Success in Perth

Best wishes to the wondrous Kea and Carl Brannen at the conference in Perth, Australia. They earned the best reception yet for their work. Out of the limelight, the real advances in science are being made.

Belle de Jour, Scientist

Not belle de Jour, but some other scientist moonlighting as a call girl. From the play NO SEX PLEASE, WE'RE BRITISH. The theatre programme said she works at NASA!

All Britain is abuzz. The mysterious "Belle de Jour" author, blogger and inspiration for SECRET DIARY OF A LONDON CALL GIRL, is a scientist! She is Dr. Brooke Magnanti, specialist in developmental neurotoxicology and cancer epidemiology. For a time in 2003-2004 she was also a high-priced lady of the evening.

Her autobiographical book about life as a call girl caused a minor sensation in the literary world. She is still on Blogger at Belle de Jour. Her book BELLE DE JOUR was the basis of the delicious television serial with DR WHO's Billie Piper. SECRET DIARY is going to a third series!

While studying for her PhD in 2003, Belle found herself in London without cash or a good job. She spent 14 months as an escort making around 300 pounds per hour. Compared to the other gigs available to a woman, the pay seemd quite attractive. That brief period of her life led to the book and endless speculation as to her identity.

This shows just how difficult life can be for women scientists. The road to a PhD and career is long and difficult. Many economic and social challenges lie in the way. It is easy to prostitute oneself by following trendy subjects like strings or "dark energy." Best wishes in her future career to Dr. Brooke Magnanti.

Wet Moon

The weekend's big news was discovery by LCROSS of large amounts of water on the Moon. Water means oxygen for humans and fuel for spacecraft. Our office is deeply involved with plans for In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU).These experiments are so valuable that someone was recently handed a priceless lunar sample from Apollo. Water also increases the chances of humans settling on the Moon to stay.

Super Guppy

The Super Guppy aircraft was originally based upon the Boeing 377, an airliner developed from the KC-97 tanker. With an inner diameter of 25 feet, this plane could carry full-size Saturn rocket stages across the US in a matter of hours. The Guppies played an vital role in getting people to the Moon in a decade. This last remaining Super Guppy has been used to carry parts for the International Space Station and Orion.

The idea for the first "Pregnant Guppy" came over drinks. Pilot Jack Conroy and Lee Mansdorf were discussing the problem of moving Saturn rocket stages across the US by barge. Mansdorf had recently come into possession of several Boeing 377 Stratocruisers and was looking for a business. Conroy made some sketches and the first Guppy was born. Built with private funding, it first flew on September 19, 1962.

At first NASA engineers doubted that this funny-looking aircraft could even fly. Without a NASA contract and nearly out of money, Conroy flew the Guppy across the US on a demonstration tour. Ending up in Huntsville, he showed the aircraft to skeptical NASA engineers. MSFC Director Wehrner Von Braun was so excited that he took a ride himself. NASA was sold, and started pushing the FAA to certify the plane.

The first two-stage launch of a Saturn rocket, the SA-5 was behind schedule because of problems with liquid hydrogen engines. Using the Pregnant Guppy, the important first stage was shipped across the US in 18 hours. By barge the journey would have taken 18-25 days. The SA-5 test successfully reached orbit on January 29, 1964. Without the Guppy, the Apollo program would have fallen permanently behind schedule.

The Pregnant Guppy was so successful that it led to bigger plans. Originally the larger version was called the B-377VPG for Very Pregnant Guppy! To make the new plane lift more weight, more powerful turboprop engines were needed. Conroy knew that the US Air Force had engines left over from retired KC-97's. The NASA Administrator's Office interceded with the Air Force, stressing the national interest. The engines were made available and the Super Guppy first flew on August 31, 1965. After an incident at Ellington Field requiring an engine change, NASA placed spare engines across the country to insure that the Guppies met their schedule.

With the clock running on the race to the Moon, NASA needed the Super Guppy almost immediately. In March 1966 the new plane transported a complete Saturn Instrument Unit from IBM in Huntsville to the Douglas factory in Huntington Beach, California. That same month Super Guppy brought a complete SIV-B test stage back to Huntsville. Thanks in a large part to the Guppies, humans reached the Moon in 1969.

The Guppies were owned and operated by Aero Spacelines, a private company started by Conroy and others. To please the FAA, the Guppies were declared public aircraft for legal reasons. Like today's COTS contractors, Aero Spacelines took a great risk to carry NASA payloads. Also like today, there were many doubters. The ingenuity of the Guppies was vital for reaching the Moon on time.

We are all familiar with the circular cross section of an aeroplane fuselage. It is the most natural shape for a pressurised vessel. The blood vessels within our bodies and even the cells themselves take the form of circles and spheres. Objects from stars and planets to raindrops also form spheres. Philosophers from Pascal to Einstein and even Edgar Allen Poe believed that the Universe is spherical. Scientists today say that the Universe is flat, like the Earth. From past experience, we all know which side will win.

Max Q, the Astronaut Band

Today's post was written at the Cafe Mediterranean, across Nasa Road One from Johnson Space Center. Frequently the Cafe hosts concerts by Max Q, the band made entirely of active duty astronauts! Left-right in front are Canadian Chris Hadfield on guitar, Educator Dottie Metcalf-Lunenbuyrger doing vocals, Dan Burbank on guitar. Not to worry, they've not quit their day jobs.

Max Q is the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure on an ascending spacecraft. The band was started in the 1980's and named by Robert "Hoot" Gibson. In the dark days following Challenger, the band provided needed pickup. Last week Max Q played at the annyal Ballunar fesstival in JSC. This band will play on as long as there are astronauts.

The Most Distant Object?

The Swift Gamma Ray Observatory was designed to catch GRB's "on the fly." Power source of these immense explosions has been considered a mystery. Light from GRB 090423 reached Earth on April 23. This Gamma Ray burst is estimated to have exploded 13 billion years ago, making it a candidate for the oldest object ever observed.

The most likely power source of GRB's is the explosion of gigantic black holes. Size of a primordial Black Hole is limited by a "horizon distance" within light's reach. These gigantic Gamma Ray bursters exploding near the beginning of time is one indicator that the speed of light was once mych larger.

Further observations from Swift indicate that photons travel at the same speed regardless of their energy--a gamma ray photon travels as fast as visible light. This shows that c is not related to photon energy, but the speed of light may have changed with time.

Holding the Moon

October 22, 2009

This is a very exciting and busy period, for which there is scarcely time to write about. The Augustine Committe Report was released today, giving the President options for continuing in Space. One of those options, the Ares 1-X test vehicle has been rolled onto the Launch Pad 39-B for an October 27 launch. Nearby at Launch Complex 40, the SpaceX Falcon 9 will soon attempt a launch. Though friends at NASA sometimes scoff at private space, Elon Musk may be the best hope for shuttling crew to orbit. Whether to land again or just orbit, the goal is still the Moon.

This is a piece of the Moon, a real lunar sample from Apollo! How much is it worth? We can take the cost of the Apollo program, about 200 billion in constant dollars, and divide it by the 381.7 kg of material returned for a market price of 50 million per kilogram. This little bag cost almost as much as my Naval aircraft.

Of course Apollo had other benefits. It jumpstarted technology and science education in the US, leading to uncounted technical advances. It inspired a whole generation to study math and science. The famous Earthrise photo from Apollo 8 showed all humanity how small our planet is. The Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment is one more proof of "c change" in physics, a slowing speed of light.

These priceless samples are kept under the strictest security. Back in 2002 a very foolish intern tried to steal some samples, and is still in the Federal pen. To even get near these rocks one needs a security clearance and a strict background check. (Could "crackpot pest" from Cornell with his Stalinist beliefs get a security clearance? What was that guy's name and what has he ever accomplished?)

It feels like an honour to hold a piece of the Moon. It is a reminder of the enormous achievement 40 years ago. The experiments to be done with this sample will make it safer for humans to return to the Moon and get more. Someday Moon rocks may sit in classrooms, inspiring children to reach higher and farther.

The Mighty Saturn V

Earlier this month (October 1) the movie APOLLO 13 was shown at Johnson Space Center, projected on the side of the Saturn V. Even the third stage is big enough to serve as a movie screen. This is the moment in the movie when Armstrong first stepped on the Moon.

The Saturn V retired with a perfect safety record. Three Saturn V's built for Apollo 18-20 were never used. The first, SA-513, launched the Skylab space station in 1973. Boeing engineers wanted SA-514 and SA-515 for modification into flyback Shuttle boosters. As we heard from Shuttle Program Manager Bob Thompson, that plan was axed as too risky. Shuttles would fly with today's familiar Solid Rocket Booster and External Tank configuration.

The Saturn V on display here at Johnson Space Center is composed of the first stage of SA-514, the second stage of SA-515, and the unused third stage of SA-513. The latter third stage was not needed for the two-stage Skylab mission. The second and third stages of SA-514 are in the Saturn V on display at Kennedy Space Center.

Saturn V was the biggest successful rocket ever flown. (The Russian N-1 kept blowing up.) The proposed Ares V would be even larger and more powerful. The newer design would be nearly too big for the VAB doors, and might require modification of the crawlerway at KSC. Most plans for the Moon and Mars use a heavy-lift booster. We have yet to see what vehicles will take people beyond Earth orbit.

Set in Stone

TERRACOTTA WARRIORS: GUARDIANS OF CHINA'S FIRST EMPEROR the exhibit at Houston's Museum of Natural Science closes this weekend! The famous warriors were built at the orders of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who feared for his safety in the afterlife. In the course of becoming China's first emperor he buried scholars and burned books, a power that today's physics censors can only envy. To keep his army organised, Qin even built terracotta bureacrats. Over 8,000 terracotta warriors guard the emperor's tomb.

As you can see, I've recently met one of those commenters who insist that the speed of light is constant. He seemed to be an educated sort, and asked long lists of detailed questions. When those objections were answered, he brought up some more. New physics was beyond him, so it must be wrong! Finally it became obvious that no amount of reason or data would move this man:

"So, you say that you can better 'conceptualise' this than all the thousands of physicists in the last about 90 years who have studied General Relativity, and better than the even more thousands of mathematicians who have studied Riemannian geometry for even more decades?"

We regret that all such comments can not be answered. Someone who acts onstage wearing a towel gets much nicer comments from men! Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting a different result, and talking to a brick wall with a PhD hanging from it is still talking to a brick wall. Perhaps nothing will change this man's attitude, but we enjoy his company nonetheless.

(No original terracotta warriors were harmed during filming. This is a knockoff, made in China.)

LCROSS Crash Site

View from the LCROSS shepherding stage as its Centaur companion crashed into the Moon.

Happy Birthday US Navy!

Water In the Moon?

96-second video of the LCROSS mission.

All eyes from Houston to Mauna Kea are on the Moon for the LCROSS impact Friday. At the same time we are inundated with evidence of water on the Moon, Mars and beyond. The big hope is that the Moon has abundant water to sustain human settlement.

Until recently the Moon was thought to have only a small amount of water, which arrived via the solar wind. Astrophysicist Arlin Crotts of Columbia University has been working for years on a theory that the Moon has abundant water, and it comes from within. Crotts theorises that water forms deep beneath the surface and slowly wells upward. His theory would explain the recent discoveries of water.

Crotts has submitted a paper with his student Cameron Hummels. We hope that their paper is accepted soon so that more scientists can read it. New ideas, even controversial ones, deserve to see the light of day.

Light Is Winner of 2009 Nobel Prize

The 2009 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to three Americans: Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith, 79. Kao, 75, was born in Shanghai and also has UK citizenship. He pioneered the fibre optics used in modern data networks. Boyle, 85, also has Canadian citizenship. While working at Bell Labs, Boyle and Smith developed the Charged Couple Devices (CCD's) now seen in everything from cellphone cameras to the Hubble Space Telescope. All three physicists invented applications for light that affect our daily lives, and none had any use for "dark energy." Today working on something new about light looks like a good career move.

The speed of light is still slowing down.

Another Blogger Locked Up

"Dark energy" exists largely inthe minds of those who promote it. They would have us believe it composes 70% of their universe, which will eventually be torn asunder in a "big rip." Einstein's work was ignored in much of the world because the author was Jewish. Today the dark energy of anti-Semitism is once again loose in the world.

Among the thousands arrested during the Summer's Iranian crackdown was blogger Mehdi Khazali. Dr. Khazali, 34, is director of the Hayyan Cultural Institute in Tehran and son of an ayatollah. Khazali's crime? He revealed in his blog that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the holocaust-denying fraudulently elected president, has Jewish roots!

(While Ahmadinejad's mother was an upper-class Persian, his father was known to have more hardscrabble roots. The family changed it's name when Ahmadinejad was a child, his original surname has been kept quiet. Khazali and others have found that Mahmoud's birth name was Sanourjian, a name reserved for Iranians of Jewish origin. The surname hails from Abadan, city of Mahmoud's birth.)

Armchair psychologists will say that Mahmoud's anti-Semitic ways are overcompensation for a childhood he is ashamed of. This story will not please his anti-Semitic supporters. In July Dr. Khazali was arrested and is still held at an undisclosed location. This has not killed the story. Yesterday this story appeared in the UK Telegraph:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Revealed to Have Jewish Roots

The Iranian regime has done its brutal best to suppress people and their ideas. Thanks to bloggers like Khazali and others, the truth is
finally coming out. If America's president can't bring the Olympics to Chicago, what makes him think he can trust Mahmoud? We should be talking to Iran's people.

UPDATE: The regime vehemently denies any stories about Mahmoud's religion. The latest rumours focus on Khamenei's sinking health. Tehran is swirling with rumours and intrigue, just like in 1979.

Mercury Bright Spot

In 1974-75 Mariner 10 flew by Mercury 3 times. No spacecraft has visited the innermost planet since then, but since 2008 MESSENGER has flown by Mercury 3 times on its own preparing for an orbit in 2011. Most of the planet's surface has been unseen by humans until MESSENGER. One discovery is this mysterious bright spot, surrounding a depression similiar to volcanic craters on Hawaii.

Since Mariner 10 the planet has been known to have a magnetic field and be unusually dense. The magnetic field is sign that Mercury contains a tiny Black Hole. The singularity would be too tiny to suck Mercury up, but the small amount it does eat would be converted into radiation. Outward radiation pressure would balance gravity's inward pull until an equilibrium is achieved. Mercury would then have a hot interior, which would occasionally well up as volcanic action. Like volcanic craters on Earth, this bright spot could be sign of a Black Hole in Mercury.

The ellipse of Mercury's orbit precesses at 5600 arc seconds per century, yet an anomaly of only 43 arc seconds per century provided one proof of General Relativity. The solar system is full of orbital anomalies. As readers of this blog know, the Moon appears to be receding far too fast as measured by laser ranging. The lunar orbit anomaly is prime evidence that the speed of light is changing today.

Rio Victorious

Congratulations to beautiful and sensual Rio de Janeiro! In August the city hosted the International Astronomical Union General Assembly, an event that only happens every 3 years. Maybe some of you saw my talks on the Moon and the changing speed of light. Today Cariocas can look forward to another special event, as hosts of the 2016 Olympics! Despite last-minute pleading and pandering by Chicago's president, Rio won the honour hands-down. Sports fans can look forward to beautiful beaches, tanned bodies and lots of parties!

Readers of this blog have travelled from atop the John Hancock Center in Chicago to the beaches of Rio. The best is yet to come!

Fun at the NSF

Susan, call girl from the play NO SEX PLEASE WE'RE BRITISH.

Is your NSF grant taking forever to be approved? Does it seem like the grants go to the safest, least-deserving research? In No Sex Please, We're British the blog reported the real-life husband of then-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, himself already on the public payroll, watching dirty movies at home alone while charging them to the taxpayer. Today we know what NSF is really doing with their time. From the Washington Times:

Porn Surfing Rampant at US Science Foundation

"Employee misconduct investigations, often involving workers accessing pornography from their government computers, grew sixfold last year inside the taxpayer-funded foundation that doles out billions of dollars of scientific research grants, according to budget documents and other records obtained by The Washington Times.

"The problems at the National Science Foundation (NSF) were so pervasive they swamped the agency's inspector general and forced the internal watchdog to cut back on its primary mission of investigating grant fraud and recovering misspent tax dollars.

"For instance, one senior executive spent at least 331 days looking at pornography on his government computer and chatting online with nude or partially clad women without being detected, the records show."

For those receiving NSF grants this is a good time to engage in fraud, because the NSF watchdogs are watching something else. What does this say about the NSF's real opinion of women? If inflatons,cosmic strings and "dark energy" don't exist, is that also fraud?

Two Into One

The "Number One Plays and Players" began years ago performing for NASA employees in the Gilruth Center at JSC. Houston's latest hit is TWO INTO ONE, by master of British farce RAY COONEY. A civil servant in the Home Office tries to arrange an extramarital affair with the girl in a towel. Being a British civil servant, he messes everything up. The Minister's wife and the girl's husband (right) show up with disastrous consequences!

The real UK government is still more incompetent than any Ray Cooney farce. Friend Nige pointed out this article from the Times:

Britain is appeasing Iran, Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi says

Dr. Ebadi is the only Persian to have won a Nobel peace prize. She and her family have endured arrest and persecution for telling the truth about Iran. She believes that Britain's government has ignored the regime's appalling record in order to cut a deal.

Though Scotsman Gordon Brown is UK Prime Minister, he still wields great influence in Scotland. Last month Abdel Megrahi, sentenced to 27 years for the Lockerbie bombing, was released to a hero's welcome in Libya. Moammar Kaddafi publicly thanked his 'friend' Gordon Brown and others for helping to swing the deal. In exchange Libya has promised oil and trade.

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith banned radio personality Michael Savage and others from Britain for their political views. Her husband, who was also on the government payroll, was caught watching dirty movies at home alone and charging them to the taxpayer. Smith has since resigned in disgrace, though documents indicate that Gordon Brown approved her actions. In interviews Smith has admitted to being completely unprepared for the job, having no experience running a major organisation. Dr. Savage has 2 masters degrees, in medical botany and medical anthropology, and a PhD from the University of California Berkeley in epidemiology and nutrition sciences. He and others are still banned from Britain by the bureaucracy.

Dutch politician Geert Wilders was banned from Britain for his views, but flew to Heathrow anyway. He was publicly detained and sent back. Many innocent travellers, celebrated or not, have been detained by Britain's dictatorial Immigration Office. When Heathrow's Terminal 5 was opened last year, thousands of travellers and their baggage were stranded for days due to system malfunctions. Failures like these are systematic in British bureacracy, a fine subject for a Ray Cooney farce.

The theatre program says that the girl in a towel is an experienced actress and a scientist working at NASA. How can someone who looks like that (meaning female) be a scientist? How could she solve the "dark energy" problem that thousands of scientists can't figure out? Why does NASA give her money and a security badge for Johnson Space Center? This can't be right--something must be wrong with a woman's equations! Commenters feel a duty to pepper her blog with silly comments, trying in vain to find some flaw with the math or data. If that doesn't work, perhaps she can be stopped at an airport...

Shuttle Reconsidered

The Vision for Space Exploration called for the Space Shuttles to be retired by 2010. Normal delays will stretch the last flight until at least 2011. With 6 flights left, many people are reconsidering that end. The Augustine Commission believes that Ares-Orion will not be ready to replace Shuttle until 2017. Today the head of Russia's Roskosmos expressed hope that Shuttles will fly longer.

Last Friday former Shuttle Program Manager Bob Thompson spoke at University of Houston. Thompson was in charge of Shuttle development through the 1970's. He described the many decisions made on the way:

The first designs called for a manned flyback first stage (left), but that was thought too expensiveand risky. Eventually NASA settled on the design (right) we all know.

Contrary to what we have heard before, Air Force requirements did not drive Shuttle design. The large payload bay proved handy for the Hubble Telescope and Space Station modules. The delta wings gave crossrange capability in abort situations. Overall Thompson claimed that USAF had minimal impact on the design.

Without naming names, Thompson warned against junking Shuttle in favour of a 'safer' vehicle that has yet to fly. Concluding, Thompson
broadly hinted that he would like to see Shuttles flying longer. As for the Moon, he showed this timeline for Antarctica. From the first landing to settlement was 136 years, and the South Pole is closer and less hostile than the Moon. Settling the Moon will take a lot of patience.

Big Scoop: Water on Moon

This writer has the privilege of working with the top scientists studying the Moon. Though Galileo 400 years ago saw lunar seas in his telescope, for the last century the Moon was thought to be dry as a bone. When traces of H2O were found in Apollo lunar samples, the water was thought to be contamination from Earth. Things change, as scientists also thought the speed of light was constant.

At 2 PM EST today a NASA media briefing will announce major findings about water on the Moon. The latest data comes from India's Chandrayaan spacecraft, which went dead weeks ago but returned signs of water on the Moon.

Revolution Not Televised

Another post supporting friends in Iran (Persia): Tomorrow September 24 at noon will be a protest outside the United Nations in New York.

Friday's protests went surprisingly well. According to Le Monde and L'Express, millions of people marched in Tehran. BBC said the protests were even larger than 1979. The regime chants of "Death to America" were drowned out by "Death to Russia" and "Death to China." Police and even the Basij militia did little to stop the protests. Even woman-beating goons can see which way the wind is blowing.

Despite his days being numbered, this week Ahmadinejad is accepted at the United Nations like a legitimate head of state. Governments, including the US, insist upon negotiating with a doomed regime. The ongoing revolution is the biggest story in world affairs, yet it is ignored by major media. It has been left to Twitter and bloggers (including this one) to spread the word.

(On September 22, during a military parade, Iran's only AWACS plane crashed and burned. Airborne Warning and Control is necessary to defend a country against air attack. The plane reportedly crashed at the site of Khomeini's tomb. Without AWACS a country is very vulnerable to airstrikes. One way or another, the regime will go.)

Dark Energy's Demise?

From National Geographic News:

Dark Energy's Demise? New Theory Doesn't Use the Force

"Dark energy, a mysterious force proposed more than a decade ago to explain why the universe is flying apart at an increasingly faster clip, is no longer necessary.

That's the conclusion of a controversial new theory that shows how the accelerated expansion of the universe could be just an illusion."

The article refers to work by Blake Temple of UC Davis and Joel Smoller of University of Michigan. Their work suggests that our galaxy is in the middle of a density fluctuation that mimics the effects of an accelerating universe. This would explain supernova data without cosmic acceleration, but violate the Copernican Principle.

The inferrence of a repulsive "dark energy" has led science nowhere. Focus on DE is one more factor eroding the reputation of physics. These new theories are nails in the coffin of DE. As readers know, the data can be precisely matched by GM=tc^3 and a changing speed of light.

March Tomorrow

To all our friends in Iran (Persia): Protests are scheduled for Friday September 18, Quds (Jerusalem) Day. The regime tries to use this day to drum up support for attacking Jerusalem. In the United Arab Emirates, 53 people have been arrested in an Iran-directed plot to blow up Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building. In the meantime, the regime enriches uranium to build a bomb. If "dark energy" exists, it is in the minds of regimes that oppress women. In 1938 Neville Chamberlain sold out Czechoslovakia to buy "peace in our time" and got war. What sort of Neville Chamberlain would appease people like this?

Jets on the Lex

The Little Red Corvette beneath the wing of an A-3 Skywarrior aboard USS Lexington. Launched during World War 2, when good men were hard to find, "Lady Lex" was 90% built by women. In postwar years she became better known as the US Navy's training carrier. As a training ship, Lexington was the first aircraft carrier to have women in the crew. Naval Aviators, including many future astronauts, learned the difficult art of carrier landings on this deck.

Lexington was berthed in Pensacola, Florida, cradle of Naval Aviation. At "P-Cola" the candidate experienced the discipline of Marine Gunnery sergeants and the famous obstacle course. She would get basic flight training in a Cessna 172, followed by the T-34 Mentor (right). Jet training was in the T-2 Buckeye (left), culminating in carrier landings on the Lexington.

The top of the flight school class aimed for the F-14 Tomcat. The coolest squadron markings were worn by VF-84 Jolly Rogers, part of Carrier Air Wing 8. VF-84 and USS Nimitz were featured in the time-travel movie THE FINAL COUNTDOWN. The colour scheme even ended up on the space fighters of MACROSS. Real Space flyers Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and many other wore the gold wings of the Naval Aviator. The skills and discipline of Naval Aviation have been a huge contribution to Spaceflight.

Vettes on the Lex

Last weekend 300 Chevrolet Corvettes were displayed on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington for "Vettes and Jets on the Lex." This very special event benefitted the Wounded Warrior Foundation. Saturday morning Corvettes and their owners queued up on the pier in Corpus Christ, Texas beneath a pouring rain right out of Noah's Ark. After riding up the aircraft elevator, a little red car was parked beneath the wing of an A-3 Skywarrior.

The rain cleared later in the day, and Sunday's weather was spectacular. Like the 300 Spartans, the owners felt privileged just to be on deck. Looking toward the bow from the bridge, we see an F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet on the catapults.

Looking aft at the bridge, we see the Hornet in her Blue Angel colours. The word "Corvette" originally referred to a type of small, powerful warship. Corvettes have long been the only American-made sports car. Their owners enjoy both performance cars and American workmanship. During the Apollo years, a Corvette was the astronaut's car of choice. One Apollo crew even bought 3 matching Corvettes. On September 12, 2009 the people's love of America was on display.

September 13, 1999

Another anniversary! According to an old TV show about SPACE: 1999, 10 years ago today the Moon was blown out of its orbit by an impossibly large nuclear accident. Funny, the Moon still looks ok in the bedroom window. The show featured a huge self-sufficient Moonbase with a population of hundreds, which would be nice to see built today.

As readers of this blog have heard, the Moon really is slowly drifting away. The difference between the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment measure and the Moon's actual recession rate shows that the speed of light is slowing down today. For those usual suspects try to find holes in the theory: I really recommend that you relax and watch some old Sci Fi shows; they are truly amusing!

NEXT: Another weekend on an aircraft carrier!

Bin Laden Still Dead

8 years after the tragic day 9-11-2001 Mr. Osama Bin Laden is still dead. He stopped breathing as early as December 15, 2001. An Islamist website recently promised an anniversary "gift" from OBL, but withdrew the post. It must be getting difficult taking old recordings and packaging them as new.

OBL has much in common with 'dark energy.' While many people pretend that OBL exists, no one has actually seen him. A mainstream press insists that OBL and DE exist, even though the evidence is sketchy at best. Those with critical thinking skills can see that the Emperor truly has no clothes. Eventually both will fade from the public memory.

The power of one light can illuminate the darkest night.

The Bedroom Window

The bedroom opens onto a lanai (patio) with a panoramic view of the bay. Houston saw a lovely full Moon over the bay last night. The human-made moons of ISS and Discovery also passed overhead. In Houston people are still working hard to reach the Moon. Nights like this are made for contemplating the Moon.

The Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment measures the Moon's distance at 384,402 km. LLRE also reports the Moon receding at 3.82 cm/yr, anomolously high. If the Moon were gaining angular momentum at this rate it would have coincided with Earth only 1.5 billion years ago.

Geology and paleontology can measure more precisely how the lunar orbit has changed, reporting only about 2.8 cm/yr. This figure can be measured precisely. If the speed of light slows according to GM=tc^3, the time for light signals to return will increase each year. The Moon would appear to recede an extra .935 cm/yr as seen by LLRE. The lunar orbit anomaly is precisely accounted for.

One day the world that wonders at the sky will look up and see light slowing down. In the meantime, looking at the Moon is still a pleasure.

The Farthest Galaxy

Astronomers from the University of Hawaii have found a galaxy surrounding the most distant supermassive Black Hole yet found, 12.8 billion years in the past. The Black Hole, found by the Subaru telescope atop Mauna Kea, has a billion times the mass of our Sun. It and the host galaxy were formed in the first billion years of the Universe. Present-day science can not explain how the giant Black Hole formed. The forthcoming paper concludes:

"The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea
has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations
from this sacred mountain."

Every galaxy examined contains at its centre a supermassive Black Hole. They are very likely primordial, formed in the immense densities following the Big Bang. Size of a primordial Black Hole is limited by a "horizon distance" related to the speed of light. If c were always the same value, PBH's would all be tiny. Discovery of massive primordial Black Holes is a clue that the speed of light has slowed.

Fire

Astronomer Michael Brown is known for his observations of Kuiper Belt objects like Sedna. This weekend, from his 9th floor window at Caltech, he made this photo of the fire raging in the California hills. JPL has already been evacuated, but appears to be out of danger. Presently Mount Wilson and it's famous telescopes are in the line of fire.

From Mount Wilson's 100 inch telescope Edwin Hubble found evidence that the Universe was expanding. Hubble's initial graph of redshift vs. magnitude was so scattered that it is amazing that anyone could see a trend. Despite the fuzzy data, Hubble's chart convinced even Einstein that the Universe expanded. In a well-publicized 1932 visit to Mount Wilson, Einstein conferred with Hubble and peered through the telescope. To the assembled reporters Einstein happily admitted that his Cosmological Constant was an error.

Old ideas eventually give way to better theories. Out of the ashes of the cosmological constant came the Big Bang theory. A simple expression like R = ct can predict an expanding Universe. Out of today's speculation about cosmological constants and "dark energies" will come a better theory of the Universe.

Big Bang in Iran

A tiny Black Hole in Earth's core would not suck up the planet. The small amount it did eat would be largely converted to radiation. Outward radiation pressure would balance gravity's inward pull until equlilibrium was achieved. We would feel this radiation in the internal heat that causes earthquakes and volcanoes, forms continents and islands. Some of this heat would also form petrochemicals in Earth's interior. The petroleum that powers your car could be formed by leftover energy from a primordial Black Hole.

Though it has been largely forgotten by most media (who would rather obsess over Michael Jackson) the struggle in Iran continues. On August 14 an explosion rocked the Pars Petrochemical facility in Bandar Assaluyeh, the country's largest. The explosion, almost certainly sabotage, knocked out the country's supply of Liquified Petroleum Gas. Most of Tehran's busses and taxis have been converted to run on LPG because of the continuing shortage of gasoline. More protests and strikes are coming soon. Despite the horrific oppression, the people's struggle continues.

Another Hot Jupiter

Speaking of Jupiters, a tip of the hat to the wondrous Kea and Lobo! Kea's Friday post is about extrasolar planet Wasp-18b. This newly discovered planet is so close to it's star that it orbits in a single Earth day! Wasp-18b adds to the growing list of "Hot Jupiters," giant planets orbiting close to stars. Today's scientists can't explain how these planets can even exist without boiling away.

If Jupiter and other planets formed around singularities, a Black Hole's continued presence would stabilize these planets and prevent then from completely boiling away. Radiation from a Black Hole would explain why Jupiter emits more heat than it receives from the Sun. A Black Hole's rotation would generate electric currents in the whirl of charged particles at the planet's core. This would produce a bipolar magnetic field, whose poles would not necessarily line up with the geographic poles. Existence of Black Holes within planets would explain mysteries of our Earth. A singularity could exist in the last place humans would look, beneath their feet.