Sun’s Rays on Discovery

SPACE WATCH
NASA – Backdropped by a cloud-covered part of Earth, space shuttle Discovery is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 26 crew member as the shuttle approaches the International Space Station during STS-133 rendezvous and docking operations. Docking occurred at 2:14 p.m. EST on Feb. 26, 2011.

Discovery Approaching Space Station
The Expedition 26 crew photographed the aft portion of Discovery’s main engines, part of the cargo bay, vertical stabilizer and orbital maneuvering system pods during a survey of the vehicle’s approach prior to its docking with the International Space Station. As part of the survey and part of every mission’s activities, Discovery performed a back-flip for the rendezvous pitch maneuver. The image was photographed with a digital still camera, using a 400mm lens at a distance of about 600 feet (180 meters).

Discovery’s Final Flip
This view of the nose, the forward underside and crew cabin of the space shuttle Discovery was provided by an Expedition 26 crew member during a survey of the approaching STS-133 vehicle prior to docking with the International Space Station. As part of the survey and part of every mission’s activities, Discovery performed a back-flip for the rendezvous pitch maneuver (RPM). The image was photographed with a digital still camera, using a 400mm lens at a distance of about 600 feet.

Image Credit: NASA

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The euro and the South-North Incline

By Richard Hill – As you move northwards from the Mediterranean littoral, the social constraints experienced largely at an almost subconscious level by southern cultures emerge further north as clearcut, expressly stated and universally held social attitudes.

This has nothing to do with the law. The ‘incline’ has to do with values like accountability and transparency, which are much more integral to everyday life in the countries of the North. number of factors may contribute to this, including the fact that the northern countries tend to spend more of their GNP on government than the ones to the south. So much for stories of southern red tape… in fact in these countries it is the family rather than the state that provides the social safety net. more> http://tinyurl.com/4gb8asn

Critical Elements’ Supplies Worry US Scientists

By Doug Smock – A report by the American Physical Society (APS) and the Materials Research Society (MRS) urge the federal government  to secure future supplies of rare earths and other elements, as efforts to develop new energy technologies intensify and China starts to control supplies of many critical elements.

A bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado [the Critical Minerals and Materials Promotion Act of 2011, (S.383)] makes recommendations similar to those found in the report.

Critical elements include

• Helium liquefies at the lowest temperature of all elements and does not solidify, making it important for cryogenic applications.
• Gallium, germanium, indium, selenium, silver and tellurium are employed in advanced photovoltaic solar cells, especially thin-film photovoltaics.
• Dysprosium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium and cobalt are used in high-strength permanent magnets for many energy-related applications, such as wind turbines and hybrid automobiles.
• Gadolinium for its unusual paramagnetic qualities and europium and terbium for their role in managing the color of fluorescent lighting. Yttrium is an important ingredient in energy-efficient solid-state lighting and lasers.
• Lithium and lanthanum: Used in high performance batteries.
• Platinum and palladium used as catalysts in fuel cells. Cerium is also used as an auto-emissions catalyst.
• Rhenium, used in high performance alloys for advanced turbines.

more> http://tinyurl.com/4ravs5b

related>

• EU says joint action needed on China rare earth curbs, EurActiv http://tinyurl.com/69b9vse

Fed’s Hoenig Says U.S. Should Break Up Largest Financial Firms

By Joshua Zumbrun – Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said U.S. regulators should avert another crisis by breaking up large financial institutions that pose a threat “to our capitalistic system.”

“I am convinced that the existence of too-big-to-fail financial institutions poses the greatest risk to the U.S. economy,” Hoenig said today in a speech in Washington. “They must be broken up. We must not allow organizations operating under the safety net to pursue high-risk activities and we cannot let large organizations put our financial system at risk.” more> http://tinyurl.com/47ammle

related>

• Fed May Need to Reduce $600 Billion Asset-Purchase Program, Bullard Says, Steve Matthews, Bloomberg http://tinyurl.com/6fsx847

Air Force awards Boeing $35 billion contract

By Charles Riley – The Air Force announced Thursday (2/24/11) it awarded a $3.5 billion initial contract to Boeing for the production of 18 next-generation aerial refueling tankers. That is a down payment on a contract worth about $35 billion for 179 planes. more> http://tinyurl.com/4hcnp6d

related>

• Pentagon awards tanker contract to Boeing, Bart Jasen, USATODAY.com http://tinyurl.com/6ero6my
• Boeing wins contract for refueling tanker, W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times http://tinyurl.com/6gpnjoj
• EADS unlikely to protest tanker defeat, Tim Hepher and Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters http://tinyurl.com/46wl9yr
• Boeing Gains as Tanker Win Preserves 767, Eases Delay Sting, Will Daley, BusinessWeek http://tinyurl.com/6goss7n
• EADS Loss of U.S. Tanker Deal Threatens Plan to Reduce Airbus Jet Exposure, Andrea Rothman, Bloomberg http://tinyurl.com/497ja3g
• Despite tanker loss, Alabama looks to grow aero ties, Karen Jacobs, Reuters http://tinyurl.com/5uy5xm5
• What options does losing tanker bidder have? Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters http://tinyurl.com/6amc5wd
• Decade-long fight over aerial tanker contract set to end, W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times http://tinyurl.com/6xfclew
• Boeing wins major aerial tanker contract, Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus, Washington Post http://tinyurl.com/6y4hssg
• INFLUENCE GAME: Aircraft titans spark lobby blitz, Donna Cassata, AP/Forbes http://tinyurl.com/4pts7gn