a lot of time, effort and energy into educating people to create and use telescopes to firstly explore the skies from Earth before we would get to the point where we coulduse rockets to take people into space to further explore, even if we have up until now reached only a small distance of space outside of Earth compared to the size of the universe.

We will go into more detail ina different section about space travelon telescopes and how telescopes were invented to aid space exploration, however let usdelve further into the endless possibilities of space travel.

It is very difficult to explain all the concepts of space travel without being an expert on space, so that is why the people in space agencies like NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) spend their entire work lives figuring things like this out. So, rather than getting you all tangled up with this, let ussimply explain space travel.

This is generally how space travel works, it is way more complicated than how its explained simply here on this website. You should however get an understanding of the concepts of space travel as we know it now.

Kids Fun Facts Corner

# 1. In order to understand if humans could travel and survive in space, scientists first sent animals.

# 2. The average journey time for a space shuttle to reach space from Earth is around 8 minutes.

# 3. Space starts at 62 miles above the Earth.

# 4. There is no sound in space because there is little to no air in space.

Q&A Corner

Q. When was space travel first thought of?

Q. What is the name of the thingattached to the rocket that breaks off after launch?

Q. What is the name of the thing attached to the shuttle that makes the space landing?

Q. What is the name of the agency inthe USAthat focuses on space travel?

Q. How far in miles is space from Earth?

Download questions aboutspace travelhere: space travel(answers are on this page)

For further reading and more information onspace travelvisit http://www.easyscienceforkids.com/space travel

If you like this post and article on space travel,check out article on howtelescopes work in space and what amazing things have been discovered in space be reading space telescope discoveries You can learn more about space telescopes at https://telescopicwatch.com/

Key VocabularyAstronauts. Cosmonauts. Telescopes. Rockets.

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Fun Space Travel Facts for Kids

Interstellar Travel – Documentary HD #Advexon

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Interstellar TravelInterstellar travel is the term used for hypothetical crewed or uncrewed travel between stars or planetary systems. Interstellar travel will be much more difficult than interplanetary spaceflight; the distances between the planets in the Solar System are less than 30 astronomical units (AU)whereas the distances between stars are typically hundreds of thousands of AU, and usually expressed in light-years. Because of the vastness of those distances, interstellar travel would require a high percentage of the speed of light; huge travel time, lasting from decades to millennia or longer; or a combination of both.

The speeds required for interstellar travel in a human lifetime far exceed what current methods of spacecraft propulsion can provide. Even with a hypothetically perfectly efficient propulsion system, the kinetic energy corresponding to those speeds is enormous by today's standards of energy production. Moreover, collisions by the spacecraft with cosmic dust and gas can produce very dangerous effects both to passengers and the spacecraft itself.

A number of strategies have been proposed to deal with these problems, ranging from giant arks that would carry entire societies and ecosystems, to microscopic space probes. Many different spacecraft propulsion systems have been proposed to give spacecraft the required speeds, including nuclear propulsion, beam-powered propulsion, and methods based on speculative physics.

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How does time dilation affect aging during high-speed space travel? – MIT Technology Review

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Time dilation is a concept that pops up in lots of sci-fi, including Orson Scott Cards Enders Game, where one character ages only eight years in space while 50 years pass on Earth. This is precisely the scenario outlined in the famous thought experiment the Twin Paradox: an astronaut with an identical twin at mission control makes a journey into space on a high-speed rocket and returns home to find that the twin has aged faster.

Time dilation goes back to Einsteins theory of special relativity, which teaches us that motion through space actually creates alterations in the flow of time. The faster you move through the three dimensions that define physical space, the more slowly youre moving through the fourth dimension, timeat least relative to another object. Time is measured differently for the twin who moved through space and the twin who stayed on Earth. The clock in motion will tick more slowly than the clocks were watching on Earth. If youre able to travel near the speed of light, the effects are much more pronounced.

Unlike the Twin Paradox, time dilation isnt a thought experiment or a hypothetical conceptits real. The 1971 Hafele-Keating experiments proved as much, when two atomic clocks were flown on planes traveling in opposite directions. The relative motion actually had a measurable impact and created a time difference between the two clocks. This has also been confirmed in other physics experiments (e.g., fast-moving muon particles take longer to decay).

So in your question, an astronaut returning from a space journey at relativistic speeds (where the effects of relativity start to manifestgenerally at least one-tenth the speed of light) would, upon return, be younger than same-age friends and family who stayed on Earth. Exactly how much younger depends on exactly how fast the spacecraft had been moving and accelerating, so its not something we can readily answer. But if youre trying to reach an exoplanet 10 to 50 light-years away and still make it home before you yourself die of old age, youd have to be moving at close to light speed.

Theres another wrinkle here worth mentioning: time dilation as a result of gravitational effects. You might have seen Christopher Nolans movie Interstellar, where the close proximity of a black hole causes time on another planet to slow down tremendously (one hour on that planet is seven Earth years).

This form of time dilation is also real, and its because in Einsteins theory of general relativity, gravity can bend spacetime, and therefore time itself. The closer the clock is to the source of gravitation, the slower time passes; the farther away the clock is from gravity, the faster time will pass. (We can save the details of that explanation for a future Airlock.)

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Virgin Galactic shares to triple as it disrupts airlines with hypersonic travel, Morgan Stanley says – CNBC

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Virgin Galactic's spacecraft, left, alongside the next in the company's fleet under construction.

Virgin Galactic

Morgan Stanley began coverage of Virgin Galactic's stock on Monday with an overweight rating, saying the space tourism company's shares will soar as it proves out a long-term plan of flying people around the world at hypersonic speeds.

"A viable space tourism business is what you pay for today but a chance to disrupt the multi-trillion-dollar airline [total addressable market] is what is really likely to drive the upside," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to investors.

Virgin Galactic shares rose 16% in trading to close at $8.42. That was its best day of trading since its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 28, although the stock remains about 35% below its most recent high.

Morgan Stanley's price target of $22 a share represents a 203% increase from Virgin Galactic's current levels. The company outlined a three phase plan to investors during its roadshow earlier this year. While Morgan Stanley gave a $10 a share valuation to Virgin Galactic's space tourism business, phases one and two of its plan, the firm sees $12 a share in value from phase three: Hypersonic point-to-point air travel.

"The shares feature biotech-type risk/reward where today's space tourism business serves as a funding strategy and innovation catalyst to incubate enabling tech for the hypersonic P2P (point-to-point) air travel opportunity," Jonas said.

Jonas, known on Wall Street for his early calls on Tesla, has recently been also looking at the fast-growing space industry.

Morgan Stanley forecast $800 billion in annual sales for hypersonic travel by 2040, or just about two decades from now. Virgin Galactic is in the early stages of exploring how the technologies it developed for space tourism might apply to hypersonic travel, with Boeing venture arm HorizonX recently investing $20 million into Sir Richard Branson's company specifically to explore hypersonics.

"While some investors have described high-speed hypersonic P2P air travel opportunity as 'the icing on the cake', we see Hypersonic as both the cake and the icing, with Space Tourism as the oven," Jonas said.

The firm is the third on Wall Street to begin covering Virgin Galactic's stock. Credit Suisse and Vertical Research Partners also have buy ratings.

Virgin Galactic expects to begin flying its first space tourism customers in the next six to nine months. Morgan Stanley estimates Virgin Galactic can ramp its flight offerings to serve more than 3,000 passengers by 2030, as Jonas says "the addressable market for space tourism, while niche, is supported by a range of industries (e.g., yacht charters and luxury cars)."

"Space Tourism's goal over the next year: be safe, stay funded," Jonas said. "We believe the key catalyst over the next 12 months will be sending even one customer to space and returning safely."

If the company does that, Jonas said Virgin Galactic will remain the leader among companies exploring the hypersonic travel market. In full, Morgan Stanley has a $60 bull case valuation on Virgin Galactic and a $1 bear case valuation.

"There are many risks and unknowns to the story including the possibility of fatal accidents, regulatory obstacles, limited market acceptance, competition, insufficient economics, and liquidity constraints," Jonas added. "Taken together, we think the risks are offset by the potential scale of the reward."

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Space travel advances: the sky is the limit, is it not? – Standard-Times

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Wayne Hill, Opinion contributor Published 9:56 a.m. CT Dec. 9, 2019

We first set foot on the Moon in 1969 and what advances in space technology have me made since? We had the Space Shuttle, which was developed to carry astronauts and cargo to an orbiting space station, where it would dock, unload, and return to earth to prepare for another trip.

We also know about the launch of deep space probes to nearby and distant planets and moons, and even probes to an asteroid and comet. And, of course, we cannot forget the fantastic Space Telescope that has revealed many wonders to our curious eyes and, of course Skylab. However, that is about all we have done during the last 51 years.

This technological progress pales in comparison to the technological progress made between 1903 and 1964. For example, the first manned flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903 was roughly at a top speed of 35 mph and a few hundred feet. It was only 61 years later, after this historic first manned flight, that the Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird made its debut flight.

We first set foot on the Moon in 1969 and what advances in space technology have me made since?(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird was a technological marvel at the time, and even today is still considered the fastest jet aircraft to ever fly. It looks more like a spacecraft when you have a look at it. The pilots who fly the SR-71 go through the same training program as do the astronauts that venture into space today. The actual ceiling or maximum altitude that the SR-71 can attain is still classified today. It has a top speed of roughly Mach 3+; however, it set a land speed record of 2,243 mph when flying on just one engine. Most impressive, is it not? So, in fact, we already had a spacecraft that could take off from a military base and reach space as early as 1964. The SR-71 Blackbird was retired in 1999, and since then Lockheed Martin has been developing the SR-72, which is reported to fly at Mach 6, or approximately 4,200 mph. In body shape it looks similar to an airliner, except without any visible windows. It looks as though it was developed for space flight. However, all of this advanced technology is supposedly designed for military applications. What else might we not know about?

I remember reading years ago about a planned similar aircraft to the SR-72 that would carry hundreds of people on a single flight to an orbiting Space Station Hotel, and return them to Earth. It was for purposes of tourism. Taking off and landing without the need for a rocket to boost the craft into space.

What else might we have available that could take us into deep space. None other than our retired Space Shuttle. Why do we call it a Space Shuttle? Simply because it is similar in use to an 18-wheel tractor trailer rig, which carries cargo from one facility to another facility. That is in fact, what the Space Shuttle was designed to do, was it not? To carry cargo to and from the International Space Station?

What if the Space Shuttle was traveling to the Moon or even Mars, let us say? What would be required to do that? For one, a Space Shuttle, and two Space Stations. One in near Earth orbit and another, let us say, in near Mars orbit. Then all that would be required is fuel for the flight between Earth and Mars.

It has been estimated that it would take between 150-300 days to reach Mars from Earth. At a distance of 140 million miles, it would require an average speed of roughly 26,000 mph, assuming a travel time of 225 days, which is the mean of 150 to 300 days. Now, if we could reach Mars in 150 days, then the average speed would be roughly 39,000 mph. So, as we can see, once the spacecraft is in space and free of Earth's gravity, then there really is no limit to how fast a spacecraft can go other than the thrust available and Einstein's equation of E=MC^2.

(Photo: Getty Images)

In comparison, Apollo 8 took 69 hours and 8 minutes to travel from Earth to the Moon. Let us say they launch when the Moon is nearest to Earth, which would be 225,000 miles distance. The average speed calculated would be approximately 3300 mph in order to achieve orbit around the Moon in the time span given.

Now, let us consider just how fast the Space Shuttle might be able to fly. The thrusters on the Space Shuttle provide considerably more thrust than the thrust of the tiny engines, in comparison, to those on the Apollo spacecraft. Therefore, we can assume that the Space Shuttle could, and probably did fly deep space missions, perhaps to Mars to orbit the planet and then back again. All that would be needed is for the Space Shuttle to carry enough fuel with it to travel to Mars and return again. And, let us keep in mind that the Space Shuttle had a huge cargo bay. Once the Space Shuttle attained the speed required, it could then shut off the main thrusters and then just cruise to Mars.

This goes to show how we already have what is needed to reach Mars in a matter of days or perhaps even hours, since we cannot say exactly what technology is available to our space program. Might there be an even faster engine that could be mounted on the Space Shuttle so that it could obtain speeds beyond 10 million mph. It is not too far-fetched, is it not? Knowing that we have a spacecraft currently named the Lockheed Martin SR-72, that in Earth atmosphere can obtain speeds in excess of Mach 6 or 4,200 mph; what speed could it attain once free of atmospheric resistance and the gravitation pull of the Earth? The sky is pretty much the limit, is it not?

Wayne Hill is a San Angelo resident. Send you opinion to the Standard-Times for publication at opinion@gosanangelo.com.

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SpaceX resupply mission reaches International Space Station – Spaceflight Now

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SpaceXs Dragon supply ship in the grasp of the International Space Stations robotic arm Sunday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

A commercial Dragon supply ship loaded with genetically-enhanced mice, a beer brewing experiment, a CubeSat developed by Mexican students and other scientific research payloads arrived at the International Space Station Sunday.

The SpaceX-owned robotic cargo freighter completed a three-day trek from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral with 5,769 pounds (2,617 kilograms) of supplies, experiments and hardware for the space station and its six-person crew.

Space station commander Luca Parmitano captured the Dragon spacecraft with the space stations Canadian-built robotic arm at 5:05 a.m. EST (1005 GMT) Sunday. The robotic arm maneuvered the supply ship to a berthing port on the stations Harmony module later Sunday, setting the stage for astronauts to open hatches and begin unpacking the fresh cargo.

The Dragon spacecraft lifted off Thursday on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on SpaceXs 19th resupply flight to the space station.

Along with 40 genetically-engineered mice and a beer experiment sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, the Dragon spacecraft delivered a Japanese Earth-imaging instrument and a payload to investigate the behavior of flames in confined spaces in microgravity.

The Dragon capsule that arrived at the station Sunday is making its third trip to the orbiting research complex. SpaceX recovered and refurbished the spaceship after two previous resupply missions in 2014 and 2017.

Here is a break-down of the Dragon spacecrafts supply load. The figures below do not include the mass of cargo packaging, which is included in NASAs overall payload mass:

The 40 mice delivered to the space station Sunday willhelp researchers gauge the effectiveness of an experimental drug to combat muscle and bone atrophy.

Eight of the 40 mice have been genetically-engineered to lack myostatin, a protein that acts to limit muscle growth in animals. The muscle-bound, myostatin-free mice or mighty mice are joined by four other groups of rodents, including groups that will be given an experimental drug in space to block myostatin activity and promote muscle growth.

All 40 mice will return to Earth alive on the Dragon capsule in early January. Scientists will administer the same myostatin protein blocker to some of the mice after they are back on the ground to assess how the drug affects their rate of recovery.

The focus of this project is going to be to determine whether getting rid of myostatin in mice that we send to the International Space Station can prevent, or at least mitigate, the loss of muscle due to microgravity, saidSe-Jin Lee, professor at the Jackson Laboratory and University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and principal investigator for the rodent research experiment.

The drug trial to be administered to the mice on the space station also inhibits activin, a protein that regulates bone mass.

By blocking activin with this drug, bone densityincreases significantly, said Emily Germain-Lee, a co-investigator on the experiment and professor atUniversity of Connecticut School of Medicine. And as you probably know, astronauts who spend a lot of time in space lose not only musclemass, but also bone mass.

Anything that can be done to prevent muscle and bone loss would be veryimportant to maintaining the health of astronauts during space travel, Germain-Lee said. But loss of bone mass is also a huge healthproblem for people here on Earth. There are actually lots of diseases that lead to bone loss in both children andadults. And, ofcourse, osteoporosis is a big health issue for people who are elderly or bedridden.

Bytesting this experimental drug in life subjected to microgravity, we hope to be able to test the therapeutic strategiesfor combating both the bone loss and muscle lossthat occur in lots of different conditions, Germain-Lee said.

Anheuser-Buschs experiment will study the malting of barley in microgravity, which could lead to the brewing of beer in space, the company says.

Gary Hanning, director of global barley research at Anheuser-Busch, said the companys malting experiment aboard the Dragon cargo mission is the third in a series of investigations looking at how the environment of space affects brewing processes.

This series has been constructed to look at the impact ofspace environment on the germination process of barley, Hanning said. So the germination processes is taking seed and creatingthe new plant from that, and so thats a very key step in the life cycle of any plant, and particularly important tomalting barley. So much of our research on earth is focused on seed germination and the environmental impactsthat would affect seed germination, as well as physiological effects.

Hanning said Anheuser-Buschs experiments in space have given the companys research team a new perspective.

From our previous studies on the space station, weve noted that the gene expression thats the genes thatare turned on or turned off and to what degree are different on the space station then they are on Earth, he said. We thinkits a response to the stress, because its an abnormal environment, so theres a stress related there. So geneexpression is a part of that cascade of events as part of germination.

The experiment will look at hardware solutions to support barley malting on the space station.

Malting is basically a biological process, Hanning said. It is to convert barley into a product called malt, which is used in a lot offood and beverage applications. Malting is actually a three-step process, he added, beginning with the steeping, or hydration, of barley grains, followed by germination and drying.

The Anheuser-Busch experiment launched with just 2.5 ounces (70 grams) of barley grains, separated into two units.

Another research payload aboard the Dragon spacecraft will allow scientists to observeflame behavior in confined spaces in microgravity. The combustion package includes solid fuel samples that will be ignited inside a protective enclosure on the space station.

We want to study how solid materials burn in different confined conditions, and how fire interacts with its immediate surroundings, saidYa-Ting Liao, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Case Western Reserve University.

It turns out this is a very hands-on experiment, said Paul Ferkul, an investigator on the confined combustion experiment. Were talking with the astronaut, were interacting with him, were telling him what to do, how to set the parameters. And he, in turn, tells us how its looking, what hes experiencing, and the astronauts are very glad to do this.

Its way outside their usual routine on the space station, so that helps us a lot because theyre enthusiastic for our work, and they make very good investigators because of that.

The Dragon capsules external cargo bay is loaded with a Japanese Earth-imaging instrument with high spectral sensitivity. TheHyperspectral Imager Suite, or HISUI, instrument will image Earths surface in 185 spectral bands, allowing scientists to distinguish between the composition and type of a range of vegetation, soil, rocks, snow, ice, and human-made objects like buildings, roads and other structures.

Using the robotic arm, the HISUI instrument will be mounted to a fixture outside the stations Japanese Kibo lab module. Its a follow-up to the Japanese-developed ASTER instrument on NASAs Terra satellite, which launched in 1999.

A new lithium-ion battery for the space stations solar array truss is also stowed inside the Dragon capsules unpressurized trunk. It will replace a battery flown to the station by a Japanese HTV cargo ship last year.

That battery was damaged by an electrical short soon after it was installed on a spacewalk.

Other equipment delivered to the space station included a robotic tool stowage platform to store leak detectors outside the space station, and upgrades toallow scientists to make subtle measurements of gravity using the Cold Atom Laboratory, a research facility inside the orbiting lab.

NASA and commercial teams have disclosed seven CubeSats stowed inside the Dragon spacecraft for deployment in orbit, including the first nanosatellite built in Mexico to fly to the space station.

Developed by students at theUniversidad Popular Autnoma del Estado de Puebla, orUPAEP, in Puebla, Mexico, the AzTechSat 1 spacecraft is a cube-shaped satellite that measures just 4 inches (10 centimeters) on each side. Its primary purpose is to demonstrate inter-satellite communications links with commercial Globalstar data relay satellites, a capability that could reduce the reliance of small spacecraft for data downlinks through limited passes over ground stations.

NASA provided a launch for AzTechSat 1, which is the fourth satellite to be entirely built in Mexico, and the first to fly to the International Space Station. Mexican officials hope the project provides students with experience and inspiration to grow a larger space economy in the country.

For Mexico, I hope this will lead to future research and telecommunications projects involving universities or new emerging companies, saidFrancisco Fernando Eugenio Urrutia Albisua, a vice president atUPAEP.

AzTechSat 1 will be ejected from a deployment mechanism outside the space station early next year.

Rosa Reyna Gonzalez Cancino, an engineering student at UPAEP, said her experience in building the AzTechSat 1 satellite has already helped her education.

Im actually taking my first class in satellite technology, so its a great advantage because I know basically everything theyre teaching me, she said. Of course, you learn better in practice than in just studying, so its a great advantage.

Another CubeSat delivered to the station Sunday, named Qarman, will gather data on the extreme conditions during re-entry into Earths atmosphere. The Qarman CubeSat is about the size of a toaster oven, and was developed by the Von Karman Institute in Belgium for the European Space Agency.

Sensors in the blunt forward end of the Qarman nanosatellite will collect data during re-entry on temperature, pressure and brightness, then the craft will transmit the data to scientists through the Iridium satellite network. The CubeSat is expected to survive re-entry, but not its impact with Earths surface, making it imperative to relay the measurements via the Iridium network, according to ESA.

Developed by a consortium of U.S. universities, companies and the Air Force Research Laboratory, the SORTIE CubeSat carries instruments to study the ionosphere, a layer near the boundary between space and Earths atmosphere that plays an important role in space weather.

A CubeSat named CryoCube inside the Dragon spacecraft will also be released from the station early next year. CryoCube is a partership between Sierra Lobo, an Ohio-based company, and NASAs Kennedy Space Center to prove low-cost technology that can cool payloads to cryogenic temperatures in space. The technology could help future missions keep cryogenic fluids, such as rocket fuel, cold for long durations in space.

Another tiny satellite named MakerSat 1 developed by students atNorthwest Nazarene University in Idaho is also packed inside the Dragon spacecraft. Designed to be quickly snap-assembled by astronauts on the space station, it will be mounted with its deployer to a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo freighter before it departs the complex Jan. 13.

The Cygnus will deploy MakerSat 1 soon after leaving the space station.

Two other NASA-sponsored CubeSats also launched on SpaceXs Dragon capsule for transfer and deployment from the Cygnus supply ship.

The Compact Infrared Radiometer in Space, or CIRiS, CubeSat will test the performance of a miniature Earth-observing instrument built by Ball Aerospace. The instrument on the CIRiS spacecraft about the size of a briefcase has applications in soil moisture observations in support of drought monitoring.

TheEdgeCube nanosatellite was developed by students at Sonoma State University, Santa Clara University and Morehead State University is designed to see ecosystem change over time.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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SpaceX resupply mission reaches International Space Station - Spaceflight Now

How one Redmond company is sending US back to the moon, beyond – Seattle PI

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One Redmond company is sending US back to the moon.

One Redmond company is sending US back to the moon.

One Redmond company is sending US back to the moon.

One Redmond company is sending US back to the moon.

Redmond company sending US back to the moon, beyond

REDMOND, Wash. -- One Puget Sound area company is slated to propel the United States back to the moon, and beyond. But in a way, it's part of a much bigger story.

Aerojet Rocektdynewas recently awarded a major contract from Lockheed Martin. It not only secures nearly a decade's worth of work for the Redmond company, it means that the propulsion systems on NASA's Orion spacecraft will come from Western Washington. Humankind is essentially on a launchpad into the future, with the engines currently priming -- the destination is farther than people have ever traveled. Companies like Aerojet Rockedyne are behind those engines.

For Ken Young, general manager of Aerojet Rocketdyne's Redmond operations, designing propulsion systems for the Orion vehicles is about a lot more than securing local jobs. It's about what humanity is about to develop, and the Puget Sound region's role in it. He points to the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s as an example.

The things that are going to come out of this that we have to develop, are going to have a huge impact on humankind, Young said. If you look back to the 60s, we now have satellite TV, and GPS. All of those things came because we had a space mission in the 60s. Now, as we go on to Mars, think about all the human things we have to learn about.

It also means that an often overlooked corner of the region's economy is further on the rise.

According to the Puget Sound Regional Council, the area's space economy is producing 6,200 jobs, contributing $1.8 billion to the state's economy. A2018 assessment produced by the PSRCstates that with massive aerospace and tech companies in the Seattle area, the region is ready for another economic phase fueled by space travel. It further notes that the local school systems should align with the needs of STEM fields so that local residents can grow into that future economy.

There is so much going on that people dont recognize, Young said. We are part of more than 1,000 companies in the Puget Sound are that are working in space.

The contract to design Orion's propulsion systems will have more than 400 people at Aerojet Rocketdyne working over the next decade. It also means that the company will rely on 138 suppliers in Washington -- many of which are small businesses.

Orionis the capsule that will take people to orbit the moon and back to its surface as part of NASA's Artemis missions (Artemis was Apollo's twin sister). This is the precursor to NASA embarking on humanity's next phase of space travel -- ultimately heading to Mars. The engines and propulsion systems will come from Redmond.

Artemis missions1 and 2 are well underway at this point. The contract with Aerojet Rocketdyne covers Artemis 3, 4, and 5.

The first mission with an Orion vehicle is slated to fly in late 2020. It will be an uncrewed mission that will send the vehicle around the moon. In 2022, the first crew in an Orion vehicle will make a similar trip.

From that point on, we are building the vehicles that will take humans and we will actually meet up with a lander to go back to the surface of the moon, said Mike Hawes, vice president and Orion project manager for Lockheed Martin.

The Orion vehicles are capsules which are not much bigger than what the Apollo missions used in the 1960s and 1970s. But the technology is far more advanced.

(Aerojet Rocketdyne) provides all the propulsion systems," Hawes said. "They provide propulsion for the crew module where the crew actually lives and works; the service module, which is most of our in-space propulsion; and they also provide a critical part of our launch-abort system which is the key safety factor. If there is an issue on the launch, it will carry the crew capsule away from danger and bring them back safely."

Were really expanding exploration of the solar system in a way we hadnt envisioned back in Apollo; this is a much bigger step forward he said. And ultimately, we build a Mars transport vehicle there around the moon, to head out to Mars.

Over the next several years, NASA plans to build a gateway station around the moon. NASA can use this station for transferring supplies, docking vehicles, and ultimately as a waypoint between the Earth and the moon.

Aerojet Rocketdyne grew out of another company called Rocket Research Corporation. It is the oldest space company in the region. Theyve been building engines for space travel for 51 years in the Puget Sound area. They produce more than 500 engines each year and just delivered their 20,000th engine over the summer.

This article was originally published by KOMO News here.

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How one Redmond company is sending US back to the moon, beyond - Seattle PI

Tutorial: What are the differences between force, torque, pressure and vacuum? – DesignNews

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Most second-year university engineering students can easily explain the differences between force, torque and pressure. The reason for their confident answers is that engineering schools typically require a term of study in both static and dynamic forces by a students sophomore year. However, from that point on, further studies in these areas are usually confined to aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering disciplines. Few electronic engineers need or will take advanced force mechanic courses.

But modern advances in material properties and device miniaturization as in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors mean that force, torque and pressure are relevant across all of the major disciplines. A quick technical review will help remind everyone of these basic concepts.

Force

Simply put, a force is a push or a pull upon an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity, i.e., to accelerate. Since a force has both magnitude and direction, it is a vector quantity.

A unit of force in the International Systems (or SI) of units is a newton. One newton is defined as the unit of force which would give to a mass of one kilogram an acceleration of 1 meter per second, per second. In terms of an equation, force equals mass times acceleration (F = ma).

Actually, Newtons Second Law of Motion defines force as the change in momentum over time, not mass through an acceleration. But the momentum equation is reduced to F=ma for basic engineering calculations.

Sometimes the word load is used instead of force. Civil and mechanical engineers tend to make calculations based on the load in which a system (e.g., a bridge) is resisting the force of gravity from both the weight of the bridge as well as the vehicles driving over it.

Newtons Laws have been called the basis for space flight. According to NASA, understanding how space travel is possible requires an understanding of the concept of mass, force, and acceleration as described in Newtons Three Laws of Motion. Consider a space rocket in which the pressure created by the controlled explosion inside the rocket's engines results in a tremendous force known as thrust. The gas from the explosion escapes through the engines nozzles which propels the rocket in the opposite direction (Law #3), thus following F=MA (Law #2) which lifts the rocket into space. Assuming the rocket travels beyond Earths atmosphere, it will continue to move into space even after the propellant gas is gone (Law #1).

Newtons Three Laws of Motion

1.

Every object in a state of uniform motion will remain in that state of motion unless an external force acts on it.

2.

Force equals mass times acceleration [F = ma]

3.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Torque

The first university course in static forces is usually followed by a course in dynamic forces in which the idea of rational force or torque is introduced. Torque is the tendency of a force to rotate or twist an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. It is the rotational equivalent of linear force.

Formally, torque (or the moment of force) is the product of the magnitude of the force and the perpendicular distance of the line of action of force from the axis of rotation. The SI unit for torque is the newton metre (Nm).

Image Source: Wikipedia by Yawe (Public Domain)

Deriving the equation for torque is often done from a purely force perspective. But it can also be accomplished by looking at the amount of work required to rotate an object. This was the approach the Richard Feynman used in one of his lectures on rotation in two-dimensions.

We shall get to the theory of torques quantitatively by studying theworkdone in turning an object, for one very nice way of defining a force is to say how much work it does when it acts through a given displacement, explained Feynman.

Feynman was able to show that, just as force times distance is work, torque times angle equals work. This point is highlighted in several avionic and aeronautical examples from NASAs Glenn Research Center where NASA designs and develops technologies for aeronautics and space exploration. Force, torque and pressure concepts continue to exert their influences far beyond the earths atmosphere. Concern the release of a large satellite like the Cygnus Cargo Craft from the International Space Station (ISS). The satellite is connected to a large robotic arm that removes it from the ISS prior to release into space. The robotic arm acts just like a huge moment of force in space subject to forces, torques and pressure acting in space.

Pressure

Pressure is the force per unit area applied in a direction perpendicular to the surface of an object. Many of us are familiar with gauge pressure from measuring tire pressures. Gage pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure. This is in contrast to absolute pressure or the actual value of the pressure at any point. This will make more sense shortly.

Pressure is the amount of force acting per unit area. The SI unit for pressure is the pascal (Pa), equal to one newton per square meter (N/m2). Pressure is also measured in non-SI units such as bar and psi.

In his lecture on the The Kinetic Theory of Gases, Feynman introduced the concept of pressure by thinking about the force needed for a piston plunger to contain a certain volume of gas inside a box. The amount of force needed to keep a plunger or lid of area A would be a measure of the force per unit area of pressure. In other words, pressure is equal to the force that must be applied on a piston, divided by the area of the piston (P = F/A).

Applications for pressure technologies exist both on and off the planet. In space, however, pressure is so low that it may almost be considered as non-existent. Thats why engineers often talk about vacuum rather than pressure in space applications. A vacuum is any pressure less than the local atmospheric pressure. It is defined as the difference between the local atmospheric pressure and the point of a measurement.

While space has a very low pressure, it is not a perfect vacuum. It is an approximation, a place where the gaseous pressure is much, MUCH less than the Earths atmospheric pressure.

The extremely low pressure in the vacuum of space is why humans need space suits to provide a pressurized environment. A space suit provides air pressure to keep the fluids in our body in a liquid state, i.e., to prevent our bodily fluids from boiling due to low pressure (via PV = nRT). Like a tire, a space suit is essentially an inflated balloon that is restricted by some rubberized fabric.

Homework question: Why didnt the wheels on the Space Shuttle bust while in space, i.e., in the presence of a vacuum? Look for the answer in the comments section.

In summary, force, torque, pressure and vacuum are important physical concepts that thanks to advances in material sciences and MEMS devices cross all of the major disciplines. Further, these fundamental concepts continue to have relevance in applications like space systems among many others.

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Tutorial: What are the differences between force, torque, pressure and vacuum? - DesignNews

There’s excitement in the air for Humberto Caldelas – MIT News

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When Humberto Caldelas II was growing up, his dad took him to all the nearest air shows so he could see all the planes.And when he learned to drive, he joked with his parents that he shouldnt drive near the airport because he would get distracted. He always looks up at the sky when he hears airplanes pass.

I can't even tell you the first time I got interested in airplanes, he says. I think I just was born with it.

Caldelas is an MIT senior majoring in aeronautics and astronautics, but he came into the university thinking hed go into nuclear science and engineering.He used to think of his love of flying as a hobby but not a profession that is, until his friends convinced him to take a tour of the MITs Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro). During his tour, he learned of a semiserious requirement for every professor candidate. As the rumor goes, after the technical interviews, the candidate is taken outside; if a plane flies overhead and the candidate doesnt look up, they dont get the job.

As soon as Caldelas heard this, he knew AeroAstro would be his home.

I was like, If that's the passion here in the department, then that's where I should be. And I haven't regretted that decision since, he says. It's really been so much fun. It feels like a home just because I can nerd out with people about all the airplane and space things.

Through his major, Caldelas has focused on both air and space travel, and hopes his career will go in both directions. Caldelas has been involved with the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) during his four years at MIT and after graduation will join the Navy as a naval aviator. After serving for his country and working with airplanes, he then hopes to become an astronaut.

The flying bug

Caldelas is the kind of person to arrive at the airport well before his flight, just so he can see planes take off. And when hes on the airplane, he loves sitting in a seat where he can look out the window and watch the engine function.

Every time I fly, I get the chills, he says. There's a quote that goes with understanding comes appreciation, and with appreciation comes respect. So after studying how a jet engine works, how hard it is to design it, how hard it is to build it, it makes [an airplane] even more incredible.

The aeronautics part of his MIT education gave Caldelas a background on the theory and mechanics of airplane flight. Through his classes, hes learned about the physics of flying, experimented by making foam airplanes, and tested equipment through wind tunnels.

Over the past two summers, Caldelas interned at Boeing, gaining hands-on experience with the 737 and P-8A Poseidon aircraft. He also got to see how understanding the mechanics of an airplane will help him when he is a pilot.

For example, when they were testing some iterations of the new 777X, one of the test pilots who had both flying experience and and understood what was going on inside the plane easily identified an issue with the plane because she was in tune with how an airplane is constructed. Caldelas aspires to do exactly that.

After graduating, he wants to commission as an officer in the Navy and be a fighter pilot. During his first year of high school, Caldelas enrolled in the Civil Air Patrol, which is affiliated with the U.S. Air Force. He flew an airplane for the first time and has never gotten over that thrill. Throughout his time at MIT, hes been involved with Naval ROTC and often wears the classic summer whites uniform with the gold buttons; this semester, he is the company commander of his unit.

After Navy training post-college, he hopes to go to U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Caldelas says test pilots know how to fly and have a technical understanding of airplanes, which helps them communicate with the engineers on what they need to tweak.

From white uniform to white space suit

The AeroAstro hallway displays photos of many illustrious alumni of the department, including a number of astronauts a group Caldelas ultimately hopes to join.

His fascination with astronauts began early: When he was 4 years old, his family went to NASAs Kennedy Space Center.

I was just barely walking, and this astronaut comes up, and I was like wow, I want to be him, he says.

The admiration with astronauts skyrocketed as he grew up. When MIT was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, Caldelas received an email from the department asking for students to help escort astronauts around the events. Immediately, he filled out the form if there is an opportunity to meet an astronaut, Caldelas is there.

Caldelas was assigned to Mark Lee, a former Air Force Colonel and NASA astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions. When Caldelas was showing Lee around, Lee stopped in the middle of the hallway of photographs and nonchalantly said thats me, pointing to a large photograph of a man in a white space suit with Earth in the background. Starstruck, Caldelas looked at the frame and saw the name Mark Lee on it. He immediately asked for a photograph of the two of them with the historic image in the background.

I walk past this photo everyday. Who else can say they met the astronaut in a famous photograph? Caldelas says. Only at MIT does that happen.

Throughout the tour of the department, Caldelas kept saying how he cant believe he is in the same space as so many MIT legends. A national Hispanic Scholarship Fund recipient, Caldelas is also a first-generation American, one of the first Hispanic students to be accepted into the engineering program at his high school, and the first person to get into MIT from his New Jersey high school.

Hes constantly grateful for his opportunities and hopes to inspire the next generation, just as the MIT astronauts and their photographs inspired him.

You dont have to be perfect to go to this school, you just have to have the passion, and that motivates people, he says. Its really humbling for me live out my dreams to come to MIT. And I want to honor this opportunity by inspiring others to keep going and reach for their dreams.

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There's excitement in the air for Humberto Caldelas - MIT News

OKIE IN EXILE Alexa and the Rise of Space Poop – Pittsburg Morning Sun

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We are living in science fiction times. I can say Alexa, turn on the lamp in the living room, and the lamp in the living room will come on. I can see who is standing on my front porch from by back bedroom on the TV and from my cell phone anywhere I am; I dont even have to get out of bed. And if my house wasnt 110 years old with ancient wiring, I would be able to do more.

But this is all coming. Once they discover a price point, it happens.

My house has a little bit of Star Trek in it, sure, but what about space travel? We walked on the moon 50 years ago, a few months before I turned seven. When will we get Captain Kirk pulling on his socks in the room with a green-skinned space princess?

Well, we are working on it. When the US put men on the moon, it was a tremendous singular effort without much infrastructure built up and without a transparent connection to profit on the other end. Yes, there were a lot of spin offs; there were a lot of technical problems solved; but at the end it wasnt any easier to make cheese and it didnt lower the price of bread. It helped us win the Cold War; it caught our imaginations; but then it just lay there.

It is now 50 years later and we are living in a different world. Everybody I know above a certain age is walking around with a phone in their pocket. Everybody can connect with a world of information in minutes, in seconds if they actually know what they are doing. Weve got satellites orbiting the planet that can tell us where we are to within a few feet. You can put a satellite dish on your stinking roof for goodness sake. Weve got an old one we use as a birdbath.

There are several well-funded, innovative, private-enterprise space-launch companies who are learning to do launches faster, cheaper, better than the government.

The infrastructure is being built.

But there needs to be a pay-off. What is the carrot on the stick?

It is not going to be using space colonies to reduce population pressure on the earth. Weve got six billion people on the planet. If we put a million in a rocket and sent them into space, we would still have six billion people on the planet.

I am not saying that we wont have colonies, but they will be entities in their own right, not population release valves. They will, at least at first, be used as colonies always have been: Markets. We sell them things they need to stay alive; they provide natural resources.

Let me give you an example of what I am thinking about. You may have seen the movie The Martian starring Matt Damon. (Ive seen it three times and listened to the audiobook at least as many.) In The Martian, Mark Watney, played by Damon, extended his life by growing potatoes on Mars. To do this, he made his soil by using his own poop.

So what?

So this. A colony has people in it. People need food. It is far too expensive to ship food from Earth to Mars for more than just a few people, so the food will have to be grown in space. As a consequence, they will need space farms.

These farms will need soil, and it would be far too expensive to take large quantities of dirt into space. Therefore, they will have to be making soil in space. While I am not an expert on this, I am guessing the procedure will be basically the same as what Mark Watney did: poop plus regolith. (Regolith is dust and bits of stone; calling it regolith makes it sound spacy.)

I dont know if I will live to see this, but maybe my grandsons will. There will be people in space making money off poop. I hope they are Americans. I know they will be politicians.

Bobby Winters, a native of Harden City, Oklahoma, blogs at redneckmath.blogspot.com and okieinexile.blogspot.com. He invites you to like the National Association of Lawn Mowers on Facebook.

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OKIE IN EXILE Alexa and the Rise of Space Poop - Pittsburg Morning Sun

CES in the 2020s? Expect VR, wearables, 5G, and maybe even space travel – Inverse

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The Consumer Electronics Show is entering its seventh decade of existence, and its about to chart a bold new course in technological history more mobile, more smart, and altogether a lot less visible.

The Las Vegas-based show has cemented itself as one of the most vital dates in the industrys annual calendar. Spanning over 2.9 million square feet, the show plays host to more than 4,500 companies.

As tech reporters descend onto the Las Vegas Convention Center, their filings paint a picture of where the industry is at. While some of these visions turn out woefully misguided in hindsight remember 3D TVs? a number of them capture the growth of emergent technologies, as they break out from their lab-based beginnings and flourish in the real world.

As computers weave their way into more facets of everyday life, expect CES to cover more ground in the future. That includes more autonomous cars, more input from the travel industry, and infrastructure-focused technologies like disaster prevention. At the same time, dont expect the pixel-packed TVs to disappear anytime soon.

Theyll still be there to beat down the path! Jean Foster, senior vice president of marketing and communications for the show, tells Inverse.

Heres what the next few years looks like, through the lens of perhaps the most important show in technology.

One key focus for the show will be in travel. The CEO of Delta Airlines will give a keynote, and the firm itself is expected to launch products. CES will also dedicate a program to the area. That means a greater focus on travel technologies like smarter hotels.

It could even include controversial face scanners. Travelers may grow used to seeing them, after the U.S. governments Homeland Security department expressed support for using them in airports. As face scanning miniaturizes down to even the latest iPhones and China introduces mandatory scans for phone users, the technology demonstrates the sort of topics privacy debates may focus on in the coming years.

Another area where face recognition could play a big role is in the smart city, like with Nvidias SAFR technology. At CES the smart city focus will be more on disaster prevention and other products, while also demonstrating the underpinnings that will make these products work.

Those underpinnings include 5G, the next-generation cellular network rolling out internationally at the moment. A key area will be in the enterprise, where 5G could offer big benefits. That includes the likes of Verizon and AT&T rolling out its network in sports stadiums, for example, giving fans a way to maintain connections when capturing the action. Sensors, cameras, and Internet of Things devices will work in conjunction with 5G to enable smarter cities.

Those are all fundamental, integrated technologies, Foster says.

This could all help support the autonomous car. Although its still not available for the everyman, CES has seen increased interest from firms showing what a self-driving system could do for their business. John Deere, for example, was at CES 2019 with its self-driving tractor. Unfortunately, after years of hype that pointed to an early 2020s launch, Elon Musk and others have walked back their self-driving predictions as reality sets in.

And, of course, expect to see more of the high-end TVs that have impressed CES-goers in the past. That means 8K televisions that push far more pixels, expected to ship in early 2020. It could also mean surprises like LGs roll-up TV and hidden screens.

Thats still, quite frankly, when you get the media coverage, Foster says.

One notable way with how the next show may differ from previous years is over the trade war between the United States and China. Foster says that, with a general drop in the number of Chinese nationals visiting the U.S., they expect that [decline] to come to the show. And while the organizers expect the big companies to participate when the list is finalized, Foster suggests that well maybe see some fall off with smaller companies because theyre impacted by the trade war.

Remember virtual reality? The Oculus Rift hit stores in 2012, but required a high-powered PC. The Oculus Quest, which launched earlier this year for $399, ditches the PC and could offer wider appeal. Apple is rumored to be exploring a standalone augmented reality headset, and both itself and Google have built AR tools into their smartphone operating systems.

Expect more applications in business, Foster says, who cites interesting experiments with treating soldiers PTSD. These applications would become more widespread as the form factor slims down and the headset is less imposing.

I think were going to see more of that in the travel industry, where people are using either augmented reality or virtual reality to go in and get more of the experiential side, Foster says.

That could form part of a new era for wearables. The Apple Watch has made waves, but fashion of the future could build sensors directly into clothes. That includes yoga pants that walk the wearer through a routine, or football jerseys that rumble when the wearers favorite player gets tackled.

I think were going to see more of that, probably not in 10 years, probably in the next two or three years, Foster says.

Another buzzword likely to resurface is the blockchain. The digital ledger was first used to log transactions for the bitcoin cryptocurrency, but Foster sees interesting applications in supply chain management from the likes of IBM and Walmart. Another example is the NFL using it to track genuine memorabilia.

I think its going to be those unusual use cases that were going to hear more of, Foster says.

Blockchains original use case, for cryptocurrency, could also play a role. The Facebook-backed Libra project, expected to launch next year, promises an asset-backed digital token that avoids the wild price speculations of bitcoin. Big financial firms like MasterCard, Visa Stripe and PayPal have all dropped out of the project. But even if Libra fails, Foster sees something similar potentially emerging in that space.

The concept behind that and the driver behind that which is giving some form of digital currency to people who are unbankeddefinitely seems to me that theres a need for that on a global basis, Foster says.

Some areas are too hard to predict. Although its easy to make suggestions about the future, Foster notes that she would have never predicted Impossible Foods was going to be the breakout story of the show.

The one that really fascinates me is the space, Foster says. Whats going to happen?

With SpaceX and Blue Origin both pushing to make it cheaper to send objects into space, an unfathomable industry may be just around the corner.

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CES in the 2020s? Expect VR, wearables, 5G, and maybe even space travel - Inverse

SpaceX cargo mission combines mighty mice, fires and beer research – Spaceflight Now

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EDITORS NOTE:Updated Dec. 4 after scrub.

A nest of genetically-engineered mice, a research study to observe the behavior of fires in space, and an experiment that could lead to brewing beer in microgravity are among more than 5,700 pounds of cargo inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule awaiting launch from Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station Thursday.

Scientists will use the mice to study an experimental drug that could combat muscle and bone loss in astronauts and other vulnerable populations.

Eight of the 40 mice launching to the space station have been genetically-engineered to lack myostatin, a protein that acts to limit muscle growth in animals. The muscle-bound, myostatin-free mice or mighty mice will be joined by four other groups of rodents, including groups that will be given an experimental drug in space to block myostatin activity and promote muscle growth.

All 40 mice will return to Earth alive on the Dragon capsule in early January. Scientists will administer the same myostatin protein blocker to some of the mice after they are back on the ground to assess how the drug affects their rate of recovery.

The focus of this project is going to be to determine whether getting rid of myostatin in mice that we send to the International Space Station can prevent, or at least mitigate, the loss of muscle due to microgravity, saidSe-Jin Lee, professor at the Jackson Laboratory and University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and principal investigator for the rodent research experiment.

The drug trial to be administered to the mice on the space station also inhibits activin, a protein that regulates bone mass.

By blocking activin with this drug, bone densityincreases significantly, said Emily Germain-Lee, a co-investigator on the experiment and professor atUniversity of Connecticut School of Medicine. And as you probably know, astronauts who spend a lot of time in space lose not only musclemass, but also bone mass.

Anything that can be done to prevent muscle and bone loss would be veryimportant to maintaining the health of astronauts during space travel, Germain-Lee said. But loss of bone mass is also a huge healthproblem for people here on Earth. There are actually lots of diseases that lead to bone loss in both children andadults. And, ofcourse, osteoporosis is a big health issue for people who are elderly or bedridden.

Bytesting this experimental drug in life subjected to microgravity, we hope to be able to test the therapeutic strategiesfor combating both the bone loss and muscle lossthat occur in lots of different conditions, Germain-Lee said.

The resupply launch Thursday will signal the start of SpaceXs 19th cargo mission to the space station, ferrying more than a ton of experiment hardware inside the pressurized compartment of the companys Dragon spacecraft. The supply ship will also launch with provisions for the space stations six-person crew, spare parts, tools, an ultra-sensitive Japanese Earth-imaging camera, and a flock of small tech demo CubeSats.

SpaceX ground teams loaded time-critical payloads late Tuesday into the Dragon capsule mounted to the Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaverals Complex 40 launch pad. Technicians closed the Dragon spacecrafts hatch and raised the 213-foot-tall (65-meter) launcher vertical at pad 40 before dawn Wednesday in preparation for a countdown that was scrubbed before liftoff due to out-of-limits upper level winds.

On Thursday, the Falcon 9 will be filled with super-chilled kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants beginning 35 minutes before liftoff. The countdown clock will tick down to a precise launch time of 12:29:23 p.m. EST (1729:23 GMT), roughly the moment the Earths rotation brings the Falcon 9 launch pad under the space stations ground track.

Nine Merlin engines will drive the Falcon 9 northeast from Floridas Space Coast. The 12-foot-diameter (3.7-meter) first stage will accelerate the rocket for two-and-a-half minutes before shutdown and separation.

The Falcon 9s second stage will fire a single Merlin engine to power the rocket into orbit. Meanwhile, the first stage will perform a series of burns using a subset of its engines to slow down for landing on SpaceXs drone ship parked in the Atlantic Ocean around 210 miles (340 kilometers) east-northeast of Jacksonville, Florida.

The Falcon 9 booster a brand new vehicle in SpaceXs rocket fleet will aim to land on the ocean-going drone ship less than eight minutes after liftoff. Less than a minute later, the upper stage will inject the Dragon supply ship into orbit, setting the stage for deployment of the station-bound cargo capsule at T+plus 9 minutes, 35 seconds.

The Dragon will unfurl its solar panels a few minutes later, prime its propulsion system, and begin a choreographed sequence of thruster firings to approach the space station. The cargo freighter will arrive at the station early Sunday, assuming it takes off Thursday.

Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA flight engineer Drew Morgan will man the space stations Canadian-built robot arm to capture the Dragon supply ship Sunday. The robotic arm will position the Dragon spacecraft on the stations Harmony module, where astronauts will open hatches and begin unpacking the cargo inside the supply ships internal compartment.

The Dragon cargo capsule set for launch Thursday will make its third voyage to the space station, following two previous round-trip flights in 2014 and 2017.

Here is a break-down of the Dragon spacecrafts 5,769-pound (2,617-kilogram) supply load. The figures below do not include the mass of cargo packaging, which is included in NASAs overall payload mass:

The Dragon spacecraft will carry an experiment for Anheuser-Busch to test the malting ability of barley seeds in microgravity. The company eventually wants to brew beer in space.

Gary Hanning, director of global barley research at Anheuser-Busch, said the companys malting experiment is the third in a series of investigations looking at how the environment of space affects brewing processes.

This series has been constructed to look at the impact ofspace environment on the germination process of barley, Hanning said. So the germination processes is taking seed and creatingthe new plant from that, and so thats a very key step in the life cycle of any plant, and particularly important tomalting barley. So much of our research on earth is focused on seed germination and the environmental impactsthat would affect seed germination, as well as physiological effects.

Hanning said Anheuser-Buschs experiments in space have given the companys research team a new perspective.

From our previous studies on the space station, weve noted that the gene expression thats the genes thatare turned on or turned off and to what degree are different on the space station then they are on Earth, he said. We thinkits a response to the stress, because its an abnormal environment, so theres a stress related there. So geneexpression is a part of that cascade of events as part of germination.

The experiment launching on SpaceXs next cargo mission will look at hardware solutions to support barley malting on the space station.

Malting is basically a biological process, Hanning said. It is to convert barley into a product called malt, which is used in a lot offood and beverage applications. Malting is actually a three-step process, he added, beginning with the steeping, or hydration, of barley grains, followed by germination and drying.

The Anheuser-Busch experiment will launch with just 2.5 ounces (70 grams) of barley grains, separated into two units.

Another research payload aboard the Dragon spacecraft will allow scientists to observeflame behavior in confined spaces in microgravity. The combustion package includes solid fuel samples that will be ignited inside a protective enclosure on the space station.

We want to study how solid materials burn in different confined conditions, and how fire interacts with its immediate surroundings, saidYa-Ting Liao, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Case Western Reserve University.

It turns out this is a very hands-on experiment, said Paul Ferkul, an investigator on the confined combustion experiment. Were talking with the astronaut, were interacting with him, were telling him what to do, how to set the parameters. And he, in turn, tells us how its looking, what hes experiencing, and the astronauts are very glad to do this.

Its way outside their usual routine on the space station, so that helps us a lot because theyre enthusiastic for our work, and they make very good investigators because of that.

The Dragon capsules external cargo bay is loaded with a Japanese Earth-imaging instrument with high spectral sensitivity. TheHyperspectral Imager Suite, or HISUI, instrument will image Earths surface in 185 spectral bands, allowing scientists to distinguish between the composition and type of a range of vegetation, soil, rocks, snow, ice, and human-made objects like buildings, roads and other structures.

Using the robotic arm, the HISUI instrument will be mounted to a fixture outside the stations Japanese Kibo lab module. Its a follow-up to the Japanese-developed ASTER instrument on NASAs Terra satellite, which launched in 1999.

A new lithium-ion battery for the space stations solar array truss is also stowed inside the Dragon capsules unpressurized trunk. It will replace a battery flown to the station by a Japanese HTV cargo ship last year.

That battery was damaged by an electrical short soon after it was installed on a spacewalk.

Other equipment slated for delivery to the space station include a robotic tool stowage platform to store leak detectors outside the space station, and upgrades toallow scientists to make subtle measurements of gravity using the Cold Atom Laboratory, a research facility inside the orbiting lab.

Several CubeSats are also flying inside the Dragon capsule, including the first nanosatellite built in Mexico to deploy from the space station.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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SpaceX cargo mission combines mighty mice, fires and beer research - Spaceflight Now

Underserved grade school students to International Space Station: Do you read us? – USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

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Thanks to USC Dornsifes Young Scientists Program, students at South Los Angeles elementary school quiz an astronaut orbiting 250 miles above Earth. [4 min read]

USCs Rita Barakat, a doctoral student in neuroscience and a coordinator at USC Dornsifes Young Scientists Program, holds the microphone while a student from Vermont Avenue Elementary asks the International Space Station Commander, Colonel Luca Parmitano, a question. (Photo: Ling Luo.)

November-Alpha-One-Sierra-Sierra, this is Kilo-November-Six-Charlie-Hotel-Sierra.

Inside the packed auditorium at Vermont Avenue Elementary School near USCs University Park campus, 270 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders held their breath, along with teachers, parents and local amateur radio enthusiasts, as USCs Rita Barakat, a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience, attempted to establish contact with the International Space Station (ISS).

This was the doctoral students seventh attempt, and so far, loud static had been her only reward. Undeterred, Barakat, a coordinator at the Young Scientists Program (YSP) based at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Science, tried again.

November-Alpha-One-Sierra-Sierra, this is Kilo-November-Six-Charlie-Hotel-Sierra.

More crackling, then a disembodied male voice emerged from the static: Italian astronaut Colonel Luca Parmitano, ISS commander, responded, We hear you loud and clear. Go ahead with your questions.

Loud whoops of excitement went up from the grade school students, then quickly returned to hushed silence as the students focused on 10 of their peers lined up at the front of the room. The 10 had been selected to quiz Parmitano about space travel and life on the space station as the ISS passed over USC and downtown Los Angeles.

Held on Oct. 28, the event was organized by YSP, a part of the Joint Educational Project (JEP) based at USC Dornsife.

The students were also excited because this was a historic event the first time that L.A. elementary students had spoken with astronauts on the space station. Their school, a member of the USC Family of Schools, was one of just 15 places worldwide authorized to make contact with the ISS in 2019.

Questions and answers

Among the students who got to ask Parmitano two questions each was 10-year-old Melody Castro, a fifth-grader and enthusiastic YSP member. She and the others were selected after their questions were chosen from more than 500 submitted. She asked Parmitano what encouraged you to be an astronaut? and when you were younger, did you want to be an astronaut?

When I first heard about this opportunity, I was like, Oh, yeah, I have to try my best, but I was kind of scared, Castro said of the selection process. I wanted to cry because I didnt know if I was going to get it or not. And when I first heard my name, I was like, Wow!

Although she felt nervous, Castro said the experience gave her confidence.

It also changed her original ambition.

I wanted to be a normal scientist, like do potions and stuff like that, she said. But now, since I got the opportunity to talk, I actually want to be an astronaut.

And she already has a plan. Im going to try my best to work very hard to get in to a school thats very good for astronauts.

Dieuwertje DJ Kast, STEM program manager at JEP, said she was deeply impressed by the students composure.

We were really worried that there was going to be some stage fright because these are elementary school kids talking in front of 260 of their peers, the media, their teachers and their parents. Thats a huge deal to 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds.

But, said Kast, the students had been exemplary.

Persistence pays off

The event, which was facilitated by Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), was the highlight of a STEM curriculum focusing on aerospace and radio that YSP developed for use in elementary schools in conjunction with the W6HA Hughes Amateur Radio Club.

It took a little over a year to make the event happen.

The first time Barakat wrote the proposal to ARISS to coordinate with NASA and schedule the event, it was rejected, leading her to seek advice from the Hughes Ham Radio Team.

The team really were instrumental in helping us shape our proposal so that it could be more specific and show that we did have the necessary community support, Barakat said.

Their persistence paid off and YSPs second proposal was accepted.

In addition to learning about space travel, students also had the opportunity to explore amateur radio technology. Vermont Avenue Elementary is now the proud owner of an ISS-ABOVE, an electronic device invented by Liam Kennedy, a programming and live video streaming and production expert and former NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador. Kennedys invention brings the space station to a television screen, providing informational screens and live views of Earth from external cameras.

Barakat, who got her own ham radio license in May, adapted Kennedys and Kasts ISS-ABOVE middle school curriculum, making it appropriate for third- through fifth-grade students.

Classes at Vermont Avenue Elementary went on miniature field trips to their own library to see the ISS-ABOVE in action and learn more about the ISS. They heard Kennedy speak about how his invention can connect them to the space station and watched as members of Hughes Radio Club, and specifically Darrell Warren, aformer LAUSD teacher and veteran amateur radio operator, demonstrated the ham radio equipment.

The event was particularly valuable, Kast argued, because by bringing together so many different aspects of science from space travel to radio technology it showed students that STEM careers are so much more diverse than the stereotypical image of a scientist in a white coat working in a university laboratory.

Barakat agreed.

The value of the event aligns with our program mission overall to try and inspire kids to see science, not as something thats scary or challenging or unapproachable, but as something they can get into, Barakat said. If we can encourage them and have them feel like its fun now, theyll be more likely to pursue it in the long run.

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Underserved grade school students to International Space Station: Do you read us? - USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Space news: Space debris could grow uncontrollably and trap humans on Earth FOREVER – Express.co.uk

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There is now believed to be an astonishing 170 million pieces of junk floating in Earths upper atmosphere, but only 34,000 are being tracked. Some 7,000 tonnes of space junk circle our planet, as defunct satellites, junk from rockets and other metals and rocks build up close to Earth. Experts have previously warned that as space debris increases, it will make it harder for rockets to escape Earths orbit out of fear of colliding with an object, known as the Klesser syndrome.

Not only does it pose a threat to space travel, but technologies such as mobile phones, television, GPS and weather related services also rely on satellites, so a cataclysmic series of crashes could pose a threat to our already over-reliance for satellites.

Now, one expert has revealed the true extent of the congestion above Earth.

Professor Hugh Lewis from the University of Southampton ran simulations to reveal that if current levels of orbit congestion contiue to rise, with roughly 20 satellites put into space each year, there will be a satellite collision every 50 years.

However, for every 50 years that passed over the 1,000 year simulation, the number of collisions doubles some 1,000 kilometres above the surface.

The simulation ran in accordance with the 25 year rule which dictates that satellite users must spend no longer than 25 years 1,000km above Earth - regarded as the safe zone - before the satellite has to be moved or destroyed.

Prof Lewis said: The simulations included launches that placed fewer than 20 satellites per year into orbit at altitudes above 1000km and only one or two of these were left there once the 25-year rule had been applied to the others.

Even with our best countermeasures, this was enough to cause the amount of space debris there to grow uncontrollably.

The problem is that our best countermeasures slow the pace of the collision cascading to such an extent that it is impossible to observe in the current 200 year simulations.

READ MORE:Space junk: Terrifying tool reveals debris threatening satellites

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Space news: Space debris could grow uncontrollably and trap humans on Earth FOREVER - Express.co.uk