Earth and Space News: February 2016

Monday, February 29, 2016

Hubble Blue Bubble Nebula WR 31a: Photogenic Wolf-Rayet Star

Summary: The Hubble blue bubble nebula WR 31a is a Wolf-Rayet cloud whose same-named star “lives fast and dies hard” as a supernova in a few hundred thousand years.

Hubble blue bubbles appears to encircle Wolf–Rayet star known as WR 31a; image credit -- ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement --Judy Schmidt: NASA Mission Hubble Team, "Hubble’s Blue Bubble," Feb. 26, 2016, Generally not subjec to copyright in the United States, via NASA

Hydrogen castoffs and stellar winds are responsible for the photogenic Hubble blue bubble nebula WR 31a, according to a statement Feb. 26, 2016, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The bubble belongs to a dust-, helium- and hydrogen-rich nebula that surrounds a stellar type discovered in 1867 by French astronomers Georges Rayet and Charles Wolf. The cloud’s formation comes from stellar winds of 2.2 million to 5.4 million miles (3.6 million to 9 million kilometers) per hour removing outer stellar layers.

Scientists at the European Space Agency describe the Hubble blue bubble nebula WR 31a as within the southern constellation Carina (Keel) 30,000 light-years away from Earth. They estimate that the nebula “is expanding at a rate of around 220,000 kilometers (136,700 miles) per hour!”

WR 31a fits into categories of “live fast and die hard” stars whose original masses are at least 20 times that of the solar system’s Sun. Scientists give the Hubble blue bubble nebula WR 31a an age of around 20,000 years and its star an existence of a few hundred thousand years. The solar system’s Sun in contrast has an estimated age of about 4.5 billion years and an expected lifespan of at least 5 billion years more. A Wolf-Rayet star is far less long-lived because hydrogen supplies are consumed rapidly and gases begin getting stripped away by stellar winds in early evolutionary stages.

Scientists judge that the mass of a Wolf-Rayet star is half that of the original in less than 100,000 years.

Scientists know that the Hubble blue bubble nebula WR 31a exhibits an immediately recognizable spectrum because of rapid, vast emissions of highly ionized helium and nitrogen. The loss of hydrogen from the outer layers of WR 31a leads the Wolf-Rayet star into the evolutionary stage of fusing heavy elements for fuel. The switch to elements far heavier than hydrogen means that WR 31a, as a Wolf-Rayet star, will explode as a supernova whose material will get recycled.

Scientists note that, as the “spectacular supernova” WR 31a, “the stellar material expelled from its explosion will later nourish a new generation of stars and planets.” They offer the designations ESO 128-18 and Hen 3-519 as two other names by which WR 31a will be remembered.

Scientists provide as famous examples of Wolf-Rayet stars Gamma Velorum in the southern constellation Vela (Ship Sails) and Theta Muscae in the southern constellation Musca (Fly). The two previously mentioned Wolf-Rayet stars qualify respectively as the brightest and closest such celestial object in the first case and the second-brightest in the second.

RMC 136a1, in the Tarantula Nebula of the Large Magellanic Cloud, remains the biggest Wolf-Rayet star and the hottest, most massive, most luminous of all known stars.

The Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys’ Wide Field Camera serves as source of the image made through a wide V-band (F606W) and a near-infrared (F814W) filter.

NASA takes its Hubble blue bubble nebula WR 31a from amateur astronomer Judy Schmidt’s submission to Hubble’s Hidden Treasures competition.

WR 31a is located about 30,000 light years away, in Carina the Keel constellation: NASA Goddard Images @NASAGoddardPix, via Twitter Feb. 26, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

t: NASA Mission Hubble Team, "Hubble’s Blue Bubble," Feb. 26, 2016, Generally not subjec to copyright in the United States, via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubbles-blue-bubble

WR 31a is located about 30,000 light years away, in Carina the Keel constellation: NASA Goddard Images @NASAGoddardPix, via Twitter Feb. 26, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix/status/703247376136458241

For further information:

Dvorsky, George. 26 February 2016. “This Massive Star Sure Is Beautiful, Too Bad It’s Doomed.” Gizmodo.
Available @ http://gizmodo.com/this-massive-star-sure-is-beautiful-too-bad-its-doomed-1761498692

European Space Agency. 26 February 2016. “Hubble’s Blue Bubble.” National Aeronautics and Space Administration > Missions > Hubble Space Telescope.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubbles-blue-bubble

Fox News. 29 February 2016. “Hubble Captures Star’s Stunning Blue Bubble.” Fox News > Science > Astronomy.
Available @ http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/02/29/hubble-captures-stars-stunning-blue-bubble.html

Goodwin, Martha. 29 February 2016. “'Blue Bubble' Nebula Is the Star of Hubble’s New Photo Shoot.” Lighthouse News Daily.
Available @ http://www.lighthousenewsdaily.com/tag/wr31a/

Luciani, Massimo. 24 February 2016. “The Star WR 31a and the Bubble Nebula Surrounding It Photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.” Tachyon Beam > 2016 > February 24.
Available @ http://english.tachyonbeam.com/2016/02/24/the-star-wr-31a-and-the-bubble-nebula-surrounding-it-photographed-by-the-hubble-space-telescope/

NASA Goddard Images @NASAGoddardPix. 26 February 2016. "Stunning view 30,000 light years away, as Hubble enters a Blue Period. We're liking it!" Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix/status/703247376136458241

NewsBeat Social. 29 February 2016. "Look: Hubble Captures Brilliant Blue 'Bubble.'" YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_84yi84638

Prostak, Sergio. 22 February 2016. “Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Incredible Image of Wolf-Rayet Star.” Sci-News > Astronomy.
Available @ http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-image-wolf-rayet-star-03648.html

Fifth Fukushima Daiichi Meltdown Anniversary: Food Contamination Risks

Summary: Food contamination risks are low overall for marine species, but high for some freshwater species, on the fifth Fukushima Daiichi meltdown anniversary.

aerial view of Fukushima explosions, with Unit 3 still evaporating, taken by global Hawk drone, Tuesday, March 15, 2011: naturalflow, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Food contamination risks are low overall for marine species on the fifth Fukushima Daiichi meltdown anniversary, according to research Feb. 29, 2016, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Two researchers at the Fisheries Research Agency in Kanagawa and two at The Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Tokyo base their findings upon levels of radiocesiums. They consider that “The [current and the future] contamination risk for food items should be estimated depending on the characteristics and geographic environments of each item.” They deem that “evaluating current and future risk for food items is generally difficult because of small sample sizes, high detection limits, and insufficient survey periods.” Their models expose low overall contamination risk for aquatic food items despite some “still highly contaminated” freshwater species.

The fifth Fukushima Daiichi meltdown anniversary finds the government of Japan still having y-emitting radioisotopes monitored for food contamination risks and against “highly contaminated” food consumption.

Officials and scientists give two radiocesiums (cesium isotopes) as targets that warrant monitoring because of radioactive leakages by Fukushima Daiichi’s damaged drains since March 11, 2011. Cesium (Cs) 134 and Cesium (Cs) 137, the main radioisotopes released from the nuclear meltdowns, have respectively long half-lives of 2.0652 years and of 30.167 years. The report of monthly inspections of radioisotope contamination since the meltdowns is quantified at the database of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in Tokyo.

The four researchers judge the 1,646 combinations of prefectures and species as more straightforward in collection than in data analysis.

Data from April 1, 2011, date of peak ocean discharges after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, to March 31, 2015, keep many “N.D.” (not detected) results. The non-detection designation leads to the conclusion that the prefecture and the species in question are contamination-free or that they have radiocesium concentrations below detection limits.

Researchers Morita and Okamura in Kanagawa and Eguchi and Ikeda in Tokyo make up for undetectable results by comparing similar prefectures and species at similar times. They note that, when comparisons have similarly undetectable results, “the minimum detection limit is treated as if it was the observed value (not the detection limit).”

Results of the study’s statistical model offer high and low food contamination risks on the fifth Fukushima Daiichi meltdown anniversary.

Statistical risk analysis prompts the co-researchers’ conclusion that “The risk of cesium contamination in Fukushima has steadily decreased from 1 April 2011 to 1 September 2015.”

Marine species qualify for smaller contamination risks since “freshwater fish have longer biological half-lives of radiocesium because of differences in osmoregulation systems” for controlling water content. Food contamination risks remain higher for demersal (seabed-hovering), diadromous (freshwater and saltwater-dwelling) and freshwater fish; for freshwater crustaceans; and for Fukushima and prefectures in southern Japan.

Market and restaurant operators usually serve freshwater fish whose radiocesium concentration tends to fall below recreational fishery and tourism industry limits of 100 becquerels per kilogram.

The researchers think larger samples, longer times, lower limits communicate food contamination risks on the fifth Fukushima Daiichi meltdown anniversary.

The risk of cesium contamination generally is greater in freshwater species than in marine species: PNAS @PNASNews, via Twitter Feb. 29, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

aerial view of Fukushima explosions, with Unit 3 still evaporating, taken by global Hawk drone, Tuesday, March 15, 2011: naturalflow, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/vizpix/5529038135

The risk of cesium contamination generally is greater in freshwater species than in marine species: PNAS @PNASNews, via Twitter Feb. 29, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/PNASNews/status/704428702592077825

For further information:

Harvey, Chelsea. 29 February 2016. “With Fukushima’s Fifth Anniversary Approaching, We Can Probably Start to Relax out Radioactive Seafood.” The Washington Post > Energy and Environment.
Available @ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/29/with-fukushimas-fifth-anniversary-approaching-we-can-probably-start-to-relax-about-radioactive-seafood/

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 November 2015. "Fukushima Contaminated Water at West Coastlines of the Americas." Earth and Space News. Monday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/fukushima-contaminated-water-at-west.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 30 November 2015. "Fukushima Is Afflicting the Pale Grass Blue Butterfly Zizeeria maha." Earth and Space News. Monday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/fukushima-is-afflicting-pale-grass-blue.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 December 2015. "North American West Coast Radioactive Plumes From Fukushima 2011." Earth and Space News. Monday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/12/north-american-west-coast-radioactive.html

Okamura, Hiroshi; Ikeda, Shiro; Morita, Takami; and Eguchi, Shinto. “Risk Assessment of Radioisotope Contamination for Aquatic Living Resources in and around Japan.” 29 February 2016. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1519792113
Available @ http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/02/23/1519792113
Available @ http://www.pnas.org/content/113/14/3838.full

PNAS @PNASNews. 29 February 2016. "Food safety risk from Fukushima accident." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/PNASNews/status/704428702592077825

Robert Ilijason Opens First Unmanned App Convenience Store in Sweden

Summary: The store Robert Ilijason opened in January 2016 for residents of the small southern town of Viken is the first unmanned app convenience store in Sweden.

Näraffär, an unmanned convenience store, opens in Viken, Skåne County, southwestern Sweden: KSAT 12 @ksatnews, via Twitter Feb. 29, 2016

Residents of the small southern fishing and seafaring town of Viken are able to buy basic food items, household products and packaged snacks from the first unmanned app convenience store in Sweden.

Robert Ilijason, 39-year-old Information Technology (IT) specialist, bases the ideation of unstaffed app shopping upon a late-night, 20-minute trip to buy his 7-month-old son baby food. He considers that, given the inconvenience for villagers to access suburban and urban convenience stores, “It is incredible that no one has thought of this before.” He describes savings in employee benefits and wages as sufficient to make operating a small store a profitable business opportunity once again in the Swedish countryside. He expects other openings since “My ambition is to spread this idea to other villages and small towns.”

The first unmanned app convenience store, Näraffär (Shopping), furnishes 450 items, such as baby food, canned foods, diapers, household products, milk, sandwich bread, snacks and sweets.

Their cellphones give customers access to the first unmanned app convenience store in Sweden by opening the otherwise locked entrance and by scanning their in-store purchases. Customers only have to register for the service in order to download the appropriate app and to pay for their purchases upon receipt of monthly invoices.

A text message alert is sent to Ilijason, as owner-operator, if the front entrance does not close within eight seconds or if there are attempted break-ins.

Non-stocking of medical drugs and tobacco joins countryside prohibitions against convenience store sales of alcohol to discourage break-ins and robberies.

The first unmanned app convenience store in Sweden keeps ongoing records of behaviors and inventories by dispersal of six surveillance cameras throughout the 480-square-foot (45-square-meter) space.

Drivers leave deliveries of food items and of household products since Ilijason states that “I live nearby and can always run down here” to restock shelves.

The concept of unstaffed app shopping makes more sense, since the store’s opening in January 2016, to younger than to older residents among the 4,200 townspeople.

Raymond Arvidsson, one of the store owner-operator’s friends, notes that doing shopping in less than a minute means “No queues. Quick in, quick out. I like.”

In-town, 24-hour access offers convenient, safe shopping for old and young alike even though 21st-century technology overwhelms some elderly residents.

Tuve Nilsson, 75-year-old townsperson, provides perspectives from a 40-year residence since 1976 in Viken, picturesque harbor locality whose name means “creek” or “inlet” in Old Norse. He qualifies incentives for other shop owners to return to the countryside as one of the attractions of the first unmanned app convenience store in Sweden. He reveals that, as to replacing employed staff with phone apps, “But if they can manage this (technology), I don’t know. Sometimes I don’t understand it.”

Ilijason suggests that older townspeople will feel more uncomfortable with face-recognition or fingerprint scanners, but perhaps less so with credit card readers that some banks employ. He thinks that their comfort and their patronage warrant opening the store to one-person staffing for a few hours daily.

Näraffär is located on Bygatan, main road through Viken; view of Bygatan, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008, 15:25: Magnus Bäck, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Näraffär, an unmanned convenience store, opens in Viken, Skåne County, southwestern Sweden: KSAT 12 @ksatnews, via Twitter Feb. 29, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/ksatnews/status/704352581301055488

Näraffär is located on Bygatan, main road through Viken; view of Bygatan, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008, 15:25: Magnus Bäck, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Viken,_Bygatan_(Feb_2008).jpg

For further information:

Associated Press. 29 February 2016. "Unmanned Store Opens Doors for Sweden Village." YouTube.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB0ljPrCZ3g

Iryna. 8 January 2016. “Unmanned Store Is Now Running in Sweden.” Øresund Startups.
Available @ http://oresundstartups.com/unmanned-store-is-now-running-in-sweden/

KSAT 12 @ksatnews. 29 February 2016. "Unmanned convenience store opens in Sweden." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ksatnews/status/704352581301055488

Lewontin, Max. 29 February 2016. “Sweden Opens Unmanned 24-Hour Convenience Store (+Video).” The Christian Science Monitor > Technology.
Available @ http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/0229/Sweden-opens-unmanned-24-hour-convenience-store-video

“Näraffär.” Viken.
Available @ http://viken.naraffar.se

Olsen, Jan M. 29 February 2016. “In Sweden’s 1st Unmanned Food Store, All You Need is a Phone.” Microsoft > News > Technology.
Available @ http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/in-swedens-1st-unmanned-food-store-all-you-need-is-a-phone/ar-BBq8Ubo?OCID=ansmsnnews11

“Unmanned Convenience Store Opens in Sweden.” KESQ > News > 29 February 2016.
Available @ http://www.kesq.com/news/unmanned-convenience-store-opens-in-sweden/38251494

“Unmanned Store Runs on HonorCode, Smartphones.” USA Today> Videos > News > Humankind > 29 February 2016.
Available @ http://www.usatoday.com/videos/tech/2016/02/29/81102804/

Holdouts Accept Argentine Defaulted Debt Settlements by Feb. 29, 2016

Summary: Four holdout hedge fund groups are accepting $4.65 billion in Argentine defaulted debt settlements before Court-imposed deadlines of Feb. 29, 2016.

Four holdout hedge fund groups and the Republic of Argentina have met a U.S. District Court-imposed deadline for reaching an agreement: New York Times World @nytimesworld, via Twitter Feb. 29, 2016

The Argentine Republic's central government and four holdout hedge fund groups are in agreement over Argentine defaulted debt settlements in time for a United States District Court-imposed deadline of Feb. 29, 2016.

The agreement brings the four holdouts, described as such for resisting two previous restructuring offers, in 2005 and in 2010, that much closer to getting paid. The deal calls upon the federal government of the Argentine Republic to pay $4.65 billion to Aurelius, Bracebridge Capital, Davidson Kempner and NML Capital Limited. The settlement demands that the national government in Buenos Aires pay the four holdouts in full no later than the deadline date of April 14, 2016.

Argentina expects to raise $15 billion through bond sales during March and April in international money markets, whose access Argentina defaulted debt settlements make possible.

The accepted agreement, the bond sales and the full payment fit into a schedule whose specifics are elaborated in a court ruling issued Feb. 19, 2016.

The ruling by Judge Thomas Poole Griesa of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) guides Argentina toward economic recovery. Argentine defaulted debt settlements have three conditions that must be met, from meeting with and paying in full bondholding creditors to revoking laws hostile to bondholders. The first condition is fulfilled through friendly settlement talks with investors in sovereign debt even though Argentina does not have the money to pay the claimants.

Representatives join in stating that the four holdout hedge fund groups will not oppose Argentine efforts to raise money through bond sales in international money markets.

Argentine defaulted debt settlements keep Argentina away from international financial institutions and out of international money markets until laws that deny sovereign debtholders payment are revoked.

Access to international financial institutions and to international money markets leapfrog Argentina over the law-rescinding stage that must precede discussions and payments into a court-proscribed stage. An injunction issued Feb. 23, 2012, by Judge Griesa mandates the equal payment of no one investor in defaulted debt before payments to all debt investors. The injunction, whose dropping is proposed by the issuing judge, needs the approval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Circuit in New York.

Adherence to proper sequences of events offers narrow windows of opportunity since Sergio Berensztein, Argentine political analyst, predicts that law-rescinding debates will take most of March.

The conclusion of talks, the promise of payments and the re-entry into markets provokes initial enthusiasm and positive remarks from Argentina, the court and the holdouts.

Alfonso Prat-Gay, minister of the economy in the Macri presidency since Dec. 10, 2015, qualifies settlements as “Argentina is joining the world in an intelligent way.” He reveals that, consequently, “For the first time in 15 years [since Dec. 23, 2001], we can say that Argentina has really started to exit default.”

Daniel A. Pollock, court-appointed mediator from McCarter & English’s offices in New York City, states that “This is a giant step forward in this long-running litigation.”

A spokesman tells reporters that Elliott Management Corporation, under two percent of whose $26 billion assets NML represents, is “pleased to have reached an agreement.”

(left) Alfonso Prat-Gay, Argentine economist and President Macri's ministro de Hacienda y Finanzas (Minister of Argentina's Treasury and Public Finances), and (right) Luis Caputo, President Macri's secretario de Finanzas (Secretary of Finances), seek resolution of Argentina's sovereign debt; image Thursday, Sep. 19, 2013, 21:53: Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation), CC BY 2.5 Argentina, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Four holdout hedge fund groups and the Republic of Argentina have met a U.S. District Court-imposed deadline for reaching an agreement: New York Times World @nytimesworld, via Twitter Feb. 29, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/nytimesworld/status/704337062804250624

euronews (in English). 29 February 2016. "Argentina strikes deal with US 'holdout' creditors." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3OayKmOimo

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 December 2015. "Argentine President Mauricio Macri Wins Presidential Office and Palace." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/12/argentine-president-mauricio-macri-wins.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 February 2016. "Three Conditions to Lifting Argentine Defaulted Debt Injunction." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/02/three-conditions-to-lifting-argentine.html

New York Times World @nytimesworld. 29 February 2016. "Argentina Reaches Deal With Hedge Funds Over Debt." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/nytimesworld/status/704337062804250624

Stevenson, Alexandra; and Gilbert, Jonathan. 29 February 2016. “Argentina Reaches Deal with Hedge Funds over Debt.” The New York Times > Business > DealBook.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/01/business/dealbook/argentina-reaches-deal-with-hedge-funds-over-debt.html?_r=0

NASA Awards Quiet Supersonic Passenger Jet Contract to Lockheed Martin

Summary: NASA awards quiet supersonic passenger jet contract to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company's Palmdale, California, facility, according to NASA administrator Charles Bolden.

A quiet supersonic passenger jet conceptualized by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company; design goals aim to reduce emissions and transform disturbingly loud sonic booms into soft thumps; credits NASA/Lockheed Martin: "Updated Supersonic," NASA image article, May 9, 2013: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA

On Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, at Virginia’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, NASA administrator Charles Bolden officially awards the $20 million contract for completing a preliminary Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) design for a quiet supersonic passenger jet to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company’s Palmdale, California, facility.

“NASA is working hard to make flight greener, safer and quieter -- all while developing aircraft that travel faster, and building an aviation system that operates more efficiently,” explains Charles Bolden.

The 12th Administrator of NASA situates the agency’s 21st-century aim for the design milestone of a quiet supersonic passenger jet within the historic contributions to supersonic flight achieved by NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

“To that end, it’s worth noting that it’s been almost 70 years since Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 as part of our predecessor agency’s high speed research. Now we’re continuing that supersonic X-plane legacy with this preliminary design award for a quiet supersonic jet with an aim toward passenger flight,” Bolden acknowledges.

The $20 million award for the preliminary design of a quiet supersonic passenger jet is to be distributed to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company over a period of 17 months. As a major unit within the massive organization of top federal contractor Lockheed Martin Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company maintains a global presence and includes nine facilities in the United States.

The Lockheed Aeronautics Company site at Palmdale, California, houses the company’s Advanced Development Programs (ADP), informally known as Skunk Works®.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company’s Palmdale site leads the $20 million award-winning team. The team’s subcontractors include GE Aviation of Cincinnati and TRI Models Inc. of Huntington Beach, California.

The award-winning team is charged with developing baseline specifications, creating a preliminary design and providing supporting documentation for next-stage, conceptual formulating and planning of a quiet supersonic passenger jet.

“Developing, building and flight testing a quiet supersonic X-plane is the next logical step in our path to enabling the industry’s decision to open supersonic travel for the flying public,” notes Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission, in NASA’s press release for Feb. 29’s media briefing in Arlington County, Virginia.

The quiet supersonic passenger jet stands as the first in a series of flight demonstration planes, known as X-planes, envisioned in NASA’s New Aviation Horizons initiative. NASA’s ambitious, 10-year initiative for dramatically transforming aircraft design and in-air, on-ground aircraft operation appears in the civilian space agency’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget. The New Aviation Horizons initiative is included in the 2017 Budget Request released by President Barack Obama on Friday, Feb. 9, 2016, and slated for the fiscal year beginning Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016.

In a twist on the tree-falling-in-the-forest question, NASA is upping the agency’s bold commitment to the disruptive aerodynamic science of commercial supersonic transport, known acronymically as SST. NASA reworks the classic forest tree question as:

“If an airplane flies overhead at supersonic speed and no one below can hear it, did it make a sonic boom?”

NASA aims to supplement the world's first quiet supersonic X-plane with a series of green energy-fueled X-planes; credit NASA/Lillian Gipson: Jim Banke, "NASA Aeronautics Budget Proposes Return of X-Planes," NASA article, Feb. 18, 2016, Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Banke, Jim. "NASA's Sonic Boom Research Takes 'Shape.'" NASA. Nov. 6, 2013. Last updated July 30, 2015.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/aero/sonic_boom_takes_shape.html

Dreier, Casey. "First Details of the 2017 NASA Budget Request." The Planetary Society > Blogs. Feb. 9, 2016.
Available @ http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/2016/0209-first-details-of-nasas-fy2017-budget-request.html?

Gipson, Lillian. "NASA Aeronautics Budget Proposes Return of X-Planes." NASA > Aeronautics. Feb. 18, 2016.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-aeronautics-budget-proposes-return-of-x-planes

Gipson, Lillian. "Updated Supersonic." NASA > Aeronautics > Features Supersonic Flight. May 9, 2013.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/features/future_airplane_gallery24.html

Harrington, J.D. "NASA Administrator to Make X-Plane Announcement at Reagan National Media Event." NASA > Press Release > Aeronautics. Feb. 25, 2016.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-administrator-to-make-x-plane-announcement-at-reagan-national-media-event

Harrington, J.D., and Kathy Barnstorff. "NASA Begins Work to Build a Quieter Supersonic Passenger Jet." NASA > Press Release > Aeronautics. Feb. 29, 2016.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-begins-work-to-build-a-quieter-supersonic-passenger-jet

Krigsvold, Kevin, ed. "NASA X: Environmentally Responsible Aviation - End of an Era (Pt. 1)." NASA > Mediacast > Green Aviation. Nov. 24, 2015.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/mediacast/nasa-x-environmentally-responsible-aviation-end-of-an-era-pt1

Krigsvold, Kevin, ed. "NASA X: Environmentally Responsible Aviation - End of an Era Pt. 2." NASA > Mediacast > Future Aviation. Nov. 24, 2015.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/mediacast/nasa-x-environmentally-responsible-aviation-end-of-an-era-pt2

NASA @NASA. "Our @NASAAero budget proposes new era in aviation that's cleaner, quieter & faster." Twitter. Feb. 27, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NASA/status/703641753803431938

Rugg, Karen and Jim Banke. "NASA Aeronautics Budget Proposes Return of X-Planes." NASA > Feature > Aeronautics. Feb. 18, 2016.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-aeronautics-budget-proposes-return-of-x-planes

NASA Coverage of Earthbound Space Yearling Scott Kelly Begins Feb. 29

Summary: NASA TV's full coverage of earthbound space yearling Scott Kelly begins Monday, Feb. 29, at 3:10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

(left to right) Scott Kelly, Sergey Volkov and Misha Kornienko; "Soyuz Sokol Spacesuit Check. The crew is ready to come home": Sergey Volkov, via Instagram Feb. 24, 2016

NASA Television’s full coverage of Year in Space Mission completion by earthbound space yearling Scott Kelly begins Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, at 3:10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Scott Kelly shares space yearling status in the Year in Space Mission aboard the International Space Station with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail “Misha” Kornienko. Russian flight engineer Sergey Volkov joins the two space yearlings in their return to Earth Tuesday, March 1, via the sophisticated Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft. The Soyuz has occupied a berth at the Poisk mini-research module, part of the International Space Station’s Russian segment, since docking at 3:42 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (10:42 a.m. Moscow Time) Friday, Sept. 4, 2015.

The Year in Space Mission actually spans 340 days. Kelly and Kornienko have lived on the International Space Station since their arrival Friday, March 27, 2015, via the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft.

The March 1 homecoming marks a stay of 182 days in space for Kelly’s and Kornienko’s commander in the Soyuz, Sergey Volkov. Pilot Volkov is the first second-generation Russian cosmonaut and space walker. Sergey’s father, Aleksander, participated in space missions aboard two of the International Space Station’s predecessors, Salyut 7 and Mir.

NASA Television coverage of the historic mission begins Monday with a change-of-command ceremony. Space yearling Scott Kelly hands over command of the International Space Station to NASA astronaut Timothy “Tim” Kopra.

The departures of Kelly, Kornienko and Volkov conclude the International Space Station’s Expedition 46. Expedition 47 commences with current crew members Tim Kopra, first British astronaut Timothy Peake and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. The trio have been settling into sky-high life, at an average altitude of 250 miles (400 kilometers), since their arrival Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, via Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft.

NASA TV coverage resumes Tuesday with farewells to International Space Station crew members at 4:15 p.m. The station’s hatch closure procedure, closing the hatch between the International Space Station and the Soyuz spacecraft, is scheduled to take place at 4:40 p.m.

Coverage of undocking of the Soyuz spacecraft begins at 7:45 p.m. The undocking process is scheduled to begin at 8:05 p.m.

At 10:15 p.m., NASA TV begins coverage of the Soyuz spacecraft’s complete departure from the International Space Station. Deorbit burn is scheduled for 10:34 p.m.

Coverage follows through to same-day landing, slated to occur at 11:27 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Local Kazakhstan time places the landing at 10:27 a.m. the next day, Wednesday, March 2.

Coverage of the activities of Feb. 29 and March 1 is broadcast beginning at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 2. The day’s programming culminates in live coverage of the return of earthbound space yearling Scott Kelly to Houston, slated for 11:45 p.m. His welcoming committee includes Second Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Dr. John P. Holdren, NASA administrator Charles Bolden and Kelly’s identical twin brother, former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly.

A media briefing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, March 4. The briefing reviews the Year in Space’s research accomplishments and next follow-throughs for the mission’s more than 400 experiments. The panel consists of International Space Station Program chief scientist Julie Robinson, NASA’s Human Research Program associate manager John Charles and Twins Study participant Mark Kelly.

The Kelly twins are Twins Study participants, a NASA study that uniquely compares the genetics-level effects on the human body of Earth versus space living. Mark and Scott Kelly have distinction as the only space traveling siblings and twins.

Scott Kelly appears in a Media Briefing one hour later, at 2 p.m. Space yearling Scott Kelly provides personal perspectives for the successful Year in Space Mission. Time is allotted for a question-and-answer session with the media.

As earthbound space yearling Scott Kelly approaches successful mission completion, he looks forward to the fun journey in the Soyuz with station mates Misha Kornienko and Sergey Volkov. Kelly’s dreams now are all earthbound.

In a question-and-answer session Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, via his Tumblr account, stationcdrkelly, the soon-to-be earthbound space yearling describes the path of his dreams aboard the International Space Station.

“In the beginning, most of my dreams were Earth-based. Then, they became space-based. And now as I am getting ready to return home, I am dreaming of Earth again,” Kelly shares.

Scott Kelly returns to Earth Tuesday, March 1, via Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft: Intl. Space Station @Space_Station, via Twitter Feb. 28, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

(left to right) Scott Kelly, Sergey Volkov and Misha Kornienko; "Soyuz Sokol Spacesuit Check. The crew is ready to come home": Sergey Volkov, via Instagram Feb. 24, 2016, @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BCL9lTfrxnw/?taken-by=volkov_iss

Scott Kelly returns to Earth Tuesday, March 1, via Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft: Intl. Space Station‏ @Space_Station, via Twitter Feb. 28, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/703976269092753409

For further information:

hq-hasenpfeffer. "hq-hasenpfeffer: Given that you are not on Earth & have not been for close to a year, how is your dream life affected? Anything out of the ordinary??" Astronaut Scott Kelly - Tumblr > Post. Feb. 13, 2016.
Available @ http://stationcdrkelly.tumblr.com/post/139244814572/given-that-you-are-not-on-earth-have-not-been

Intl. Space Station‏ @Space_Station. "After a #YearInSpace, @StationCDRKelly returns to Earth Tuesday. Watch live coverage." Twitter. Feb. 28, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/703976269092753409

"ISS Live: International Space Station." ISS Tracker.
Available @ http://iss.stormway.ru/en/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Space Yearling Scott Kelly Returns to Earth Tuesday, March 1, 2016." Earth and Space News. Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/02/space-yearling-scott-kelly-returns-to.html

"Soyuz TMA-18M Mission." Russian Spaceweb.
Available @ http://www.russianspaceweb.com/iss-soyuz-tma18m.html

Субботина, Елена (Subbotina, Elena). "Космонавт Сергей Волков опубликовал новый снимок, сделанный на МКС." RGRU > Общество (Society). Feb. 25, 2016.
Available @ http://www.rg.ru/2016/02/25/kosmonavt-sergej-volkov-opublikoval-novyj-snimok-sdelannyj-na-mks.html

Wilson, Jim, ed. "TV Coverage: Scott Kelly's Return from #YearInSpace." NASA > Feature. Feb. 26, 2016.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/feature/tv-coverage-scott-kellys-return-from-yearinspace

"Year-in-space astronaut Scott Kelly packs for home but skips souvenir." collectSPACE > News. Feb. 26, 2016.
Available @ http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-022616a-scott-kelly-souvenir-yearinspace.html

2016 Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz Begins March 1

Summary: The 2016 Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz begins March 1 as the International Rusty Blackbird Working Group's third and final blitz.

Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) perched on log in DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri Valley, Iowa: Dave Menke, Public Domain, via US Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library

The 2016 Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz begins on Tuesday, March 1. The event serves as the third and final Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz.

The overall blitz window runs from March to mid-June. The blitz suggests province- and state-specific target dates as a helpful resource tool.

"Of course, migratory timing can vary based on environmental factors, so please report Rusty Blackbirds to the 'Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz' protocol on eBird whenever you encounter them during their northward migration!" notes the International Rusty Blackbird Working Group's website.

The International Rusty Blackbird Working Group launched the first Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz in March 2014 as a citizen science project for birders to watch for the medium-sized blackbirds within their migratory range. As New World natives, Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus) have migratory grounds in Canada and the United States. Their migratory range in the United States spans the Midwest, the South, and the East Coast.

The International Rusty Blackbird Working Group partners with eBird, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies in raising Rusty Blackbird awareness via a three-year counting blitz. The blitzes are aimed at expanding the small information base on Rusty Blackbird migratory habits and requirements.

“Are there hot spots where many individuals congregate during migration? Are similar migratory stopover areas used by Rusties each year? Are stopover areas protected, or might availability of these areas be limiting Rusty Blackbird survival?” asks the group’s website to illustrate the insufficiency of migratory data on Rusty Blackbirds.

Participants in the 2016 Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz are requested to continue to pay special attention to locations identified by the 2014 inaugural blitz as supporting large populations. Revisiting these 2016 Areas of Interest provides valuable insights into consistent habitat use and migratory timing.

Sightings reported in 2014’s 13,400 checklists leads to identification of 848 Areas of Interest (AOI). Flock size determines placement within three levels of priority. A flock of 175+ equates to 1-Highest Priority. A flock size of 48+ qualifies for 2-High Priority. A flock size of 25+ rates as 3-Medium Priority. The 2014 data discerned 205 Priority 1 AOIs, 207 Priority 2 AOIs, and 342 Priority 3 AOIs.

The International Rusty Blackbird Working Group designates an additional 94 local hotspots for provinces and states without at least 10 unique international AOIs. A cutoff flock of at least eight birds drives the selection of Local Areas of Interest. The cutoff results in the assigning of fewer than 10 AOIs to some provinces and states, such as British Columbia and Alaska.

Blitzes in 2015 and 2016 seek to determine the consistency of these areas as Rusty Blackbird migratory habitat choices. In addition to revisiting the blitzes’ designated international and local hotspots, participants also are allowed to use personal preferences in their targeted searches for Rusty Blackbird habitats.

The inaugural 2014 Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz yielded 13,400 checklists reported by 4,570 birders. The second Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz in 2015 resulted in 13,919 checklists submitted by 4,885 birders.

The Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz Protocol provides step-by-step guidance for data entry of checklists. The two-page document is accessed at: http://rustyblackbird.org/wp-content/uploads/Spring-Migration-Blitz-Optional-Protocol.pdf

Two video tutorials published by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE14) on YouTube on Feb. 25, 2015, give customized data entry guidance to beginning and advanced participants.

The URL for Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz Data Entry: Beginner is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjqOLXyJLro.

The URL for Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz Data Entry: Advanced is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETRXujTSsZQ

Founding of the International Rusty Blackbird Working Group:

Questions about the elusive species prompted Dr. Russell “Russ” J. Greenberg (July 27, 1953 to Oct. 24, 2013), ornithologist and head of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center at Washington, D.C.‘s National Zoological Park, to found the International Rusty Blackbird Working Group in February 2005.

male rusty blackbird (Euphagus carolinus); photo by Scott Kruitbosch/RTPI.org: Roger Tory Peterson @RTPInstitute, via Twitter Feb. 10, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) perched on log in DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri Valley, Iowa: Dave Menke, Public Domain, via US Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library @ http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/natdiglib/id/13043/

male rusty blackbird (Euphagus carolinus); photo by Scott Kruitbosch/RTPI.org: Roger Tory Peterson @RTPInstitute, via Twitter Feb. 10, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/RTPInstitute/status/697464226076561410

For further information:

Forbes, Andy. "2014 Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz Could Lead To Important Migration Data To Help Counter Population Declines." Last updated March 31, 2014. US Fish and Wildlife Service > Midwest > Inside Region 3.
Available @ http://www.fws.gov/midwest/InsideR3/March14Story17.htm

Roger Tory Peterson @RTPInstitute. "Rusty Blackbird Blitz 2016." Twitter. Feb. 10, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/RTPInstitute/status/697464226076561410

“Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz Protocol.” February 2014. International Rusty Blackbird Working Group > Data Collection.
Available @ http://rustyblackbird.org/wp-content/uploads/Spring-Migration-Blitz-Optional-Protocol.pdf