Tag Archives: NASA

Global warming? Nine warmest years since 2000

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According to NASA, global temperatures are rising and we have experienced nine of the highest average temperatures since 2000.  See Full 2011 was ninth-warmest year since 1880: NASA story at Reuters.

I am all for the environment, but I studied a little math and know when someone is putting a spin on the numbers.  Compare these charts:
Global Temperature Change - Celsius - 1880-2011  Global Temperature - Celsius - 1880-2011  Global Temperature 1880-2011

The first chart is the change in temperature that NASA and other global warming groups show to prove the world is “dramatically” getting warmer, but on close look it says the globe has warmed by about 1 degree Celsius from 1880 to 2011.

The other two charts show the total temperature trend in Celsius and Fahrenheit.  The world is getting a little warmer, but these charts do not look very “dramatic”.  You decide.

Data Source: NASA Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index for the change data, though I had to use the 20th Century average temperature to estimate the total temperatures, since the actual numbers are not available.

SpaceX headed to the space station

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SpaceX has been cleared by NASA as the first commercial company to fly to the International Space Station on February 7, 2012. Hopefully this is the beginning of a new era of space development.  I believe entrepreneurship can lead to some great discoveries in space which will speed up development, just like after Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas.  Learn more about SpaceX’s plans in the NASA clears SpaceX for trial run to space station story at Reuters.

Astronomers find potential Earth-like planet

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Astronomers using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope have discovered the most earth-like planet yet circling a star 600 light years away.  The planet is the right distance from its sun, but 2.4 times larger than Earth so the astronomers do not know yet if it is rocky or gaseous.  Read more in the Reuter’s story Planet found orbiting habitable zone of sun-like star.

It will be a long time before we can visit though.  Even at the cruising speed of 38,000 miles per hour (61,155 K/hr) of Voyager 1 (per Wikipedia), our farthest space satellite from Earth, it would take 10.8 million years to travel 600 light years.