When NASA astronauts return to the moon and begin establishing a lunar outpost, they will need power sources on the lunar surface. Engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland have been exploring the possibility of nuclear fission to provide the necessary power and have taken initial steps toward a non-nuclear system-level technology demonstration of this type of power system.

A potential fission surface power system on the moon would generate a steady 40 kilowatts of electric power, enough for about eight houses on Earth. Fission surface power systems depend on splitting uranium atoms in a reactor to generate heat that is converted into electric power. They offer many potential advantages over other power sources, including the ability to produce large amounts of power in harsh environments, like the surfaces of the moon and Mars, without depending on sunlight. The primary components of fission surface power systems are a heat source, power conversion, heat rejection and power conditioning and distribution.

I hope this pans out because then they can put it on deep space probes which are stuck in the meantime since we're out of Pu-238.

NASA Developing Fission Surface Power Technology | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

When the Soviet Union chucked Sputnik into space in 1957, it galvanized America to come from behind and win the space race. The federal government opened its checkbook to finance an array of projects. Students shifted to new subjects like astronautical engineering and Russian studies to help the United States understand and eclipse the Soviet Union. The moon shot inspired a patriotic nation and produced useful commercial technologies along the way. The space race was expensive, but it worked.

Thomas L. Friedman’s latest book is a plea for a new Sputnik moment. His breezy tour of America’s energy policy documents a nation that has become dangerously dependent on fossil fuels. The bulging bank accounts of oil exporters like Russia, Iran and Venezuela give them the swagger and ability to cause lots of mischief.

Books of The Times - A Call to Arms in ‘Hot, Flat, and Crowded’ by Thomas L. Friedman - Review - NYTimes.com

Kohl's office is asking each carrier to explain the method behind the text message rate madness, including any cost, technical, or other factors that justify the 100 percent increase between 2005 to 2008. Kohl also wants data on how text messages are utilized, comparisons of how text message packages stack up against competitors, and—perhaps most importantly—price comparisons against per-minute charges for voice plans, and per-KB charges for mobile Internet and tethering plans. It should be fun to hear AT&T defend why it charges over $1,300 per megabyte for text messages.

Senator to cellular carriers: UR TXTS R 2 XPENSIV

What made a six-year-old article about a bankruptcy filing by United Airlines reappear on Wall Street traders’ screens on Monday as if it were fresh news, prompting a sell-off that erased $1 billion in the company’s market value in a matter of minutes? The path the article followed from forgotten archive entry to present-day stock-killer has begun to emerge, and it raises some interesting questions about how news rockets around the Web.

Both human error and far-from-foolproof technology seem to have played a role in the episode, which involved a 2002 Chicago Tribune report; the web site of the Sun Sentinel, a Florida newspaper owned by the same company; the Bloomberg News financial wire service; and Google, all apparently unwittingly.

A Stock-Killer Fueled by Algorithm After Algorithm - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

The Pentagon has canceled its $100 billion tanker competition, various news sources are reporting. According to MarketWatch, "the Department of Defense will likely notify the companies and Congress later in the day of its decision, noting that it's unable to pick a winner by January."

Breaking: Pentagon Cancels Tanker Competition (Updated) | Danger Room from Wired.com

Computers that automatically scour the Web for news stories may have been behind the resurfacing this week of a 2002 story that panicked investors and cratered UAL Corp.'s stock, according to reports Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal said the old article about a bankruptcy filing that appeared on Google's news service Monday was traced to the Mountain View-based company's "crawler."

Reports: Google crawler, clicks may have revived 2002 UAL bankruptcy story - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed plurilateral trade agreement that would impose strict enforcement of intellectual property rights related to Internet activity and trade in information-based goods. The agreement is being secretly negotiated by the governments of the United States, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Canada, and Mexico, and the European Commission.[1][2] If adopted the treaty would establish an international coalition against copyright infringement, imposing strong, top-down enforcement of copyright laws in developed nations. The proposed agreement would allow border officials to search laptops, MP3 players, and cellular phones for copyright-infringing content. It would also impose new cooperation requirements upon Internet service providers (ISPs), including perfunctory disclosure of customer information, and restrict the use of online privacy tools. The proposal specifies a plan to encourage developing nations to accept the legal regime, as well.

Ugh

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A new paper published appearing Thursday in the prestigious scientific journal Nature presents the worst-case scenario for runaway climate change that could leave the Earth entirely ice-free within a generation.

If global temperatures continue to rise, massive amounts of methane gas could be released from the 10,000 gigaton reserves of frozen methane that are currently locked in the world's deep oceans and permafrost. Passing this climate tipping point would result in global warming that would be far worse and more rapid than scientists' current estimates.

The new paper suggests that exactly this type of cascading release of methane reserves rapidly warmed the Earth 635 million years ago, replacing an Ice Age with a period of tropical heat. The study's lead author suggests it could happen again, and fast -- not over thousands or millions of years, but possibly within a century.

This is a few months old now but I don't remember seeing it at the time.

Could Methane Trigger a Climate Doomsday Within a Human Lifespan? | Wired Science from Wired.com

On Sept. 2, in the wake of news that he had ordered a study of what it would take to extend space shuttle operations from 2010 to 2015, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin discussed his reasoning in an interview with Space News. The following is a transcript of that interview.

SPACE.com -- An Interview with NASA Chief Mike Griffin

I'm sorry. You're not going to like what I have to say here. There isn't much that I will say below that I Like either, but I'll give you the best analysis that my brain can produce. Any and all who wish to argue or disagree are welcome, even encouraged to do so. Tell me where I'm wrong. Please!

Internal NASA email from NASA Administrator Griffin regarding Space Shuttle, ISS, Russia, Ares, Orion, OSTP, OMB and Budgetary Issues | SpaceRef - Space News as it Happens