Sunday, October 20, 2013

NASA is back open - well at least the web sites - Watching to see where we go now.

I was watching to see if my Navy Retirement, for 26 years of service, would continue to be funded and I see that the government will, for the short term, continue to borrow money to pay me. 

My Social Security check should be here this week so maybe I will be able to pay my property tax that is due by December 10. Furloughed Federal employee daughter back to work and expects to get back pay for the thee weeks she wasn't allowed to work. Had made her mortgage payment before the shutdown and will now be able to make the next one.

I know the above expose is not stuff about going back to the Moon and may not be of interest to you, still I should think those that are working on such ideas would have been affected by all of this government indecision.  Now we wait and see if we play the same game come January, February 2014.  

I would really like to report on exciting space related items.
- LRK -

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Government Shutdown Ends, OMB Tells Furloughed Employees to Return to Work Tomorrow - UPDATE
Marcia S. Smith
Posted: 16-Oct-2013
Updated: 17-Oct-2013 12:40 AM
UPDATE, October 17, 2013, 12:37 am ET:   The President has signed the bill into law.
ORIGINAL STORY, October 16, 2013, 11:50 pm ET:  President Obama is expected to sign the bill that reopens the government and raises the debt limit tonight and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is telling furloughed federal workers to return to work tomorrow morning, Thursday, October 17. 
The FY2014 Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 2775 as amended) passed the Senate this evening by a vote of 81-18 and the House by a vote of 285-144.  All no votes were Republican.  All Democrats who cast a vote, voted yes. 
In the Senate, 27 Republicans joined the 52 Democrats and two Independents (who usually vote with Democrats) in voting in favor of the measure.  (One Republican Senator did not vote.)  A tally of the vote is posted on the Senate'swebsite.
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Before we had a lot of belt tightening to save money.  I don't see this shutdown as helping.
-LRK-

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October 20, 2013

The Shutdown's NASA-Sized Price Tag (Source: Slate)
A few research firms have tried to attach a number to the shutdown. Macroeconomic Advisers put the figure at $12 billion. S&P estimate the cost was twice as high, at $24 billion. Split the difference, and you're talking about $18 billion in lost work. What's a good way to think about that kind of money—a sliver of the entire $15 trillion U.S. economy, but still, you know, $18 billion? In July this year, NASA funding was approved at around $17 billion for the fiscal year. So, there: The shutdown took a NASA-sized bite out of the U.S. economy." (10/17)
...
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Well at least the stale links now work.  We should probably take a look and see what is on the menu.
-LRK-

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Newly discovered asteroid 2013 TV135 made a close approach to Earth on Sept. 16, when it came within about 4.2 million miles (6.7 million kilometers).

NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office states the probability this asteroid could impact Earth in 2032 is only one in 63,000.

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How about the folks at JPL?
-LRK-

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What's up for October 2013

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NASA Ames still working the LADEE mission

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Ames Research Center


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Goddard Space Flight Center open and adjusting
-LRK-

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Due to the recent partial Government shutdown, the Sunday Experiment scheduled for October 20 at NASA's Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., has been cancelled.  Once a new date has been set it will be included in the Visitor Center's on-line events calendar.
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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study Earth, the sun, our solar system and the universe.
Named for American rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the center was established in 1959 as NASA's first space flight complex. Goddard and its several facilities are critical in carrying out NASA's missions of space exploration and scientific discovery.http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/about/index.html#.UmSj5_mTiSo
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Hey, the ISS is still up there.

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Latest News Archives

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Alright, should have done better.  Hubble telescope still looking at the sky. :-)
-LRK-

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Hubble Image: Incoming Comet ISON Appears Intact
  • Posted by Keith Cowing - Source: STSCI
  • Posted October 17, 2013 5:55 PM
A new image of the Sunward plunging Comet ISON suggests that the comet is intact despite some predictions that the fragile icy nucleus might disintegrate as the Sun warms it. The comet will pass closest to the Sun on November 28.
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Thanks for looking up with me.  
- LRK -
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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