GPM Satellite To Usher In a New Era of Weather Observation 31
Zothecula writes: "A new satellite designed to take detailed, near real-time measurements of rain and snowfall on a global scale whilst mapping the interior of storm systems is set to launch. The Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory has been in development since 2005 and is a collaboration project between NASA and the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA). The satellite is due to be launched on the Japanese manufactured H-IIA delivery vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Centre, Tanegashima Island, Japan, on February 27."
Progress (Score:4, Funny)
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Perhaps, but with the right launching apparatus that rock could kick this satellites ass.
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Define natural. (Score:2)
In an ant-hill natural? A beaver dam? A coral reef? What is it that makes human constructs artificial while the engineering projects of all other animals are considered natural?
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Because we as a species consider ourselves human and we live in a human state while other life forms are in a natural state.
Of course it is semantics. We consider what we do to be a separation from the natural state of things that would exist had we not existed. We even do the same for things that exist because it had to adapt to our existence. It is more or less just a way to distinguish between our efforts and the efforts/results of nature and the production of plants and animals within it.
Now a more prop
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No, but it will accurately track the path of the radioactive fallout.
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What, is Fukushima getting ready to completely vaporize Japan and they're just keeping it under wraps?
Nuclear winter isn't about radioactive fallout, they have another name for that: radioactive fallout.
Nuclear winter refers to a global nuclear catastrophy that manages to throw enough particulate matter into the upper atmosphere to rival a massive volcano eruption and shade the Earths surface sufficiently cause one or more years of perpetual winter-like weather. Even during the cold war, most (informed) pe
Weather? (Score:4, Funny)
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Living on the west coast, I just assumed we had gotten rid of that stuff.
West coast best coast as usual. We have infinite sunshine AND In N Out.
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Well, sometimes your state catches on fire, though.
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Well, the upper midwest has the two seasons: winter and road constructions
California used to have two seasons also:wildfires and mudslides, but is working hard at eliminating the latter.
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Well, the upper midwest has the two seasons: winter and road constructions.
There's a sign at the Oregon border: "Welcome to Oregon. Road Construction Next 300 miles"
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Good thing that California banned fires on the beach, can't be too careful. That sand could catch fire at any second.
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Not in Washington we don't... "West coast" != "Southern California".
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Not in Washington we don't... "West coast" != "Southern California".
What I said is still true.
There's over 600 miles of West coast that has infinite sunshine and an In N Out close by.
"West coast has" != "Every point along the West coast has".
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Only in the mind of a Southern Californian, they're like Manhattanites in their narrow view of the world.
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Now you just have to learn to drink sea water and use it to irrigate crops and you're in business.
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Heh, reminds me of a half-remembered joke, no doubt mangled:
When it's 110 in New York it's 85 in California.
When it's 10 below in New York, it's 85 in California.
And while there's a million interesting people in New York, there's 85 in California.
That's nice... (Score:1)
Remember when... (Score:3)
There was a time when USA would launch satellites for other nations, now we off shore even that. What is NASA's mission now? I thought it was supposed to encourage domestic space exploration.
Oh, that's right, some White House talking head said NASA exists to make the descendents of the people that basically invented mathematics and science feel good. How about we have NASA inspire all Americans to seek knowledge? You know, like they used to do?
I don't want to sound like I'm tearing down everyone at NASA. I'm sure there are some very smart and motivated people there doing great work. The problem lies in the management. It seems the government does not know what to do with NASA any more. Any project that NASA gets seems to lose funding as soon as it gets even close to launching anything. That's the nature of a government driven by professional politicians that are more concerned about winning the next election than actually improving the lives of Americans.
I'm glad to see that this failure of NASA to lead us into space has resulted in private industry picking up where they left off. I predict we're going to see private space launches exceed anything NASA has been able to do real soon now. I predict the next person on the moon will be an American but the spacecraft will not bear the NASA emblem.
Re:Remember when... (Score:5, Informative)
GPM is a joint mission with Japan. The Japanese space agency, JAXA, has provided the primary science instrument, the Dual frequency Precipitation Radar, and the launch vehicle. This is the same arrangement we had with Japan for GPM's predecessor, TRMM, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. Besides the primary goal of better understanding the processes that drive our planet's weather there is the secondary goal of fostering international scientific cooperation.
Please do not confuse launch services with space exploration. NASA hasn't directly been in the commercial launch service since the dawn of the space age was over. Commercial satellite operators contract directly with commercial launch providers such as ULA, Orbital, Space-X, Arianespace or ILS.
I am in complete agreement with your point about lack of political support for space science and exploration. While there has been no real support for space exploration for decades, the past decade has seen a real drop in actual support (that is, money) for space science. I suspect that is true for science in general, but space is my business.
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There was a time when USA would launch satellites for other nations, now we off shore even that. What is NASA's mission now? I thought it was supposed to encourage domestic space exploration.
Oh, that's right, some White House talking head said NASA exists to make the descendents of the people that basically invented mathematics and science feel good.
Which is even a wrong goal, given that mathematics and science [wikipedia.org] existed for more than 1000 years before those other folks...
Re:Remember when... (Score:5, Informative)