Writing on ACW 2008–2010 · 142 posts
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North Korea announced today that they have conducted test of a test of a nuclear weapon. Coming on the heals of their failed satellite launch attempt April 5th, the DPRK made sure to point out in their announcement that this…
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I’ve been asked to try to express the significance of the Sejil launch. At first, I was given a choice for what was the most significant aspect, from a technical point of view: -The staging? -The fact that it was…
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Rocket Country Date Propellant Stages Purpose Note Kavoshgar Iran 4 Feb 08 Liquid 1 unknown successful Safir Iran 17 Aug 08 liquid 2 satellite launch failed during 2nd stage Sajil Iran 13 Nov 08 Solid 1 or 2 Solid propel.…
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click on the image for a larger version The reconstructed flight path angle and the fitted pitch program are shown as a function of time after launch. The flight path angle is found using the fitted trajectory to provide a…
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I was famously quoted in the New York Times (and in Newsweek) as saying about the failure of the April 5th, 2009 satellite launch attempt: It’s got to be embarrassing. I can imagine heads flying if the Dear Leader finds…
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…and they should be yours too! There is a question of when an international practice becomes a binding law. Some invoke the Treaty of Vienna, a highly controversial subject in the United States, to say that a treaty obligation arises…
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I’m in Montreal for a conference on space debris. It’s a wonderful city (we wondered into Chinatown for dinner last night and, spiritually, I haven’t left yet) and I hope the conference is half as good. It opened today with…
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click on the image for a larger version The Mother of All Influenza Viruses. This graph indicates that all the H1N1 viruses that circulated since 1918 were mutations of the Spanish Flu. (From Taubenberger and Reid, Influenza, ed. C. W.…
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click on the image for a larger version R is the number of secondary cases caused by each infected person; thus R=1.1 means for each ten people sick, one more person will come down with the disease they will transmit…
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red=confirmed swine flu infections as of 26 April 2009 orange=suspected infections To put this into SAT format: Public health surveillance is to pandemics (and bio-weapons) as ballistic early warning radars are to nuclear war. In addition to sharing an early…
