Science

New Mexico Leads World In Space Tourism

January 27, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Spaceport America is an FAA-licensed spaceport on 18,000 acres of State Trust Land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin in southern New Mexico directly west and adjacent to White Sands Missile Range. Courtesy photo

NMT News:

SANTA FE ― The future is now. For nearly a decade New Mexico has partnered with Virgin Galactic to take tourism out of this world to new heights.

During a recent interview on “CBS This Morning,” Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group said 2019 is the golden year.

“I will hope to go up in the middle of this year myself,” Branson said.

Launch Pad Lecture: ‘Big Bang And Its Afterglow’

January 27, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

NMSM News:

ALAMOGORDO, ― Imagine running a movie backwards and watching an explosion reassemble itself into one tiny package. That’s just the starting point for figuring out what happened in the first years — and trillionths of a second — of the universe.

Join Museum Education Director Dave Dooling for the monthly free Launch Pad Lecture, Friday, Feb. 1 on the first floor of the museum. He will give you a peek at the Big Bang, its tell-tale afterglow, the unusual physics that went on, and why we had to clean up after the pigeons to be sure of it all.

The Launch

Air Force Selects Prime Contractor For NTS-3

January 27, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

KAFB News:

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASEM ― The Air Force Research Laboratory and the Space and Missile Systems Center has selected Harris Corporation as the prime contractor to build Navigation Technology Satellite-3, the next-generation experimental Position, Navigation and Timing spacecraft.

The satellite, called NTS-3, is expected to launch in 2022.

As a unique testbed in geosynchronous orbit, NTS-3 will integrate several advanced technologies to demonstrate resiliency and new concepts of operation to include experimental antennas, flexible and secure signals,

Tales Of Our Times: Look Beyond Politics Into Climate, Science, Inquiry By Trial

January 25, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Tales of Our Times

By John Bartlit

New Mexico Citizens
for Clean Air & Water
Look Beyond Politics Into Climate, Science, Inquiry By Trial

Climate change has been a powerful issue in our country for decades. The 116th Congress now proposes to expand the struggle. Over the decades, the issue has been muddled in the public arena, which talks less about the science than about kinds of people who pervert the science. This new normal for public discourse has clouded the “climate of science” in our democracy.

More broadly, our nation’s continued success depends on a renewed public awareness

PEEC: Explore Future Of Manned Space Exploration

January 24, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Rick Wallace discusses manned space exploration at 7 p.m. Friday at the nature center. Courtesy/PEEC

PEEC News:

Rick Wallace will discuss current and future manned space exploration efforts and show the audience some full-dome movies from NASA discussing their plans for exploration of the moon and Mars.

His talk is 7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 25, in the Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium where he also will discuss the plans of private companies interested in establishing bases on the moon and Mars and the prospect of mining asteroids for natural resources that are becoming

LANL Physicist Michelle Thomsen Wins $100,000 Award … 2019 Arctowski Medal

January 23, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Michelle F. Thomsen. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Michelle F. Thomsen, Planetary Science Institute and Los Alamos National Laboratory, will receive the 2019 Arctowski Medal.

Over the past 40 years, Thomsen has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the relationships between the sun and its planetary bodies, with a particular emphasis on the physics of collisionless shocks and the dynamics of the planetary magnetospheres of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Beginning with her graduate work, Thomsen analyzed data from the early planetary missions Pioneer 10 and 11 and made some Read More

LANL: Scientist Bette Korber To Discuss Her Work Developing HIV Vaccine In Frontiers In Science Lectures

January 23, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Bette Korber

LANL News:

Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow Bette Korber will discuss her work designing a vaccine against HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) in three Frontiers in Science public lectures beginning Jan. 31 in Los Alamos.

“Our immune system precisely targets and eliminates pathogens when we get an infection, and our immune cells have a remarkable capacity to ‘remember’ such an encounter, acquiring protection that can last a lifetime,” said computational biologist Korber, who was named as the 2018 Scientist of the Year by R&D magazine. “Vaccines work

Details On Tonight’s Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse

January 20, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Courtesy/NWS

LIVE SCIENCE News:

If you live in the continental United States, tonight (Jan. 20) is a great night to take a gander at the sky.

As the clock ticks toward midnight on the East Coast, the moon will become increasingly cloaked in red shadows in the longest lunar eclipse visible from North America for years.

This eclipse has been dubbed the Super Blood Wolf Moon eclipse.

The Wolf Moon is the traditional name for January’s full moon. “Blood” is for the vermilion hue that shades the moon during a lunar eclipse. And the “super” is there because this January’s full moon also happens Read More

PEEC: Explore Age Of Earth And Lunar Eclipse

January 19, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Rick Wallace talks at 2 p.m., Sunday at the nature center about the evening’s total lunar eclipse. Courtesy photo

PEEC News:

The Los Alamos Nature Center’s planetarium has something coming up everyday this weekend.

Discover how scientists measure the age of the Earth on Friday evening, watch the beautiful film “National Parks Adventure” Saturday afternoon and learn more about the total lunar eclipse Sunday afternoon before viewing it Sunday night.

At 7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 18, Galen Gisler will discuss the history of mankind’s speculations, ideas, theories and

Scenes From FIRST LEGO League Robotics Event

January 19, 2019 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

FLL Team 146, The Quadrumaniacs, won the top award, The Champion’s Award at the 2018-2019 Los Alamos FIRST LEGO League Qualifying Tournament. Courtesy photo

FLL Jr. Teams cheer for a successful expo! Courtesy photo

ROBOTICS News:

LEGO robots congregated at Los Alamos Middle School Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018 for the local qualifying tournament for FIRST LEGO League (FLL).

Teams from Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque competed for awards and met to share ideas, as is part of the “gracious professionalism” concept of FLL.

Local high school