The rocket that SpaceX landed in a historic first last month is in great shape and ready to be fired again, company CEO Elon Musk says.
On Dec. 21, SpaceX successfully brought the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth for a soft landing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida — the first time this had ever been done during an orbital launch. The achievement is a big step forward in SpaceX's quest to develop fully, rapidly reusable rockets, which Musk has said could slash the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100.
Now there is more good news for SpaceX: The Falcon 9 stage appears to have survived its liftoff and landing with no ill effects, Musk said.
Falcon 9 back in the hangar at Cape Canaveral. No damage found, ready to fire again," Musk wrote in an Instagram post on Dec. 31, which accompanied a photo of the booster.
SpaceX plans to perform a "static fire" of the landed rocket stage on the ground at Cape Canaveral at some point, to confirm that all of the stage's systems are working well and that the booster could achieve full thrust during a re-flight mission, Musk said during a teleconference with reporters on Dec. 21 shortly after the landing. On Dec. 23, NASA released a video showing new views of the Falcon 9 landing.
This particular Falcon 9 stage will not take to the skies again, however; SpaceX aims to preserve it as a sort of museum piece, Musk added. But the company does intend to land and then re-fly a booster in the near future, he said.
"We have quite a big flight manifest, and we should be doing well over a dozen flights next year," Musk said during the Dec. 21 teleconference. "So I think, probably sometime next year, we will aim to re-fly one of the rocket boosters."
The rocket landing occurred during a launch whose main purpose was lofting to orbit 11 satellites for SpaceX customer Orbcomm. That part of the mission also went well, with all spacecraft achieving their intended orbits, SpaceX representatives said.
The Dec. 21 liftoff was the return-to-flight mission for SpaceX and the two-stage Falcon 9, which had failed during a June 28 launch of the company's robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station for NASA.
SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly at least 12 such uncrewed re-supply missions. The next one is scheduled to liftoff sometime this month.
The June 28 failure was traced to a faulty steel strut in the Falcon 9's upper stage. In the aftermath of the accident, Musk vowed that the company would test every one of the hundreds of such struts that go into each Falcon 9.
SpaceX isn't the only entity working to develop reusable rockets. In November, Blue Origin, a spaceflight company led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, successfully landed its New Shepard booster during a test flight that reached suborbital space.
http://www.space.com/31511-spacex-rocket-landing-great-shape-photos.html
Structure of the Lead：
what:make the rocket refly
who:Elon Musk
when:Dec9
steel:鋼鐵
slash:割傷
strut:支柱
orbit:軌道
liftoff起飛
2016年12月20日 星期二
Paris climate deal at risk unless countries step up plans, says watchdog
The Paris agreement on climate change risks failure unless countries come forward with more ambitious and detailed plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s energy watchdog has warned.
The agreement, reached almost a year ago, is only a “framework”, said the International Energy Agency on Wednesday, and requires sweeping policy changes among governments around the world to put its aims into force.
“Government policies will determine where we go from here,” said Fatih Birol, the executive director of the agency. Current national pledges on greenhouse gas emissions, though “an achievement”, are inadequate and most governments have yet to indicate what further reductions they could make.
Governments are meeting this week in Marrakech to flesh out some of the legal and technical details of the Paris accord. But their talks have been overshadowed by the election of Donald Trump as US president because he has vowed repeatedly to cancel the agreement, or at least the US’s participation in it. This risks returning the world to the stalemate that characterised the decade of climate talks from the 1997 Kyoto protocol to the 2008 accession of Barack Obama, during which the US barely took part in the negotiations or, in some cases, actively obstructed them.
Birol urged caution: “Governments come and go around the world. This is a perfectly normal thing, and energy policies change with changes in administration. We may well see a change in US policy and, given the size of the US economy, these changes may have global implications. If there are such changes, we will include them in our analysis. But for now, it would be premature to speculate on what these policies might be.”
Under the Paris agreement, which came into force this month, nations have pledged to hold global warming to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels, with an “aspiration” not to exceed 1.5C. However, the accompanying national pledges made by each government on curbs to their emissions are not legally binding.
Although those national pledges are likely to be met, according to the IEA’s World Energy Outlook, widely regarded as the gold standard on energy research, this will only slow down the projected rise in carbon emissions from energy from an annual average of about 650m tonnes a year since 2000 to about 150m tonnes in 2040. While a significant change, that would still leave the world exceeding the 2C goal by about 0.7C by the end of the century.
Policies to bring the world on to a 2C trajectory must be implemented as a matter of urgency if the Paris pledge is to be fulfilled, the IEA said, as emissions must peak in the next few years to avoid adding too much to the stock of carbon in the atmosphere.
Once carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere, it tends to stay there for at least a century, unless absorbed by the planet’s “carbon sinks”, such as forests and oceans. However, our emissions have long outstripped the ability of the world’s carbon sinks to absorb them. It is the carbon in the atmosphere that determines what happens to climate change, and as yet there is no viable technology – and no realistic prospect of it – to suck carbon from the air.
These physical realities make early action on reducing emissions vital, because actions taken later will be less effective.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/16/paris-climate-deal-at-risk-unless-countries-step-up-plans-says-watchdog
Structure of the Lead：
who:countries
where:Paris
what:The Paris agreement on climate change
emission 發行
framework 架構
bind 綑綁
outstrip 超過
premature 過早的
The agreement, reached almost a year ago, is only a “framework”, said the International Energy Agency on Wednesday, and requires sweeping policy changes among governments around the world to put its aims into force.
“Government policies will determine where we go from here,” said Fatih Birol, the executive director of the agency. Current national pledges on greenhouse gas emissions, though “an achievement”, are inadequate and most governments have yet to indicate what further reductions they could make.
Governments are meeting this week in Marrakech to flesh out some of the legal and technical details of the Paris accord. But their talks have been overshadowed by the election of Donald Trump as US president because he has vowed repeatedly to cancel the agreement, or at least the US’s participation in it. This risks returning the world to the stalemate that characterised the decade of climate talks from the 1997 Kyoto protocol to the 2008 accession of Barack Obama, during which the US barely took part in the negotiations or, in some cases, actively obstructed them.
Birol urged caution: “Governments come and go around the world. This is a perfectly normal thing, and energy policies change with changes in administration. We may well see a change in US policy and, given the size of the US economy, these changes may have global implications. If there are such changes, we will include them in our analysis. But for now, it would be premature to speculate on what these policies might be.”
Under the Paris agreement, which came into force this month, nations have pledged to hold global warming to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels, with an “aspiration” not to exceed 1.5C. However, the accompanying national pledges made by each government on curbs to their emissions are not legally binding.
Although those national pledges are likely to be met, according to the IEA’s World Energy Outlook, widely regarded as the gold standard on energy research, this will only slow down the projected rise in carbon emissions from energy from an annual average of about 650m tonnes a year since 2000 to about 150m tonnes in 2040. While a significant change, that would still leave the world exceeding the 2C goal by about 0.7C by the end of the century.
Policies to bring the world on to a 2C trajectory must be implemented as a matter of urgency if the Paris pledge is to be fulfilled, the IEA said, as emissions must peak in the next few years to avoid adding too much to the stock of carbon in the atmosphere.
Once carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere, it tends to stay there for at least a century, unless absorbed by the planet’s “carbon sinks”, such as forests and oceans. However, our emissions have long outstripped the ability of the world’s carbon sinks to absorb them. It is the carbon in the atmosphere that determines what happens to climate change, and as yet there is no viable technology – and no realistic prospect of it – to suck carbon from the air.
These physical realities make early action on reducing emissions vital, because actions taken later will be less effective.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/16/paris-climate-deal-at-risk-unless-countries-step-up-plans-says-watchdog
Structure of the Lead：
who:countries
where:Paris
what:The Paris agreement on climate change
emission 發行
framework 架構
bind 綑綁
outstrip 超過
premature 過早的
Leonardo DiCaprio Wins His First Oscar for Best Actor
It was a big night at the 2016 Oscars for Leonardo DiCaprio, who joined the ranks of Oscar winners by the end of the telecast. Kicking off his night, Leonardo made headlines walking the red carpet with fellow Oscar nominee Kate Winslet, giving fans a Titanic reunion. The biggest highlight of the night for the six-time Oscar nominated actor: making history by finally winning his first Oscar! Leonardo won Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in The Revenant, and his Oscar acceptance speech was certainly one for the record books.
Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world. A world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would be most affected by this. For our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed. I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. Thank you so very much.
http://oscar.go.com/news/winners/oscar-winners-2016-see-the-complete-list
where:Oscar
when:2016 Oscar
what:speech
reunion 重聚
revenant 亡魂
Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world. A world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would be most affected by this. For our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed. I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. Thank you so very much.
http://oscar.go.com/news/winners/oscar-winners-2016-see-the-complete-list
Structure of the Lead:
who:Leonardo DiCapriowhere:Oscar
when:2016 Oscar
what:speech
reunion 重聚
revenant 亡魂
2016年12月2日 星期五
Aylan Kurdi’s story: How a small Syrian child came to be washed up on a beach in Turkey
Surviving family members of Aylan Kurdi have revealed how the Syrian three-year-old came to be washed up dead on a beach in Turkey on Wednesday morning.
Aylan's distraught father, Abdullah Kurdi, tried and failed to hold on to his wife and two sons after their boat to the Greek island of Kos capsized. He has reportedly now said his only wish is to return their bodies to their home town of Kobani and then “be buried alongside them”.
The family had been making the treacherous journey across Turkey to Europe in the hope of joining Abdullah’s sister, Teema Kurdi, a hairdresser who has lived in Vancouver, Canada for more than 20 years.
The Independent has taken the decision to publish the image, which some may find offensive, lower down in this article because among the often glib words about the "ongoing migrant crisis", it is all too easy to forget the reality of the desperate situation facing many refugees.
Speaking to the National Post’s Terry Glavin, Ms Kurdi said she had learned of Aylan’s death, as well as that of his brother Galip and mother Rihan, at 5am on Wednesday morning. The images of Aylan emerged in Turkish media at around midday, and have since sparked international outrage over the refugee crisis.
Glavin told BBC Radio 5 live on Thursday that Ms Kurdi had heard from family members about Abdullah’s desperate battle to save his family in the sea.
“There's a terrible story he told about swimming from one to the other, finding one [son] who seemed to be alright and then going to another, finding him drowned... and then going back to the first boy and finding him drowned,” he said.“He made it, but his wife didn’t.”
Jenan Moussa, a journalist with Dubai’s Al Aan TV, said she had confirmed with sources in Kobani that the Kurdish family hailed from the recently-embattled Syrian city.
She said Abdullah was a barber originally from Damascus, who fled from Kobani to Turkey but “dreamed of a future in Canada” for his family.
“Abdullah paid €4000 (£2900) for his family to get on a 5m-long dinghy from Bodrum to Greece. He borrowed money. This was not their first attempt to get to Greece.
“When in the dinghy, the sea got rough. Turkish smuggler abandoned boat, left passengers struggling. Boat capsized after one hour.
“After it capsized, the family clung to the boat. Mr Abdullah tried to hold his two children and wife with his arm, but one by one they were washed away by waves.”According to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency, police have detained four suspected human traffickers one day after the three members of the Kurdi family and nine other refugees died in the short Aegean straight between Turkey and Kos
.Officers said the men were detained on a beach on Turkey’s Bodrum peninsula and, according to Anadolu, they were suspected of acting as intermediaries for illegal crossings.
2016年12月1日 星期四
Paris attacks: Blindfolded Muslim man asks people to 'show him trust with a hug' after shootings
Paris attacks: Blindfolded Muslim man asks people to 'show him trust with a hug' after shootings
By independence news Thursday 19 November 2015
A Muslim man stood blindfolded in the centre of Paris asking mourners to embrace him as they gathered to commemorate the 129 victims killed in a series of terror attacks across the capital.
Footage posted online shows the man standing next to a homemade sign reading: “I’m Muslim, but I’m told that I’m a terrorist. I trust you, do you trust me? If yes, hug me.”One woman is moved to tears by the man's gesture and joins another onlooker to hug him.After taking off his blindfold the man, who remains unnamed, said: “I would like to thank every one of you for giving me a hug. I did this to send a message to everyone.“I am Muslim, but that doesn’t make me a terrorist. I never killed anybody. I can even tell you that last Friday was my birthday, but I didn’t go out.“I deeply feel for all the victims’ families. I want to tell you that ‘Muslim’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘terrorist’.“A terrorist is a terrorist, someone willing to kill another human being over nothing. A Muslim would never do that. Our religion forbids it.”
The video has been watched more than 10 million times on Facebook and received 150,000 likes in two days. Attacks by jihadist militants and a rise in refugees seeking help in Europe has led to renewed focus on Europe’s Muslim population.
Since the Paris attacks, committed by Isis militants and suicide bombers, the Slovakian Prime Minister claimed his country is “monitoring every Muslim,” while Poland has demanded security guarantees before accepting refugees.However, a survey of seven European countries last spring by the Pew Research Centre, found France has the most positive views on followers of Islam, with 74 per cent of people surveyed holding a favourable view of the Muslim community.
However, a survey of seven European countries last spring by the Pew Research Center, found France has the most positive views on followers of Islam, with 74 per cent of people surveyed holding a favourable view of the Muslim community.The advert called on everyone to stand together to ensure communities were not turned against each another.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-blindfolded-muslim-man-asks-people-to-show-him-trust-with-a-hug-after-shootings-a6740101.html
Structure of the lead
who:a Muslim man
when:after terror attacks across Paris
where:in the center of Paris
how:A Muslim man stood blindfolded in the center of Paris asking mourners to embrace him.
why: To commemorate the 129 victims killed in a series of terror attacks across the capital.
hub 中心
homage 敬意
tribute 禮物
hub 中心
homage 敬意
tribute 禮物
2016年10月24日 星期一
Malala Marks 18th Birthday In Solidarity With Syrian Refugee Girls
Malala Marks 18th Birthday In Solidarity With Syrian Refugee Girls
Today, on the third annual “Malala Day,” Malala Yousafzai marked her 18th birthday in Lebanon, opening the Malala Fund’s “Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School” near the Syrian border, which will provide quality secondary education to more than 200 Syrian girls living in informal camps and out of school in the Bekaa Valley region.
In honor of Malala Day, we also announced a new grant of $250,000 USD in support to UNICEF and UNHCR, to meet the funding shortfall for girls’ school programming in Jordan’s Azraq refugee camp.
“I am honored to mark my 18th birthday with the brave and inspiring girls of Syria. I am here on behalf of the 28 million children who are kept from the classroom because of armed conflict. Their courage and dedication to continue their schooling in difficult conditions inspires people around the world and it is our duty to stand by them,” Malala said. “On this day, I have a message for the leaders of this country, this region and the world — you are failing the Syrian people, especially Syria’s children. This is a heartbreaking tragedy — the world’s worst refugee crisis in decades.”
In Lebanon, the Malala Fund is providing funding to local partner NGO the KAYANY Foundation to provide baccalaureate and life skills training to 200 Syrian refugee girls ages 14 to 18. The new curriculum will enable students to receive their baccalaureate or vocational degrees through the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education or the Syrian equivalent. Students unable to commit to the four-year baccalaureate training will participate in skills courses intended to help them find work and generate their own incomes.
“On behalf of the world’s children, I demand of our leaders to invest in books instead of bullets. Books, not bullets, will pave the path toward peace and prosperity. Our voices will continue to get louder and louder until we see politicians and our governments invest in the education of their youth rather than military and war,” said Malala. “To all the students, you will read new books. You will discover new ideas. You will learn together. You will dream together. And you will inspire the world,” Malala concluded.Leading up to Malala Day, people globally have taken action in support of Malala Fund’s BooksNotBullets campaign to shine a light on the importance of quality education for girls around the world. Together with leading education groups, the Malala Fund is calling on world leaders to invest an additional US $39 billion in education — the equivalent of only eight days of military spending — to ensure that every child gets 12 years of free, quality primary and secondary education. The online campaign culminates this Sunday for Malala birthday.
https://blog.malala.org/malala-marks-18th-birthday-in-solidarity-with-syrian-refugee-girls-67e8cc8b4b23#.7fbuyzerp
Structure of the lead
who:Malala
who:Malala
what:Malala's day
when:on her 18th birthday
where:in Lebanon
Key words:
(1) baccalaureate 宗教禮儀
(2) pave 鋪設
(3) campaign 戰役
(4)culminates 達到頂點
(5)equivalent 相等物
訂閱：
意見 (Atom)