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NASA Earth United States

NASA Will Create Fake Red And Green Clouds Near Virginia (cnn.com) 83

Posted by EditorDavid from the sky-lights dept.
"We have scrubbed today, June 4, due to clouds," NASA tweeted hours before sunrise on Sunday, adding later that "The next launch attempt for the Terrier-Improved Malemute is no earlier than June 11 pending range availability." So they're still waiting for the right weather to launch a very unique experiment. An anonymous reader quotes CNET: The early morning hours on the U.S. East Coast might be unusually colorful as NASA plans to produce artificial blue-green and red clouds that may be visible from New York to North Carolina... It's a test of a new system that helps scientists study the auroras and ionosphere. A NASA sounding rocket (a small, sub-orbital rocket often used in research) will launch from Wallops Flight Facility off the coast of Virginia and release several soda-sized canisters of vapor tracers in the upper atmosphere that may appear as colorful clouds. The tracers use vapors made up of lithium, barium and tri-methyl aluminum that react with other elements in the atmosphere to glow, letting researchers visually track the flows of ionized and neutral particles. It's a bit like being able to dye the wind or ocean currents to be able to get a visual picture.
When NASA does perform its launch, CNN adds that "If you're near the eastern U.S. coast, look toward the eastern horizon. The farther you are from the launch location, the lower the clouds will appear on the horizon." Basically, try to adjust your gaze towards Virginia's eastern shore -- and if you're not on the east coast, NASA will be livestreaming the launch and posting updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Updated to reflect new mission status.
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NASA Will Create Fake Red And Green Clouds Near Virginia More

NASA Will Create Fake Red And Green Clouds Near Virginia

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  • It isn't like those metals are harmful to living organisms or anything. /sarc
    • It isn't like those metals are harmful to living organisms or anything. /sarc

      Since the canisters will be released about 100 miles (160 kilometers) above the ground, the space agency says they "pose absolutely no hazard to residents along the mid-Atlantic coast."

      • Since the canisters will be released about 100 miles (160 kilometers) above the ground, the space agency says they "pose absolutely no hazard to residents along the mid-Atlantic coast, but all the animals, insects, plants and bacterias in the area are basically fucked."

      • release several soda-sized canisters of vapor tracers

        Probably a few minutes-worth of pollution from your nearest chemical factory.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sjames ( 1099 )

      They're actually not that harmful, particularly when dispersed widely in the upper atmosphere. You'll be exposed to a lot more by drinking spring water.

  • Cue the Foil Hat Society (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    faster than you can say "chemtrails"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      I don't think we need to bring the right-wingers into this. The American public is loopy enough on their own without icing the cake.

      However, el Presidente Tweetie probably won't be able to stop himself claiming this is an evil Obama-led plot by the "deep state" to...to...foist climate change and monocles on the rest of us. NASA is part of the deep state...damn scientists.

  • Could you at least include the date in the summary? In fact, it appears that someone edited it out!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xest ( 935314 )

      That's probably one of the worst summaries in recent months, without context the whole first paragraph makes absolutely no sense. In fact, it sounds like NASA has launched a dog breeding programme where they're cross breeding an Alaskan Malamute with some kind of terrier, but that it doesn't like clouds so they're going to launch their new cross breed to the world another day.

      It wasn't until I got past that paragraph that the rest of the summary began to impart any meaningful information as to what the actu

  • The novel by John Wyndham begins with a spectacular spatial light show, a meteor shower unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. The protagonist is in a hospital with his eyes bandaged and feels sorry that he can't see the magnificent spectacle. It turns out that everybody who looks at the meteor shower goes blind, and the reader is given to understand or at least strongly suspect that it is some kind of orbiting weapons system that was activated accidentally.

    • Spoiler alert?

      I saw the movie long ago, but not everyone has.

      • Not much of a spoiler considering the blindness happens at the very beginning of the book, and I'm pretty sure the weapons platform conjecture was all in his head - at least I don't remember a cause for the event playing any role in the book, though there may have been some incidental speculation that I've forgotten about,

  • This will keep the chem trails crowd going for yea (Score:4, Funny)

    by mikerowave ( 1521607 ) on Saturday June 03, 2017 @08:30PM (#54543953)
    Seriously.... Years.

  • And now in different colours even :D sent me some photos!

  • if not red and green

  • ... right?

  • These clouds won't be "fake". They'll exist in reality even if they are artificial.

    • Unless this is a simulation.

      Wonder why they're expecting this in the code update?

    • fake

      Adjective; not genuine; counterfeit. "fake designer clothing". Synonyms: forgery, counterfeit, copy, pirate(d) copy, sham, fraud, hoax, imitation, mock-up, dummy, reproduction;

      Noun: fake; plural noun: fakes; A thing that is not genuine; a forgery or sham. "the painting was a fake". Synonyms: forgery, counterfeit, copy, pirate(d) copy, sham, fraud, hoax, imitation, mock-up, dummy, reproduction;

      Verb: fake; 3rd person present: fakes; past tense: faked; past participle: faked; gerund or present participle:

      • Yep. None of which apply to these very real chemical clouds. They are artificial, but not in any way attempting to mimic natural clouds.

        Similarly artificial diamonds are not fake - in fact recent ones are vastly superior to natural ones by any objective measure, though the fact that they weren't formed deep underground over the course of billions of years may detract from the mystique for some people. Though frankly I doubt most people buying diamonds know or care about their formation.

  • NASA did this 45 years ago! (Score:3)

    by Thagg ( 9904 ) <thadbeier@gmail.com> on Saturday June 03, 2017 @09:24PM (#54544143) Journal

    In 1972 or 1973, my family vacationed for a week in the summer on Chincoteague Island off the coast of Maryland. NASA launched sub-orbital rockets that did this exact same thing -- created colored clouds in the night sky.

    Why do it again, 45 years later?

  • They don't even try to hide their chemtrail activities anymore. That must mean they're getting ready to ACTIVATE!

    • I think we should wind up the HARP tin foil hatters and tell them this is the new nano-tech version of HARP. It will cause extreme weather, autism in babies, lower sperm count in unwanted minorities, and mad cow to euthanize seniors.

  • Couldn't NASA wait until July to start promoting the Christmas holiday season?

  • HAHA INFOWARS GONNA BE LIT (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    OH mannn infowars is gonna be fucking LIT UP tonight over rainbow mindcontrol clouds!!!

  • Right wing chem trail nutbars go insane in three, two, one...

  • This story will keep Alex Jones busy for months or years .. the lizard men are finally completing the last steps before killing off humanity and terraforming the planet. You have been warned ... please check out our BoC water filters, Vitamins and Iodine 30% before clicking like/subscribe.

  • I can't help but wonder: what makes an experiment "very unique" as opposed to merely unique? "Unique" already means "one of a kind". How do you get more one-of-a-kind than that?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PMuse ( 320639 )

      So they're still waiting for the right weather to launch a very unique experiment.

      Hear, hear! Mod parent up.

      "Unique" cannot be modified in this way. The phrase David is looking for is "very rare." No one who has claimed the title of "editor" should be making such a mistake.

      Additionally, that collection of words beginning with "So" and ending with a period could be improved by editing it into an actual sentence.

  • They will have a hey day with this one! Grab the tin foil hats!

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