Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch Thursday, December 6th, at 4:31 p.m. EST. The STS-122 mission will deliver the and install the European Space Agency (ESA) Columbus laboratory module (shown above) to the International Space Station (ISS).
I chose this image to show some perspective. What you are looking at is the ESA Columbus laboratory module loaded into the open payload bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center as three NASA technicians inspect the payload before the doors were closed yesterday.
The Columbus laboratory module is 23 feet long and 15 feet in diameter and can hold ten large racks of equipment for operations and science experiments. In addition to the Columbus laboratory module, the STS-122 mission will also deliver two unpressurized external scientific research platforms from the ESA, known as EuTEF and SOLAR.
Watch the Atlantis launch on Thursday via NASA TV. Pre-launch commentary will begin around 11:30 a.m. as the final preparations are being performed. If you haven't been to the NASA website in a while, you should check it out. It has just been redesigned and renovated this week.
Update: Saturday, December 8th
After resolving the glitches with the fuel sensors in the main liquid hydrogen tank, Atlantis has now been cleared for a launch attempt on Sunday, December 9th at 3:21 p.m. local time.
During tanking operations this morning, an engine cut off sensor inside the main tanked failed to work properly and this afternoon's launch was scrubbed. The next opportunity for STS-122 launch will be no earlier than January 2nd, 2008. During a post-mission press briefing held today at 10:00 a.m., NASA officials expressed obvious disappointment mixed with the optimism that the longer delay will give NASA troubleshooting teams the time it will take to understand and resolve the problem.
A team will report a plan of troubleshooting activities this Tuesday. It is not expected at this time that any troubleshooting plan of action will cause Atlantis to have to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
The next shuttle mission is scheduled for launch in February, so a January launch for STS-122 will not negatively affect the overall schedule of construction activities on the International Space Station (ISS). The crew of Atlantis will come out of quarantine and go back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas until Atlantis is ready for launch.
I just found joyoftech! I'm such a n00b. It is a webcomic that you may need a high level geekiness to find humorous. This means you.
I like how they have a poll attached to each comic, too. The poll for this comic asked, "What you would do with your own Google Android?" I know what I would do.
I can't wait for December to be history. Yeah, I don't do the holidaze ... but really I just want January to be here so I can watch the Sarah Conner Chronicles. I'm warning all of you, now. This show better not suck.
Speaking of things Terminator, I think we're closer to that dystopian future than most people realize. I'd say we're about halfway there technologically, but because knowledge and innovation seem to progress exponentially, the relatively short time it will take will surprise us.
To me, halfway there means that humans are still involved at the present time. Robots are used in hazardous environments under the direction of humans. The Mars Rovers are one example. Deep-sea mini-subs, pilotless military aircraft, and little bomb disposal robots are other examples.
I decided to get involved with an innovative organization called "Kiva.org" earlier this month. I took the opportunity to review the site and explain how it works in an entry on HelpForum blog entitled "Kiva.org: Helping 2.0." This is where I will post updates about my interaction with Kiva.org and its ongoing work.
After browsing the entrepreneurs on Kiva recently, I finally decided to loan $25 to "T. Square Take Away Drinks," in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (wikimapia, CIA). The owner's name is Gloria Mbgela and here is her profile:
GLORIA, age 49, supports a house of 7 with her bar and liquor store, "T. Square Take Away Drinks." Although she has no children of her own, she and her husband take care of 5 relatives' children, three of which have been orphaned. Gloria's husband, who used to work for the local phone company, is now without a job because of a stroke that affected his memory.
Gloria's bar and shop opened around 2½ years ago and now employs 5 workers. This business brings Gloria an average profit of around $20 a day, from its 10-20 customers on the weekdays and 50 on the weekends.
Gloria has taken out two previous loans from Tujijenge Tanzania to buy a deep freezer and initial stock for her liquor store. Having paid these back successfully, she now hopes for a third loan to increase her inventory and buy chairs for her bar.
Gloria belongs to the group Makete (named after their district in Dar es Salaam), which consists of 15 other members who keep each other accountable and insure one another in paying back their loans.
Gloria Mbgela received her loan in lightning fast time and I was notified by email of an update that the local field partner in Dar Es Salaam, Tujijenga Tanzania, had posted on her Kiva Journal. Awesome!
George Jetson would be proud. Meet the Aptera Typ-1, a nextgen hybrid, about to go into the manufacturing phase after much research and development by the California company, Aptera. This vehicle comes in two models: a totally plugin electric and a hybrid gas-electric for greater range.
The design of the Aptera makes engineering sense, but will people buy a car that looks like an airplane or a fish? Apparently, they will. The Aptera website has been crushed from a riot of people clamoring to pre-register for the first manufacturing run, dropping a cool $500 to get on that list.
One tantalizing feature of the Aptera is that it gets about 300 mpg and has a greatly expanded range from other plugin electric vehicles. The gas-electric hybrid is equally environmentally and pocketbook friendly.
Aptera is legally classified by the California Department of Transportation (CAL DOT) as a motorcycle! This may seem weird to many people, but since I have been following the many issues surrounding new vehicles, I can say this is normal. A car has 4 wheels. The law basically says that vehicles with less than 4 wheels are not cars, but motorcycles. In July, I showed you photos of my friend's tricked-out trike, an increasingly popular model, because it's safer to drive.
While Aptera's bureaucratic classification is an interesting thing, one look at the vehicle on the Aptera website might inspire you to look more seriously into a vehicle like this. The interior is amazing and chock full-o-tech. I've also heard that the Aptera is going to cost about half of what the Tesla Roadster is going to cost you.
Last summer, I told you about the Alabama teen peace activist, Ava Lowery. She's still making videos. The one above is called "Confront the war president" made in order to promote the peace march that took place last month. She has remained positive and steadfast in the face of some very powerful right-wing critics in the media. Visit her website peacetakescourage.
Unlike the Vietnam era, this generation of teenagers seems to be able to be supportive of the country's military personnel while at the same time seeing war with open eyes. I thought this video from Lizzie Palmer, a teenager from Ohio, was especially well done. It was featured on the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) blog.
It's interesting to me that the IAVA was formed as a Republican political counterweight organization to the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and yet both are concerned with many of the same issues concerning the health and welfare of veterans and active duty military personnel.
How will this end?
Well, we know the surge will end in April and a drawdown of troops will commence. The ground forces of Army and Marines can not maintain the current operational tempo of deployment as it is.
President Bush has unequivocally stated that the U.S. military will stay in Iraq during his term as president. Cheney has opined that he had hoped that Israel would strike Iran, so when Iran retaliates, we could have a viable excuse to attack Iran.
Some military leaders at the Pentagon have been trying to put the neocon crazies back in their playpens quite publicly lately. They show little to no support for any military action against Iran.
Cheney has held up the publication of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran for over a year. It's very likely he and the other neocon crazies are trying to influence the intelligence estimate, but simply can't find any damning evidence or make it up like they did during run up to Iraq.
As long as Iran doesn't take the bait, so to speak, and remains calm in its own actions to various provocations -- like U.S. economic sanctions or border skirmishes with the MKO -- the best we can hope for over the next year is not allowing Bush/Cheney to widen the current war to Iran.
The 2008 presidential elections will be pivotal, of course. Whomever is elected, I think the current Iraqi government will make some moves. To save face, the United States could start withdrawing its military presence next December, if the Iraqi government simply asks the U.S. to leave. So far, the Maliki government has renewed the legal justification for U.S. occupation at the United Nations each December. So, we'll see.
The United States is unlikely to completely withdraw from Iraq. A billion-dollar embassy compound and several huge airbases that have been built over the last 4 years make me think that we're there to stay until the middle east countries deplete their oil reserves in about 50 years. The United States is going to be the security guard standing in front of that store for as long as its got stuff to sell.
The future
Despite my own pragmatic pessimism, it does make me happy to see two teenagers civically involved and engaged. There needs to be involvement, not self-centered apathy. There needs to be an honest debate and discussion. If the last 7 years of the Bush regime taught us anything as a country, it should be that the path to tyranny is paved by sheeple and slackers.
