Regardless of who wins the prize, people all around the world will be able to experience the mission through high-def video-streams.
Saturday, August 28, 2010Photo of William Pomerantz. Image: X PRIZE Foundation.
Andreas Hornig, Wikinews contributor and team member of Synergy Moon, competitor in the Google Lunar X Prize, managed to interview Senior Director of Space Prizes William Pomerantz of the X PRIZE Foundation about the competitions, goals, and impacts via e-mail for HDTVTotal.com and Wikinews.
By Wikinews,the free news source
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“Japanese probe snatches first asteroid sample” — Wikinews, November 26, 2005
“$20 million prize offered in lunar rover contest” — Wikinews, September 13, 2007
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This article is part of a page redesign trial on Wikinews. Please leave comments or bug reports on this redesign.This interview originally appeared on HDTVTotal.com, released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Credit for this interview goes to HDTVTotal.com and Andreas -horn- Hornig.
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This mosaic was created from two high-resolution images that were captured by the narrow-angle camera when NASA’s Cassini spacecraft flew past Enceladus and through the jets on Nov. 21, 2009. Image: NASA/JPL/SSI.
NASA’s Cassini–Huygens spacecraft has discovered evidence for a large-scale saltwater reservoir beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The data came from the spacecraft’s direct analysis of salt-rich ice grains close to the jets ejected from the moon. The study has been published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature.
Data from Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer show the grains expelled from fissures, known as tiger stripes, are relatively small and usually low in salt far away from the moon. Closer to the moon’s surface, Cassini found that relatively large grains rich with sodium and potassium dominate the plumes. The salt-rich particles have an “ocean-like” composition and indicate that most, if not all, of the expelled ice and water vapor comes from the evaporation of liquid salt-water. When water freezes, the salt is squeezed out, leaving pure water ice behind.
Cassini’s ultraviolet imaging spectrograph also recently obtained complementary results that support the presence of a subsurface ocean. A team of Cassini researchers led by Candice Hansen of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, measured gas shooting out of distinct jets originating in the moon’s south polar region at five to eight times the speed of sound, several times faster than previously measured. These observations of distinct jets, from a 2010 flyby, are consistent with results showing a difference in composition of ice grains close to the moon’s surface and those that made it out to the E ring, the outermost ring that gets its material primarily from Enceladean jets. If the plumes emanated from ice, they should have very little salt in them.
“There currently is no plausible way to produce a steady outflow of salt-rich grains from solid ice across all the tiger stripes other than salt water under Enceladus’s icy surface,” said Frank Postberg, a Cassini team scientist at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
The data suggests a layer of water between the moon’s rocky core and its icy mantle, possibly as deep as about 50 miles (80 kilometers) beneath the surface. As this water washes against the rocks, it dissolves salt compounds and rises through fractures in the overlying ice to form reserves nearer the surface. If the outermost layer cracks open, the decrease in pressure from these reserves to space causes a plume to shoot out. Roughly 400 pounds (200 kilograms) of water vapor is lost every second in the plumes, with smaller amounts being lost as ice grains. The team calculates the water reserves must have large evaporating surfaces, or they would freeze easily and stop the plumes.
“We imagine that between the ice and the ice core there is an ocean of depth and this is somehow connected to the surface reservoir,” added Postberg.
The Cassini mission discovered Enceladus’ water-vapor and ice jets in 2005. In 2009, scientists working with the cosmic dust analyzer examined some sodium salts found in ice grains of Saturn’s E ring but the link to subsurface salt water was not definitive. The new paper analyzes three Enceladus flybys in 2008 and 2009 with the same instrument, focusing on the composition of freshly ejected plume grains. In 2008, Cassini discovered a high “density of volatile gases, water vapor, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as organic materials, some 20 times denser than expected” in geysers erupting from the moon. The icy particles hit the detector target at speeds between 15,000 and 39,000 MPH (23,000 and 63,000 KPH), vaporizing instantly. Electrical fields inside the cosmic dust analyzer separated the various constituents of the impact cloud.
“Enceladus has got warmth, water and organic chemicals, some of the essential building blocks needed for life,” said Dennis Matson in 2008, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
“This finding is a crucial new piece of evidence showing that environmental conditions favorable to the emergence of life can be sustained on icy bodies orbiting gas giant planets,” said Nicolas Altobelli, the European Space Agency’s project scientist for Cassini.
“If there is water in such an unexpected place, it leaves possibility for the rest of the universe,” said Postberg.
A compilation of brief news reports for Monday, May 7, 2007.
Existing and planned gas pipelines in Europe
A 30 meter section of a gas pipeline in Luka (near Kiev) in Ukraine has been destroyed by an explosion. Although supplies to Europe via this pipeline have stopped, Ukrainian Energy Minister Georgi E. Boyko said that supplies to Europe would not be affected.
“There are no changes in volumes of gas being transported,” Yuri Korolchuk said. “Volumes due to pass through the damaged section are being redirected through the Soyuz pipeline.”
Normal flows are reported in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
Sources
“Blast damages pipeline in Ukraine” — Russia Today, May 8, 2007
Natalya Zinets, Reuters. “Blast hits Ukraine gas pipeline” — The Scotsman, May 7, 2007
A scrap of copper tubing
Copper prices are rising. Between record copper imports from China, and a mining strike in Peru, the prices have climbed to over $8100 (United States dollars) a tonne, for a gain of $575 dollars over the last week. However the upward trend is not new, it has been climbing for quite some time. In April 2003, the price of copper was under $2000 a tonne.
The metal market has been tending up due to growth in the Chinese industrial production. This trickles down to the local level, where the buying price at scrap yards is ever climbing, making scrap metal collection a more profitable endeavour for individual people using pick up trucks or other such vehicles to collect and cash in the scrap metal at metal buying yards. It can be collected via agreements with businesses, from the garbage, or, sometimes, by theft.
Copper prices fell today on the NYMEX commodity exchange from US$3.7545 per pound to US$3.7125 based on the July futures contract.
Sources
Wikinews
This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
Wikinews
This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
“Copper up but crude oil down” — Financial Express, May 6, 2007
Millie Munshi. “Metals Bubble Poised to Burst on Increasing Supplies” — Bloomberg L.P., May 7, 2007
“Commodity Futures” — Bloomberg L.P., accessed May 7, 2007
One man was killed and another injured by an exploding backpack in the parking lot of the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The explosion happened at 4 a.m. PDT when the victim tried to remove a the object left on top of his car.
“We believe the victim was the intended target of this,” Bill Cassell said, spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “This is being treated as a homicide in which the weapon used to cause death is a non-traditional weapon.”
Both of the victims worked at the Luxor.
Sources
Associated Press. “1 dead, 1 hurt in Las Vegas parking lot blast” — MSNBC, May 7, 2007
“Explosion kills man in Vegas outside Luxor hotel” — Reuters, May 7, 2007
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The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas day with hidden explosives is cooperating with investigators and providing fresh intelligence after the U.S. enlisted the help of his family, an administration official said. His family persuaded him to cooperate.
The official declined to provide details on what kind of information Abdulmutallab was providing.
Related news
“Failed bomb aboard Delta flight” — Wikinews, December 26, 2009
Sources
Evan Perez. “Abdulmutallab Resumes Talking to Federal Agents” — The Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2010
“Bomb plot accused ‘co-operating'” — UKPA, February 2, 2010
Somajiguda
Somajiguda on the map of India
One person died and 41 were injured, including three nurses who are critically injured, in a major fire at Park Healthcare Hospital in Somajiguda, a suburb of the Indian city Hyderabad, on Tuesday morning.
The fire engulfed a major portion of the five-storey hospital’s first floor, along with some medical equipment and furniture on the other floors.
City police commissioner A K Khan said that a criminal case had been registered against the hospital management. “It is also being determined whether safety standards were followed by the hospital,” he said.
Sources
“Major fire at city hospital; one patient dead” — The Hindu, February 2, 2010
“Major fire at Hyderabad hospital; one patient dead” — PTI, February 2, 2010
Stripped shelves in a supermarket in China as a result of the contamination (September 2008)Image: Kollision.
Chinese authorities say they are preparing to launch a crackdown on melamine-laced milk after the scandal over tainted products, which made hundreds of thousands of children ill two years ago and damaged China’s brand reputation overseas, resurfaced.
China has dispatched inspectors to sixteen provinces to urge local governments to thoroughly investigate cases concerning food safety.
The decision comes after milk products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine were removed from sale in Shanghai and the provinces of Shaanxi, Shandong, Liaoning and Hebei, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
Related news
“Contaminated baby’s milk induces wave of child illness in China” — Wikinews, September 22, 2008
Sources
Edward Wong. “China Begins Emergency Check of Dairy Products” — The New York Times, February 2, 2010
Cara Anna. “Beijing begins emergency sweep for tainted milk products” — The Boston Globe, February 3, 2010
Map of Karachi, Sindh province
At least twenty-six people have been killed in Karachi, Pakistan after four days of ethnic killings, according to police officials. The officials said that nine people were killed on Monday in the city’s Orangi western neighbourhood, which has a majority ethnic Pashtun community.
The Sindh government has awarded special powers to the Pakistan Rangers under Section 5 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and imposed Section 144 in the limits of 26 police stations for a month.
At least forty people were killed as ethnic clashes erupted across the city in early January.Home minister of Sindh province, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has called upon the Army to restore peace and order.
Sources
Salis bin Perwaiz. “Rangers given control of 26 police stations” — The News International, February 3, 2010
“Deadly ethnic violence hits Karachi” — Al Jazeera, February 2, 2010
Zamir Sheikh and Nisar Mehdi. “Army asked to take over Karachi” — The Nation, February 3, 2010
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Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
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Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
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Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
New Zealand’s Hell Pizza company sparked a storm of protest on Thursday after putting 170,000 condoms in mailboxes.
Hell Pizza, located in 18 cities throughout New Zealand, included a condom and explicit instructions on how to use it during sex in its small pamphlet delivered to promote its “Lust” pizza, and has attracted more than 30 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.
Groups such as Family Life International, Focus on the Family and the Catholic Church have condemned the campaign as encouraging children to use the condoms and follow the “explicit instructions” contained in the packet and called for a boycott of the company.
“From the feedback we’re getting a lot of people are making complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority and are boycotting Hell’s Pizza, and we encourage that.”
The church had received a number of complaints from people offended at finding a condom along with the advertising in their letterbox, Bishop Browne said.
Bob McCoskrie, national director of the group Family First said Hell Pizza had crossed the line of what was decent and acceptable advertising material to be put in letterboxes of families and that the connection between “meat-lovers” pizzas and condoms cheapened women and the act of sex, and that Hell Pizza’s advertising has previously been cheeky and fun, but he thinks the line has now been crossed.
“It is offensive to families to have condoms and explicit sex instructions put in their letterbox, and it is unacceptable for Hell Pizza to link pizza with the intimate act of sex,” McCoskrie says.
McCoskrie says children and families should be protected from offensive grubby advertising.
“It is time we started protecting our children and families. Family First believes the Advertising Standards Authority will be receiving plenty of complaints about Hell Pizza’s latest advertising campaign.”
Hell Pizza’s director Warren Powell refused to apologise for distributing the condoms.
Powell says the company discussed the promotion with Family Planning and the Aids Foundation and they completely support the campaign.
“While the primary aim of the campaign is to promote our Lust pizza, let’s not forget that promoting the use of condoms has important public benefits,” said Warren Powell.
“Government and public agencies distribute these things for free to young people.”
“Before this campaign started we rang a number of these agencies and offered them our excess condoms at no charge.”
The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas day with hidden explosives is cooperating with investigators and providing fresh intelligence after the U.S. enlisted the help of his family, an administration official said. His family persuaded him to cooperate.
The official declined to provide details on what kind of information Abdulmutallab was providing.
Related news
“Failed bomb aboard Delta flight” — Wikinews, December 26, 2009
Sources
Evan Perez. “Abdulmutallab Resumes Talking to Federal Agents” — The Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2010
“Bomb plot accused ‘co-operating'” — UKPA, February 2, 2010
Somajiguda
Somajiguda on the map of India
One person died and 41 were injured, including three nurses who are critically injured, in a major fire at Park Healthcare Hospital in Somajiguda, a suburb of the Indian city Hyderabad, on Tuesday morning.
The fire engulfed a major portion of the five-storey hospital’s first floor, along with some medical equipment and furniture on the other floors.
City police commissioner A K Khan said that a criminal case had been registered against the hospital management. “It is also being determined whether safety standards were followed by the hospital,” he said.
Sources
“Major fire at city hospital; one patient dead” — The Hindu, February 2, 2010
“Major fire at Hyderabad hospital; one patient dead” — PTI, February 2, 2010
Stripped shelves in a supermarket in China as a result of the contamination (September 2008)Image: Kollision.
Chinese authorities say they are preparing to launch a crackdown on melamine-laced milk after the scandal over tainted products, which made hundreds of thousands of children ill two years ago and damaged China’s brand reputation overseas, resurfaced.
China has dispatched inspectors to sixteen provinces to urge local governments to thoroughly investigate cases concerning food safety.
The decision comes after milk products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine were removed from sale in Shanghai and the provinces of Shaanxi, Shandong, Liaoning and Hebei, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
Related news
“Contaminated baby’s milk induces wave of child illness in China” — Wikinews, September 22, 2008
Sources
Edward Wong. “China Begins Emergency Check of Dairy Products” — The New York Times, February 2, 2010
Cara Anna. “Beijing begins emergency sweep for tainted milk products” — The Boston Globe, February 3, 2010
Map of Karachi, Sindh province
At least twenty-six people have been killed in Karachi, Pakistan after four days of ethnic killings, according to police officials. The officials said that nine people were killed on Monday in the city’s Orangi western neighbourhood, which has a majority ethnic Pashtun community.
The Sindh government has awarded special powers to the Pakistan Rangers under Section 5 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and imposed Section 144 in the limits of 26 police stations for a month.
At least forty people were killed as ethnic clashes erupted across the city in early January.Home minister of Sindh province, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has called upon the Army to restore peace and order.
Sources
Salis bin Perwaiz. “Rangers given control of 26 police stations” — The News International, February 3, 2010
“Deadly ethnic violence hits Karachi” — Al Jazeera, February 2, 2010
Zamir Sheikh and Nisar Mehdi. “Army asked to take over Karachi” — The Nation, February 3, 2010
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Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1977Image: Jack E. Kightlinger.
On Friday, Zbigniew Brzezinski, a professor and former U.S. National Security Advisor of the Jimmy Carter administration, died at the age of 89.
The New York Times reported he died at a Falls Church, Virginia hospital.
Brzezinski’s daughter Mika announced her father’s death via Instagram. Others paid tribute to Brzezinski, including Joe Scarborough, Mika’s co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, via Twitter and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter via statement.
Brzezinski was born on March 28, 1928 in Warsaw, Poland. His father Tadeusz, a diplomat, moved his family from Europe to Montreal, Canada in 1938 before World War II. Tadeusz retired from politics in 1944 when the Communists occupied his home country, so his family settled in the Canadian countryside.
Zbigniew Brzezinski earned two degrees from Canada’s McGill University and then, in the United States, earned a doctorate from Harvard University. He began his teaching career at Harvard and then Columbia University.
Throughout 1960s, Brzezinski worked for John F. Kennedy as his advisor and then the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. During the 1976 selections he advised Carter on foreign policy, then served as National Security Advisor (NSA) from 1977 to 1981, succeeding Henry Kissinger. As NSA, he assisted Carter in diplomatically handling world affairs, such as the Camp David Accords, 1978; normalizing US–China relations thought the late 1970s; the Iranian Revolution, which led to the Iran hostage crisis, 1979; and the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, 1979.
For his role in politics, Brzezinski earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981 and later the U.S. Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 2016. He has lately taught international studies at the Johns Hopkins University and worked as a counselor for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Brzezinski wrote multiple books and some articles, including several from the 1950s.
Brzezinski was survived by his wife Eileen and his three children: daughter Mika and sons Ian and Mark.
The epicentre of the quake according to USGS Image: NASA Worldwind.
Representatives from the British insurance industry have said that the cost of the earthquake which hit Britain early yesterday could be over 10 million GBP. The Association of British Insurers has said in a statement that the cost for the earthquake is “likely to run into the low tens of millions of pounds.”
The Senior claims manager at the UK bank Norwich Union has described the damage by saying that at the moment most insurance claims regarding the earthquake describe “minor damage such as tiles off roofs, breakages inside the homes and brick walls collapsing.” It has also been reported that approximately 1,200 insurance claims were made in the first twelve hours after the earthquake hit Britain.
Microsoft announced on Thursday they are partnering with KIND Financial to help governments track the production and distribution of legal marijuana. Kind Financial, a California-based start-up company, began selling its Agrisoft Seed to Sale software three years ago. Microsoft is admitting Kind’s software on the Government portion of its Azure cloud service.
Although Kind Financial CEO David Dinenberg stressed to The Guardian they “absolutely do not touch the plant”, his company does business with growers and distributors of marijuana, as well as the governments that regulate it. State law in twenty-five US states — but not US federal law — has legalized marijuana, whether medicinally or for recreational use. Kimberly Nelson, Microsoft executive director of state and local government solutions, said they expect significant demand for technology to help states make sure cannabis distribution within their state is done according to their laws.
Kind also provides kiosks similar to automated tellers (ATMs) to facilitate marijuana transactions in dispensaries. The distribution of marijuana is often done only with cash or through machines like the ones Kind offers since many banks in the United States shy away from the marijuana industry entirely. Microsoft is not interacting with this part of Kind’s operations, however.
Microsoft and Kind will apply for contracts with state governments for their software. Currently, they have applied to Puerto Rico, a US territory, where medical marijuana has recently been made legal. BioTrackTHC, a company similar to Kind Financial, already has contracts with Washington, New Mexico, and Illinois.
Dinenberg said his company’s partnership with Microsoft is a major step in advancing the legitimacy of cannabis-related businesses.
