Battle Brews Over NASA Funding & Missions

From The Hill:

A battle of interplanetary proportions is brewing on Capitol Hill. 

It’s not “Star Wars,” but partisan lines are quickly being drawn in a budget battle over the future of NASA, which could have a long-term impact on the space agency’s ability to explore the deepest corners of space as well as the ground beneath our feet. 

On one side are Republicans who accuse the Obama administration of taking its eye off the ball by funneling too much money into research about the planet Earth, rather than focusing on distant worlds and stars. 

On the other, Democrats argue that the administration’s plan is critical to harness the best of NASA’s talents, protect our planet and consistent with the agency’s wide-ranging mission.
Now that Republicans control both chambers of Congress for the first time in years, the fight is spilling into the open.  

“In the past six years, too much of NASA’s focus has been driven by the political agenda of politicians in Washington rather than the core mission of focusing on space exploration,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who leads the Senate subcommittee on Space, after a hearing on the agency’s budget this week. 

Who can forget this classic from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

“That’s what NASA was created to do and it’s where its energy should be focused.” 

Cruz pledged to flex Capitol Hill’s muscle by passing a NASA authorization bill that “continue[s] this discussion of getting back to the core priorities of NASA.” 

But Democrats are likely to push back.

Read more at  The Hill:

The Republicans have obvious concerns about the Obama administration using NASA to push their agenda.  Besides the global warming narrative that we are funding at the national and international level, who can forget the FOREMOST Obama directive for NASA to do Muslim Outreach..... Video

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

Democrats push the false narrative that they are the 'party of science', when in reality they are the party of abuse of science. After all, they are the progressive party of eugenics and so much more.

After billions more, NASA still can't beat the Farmer's Almanac ..
The Official Forecast of the U.S. Government Never Saw This Winter Coming

When Climate Alarmists Show Their Math

A big announcement in the climate alarmist community today. BIG news.. Rocket scientists doing government work and government workers doing science have crunched the numbers, methodically and with super computers. The scientific method can only produce hard science.  Hard science like the kind that proclaimed the coming ice age in the 1970's and the hard science in the 1990's  proclaming that global warming was  melting the poles, killing polar bears and flooding the world.  Global warming is now called climate change and that is something that the climate has always done, change.  Finally, a label that works backed by the facts on the ground.

Surely I am just another flat earther skeptic?



Exhibit 1 Headline:

NOAA: Earth had its 4th-warmest year on record in 2013

'The Earth had its fourth-warmest year on record in 2013, equaling the level set in 2003, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Tuesday.

The average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.12 degrees above the 20th-century average and marks the 37th consecutive year (since 1976) that the annual temperature was above the long-term average.

All of the top 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1998. The warmest year on record was 2010, NOAA reported.

Global temperature records go back to 1880.'

NOAA, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration can't be wrong. Can they?


Exhibit 2 Headline:

NASA says 2013 was seventh-hottest year. And it won't stop there 

The space agency announced Tuesday the results of a study by its Goddard Institute for Space Studies showing 2013 in a tie with 2006 and 2009 as the seventh-warmest year since 1880. 2005 and 2010 are the warmest on record.

 
There you have it, The proof cannot be disputed that 2013 was the 4th and 7th hottest year. But there is more:

A global warming expedition to Antarctica at the end of December 2013 provides us more crucial data....



Ask a climate scientist at NASA



Climate alarmism is rocket surgery.

Billionaires Battle for Space - Bezos & Musk Companies Vie for Launch Pad

Billionaires Battle as Bezos-Musk Companies Vie for Launch Pad

 @Bloomberg By Jonathan D. Salant & Kathleen Miller - Sep 26, 2013 11:01 PM CT

In a battle of billionaires, space ventures owned by Internet pioneers Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are relying on prominent former lawmakers as they jockey for control over a historic launch pad at Kennedy Space Center 


The Florida launch pad was mothballed after the U.S. retired its shuttle fleet in 2011 and turned to countries such as Russia to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. It’s now coveted by Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, and Bezos’s Blue Origin LLC, which are trying to fill the void for the U.S.

Launch Video of Space X Dragon
Space X Dragon Music Video

SpaceX, already delivering cargo to the station under a $1.6 billion National Aeronautics and Space Administration contract, has former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott on its lobbying team, Senate filings show. Blue Origin hired two ex-lawmakers, including the former House Science Committee chairman, in May to lobby. In Congress, dozens of lawmakers with opposing views on the issue sent letters to NASA.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re making buggy whips or rockets, the way to get Congress’ attention is to hire a lobbyist,” said Bill Allison, editorial director at the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based research group. “Lobbyists can take comfort in the fact that there will be place for them even beyond the final frontier.”

Billionaires

Bezos, chief executive of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), is the bigger of the billionaires. He is No. 17 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s wealthiest people, with an estimated net worth of $29.4 billion. Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) and co-founder of PayPal Inc., is No. 135, with an estimated net worth of $8.8 billion.

The competition began after NASA in May began seeking proposals to operate the launch pad, the departure site for the manned Apollo missions to the moon. The agency plans to spend about $8.7 billion on transporting crews and cargo to the station in the next five years, according to budget documents.

SpaceX and Blue Origin applied for the launch site lease.

“There are a limited number of East Coast established launch sites,” Chris Quilty, an analyst with Raymond James and Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, said in a phone interview. “Given the fact that both companies intend to ramp up their launch volume, they need to secure enough launch pads to handle that volume.”

Closely held SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, has spent $540,000 in the first six months of 2013 to lobby, compared with $500,000 during the same period in 2012, Senate filings show. Its team at Washington-based Patton Boggs LLP includes Lott, a Mississippi Republican.

 Read More at Bloomberg:

Pigs in Space

FINDER: Radar for Locating Disaster Victims in Rubble

Detecting Heartbeats in Rubble: DHS and NASA Team up to Save Victims of Disasters

When natural disasters or man-made catastrophes topple buildings, search and rescue teams immediately set out to recover victims trapped beneath the wreckage. During these missions, time is imperative, and quickly detecting living victims greatly increases chances for rescue and survival. 

A new radar-based technology named Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response (FINDER) has been developed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the National Aeronautics Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to detect a human heartbeat buried beneath 30 feet of crushed materials, hidden behind 20 feet of solid concrete, and from a distance of 100 feet in open spaces. In the past several months, S&T and JPL have been testing and developing several FINDER prototypes. Last June, DHS and first responders used the prototype to conduct more than 65 test searches with two Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) teams: the Virginia Task Force One (VA-TF1) at the Fairfax County Fire Department training center and Virginia Task Force Two (VA-TF2) in Virginia Beach, Va. 

“Testing proved successful in locating a VA-TF1 member buried in 30 feet of mixed concrete, rebar, and gravel rubble from a distance of over 30 feet,” said John Price, S&T program manager. “This capability will complement the current Urban Search and Rescue tools such as canines, listening devices, and video cameras to detect the presence of living victims in rubble.”

In disaster scenarios, such as earthquakes and tornadoes, the wreckage is made up of twisted and shattered materials. Radar signals bounce back so signals are complex. “Isolating the relatively weak signal of a heartbeat within the noisy signals becomes a difficult task,” said Edward Chow, JPL program manager. “JPL's radar expertise helps in this challenge.”

JPL uses advanced data processing systems to pick out faint signals. The microwave radar technology is sensitive enough to distinguish the unique signature of a human's breathing pattern and heartbeat from other living creatures.  The advantage of this technology is in allowing first responders to quickly ascertain if a living victim is present in the debris. The technology is sensitive enough that victims, whether conscious or not, can easily be detected, which helps responders decide the most efficient course of action.
“It is anticipated that a commercialized technology could be ready to be used in search and rescue operations as early as spring 2014,” Price said.

 Detecting Heartbeats in Rubble: DHS and NASA Team up to Save Victims of Disasters

Mars Science Laboratory 'Curiosity' - The Next Rover on Mars

Carl Sagan - 'Millions & Billions' of fans

NASA - Exploring and 'Curiosity' with Mars

Explaining my interest in space and discovery is easy. I have always been glued to the TV watching Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' or information on Space Lab or Voyageur and other probes launched into deep-space.

Carl Sagan was a supporter of unmanned space flight as the most efficient means to gather the most information.

MTV was in the spirit

Here is a few videos dedicated to NASA and the next mission of the rover 'Curiosity'  or Mars Science Laboratory. Launched by NASA in November 2011, it is scheduled to arrive in August 2012  Music Science Videos.





'Exploration' with NASA and The Karminsky Experience


NASA animated Mars Science Laboratory 'Curiosity' Mission

SpaceX - NASA Pauses for a Commercial Break

                                        SpaceX 

                     Commercial Space Flight Resupplies the International Space Station (ISS)

Falcon 9 rocket's engines ignite on the SpaceX launch pad at Cape Canaveral

 Liftoff

The Falcon 9 rocket's engines ignite on the SpaceX launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, May 22, 2012. Credit: SpaceX

 SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH KICKS OFF SPACEX'S HISTORIC MISSION

Mission Highlights: During the mission, Dragon must perform a series of complex tasks, each presenting significant technical challenges (dates subject to change):

• May 22/Launch Day: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches a Dragon spacecraft into orbit from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
• May 23: Dragon orbits Earth as it travels toward the International Space Station.
• May 24: Dragon’s sensors and flight systems are subjected to a series of complicated tests to determine if the vehicle is ready to berth with the space station; these tests include maneuvers and systems checks in which the vehicle comes within 1.5 miles of the station.
• May 25: NASA decides if Dragon is allowed to attempt berthing with the station. If so, Dragon approaches. It is captured by station’s robotic arm and attached to the station, a feat that requires extreme precision.
• May 25 - 31: Astronauts open Dragon’s hatch, unload supplies and fill Dragon with return cargo.

May 31: After approximately two weeks, Dragon is detached from the station and returns to Earth, landing in the Pacific, hundreds of miles west of Southern California. SpaceX

Dragon X Capsule Launch to the International Space Station


I am glad to see the private sector achieve success and keep America involved with the space station. The last shuttle flight left NASA without a ride. Cheers and Good Luck Dragon and hope you enjoyed the video.  

Updated Landing Video  May 31  2012

Chase Plane Video Of Historic SpaceX Splashdown 

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