The Orbiting Carbon Observatory Satellite: NASA, We Have A Problem

It was really a good idea. Get accurate data on green house gasses and spend a little quality time with "science" (as opposed to the usual hysterical fear mongering).

The OCO, orbiting carbon observatory, was set to start working this month, but the satellite shit the bed soon after liftoff. See NASA's explanation here.

Why do I have a feeling that Al Gore and Mark Serreze are secretly happy that this thing went bad? If the science debate is over (Al Gore) and we are in the "death spiral" (Mark Serreze), the new data would only be a distraction. Because they really like the current GHG-global warming hypothesis, and without a platform like the OCO we are back to having science standing on it's head trying to disprove an unproven hypothesis.

Space 1999: A Chinese Production

WaPo has an article today suggesting that the Chinese are going to beat us back to the moon. The stilted comments from the NASA guy (Griffin) sounded just like they were uttered from Commander John Koenig - from the classic series, Space: 1999.

Here's a sample from Griffin:

"Whether this is cost-cutting across the board or if some people in OMB just don't like NASA, we don't know," the official said. "But the result is that our budget always seems to be less than it's supposed to be. The bare fact of this accomplishment will have an enormous, and not fully predictable, effect on global perceptions of U.S. leadership in the world," Griffin wrote at one point. OMB deleted it.

And now Commander Koenig:

We've had a lot of success so far. We know what dangers to expect out there from black suns, neutron storms, radiation and the like, but if we think we know everything that goes on out there, we're making a terrible mistake!

The best part of 1999 was that it came at the height of the anti-nuke era. TV shows and movies from the mid-1970's were filled with every conceivable nuclear disaster, including blowing the moon across the universe with a bunch of bad actors (excluding the slumming Martin Landau).

Griffin is worried the Chinese will get back to the moon before we do. So what? Are they going to mess with our stuff up there? NASA went all-in with the space station and I remember the arguments against another moonshot were based on the amount we could learn from a single mission vs. permanent inhabitation of a space station. Let the Chinese stay 40 years behind us, we need to think bigger - like Mars (cue Arnold Maaahhhhs). Unless we are concerned the Chicoms will stay up there...and stare at us...with their unblinking little eyes...



I forgot how cool those Eagles were.

I remember Dad making some comments about Barbara Bain. She was a granny to me in 1975, but now I see what he means. Damn.

Arctic Ice Cap Refusing to Melt...the Green Scare Continues

...global warming alarmists devastated.

After many predictions in June and July that the artic ice cap would be ice free by August, well, the facts just don't support the Green Scare alarmists.

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center data shows 2008 ice nearly identical to 2002, 2005 and 2006. Maps of Arctic ice extent are readily available from several sources, including the University of Illinois, which keeps a daily archive for the last 30 years. A comparison of these maps (derived from NSIDC data) below shows that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007.

The earth warmed. And now it's cooling. The media and headline seeking scientists blamed everything on global warming before the facts carried this hypothesis to a theory. Anthropomorphic, or man-only caused, global warming is almost certainly wrong yet we are constantly bombarded with this garbage, as science is manipulated for political and financial gain.