Echo II, a Balloon Satellite
NASA – Echo II is shown here undergoing a tensile stress test in a dirigible hanger at Weekesville, North Carolina. A dirigible is a type of aerostat or “lighter-than-air” aircraft. The 135-foot rigidized balloon satellite was sent into orbit as a passive communications experiment by NASA on January 25, 1964.
When folded, the satellite was packed into the 41-inch diameter canister shown in the foreground.
SLIDE SHOW (58)
By Paul Taylor – The outcome of Friday’s 27-nation European Union summit may determine the course of the world’s largest trading bloc.
One road leads to a core group of euro zone states forging ahead with closer integration; another to a continuation of the current, multispeed Europe limping along at the pace of the slowest in the convoy; and a third toward a potential breakup of the currency and disintegration of the Union.
To the French, monetary union has always been a political project – to regain a share of sovereignty over their currency instead of being dominated by an over mighty Deutsche Mark; to anchor a reunited Germany to Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall; and to strengthen Europe’s political power in the world.
To many Germans, the euro was and remains primarily about economics – to lock in exchange rate stability with Berlin’s main trading partners; to achieve economies of scale; to impose budget discipline on Europe; and to have an independent central bank run a currency “as strong as the mark”. more> http://tinyurl.com/d4kxhbf
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Tagged Currency, Deficit, Financial crisis, Super regions
By Stephen Lawson – The systems shipped in the quarter added up to 5,429 petabytes, up 30.7 percent from a year earlier. In the second quarter, it had grown by 46.7 percent from a year earlier.
Enterprise storage revenue totaled $7.6 billion in the quarter, of which EMC took 21.7 percent. Revenue for external disk storage, a figure that excludes disks located inside servers, increased 10.8 percent to just under $5.8 billion. EMC expanded its share of that market to 28.9 percent from 25.9 percent a year earlier, according to IDC.
In the external storage market, EMC’s closest rival was IBM, with a 12.7 percent share, statistically tied with NetApp, which grew its share to 12.1 percent. more> http://tinyurl.com/7qn53hv
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R&D Mag – In 2010, emissions reached an all-time high of 9.1 billion tons of carbon, compared with 8.6 billion tons in 2009. The downturn was also followed by milestone carbon dioxide emissions from the developing world’s emerging economies. In developing countries, consumption-based emissions, or those emissions associated with the consumption of goods and services, increased 6.1% over 2009 and 2010. more> http://tinyurl.com/7gl62bh
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