317 posts
click on the image for a larger version The Atlas V that carried the Solar Dynamics Observatory into orbit on 11 Feb. 2010 created shockwaves that rippled through a cloud layer. I’ve counted 11 distinct shockwaves, marked by arrows in…
Enough slicing and a salami ends up like this. What happens when a government with a nuclear program systematically works itself into the position of being “a ‘screw turn’ away” from building a nuclear weapon? On one hand, let’s say…
Here is the full text of the IAEA Board of Governor’s reports: ℘ Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008) and 1835 (2008) in the Islamic Republic of…
After succeeding spectacularly by landing astronauts on the lunar surface and welcoming them home, what do you do for an encore? This question has vexed Washington ever since 1969. Subsequent national choices in the form of the space shuttle and…
Sacrebleu! I’ve never seen a classified French document before, but this one is a doozy. Bruno Barrillot —who I have just discovered has written a lot about French nuclear testing, how did I miss this? — somehow obtained, and published,…
Mark Heinrich of Reuters, George Jahn of AP, and Laura Rozen of Politico have gotten ahold of a letter to IAEA Director-General Amano from the ambassadors of France, Russia, and the United States regarding Iran’s announced decision to re-enrich LEU…
During my panel at the Wilson Center, David Albright told a story about how the Israelis talked to Gernot Zippe — inventor of the Zippe-centrifuge — about the contacts that some German scientists and firms had in Egypt. I wanted…
The February 11, 2010 test of the ALTB (the small, slightly horizontal blip on the right) against a target missile, the larger blip on the left. The target blip size is dominated by the exhaust plume.) On February 11th, 2010,…
An announcement. (Sound of a fork tapping a glass.) Ladies and gentlemen — may I have your attention? Ladies and gentlemen, although there were no armistice talks, the SWU Wars have ended in a truce. The experts have reached a…
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, in the midst of a perfectly acceptable statement of Administration policy, cast doubt on Iran’s ability to enrich uranium: MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think Iran has made a series of statements that are…
