.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter launched at 5:32 pm EDT Thursday aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellite will relay more information about the lunar environment than any other previous mission to the moon.
NASA will use the data the orbiter collects to design the vehicles and systems for returning humans to the moon and begin establishing a lunar outpost by 2020.
Twelve people have landed on the Moon and walked on its surface. All are men from the USA who traveled to the Moon as part of NASA's Apollo program during the period from December 1968 to December 1972.
The orbiter, known as LRO, separated from the Atlas V rocket carrying it and a companion mission, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, and immediately began powering up the components necessary to control the spacecraft.
The flight operations team established communication with LRO and commanded the successful deployment of the solar array at 7:40 pm. The operations team continues to check out the spacecraft subsystems and prepare for the first mid-course correction maneuver.
NASA scientists expect to establish communications with LCROSS about four hours after launch, at approximately 9:30 pm.
"This is a very important day for NASA," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington, which designed and developed both the LRO and LCROSS missions. "We look forward to an extraordinary period of discovery at the moon and the information LRO will give us for future exploration missions."
The spacecraft will be placed in low polar orbit about 31 miles, or 50 kilometers, above the moon for a one year primary mission.
Using a suite of seven instruments, LRO will help identify safe landing sites for future human explorers, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment and test new technology.
LCROSS will seek a definitive answer about the presence of water ice at the lunar poles.
LRO's instruments will help scientists compile high resolution three-dimensional maps of the lunar surface and also survey it at many spectral wavelengths. The satellite will explore the moon's deepest craters, exploring permanently sunlit and shadowed regions, and provide understanding of the effects of lunar radiation on humans.
"Our job is to perform reconnaissance of the moon's surface using a suite of seven powerful instruments," said Craig Tooley, LRO project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
"NASA will use the data LRO collects to design the vehicles and systems for returning humans to the moon and selecting the landing sites that will be their destinations," he said.
High resolution imagery from LRO's camera will help identify landing sites for future explorers and characterize the moon's topography and composition. The hydrogen concentrations at the moon's poles will be mapped in detail, pinpointing the locations of possible water ice. A miniaturized radar system will image the poles and test communication capabilities.
"During the 60 day commissioning period, we will turn on spacecraft components and science instruments," explained Cathy Peddie, LRO deputy project manager at Goddard. "All instruments will be turned on within two weeks of launch, and we should start seeing the moon in new and greater detail within the next month."
"We learned much about the moon from the Apollo program, but now it is time to return to the moon for intensive study, and we will do just that with LRO," said Richard Vondrak, LRO project scientist at Goddard.
All LRO initial data sets will be deposited in the Planetary Data System, a publicly accessible repository of planetary science information, within six months of launch.
Goddard built and manages LRO, which is a NASA mission with international participation from the Institute for Space Research in Moscow. Russia provides the neutron detector aboard the spacecraft
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved
Friday, June 19, 2009
India develops malaria vaccine!
The scientists at the international Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi are involved in the research on malaria for the past few years.
According to the reports, the vaccine is expected to reduce the severity of the disease.
The scientists at the institute have tested almost 20 vaccines. One of them is showing good results.
The scientists believe the progress of the research of the vaccine depends on the phase one trial.
The vaccine for malaria will not work as other vaccines. The centre is developing a vaccine for infants initially. It will boost the immunity of children to fight against the disease.
According to the reports, the vaccine is expected to reduce the severity of the disease.
The scientists at the institute have tested almost 20 vaccines. One of them is showing good results.
The scientists believe the progress of the research of the vaccine depends on the phase one trial.
The vaccine for malaria will not work as other vaccines. The centre is developing a vaccine for infants initially. It will boost the immunity of children to fight against the disease.
Global warming fuelling malaria vaccine need
Global warming has led to a rapid increase in the number of malaria cases, thereby fuelling the need for lifesaving vaccinations to those in need, says an expert.
Experts fear that the drastic changes in the climate may further increase
the number of cases in the coming years.
?Forty-one percent of the human race lives in areas of high malaria transmission,? said Dr. Sylvain Fleury, Chief Scientific Officer at Mymetics, a Swiss vaccine biotech currently developing a vaccine with the potential to control malaria in developing countries.
?Because Europe, North America, and North Asia are now significantly colder than regions of high malaria incidence, developed nations have felt immune from the malaria threat, but that sense may soon be upended,? Fleury added.
Studies have shown that even a modest temperature increase can extend the proliferation of malaria-bearing mosquitoes.
Therefore, as temperatures rise, billions of people could find themselves living in regions of high malaria incidence.
?The best way to prevent the spread of malaria into warming areas of the globe is to find a solution before the situation worsens,? said Dr. Fleury.
?If we can begin to curb the spread of malaria in high threat areas, the eventual reach of the disease will be seriously limited,? he added.
Due to global warming malaria has already returned to the areas such as
Peru that had already eradicated the disease forty years ago.
America saw 1,337 cases, including eight deaths, as recently as 2002 – the importance of developing a vaccine for the disease is becoming more and more urgent.
Experts fear that the drastic changes in the climate may further increase
the number of cases in the coming years.
?Forty-one percent of the human race lives in areas of high malaria transmission,? said Dr. Sylvain Fleury, Chief Scientific Officer at Mymetics, a Swiss vaccine biotech currently developing a vaccine with the potential to control malaria in developing countries.
?Because Europe, North America, and North Asia are now significantly colder than regions of high malaria incidence, developed nations have felt immune from the malaria threat, but that sense may soon be upended,? Fleury added.
Studies have shown that even a modest temperature increase can extend the proliferation of malaria-bearing mosquitoes.
Therefore, as temperatures rise, billions of people could find themselves living in regions of high malaria incidence.
?The best way to prevent the spread of malaria into warming areas of the globe is to find a solution before the situation worsens,? said Dr. Fleury.
?If we can begin to curb the spread of malaria in high threat areas, the eventual reach of the disease will be seriously limited,? he added.
Due to global warming malaria has already returned to the areas such as
Peru that had already eradicated the disease forty years ago.
America saw 1,337 cases, including eight deaths, as recently as 2002 – the importance of developing a vaccine for the disease is becoming more and more urgent.
Global warming: latest evidence
Following is an encapsulation of the latest evidence on global warming, published in reports issued in February and early April by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The UN's top scientific authority on global warming is meeting in Bangkok this week and will issue its third report on Friday, this time touching on ways of tackling greenhouse-gases.
Past warming
■ Evidence for man's warming of the climate system is now unequivocal. From 1906 to 2005, global surface temperatures rose by 0.74 degrees.
■ Global warming over the past half century has been nearly twice that of the century as a whole, coinciding with a surge in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. Eleven of the past 12 years rank among the dozen warmest years on record.
■ Ocean warming now extends to a depth of at least 3000 metres as the seas take up heat from the air. Mountain glaciers and snow cover have declined in both hemispheres. Sea levels rose globally by 1.8 millimetres a year from 1961 to 2003, a pace that accelerated to 3.1 millimetres per year from 1993 to 2003.
■ The top layers of the Arctic permafrost have warmed by up to 3.0 degrees since the 1980s. The maximum area of seasonally frozen ground has decreased by about 7 per cent in the northern hemisphere since 1900.
Forecast for 21st century
■ By 2100, global average surface temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees compared with 1980-99 levels, depending on levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air. Within this range, the likeliest rise will be 1.8 to 4 degrees.
■ Sea levels will rise by between 18 and 59 centimetres, although this could be amplified by accelerating melting of icesheets.
■ Warming will occur most over land at high northern latitudes and least over the Southern Ocean and the North Atlantic.
■ Carbon emissions this century "will contribute to warming and sea level rise for more than a millennium", due to the timescale required for greenhouse gases to degrade.
Likely impacts this century
■ Heatwaves, flooding, drought, tropical storms and surges in sea level are among the events that "will become more frequent, more widespread and/or more intense" this century.
■ By mid-century, water availability is likely to increase in high latitudes but fall by up to 30 per cent in mid-latitudes and the dry tropics, some of which are already badly water stressed. Water from glaciers and snow melt is also projected to decline, reducing resources for regions where more than a sixth of the world population lives.
■ Between 20 and 30 per cent of plant and animal species are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5 to 2.5 degrees.
■ Food production will rise slightly at mid to high latitudes if the global temperature increases 1 to 3 degrees but fall beyond this range. At lower latitudes, especially seasonally dry and tropical regions, crop productivity is projected to decrease for even small local temperature increases (1 to 2 degrees), which would increase the risk of hunger.
■ By the 2080s, sea level rise will place "many millions" of people at risk of flooding and tropical storms. The mega-deltas of Asia, Africa and small islands are the most vulnerable."
■ Malnutrition, deaths from heatwave, storms and drought, diarrhoea, malaria and other pest-borne diseases are some of the heightened risks.
Economic cost
■ There is no consensus on the cost of global warming, as calculations depend on different factors, such as storm damage and the impact on biodiversity. Every tonne of CO2 emitted into the air costs from $US10 to $US350 ($12 to $425), according to the estimates.
■ Investing money now in measures to cope with the future threat and reduce emissions could reduce and delay some of the impacts, although these actions are also limited by political, technical and financial constraints.
Between 20 and 30 per cent of plant and animal species are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5 to 2.5 degrees.
■ Food production will rise slightly at mid to high latitudes if the global temperature increases 1 to 3 degrees but fall beyond this range. At lower latitudes, especially seasonally dry and tropical regions, crop productivity is projected to decrease for even small local temperature increases (1 to 2 degrees), which would increase the risk of hunger.
■ By the 2080s, sea level rise will place "many millions" of people at risk of flooding and tropical storms. The mega-deltas of Asia, Africa and small islands are the most vulnerable."
■ Malnutrition, deaths from heatwave, storms and drought, diarrhoea, malaria and other pest-borne diseases are some of the heightened risks.
Economic cost
■ There is no consensus on the cost of global warming, as calculations depend on different factors, such as storm damage and the impact on biodiversity. Every tonne of CO2 emitted into the air costs from $US10 to $US350 ($12 to $425), according to the estimates.
■ Investing money now in measures to cope with the future threat and reduce emissions could reduce and delay some of the impacts, although these actions are also limited by political, technical and financial constraints.
Environmental Alarms Raised Over Home Electronics
The choice might not be quite that stark, but an energy watchdog is alarmed about the threat to the environment from the soaring electricity needs of gadgets like MP3 players, mobile phones and flat screen TVs.
In a report Wednesday, the Paris-based International Energy Agency estimates new electronic gadgets will triple their energy consumption by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt hours, the equivalent of today's home electricity consumption of the United States and Japan combined.
The world would have to build around 200 new nuclear power plants just to power all the TVs, iPods, PCs and other home electronics expected to be plugged in by 2030, when the global electric bill to power them will rise to $200 billion a year, the IEA said.
Consumer electronics is "the fastest growing area and it's the area with the least amount
Electronic gadgets already account for about 15 percent of household electric consumption, a share that is rising rapidly as the number of these gadgets multiplies. Last year, the world spent $80 billion on electricity to power all these household electronics, the IEA said.
Most of the increase in consumer electronics will be in developing countries, where economic growth is fastest and ownership rates of gadgets is the lowest, Waide said.
"This will jeopardize efforts to increase energy security and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases" blamed for global warming, the agency said.
Existing technologies could slash gadgets' energy consumption by more than 30 percent at no cost or by more than 50 percent at a small cost, the IEA estimates, meaning total greenhouse gas emissions from households' electronic gadgets could be held stable at around 500 million tons of CO2 per year.
If nothing is done, this figure will double to around 1 billion tons of CO2 per year by 2030, the IEA estimates.
In a report Wednesday, the Paris-based International Energy Agency estimates new electronic gadgets will triple their energy consumption by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt hours, the equivalent of today's home electricity consumption of the United States and Japan combined.
The world would have to build around 200 new nuclear power plants just to power all the TVs, iPods, PCs and other home electronics expected to be plugged in by 2030, when the global electric bill to power them will rise to $200 billion a year, the IEA said.
Consumer electronics is "the fastest growing area and it's the area with the least amount
Electronic gadgets already account for about 15 percent of household electric consumption, a share that is rising rapidly as the number of these gadgets multiplies. Last year, the world spent $80 billion on electricity to power all these household electronics, the IEA said.
Most of the increase in consumer electronics will be in developing countries, where economic growth is fastest and ownership rates of gadgets is the lowest, Waide said.
"This will jeopardize efforts to increase energy security and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases" blamed for global warming, the agency said.
Existing technologies could slash gadgets' energy consumption by more than 30 percent at no cost or by more than 50 percent at a small cost, the IEA estimates, meaning total greenhouse gas emissions from households' electronic gadgets could be held stable at around 500 million tons of CO2 per year.
If nothing is done, this figure will double to around 1 billion tons of CO2 per year by 2030, the IEA estimates.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Climate Change in India
India sits on both sides of the table in climate change negotiations. Already the world's 4th largest emitter of greenhouse gases, its emissions are projected to treble by 2050 at current rates – a new coal-fired power station is scheduled to come on stream almost every month for the next 10 years. The country has no obligations under the Kyoto protocol and has stipulated that it is unwilling to agree to any targets that deny its right to per capita use of energy on a par with that of the current major emitting countries. Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, has said that social development is the first priority and that "the developing world cannot accept a freeze on global inequity". India's per capita carbon dioxide emissions are 1.1 tonnes per annum against 20 tonnes in the US. On the other hand, faultlines in India’s food security are deep enough already without the uncertain impact of climate change. With more than 60% of agriculture dependent on rain-fed crops, even modest alteration in the intensity, frequency and timing of rainfall should cause consternation. Greenpeace is striving to raise awareness by campaigning in India’s coastal cities where it says 50 million people are at risk from rising sea levels. Adaptation plans are conspicuous by their absence; the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra K. Pachauri, himself an Indian, has expressed the view that India is completely unprepared for the impact of climate change which he considers could lead to social unrest. Criticism of management of the 2008 monsoon floods which displaced 3 million people in Bihar alone, and which have been described as the worst for 50 years, may hold lessons for the future. Apart from rainfall patterns, water resources are threatened by the retreat of Himalayan glaciers which currently account for 85% of the source water of India’s 3 major rivers, in particular securing their flow in the summer months. Over 400 million people live in the catchment of the Ganges. Predictions that the glaciers could disappear within decades make a nonsense of the ambitious $200 billion River-Linking Project which aims to connect the apparently healthy rivers in the north to those in the drier south.
september edition of one world.net
september edition of one world.net
New Study: 10 Cool Global Warming Policies
The problem with “doing something” about climate change is that it is extraordinarily expensive to “green” the economy using the statist policies advocated by the enviro lobby and global warming alarmists.
What if there were ways to reduce America’s carbon footprint and increase wealth creation at the same time? It sounds too good to be true, but it’s not.
This week the National Center for Policy Analysis released “10 Cool Global Warming Policies,” a great new study by CEI’s Iain Murray and H. Sterling Burnett. They identify 10 simple policies that would simultaneously increase prosperity and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
What if there were ways to reduce America’s carbon footprint and increase wealth creation at the same time? It sounds too good to be true, but it’s not.
This week the National Center for Policy Analysis released “10 Cool Global Warming Policies,” a great new study by CEI’s Iain Murray and H. Sterling Burnett. They identify 10 simple policies that would simultaneously increase prosperity and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
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