NASA Saves Energy, Water with Modular Supercomputer – Energy Manager Today

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The supercomputer at NASAs Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, CA, is using an innovative modular approach that is designed to get researchers the answers that they need, while reducing the high level of energy and water traditionally required for these cutting edge machines.

Scientific Computing lays out the issue:

All of todays modern supercomputers must be optimised in some way for energy efficiency because of the huge power consumption of large supercomputers. The Top500 is a prime example of this. Each of the top 10 systems consumes megawatts of power, with the very largest consuming in excess of 15 megawatts.

The story quotes William Thigpen, the Chief of NASAs Advanced Computing Branch as saying that supercomputers use multiple megawatts of power. From 33 percent to 50 percent are used for cooling.

The NASA system, called Electra, is expected to save 1 million kWh and 1.3 million gallons of water annually by virtue of its modular construction. Computing assets are added and thus need to be cooled only as necessary. The system, according to the story at Scientific Computing, is designed to work within a power usage effectiveness (PUE) range of 1.03 to 1.05. The current lead supercomputer for NASA, Pleaides, runs a PUE of about 1.3.

Space Daily describes Electras flexibility. The story says that NASA is considering an expansion to 16 times its current capacity. Some of the energy benefits are indirect: Since researchers can log in remotely to utilize Electra, pressure will be taken off the supercomputers those scientists and engineers would otherwise access. Thus, the overall benefit to the environment is a bit hidden but there nonetheless.

Electra is expected to provide 280 million hours of computing time annually and currently is 39th on the U.S. TOP500 list of computer systems, according to Space Daily (Scientific Computing says Pleaides is 13th.) The modular super computer center at Ames was built and installed by SGI/CommScope and is managed by the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division.

Modular datacenters use the same basic approach to reduce energy use.

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Supercomputer tests ways to divert blood from aneurysm – Futurity: Research News

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Engineers have used high-performance computing to examine the best way to treat an aneurysm.

To reduce blood flow into aneurysms, surgeons often insert a flow divertertiny tubes made of weaved metal, like stentsacross the opening. The reduced blood flow into the aneurysm minimizes the risk of a rupture, researchers say.

But, if the opening, or neck, of an aneurysm is large, surgeons will sometimes overlap two diverters, to increase the density of the mesh over the opening. Another technique is to compress the diverter to increase the mesh density and block more blood flow.

When doctors see the simulated blood flow in our models, theyre able to visualize it.

A computational study published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology shows the best option is the single, compressed diverterprovided it produces a mesh denser than the two overlapped diverters, and that it covers at least half of the aneurysm opening.

When doctors see the simulated blood flow in our models, theyre able to visualize it. They see that they need to put more of the dense mesh here or there to diffuse the jets (of blood), because the jets are dangerous, says lead author Hui Meng, a mechanical engineering professor at the University at Buffalo.

Working with the universityssupercomputing facility, the Center for Computational Research, Robert Damiano and Nikhil Paliwal, both PhD candidates in Mengs lab, used virtual models of three types of aneurysmsfusiform (balloons out on all sides), and medium and large saccular (balloons on one side)and applied engineering principles to model the pressure and speed of blood flowing through the vessels.

The engineers modeled three different diverter treatment methodssingle non-compacted, two overlapped, and single compacted, and ran tests to determine how they would affect blood flow in and out of the aneurysm using computational fluid dynamics.

We used equations from fluid mechanics to model the blood flow, and we used structural mechanics to model the devices, Damiano says. Were working with partial differential equations that are complex and typically unsolvable by hand.

These equations are converted to millions of algebraic equations and are solved using the supercomputer. The very small size of the mesh added to the need for massive computing power.

The diverter mesh wires are 30 microns in diameter, Paliwal says. To accurately capture the physics, we needed to have a maximum of 10 to 15 micron grid sizes. Thats why it is computationally very expensive.

The models showed that compressing a diverter produced a dense mesh that covered 57 percent of a fusiform-shaped aneurysm. That proved more effective than overlapping two diverters.

The compacted diverter was less effective in saccular aneurysms. As diverters are compressed, they become wider and bump into the sides of the vessel, so they could not be compressed enough to cover a small opening of an aneurysm. Compression was more effective in a large necked saccular aneurysm, producing a dense mesh that covered 47 percent of the opening.

Because a porous scaffold is needed to allow cell and tissue growth around the neck of the aneurysm, complete coverage using a solid diverter isnt the best option, Paliwal says. Further, solid diverters could risk blocking off smaller arteries.

The team next would like to look back over hundreds of previous cases, to determine how blood flow was affected by the use of diverters. The idea is to build a database so that more definitive conclusions can be drawn.

Were going to look at and model previous cases, and hopefully well have a way to determine the best treatment to cause the best outcome for new aneurysm cases, Damiano says.

Source: University at Buffalo

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Supercomputer tests ways to divert blood from aneurysm - Futurity: Research News

Supercomputer-Powered Portal Provides Data, Simulations to Geology and Engineering Community – HPCwire (blog)

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Feb. 23 As with many fields, computing is changing how geologists conduct their research. One example: the emergence ofdigital rock physics, where tiny fragments of rock are scanned at high resolution, their 3-D structures are reconstructed, and this data is used as the basis for virtual simulations and experiments.

Digital rock physics complements the laboratory and field work that geologists, petroleum engineers, hydrologists, environmental scientists, and others traditionally rely on. In specific cases, it provides important insights into the interaction of porous rocks and the fluids that flow through them that would be impossible to glean in the lab.

In 2015, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a team of researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) a two-year, $600,000grantto build theDigital Rocks Portalwhere researchers can store, share, organize and analyze the structures of porous media, using the latest technologies in data management and computation.

The project lets researchers organize and preserve images and related experimental measurements of different porous materials, said Maa Prodanovi, associate professor of petroleum and geosystems engineering at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). It improves access to them for a wider geosciences and engineering community and thus enables scientific inquiry and engineering decisions founded on a data-driven basis.

The grant is a part ofEarthCube, a large NSF-supported initiative that aims to create an infrastructure for all available Earth system data to make the data easily accessible and useable.

Small pores, big impacts

The small-scale material properties of rocks play a major role in their large-scale behavior whether it is how the Earth retains water after a storm or where oil might be discovered and how best to get it out of the ground.

As an example, Prodanovi points to the limestone rock above the Edwards Aquifer, which underlies central Texas and provides water for the region. Fractures occupy about five percent of the aquifer rock volume, but these fractures tend to dominate the flow of water through the rock.

All of the rain goes through the fractures without accessing the rest of the rock. Consequently, theres a lot of flooding and the water doesnt get stored, she explained. Thats a problem in water management.

Digital rocks physicists typically perform computed tomography (CT) scans of rock samples and then reconstruct the materials internal structure using computer software. Alternatively, a branch of the field creates synthetic, virtual rocks to test theories of how porous rock structures might impact fluid flow.

In both cases, the three-dimensional datasets that are created are quite large frequently several gigabytes in size. This leads to significant challenges when researchers seek to store, share and analyze their data. Even when data sets are made available, they typically only live online for a matter of months before they are erased due to space issues. This impedes scientific cross-validation.

Furthermore, scientists often want to conduct studies that span multiple length scales connecting what occurs at the micrometer scale (a millionth of a meter: the size of individual pores and grains making up a rock) to the kilometer scale (the level of a petroleum reservoir, geological basin or aquifer), but cannot do so without available data.

The Digital Rocks Portal helps solve many of these problems.

James McClure, a computational scientist at Virginia Tech uses the Digital Rocks Portal to access the data he needs to perform large-scale fluid flow simulations and to share data directly with collaborators.

The Digital Rocks Portal is essential to share and curate experimentally-generated data, both of which are essential to allow for re-analyses and reproducibility, said McClure. It also provides a mechanism to enable analyses that span multiple data sets, which researchers cannot perform individually.

The Portal is still young, but its creators hope that, over time, material studies at all scales can be linked together and results can be confirmed by multiple studies.

When you have a lot of research revolving around a five-millimeter cube, how do I really say what the properties of this are on a kilometer scale? Prodanovi said. Theres a big gap in scales and bridging that gap is where we want to go.

A framework for knowledge sharing

When the research team was preparing the Portal, they visited the labs of numerous research teams to better understand the types of data researchers collected and how they naturally organized their work.

Though there was no domain-wide standard, there were enough commonalities to enable them to develop a framework that researchers could use to input their data and make it accessible to others.

We developed a data model that ended up being quite intuitive for the end-user, said Maria Esteva, a digital archivist at TACC. It captures features that illustrate the individual projects but also provides an organizational schema for the data.

The entire article can be found here.

Source: Aaron Dubrow, TACC

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Supercomputer-Powered Portal Provides Data, Simulations to Geology and Engineering Community - HPCwire (blog)

Thanks to Stem Cell Therapy, Thinning Hair May Be a Thing of the … – W Magazine

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Call me a creature of habit, or just plain boring, but Ive been wearing my hair long, blonde, straight, and side-parted for more than 15 years. The only thing thats really changed is how much of it I have left. Whether the result of bleach, blowouts, stress, hormones, genetics, or all of the above, Ive been shedding like a cheap angora sweater since the age of 30. And, to make matters worse, the hair I do have is fine, fragile, and flyaway.

It wasnt always so. Flipping through old photo albums, I found evidence not only of my natural color (a long-forgotten brown) but also of the graphic, blunt bob I sported in my early 20s. I had oodles of hair back then and would smooth it to my head with pomade and push it behind my earsmuch like Guido Palau did on some of the models in Pradas spring runway show, I noted smugly.

Efforts in the ensuing years to save my ever-sparser strands have been all but futile. You name it, Ive tried it: platelet-rich plasma (PRP), treatments in which your own blood is spun down to platelets and injected into your scalp; mesotherapy (painful vitamin shots, also in the scalp); oral supplements; acupuncture; massage; herbal remedies; and high-tech hair products. Ive even resorted to wearing a silly-looking helmet that bathed my head in low-level laser light and was said to stimulate failing follicles. At this point, I would soak my mane in mares milk under the glow of a waxing supermoon if I thought it would help.

Since hair regeneration is one of the cosmetics-research worlds holiest grails (read: potential multibillion-dollar industry), Ive always hoped that a bona fide breakthrough was around the corner, and prayed it would arrive well ahead of my dotage. As it turns out, it might actually be a five-hour flight from New Yorkand around $10,000away.

It was the celebrity hairstylist Sally Hershberger who whispered the name Roberta F. Shapiro into my ear. You have to call her, she said. She is on to something, and it could be big. Shapiro, a well-respected Manhattan pain-management specialist, treats mostly chronic and acute musculoskeletal and myofascial conditions, like disc disease and degeneration, pinched nerves, meniscal tears, and postLyme disease pain syndromes. Her patient list reads like a whos who of the citys power (and pain-afflicted) elite, and her practice is so busy, she could barely find time to speak with me. According to Shapiro, a possible cure for hair loss was never on her agenda.

But thats exactly what she thinks she may have stumbled upon in the course of her work with stem cell therapy. About eight years ago, she started noticing a commonality among many of her patientsevidence of autoimmune disease with inflammatory components. Frustrated that she was merely palliating their discomfort and not addressing the underlying problems, Shapiro began to look beyond traditional treatments and drug protocols to the potential healing and regenerative benefits of stem cellsspecifically, umbilical cordderived mesenchymal stem cells, which, despite being different from the controversial embryonic stem cells, are used in the U.S. only for research purposes. After extensive vetting, she began bringing patients to the Stem Cell Institute, in Panama City, Panama, which she considers the most sophisticated, safe, and aboveboard facility of its kind. Its not a spa, or a feel-good, instant-fix kind of place, nor is it one of those bogus medical-tourism spots, she says. Lori Kanter Tritsch, a 55-year-old New York architect (and the longtime partner of Este Lauder Executive Chairman William Lauder) is a believer. She accompanied Shapiro to Panama for relief from what had become debilitating neck pain caused by disc bulges and stenosis from arthritis, and agreed to participate in this story only because she believes in the importance of a wider conversation about stem cells. If it works for hair rejuvenation, or other cosmetic purposes, great, but that was not at all my primary goal in having the treatment, Kanter Tritsch said.

While at the Stem Cell Institute, Kanter Tritsch had around 100 million stem cells administered intravenously (a five-minute process) and six intramuscular injections of umbilical cord stem cellderived growth factor (not to be confused with growth hormone, which has been linked to cancer). In the next three months, she experienced increased mobility in her neck, was able to walk better, and could sleep through the night. She also lost a substantial amount of weight (possibly due to the anti-inflammatory effect of the stem cells), and her skin looked great. Not to mention, her previously thinning hair nearly doubled in volume.

As Shapiro explains it, the process of hair loss is twofold. The first factor is decreased blood supply to hair follicles, or ischemia, which causes a slow decrease in their function. This can come from aging, genetics, or autoimmune disease. The second is inflammation. One of the reasons I think mesenchymal stem cells are working to regenerate hair is that stem cell infiltration causes angiogenesis, which is a fancy name for regrowing blood vessels, or in this case, revascularizing the hair follicles, Shapiro notes. Beyond that, she says, the cells have a very strong anti-inflammatory effect.

For clinical studies shes conducting in Panama, Shapiro will employ her proprietary technique of microfracturing, or injecting the stem cells directly into the scalp. She thinks this unique delivery method will set her procedure apart. But, she cautions, this is a growing science, and we are only at the very beginning. PRP is like bathwater compared with amniotic- or placenta-derived growth factor, or better yet, umbilical cordderived stem cells.

Realizing that not everyone has the money or inclination to fly to Panama for a treatment that might not live up to their expectations, Hershberger and Shapiro are in the process of developing Platinum Clinical, a line of hair products containing growth factor harvested from amniotic fluid and placenta. (Shapiro stresses that these are donated remnants of a live birth that would otherwise be discarded.) The products will be available later this year at Hershbergers salons.

With follicular salvation potentially within reach, I wondered if it might be time to revisit the blunt bob of my youth. I call Palau, and inquire about that sleek 1920s do he created for Prada. Fine hair can actually work better for a style like this, he says. In fact, designers often prefer models with fine hair, so the hairstyle doesnt overpower the clothing. Then he confides, Sometimes, if a girl has too much hair, we secretly braid it away. Say what? I know, its the exact opposite of what women want in the real world. But models are starting to realize that fine hair can be an asset. Look, at some point you have to embrace what you have and work with it. Wise words, perhaps, and proof that, like pretty much everything else, thick hair is wasted on the young.

From the Minimalist to the Bold, the 5 Best Hair Trends of New York Fashion Week

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Thanks to Stem Cell Therapy, Thinning Hair May Be a Thing of the ... - W Magazine

HealthWatch: Stem Cell Therapy for Osteoarthritis – WeAreGreenBay.com

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CHICAGO. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in the U.S., affecting nearly 27 million adults. It is currently an incurable disease in which the joints deteriorate. Now, a therapy that has been used in eye surgery and to heal the skin of burn victims is being used for the first time in knees. This new form of treatment involves stem cells from amniotic fluid.

As a professional photographer, climbing up step ladders and walking down stairs are part of the daily grind for 65-year-old Linda Schwartz.

"There's constant activity; you're moving the whole time, really," Schwartz told Ivanhoe.

But the pain of osteoarthritis in both of her knees was making all that activity a little harder.

Schwartz detailed, "I tried cortisone shots. I had something called Euflexxa. I was sent to physical therapy twice. I mean, I did try acupuncture in my knees. But it didn't really seem to make a difference."

Adam Yanke, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, explained, "It's like the rubber on the tire. So as you start to lose the rubber in your tire and the rim hits the road, that's what happens when you have bone on bone arthritis and you've lost all the cartilage in your knee."

Dr. Yanke enrolled Schwartz in an experimental new therapy that involved injecting amniotic fluid that contained stem cells donated by healthy mothers into the knees of osteoarthritis patients.

"Between the two of those they're a potent anti-inflammatory and they also have growth factors that help promote healing or healthy growth of tissue," said Dr. Yanke.

It was by far the most effective pain treatment that Schwartz has tried. Unlike cortisone shots, there are no side effects. The pain relief has so far lasted up to a year.

"It was a very gradual feeling of it's a little bit better, it's a little bit better, and then realizing, wow, it's really pretty good," said Schwartz.

The one drawback is this therapy is not for patients whose arthritis is so bad it requires knee replacement surgery. Even though it's still in the experimental stage, Dr. Yanke offers the stem cell treatment to his patients. But at a cost of $2,200 a shot, it is not yet covered by insurance.

Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Supervising Producer; Jessica Sanchez, Field Producer; Milvionne Chery, Assistant Producer; Roque Correa, Editor.

MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS

RESEARCH SUMMARY

TOPIC: Stem Cell Therapy for Osteoarthritis

REPORT: MB #4213

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative joint disease or degenerative arthritis, is the most chronic condition in the joints, affecting 27 million Americans. This disease is an incurable one in which the tissue and bone in the joints deteriorate. Because the cartilage is a cushion between the bones, when this is lost a person can experience considerable pain, swelling and problems when moving the joint. This condition can affect people of any age, but it is more common in people over the age of 65. Some common risk factors include:

* Age

* Obesity

* Previous joint injury

* Overuse of the joint

* Weak thigh muscles

* Genetics

(Source: http://www.arthritis.org/about-arthritis/types/osteoarthritis/what-is-osteoarthritis.php)

TREATMENTS: Although there is no cure for osteoarthritis, there are several treatments that exist to treat it. Each treatment depends on the patient and the severity of the disease, but all focus on managing pain, stiffness and swelling; as well as joint mobility and flexibility. Some of these treatments are:

* Medications, like analgesics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, pills, cream and lotions

* Physical and occupational therapies

* Surgery

* Natural and alternative therapies like nutritional supplements, acupuncture, massages, physical activities, and weight management

(Source: http://www.arthritis.org/about-arthritis/types/osteoarthritis/treatment.php)

STEM CELL THERAPY: Stem cell therapy consists of a membrane product that also has amniotic fluid in it. They are usually used in eye surgery and to heal the skin of burned victims but now they're being used to treat osteoarthritis in an experimental therapy. The main goal of the trial is to demonstrate this is an adequate therapy for relieving inflammation in the joints. The therapy involves injecting amniotic fluid that contains stem cells donated by healthy mother into the knees of patients. Dr. Adam Yanke says it's too soon to tell if the stem cell therapy will actually help with growing back healthy tissue in order to avoid surgery, or if it will simply delay the process. Furthermore, the therapy can't be given to patients suffering from chronic arthritis and are in need of knee replacement surgery. Nevertheless, the treatment helps with pain relief, movement and there are no reported side effects.

(Source: Adam Yanke)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:

Deb Song

Media Relations

Deb_song@rush.edu

If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com

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Multiple sclerosis treatment could ‘reset’ immune system with stem … – Genetic Literacy Project

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New research provides further evidence of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as an effective treatment for multiple sclerosis, after finding the procedure halted disease progression for 5 years in almost half of patients.

However, [Dr. Paolo Muraro, of the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London,] warn that further trials are needed to determine the efficacy and safety of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT).

In AHSCT, a patients own stem cells are harvested. The patient is then subject to high-dose chemotherapy to eliminate any diseased cells. Next, the harvested stem cells are returned to the patients bloodstreamIn simple terms, AHSCT resets the immune system.

Overall, the researchers found that 46 percent of patients experienced no disease progression in the 5 years after treatmentAdditionally, patients experienced small improvements in MS symptoms after AHSCT.

While these findings show promise for the use of AHSCT for patients with MS, the team notes that there were eight deaths in the 100 days after AHSCT, which were thought to have been treatment related.

[The study can be found here.]

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:Multiple sclerosis: Stem cell transplantation may halt disease progression

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Multiple sclerosis treatment could 'reset' immune system with stem ... - Genetic Literacy Project

SPIRITUALITY: God expects us to use our lives to make a difference – Norwich Bulletin

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The Rev. Cal Lord For The Bulletin

I couldnt believe what I was seeing as I rounded the corner and headed for the door. People were spilling outside and the sound of music was in the air. I dont think anyone could have predicted the success of this simple fundraiser.

It was a great idea. Get a few musicians together and ask them each to sing a song. Invite people to come and enjoy the jam session. Then ask them to make a donation to the Warm Center. At the end of the day they had 20 acts.

They called it Pass the Guitar. I watched as one performer after another took the stage in front of a standing- room- only crowd at Christ Episcopal Church in Westerly. They promoted it as 20 acts, one guitar but it was really all about Warm.

The musicians and the audience came together to help support the center and the compassionate way that it moves people from homelessness to permanent housing. I loved the way they did it. It was positive and powerful

When I see things like this, George Bernard Shaws famous line, often attributed to Robert F. Kennedy, comes to mind: You see things; and you say Why? But I dream things that never were; and I say Why not?

I like the idea of doing something positive to support the causes we believe in. Im not talking about marches or rallies. They are fun but dont have a lasting impact. Im talking about getting involved by volunteering to make a difference.

The truth is that it was people of faith that started many of the great institutions in our communities. Many of the schools, hospitals, libraries and agencies like Warm are here because someone had a vision and stepped up to see it through.

Jesus sent us out to be a light, to bring his hope, love, grace and salvation to the world. Our call is to make a difference. You cant do that by sitting on the couch. So grab your guitar, your shovel, your wallet or whatever talent you have and lets do something that will make a difference.

God bless. See you in church.

The Rev. Cal Lord, of Norwich, is the pastor of Central Baptist Church of Westerly. Reach him at calstigers@gmail.com.

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MITRA: The toxic spirituality of temptation – Merritt Herald

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Narayan Mitra is the pastor of Merritt Baptist Church.

Editors note:The views expressed in this column dont necessarily reflect those of the Merritt Herald and its staff. The Herald welcomes qualified writers with views on this or other faiths to submit their work to newsroom@merrittherald.com, to be considered for publication.

Even before my next scheduled Faith story appears, the month of Lent will be upon us, reminding the faithful of the purpose of weaning ourselves away from worldly temptations.

Hopefully, the victory aspired would help believers, not just for this season but throughout the year ahead.

As far back as 2,000 years ago, James, the half-brother of Jesus, reminded the persecuted and the scattered Christians of the godly privilege of believers undergoing temptations with these words: Blessed (or, happy) is the man that endures temptation (James 1:12).

Temptation is one of the inescapable facts of life. It was in operation even in the life of the holy Son of God when he was on earth.

It is a fact to be reckoned with in the life of every man or woman who seeks to serve the Lord.

As we read the record of the temptations of Jesus and if we try to explain them away only as allegories, we would do away the inspiration that leads people to victory by using the Word of God.

It was not only during the 40 days in the wilderness that Jesus suffered being tempted of Satan. There was at least one occasion when, discoursing with his disciples, he told them to be aware lest they fall into temptations.

It is not possible for any one of us to go far through life blind to the awful, insidious force of temptation.

There have been times in all of our lives when sometimes we felt that escape from temptations is almost unavoidable.

At Jesus baptism, after the Spirit of God had descended upon him, he was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Again, as he faced Jerusalem for the last time, who could realize the awful agony as he cried out to one of his own beloved disciples who tried to dissuade him from all that the cross meant to him?

Then, at Gethsemane, in that awful paroxysm of the fury of the evil one, there was the awful experience of pain and loneliness of Jesus.

At times we too face our version of Gethsemane. Let us remember then that we shall also have the angels of God standing by to support and strengthen us.

We would not feel alone then.

Sometimes there is a danger that we think of Christian life far too much in terms of some catchy hymns. Whereas it is a contest in which we should feel that we are in a real battle and cannot afford to let our guards fall.

It was not for the purpose of reclining on couches of scented rose petals that we were bidden to take on the whole armour of God.

No matter how fierce, how overwhelming the forces that are arrayed against us, they are not greater than the forces that lead us on to victories.

Right into the very heat of the furnace there stands besides us, One like unto the Son of God and says, I, too, have felt the scorching flames. I know what it means. I, too, have suffered being tempted, yet I did not sin.

Let us blot out forever from our mind the thought that because Jesus was God, therefore in some mysterious way temptations did not have the same power as they have for us.

It means that Jesus, when he was only a boy, was tempted just as we were when we were boys.

Then, as he grew up to be a young man, those temptations that attack us attacked him too.

But, here is the glory of it for us to learn he came through victorious, without sinning.

So, to every child of God we can say: Take these words for strength, consolation, and encouragement the words of power and just hold on to them in the hours of temptation. They are the words of God.

And not only he suffers with us, he is able also to succour them that are tempted. That is the crux of the whole thing for us.

He overcame. His power is available for us if we want to overcome.

What does it all mean?

First of all, it is true that we are being tempted more than ever before these days. The devil would not easily part with his slaves, even though the redemption money has been paid by Jesus.

Also, before we gave our life to Christ, we were drifting. We were going easily down the stream and were not conscious of the terrific force of the current that held us in its grip.

Now we have begun to pull against the stream and are realising how strong the current is.

We cannot drift against the stream.

But, perhaps this is the most encouraging fact of all that God has allowed us to go into the wilderness to be tempted because He knows we are going to win.

Again, listen to the Word of God: When he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life.

That crown is promised to the person who is tried and tested and who triumphs.

Here is then the promise of victory: No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.

But with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

That means every temptation carries with it its own way of escape. This is the promise of victory.

Narayan Mitra is the pastor of Merritt Baptist Church at 2499 Coutlee Avenue, Merritt. You can reach him via email atmerrittbaptist@gmail.com.

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MITRA: The toxic spirituality of temptation - Merritt Herald

Students have encounter with their faith and spirituality – The Creightonian

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Posted: Thursday, February 23, 2017 1:42 pm

Students have encounter with their faith and spirituality Connor Cahill Editor-in-Chief Creightonian.com |

The weekend of Feb. 10 saw more than 80 students, faculty and staff depart on an integral part of their faith journey, known as Encounter.

Encounter is a retreat hosted by Creightons Campus Ministry and started in the mid-90s and the event celebrated its 34th retreat this month, according to a Campus Ministry retreat coordinator, Craig Zimmer.

The retreat is held at the Creighton University Retreat Center in Griswold, Iowa.

Out of the 85 to 90 participants of the retreat, 65 of them were students, 10 were student leaders, who were accompanied by a faculty or staff member, and three to four of them were student support team leaders.

For the student support team leaders the preparation happens weeks in advance.

Support team leaders meet six weeks before the retreat, while the two student coordinators meet eight weeks before to prepare and plan the retreat.

The large number of participants and length of planning is not the only thing that sets Encounter apart from the other retreats.

The focus is special, said student coordinator Hank Elbert. You really look inward to who you are and how you relate with God, Jesus and your community. Its very holistic in its spiritual focus; all these different aspects of who you are and what your faith is can be explored.

Zimmer explained that Encounter asks different questions than the other retreats to challenge the students to think about their faith and spiritual life and what it challenges them to do.

Encounter is people reflecting on their own experiences, said Zimmer. Were not teaching them anything. We are asking for them to reflect on their own lives.

Brittany Hall, a Campus Ministry retreat coordinator, said the retreats are a step along the way for someones faith journey.

This retreat is open to anyone in anyplace on the faith spectrum, said Hall. Whether they are experiencing a very deep relationship with God that comes out of the Catholic tradition, if they are just putting their toes in the water or if they come from a different faith background, they are all welcome.

While there is no long-term connection provided by Campus Ministry for the students who have gone on the trip, Hall and Zimmer are certain it makes a positive difference in the students spiritual and faith lives.

Definitely one of the challenges is that we dont know what people do with it, moving forward, said Zimmer. But one of the things the retreat does, it invites people to think about their relationship with God as something much bigger, something beyond going to church for one hour on a Sunday. They think about God being active in their lives in ways they didnt think about before. Hopefully there is an impact, but we wouldnt know.

For many students, the experience they share during the Encounter retreat is one they will carry with them throughout their life as they navigate college and beyond.

Some of the insights Ive had through my reflection on this retreat about faith, about life, about me are timeless and will stick with me, said Elbert. Additionally, I think Ill carry an appreciation for peacefulness in my life [...] this peace will always have value, and Encounter will help me know how to find it in my post-Creighton life.

Posted in News on Thursday, February 23, 2017 1:42 pm. | Tags: Encounter Retreat, Faith, Campus Ministry, Spirituality

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SpaceX Cargo Craft Is Now In Space Station’s Grip, One Day After Aborted Docking – NPR

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SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship is captured by astronauts aboard the International Space Station early Thursday, one day after its initial docking attempt was aborted. AP hide caption

SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship is captured by astronauts aboard the International Space Station early Thursday, one day after its initial docking attempt was aborted.

With a nudge of a robotic arm, astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured a space capsule carrying 5,500 pounds of cargo early Thursday.

"Capture confirmed," NASA TV's announcer stated at 5:44 a.m. ET. The capture took place as the space station and the SpaceX capsule flew in orbit 250 miles over Australia's northwest coast.

The safe rendezvous should help soothe the nerves of NASA and SpaceX teams that have seen this mission encounter delays at crucial moments. In NASA's timetable that was released last week, the agency had planned for the Dragon craft to reach the space station three days ago.

On Saturday, the craft's launch was aborted just seconds ahead of rocket ignition, due to an anomaly in its steering system.

The actual launch one day later went perfectly, but when the Dragon craft was less than a mile from its space station dock early Wednesday, its computer automatically aborted the maneuver due to an error in its GPS software. That set up today's meeting, which comes just a day before a Russian resupply rocket is slated to arrive early Friday.

It will take the ISS crew about a month to unload the spacecraft, NASA says. In late March, it will splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Baja California.

NASA describes some of the experiments Dragon is carrying along with crew supplies:

"Science investigations launching on Dragon include commercial and academic research investigations that will enable researchers to advance their knowledge of the medical, psychological and biomedical challenges astronauts face during long-duration spaceflight.

"One experiment will use the microgravity environment to grow stem cells that are of sufficient quality and quantity to use in the treatment of patients who have suffered a stroke. A Merck Research Labs investigation will test growth in microgravity of antibodies important for fighting a wide range of human diseases, including cancer."

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SpaceX Cargo Craft Is Now In Space Station's Grip, One Day After Aborted Docking - NPR

SpaceX cargo ship arrives safely at space station – USA TODAY

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USA Today Network James Dean, Florida Today Published 6:39 a.m. ET Feb. 23, 2017 | Updated 14 hours ago

SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, a day after a GPS problem prevented the capsule from coming too close. AP

The SpaceX Dragon capsule flying the CRS-10 cargo resupply mission was captured by the International Space Station's robotic arm at 5:44 a.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017.(Photo: NASA TV)

MELBOURNE, Fla.A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying nearly 5,500 pounds of supplies and science experiments arrived safely at the International Space Station early Thursday, a day later than planned after an aborted rendezvousWednesday.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet steered a 58-foot robotic arm to snare the unmanned Dragon at 5:44 p.m. EST, as the two spacecraft flew 250 miles above northwestern Australia.

"Looks like we got a great capture," crewmate and Expedition 50 commander Shane Kimbrough radioed to flight controllers in Houston.

"Great job with Dragon capture, and sorry about the delays," responded NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, who was communicating with the crew from the ground. "Now the real work starts."

Related: SpaceX cargo ship scrapped docking at space station

Pesquet said the six-person space stationcrew was "very happy" to have Dragon on board and complemented the public-private partnership behind the commercial resupply mission that launched Sunday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center.

"Such a strong partnership between agencies and commercial entities together with the international partners is without a doubt the future of space exploration, and were paving the way every day on the ISS," he said.

By 8:15a.m., robotics teams on the groundattached the Dragon to the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module for a monthlong stay.

The crew planned to open the Dragon's hatch later Thursday to begin removing time-sensitive science experiments.

More than half of the cargo is dedicated to science research, including a pair of NASA science instruments that will monitor Earth's ozone layer and lightning strikes. Another NASA instrument will test guidance systems for missions that would attempt to robotically service satellites.

Other research includes studies of tissue regeneration, involving 20 mice in orbit; of stem cells that could be applied to stroke treatments; and of protein crystals that could improve cancer drugs.

Related:SpaceX launches rocket from historic NASA launchpad

On Wednesday, the Dragon flew within about 1,200 feet of the station before backing out of its approach. NASA said flight computers triggered the abort after recognizinga problem with navigation data calculating the Dragon's position relative to the station.

Afterthe Dragon's berthing Thursday, aRussian Progress resupply ship, flying for the first time since a failed launch on Dec. 1, 2016, is scheduled to dock at the outpost around 3:30 a.m. EST Friday.

The next U.S. commercial cargo ship in line to fly, Orbital ATK's Cygnus, is being prepared for a March 19 launch from Cape Canaveral on a United Launch AllianceAtlas Vrocket.

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Rockets on track with supplies for the space station – The Guardian

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A Russian Soyuz rocket blasts off in sub-zero temperatures on Wednesday on its supply mission to the International Space Station. Photograph: Roscosmos/EPA

Two supply vessels blasted off within days of each other this week both heading for the International Space Station (ISS).

On 19 February at 14:39 GMT, Space X, a private company, launched a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39a at NASAs Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch pad is historic because it was built for the Apollo moon landing programme of the 60s and 70s. It was then used for space shuttle launches. Since April 2014, the launch pad has been used by Space X, which signed a 20-year lease with NASA.

The SpaceX capsule launched on Sunday carried 2.5 tonnes of experiments and supplies. It will remain at the ISS until March, when it will return Earth with cargo. The capsule will splash down in the Pacific.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket returned to Florida eight minutes after launch, completing a soft landing so that it can be refuelled and reused.

The second supply mission took flight from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 22 February at 05:58 GMT. The 2.7 tonnes of cargo was loaded into a Russian Progress spacecraft and launched atop a Soyuz rocket in sub-zero temperatures from a snow-covered launch pad.

Nine minutes later, it reached orbit. This was the first launch of a Soyuz rocket since 1 December, when a fault in the third-stage motor caused the vehicle to explode. The fault was traced to poor materials used in the manufacturing.

Astronauts look forward to the cargo missions arriving because they bring fresh fruit and other produce to liven up their diets. The missions also carry essentials. The supplies on the Russian spacecraft include 420kg of fresh water and 23kg of oxygen.

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First Black Crew Member To Join International Space Station – Thenewjournalandguide

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected astronaut Jeanette Epps to join the crew of the International Space Station in 2018. Epps will become the first Black crew member to represent the U.S. on the station.

The journey will mark the first time Epps has traveled to orbit, allowing her to follow in the footsteps of the women who, she said, inspired her to become an astronaut.

While other Black astronauts have flown to the Space Station for brief stays during the outposts construction, Epps will be the first Black crew member to live and work on the station for an extended period of time. Her journey aboard the Soyuz spacecraft and stay at the station places her as the only American and female among a crew made up of mostly Russians and men.

Im a person just like they are. I do the same work as they do, Epps told a group of STEM students at her Syracuse alma mater, Danforth Middle School. If something breaks, any one of us will have to be able to go out the door. We have to be jacks of all trades. Its not a job thats like any other.

While working on her doctorate, Epps was a NASA graduate student Researchers Project fellow, authoring several journal and conference articles about her research. After completing her graduate studies, Epps worked in a research lab for more than two years, co-authoring multiple patents, before being recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). She was a CIA technical intelligence officer for about seven years before being selected as a member of the 2009 astronaut class.

Anything you dont know is going to be hard at first, Epps said in a video statement about the launch. But if you stay the course, put the time and effort in, it will become seamless eventually.

Epps, in the NASA video interview, shared when she was first introduced to the idea that she could be an astronaut. It was about 1980, I was nine years old. My brother came home and he looked at my grades and my twin sisters grades and he said, You know, you guys can probably become aerospace engineers or even astronauts, Epps said.

And this was at the time that Sally Ride [the first American woman to fly in space] and a group of women were selected to become astronauts the first time in history. So, he made that comment and I said, Wow, that would be so cool.

Epps will join veteran NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel at the Space Station. On Feustels first long-duration mission, he served as a flight engineer on Expedition 55, and later as commander of Expedition 56.

By Shantella Y. Sherman (AFRO/NNPA Member)

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International Space Station crosses over Perth – Perth Now

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THIS is what Perth looks like at night from the International Space Station.

Italian Astronaut Ignazio Magnani posted the picture of Perth lit up by city lights after the famous space station crossed over the state.

If you were staring up at the stars around 8.20pm Thursday night you may have witnessed the rare event.

The ISS is a large spacecraft in orbit around Earth where astronauts live and conduct research. It has made it possible for people to have an ongoing presence in space since 1998.

Although the ISS has been circling the earth for almost two decades it doesnt often cross Perth at such a convenient time and so bright to see with the naked eye.

The space station was only visible for about five minutes. Mr Magnani alerted Perth to the crossing.

Did you manage to capture a glimpse? Some Perth astrophotgraphers did.

Another interesting photo tonight... The International Space Station flew over Perth from the north-west to the south-east at 8:22PM. I took this photo from Port Coogee, with Leonie. Thanks for the tip Dan! 🙂

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International Space Station crosses over Perth - Perth Now

SpaceX Cargo Craft Fails To Dock With Space Station, Will Try Again – KALW

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Early Wednesday morning, a space capsule carrying 5,500 pounds of cargo approached the International Space Station.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo ship was scheduled to arrive at the station around 6 a.m. ET. If all went as planned, astronauts Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency and Shane Kimbrough of NASA would use a robotic arm on the station to reach out and grasp the ship, pulling it in and locking hatches with it.

But that cosmic embrace was not to be.

Around 3:25 a.m. ET, according to NASA TV, the navigation system on the unmanned Dragon cargo ship detected an error. A number was wrong in its GPS software. The ship automatically aborted its mission. It was about three-quarters of a mile away from the space station.

The docking has been rescheduled for Thursday morning.

"It did exactly what it was designed to do, breaking out of a rendezvous approach when it saw an incorrect value," said NASA TV commentator Rob Navias.

"This is an easily correctable issue," he explained during a live NASA TV stream of the docking attempt. "Dragon itself is in excellent shape."

The new schedule means Dragon will arrive at the International Space Station the day before a Russian resupply rocket, which launched early Wednesday and is set to arrive at the ISS early Friday morning.

As The Two-Way reported, today's is not the first delay for the SpaceX Dragon. The cargo ship was supposed to launch Saturday, but that was scrubbed just 13 seconds before liftoff because of an anomaly discovered in the rocket's steering system.

"On Sunday, however, the launch went smoothly," NPR's Colin Dwyer reported. "Not only did SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lift off without a hitch, its first stage also returned to land right back on a platform on Earth. Shortly afterward, the Dragon spacecraft it was carrying detached as planned from the rocket."

As The Wall Street Journal has reported, mistakes and setbacks in its rocket business have become an increasing concern for the commercial spaceflight company, in part because its founder Elon Musk has publicly announced that the company will build a system to colonize Mars.

As the newspaper reported, failed launches (the rockets exploded) in June 2015 and September 2016 contributed to a loss in revenue:

"Internal financial documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with former SpaceX employees depict robust growth in new rocket-launch contracts and a thin bottom line that is vulnerable when things go awry. They also show the company putting steep revenue expectations on a nascent satellite-internet business it hopes will eventually dwarf the rocket division and help finance its goal of manned missions to Mars."

In addition to stuff humans use to live in space, the cargo craft is carrying science experiments. "One experiment will use the microgravity environment to grow stem cells that are of sufficient quality and quantity to use in the treatment of patients who have suffered a stroke," a NASA press release read. The mission will also aid in recording "key climate observations and data records."

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SpaceX supply ship completes journey to space station – Spaceflight Now

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ESA astronaut Homas Pesquet tweeted this image of the Dragon spacecraft hovering just below the space station Thursday. Credit: Thomas Pesquet/ESA/NASA

Running a day late after aborting a rendezvous to resolve a navigation glitch, SpaceXs Dragon cargo craft made a smooth final approach to the International Space Station on Thursday, floating in range of the research labs robot arm for capture to deliver 2.7 tons of supplies and research experiments.

The Dragon spacecraft took four days to travel to the complex after blasting off from the Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A on Sunday, hauling food rations, space station repair equipment, and science investigations designed to monitor Earths ozone layer, study lightning and test out new automated navigation tools for a future satellite servicing mission.

The 23-foot-long (7-meter) Dragon supply ship approached the space station from below, pausing at predetermined hold points to allow for status checks by ground controllers. Mission control centers in Houston and at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, gave a green light for the spacecraft to move to a capture box around 10 meters, or 33 feet, beneath the outpost.

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet unlimbered the space stations Canadian-built robotic arm to grapple the Dragon cargo carrier at 5:44 a.m. EST (1044 GMT), a few minutes earlier than projected in Thursdays timeline.

Capture of the SpaceX-owned supply vessel occurred as the space station sailed over the northwest coast of Australia.

Looks like weve got a great capture, radioed space station commander Shane Kimbrough, who assisted Pesquet. Thomas did a great job flying it.

Great job with Dragon capture, and sorry about the delays, responded astronaut Mike Hopkins from mission control in Houston. Now the real work starts.

The mission delivered a record payload of scientific hardware for a SpaceX resupply mission, a manifest that includes 40 mice researchers will study to learn about bone healing in microgravity, a field that might have applications for victims with catastrophic bone injuries and patients with osteoporosis.

Were trying to understand what happens in the body as the bones start healing, said Rasha Hammamieh, the rodent research projects chief scientist from the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research.

The military is co-sponsoring the bone health experiment, with an eye toward learning lessons that could help injured soldiers.

Up in space, you lose bone, said Melissa Kacena, co-investigator for the bone experiment and an associate professor of orthopedic surgery, anatomy and cell biology, and biomedical engineering at Indiana University. In fact, astronauts lose about 1 to 3 percent of their bone density in a month. Someone with advanced osteoporosis loses closer to 1 percent per year.

Kacena added that scientists want to test drugs on rodents that might be able to rebuild your bone systematically, so it could have applications not only for bone healing, but also for osteoporosis.

Astronauts on the space station will euthanize the mice and return them to Earth for comparison with a control group that remained on the ground.

Bacterial and stem cell researchers also have a stake in the mission.

We are excited to put MRSA, which is a superbug, on the International Space Station and investigate the effects of microgravity on the growth and mutation patterns of these bugs, said Anita Goel, chairman and science director of Nanobiosym, which developed the experiment with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space.

I have this hypothesis that microgravity will accelerate the mutation patterns. If we can use microgravity as an accelerator to fast forward and get a sneak preview of what these mutations will look like, then we can esssentially build smarter drugs back on Earth.

The stations robotic arm placed the Dragon spacecraft on the Earth-facing port on the Harmony module a few hours later, and bolts drove closed to create a firm connection. Station astronauts planned to verify no leaks between the station and Dragon spacecraft, then open hatches leading into the supply ship later Thursday to begin unloading time-sensitive specimens and research payloads.

Dragon has now officially arrived at ISS, Pesquet said. Were very happy, indeed, to have it on-board and very much looking forward to the goodies, and the tons of science of cargo it carries.

Thursdays capture marked the 10th time a Dragon spaceship has reached the space station, counting a demonstration flight in 2012.

The Dragon spacecraft automatically aborted an attempted rendezvous Wednesday due to an incorrect value in the capsules relative GPS navigation system. SpaceX engineers fixed the problem in time for another approach Thursday.

While astronauts unpack Dragons pressurized cabin, the stations robotic arm will pull two research experiment platforms and a mounting base out of the ships external payload bay for placement on the outposts huge structural truss.

One of the payloads is NASAs $92 million Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment 3, or SAGE 3, an ozone monitor that comes with a separate ESA-built hexapod mounting plate designed to point the instrument at Earths limb, or horizon, at sunset and moonset.

The sunlight and moonlight passing through the layers of the upper atmosphere will help tell scientists about the condition of the ozone layer and allow researchers to track pollutants and particles suspended high above Earth.

SAGE 3, developed by NASAs Langley Research Center in Virginia, is the latest in a series of ozone measurement sensors developed by NASA since 1979. Previous space missions studying ozone showed a decline in the distribution of the gas over Earths poles, and researchers tied the ozone depletion to chlorofluorocarbon, a chemical used in cleaning agents, refrigeration and air conditioning.

An international treaty called the Montreal Protocol that went into force in 1989 banned chlorofluorocarbons, and scientists have observed the depletion stop and watched the ozone layer begin to recover.

How does SAGE 3 fit into that? Were going to make measurements from the space station that show the recovery is on track, said Michael Cisewski, SAGE 3 project manager at NASA. I think that, from a science perspective, it doesnt get any better than that.

SAGE 3 will also measure other important stratospheric gases and atmospheric aerosols, which are components of pollution that also impact the radiation balance of our planet, said Michael Freilich, director of NASAs Earth science division.

The other experiment package carried inside the Dragon capsules external bay is sponsored by the U.S. militarys Space Test Program, hosting more than a dozen investigations for NASA and the Defense Department.

Among STP-H5s investigations are NASAs Raven autonomous space navigation demonstration designed to support future satellite servicing missions and NASAs Lightning Imaging Sensor.

The Raven payload is made up of three sensors optical, infrared and laser trackers to autonomously follow visiting cargo vessels arriving and departing from the space station.

Benjamin Reed, deputy director of NASAs satellite servicing program at Goddard Space Flight Center, called Raven a three-eyed instrument.

The Raven module will be observing visiting vehicles as they approach in all three wavelengths, Reed said. We will be generating range, bearing and pose estimates of those visiting vehicles on-board with sophisticated algorithms and on-board processing, based on the input that the sensors are receiving.

Raven is a follow-up to a NASA experiment that tried out satellite refueling techniques using a boilerplate test panel outside the space station.

The satellite servicing demonstrations will refine the technologies needed for future robotic missions to refuel, refurbish, upgrade and reposition satellites, beginning with NASAs Restore-L spacecraft in development for launch in 2020 to gas up the aging Landsat 7 environmental observatory in orbit.

Raven will try out the navigation equipment needed for Restore-L, and missions like it, to approach another object in orbit without any input from the ground and latch on to it, even if the target was never designed for a docking.

Landsat 7 was launched in 1999 before any such refueling mission was ever proposed, so it is not equipped with markings or a docking port.

These technologies are quite difficult, and that is why NASA is taking the lead, pushing the envelope, (and) doing the hard work first, Reed said. Once we have developed it on missions like Raven, we will then transfer that technology to U.S. industry that is interested in taking this on commercially.

The Lightning Imaging Sensor, managed by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in partnership with the University of Alabama in Huntsville, will take pictures and log lightning strikes from the space stations perch nearly 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth.

Based on a spare camera made for the U.S.-Japanese Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, the instrument cost $7 million to refurbish and will detect lightning day and night in a belt between 56 degrees north and south latitude.

Lightning actually occurs somewhere on Earth some 45 times every single second, Freilich said. Understanding the processes which cause lighting and the connections between lightning and subsequent severe weather events like convective storms and tornadoes are keys to improving weather predictions and saving lives and property in this country and throughout the globe.

The Dragon spacecraft will remain at the space station for around 30 days, detach in late March and re-enter the atmosphere for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, bringing home blood and urine specimens, the euthanized mice and other hardware needed back on Earth.

The Dragons arrival is the first of three resupply missions going to the space station in the next month.

A Russian resupply ship launched early Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on track for an automated radar-guided docking with the station early Friday.

Meanwhile, an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo vessel is being prepared for blastoff March 19 atop an Atlas 5 booster from Cape Canaveral with another supply delivery.

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SpaceX supply ship completes journey to space station - Spaceflight Now

Watch live: Russian freighter closing in on space station – Spaceflight Now

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The International Space Station is set to receive its second cargo shipment in less than 24 hours Friday with the automated linkup of a Russian Progress refueling and resupply freighter.

The Progress MS-05 spaceship is closing in to dock with the space stations Pirs module at 0834 GMT (3:34 a.m. EST) Friday, two days after blasting off from Kazakhstan on top of a Soyuz rocket.

The radar-guided docking should be completed by the Progress cargo crafts on-board computer, but cosmonauts inside the space station will be standing by to take manual control if the autopilot runs into trouble.

Fridays docking will come less than a day after a commercial SpaceX-owned Dragon supply ship arrived at the space station, pulling within range of the research labs robotic arm for capture and berthing to the Harmony module on the U.S. section of the complex.

The Russian Progress spacecraft will dock with the Earth-facing Pirs module on the Russian segment, where it is slated to remain until mid-June, when it will depart and burn up in Earths atmosphere to dispose of the space stations trash, making way for the next logistics mission.

The Progress MS-05 mission, known as Progress 66P in the space stations visiting vehicle manifest, is carryingaround 5,820 pounds, or 2,640 kilograms, of cargo and propellant to replenish stocks on the space station.

About 2,903 pounds (1,317 kilograms) of the material is dry cargo spare parts, food, clothing and experiments and another 1,940 pounds (880 kilograms) is propellant for refueling of the space stations fuel tanks.

The mission will also deliver 926 pounds (420 kilograms) of fresh water and about 51 pounds (23 kilograms) of oxygen.

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Commercial space cargo ship’s ride to orbit assembled for March 19 launch – Spaceflight Now

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The OA-7 Cygnus launch poster. Credit: United Launch Alliance

CAPE CANAVERAL An Atlas 5 booster core and Centaur upper stage have been stacked to launch another commercial freighter with supplies and scientific research gear to the International Space Station next month.

The United Launch Alliance rocket is scheduled to fly March 19 to deploy Orbital ATKs seventh Cygnus ship for NASAs privatized cargo-delivery program.

Itll be the third time an Atlas 5 has launched a Cygnus carrying its maximum load of cargo amounting to about 7,700 pounds.

Preparations at Cape Canaverals Vertical Integration Facility began yesterday when the first stage was erected aboard the mobile launch platform. The pre-stacked interstage, Centaur and boattail assembly was hoisted into place this morning to complete the basic buildup of the Atlas 5.

The rocket will be powered on and fully tested in the next two weeks to verify all systems are functioning properly. The encapsulated Cygnus will be delivered to the assembly building and attached in early March.

The 194-foot-tall rocket will be rolled out to the Complex 41 launch pad on March 17.

The Cygnus was loaded with its initial complement of cargo over the last 10 days at Kennedy Space Centers Space Station Processing Facility. The cylindrical modules hatch was then closed before the vessel was turned vertically and mated to its propulsion tug on Valentines Day.

Next, the craft will be fueled at the nearby Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility and the hatchway reopened to allow the insertion of late-load cargo.

The spacecraft will weigh nearly 16,000 pounds at launch.

Cygnus will be the third resupply ship scheduled to visit the station in a one-month period, a flurry of flights by its commercial counterpart SpaceX, a Russian Progress craft and then the Cygnus.

The Atlas 5s launch on March 19 is targeted for 10:56 p.m. EDT (0256 GMT), the opening of a half-hour available window.

Known as Orbital ATKs OA-7 mission, the Cygnus is scheduled to make a March 23 rendezvous with the International Space Station and be grabbed by the 58-foot-long Canadarm2. It will be attached to the stations Unity module for a 90-day stay.

See earlier OA-7 Cygnus coverage.

Our Atlas archive.

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Commercial space cargo ship's ride to orbit assembled for March 19 launch - Spaceflight Now

Rethinking 21st century needs – Newsday

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U.S. infrastructure is crumbling under its own lack of innovation.

While the country scrambles to figure out how to fund infrastructure projects, the root of the problem lies in the lack of change over the past century. Almost all of the countrys main infrastructure was designed between 1920 and 1960. The Babylon Long Island Rail Road line, which saw the most passengers in 2016, was completed in 1867. The Queens-Midtown Tunnel was completed in 1940. Even the Long Island Expressway is nearing its 60th anniversary.

Our subways, highways, sewer systems, power lines, airports and rail cars were never meant to handle the load they do now, even with the patchwork interfaces placed over the services.

By 2025, our failing infrastructure is estimated to cost the country 25 million jobs, $4 trillion in GDP, and almost $3,500 in personal disposable income per year, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Ideally, ASCE would like federal and state governments to work together to spend roughly $3.6 trillion to fix the countrys ailing infrastructure by 2020. But, the ideal goals are just that ideal. That $3.6 trillion isnt something to be thrown around. The United States cannot escape from the money and space constraints on its infrastructure.

Some groups in the United States are turning to the idea of the public-private partnerships to fix the funding issue. P3s allow for private groups to fund, build, and operate construction projects. Public money would then be used to provide a constant revenue stream for the contracts lifetime.

New York State, which unveiled a $100 billion plan to repair state infrastructure, is spending $4 billion to renovate LaGuardia Airport and $10 billion to redesign Kennedy Airport. Both projects are using the P3 model to accelerate the planning and building phases.

However, the P3 model doesnt necessarily mean progress. Private companies, which are only going to go as far as the government asks them to, do not necessarily have any added incentive to add revolutionary technology to their projects. P3s will rapidly fix current-day issues, but nothing more.

President Donald Trump has promised his version of a P3 investment in infrastructure in the first 100 days of his presidency. Trump had promised a $1 trillion plan that would touch on almost all of the countrys main infrastructure needs.

The idea of replacing and innovating all of the countrys infrastructure is far-fetched, but the presidents commitment to the issue is the right first step.

Innovation comes from necessity, and our infrastructure is at that point. Whether it be through private or government investment, the first dollar should be spent on pushing boundaries to better prepare for the future. And while innovation is happening in scattered instances across the country, we need to move forward on a much larger scale.

Countries like Dubai are doing it. Dubais international airport will begin using drone taxis in July as part of its continued effort to reduce congestion on the highways in the city. The drones will take a single passenger anywhere within 30 miles of the airport and are completely electric.

China has begun using automated buses to increase efficiency in public transportation. Its automated full-size buses have successfully traveled at 40 mph and have merged with traffic without any issues over the last two years.

French Polynesia is taking infrastructure to the ocean with their Seasteading Project. Dubbed the Floating Island Project, French Polynesia and Californias Seasteading Institute have partnered to construct a self-sustaining island off their coast by 2020 as a pilot to demonstrate the ability to create floating cities.

In the United States, utilities like Washington D.C.s Water Department are turning biowaste into fuel at their wastewater treatment sites, which not only provides power for the station, but also acts as a filter for water entering the water table.

Innovation is difficult. It takes time and money. However, if the country is going to embrace the challenges of the 21st century, future needs, not patchwork problem solving, should be at the forefront.

Jager Robinson is an intern with Newsday Opinion.

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‘They picked two red heads at once’ – The Irish World Newspaper

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I recently came upon the duo Zoe Nichol and Rosie Jones, who perform as The Worry Dolls, at a showcase in London. They have been described by on-line magazine The Huffington Post as a brilliantly quirky duo, a super-shiny beacon of joy in a dreamland far, far away from the persistently regular sound of folk thats flooding the charts right now.

They were back from Nashville where they had recorded their first album, GO GET GONE, produced by Neilson Hubbard. Zoe and Rosie first met an open mike session as music students at the prestigious Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). Paired together by teachers to be critiqued by Paul McCartney they were inspired to start co-writing.

Zoe, who has strong Irish roots, sings and plays the banjo whilst Rosie sings and plays the guitar.

They blend their music and harmonies in a delicious mix of Americana Country and our Folk Music to produce songs and tunes that are warm, fresh, infectious with the immediacy of pop.

Their music blends the tender urgency of Zoes Irish-inflected voice and Earl Scruggs-style banjo with the fiery integrity of Rosies vocals and rhythmic guitar. It really works.

Zoe grew up in a small village in Kent and was brought up by her mum. Her family came from Liverpool and Ireland so she inherited her music from her parents who, although separated, were both performers. Her childhood was spent going back and forth between her mums theatrical rehearsals and her dads club gigs so it was no surprise that at 12, she started learning to play her dads old Spanish guitar to accompany herself, then the songs just poured out.

Says Zoe: My great grandmother was Irish on my mums side and thats where my roots come from, Ive been there on holiday and we are still very connected with the folk circles out there because it is so real and so honest. One thing I do know about my grandmother was that she was a very strong Catholic and married a Protestant so she lost her whole family for that as it was quite a big thing back then before my time.

Both my parents were performers so I was always exposed to music from a very young age and I grew up with it naturally. I then got inspired by people like Eva Cassidy who definitely had folk roots and I had grown up to love Cara Dillon, the Irish singer songwriter, who we actually got to support her on tour and love her music. It was great to be able to support somebody whose albums I heard since growing up, that was a big thing for me.

Rosie moved on from punk and angst ridden songwriters to Country Music. She grew up singing and playing a variety of instruments in a music-filled household in Devon, learning guitar after finding an old nylon-string one under the stairs.

Aged 17 she wrote a song, Tennessee, about wanting to live in Nashville not knowing then that she would one day record her debut album there.

I definitely come from a background with more Country influences, whereas Zoe is more folky. I wrote the Tennessee song before we met when we were both solo performers but Zoe heard me singing it and always liked it. We always went to each others shows when we were students in Liverpool and even if I did not do that song Zoe would always call out and ask for it, says Rosie.

They met a LIPA, explains Zoe: LIPA was definitely hard to get into as there are so few places but we both really wanted to go there and my mums family were really pushing for me to go to Liverpool and to make the connection as thats where my mum is from. It is funny because I dont know how they picked two red heads with guitars on the same day and thats how we ended up meeting and working together. If they had picked just the one of us then the Worry Dolls would not have happened

Rosie chimes in with a similar observation: It is very hard to get into but we both applied before we knew each other and I am amazed that we two redheads were interviewed on the same day and they took us both. My grandma cut out an advertisement from a newspaper and sent it to me as grandmothers do and I realized it was the only place where I could study music properly and get a proper music degree but it was welcoming and into new songwriters and not just into classical or pop but was really well balanced and great to be a in a city with such a wonderful musical heritage.

When they first decided to work together they both played acoustic guitar so to make them stand out and have a different sound Zoe took up the banjo, which colours the folk and Appalachian feel of their music, says Zoe. The banjo came later really, it started to help with the song writing from when I was accompanying myself just with the guitar because I could not find anybody else to accompany me and then the banjo came when me and Rosie started working together because we did not want to be just two girls strumming guitars. We wanted to add something new, we wanted to add something different and not fall into our old habits.

We definitely made a conscious decision to do something different with out music, adds Rosie.

Zoe: Yes the banjo has been a massive inspiration for the music and has totally opened up my eyes to writing differently because as I am completely out of my comfort zone writing on the banjo and I would be much more comfortable working on the guitar as I always have done but it is just the sound that gives me different elements that adds to what we are doing.

After LIPA they spent the best part of a year sofa surfing in London, and quietly building up a following. They quit their day jobs to fly to Nashville and record their debut album. Nashville welcomed them with open arms.

The Worry Dolls will play St Pancras Old Church on 1 March, their album Go Get Gone is out now.

Follow the girls on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/worrydollsmusic or visit their website: http://www.worrydollsmusic.com

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'They picked two red heads at once' - The Irish World Newspaper