PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet, 48/2000 - 12 April 2000
------------------------------
(1) ICE BALLS KEEP FALLING FROM THE SKY
Christian Gritzner <gritzner.eurospace@potsdam.com>
(2) CHINA'S ANTARCTIC 2000 EXPEDITION FINDS NEW METEORITE FIELD
SpaceDaily, 11 April 2000
(3) AURORA IMAGE
Klet Observatory <klet@klet.cz>
(4) REPORTS FROM THE ASTROBIOLOGY CONFERENCE
SpaceDaily, 11 April 2000
(5) WILL HUMANS ALWAYS BE CONFINED TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM?
NASA Science News <science.news@msfc.nasa.gov>
(6) BRITAIN WANTS US MISSILE SHIELD
The Sunday Times, 9 April 2000
(7) FORGET SELF-DEFENSE: AGGRESSORS WILL ALWAYS WIN, U.S.
SCIENTISTS
BELIEVE
YAHOO! News, 11 April 2000
(8) MISSILE DEFENSE FLAWED, SCIENTISTS WARN
Space.com, 11 April 2000
(9) SMALL PLANETS & PERIODIC IMPACTS
Michael Paine <mpaine@tpgi.com.au>
(10) GLOBAL WARMING POLITICS
Eugene F. Milone <milone@ucalgary.ca>
===============
(1) ICE BALLS KEEP FALLING FROM THE SKY
From Christian Gritzner <gritzner.eurospace@potsdam.com>
Hello Benny,
once again: chunks of ice falling from the sky...
Mittwoch 12. April 2000, 08:24 Uhr
Eisbrocken zerschlugen Hausdach in Österreich
Wien (dpa) - In Österreich sind Dutzende Fußball große
Eisklumpen vom
Himmel gefallen. In Königswiesen nahe der Hauptstadt Wien habe
ein
Eiskoloss ein Hausdach durchschlagen und ein zwei Quadratmeter
großes
Loch gerissen, berichteten Anwohner. Schon in Spanien und Italien
ist
dieses Mysterium Anfang des Jahres aufgetreten. Die Polizei
vermutete,
dass die Eisklumpen sich von einem Flugzeug gelöst haben.
Best wishes,
Christian
Dr.-Ing. Christian Gritzner
EUROSPACE Technische Entwicklungen GmbH
Büro Potsdam
Lindenstr. 6
D-14467 Potsdam
Tel.: 0331-284-3305 (FAX: -3434)
E-mail: gritzner@eurospace.de
Homepage: http://www.eurospace.de
[MODERATOR'S TRANSLATION: Reports from Austria say that two dozen
of
football-sized chunks of ice fell from the sky in recent days. In
Königswiesen, near Vienna, an icy object blasted a hole, two
square
metre wide, in the roof of a house. Similar occurrances were
reported
from Spain and Italy earlier this year. Police sources suspect
that the
icy chuncks were cast off an airliner.]
================
(2) CHINA'S ANTARCTIC 2000 EXPEDITION FINDS NEW METEORITE FIELD
From SpaceDaily, 11 April 2000
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/china-00q.html
by Wei Long
Beijing - April 12, 2000 - The People's Daily reported last
Wednesday
(5th) that the 16th Antarctic research expedition team has
returned
home "triumphantly," with government officials joining
a large crowd
to welcome the research ship Xuelong's return to Shanghai.
Dignitaries who attended the ceremony include Chen Lianzeng,
Vice-chief
of the State Bureau of Oceanography (SBO), key officers from the
SBO-Shanghai branch, and head officials from other participating
departments in Shanghai.
Returning from the Antarctic expedition were 137 team members,
including five foreign scientists, and members from the 15th
expedition
who spent the past winter living and working in the Chinese
antarctic
research base station Zhongshan ("Middle Mountain").
The 16th Antarctic research expedition is the last of this
century. The
team successfully completed research tasks, and restocked
supplies
and performed maintenance at both Chinese base stations Zhongshan
and Changcheng ("Great Wall").
The expedition team spent 44 days in field studies at Grove
Mountains.
During that time the team had encountered extreme weather
conditions,
including blizzards, on several occasions. Key accomplishments
are:
- Collecting large volume of data which enabled the production of
a
1:25,000 scale topographical map of the 110 sq. km.
core area of
Grove Mountains.
- Discovering a new meteorite strewn field at the bottom of a
cliff and
collecting 28 meteorites.
- Observing and collecting rock, soil, ice and air samples in ice
crevices.
While sailing in the southern ocean, the Chinese research
vessel/icebreaker Xuelong ("Snow Dragon") carried out
survey programs,
including key research agenda set forth by the National Nature
Fund.
Xuelong also participated in the Indian Ocean Experiment
(INDOEX),
which was an international research project to study the Indian
Ocean carbon cycle and its effects on global climate change.
After completing the task of "One Vessel Two (base)
Stations", Xuelong
left Antarctica on March 1. The vessel spent a total of 157 days
navigating in the open sea and had travelled 27,053-naut. mi.
(50,102-km.), thus setting a new range record.
Copyright 2000, SpaceDaily
===============
(3) AURORA IMAGE
From Klet Observatory <klet@klet.cz>
Dear Benny,
You can find an image of the aurora borealis taken at the Klet
Observatory at
http://www.klet.cz/aurora.html
Regards
Milos
Milos Tichy
Klet
Observatory
tel. : +420-337-711242
Zatkovo nabrezi
4
fax : +420-38-6352239
370 01 Ceske
Budejovice
e-mail: klet@klet.cz
Czech
Republic
WWW : http://www.klet.cz
===============
(4) REPORTS FROM THE ASTROBIOLOGY CONFERENCE
NOTE: Today's edition of SpaceDaily is focused on last week's
Astrobiology
conference with a five part report by Bruce Moomaw. While in our
third
installment to the 2000 Lunar and Planetary Science we come back
to Mars
for the latest from Surveyor.
- Increasing Evidence That Europa Lives
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-00p1.html
Cameron Park - April 11, 2000 - Last week's First Annual
Conference on
Astrobiology saw 600 scientists and over 20 journalists turnout
to
discuss the possibility of life (even primitive life) on other
worlds.
SpaceDaily's Bruce Moomaw was among them and provides here a
detailed
report on the conference
- A Surveyor's Chronicles
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/lunarplanet-2000-00c1.html
Cameron Park - April 11, 2000 -
After a quick fly through of the rest of Sol, the 31st Annual
Lunar and
Planetary Science Conference came back to the subject of Mars
dedicating most of the last two days to a thorough debate over
the
latest results from Mars Global Surveyor.
===============
(5) WILL HUMANS ALWAYS BE CONFINED TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM?
From NASA Science News <science.news@msfc.nasa.gov>
NASA Science News for April 11, 2000
Where's the Edge?: Will humans always be confined to the Solar
System?
Not if NASA's Advanced Space Transportation Program has a say in
the
matter! Find out how scientists are working to turn science
fiction
into standard practise with new and innovative ways to reach the
stars.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast11apr_1m.htm
==============
(6) BRITAIN WANTS US MISSILE SHIELD
From The Sunday Times, 9 April 2000
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/Sunday-Times/frontpage.html
Andrew Gilligan
BRITAIN is preparing the way for full participation in the
controversial "son of Star Wars" missile defence system
being planned
by the United States.
Senior defence sources say they will insist that Britain is
brought
under the protective "umbrella" as the price for
co-operation.
Washington is pressing to use RAF bases in Yorkshire as part of
the
system, which is designed to protect against long-range ballistic
missiles being acquired by "rogue" states such as Iran
and North
Korea.
The bases, RAF Fylingdales and Menwith Hill, would host a forward
sentry post - a tracking radar to detect missiles bound for
America.
The United States has no plans to extend the area of protection
beyond its own shores.
Britain is likely to allow the bases to be used. Geoff Hoon, the
defence secretary, said last week: "The history of our close
friendship is that we are sympathetic to such requests."
Senior sources added that because of fears that participation
could
make Britain a target, they would expect a quid pro quo in terms
of
bringing this country under some form of protection. "There
are
discussions that need to be had as to what would protect the UK
and
the rest of Europe," said a source.
The options range from bringing Britain under the umbrella of the
main American system to giving it a mini-ballistic missile
defence of
its own, or a joint system with some other European nations.
Because
it could be presented as independent, the latter might be seen as
a
less controversial option. Britain will take a final decision
once a
formal request to use the bases has been received from President
Clinton this summer.
Copyright 2000, The Sunday Times
==============
(7) FORGET SELF-DEFENSE: AGGRESSORS WILL ALWAYS WIN, U.S.
SCIENTISTS
BELIEVE
From YAHOO! News, 11 April 2000
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000411/ts/arms_starwars_1.html
U.S. Scientists Urge Against Missile Defense System
By David Storey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A panel of prominent U.S. scientists on
Tuesday
opposed plans for a national anti-missile shield, entering a
fierce
public debate before President Clinton decides whether to deploy
the system this summer.
The 11 scientists, some of whom have worked in government missile
programs, said the proposed system, in which a land-based missile
would
intercept an incoming missile carrying a nuclear, biological or
chemical weapon, would not work.
"Any country capable of deploying a long-range missile would
also be
able to deploy countermeasures that would defeat the planned
National
Missile Defense system," their report said, adding, "It
makes no sense
to begin deployment."
The report, written under the auspices of the Union of Concerned
Scientists and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Security
Studies Program, said attackers could use decoys and other means
to
deceive the heat-seeking anti-missiles.
It said biological or chemical weapons could be split into a
number of
small warheads which would be released during the missile's
flight and
avoid destruction.
Nuclear warheads could be protected by being enclosed in cooler
shrouds
or could be placed in balloons with numerous empty balloons
deployed
with them, making it impossible for the U.S. missile to select
the
right target.
"Deployment of the planned NMD system would offer the United
States
very little, if any, protection against limited ballistic missile
attacks, while increasing the risks from other more likely and
more
dangerous threats to U.S. national security," it said.
Missiles "Won't Do The Job"
"This so-called national missile defense system won't do the
job," said
the chairman of the group, Andrew Sessler, a senior scientist at
the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a former president of
the
American Physical Society.
Pushed by the Republican-led Congress, Clinton has said he will
decide
by the end of this summer whether to commit to deploying the
system,
meant to defend against accidental or "rogue" firings
rather than a
full-out attack from Russia.
Its deployment would require adjustments to the 1972
Anti-Ballistic
Missile treaty, a basic element in the web of international arms
control agreements. Such changes are strongly resisted by Russia
and
most other countries.
The principle of U.S. nuclear weapons policy up to now has been
that of
deterrence, that any power would be deterred from using a nuclear
weapons because it would provoke an enormously destructive
nuclear
response.
Proponents of the NMD system, a scaled down version of the
"Star Wars"
concept proposed by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, insist
that
some form of defense is essential as "rogue" states
like North Korea
and Iran develop long-range missiles.
The conservative Heritage Foundation released a paper on Tuesday
saying
Clinton must resist those who oppose deployment on the grounds
that the
issue is too politically charged in an election year and because
there
has been insufficient testing.
Researcher Baker Spring argued that the technology had been shown
to be
effective in earlier tests and in tests of other anti-missile
systems
like the Patriot PAC-3, although even NMD backers agree much
still has
to be worked out.
PENTAGON SEES $30 BILLION COST
The Pentagon estimated last week that the system including an
anti-missile base, upgrading radars and deploying 100
interceptors,
would cost at least $30.2 billion.
That figure, far higher than previous estimates, would cover the
cost
of the program from 1991 to 2026 when all 100 proposed
interceptors
could be mounted at a base likely to be built in Alaska.
The military will conduct its third test of the system in late
June
when it attempts to shoot down a dummy warhead high over the
Pacific
Ocean. The first such test was successful in October 1999, but a
second
test failed earlier this year.
Shortly after a third test flight in June, Clinton is expected to
decide whether to begin soon building a base in Alaska and
deploying 20
interceptors there by 2005.
White House national security advisers say he does not intend to
leave
the decision to a successor.
His decision will be based on an assessment of whether the
project is
technologically feasible, on its cost and on its impact on
international affairs. The government has already determined the
national security threat justifies it.
Copyright 2000, Reuters
==============
(8) MISSILE DEFENSE FLAWED, SCIENTISTS WARN
From Space.com, 11 April 2000
http://www.space.com/space/missile_review_000411.html
By Paul Hoversten
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's planned National Missile Defense
(NMD)
system to knock out enemy missiles from rogue nations is
fundamentally
flawed because it could be easily thwarted, according to a panel
of
independent senior physicists and engineers.
"The proposed system will not work against the threats it is
designed
to face," said Kurt Gottfried, a physicist at Cornell
University and
chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which released the
report Tuesday along with the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
(MIT).
The report by the 11 senior scientists is the first technical
evidence
that the system could be defeated by what the scientists called
"predictable and practical" responses by attacking
countries.
FULL STORY at
http://www.space.com/space/missile_review_000411.html
=============================
* LETTERS TO THE MODERATOR*
=============================
(9) SMALL PLANETS & PERIODIC IMPACTS
From Michael Paine <mpaine@tpgi.com.au>
Dear Benny,
I am looking forward to the snail mail delivery of my May 2000
issue of
Scientific American. It has the following article:
'The Small Planets' by Erik Asphaug
New space probe images offer the
first close-ups of asteroids,
the minute worlds that carry clues
to how the planets formed.
Surprisingly, many asteroids are
more like gravel piles than solid
rock.
see http://www.sciam.com/2000/0500issue/0500quicksummary.html
Also, those interested in possible causes of periodic impacts
should
look at the article 'Galaxies behind the Milky Way' in the
October
1998 issue: http://www.sciam.com/1998/1098issue/1098laham.html
"...the Sagittarius dwarf, it is now the closest known
galaxy--just
80,000 light-years away from the solar system, less than half the
distance of the next closest, the Large Magellanic Cloud. In
fact, it is
located well inside our galaxy, on the far side of the galactic
center.
Because the Sagittarius dwarf lies directly behind the central
bulge of
the Milky Way, it cannot be seen in direct images...Sagittarius
appears
to have undergone some disruption from the tidal forces exerted
by the
Milky Way."
I presume that it orbits the Milky Way more slowly than our Sun
so we
should come under its tidal influence every few hundred million
years
(since the Sun orbits the Milky once every 250 million years).
regards
Michael Paine
=============
(10) GLOBAL WARMING POLITICS
From Eugene F. Milone <milone@ucalgary.ca>
Benny,
I noticed that you sneaked in a silly piece on global warming
and decrying some kind of Liberal plot to 'bankrupt the Earth'.
It
would be much better (as I noted before) to limit comments to
serious
scientific work and forget the opinionated tracts; it just does
not
help the credibility of serious concerns to have things such as
this on
the net.
Cordially,
- gene
MODERATOR'S NOTE: The article by Arthur B. Robinson and Noah
Robinson on the issue of Global Warming (posted in yesterday's
CCNet)
is based on their research paper "Environmental Effects of
Increased
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide" [http://www.oism.org/pproject/s33p36.htm]
in which they argue that increased energy consumption and CO2
levels
can have (and indeed have had) benefitial effects on social and
economic progress.
From a purely scientific perspective, the Global Warming
controversy goes far
beyond any party political devide given that the alarm was first
raised
by conservative administrations in both the UK and the US.
Equally, many
of the 17,000 U.S. scientists who publicly oppose the drastic
restrictions
on energy consumption and technological development which
comprise
the Kyoto Protocol are outspoken liberals. Can I assure readers
that CCNet
will continue to cover this debate in a purely matter-of-fact
manner.
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