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SpaceX will try again at 12 midnight GMT or 4pm Californian time.

The problem was down to a communication glitch between computers and the problem reguired some reprogramming to sort and it is now fixed.

So launch is scrubbed for today

pity was looking good.

well the launch is currently stopped at T-1:02

just enjoying the pod cast  8)

Tom, Chlorine was easily used by Al-Qaeda it is a very common substance and is used to treat water for bacterial growth. It is common in Iraq and all hot countries where you have to treat pools or water towers or even your own water tank. The insurgents simply blew up a bomb next to a drum of chlorine which can be found for sale in any handy hardware store to do this effect. It is not a WMD that is reserved for the use of nerve agents and similar.

I did a study on Jimmy Carter. He was one of the most maligned presidents and cannot be blamed for the rise of Islamic Iran or the hostage crisis. He can be though acclaimed for helping to destroy the Soviet Union and destroying the cold war.

We will start with the Iran situation. Iran had real problems with the foreign backed Shah and there had been for decades a movement against him and the western powers (the west had already backed a coup against a nationalistic goverment). What really peeved the Iranians though was that when the Shah left the country as it boiled over he was being flown to the US on a US diplomatic jet. When the new leader of Iran, Khomeni called for demonstrations against these foreign powers the students actually planned to take over not only the US embassy but also the USSRs. But then over the airwaves from Turkey came Radio Turkeys belief that the USA would get another coup to put the Shah back in charge and later that week large crowds gathered outside the US embassy and eventually came over the walls. Of course the students had ment to take over (they had done it before) but they had the very vocal backing of most Iranians.

Many of the embassy staff got away and where able to be hidden in the Canadian and Swiss embassies. 66 though where captured and the demands of the hostage takers where for the return of the Shah for trial (and execution). A military operation called Eagle Claw was tried and it was an unqualified disaster. So the president started talks and days before Reagan took power the basis of the Algerian accords where signed and the treaty for the hostages to be freed was arranged. Reagan took the credit for what Carter arranged.

By the way in the only private session since the second world war the Canadian parliement took the unique decision to issue passports to all the hidden diplomatic staff so they could get out of Iran. They broke international law to help there ally.

How did Carter help to destroy the USSR. In 1979 afghanistan was invaded by the USSR. Carter blocked grain and fuel shipments to the USSR as a result but he also ordered the creation of Operation Cyclone. This is where the Afghan tribal leaders where armed and financed by the USA to fight the USSR creating what became the USSRs Vietnam. Unlike Reagan who benefitted from the links Carter put in only local afghans where so trained not till Reagan took over where all the foreign nationals determined to fight the Soviets armed and trained as well.

Incidentally this was a history project when written though it is a good example of the principle that even with so much power you just cant control events and that if you use military force it not necassarily will go the way you want. I only did this project since we where not allowed to do one on the more relevant to my peers Falklands war.

Fuel cells reguire a certain amount of platinum group metals and it is one of there most limiting factors both in making and cost.

Not to mention a lot of pollution reduction equipment relies again on Pgms so if we could find a source (especially since Pgms are getting harder and harder to find) and can get it back to Earth within a reasonable price then that is a financial reason to be in space and will lead to other better things.

In some ways we can use the greenhouse scare to promote space and the use of materials found to improve life down here on the Earth. We have always needed a source of PGMs and this can only be found extraterrestial.

Intrest rates do not matter for much if the debt increases at about 2 billion each day and you are unable under the present fiscal structure to pay it off or worse stop the debt increasing. And in a mortgage the bank holds your house deeds does this mean that China as a major holder of US bonds can sell that country.

Our unemployment rate is about the same but is reducing. Our economy is growing as well at a greater rate than the USA's. But it really is not possible to compare economies the USA is drastically a lot larger and we could be equated to a state rather than the whole USA. The problem is that part of the goverments finances are to service the debt but there is not enough money there to stop the debt increasing so though it slows its increase the increase still happens so more debt is accrued.

In buisness this is correct but goverments have different products all together. They are in short the equivalent of not for profit organisations. They have to provide core services but the non core and unfortunatly space flight is amongst that can and will be reduced to make the budget meet. My fear is that whoever takes over from Bush will introduce major spending cuts as the USA still has major wars to fight and men fighting for there lives are rightly going to have a higher priority than that of a new space launch system.

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can control the worlds economy and the situation is that the dollar is weaker so though it is great for exports the problem is that purchasing fuel and materials needed to make those exports is a lot more expensive. And one of the major costs is wages and with fuel costs rising so do wage bills. This hurts peoples jobs as buisness has to cut to keep itself afloat and so more demands are placed on goverment. The dollar is weak because the US appears financially weak.

Again Jeff Bell is on his rant again but as always he spreads good points in with ignoring the points that hurt his arquement.

You will note that the rocketplanes are experimental test craft put to the limit of there then capability. The majority in the 1940s and 50s. These craft where instrumental in developing our understanding of flight and so they had a high risk.

But since then we have advanced our understanding of material, atmospheric and of course airframes a lot. Our planes no longer rely completely on the skill of the pilot they use computers and advanced fly by wire systems.

We have advanced wind tunnels and computer simulations designed to make it easier to simulate what a plane can do. And of course we also have 50 years of knowledge these aero engineers do not have and this is priceless.

Mr Bell does make some good points but his bitterness reduces his arquement and that is a pity.

They cannot afford another failure. And they are a small outfit.

And now we have Germany.

Germany Plans Mission To The Moon

Germany has announced plans to develop and launch a lunar mapping mission by 2013 and after this it is to develop a lander to explore and take samples back to the Earth.

But it is not the shuttle itself damaged but that of the very flimsy external tank and as it contains super cold hydrogen and oxygen it makes sense to ensure since it is dented that there is no eddy points inside these tanks.