NASA working on a new Mars Orbiter, But What About future NASA Funding?

Me, "The more data, in pictures and scientific data, should help Astronauts find a good place to set up a Mars colony. We already have a lot of data on Mars, however, it never hurts to have another pair of eyes (another Orbiter) looking Mars over or for new things. It's better to have too much data than not enough. I would say NASA is doing a good job of exploration. 

Could it use more money? Sure. But sometimes having a set amount of money creates new ideas on how to make the most with the money given. It's a Catch 22. 

Of course, it also helps to know exactly how much money it can count on to be given a year. Maybe, a bill in Congress should be passed that finally states how much money NASA can expect to receive as a percentage of the U.S. economy? And, of course certain extra increases for special missions."

From article, "NASA's Next Mars Orbiter Is Being Planned for 2022"

(NASA is planning on sending a new orbiter to Mars. It'll be a chance to replace some aging hardware and also to get some more amazing science images and data from the Red Planet, in anticipation of more robotic missions to Mars and a possible human mission in the 2030s.

While the full funding hasn't yet been approved for the new mission, the 2022 orbiter — referred to as the Next Mars Orbiter or "NeMO" — early conceptual work has been carried out. In July, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., awarded five $400,000 sub-contracts for concept studies, to five companies.)

Water: an abundant space resource.

Me, "This is great news. It means that from a manned exploration point of view: Astronauts should be able to find water, Hydrogen, and Oxygen, to power their rockets, water H2O to consume and oxygen O2 to breath. It makes exploring the solar system easier and less costly than having to bring everything they need with them and back."  

From article, "Water, Water Everywhere on Dwarf Planet Ceres

(There's water, water everywhere on the dwarf planet Ceres, according to new research. New observations have provided direct evidence that water ice is ubiquitous on the surface and shallow subsurface of this massive asteroid.

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter, and has long been suspected of containing significant amounts of water — estimates projected up to 30 percent of its total mass. Evidence has pointed to water ice being mixed with the rock on Ceres' surface, and in a few rare cases, more concentrated patches of exposed ice have been found. Ceres has even belched up plumes of water vapor.)

It May Sound Crazy But..

Me, "I know it may sound crazy but even in our own solar system there are planets, Mars, desert like, and Moons, Europa, waterworlds like, and Earth like, a mixture of the two, that could harbor life or support life that we reintroduce. In fact the age old question of: "Why are we here?" Is probably to export life into the Universe as humans ourselves go out economically, politically, and exploratorily.
 We know the good things and bad things about life, (Hopefully the good outweighs the bad) and maybe God put us here knowing we would one day want to go out and explore and bring life, with us? I am sure there are many views on the subject and I have plenty. Mine is just one of many ideas."



From article, NASA Will Try Find ‘Star Wars’ Like Planets In Search For Alien Life

(There are only eight planets in our solar system, including Earth, but in the 20 years since humans first detected a planet outside our celestial neighborhood, over 3,400 exoplanets have already been discovered. And given the immense and ever-increasing vastness of the Universe, the number of planets that exist in it is likely to be as innumerable as the number of stars.

Given the sheer number, it is also entirely possible that some of those planets resemble very closely the depictions of other worlds in fiction, such as Hoth, Tatooine or Scarif in the “Star Wars” films. NASA scientists are analyzing the existing data on exoplanets to see if such planets exist with the Milky Way instead of in a galaxy far, far away.)

Don't be afraid of Future Robotization

Me, , "Yes, but there will be humans monitoring the robots some where, in case a robot has a hiccup. Which means, more robots run and service fast food chains, and more chains can open serving more food per neighborhood.. The human workforce becomes more techie trained and a 15 dollar an hour job may become even greater paying for the lucky individuals who are the robot support staff. Old jobs taken away but an almost equal amount of new jobs created per new stores opening across from each other as per demand.."

From article, "McDonald's CEO Says Robots Won't Replace Workers. He's Wrong"

(The robots are coming, and they will take jobs, just as new technologies have since pretty much the day the wheel was invented.

CEO Steve Easterbrook has said that the chain's automation efforts won't lead to it eliminating human workers.

That might be true in the short term, but ultimately, it makes no sense for the company to pay people to do what robots do better and -- after a big capital investment -- cheaper. That does not mean McDonald's will be eliminating all humans in its restaurants, but eventually, there will be fewer of them.

"It's cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who's inefficient making $15 an hour bagging french fries," former McDonald's USA CEO Ed Rensi said in May on Fox Business Network's Mornings with Maria.

That sounds like a dire prediction, and it could be, but pretty much all of recorded history suggests it's going to happen. What Rensi said simply makes sense. A tablet can take your order better, faster, and with more accuracy than a human. The same is almost certainly true of producing fries, burgers, and the rest of the chain's fare.

Ease of Constructability

Me, "It's all about ease of suitability. If Hyper loop can be shown to work in India, it could expand to other countries, around the world, as a cheaper form of short time long distance travel."


From article, "Elon Musk’s Hyperloop could solve India’s railway problem


(Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has been toying with the idea of building bullet trains in India, at immense expense. For example, a proposed bullet train project between Ahmedabad in Gujarat to Mumbai is estimated to cost Rs1 lakh crore ($15 billion).Hyperloop is a much cheaper alternative, Gresta said.“You are going to spend $12 billion on a bullet train? Put $1 billion in Hyperloop and you will never need a bullet train,” he said.)

Super Fast Charging Battery

Me, "Great news! Its something that is needed in electric cars, and cell phones, not to mention other products that use rechargeable batteries. Should be interesting to see battery manufacturers scrambling to get hold of this technology and create fast charging products."


From article, "This Battery Charges In Seconds And Lasts All Week"

(The breakthrough down in Florida is to use nano-materials to make the super-capacitor. People have tried to make 2-D nano-batteries before, using nano-materials just a couple of atoms thick, but nobody really cracked it. Now, led by Yeonwoong Jung of the NanoScience Technology Center and the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Central Florida, a team has successfully made, effectively, nano-capacitors.

The material is made up of millions of nano-sized wires which are covered in a "shell" made of 2-D materials. The wires deliver power at super high speed to the shells, which store the energy until it is needed. Imagine a regular plastic-coated wire, where the coating is storing power, then imagine millions of them shrunken into a thin, flexible sheet, and you'll get the gist.

Not only is this high-capacity "battery" fast to charge, it's long-lasting. "If they were to replace the batteries with these super-capacitors, you could charge your mobile phone in a few seconds and you wouldn't need to charge it again for over a week," co-author Nitin Choudhary told UCF News.

Not only that, but the team's nano-battery can be recharged many more times than a regular battery: up to 30,000 times, compared to just 1,500. That means your battery will never fade before your phone dies. In fact, the battery will probably outlast your phone by several times.)

Coding the Future

Me, "Coding is going to have to be taught at some level just like math and science is in school because computers and robotics are becoming more and more mainstream in businesses and probably will lead to more diverse jobs in the future. Those who know code will have an edge up in future work forces."

From article, "Students talk to computers during Hour of Code

("The goal is to reach as many students as possible across the campus," said Tina Gennaro, the Academy of Design and Technology director at the Professional Academies Magnet at Loften High School.

Gennaro opened the school's computer labs during lunch times this week and encouraged her students to bring friends from other academies to try different activities on Code.org. Students who complete an hour of coding this week will be entered into a drawing for prizes.

Everyone should learn how to code, Gennaro said, even if they don't go as far as learning different computer languages.

"It's everywhere," she said. "It's not so much learning the language as learning the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that go with it.")

A New Era in Reusable Satellites

Me, "If we can reuse rockets, we should reuse and refuel already launched satellites. It just makes practical sense and is cheaper than launching a replacement satellite."




From article, "NASA'S NEW SATELLITE WILL CIRCLE THE GLOBE REPAIRING BROKEN SPACE ROBOTS
(In addition to servicing satellites that would have otherwise been lost, NASA thinks Restore-L could pave the way for orbital refueling stations and manufacturing centers. It could also help to clean up debris that endangers other spacecraft in orbit.

When a satellite runs out of fuel or fails to deploy its solar panels, who you gonna call? Right now, nobody. There's currently no reliable way to physically repair things in orbit, which means a multimillion-dollar satellite can be rendered useless by a small glitch. But NASA has been eyeing a solution. This week, the space agency announced it's setting aside $127 million to fund a satellite that repairs and refuels others in orbit.)

In Hot Water? Or Very Smart Move?

Me, "Trust me,.Trump knew the hot water that would result from taking a phone call from Taiwan's president. It was Trumps unofficial way of telling mainland China that Trumps' administration was going to be more proactive than Obama's on economy issues and.military issues and to pause and rethink future possible bubbling issues the two countries will face together."

From article, "Is Taiwan a bargaining-chip for Trump on China?"

(As a candidate, Mr Trump accused Beijing of "raping" the United States with its trade policies and threatened to levy a punishing tariff on Chinese goods.

Hard-line Republicans have welcomed the Taiwan telephone call as evidence that Mr Trump the president would continue confronting China.

"He showed the dictators in Beijing that he's not a pushover," Representative Dana Rohrabacher told Fox News.

Others have suggested that the president-elect wants to use Taiwan as a bargaining chip for a better economic deal.

'This whole idea of finding ways to strengthen and increase the level of contact with and support for Taiwan is not only sure to drive China crazy, but at the same time give us some leverage over China," says Patrick Cronin at the Center for New American Security.)

Middle East countries looking for new income?

Me, "The sanctions by the U.S. and Europe on Russia, imposed because of the partial Ukraine annexation, are either working; and or Qatar is looking for new streams of income besides its own oil field exports. Could be more signs that the oil producing Middle east states are looking to branch out, even more, in search of more income generating companies in the world as the price of a barrel of oil has continued to trade modestly, affecting their income. Oil company Rosneft just happened to be a good opportunity."


From article, "Russia Sells Stake in Oil Giant Rosneft to Glencore, Qatar
(—Russia sold a 19.5% stake in state-controlled oil giant PAO Rosneft to a consortium formed by Glencore PLC and the nation of Qatar in a deal valued at about €10.5 billion ($11.3 billion), using one of its crown jewels to raise much-needed cash.)

Many Ways to Hot Fusion

Me, "Many ways, it seems, to the process of Hot Fusion."

From article, "Physicists Confirm Germany's Nuclear Fusion Machine is Most Advanced in World

(The W7-X is the most recent version of the stellarator concept, which Lyman Spitzer, a Princeton University astrophysicist and founder of PPPL, originated during the 1950s. Stellarators mostly gave way to tokamaks a decade later, since the doughnut-shaped facilities are simpler to design and build and generally confine plasma better. But recent advances in plasma theory and computational power have led to renewed interest in stellarators.
Such advances caused the authors to wonder if devices like the W7-X can provide an answer to the question of whether stellarators are the right concept for fusion energy. Years of plasma physics research will be needed to find out, they conclude, and "that task has just started.")

Microwave Fracking Better than Water and Sand Pressure Fracking?

Me, "It seems that Water Fracking (High pressurized water and sand used to release oil deposits) is on the way out and Microwave Fracking (literally like how a microwave oven works that cooks the oil underground and allows it to seep out of the ground) is on the way in. This is good news for people who complain that their water supplies are being polluted by polluted water. Microwave Fracking does not use water, so polluted water would no longer be a problem for them. Keep a look out in 2017 for this new technology to release even more oil from hard to recover oil deposits and even from present day wells."


From article, "Microwave oil recovery could unlock trillions of barrels of oil and drinkable water from Oil shale and oil sands"

(Peter Kearl is co-founder and CTO of Qmast which is a Colorado-based company pioneering the use of the microwave technology to recover oil. Oil giants BP and ConocoPhillips are pouring resources into developing similar extraction techniques, which can be far less water- and energy-intensive than fracking.

There is more than 4.285 trillion barrels of oil barrels of oil in the Green River Formation (2011 U.S. Geological Survey of resource in-place). Using oil shale cutoffs of potentially viable (15 gallons per ton) and high grade (25 gallons per ton), it is estimated that between 353 billion and 1.146 trillion barrels of the in-place resource have a high potential for development

The idea that a microwave antenna might do the job has actually been around for a while. However, equipment that can create, steer and stabilize the beam was too bulky to fit down a narrow well. Now, designs that will soon make the technology cheap and commonplace are emerging from small outfits, including one Kearl has set up, and from the defense industry.
But just as a ceramic mug in a microwave oven remains cold to the touch while its contents warm up, porous rocks don’t heat up when zapped with microwaves. The trick is that any water trapped in their pores will. If that is mixed up with solid hydrocarbons, the boiling water will heat and liquefy these. The water then turns to steam, and everything can flow through the cleared pores and cracks to be collected at the surface.) 

Comon Sense

Me, "There is common sense and there is stupidity, the stupidity being that right now we don't have, or just have, enough refineries refining oil and natural gas products. All you need is for one refinery to shut down and the whole nation is at risk of running into energy shortages and high gasoline prices. So,the common sense being, I agree here with Trump, that we need to build more refineries. As microwave fracking takes off, we are going to have more oil then we know what to do with and it helps to have more refineries that can handle the load.".

From article, "Donald Trump, in Louisiana, Says He Will End Energy Regulations

(“We will cancel the job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy,” Mr. Trump said in an airplane hangar in Baton Rouge, the day before Louisiana voters go to the polls to vote for Senate and House candidates. “We haven’t had refineries built in decades, right? We’re going to have refineries built again.”)

Doubling HydroPower

Me, "Back in 2009...."

From article, "This is Big: U.S. Could Double Hydropower Capacity With Minimal Impact, Says Steven Chu
(U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that hydropower capacity in the United States could "double with minimal impact to the environment", mostly just by installing more efficient turbines at existing hydroelectric projects or at dams without power components, increasing the use of pumped-storage projects, and encouraging the use of run-of-the-river turbines. These kind of improvements to the existing infrastructure could apparently add 70,000 MW of capacity. "We will be pushing this," Chu said at a White House forum. "We're not talking about a lot of large, new reservoirs. Just work with what we have and it's a massive amount of power.")

The Oil Industry keeps reinventing itself.

Me, "From 2006 a map of proven reserves. Everybody was worried about there not being enough oil, that there would be peak oil. But, if you include Fracking (The use of Water and sand under pressure, or Microwave fracking, to release oil in cracks and fissures, so it can be pumped to the surface) this map is really outdated. It really is amazing how the oil industry keeps reinventing itself."

Propane Made Easy

Me, "From 2014..."


From article, "Propane made with renewable process for the first time
(A gas which can power cars and heat homes has been made using a renewable process for the first time.Propane, which makes up the bulk component of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), has previously only ever been produced from fossil fuels.But a team of scientists at Imperial College in London has successfully demonstrated that they can make propane from glucose using a genetically engineered version of bacterium E coli.“We can now make a product that until now was only available from fossil fuels...)

And we complained about the Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon oil spills!!! Other countries had it a lot worse.

CO2 to Hydrocarbon Fuels.

Me, "The idea of pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere and turning it into Hydrocarbon fuels is not a new one. The point being that even if we run out of easily extracted oil from the ground, and have to make the process from, thin air? lol, we can always have some other way of creating fuels it if we desperately need it. From 2008..."



From article, "Sandia's Next Fuel Source: Thin Air
(The process works something like this: concentrated solar power from a giant solar furnace is used to superheat a set of catalytic cobalt ferrite rings that, once activated, literally rip carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules apart. As a result, CO2 is transformed into carbon monoxide, which can be converted into methanol, jet fuel, or even gasoline.)

A New Way Of Storing Renewable Energy.

Me, "Sometimes it is just luck that breeds a new invention. Here, Wind and Solar need a way of storing their power for when it is not windy or the sun sets. Batteries are good (but they eventually degrade and need to be replaced) but using this ethanol technique (you just keep producing it indefinitely and burning it in am on the side power plant when needed) may be a lot better. Science coming to the rescue of renewable energies."

From article, "NANOTECH WAFER TURNS CARBON DIOXIDE INTO ETHANOL"

(Even though the process probably won’t help much with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere--Rondinone says it would be too energetically costly--he believes there is another way for this process to help meet energy demands.Rondinone sees an opportunity to help with intermittent power sources like wind and solar. By capturing excess electricity generated by the process and storing it in the form of ethanol, it could be burned later when the wind turbines aren’t spinning or the sun isn’t shining.)

Wave Power and Texas

MKe, "Another form of renewable power steps up."



From article, "Wave Power Desalination Plant Coming Soon to Texas

(This month, the state of Texas granted its first-ever offshore lease for a wave-powered energy system to Renew Blue's Seadog Pump. The system, which will be used to power a desalination plant for ocean water, is more than halfway constructed; its executives expect it to be up and running by the winter. PM sat down with Mark Thomas, founder and CEO of Renew Blue, to talk about how this technology works, whether wave power will ever be competitive with wind and solar and why it has failed to be successful so far.)The Seadog Pump is essentially a mechanical conversion device. What we're doing is taking the energy resonant in the waves by having it flow through our device. When it flows through it, we're able to set up a circumstance where we can convert the wave's potential into mechanic energy. Once it's mechanical energy, we use that energy to pump water. At this point, the system is just a pump that is fueled by the waves.

Then we take that energy and pump the water to an elevated area--to the shore, or a platform like we're planning to do in the Gulf of Mexico. Once you've got the water captured, you can run it from the capture point and store it on natural cliffs, like those in California or Oregon or on shorelines in the European Union. Now, you've got pumped hydroelectric storage. When we can store seawater at an elevated level, we then have the ability to release it when demand is there--and now you've got electricity to match demand.

The wind lease from the state of Texas gives us enough space to put in an 18-pump system. This takes up 75 feet by 150 feet. It's a very small piece that is enough to do our demonstration. It's kind of like the movie Kevin Costner did, Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come. We have to have an ability to showcase to the world that we've got a solution using waves because waves traditionally have not had much success. There have been 2000 patents filed over the past 100 years and we don't even have a city of 40,000 people running on that highly dense fuel source. To me, that's a failed sector.)

How OPEC Decisions Affect The U.S. Oil Economy

Me, "Even though this article is 2 years old its got a lot of good facts on how OPEC has been trying to influence oil production and price around the world. With OPEC recently tightening production, the price of Oil per barrel may rise and we may see Oil Fracking make a comeback. In Texas, where recently a big field for fracking was discovered and North Dakota where they are trying to build pipelines to get oil to refineries and instead are angering Native Americans; oil Fracking may once again take off and it is all due to OPEC. The irony here is that OPEC was trying to kill off Oil Fracking and its companies for the last few years, making it uneconomical to produce oil from and it just became too costly for OPEC to continue doing."

From article, "Oil prices keep plummeting as OPEC starts a price war with the US"

(...as oil prices increased, many energy companies suddenly found it profitable to start extracting oil from difficult-to-drill places. In the United States, companies began using techniques like fracking and horizontal drilling to extract oil from shale formations in North Dakota and Texas.

That led to a boom in "tight oil" production, as the US has added about 4 million new barrels of crude oil per day to the global market since 2008. (Global production is about 75 million barrels per day, so this is a significant number.)

Up until very recently, however, that US oil boom — along with increases in Canada and Russia — had a fairly minimal effect on global prices. That's because, at the exact same time, geopolitical conflicts were flaring up in key oil regions. There was a civil war in Libya. Iraq was a mess. The US and Europe slapped oil sanctions on Iran and pinched that country's exports. Those conflicts took more than 3 million barrels per day off the market.

Things changed again around September 2014. Many of those disruptions started easing. Libya's oil industry began pumping out lots of crude again. And even more significantly, oil demand in Asia and Europe has been weakening — particularly in places like China, Japan, and Germany.

The combination of weaker demand and rising supply caused oil prices to start dropping from their June peak of $115 per barrel down to around $80 per barrel by mid-November. Oil is still much pricier than it was a decade ago (when it was still around $40 per barrel). But it's dropping for now.

At its big meeting in Vienna on November 27, there was a lot of heated debate among OPEC members about how best to respond to this current drop in oil prices. Some countries, like Venezuela and Iran, wanted the cartel (mainly Saudi Arabia) to cut back on production in order to prop up the price of oil. The reason is that these countries need high prices in order to "break even" on their budgets and pay for all the government spending they've racked up:

for all intents and purposes, OPEC is now engaged in a "price war" with the United States. What that means is that it's very cheap to pump oil out of places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. But it's more expensive to extract oil from shale formations in places like Texas and North Dakota. So as the price of oil keeps falling, some US producers may become unprofitable and go out of business. The result? Oil prices will stabilize and OPEC maintains its market share.

The catch is that no one quite knows how low prices need to go to curb the US shale boom.) 

We Have To Stop Talking About What We Want To Do And Start Doing What We Want To Do.

From article, "Beyond Dome City colonies to Shell Worlds or Paraterraforming as a shortcut to making planets habitable"


(One big problem with the traditional terraforming approach is finding planets with workable initial parameters: large enough, temperate enough, wet enough, axial spin not too fast or too slow, a magnetic field, etc. A novel method to creating habitable environments for humanity by enclosing airless and otherwise useless sterile planets, moons, and even large asteroids within engineered shells is proposed. These shells are subjected to two primary opposing internal forces: compression caused by gravity and tension caused by atmospheric pressure. By careful design, these two forces can cancel each other out resulting in a net stress on the shell of zero. Beneath the shell an earthlike environment could be created similar in almost all respects to that of Earth except for gravity, regardless of the distance to the sun or other star. These would be small worlds, not merely large habitats, possibly stable across historic timescales. Each would contain a full, self-sustaining ecology, which might evolve in interesting directions over time.)




Me, "There are a lot of good ideas when it comes to building bases on the Moon, Mars and other places. The problem is not unlike buying a car. Should you buy electric or gas. Should it be an SUV or a Car. We can all agree that these options depend on what the consumer thinks is best. The same will be for bases on the Moon, Mars, and other places. Should the base be underground or on the surface. Should the base have a see through dome material to show the bases outside landscape or be enclosed in a metal dome ceiling with an artificial ceiling that shows clouds, sunlight, during the day and stars at night; even movies for a community movie night, and also to relay emergency news and conditions. I think what you are going to have are many different bases, not unlike the many different types of buildings in a city. Each with their own allure, natural and man-made safety features and each new one becoming better and easier to construct then the last. But the thing is we have to stop talking about what we want to do and start doing what we want to do."

Improving Lives

From article, "Trump’s NYC background no guarantee for mass transit project funding, experts say "

(Trump’s camp has bandied about transit and infrastructure strategies ranging from $550 ‘billion to a trillion dollars. But, with Trump’s inauguration less than a month away, it’s not known if infrastructure funding will more closely focus on road projects in the rural states that carried the president-elect to victory. Or will Trump, with his city roots as a developer, have a greater appreciation for mass transit?)




Me, "We will just have to wait and see what Trump wants to do to rebuild and or enhance our infrastructure. 1 trillion dollars is a lot of money that can be specifically targeted to improve the lives of every U.S. commuter."

Coal facing more than Government regulations.

From Article, "Cheap Natural Gas To Spark Another Wave Of Coal Plant Retirements"

(In a new report from Moody’s, and reported on by SNL, the ratings agency predicts that cheap natural gas could lead to another massive wave of coal-fired power plant closures over the next year and a half. 

Coal has been in decline for quite a while. The shale gas revolution that began about a decade ago sparked the first wave of coal retirements. Environmental regulations, including rules on mercury and carbon emissions, are locking in those losses, with almost zero chance of a recovery for coal’s share of the electricity market. Still, the decline was supposed to be somewhat gradual, if painful.)

Me, "Its not just gov. regulations that have been hurting coal country."

Electric cars: Currently, which one is better?

From article, "2017 CHEVROLET BOLT EV VS. 2016 TESLA MODEL S 60: HIGH-VOLTAGE"



(The Chevrolet Bolt EV and Tesla Model S are the only battery-electric cars in existence with more than 200 miles of range on a charge. Both the Bolt EV and Model S 60 have 60-kW-hr batteries, and have the patriotic bonus of being made in the U.S.A. So, which one is better, given that you could have two Bolts (after federal tax credits) for the price of one Model S 60? Is the Tesla is actually worth the extra 30 large?

...if you have to travel long distances regularly, then possibly. But if simple fuel-free driving is what you’re after, the Bolt’s stellar real-world range can cover a week’s worth of commuting plus errands for the average American without charging. Its 238 miles of range also easily enable intercity—but not interstate—travel. Toss the Bolt’s puppy-dog driving dynamics into the mix with its stellar efficiency and family-friendly packaging, and the choice becomes pretty clear: the Chevrolet Bolt EV wins. More than any EV that’s come before it, the Bolt makes emissions-free, environmentally friendly transportation a realistic proposition for millions of Americans. It has made the current crop of pricey, short-range electric cars from BMW, Nissan, and others utterly irrelevant.

Not that GM can rest on its laurels. The Model 3 will be here soon enough, and the rest of the auto industry is catching up quickly. For now, however, the Chevrolet Bolt EV earns the plaudit of being the first mover in affordable, long-distance electric mobility.)



Me, "It seems all you have to do is show that there is a market for alternative powered automobiiles and automakers can find a way of making a profit and also making them affordable. The Chevy Bolt is the first generation of affordable electric car. We will have to see how Tesla's Model 3 catches on as the next affordable car in this market, but the future looks bright for electric cars. Very interesting article. Anybody interested in electric cars should read it."

A Real Star Wars Story

From article, "Northrop Grumman to Develop Laser Beam Control System for Next-Generation Fighter"

(The contract calls for Northrop Grumman to develop and produce the beam control portion of an airborne laser weapon demonstration system that AFRL is developing under its Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program.

The laser weapon will be housed in a pod attached to a fighter-sized aircraft. The system will be tested on a tactical aircraft flying at speeds up to supersonic. AFRL expects to begin flight testing the integrated system by 2019. )

Me, "I think Former President Reagan would be impressed."

LENR A Game Changer

From article, "US Defense Threat Reduction Agency Releases LENR Report — “Investigation of Nano-Nuclear Reactions in Condensed Matter”


(“Once understood, LENR has the potential to be a paradigm-shifting, ‘game-changing’ technology. Nuclear energy systems have power densities six orders of magnitude greater than chemically-based energy generation or storage systems. The ability to harness a new nuclear energy source for either thermal or electrical conversion, without the generation of penetrating energetic particles, would have a profound commercial and military impact ranging from small footprint power systems to mobile systems to larger stationary power systems. Depending on how the technology scales, it could be used as a power source for expeditionary warfare and military bases as well as surface ships/submarines; nuclear battery for autonomous C4I operations (communications, computers, satellites); and long duration UAV and USV ops (propulsion). Such a technology would have a profound effect upon one of the U.S. and DoD’s largest financial and environmental costs: burning hydrocarbons from imported oil and gas with their attendant CO2 footprint. Indeed, many U.S. military actions this century, and the most costly in the 1990’s, have been driven by, or consequences of, the geopolitics of oil. Decreasing the use of foreign oil would result in both an energy savings and a reduction in US military presence, and fleet costs, in maintaining access to foreign oil and natural reserves.)





Me, "The release of this internal document, shows that the government never stopped studying Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, after the 1989 announcement of it. In fact, later on, knew that the research into it was valid and producing positive results. I think this paper was released because of the recent Congressional Committee looking into LENR. Why has it taken the technology so long to surface? Was our government protecting us from a sensitive disruptive energy technology? These are all valid questions. The answers to may be long and complicated. What is shown, is that LENR is a valid technology that a lot of Energy production companies should now invest time and energy into. I mean, not too, seems kind of short-sighted."

A Great Idea Rethought

From article "Don't bet on ever seeing a cross-harbor freight tunnel"

(Construction of any new freight or passenger tunnel or bridge can take years if not decades by the time all feasibility studies, environmental reviews, planning, design, engineering, real estate acquisition, permits, procurements, construction, budgeting, identifying and securing funding is completed. This is before the project reaches beneficial use.

The project has been championed by Manhattan-Brooklyn Rep. Jerrold Nadler for 30 years. After all that time, it has yet to progress beyond the National Environmental Policy Act review process. In theory, it might move thousands of trucks on a daily basis off the roads and onto railroad tracks for significant portions of the journey between New Jersey and Long Island. But it reminds me of the long-forgotten proposed tunnel between 69th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and St. George, Staten Island.

The concept was to extend subway service from Brooklyn to Staten Island. Ground was broken with entrances at both ends in the 1920's, but the project quickly ran out of money and was abandoned to history. When living on Shore Road in Bay Ridge, friends and I would look to no avail for the abandoned site, which was filled in decades earlier. Flash forward almost 90 years and we have the proposed cross-harbor rail freight tunnel.

The proposed Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel may be just another in the continuing series of feasibility studies and environmental reviews sponsored by various governmental agencies and public officials over decades. They generate some money for consultants along with free publicity for elected officials who promise a bright future but all too often move on to another public office before delivering. You are frequently left holding an empty bag with unfilled promises.

Just like the Brooklyn-to-Staten-Island subway, don't count on seeing shovels in the ground before the end of this decade. You may never see completion of any cross harbor freight tunnel.)



Me, "The problem is we don't use the newest tunneling technologies. Obviously, digging an under harbor tunnel would be expensive. We should be thinking instead of using the Norway's idea of simply floating under harbor tunnels. These would be tunnels that would be held in place underwater by pontoons. You wouldn't have to worry about digging out underground tunnels that can cost in the billions of dollars. Instead, you would connect underwater tunnels that would lay close but not totally on the harbor's water bottom. It would be a submerged floating tunnel built in segments with each segment pre-cast and floated into place. Other types of submerged tunnels have been expensive because they have had to have had a trench dug, the section submerged into it and then covered with gravel. The norwegian technique wouldn't need this option. But I guess with all construction there are unforeseen obstacles to getting it built. If the author of the article is doubting a cross harbor tunnel will ever be built, then you have to wonder, what if he is right?"