Category: Current Affairs | Main

Mars Rover: Stuck in the Mud

Spirit, the Mars rover that landed in Gusev Crater on Mars in January 2004 and is still working, just isn't going forward or backward. Back in April its wheels broke through some crusty ground into thick, soft dust, and engineers back at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California haven't been able to get it out. "This lonely spot on the edge of a crater may be where Spirit ends its adventure on Mars," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program...

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November 12, 2009 in Current Affairs, Science, Space | Permalink | User Comments (10)

Tranquility Base

Forty years after Neil Armstrong keyed his microphone and said, "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed," a NASA probe in lunar orbit has returned this image of Apollo 11's landing site. Take a look.

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November 12, 2009 in Current Affairs, Science, Space | Permalink | User Comments (68)

NASA's Ares 1-X Test: The View From Above

Cool video of NASA's Ares 1-X rocket test -- seen from above.

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November 5, 2009 in Adventure, Current Affairs, economy, Politics, Space | Permalink | User Comments (4)

The Yes Men

They say it helps to have a sense of humor in Washington. It helps elsewhere too, but Washington is a special case. Take the example of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce vs. The Yes Men -- one of America's most...

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October 29, 2009 in Current Affairs, economy, Politics, Science | Permalink | User Comments (2)

Green Apple: Firm is Latest to Leave U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Apple is the latest company to resign from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, protesting its "extreme" position against fighting climate change.

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October 6, 2009 in Current Affairs, economy, Politics, Science | Permalink | User Comments (8)

Recovery.gov: Your Tax Dollars at Work

How to you keep track of $797 billion? When the stimulus package was passed last winter, the government promised that citizens would be able to use a new Web site, Recovery.gov, to find out where money was being sent. It...

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September 28, 2009 in Current Affairs, economy, Web/Tech | Permalink | User Comments (12)

Climate: Power Companies Quit U.S Chamber of Commerce

Electric companies, many of them with large investments in power plants that burn coal, oil or natural gas, might seem resistant at first glance to government mandates to control greenhouse gas emissions. But several have now been very public about...

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September 25, 2009 in Current Affairs, Politics, Science | Permalink | User Comments (5)

Last Word on Steve Fossett

Nearly two years after he died, the National Transportation Safety Board is out with its final report on what happened to Steve Fossett's plane in the California mountains. Fossett, you'll recall, was the famed round-the-world adventurer who circled the globe...

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July 9, 2009 in Adventure, Current Affairs | Permalink | User Comments (6)