At the North Pole, new satellite photos show arctic ice is melting so fast Oh snap, how fast? Many scientists now predict it will be gone within 30 years Surely you jest––I'm under cardiac arrest, shawtayee Some researchers think it could disappear in just 6 / SHIT Without it, there could be a snowball effect (ohhhh) With temperatures rising even faster If we all don't take bold action and take it soon Yeah, we will find ourselves on
Very thin ice (x4, building to harmony) Tell 'em, Katie, we'll be on very thin ice The temperatures rise We have to solve this cri - i - sis Of very thin ice
At the South Pole an ice shelf the size of Connecticut Is in danger of melting Whatcha trying to tell me? Because the ice bridge that held it in place has shattered Take back whatcha said––I'm feeling existential dread, shawtayee! It's 1 of 10 ice shelves that have shrunk or collapsed / THAT'S BAD Some were 10,000 years old (so ooooold) Polar ice is the Earth's air conditioner If we all don't take bold action, and take it soon Yeah, we will find ourselves on
Chorus
Now it's 2019...the very thin ice is still liquefying I agree with 2009 me: we should keep our glaciers nice and icy
At the UN, a new report emphasized just how dire the situation is Shit, how long we got to live? Adding rising populations to changes in rainfall and temperatures I came back in time and the hurricanes done lost they minds, shawtayee Here's hoping Congress comes together to act boldly (hopefully) The health of the Earth should not be a political football (truuuuue) Scientists say we can't afford to punt If we all don't take bold action, and take it soon Yeah, we will find ourselves on
Chorus x2
Baby, I'm back, came to the past 10 years from the future We got gay marriage from the east coast to the left coast––no thanks to you, sir And we got rid of the pirates; now the ocean's quiet Put guns on the boats and now no one wants to try shit Legalized weed in a few states Other ones laggin but they take Vacations to the good states So they can all order postmates 10 years of schmoyoho And the accent's still on the yo Put a couple 0s on the sub count Time to do the end of the video plug now
HINSDALE, IL—Moments after wrestling the Switch controller from Dylan Wheeler’s hands and pushing the child towards the door of the intensive care unit, Wheeler’s parents mollified the 9-year-old Monday by promising him that he could go right back to playing video games once he had given his dying grandfather one last…
WASHINGTON — Relativity, the startup developing a small launch vehicle using additive manufacturing technologies, announced Jan. 17 it has won approval from the U.S. Air Force to build a launch site at Cape Canaveral.
The company said it had received a “Statement of Capability” from the 45th Space Wing, which operates Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, allowing the company to develop a launch facility on the site of Launch Complex (LC) 16. The agreement gives Relativity exclusive access to the site for a 20-year term.
The agreement permits Relativity to proceed with construction of infrastructure at the site to support launches of its Terran 1 rocket. That includes a payload processing facility, a vehicle integration hangar, a horizontal transporter/erector, propellant storage farms and other equipment needed for launches there, said Tim Ellis, chief executive of Relativity, in an interview.
“We’ve been thinking about launch sites since Day 1 three years ago,” he said, but only formally kicked off a launch site selection process six months ago. The company considered a number of launch sites in the United States, but considered Cape Canaveral their top choice.
“The clear winner to us was partnering with the U.S. Air Force at Cape Canaveral,” he said. “We really view it as the most elite launch site in the world.”
LC-16 was built in the 1950s for tests of Titan 1 and Titan 2 missiles. It was later used to support NASA’s Gemini and Apollo program, but hosted no launches for those efforts in the 1960s. It was then used to for test launches of Pershing missiles, the last of which took place there in 1988.
The dormant facility is one of the few available existing launch sites at Cape Canaveral. It is located north of the former Launch Complex 13, now used by SpaceX for landing Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters, and south of Launch Complex 20, which Space Florida, the state’s space economic development agency, is planning to convert into a small launch complex.
Ellis said that Relativity sought to have exclusive access to a launch site, as its agreement for LC-16 allows, rather than sharing a multi-user site elsewhere at the Cape like LC-20 or Space Launch Complex 46, another pad operated by Space Florida. “It gives us schedule certainty and higher frequency” of launches over a multi-user site, he said.
Despite growing launch activity at Cape Canaveral overall, particularly from SpaceX, Ellis said he wasn’t concerned about range conflicts, citing the 45th Space Wing’s “Drive to 48” effort to be able to support 48 launches a year from the overall range. “By using technology and being creative with the licensing regime,” he said, “it’s becoming far more like a commercial entity.”
LC-16 should be ready to support launches by the end of 2020, he said. There’s no firm estimate of the cost of developing the launch site, but he said it would likely be more than $10 million. “We’re going to dedicate significant resources, both in capital and in personnel,” he said. “It will be a significant investment.”
The site will be able to support launches to low and mid-inclination orbits, but Ellis said the company will need a second site for missions to polar and sun-synchronous orbits. He said the company is conducting a search for such a site but didn’t mention specific locations under consideration.
Relativity is one of a growing number of companies seeking to develop small launch vehicles. The company, which raised a $35 million Series B round in March 2018, sets itself apart through the use of the additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, technologies, to manufacture most of the components of the Terran 1 vehicle. That vehicle, with a payload capacity of about 1,250 kilograms to low Earth orbit, is also significantly larger than other small launchers under development.
Work on Terran 1 is going well, Ellis said, with the company performing a series of engine tests at a site it is leasing from NASA at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. There’s also strong interest in the rocket from potential customers. “The reaction has been fantastic,” he said, given the large payload capacity and list price of $10 million. “We’re able to launch an entire orbital plane, or an entire constellation, in one launch, and that ends up being very cost effective.”
Relativity has undergone a growth spurt since closing that funding round. Ellis said he just signed an offer letter for what would be the company’s 60th employee, up from 14 last March. The company is also looking for a new, larger headquarters in Los Angeles big enough to support initial launch vehicle production.
“I’m quite pumped,” Ellis said of winning the agreement from the Air Force to build at LC-16. “Every launch company needs a launch site, and due to the hundred-plus companies that now say they want to develop a launch vehicle, to be the first venture-backed company to get a site there is a huge testament to our team.”
Welcome back and happy new year! Been busy getting back into the swing of things working on new upcoming VIP characters and also prepping a new print for the store soon (*cough* the wave).
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 25, 2018
On Sept. 25, 2018, Parker Solar Probe captured a view of Earth as it sped toward the first Venus gravity assist of the mission. Earth is the bright, round object visible in the right side of the image.
The image was captured by the WISPR (Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe) instrument, which is the only imaging instrument on board Parker Solar Probe. During science phases, WISPR sees struct
Imagine if only one group of Americans cast their ballots this November. What would happen to the electoral map? We’ve conducted this kind of thought experiment before; it can help shed light on why the parties are hoping that certain groups — such as suburban women for Democrats, white working class voters for Republicans — will help them win seats in 2018.
The groups we’re focused on are women, men, nonwhite voters and white voters by education level. To estimate just how Republican or Democratic those groups are, we looked at generic ballot polls from October that have crosstabs32 and calculated how much a group leaned toward one party, on average. From there, we compared a group’s average margin to the margin from our national generic ballot tracker to figure out how many points to handicap a House district’s current polls-only margin33 using the Lite version of our House forecast.34
So let’s take a look at our first scenario to help explain what I mean. On average, women leaned 17 points more Democratic in October polls, but the generic ballot average leaned D+9, so women overall were 8 points to the left of the nation. So, say a district had a forecast vote share favoring the Republican candidate by 7 points. Under these conditions, an all-women electorate would elect the Democrat by 1 point. Now, shifts like this would not happen uniformly across the country — women in Wyoming are likely more conservative than women in Hawaii, and we’re not taking into account the specific demographics of any given district. But despite that, the results do help underscore just how far apart different parts of the electorate still are.
A women-only electorate would give Democrats a huge House majority: The adjusted vote share estimates suggest that women would elect 275 Democrats to just 160 Republicans, which is 44 more Democratic seats than the 231 projected Wednesday in the Lite version of our forecast. To put that in perspective, the last time either party won more than 270 seats was in 1978, when the Democrats won 278. But that was a less polarized era, and Democrats held a number of institutional and partisan advantages in the House. Since 1994 — sometimes seen as the starting point of our current political era — the Democrats’ 257-seat result in 2008 stands as the best mark for either party.
Men, on the other hand, were about 11 points more Republican than the country, and as such, they would elect a 249-to-186 Republican majority. But notice that the GOP seat total that men would secure is lower than the 275-seat Democratic majority that women would elect. This isn’t because men have shifted to the left but because the overall national environment is Democratic-leaning. If it were a Republican-leaning environment like in 2010, women might elect a more closely divided House, but men would likely elect an even larger GOP majority.
The 2016 presidential election saw a more pronounced cleavage among white voters based on their education levels. College-educated whites shifted toward the Democrats, and whites without a college degree moved further into the GOP camp. The generic ballot data found that college-educated whites were about 2 points to the left of the country. That might not sound like much of a Democratic advantage, but remember that the national environment was D+9 at the time of this analysis.
Under these conditions, white college voters would elect a 233-to-202 Democratic majority, which isn’t all that different from where the Lite forecast sat on Wednesday: a 231-to-204 Democratic majority. But remember, we’re just looking at a group’s estimated vote share; the model looks at much more to calculate its probabilities. If we were to look at just the difference in the estimated vote share in the Lite forecast, it would show a 219-to-216 Democratic edge, or 14 fewer Democratic seats than if only college-educated whites were to vote. This shows that there is a Democratic lean among college-educated whites, albeit a slight one.
If we look at white voters without a college degree, their party preference was even more pronounced than college-educated whites. They were 27 points more Republican than the nation as a whole. And as you can see in the map above, if only they were to vote, the country would be almost entirely red outside of big cities. Non-college whites would elect a 268-to-167 Republican majority, but the GOP majority might be even larger than that. Some heavily Democratic districts, particularly in the South, would probably elect Republicans even though those districts are blue on our map, and that’s because of a long legacy of racially polarized voting.35 Whites without a college degree in a place like South Carolina’s 6th District, which is 57 percent African-American, would probably elect a Republican instead of Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn. After all, Trump won 70 percent of the white vote in South Carolina.
If only nonwhite Americans could cast ballots, they would elect a gigantic Democratic majority (the largest projected majority out of any group we looked at). While white voters on the whole are Republican-leaning (Trump won them by about 15 to 20 percentage points in 2016), nonwhite voters are strongly Democratic (Hillary Clinton won them by more than 50 points). African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Latinos all overwhelmingly vote Democratic, although there are exceptions.36
We found that nonwhites leaned 33 points more Democratic than the national environment and their adjusted vote share would net a 388-to-47 Democratic majority. However, similar to what we saw in the scenario of whites without a college degree, the Democratic total is likely underestimated. The map suggests that some Southern districts would vote Republican, but again, because voting is so racially polarized in the South, it’s unlikely that these seats would elect a Republican if only nonwhites voted. For example, the Alabama 6th District — held by Republican Rep. Gary Palmer and still controlled by the GOP in this scenario — is 16 percent African-American, which is the largest minority group there. Given that about 90 percent of blacks in Alabama voteDemocratic, it would probably be very hard for a Republican to actually win. Nonetheless, the overwhelming Democratic House majority in this scenario makes sense if we look at nonwhite voters as a whole and don’t drill into specific districts. But for all the talk of college-educated white voters boosting Democrats in 2018, nonwhite voters will also be vital to their chances — especially in diverse suburban districts, particularly in the Sun Belt.
SAN FRANCISCO –Phase Four, an El Segundo, California startup, is expanding its leadership team as part of a campaign to aim its electric propulsion system toward the growing satellite constellation market.
“From a sales perspective when people want to order hundreds to thousands [of thrusters] obviously that’s a much more compelling opportunity than selling one or two,” said Beau Jarvis, who joined Phase Four in September as its chief revenue officer. “The goal is to be able to scale up the production of our system so we can address the needs once satellites become mass manufactured at scale.”
Before joining Phase Four, Jarvis was international sales vice president for Earth observation constellation operator Planet and chief revenue officer for Hawkeye 360, a startup building a radio frequency monitoring constellation.
In June, Phase Four made another key hire. Laura Overly, former supply chain lead for Millennium Space Systems, the military small satellite company Boeing is purchasing, became the Phase Four’s supply chain and materials director.
Although its technology has not yet flown, Phase Four has conducted the type of flight qualification and testing common among traditional aerospace systems. “We are not launching something hoping it works,” Jarvis said. “We are testing so we have a very high degree of confidence that it will work.”
Phase Four hired Laura Overly as its supply chain and materials director. She will oversee the firm’s global supply chain strategy, seeking to improve delivery time and reduce costs. Credit: Phase Four
That approach works well for constellation developers who require significant testing and validation before they will consider a system but are “less concerned about the fact our propulsion system hasn’t been on a satellite before,” Jarvis said.
The products Phase Four is developing “fit squarely in terms of specifications and performance into the small satellite realm,” Jarvis said. “We are able to adapt the system to work on satellites smaller than 50 kilograms all the way to larger classes of small satellites that will be part of communications mega-constellations coming online. We are not just going after the nanosatellite or cubesat market.”
To meet the needs of the emerging constellation market, Phase Four plans to offer quality products and speedy delivery, Overly said. “The targeted lead time is three months from time of order to time of delivery which is unheard of for a propulsion subsystem,” she added.
Overly, who previously worked at Aerojet in Redmond, Washington, and at the NASA Johnson Space Center’s White Sands Test Facility, said the relationships she has cultivated during her career will help her meet the challenge.
While many space companies have reduced their dependence on suppliers in favor of vertical integration, Phase Four is not taking that approach, at least not initially.
“As we go forward and learn more about our customers and our products, that could change,” Overly said. “But for the time being, we are looking for valued partnerships with our suppliers.”
WASHINGTON — Harris Corp. and L3 Technologies expect their $34 billion merger, announced Sunday, will create the sixth largest defense contractor in the United States while saving $500 million in corporate costs by three years of closing.
The combined company, to be called L3 Harris Technologies, Inc., will employ roughly 48,000 people, including some 22,500 scientists and engineers, and will be headquartered in Melbourne, Florida.
In an Oct. 15 conference call with analysts, chief executives from L3 and Harris said the all-stock funded merger brings together two companies with little competitive overlap.
“This highly strategic combination creates a company with greater scale and a well-balanced portfolio of complementary businesses that will strengthen our capabilities across multiple domains: air, maritime, land, space and cyber,” said William Brown, Harris chairman, president and CEO. “Bringing together our two engineering- and technology-focused companies will accelerate our ability to innovate and create solutions to solve our customers’ toughest mission-critical challenges in a cost-competitive and affordable way.”
Harris and L3 expect the merger to close in mid-2019. The companies project revenue of $16 billion and an earnings before interest and taxes of $2.4 billion for the year.
Harris and L3 are both suppliers to large space programs in defense and commercial sectors. Harris provides unfurlable antennas for geosynchronous communications satellites, and after building more than 100 hosted payloads as part of the Iridium Next constellation, has recently pivoted to small satellites.
L3 is supplying avionics systems for Vulcan, United Launch Alliance’s next-generation rocket, and in July purchased space situational awareness company Applied Defense Solutions of Columbia, Maryland, for approximately $50 million.
Christopher Kubasik, L3 chairman and CEO, highlighted Harris’ “long legacy in national level space systems,” saying Harris and L3 each bring their own strengths to space and cyber.
“L3 brings abilities in optics, signal intelligence, and data links that can be leveraged to provide more integrated capabilities in this increasingly contested domain,” he said.
The merger is intended to position L3 Harris Technologies as the sixth largest defense contractor by revenue, following Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon and General Dynamics.
The merger is also the latest in a string of tie-ups among aerospace and defense companies in the past two years.
More broad sector consolidation includes General Dynamics’ $9.7 billion purchase of government IT contractor CSRA, SAIC’s $2.5 billion purchase of Engility, and United Technologies’ ongoing $30 billion purchase of Rockwell Collins.
“As the primes get larger, the component manufacturers need to get larger as well to increase their leverage during negotiations,” William Ostrove, an aerospace and defense analyst at Forecast International, said in an email. “Specifically regarding the space market, the merger could be positive for both companies.”
Under the merger plan, Brown will assume the role of chairman and CEO for the first two years, with Kubasik working as vice chairman, president and chief operating officer. Kubasik will succeed Brown as CEO after two years and as chairman after three years. The company will have a board with 12 members, six from Harris and six from L3.
Brown said the $500 million in savings will come from lower spending, “rationalising the facility footprint,” a reduction in overhead costs and the elimination of duplicate corporate and segment costs. Functional efficiencies and shared services will also help reach this goal, he said.
Brown said L3 Harris Technologies will likely reorganize from six operating segments to three or four.
Kubasik said the majority of the cost savings will come from addressing the combined company’s supply chain. The reduction in facility space should be about equal between Harris and L3, he said, but the exact details have not been finalized.
“In the months ahead we are going to sit down and identify the targets,” he said.
Nyango Star (にゃんごすたー) is a giant Japanese mascot cat-fruit hybrid whose ability to slay the drums has become an internet sensation. In the video above, Nyango Star plays Anpanman’s March, the theme song to an animated show called Soreike! Anpanman.
The character performs around Japan as a mascot for the city of Kuroishi in Aomori Prefecture, a region known for their apples. According to the Nyango Star website, our hero is part cat, part apple, and all metal. And if you think the name ‘Nyango Star’ sounds a bit like drummer Ringo Starr, you’d be right. Ringo (りんご) means ‘apple’ in Japanese. Nyan (にゃん) is the Japanese onomatopoeia for ‘meow’.
by The Onion on Politics, shared by The Onion to The Onion
WASHINGTON—Admitting he was surprised by all the tasks required of him in order to enter the prestigious organization, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh reportedly stated Thursday that he was impressed by the hazing rituals you have to go through before they let you join the Supreme Court. “Man, I knew the Supreme…
On Sept. 25, 2018, Parker Solar Probe captured a view of Earth as it sped toward the first Venus gravity assist of the mission. Earth is the bright, round object visible in the right side of the image.
The image was captured by the WISPR (Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe) instrument, which is the only imaging instrument on board Parker Solar Probe. During science phases, WISPR sees struct
