JANUARY 1, 2019


LET’S START TODAY WITH A LITTLE HOPE FOR A CLOUDY FUTURE. HUMAN INGENUITY WILL STILL TRUMP COMPUTER INTELLIGENCE.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-46634600/farmers-in-bangladesh-survive-the-monsoon-by-building-floating-farms#
Farmers in Bangladesh survive the monsoon by building floating farms

Bangladesh is home to the world's largest river delta and prone to frequent, devastating flooding. Farmers here are expanding an ancient technique of building floating farms that simply rise and fall with the swelling waters. In times of rising sea levels, could this offer a solution to food security problems?

Filmmaker: Paul Myles
01 Jan 2019



THIS SORT OF SCIENTIFIC USE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY IS WELL WORTH THE PRICE OF HAVING IT, AND OF COURSE IF THE EARTH DOES BECOME TOO HOT AND OXYGEN DEPLETED FOR HUMAN LIFE, WE SHOULD SEE ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF A MOON OR MARS BASE ON WHICH TO PUT A HUMAN COLONY, COMPLETE WITH SEEDS AND LIFE SUPPORT. I WANT TO SEE THE MOVIE ABOUT THE MARS BASE CALLED “THE MARTIAN.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46699737
New Horizons: Nasa waits for signal from Ultima Thule probe
By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent
1 January 2019

PHOTOGRAPH -- Where is Ultima Thule? BBC Science Editor David Shukman explains

The American space agency is waiting for a signal from its New Horizons probe to confirm that it has made a successful flyby of Ultima Thule.

The craft should have hurtled by the 30km-wide icy object earlier on Tuesday, acquiring a swathe of pictures and other scientific measurements.

At 6.5 billion km from Earth, the encounter is the most distant ever exploration of a Solar System body.

The "phone home" message should be picked up by Nasa around 15:30 GMT.

It is expected to tell controllers that New Horizons is healthy and that its memory banks are full of data.

Some choice pictures will then be downlinked for public release, most probably on Wednesday.

Ultima is in what's termed the Kuiper belt - the band of frozen material that orbits the Sun more than 2 billion km (1.25bn miles) further out than the eighth of the classical planets, Neptune; and 1.5 billion km beyond even the dwarf planet Pluto, which New Horizons visited in 2015.

It's estimated there are hundreds of thousands of Kuiper members like Ultima, and their frigid state almost certainly holds clues to the formation conditions of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.

Image copyrightNASA/JH-APL/SWRI
Image caption
Ultima appears elongated: One of the last pictures returned to Earth before the flyby

"Go New Horizons!" enthused chief scientist Alan Stern at 05:33 GMT, the moment when the spacecraft would have been at its closest point to Ultima Thule in the flyby sequence.

"Never before has a spacecraft explored something so far away."

Earlier, he said: "I'd be kidding you though if I didn't tell you that we're also on pins and needles to see how this turns out.

"We only get one shot at it. Nothing like this has ever been done before, and with any enterprise like this - there comes risk," he told reporters.

The risk is that New Horizons runs into fragments of ice or rock in the vicinity of Ultima.

With the spacecraft moving at 14km/s, even particles the size of a grain of rice would shred its interior components.

New Horizons was programmed to get as close as 3,500km to Ultima's surface, and to observe its rotation, geology, composition and environment.

Scientists want to know in particular how such far-off worlds were assembled. One idea is that they grew from the mass accretion of a blizzard of pebble-sized icy grains. This could say something about how all planetary bodies came into being at the start of the Solar System some 4.6 billion years ago - including the Earth.

But the researchers will have to be patient. Because of the great separation between the New Horizons and Earth, transmissions take over six hours to arrive home.

The data rates from New Horizons' 15-watt transmitter are also glacial as a consequence. Information trickles into Nasa's big antenna network at a maximum of 1,000 bits per second.

Media captionBrian May: "I want to merge the science with the music to contribute to the whole experience"

New Horizons has had its long-range camera trained on the object since August. But only on the eve of closest approach did Ultima really start to make an impression in images.

Mission scientist John Spencer presented a picture acquired on Sunday from a distance of 1.9 million km. It represented at that moment the best ever view of Ultima.

"It's a blob, only a couple of pixels across," he said. "But you can see from that blob that it's an elongated blob; it's not round. And so we're already seeing there is some interesting shape to this thing."

Image copyrightNASA/BILL INGALLS
Image caption -- Children invited to mission control celebrate the moment of closest approach

When the pictures taken at closest approach are returned, they should achieve a best resolution of about 33m per pixel - more than sufficient to trace different features on Ultima's surface.

Mission control for the project is based at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. It got a sprinkle of celebrity stardust on Monday with the appearance of Queen guitarist Brian May.

The rock legend has written a song for New Horizons, and with a PhD in astrophysics he also plans to work on some of the probe's images.

"[New Horizons at Ultima Thule] touches me because it's very emblematic in my mind of the human spirit having a need and a desire to reach out," he told BBC News. "To me the song is about that quality in human beings that makes them question and makes them want to understand the Universe they live in."

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James Tuttle Keane
@jtuttlekeane
#UltimaFlyby accomplished! @NewHorizons2015 just flew past #UltimaThule to ring in 2019! New images will arrive today/tomorrow!

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The BBC's Sky At Night programme will broadcast a special episode on the flyby on Sunday 13 January on BBC Four at 22:30 GMT. Presenter Chris Lintott will review the event and discuss some of the new science to emerge from the encounter with the New Horizons team.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


JUST TO PROVE I’M STILL LOVEABLY PARANOID, READ THE COMMENT IN THESE ARTICLES THAT THE BATTERY ON ONE OR MORE DRONE HAD BEEN EXTENDED SUGGESTING “THEY HAD BEEN SPECIALLY MODIFIED.” WE HAVE TO ASK OURSELVES THESE DAYS WHETHER OR NOT WE ARE ALREADY AT WAR WITH RUSSIA, CHINA AND OTHER HIGH-TECH AGGRESSIVE NATIONS. THE SONIC ATTACK IN CUBA AND ONE PLACE IN EASTERN EUROPE, THE CONTINUING HACKING, AND NOW DRONE SURVEILLANCE – OR PURPOSELY PLACE DRONES IN A WAY AS TO CAUSE A PLANE TO CRASH. I’M GLAD THE MILITARY HAS BEEN BROUGHT INTO THIS. THEY GET PAID TO BE PARANOID.

VIDEO
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-sussex-46640398/gatwick-drones-must-have-been-modified
Gatwick drones 'must have been modified'
Drone expert Carys Kaiser said the apparent extended battery life of the drones above Gatwick Airport suggested they had been specially modified.
20 Dec 2018


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-46709353
Gatwick drones: Sussex Police 'sorry' for arrested couple
29 December 2018
Related Topics Gatwick drone shutdown

PHOTOGRAPH -- Elaine Kirk and Paul Gait were questioned over the drone disruption but released without charge

Sussex Police's chief constable has said he feels "really sorry" for the couple who were held for 36 hours over the Gatwick Airport drones chaos.

Paul Gait and Elaine Kirk, who were released without charge, said they felt "violated" after their home was searched and their identities exposed.

Giles York told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was "convinced the grounds for arrest were well-founded".

Two drones found near the airport have been ruled out of being involved.

Mr York defended the decision to hold Mr Gait for an extended period, despite his employer saying he was at work during the drone flights.

He added: "I'm really sorry for what [Mr Gait] has experienced and the feeling of violation around it.

"[But] what might have been worse as an experience for him would have been to be released under investigation still.

"We were able to exhaust all our lines of inquiry on that first instance and were able to release him from police custody saying he was no longer a suspect."

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Anti-drone equipment is now being used at Gatwick Airport

About 1,000 flights were affected during the chaos between 19 and 21 December when drones were seen near the runway.

A suggestion by a senior Sussex police officer that there may have been no drones was later dismissed as a "miscommunication".

Mr York said police received 115 reports of sightings, including 93 confirmed as coming from "credible people", which he later said included a pilot, airport staff and police officers.

He admitted police drones launched to investigate could have caused "some level of confusion".

However, the Sussex force later denied the use of police drones had caused any disruption.

Image Copyright @sussex_police@SUSSEX_POLICE
Report
Mr York revealed two drones found by police near the airport had now been ruled out of causing the chaos, which saw flights cancelled or diverted.

Despite searches of 26 potential sites, he said: "I don't think we have found the drone responsible."

However, he said he was "absolutely certain that there was a drone flying throughout the period that the airport was closed".

Miscommunication blamed for drone confusion
Gatwick drones pair 'no longer suspects'
Labour calls for inquiry into Gatwick drones

He confirmed military technology had been installed following the incidents, "dramatically" improving security at the airport, but said he could not rule out future disruption of the same kind.

Sussex Police has renewed its appeal for help to find "the criminal whose activities led to widespread disruption".

Mr York said: "Public safety remains a priority and what we are dealing with is both unprecedented and challenging.

"There will be information relevant to this inquiry within the community and, with a £50,000 reward on offer for information from Gatwick Airport Limited, it is vital that people come forward so we can bring to justice the person responsible for this criminal act."

Image copyrightREUTERS
Image caption -- About 140,000 passengers were affected by the chaos


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-46670714
Gatwick 'no drone' police comment 'miscommunicated'
24 December 2018

GETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- Flights were suspended for more than 36 hours when a drone was first spotted

The suggestion there may not have been any drones at Gatwick Airport was a "miscommunication by police", a government source has told the BBC.

During a conference call between ministers, chaired by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, it was agreed the 67 drone sightings were legitimate.

But over the weekend, a senior police officer said it was a "possibility" there had never been a drone.

About 1,000 flights were affected during the airport's 36 hours of chaos.

The airport has spent £5m since Wednesday on new equipment and technology to prevent copycat attacks.

Sussex Police has insisted it was not "back to square one" after releasing an arrested man, 47, and woman, 54, without charge on Sunday.

Labour calls for inquiry into Gatwick drones
How can a drone cause so much chaos?
Australia plans drone-identifying system

The hour-long call included David Lidington for the Cabinet Office, the Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Security Minister Ben Wallace, Aviation Minister Baroness Sugg, a defence minister, the airport and police.

A government source said the force accepted that there had been "poor communications".

Det Ch Supt Jason Tingley had cast doubt over possible drone sightings as police had not been able to acquire any footage.

Asked about this, he said: "We are working with human beings saying they have seen something."

He later clarified the force was "actively investigating" 67 reports of sightings and there were some "persons of interest" but would not reveal if officers were close to making any further arrests.

Image copyrightJACK TAYLOR/GETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Flights resumed from Gatwick Airport on Friday
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image caption
About 140,000 passengers were affected

During the conference call, it is understood the Cabinet Office "pushed" the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office to update their rapid deployment protocol.

They also discussed defence systems across the UK's airports, after discussions were had with all airport CEOs on Friday.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- The airport was forced to shut its runway for spells on Wednesday and Friday and for all of Thursday

The airport has offered a £50,000 reward, through Crimestoppers, and another £10,000 has been put up by the charity's chairman Lord Ashcroft to catch the culprits responsible for the drama, which affected some 140,000 passengers.

A damaged drone found near the perimeter of the airport near Horley, close to the last reported sighting, is also being examined.

A spokesman said: "We are clear that there were multiple confirmed sightings of drone activity at the airport.

"Therefore we took the necessary actions to ensure the safety of passengers using our airport. Safety will always be our number one priority.

"We continue to support the police with their investigations into this illegal and deliberate act to disrupt the airport's operations."

Authorities regained control over the airfield early on Friday after the Army deployed unidentified military technology.

It is believed that the Israeli-developed Drone Dome system, which can jam communications between the drone and its operator, was used.

However, experts have said it does not enable the person responsible to be tracked down and captured.

John Murray, professor of robotics and autonomous systems at the University of Hull, said it could only "take the drone out of the sky".