Chinese space station will fall soon
China’s first space station, Tiangong-1, has exhausted its fuel, thus it cannot still be controlled to keep it in orbit. The 8.5-ton station is gradually falling into the thin upper atmosphere, being slowed more and more by air friction.
It is expected to fall, appearing like a meteor, between Mar. 24 and Apr. 19. It will be broken up by the heat and friction, and only a few, or perhaps no fragments are expected to survive long enough to hit the ground. The fragments, if any, are expected to fall toward the ground within a 200-mile area, likely at latitudes less than 43°, south of our latitude of about 46°.
It is tumbling, thus the air friction is varying, so its rate of slowing is varying. Until it gets closer to its final fall, where it will fall can’t be determined.
The Tiangong-1 or Heavenly Palace lab was launched in 2011 – part of China’s scientific push to become a space superpower. It was used for both manned and unmanned missions and visited by China’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang, in 2012.
Tesla Roadster has traveled over two million miles
Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla Roadster is doing things no electric car has ever done before. On Feb. 6th it left Earth as a fun test and lightweight payload onboard a test firing of the Falcon Heavy Rocket, the most powerful rocket lift system ever built.
On Feb. 8th the roadster crossed the orbit of the Moon.
It is expected to orbit the sun and eventually in 10 million years return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere as a small meteor.
History of stone knapping
The advancement of early humans is hard to measure as between the different geographic areas of the world, and between the different stages of advancement.
Seizing as a tool to measure this advancement, Željko Režek of the Max Planck Institute, in Leipzig, Germany, has chosen the length and complexity of the edges on stone tools produced by knapping, the chipping off of flakes of material to produce sharp edges.
Knapping the process used to create arrowheads, knives and similar tools from flint stone.
Throughout early years, the average length of working edges increased relative to flake size. Early Pleistocene stone flakes, made by humans had the shortest working edges in the study. After many years of trying, though, flake edges started getting longer, and it appears that humans learned how to control platform depth and exterior platform angle in order to get more sharp edges relative to the size of their flakes.
That trend continued with modern humans, but at the same time, edge length also started to vary more from site to site. Modern humans living more recently produced the flakes with both the longest and the shortest sharp edges for their size. It looked as if humans had learned how to make more efficient flakes, but they didn’t always put that knowledge to work.
But that variation may actually be a sign of technological progress for early humans.
Being able to get a longer-edged flake out of a single strike is a really efficient use of stone, which gives you an advantage when you’re short on resources or when you have to carry a stone a long distance to work or use it. But there are other ways to make sharp edges—for instance, the small, sharp bladelets from the Upper Paleolithic at Abri Pataud cave shelter in France have very short edges but clearly demonstrate sophisticated, efficient craftsmanship.
Knapping is of interest locally especially because retired Lewis County Deputy Sheriff, Forest Service Archeological Site Expert and Cowlitz Stud truck driver, Larry Nelson, of Randle, taught a bit of knapping to many of us some years back.
Foiled Again reaches for his 100th win
One amazing racehorse is looking for his 100th win.
The “harness racing” or “pacer” horse, named “Foiled Again,” has won an incredible 99 races.
Foiled Again’s place in harness racing history is secured, but the 14-year-old pacer is still working at adding to his credentials. This is his final year of racing, as he will soon exceed maximum racing age of 15.
Already the richest horse in the sport’s history, Foiled Again is on the brink of joining the 100-win club. When he does, he will become the 14th pacer in the last 40 years to reach that milestone. The leader at 137 is Niffit, who raced from 1977 to 1989.
“I’m excited for him to achieve this,” trainer Ron Burke said.
“He never was a super high-speed horse that beat them with talent, he beat them with heart and determination. I think that’s what resonates with people.”
We’re watching for his next entries.