WHAT'S NEW Friday, August 27, 2004

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 27 Aug 04   Washington, DC

Paul Gresser, What's New 2004 Summer Intern, contributed to this
week's issue, but now resumes graduate studies at U. of Maryland. 

1. SAVING HUBBLE: ROBOTS JUST GET BETTER, HUMANS NEVER CHANGE.
There's growing optimism at NASA about sending a robot to repair
Hubble.  The big problem may be finding the money, with early
cost estimates at more than $1B.  In other words, a robot repair
mission to Hubble might cost as much as a manned shuttle flight.

2. SPACE STATION: WILL U.S. ASTRONAUTS HAVE TO FLY TOURIST-CLASS?
The Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 makes it illegal to pay
Russia to take US astronauts to the ISS.  Astronauts have been
getting free Soyuz rides since the shuttle grounding, but that
deal ends in 2006.  After that, Russia says they need the seats
for paying passengers http://www.aps.org/WN/WN02/wn042602.cfm . 
I called Ada Parvenu, who handles billionaire relations for NASA.
"We're being shut out of the ISS," I shouted, "after investing
$35B." "Calm down" she soothed, "it's actually a terrific deal. 
It cost $500M to fly a shuttle to the ISS.  Russia takes tourists
there in a Soyuz for $20M.  So we'll call astronauts 'tourists'." 
I was yelling now, "the law won't let us pay Russia for tourists
either."  "We've thought about that," she said calmly, "we're
recruiting billionaires to be astronauts.  They'll be able to pay
for their own tickets."

3. MISSILE DEFENSE: CANADA OPENS TALKS ON NORTH-AMERICAN DEFENSE.
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin wants to talk about possible
participation in Bush's non-existent ballistic missile defense
system.  The Liberal caucus is sharply split over any Canadian
participation in the program, with critics saying the program is
unproven, expensive and likely to start a weapons race in space. 
It has already prompted an escalation of language, with outspoken
Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish warning of a "coalition of idiots." 

4. CLIMATE CHANGE: IS THE CLIMATE CHANGING IN THE WHITE HOUSE?  
The U.S. Climate Change Program submitted its biannual report to
Congress this week.  Two years ago, the President described the
report as "something put out by the bureaucracy."  This time, it
came with a cover letter signed by the Secretary of Energy, the
Secretary of Commerce, and the President's Science Advisor.  It
reinforces what most scientists said all along: emissions of
carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases are the only likely
explanation for global warming over the last three decades. 
Responding to claims that increased CO2 makes crops grow faster,
several important invasive weeds were found that grew even
faster.  Although the President finally seems to acknowledge that
emissions are a problem, he's not proposing to do anything.


THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.  
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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