[Fwd: What's New for Jun 21, 2002]

[Susan L Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

For your amusement on a Friday afternoon.



--Susan Gawarecki



-------- Original Message --------

Subject: What's New for Jun 21, 2002

Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 16:21:23 -0400 (EDT)

From: "What's New" <whatsnew@aps.org>

To: loc@icx.net



WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 21 Jun 02   Washington, DC



1. HYDRINO ROCKETS: PASCAL'S WAGER IS ALIVE AND WELL AT NASA. 

According to a story in Wired, NASA's Institute for Advanced

Concepts is funding a study to test the feasibility of powering a

rocket by the hydrino process.  A call to the Director of the IAC

in Atlanta confirmed that an engineering professor at Rowan

University will conduct the test.  According to Randell Mills of

BlackLight Power, if ordinary hydrogen atoms make a transition

into "a state below the ground state," they become teeny little

things called "hydrinos," liberating large amounts of energy. 

It's all in Mill's "Grand Unified Theory of Classical Quantum

Mechanics."  Is NASA taking this wacky notion seriously   again? 

Should we remind NASA that it tested the hydrino claim 10 years

ago when BlackLight Power was still called HydroCatalysis?  NASA

was looking for a way to power a mission to Pluto.  Results were

"inconclusive."  That's NASA talk for "it didn't work."



2. HOMELAND SECURITY: LIVERMORE LABS IS JUST A SIDEKICK.  Mass

confusion was generated last Thursday by release of the White

House policy book for Homeland Security, which seemed to say that

the entire Lawrence Livermore National laboratory would be moved

over to the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  But the

numbers just didn't add up, and reporters were scurrying around

trying to find out what it meant.  The language of the actual

legislation, The Homeland Security Act of 2002, seemed to clear

things up.  Section 803 "authorizes the head of any executive

agency, upon the request of the Secretary of DHS, to provide

services."  These services include research support in the areas

of chemical, biological, or radiological weapons.  So LLNL isn't

going anywhere, but DHS will locate an office at LLNL and the lab

will be a "center of excellence" for Homeland Security research. 



3. MISSILE DEFENSE: DEATH OF THE ABM TREATY ACCELERATES SCHEDULE. 

The ABM Treaty, which prohibited sea-based defenses, died last

week (WN 14 Jun 02).  So the Missile Defense Agency proposed to

move deployment up to 2004, since sea-launched missile defenses,

such as the Aegis system, are already available.  All that's

needed is an upgrade to cope with the much faster ICBMs.  Missile

experts scoff.  If you calculate the thrust needed, there's not a

ship in the fleet that could survive launch.  That's even better,

exclaims the Navy, we'll have to build new ships.  



4. YUCCA MOUNTAIN: SO WHAT ODDS DOES LAS VEGAS GIVE?  The House

already voted 306-117 to override Nevada's veto of the waste site

(WN 7 Jun 02).  In Utah, opponents argue it will seriously hurt

the Las Vegas casino business, 600 miles away.  The Mdewakanton 

Indians, far from Utah, are unimpressed.  They have a casino 600

yards from the waste stored by a nuclear power plant. 



(Christy Fernandez assisted with this week's What's New.)

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND and THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the

University or the American Physical Society, but they should be.

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