[Gov] Consider this science news in a Y2K context.

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

This article in the headlines. I got it at Yahoo but it's an AP article.

Thursday April 15 3:08 PM ET

Earth-Imaging Satellite Launched

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - NASA's Landsat 7 satellite was launched today on a $770 million mission to monitor global conditions ranging from soil moisture and snowpacks to the effects of flood, fire, earthquakes and volcanos.

A two-stage Boeing Delta II booster with nine strap-on solid rockets roared off the launch pad at 11:32 a.m. PDT, carrying the 4,400-pound satellite toward polar orbit.

All went well through the first phase of the flight, ending with cutoff of the second stage and the rocket and satellite coasting at 17,000 mph, launch control reported.

The second stage was to restart 57 minutes after liftoff and burn briefly before separating from the satellite at an altitude of 434 miles.

The Landsat series dates to 1972. Landsat 5, launched in March 1984, is still operating. The Landsat 7 mission, with updated technology, was designed to maintain the flow of Earth observation data gathered over the past quarter century.

Project scientist Darrel Williams said the orbit was designed to have Landsat 7 to repeat coverage of any given area every 16 days. Combined with Landsat 5's data, each area will be covered every eight days.

The data can be used to determine the health of crops and other vegetation by monitoring water content of the soil, keeping tabs on natural disaster impacts, and monitoring population changes in metropolitan areas.

A U.S. Geological Survey data center in Sioux Falls, S.D., will be the primary receiving station and data distribution center.

The satellite was built by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space of Valley Forge, Pa. The science instrument came from Hughes Santa Barbara Remote Sensing of Santa Barbara, Calif.

The Delta II was manufactured in Huntington Beach, Calif., and assembled in Pueblo, Colo.

[end]

Btw I work at Lockheed Martin but a different facility. :-) Optimists talking about no April 9 failures cracked me up. My IT dept. could melt into a large molten ball and it would not even be company, let alone public, let alone media, knowledge until there was no other choice in the universe. We have investors you know, no way. So expecting to see this stuff in the media, then claiming that not seeing it proves there aren't really problems was kinda funny.

Anyway I bolded the point of interest. If water is critical, if that satellite will do so well with monitoring 'natural disasters,' and can actually demonstrate changes in population density from one place to another... well. Wow. Whew. I didn't know a satellite could do that.

What a useful satellite should Y2K pose the problems many suspect it will.

PJ in TX

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), April 16, 1999

Answers

PJ When was the last time yuou were told that you have a TWISTED view of teh world??

YOU ARE NOT A WELL PERSON!!

And Yes, this would be a "useful" satelite. For a LOT of uses.

Chuck, who KNOWS that He's both NOT WELL and TWISTED AS @@LL! (hi hi)

PS Does firedocs mean what i think it does?? the above e-mail works.

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), April 16, 1999.


yeah, wow, the ground control station crew can watch the whole thing live, so to speak...

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), April 16, 1999.

Firedocs is one of my (many, alas) domains. Name doesn't have any meaning to anyone but me. Right now that domain's all but inactive. Yeah, my email's real. I firmly believe in making myself available so people can tell me what a Pinhead Polly I am privately. I find people do it less publicly when they have that direct email opportunity. :-)

PJ in TX

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), April 16, 1999.


Speaking of names which reminds me of humor, 'cause it's 4am and I'm always humorous at 4am, an online area wouldn't take the name 'fire' or the many numbers I tried to affix, said taken. Being a cat-lover, I decided to make my handle "firecat" (with some numbers). Couldn't figure out WHY yucky men were coming on to me online, till my husband explained it..... PJ in TX
I'm dim, but I'm lovable.

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), April 16, 1999.

PJ - LOL! You know we're cat people too, don't you?

Satellite info very interesting (although I like to get my demographic info from the US Census Bureau site--lots of lovely stuff there). Let's hope the power stays on so we can see the results of the satellite's patrols.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 16, 1999.



Oh great, now you're scared of the Landsat satellites.

The FUD is worse than I thought.

-- Doomslayer (1@2.3), April 16, 1999.


This new Landsat will come in handy for monitoring "population changes" in Kosovo.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), April 16, 1999.

Doomslayer,

Is business so bad that you have to make up things people didn't say and then respond to that? Heck, you do that in your mirror, you don't need to come here and take up space. The word fear never crossed my posts. In fact I said it was CONVENIENT. How did you get "fear" out of that? Quit projecting your suppressed emotions on me, I have enough of my own thanks.

PJ in TX

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), April 16, 1999.


Doomslayer -

Three major topics re Y2K are water availability, effect of natural disasters (and community response), and "relocation from urban areas." Landsat 7 is described as supporting monitoring of just these sort of events. The connection is obvious, but certainly not sinister, nor did PJ present it as such.

How does this qualify as "FUD"?

(By the bye, for anyone who hasn't seen the term "FUD", it refers to a marketing tactic known as "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt", which big vendors use to keep the market from buying a competitor's products. It takes a fair amount of clout to make it work, but IBM and Microsoft have used it very effectively in the computer industry over the years.)

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), April 16, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ