HiRISE Spots Curiosity

As if surviving the Seven Minutes of Terror wasn't accomplishment enough...

NASA's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on the MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) snapped a picture - from orbit - as Curiosity descended by parachute to the surface of Mars.  Of course, it's not even the first time HiRISE has clicked the shutter on another NASA Mars probe.  In 2008 it captured an image of the Phoenix lander as it arrived for its stay near the Martian north pole.

Amazing stuff, and we could all use a little amazing these days.

Curiosity Has Landed

It's 12:31 am and the MLS has "wheels on Mars."

Images from the hazard cams are on the flat screens at JPL.  Great job, NASA!  Woo hoo!  Awesome, just awesome!  Bedtime...

UPDATE: NASA is reporting that the tri-lobed smudge visible on the horizon is the dust plume created as the discarded Sky Crane crashes to the surface 2000 feet away from the MSL!

A Pot of Dark Roast, the Internet, and Some Spare Time

Number of worker deaths due to homicide in multiple-fatality incidents...

Some have expressed concern that the death toll in workplace mass murder incidents is on the rise.  I offer the following for your consideration and analysis.  If anyone has the missing numbers (2007, 2000-2003) or more granular detail (1995-1999) please let me know.

2010, 17% of 401 deaths in multiple-fatality incidents = 68 due to homicide

http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0009.pdf

2009, 23% of 355 fatalities = 82 homicides

http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0008.pdf

2008, 14% of 495 = 69  

http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/os/oshs2008_27.pdf

2007 multiple-fatality incidents not charted by the BLS

2006, 14% of 518 = 72  

http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfoi2006_10.pdf

 

2005, 17% of 466 = 79  

http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfoi2005_10.pdf

2004, 10% of 518 = 52  

http://bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfoi2004_chart7.pdf

2000-2003 multiple-fatality incidents not charted by the BLS

1995-1999, 19% of 2,949 = 575* (or ~115 per year over five years)  

*"The category includes 173 multiple-homicide incidents claiming 535 workers’ lives, plus 34 murder-suicides claiming an additional 40 workers’ lives beyond the assailants who committed suicide in these incidents.”  

http://www.bls.gov/mlr/2004/10/art2full.pdf

UPDATE: Here's another article on the same topic by James Allen Fox at his Crime & Punishment blog - No increase in mass shootings.

I Must Be Severely Out of Sync

But the "best movie of 2012" leaves me cold...

Beasts of the Southern Wild is regarded by the Sundance crowd and many, many others, even Roger Ebert, as some as some sort of masterpiece.  It certainly has its clever, quirky moments and visually striking scenes. At its center is a charming and spirited performance by five year old Quvenzhané Wallis , who plays Hushpuppy, the protagonist through whose eyes we view life in The Bathtub, a dysfunctional community of raw characters living in a rude collection of shacks somewhere in the bayou outside The Levee.

In order to create this masterwork director Benh Zeitlin and co-writer Luci Alibar expose  Hushpuppy and other children of The Bathtub (and the actors who played them) to all manner of jeopardy, ignorance, poverty, parental neglect, eating off the floor, beer-swilling, rum-chugging, child abandonment, meals of dog food, burning houses, verbal abuse, family violence, a hurricane, storm surge, forced evacuation, life in an emergency shelter, rotting carcasses, splattered blood, a brothel, and a herd of pigs made up as giant, carnivorous (?!!) aurochs.  I suppose it must be some sort of high-minded allegory, but I’m not feeling it.  As Hushpuppy tells the audience in a quieter moment,

Sometimes you can break something so bad, that it can't get put back together.

Indeed.

SpaceX In The News

NASA selects SpaceX to return Americans to space...

Press Release
 
(Hawthorne, CA) – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) today won a $440 million contract with NASA to develop the successor to the Space Shuttle and transport American astronauts into space.

“This is a decisive milestone in human spaceflight and sets an exciting course for the next phase of American space exploration,” said SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk. “SpaceX, along with our partners at NASA, will continue to push the boundaries of space technology to develop the safest, most advanced crew vehicle ever flown.”

SpaceX expects to undertake its first manned flight by 2015 – a timetable that capitalizes on the proven success of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft combination. While Dragon is initially being used to transport cargo to the International Space Station, both Dragon and Falcon 9 were designed from the beginning to carry crew.

Under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative’s base period, SpaceX will make the final modifications necessary to prepare Dragon to safely transport astronauts into space. These include:

• Seats for seven astronauts.
• The most technically advanced launch escape system ever developed, with powered abort possibilities from launch pad to orbit. SpaceX will demonstrate that Dragon will be able to escape a launch-pad emergency by firing integrated SuperDraco engines to carry the spacecraft safely to the ocean. SpaceX will also conduct an in-flight abort test that allows Dragon to escape at the moment of maximum aerodynamic drag, again by firing the SuperDraco thrusters to carry the spacecraft a safe distance from the rocket.
• A breakthrough propulsive landing system for gentle ground touchdowns on legs.
• Refinements and rigorous testing of essential aspects of Dragon’s design, including life-support systems and an advanced cockpit design complete with modern human interfaces.
• SpaceX will perform stringent safety and mission-assurance analyses to demonstrate that all these systems meet NASA requirements.

With a minimal number of stage separations, all-liquid rocket engines that can be throttled and turned off in an emergency, engine-out capability during ascent, and powered abort capability all the way to orbit, the Falcon 9-Dragon combination will be the safest spacecraft ever developed. 

About SpaceX 

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches the world's most advanced rockets and spacecraft. With a diverse manifest of more than 40 launches to resupply the space station and deliver commercial and government satellites to orbit, SpaceX is the world's fastest growing launch services provider. In 2012, SpaceX made history when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle to successfully attach to the International Space Station—a feat previously achieved by only four governments. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are carrying cargo, and one day will carry astronauts, to and from the space station for NASA. Founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, SpaceX is a private company owned by management and employees, with minority investments from Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Valor Equity Partners. The company has more than 1,800 employees in California, Texas, Florida and Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.spacex.com. 

End Press Release [hyperlinks mine]

NOTE: Okay, okay, NASA has other CCiCap partners:

• Sierra Nevada Corp., Louisville, Colo., $212.5 million
• The Boeing Company, Houston, $460 million