Despite initial setbacks, the TMT International #Observatory states that the #ThirtyMeterTelescope is still expected to be ready in #Hawaii by 2024. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/23/thirty-meter-telescope-2024/

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) has recently become a hot topic of criticism and debate. The construction of the astronomical observatory, scheduled to be built in Mauna Kea in Hawaii, was halted in light of protests regarding land clearing at the construction site. Yet, despite these initial setbacks, the TMT International Observatory states that the telescope is still expected to be ready by 2024.

CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING THE THIRTY METER TELESCOPE (TMT)

The construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope attracted international coverage after October 2014, when angry protesters argued that the surrounding land was sacred to native Hawaiians. Following the incident, the erection of the telescope was set to resume on April 2 and then again on June 24, 2015. However, protests interfered with its launch each time.

Regardless the production of the telescope has continued in the six months following the incidences. And according to TMT board member, Michael Bolte, “activities are running full speed ahead.”

“We have been patient,” Bolte states. “These are real issues in Hawaii. The protesters had the question mark about the state process.”

THE FUTURE OF THE THIRTY METER TELESCOPE (TMT)

Although the delays appear to be insignificant in regard to the rest of the project timeline, the Supreme Court is now considering a challenge to the project’s land use permit. If the permit is rejected, the project would need approval from the state’s Board of Land and Natural Resources again.

In the meantime, Bolte has stated that partners around the world in China, Canada, India and Japan, as well as the California Institute of Technology and the University of California are working on separate parts of the project before construction fully resumes. The telescope’s 30-meter-wide primary mirror, for instance, has already been built.

Even if challenges continue to aris, Bolte states that the TMT board will continue to pursue its goals: “I think we’re going to get through all these challenges on Mauna Kea, build this, and this is going to be one of the most productive scientific facilities of this century.”

---

TECHNOLOGY GIVES US ACCESS TO THE UNKNOWN WORLD. FOR MORE NEWS AND PRODUCT REVIEWS, CHECK OUT CLAPWAY TRENDS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEp9yODNjy4

Thirty Meter Telescope Expected To Finish By 2024

This Friday, the #DepartmentofNaturalResources announced that, as was forecast, coral reefs across #Hawaii are feeling the effects of #coralbleaching. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/12/hawaii-facing-worst-coral-bleaching-099/

HAWAII MAY FACE ITS WORST CORAL BLEACHING TO DATE

This Friday, the Department of Natural Resources announced that, as was forecast, coral reefs across Hawaii from the northernmost spot in the Hawaiian Archipelago, Kure Atoll, all the way to the island of Hawaii are already feeling the effects of coral bleaching.

WHAT IS CORAL BLEACHING?

Coral bleaching occurs when ocean temperatures rise above their accustomed range, causing coral to expel the algae that they and creatures living in them feed from. It’s called bleaching because as the coral loses its algae, it also loses it’s colour, turning a ghastly shade of white. Because of the high ocean temperatures, this year’s El Niño may well cause massive moral bleaching across Hawaii. Coral bleaching has only swept through the islands twice before; once this past summer, and many coral reefs are still recovering from it, and once in 1996. This year, ocean temperatures in the Hawaiian Archipelago are about 3 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal, said meteorologist Chris Brenchley.

THE BLOB AND EL NIÑO COMBINED: A RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Ruth Gates, director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, nicknames the rising water temperature ”The Blob”, and this year, it is coinciding with the general warming of parts of the Pacific we call El Niño. This phenomenon changes weather worldwide. Gates goes on to say that it will be harder for these corals to tolerate both blows in one, especially when it is still trying to recoup from last years’ Blob. The small algae that live in the tissue of the coral provide all of their energy, and the strain caused by the warm water forces it to leave the coral, making them lose their beautiful, vibrant colors.

The adverse effects also have negative repercussions on the fish and invertebrates that depend on the coral, DLNR Aquatic Biologist Brian Neilson goes on to say, so coral bleaching sets the entire ecosystem out of check. A conference was held this Friday to discuss this year’s bleaching. It is so pressing because at certain sites that experienced the most severe coral bleaching, it was found that 85% to 100% of the corals have already died, which sets a terrible prospect for fish and other species that go to coral reefs to spawn.

A WORD OF ADVICE TO HAWAIIAN RESIDENTS

Chair of of DLNR Suzanne Case encourages people across Hawaii to help reduce stressors and to promote the recovery of coral reefs; researchers also recommend people to not use fertilizers in water that may reach the ocean, or to wash their vehicles with soap and let those contaminants reach ocean waters.

---

 

DON’T FORGET TO KEEP YOURSELF IN MIND

https://youtu.be/rtbfDSRbTts

Hawaii May Be Facing Its Worst Coral Bleaching Ever

Is The Universe Dying? - http://clapway.com/2015/08/12/is-the-universe-dying-102/

The early, active, bright, busy happy universe is already losing steam, you see, it isn’t the sort of thing to keep popping and growing as a poet or author of sentiments might hope. Unfortunately, this universe is a friend to decadence, and as our chronometers go on, so too will the expanse of space the universe occupies, but the relatively finite amount of energy will become so thinly spread that nothing will be anything but the darkest, the darkest nothing, for billions of miles, hundreds of light years, thousands of light years, eventually you could walk the distance of the existent universe from one corner to the other without seeing a single spark because it’s all gone.

THE UNIVERSE IS DECADENT

This inevitable de-cadence to nihilism was presented in a paper to the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Honolulu on Monday, August 10th. In the paper, the procedure of a group of researchers is limned, in which 200,000 galaxies’ light from across the cosmos is compared. What they found is this universe’s end: there is about half as much total energy as there was 2 billion years ago.

THE UNIVERSE IS TIRING

Before this is prematurely dismissed as irrelevant out of theoretical impracticality, let’s check our semantics and make sure we’re speaking of the same thing. The observable universe is an incredibly vast empty space littered with dense strands of energy, with stars, nebulae and galaxies, but most ubiquitous are the dark unknown particles which rule scientists’ cosmological models. The physical laws governing the behavior of the universe predict that this massive amount of energy will tend toward homogeneity. Eventually, every particle in every star will run out of hydrogen to burn and go quiet, as it continues to spread across the breadth of space. The universe is not a fiction writer, so why should it specialize in novelty?

“So what that means is the universe won’t be hospitable for life anywhere,” laments John Beacom, physicist at Ohio State University. “Not for our life in the Milky way, not anywhere else in any other galaxy. We’re clearly on this inexorable trend where they are all running out of fuel.”

SENSE AND SENTIMENT

But a reader’s reluctance to accept the universe’s death may actually stem from an anthropocentrism: the universe was never a living thing. “We’re using this metaphor of the death of the universe, I’m not entirely sure what that means,” remarked Leonard Finkelman, a philosopher at Linfield University in Oregon. Truly, those of us trying to be optimists may in this case just be too narcissistically obsessed with Personal Meaning to see what’s staring you in the face, if you would just look at what we’re talking about. Space. Not a bourgeois cocktail party. A dark, inhuman, empty, boundless abyss, of which you are seeing only a relatively microscopic tip. Space.

As far as life is concerned, it is a short-lived, recent novelty that struts and frets its hour upon a miniscule stage, and consciousness may very well be nothing but a mistake in human evolution, one whose highest activity is the contemplation of its own absurdity–that it believe it needs a reason to exist so badly in the face of the cosmos’ ultimate indifference.

Don’t look to vast expanses of the universe for Personal Meaning. Nietzsche once said that whatever you choose, take care that you also choose its eternal return. So before you queue Wagner’s Tristan, consider that we’re here, now, making our own choices, and (save for the possibility of H.G. Wells’ Time Machine) we need not found our worth on the ultimate destiny of the cosmos. Generally, creating a little bit more than speculating will spare anyone from nihilistic ennui.

---

 

WANT YOUR KIDS TO LIVE MEANINGFUL LIVES?

Is The Universe Dying?

Pacific Ocean"s Monster Net -- The War on Trash in Hawaii - http://clapway.com/2015/06/08/pacific-oceans-monster-net-the-war-on-trash-in-hawaii-123/

Oil isn’t the only thing contaminating the ocean these days. Recently a net weighing in at 11.5 tons was dragged out of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii proving that the War Against Trash is more crucial than previously thought.

The Pacific Ocean’s Monster Net

This “monster net” was first spotted in the Pacific Ocean 2013 and was just considered a legend among those working for Hawaii’s Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. This first sighting occurred with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on a coral reef in the outskirts of Hawaii’s Pearl and Hermes Atoll.

“Parts of it were snagged on the sea floor. A giant tree twisted in its mass, and a green sea turtle, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, was injured and snared in its folds,” reported National Geographic.

The Dangers of the Net

The divers, alone, were not capable of removing this mass. So, they returned to land and a few days later went out with a research team to further assess the damage done by this monster net. During those three days, the net killed three coral reef sharks, making this a more deadly scenario than previously thought.

The research team attached a GPS tracker to the net, and then they retreated to land to organize an excavation of this monster net. Things did not go as planned, because within a few weeks’ time, the net shed the GPS tracker and evaded surveillance of ocean cleanup teams; thus, the net was viewed as a legend among those who worked in ocean cleanup.

Although the net eluded capture for quite some time, that didn’t slow down researchers and activists, adamant about cleaning up the ocean and raging a “War on Trash” in Hawaii’s water and reefs.

In September, 17 NOAA members embarked on a 33 day cleanup in the Pacific Ocean around Hawaii’s coral reefs. Although their sole mission was not the “monster net”, they kept their eyes peeled for anything that might lead them to finding the infamous danger.

Trash For Days, Weeks, or Months?

Four days into their mission, NOAA members spotted the net, and they were in awe at what they saw. The net was 30ft. long and 8ft. wide. It was so full of trash that it stuck out one foot above the water. It took researchers and volunteers three days to drag this monster net, weighing 11.5 tons, from the depths of the ocean. Now, they are assessing the damage done to the reef and the wildlife of the area.

This is not the first cleanup resulting in monstrous findings of trash and litter in the coral reefs surrounding Hawaii, and it definitely won’t be the last. It isn’t enough to do cleanups, however, to completely win the “War on Trash” we have to stop the hazards at the source.

Protect, protect, protect:

Pacific Ocean"s Monster Net -- The War on Trash in Hawaii

NASA Flying Saucer Launch Delayed Yet Again - http://clapway.com/2015/06/05/nasa-flying-saucer-launch-delayed-yet-again-456/

Due to bad weather conditions, flying saucer launch delayed fourth day in a row.

NASA’s new Low Density Supersonic Decelerator, or LDSD, was supposed to launch originally on June 2^nd. Now, June 5^th, the NASA team behind the project is still waiting for inclement weather to clear up. The test relies on a balloon to lift the spacecraft, which means that it needs calm winds. The high surface winds plaguing the mission today were cited as the reason for the postponement of the launch. Past delay reasons were poor ocean conditions and rain showers.

 

The flying saucer is part of NASA’s efforts to put man on Mars.

The LDSD is the vehicle that’s meant to take a crew of seven astronauts and their cargo to mars. It is revolutionary in a number of ways that will make it the only craft able to safely land humans on such a thin-atmosphere planet. First off, it has a shape designed to generate a lot of drag in order to slow it down. Second, the donut-shaped craft features two fascinating new gadgets that will allow it to slow down even better. The first is an inflatable sort of air brake known as the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, or SIAD. This first-step deceleration system is enough to reduce the LDSD’s speed to Mach 2.4. The second feature is a ringsail supersonic parachute, the first thoroughly redesigned space parachute since the 1970s Viking Program. This new ‘chute was needed for a spacecraft as heavy as the 7,000-lb flying saucer.

 

When the launch finally does happen, how will it go?

This launch is really something for us all to look forward to, as its live stream will be up for anyone to watch. For the test, the LDSD is first supposed to be attached to a huge balloon and allowed to climb to 120,000 feet. Then, it would detach from the balloon and rocket up to an altitude of 180,000 feet, which is close to the edge of the stratosphere. Once there, the next step is the deployment of the SIAD. Finally, the ringsail supersonic parachute will open, lowering speed as much as possible for a smooth splashdown. Hopefully, this launch will go better than the first time NASA launched an LDSD in 2014, from the same Kauai, Hawaii location. That test ended in the spacecraft returning to earth in very poor shape.

 

NASA Flying Saucer Launch Delayed Yet Again

Hawaii: Mauna Kea Telescope Clash Remains Despite Approval - http://clapway.com/2015/05/28/hawaii-mauna-kea-telescope-clash-remains-despite-approval-123/

While a telescope clash still lingers regarding Mauna Kea Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii and protestors are still blocking the construction, Hawaii’s governor, David Ige has announced that the building of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) can continue.

Mauna Kea Telescope Clash Brings Discontent, Protest to Mauna Kea

The TMT building project, which has been stopped for the past month, is worth $1.4 billion dollars. Now, after the governor’s announcement, the TMT construction company has been given the go to restart its construction despite the lingering telescope clash with natives who travel up the mountain to protest.

The TMT is set to be 18 stories tall with a huge mirror that is expected to be three times bigger than any telescope now in existence. It will be a diameter of 30 meters, or almost 100 feet across. Mauna Kea was chosen for a building site due to its dry air and clear sky that is free of light pollution that would cause problems for a telescope.

Mauna Kea Telescope Builders Trying to Cooperative with Natives

While the governor has said that the construction company building the TMT is fulfilling its obligation to manage the project in a respectful and neighborly way, the local residents who travel to the site to object through a telescope clash don’t agree. They are unhappy because the TMT is being constructed on what is considered sacred ground by the natives.

Ige has said that he contacted the University of Hawaii to make sure that the current building area is the final area on Mauna Kea that a telescope might be constructed. Additionally, the university must decommission 25 percent of the telescopes now on the mountain after the TMT is finished being built.

New Mauna Kea Cultural Council to be Formed

In addition, a new Mauna Kea Council will be formed to advise the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), as well as take a look at its present leases and lease renewals. The university must also give 10,000 acres of land it isn’t using to the DLNR.

They must also provide a good balance between space science and culture on Mauna Kea and the state will help to enforce that stability. The university is now required to produce a list of all of the steps it will take to comply with the state’s demands.

Local residents involved in the tourism industry up the mountain say that the Mauna Kea telescope controversy makes them unhappy with this approval and they still plan to protest the TMT construction and expect more of their people to be arrested on Mauna Kea.

For readers with young children, check out the Space Scouts Summer Adventure program here! It’s an educational adventure centered around space, technology, and science with unique weekly packages sure to inspire your burgeoning future astronauts. Click for more information.

Hawaii: Mauna Kea Telescope Clash Remains Despite Approval