NJ Gov. Murphy Delivers new Money for NJ Transit. Now, NJ Transit Has to Deliver Better Service.

Fare Increase Not A Part Of Murphy's Plan For NJ Transit Budget

Rate hikes are not part of Governor Murphy's plan to inject $242 million of new funding into NJ Transit next year. Murphy Tuesday outlined how the 172 percent funding increase will be allocated for the agency's Fiscal Year 2019 budget, which is nearly triple of last year's funding amount.

From article, (Rate hikes are not part of Governor Murphy's plan to inject $242 million of new funding into NJ Transit next year.

Murphy Tuesday outlined how the 172 percent funding increase will be allocated for the agency's Fiscal Year 2019 budget, which is nearly triple of last year's funding amount.

Of the $242 million, $120 million will replace non-recurring funding and one-time allocations that the Christie administration used as alternatives to state-appropriations to NJ Transit's operating budget.

Other investments include:

• $19 million to hire 114 bus, rail, light rail and police employees, along with "administrative support services."
• $21 million will fund increase contractual obligations to private transportation carriers that operate the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, River LINE and certain bus routes, facilities, maintenance, software improvements and other programs designed to improve the "overall health" of the transit system.
• $28 million will correct a shortfall in passenger revenue caused by using unrealistic annual revenue projections.
• $11 million will fund administrative "priorities."
• $4 million will fund bus and rail service expansion to and from New York and the Meadowlands. The expansion is needed due to address overcrowding and the opening of American Dream Meadowlands in March 2019.
• Another $4 million will enhance scheduling, improve communication with the media and the public, and increase service reliability.

"I'm extremely grateful for the Governor's generous support and commitment in his proposed budget that provides NJ Transit with the funding it needs, and without subjecting our customers to a fare increase through Fiscal Year 2019," said NJ Transit Executive Director Kevin Corbett. "It is now up to us to deliver real results for our customers.")

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NASA Relaxing Some Rules as to Where an RTG Can be Used on Future Space Probe Missions

Ideas for new NASA mission can now include spacecraft powered by plutonium

Researchers proposing spacecraft ideas for NASA's Discovery program - an initiative to develop deep-space missions that usually cost less than half a billion dollars - will be allowed to incorporate a special kind of radioactive battery in the designs for their vehicles.

From article, (NASA is giving scientists more choices for how to power their future spacecraft to explore the Solar System. Researchers proposing spacecraft ideas for NASA’s Discovery program — an initiative to develop deep-space missions that usually cost less than half a billion dollars — will be allowed to incorporate a special kind of radioactive battery in the designs for their vehicles. And that could potentially allow these missions to get more science done and go deeper into space.

Discovery proposals can now incorporate a type of power system known as a radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs. These generators are powered by radioactive material — a type of metal called plutonium-238. The metal naturally decays over time, producing heat that is then converted into electrical energy.

 NASA has been using RTGs to power some of its spacecraft since the 1960s. However, NASA banned the use of these systems in the upcoming proposals for the Discovery program, since the United States has had a very limited supply of plutonium-238. Now it seems the US may have enough of the material to spare for the program. After consulting with the Department of Energy, NASA decided to lift the ban on RTGs for the Discovery program, according to a memo sent out over the weekend by James Green, the director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division.

The Department of Energy said that its recent success in producing more plutonium-238 in the US helped NASA make this decision. DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee has produced 350 grams of the material, some of which will be incorporated in NASA’s next Mars rover. “These recent successes have reduced risks associated with future plutonium supplies and factored into NASA’s announcement last week to include radioisotope power systems in its Discovery 2018 Announcement of Opportunity,” a spokesperson for DOE said in a statement to The Verge. “The Department is committed to supporting NASA’s efforts to make radioisotope power systems available to support its space exploration goals.”

The change may be possible since there is a while before the new Discovery mission has to be ready, allowing time for more Pu-238 to be produced. NASA plans to post a final draft of the Discovery program’s call for submissions in 2019, and then the finalist will be chosen in 2021. The target launch date for the mission is some time before the end of 2026.)

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