 The new Falcon 1 rocket has been lost on its maiden flight. The US vehicle, developed by the Space Exploration Technologies Corp, was destroyed soon after take-off from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The vision of Elon Musk, co-founder of the electronic payment system PayPal, the Falcon was designed to cut the cost of current satellite launches. An onboard camera appeared to show the rocket rolling out of control shortly before the video signal was lost. SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp) spokeswoman Gwynn Shotwell told reporters on a conference call that there was about a minute of powered flight. "We do know that the vehicle did not succeed after that," she said. "Clearly this is a setback but we're in this for the long haul." ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 16:16:00 03-24-06
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 Mini-Comets Approaching Earth A cometary "string-of-pearls" will fly past Earth in May closer than any comet has come in almost 80 years. |
In 1995, Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 did something unexpected: it fell apart. For no apparent reason, the comet's nucleus split into at least three "mini-comets" flying single file through space. Astronomers watched with interest, but the view was blurry even through large telescopes. "73P" was a hundred and fifty million miles away. We're about to get a much closer look. In May 2006 the fragments are going to fly past Earth closer than any comet has come in almost eighty years. Right: Comet 73P breaking up in 1995. Photo credit: Jim V. Scotti. [More] "This is a rare opportunity to watch a comet in its death throes—from very close range," says Don Yeomans, head of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at JPL.There's no danger of a collision. "Goodness, no," says Yeomans. "The closest fragment will be about six million miles away--or twenty-five times farther than the Moon." That's close without actually being scary....
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/24mar_73p.htm?list184039
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Editor - 16:09:00 03-24-06
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| Driving on drink Brazil already uses half its sugar harvest to fuel its cars, and EU plans to back biofuels could boost this |
Europe's sweet tooth once made Brazil's sugar plantation owners so rich that they would send their dirty laundry to Portugal for cleaning. More than three centuries later, Brazil's sugar industry is again tipped to boom.European demand is once more the cause. Only this time, it is a taste for clean energy that is promising to drive up prices.Government regulations require all the petrol sold in Brazil to be mixed with at least 20% ethanol, a major by-product of the nation's sugar cane crop. Today over half (52.5%) of the country's total sugar harvest ends up in the nation's 30,000-strong network of bioethanol petrol pumps. For European Union (EU) member states committed to reducing their carbon emissions by 8% by 2012, Brazil's experiment in fossil fuel alternatives is attracting increasing attention. Ethanol is free of harmful pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and emits much less carbon dioxide than conventional fuels....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/renewable/Story/0,,1738931,00.html
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Editor - 15:55:00 03-24-06
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| Lobbyist Abramoff gets subpoenaed in Boulis murder case |
Fallen super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his former business partner soon will be subpoenaed by defense attorneys to give sworn statements in the Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis murder case.The attorney for murder suspect Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello filed paperwork this week asking to question Abramoff and Long Island businessman Adam Kidan about the SunCruz Casino founder's gangland-style slaying. Broward Circuit Judge Michael Kaplan granted the request Thursday after prosecutors agreed to it. Prosecutor Brian Cavanagh said the Broward State Attorney's Office had been concerned about subpoenaing Kidan and Abramoff because it didn't want to give them any form of immunity. Kidan has not been eliminated as a suspect in the murder case, Cavanagh said....
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cboulis24mar24,0,4547612.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
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Editor - 15:11:00 03-24-06
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| Bush gives no-bid contract for port security to Hong Kong company |
One of Americans' favorite beach destinations, the Bahamas, is getting a new U.S. arrival -- sophisticated equipment to detect radioactive materials in shipping cargo. But U.S. customs agents won't be on site to supervise the machine's use as a nuclear safeguard for the American shoreline that is just 65 miles away from Freeport. Under an unusual arrangement, a Hong Kong company will help operate the detector. The Bush administration says it is finalizing a no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. It acknowledged the deal is the first time a foreign company will be involved in running a radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present. The administration is negotiating a second no-bid contract for a Philippine company to install radiation detectors in its home country, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. At dozens of other overseas ports, foreign governments are primarily responsible for scanning cargo....
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8333.shtml
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Editor - 14:59:00 03-24-06
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| Former First Lady Barbara Bush's Hurricane Donation Earmarked to Buy Software From Son's Company |
Former first lady Barbara Bush gave relief money to a hurricane relief fund on the condition that it be spent to buy educational software from her son Neil's company.The chief of staff of former President George H.W. Bush would not disclose the amount earmarked for purchases from Ignite Learning.Since Barbara Bush's gift, the Ignite Learning program has been given to eight public schools with high numbers of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, the Houston Chronicle reported."Mrs. Bush wanted to do something specifically for education and specifically for the thousands of students flooding into the Houston schools," the former President Bush's chief of staff Jean Becker said Thursday....
http://phoenix.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D8GI6TLO0
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Editor - 14:50:00 03-24-06
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