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NASA’s managers have settled on a fix they say will protect astronauts from potentially dangerous levels of vibrations that could otherwise reach the planned Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle during its climb to orbit atop the Ares 1 rocket, according to information posted on a NASA Web site. NASA Constellation program officials decided Dec. 17 to update the Ares 1 vehicle design to include upper-plane C-spring isolators and an upper-stage liquid oxygen (LOX) damper intended to keep vibrations originating in the Ares 1 main stage from reaching Orion and its crew. The Constellation program is a 5-year-old effort to replace the...

Israel's new rocket defense system has proven a hit-to-kill capability. Officials said Israel's Iron Dome has achieved the ability to strike incoming short-range missiles and rockets. They said the Iron Dome demonstrated this during its first live fire test in mid-2009. "They met head on," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. In a Nov. 17 address to the International Aerospace Conference and Exhibition-Israel, Barak said Iron Dome exceeded all expectations. He said the assessment within the Defense Ministry and military had been that the interceptor would explode 10 meters from the incoming missile.

Motorcycle rocket launcher: definitely try at home Step one: make extra powerful bottle rockets by mounting model rocket engines to skewers. Step two: make custom launch tubes, spray paint, mount to fairing. Step three: mount launch controller within easy reach. Step four: commence mayhem. Congratulations sir, you've just managed to make motorcycling even more dangerous.

After 30 days of data reduction, Ares I-X engineers continue to find fairly close correlation between their computer models and the flight performance of the test vehicle, which was the tallest rocket ever launched. Flight-control algorithms developed for the operational vehicle "worked extremely well," said NASA's Marshall Smith, systems engineering and integration (SE&I) manager for Ares I-X, and the flight data in general validated the computer models being used to design Ares I. "I, personally, from SE&I, am very, very pleased with the performance of our (guidance, navigation and control) system; the algorithms that we're testing for Ares I worked...

Israel must prepare itself for the fact that in a coming war, the IDF will not be able to block all incoming rockets from hitting civilian areas, despite the anticipated deployment of the Iron Dome system in 2010, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday morning. During the general periodical briefing to the powerful committee, the commander of the IDF focused heavily on Iran and Israel's security, offering cautious optimism regarding the efficacy of international sanctions, while warning that with Teheran's help, Hezbollah had amassed "tens of thousands" of...

One of the last regular users of JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) rockets is dropping the practice. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels acrobatic team will no longer feature their C-130 (called "Fat Albert", and used to haul around the maintenance personnel and their equipment) doing a quick and fiery takeoff using JATO rockets. This was always a crowd pleaser, partly because you hardly see it anymore. JATO was first developed in the 1920s, to get gliders into the air. Later, especially during World War II, and a few decades after, JATO was used for getting aircraft off the ground quickly,...

Israel's military intelligence chief has warned that Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have successfully tested an Iranian rocket that can reach Tel Aviv, the Jewish state's largest urban conurbation. That adds a new urgency to Israel's efforts to develop an effective defensive system capable of shooting down short-range rockets that, if the warning by Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin is correct, are becoming a strategic threat. Yadlin says the rocket has a range of 37 miles, 8 miles longer He did not identify the Iranian system, but there have been reports that Iran has been seeking to smuggle Fajr-5 (Dawn)...

Coming right off his infamous “Deny the Holocaust/Death to Israel” tour, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also known as Monkeyman, and the lovable Mullahs o f Iran have finished their “War Games.” ["Bomb, Bomb Iran" video]

Three rockets struck northern Israel on Friday. There have been no reports of casualties. The rockets were fired from southern Lebanon and Israel Radio has reported that the Israel Defense Forces have launched retaliatory artillery into southern Lebanon.

BAGHDAD -- U.S.-backed Iraqi troops seized a launcher loaded with more than a dozen Iranian-made rockets and detained three suspected militants after an attack against the American base outside the southern city of Basra, officials said Tuesday. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said the missiles were found in an eastern section of Iraq's second largest city after rockets targeted the U.S. base Monday evening. The U.S. military confirmed that 16 rockets were found and three suspects detained by Iraqi troops who responded to the attack. It said no casualties were reported. The oil-rich area of Basra has been a Shiite militia stronghold...

BAGHDAD – U.S.-backed Iraqi troops seized a launcher loaded with more than a dozen Iranian-made rockets and detained three suspected militants after an attack against the American base outside the southern city of Basra, officials said Tuesday. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said the missiles were found in an eastern section of Iraq's second largest city after rockets targeted the U.S. base Monday evening. The U.S. military confirmed that 16 rockets were found and three suspects detained by Iraqi troops who responded to the attack. It said no casualties were reported.

KABUL (AP) - Afghan army officers and witnesses say one of the five rockets that has slammed into Kabul fell near the American Embassy. The rocket's impact could be seen about 200 meters (yards) down from the U.S. Embassy on a main road in central Kabul. Security officers say the rocket hit the house of a senior Interior Ministry official but caused no casualties. At the scene, Maj. Ghulam Rasul of the Afghan national army said he believed the five rockets that hit early Tuesday were fired from a long range.

BEIRUT: Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened to attack Tel Aviv if Israel were to bomb Beirut’s southern suburbs, a bastion of the powerful Shia military and political group. Hizbullah fought against Israel three years ago in a 34-day war after the group captured two Israeli soldiers in across-border raid. Some 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, were killed and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, died.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, said in July that it had found the "smoking gun" that caused the space shuttle Columbia to break apart as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 1: a piece of foam that had peeled off the external fuel tank and struck the shuttle's wing 1 minute and 22 seconds after liftoff. But many experts looking at the tragedy that killed seven astronauts say there is a deeper cause. They say that the metaphorical smoking gun should be painted green. Because of demands that the agency help to front for...

US space experts are downsizing plans to send astronauts back to the moon and possibly to Mars amid fears of funding cuts by the Obama administration. Forty years after astronauts first walked on the moon, Nasa, the US space agency, is officially committed to a $35 billion (£22 billion) plan instituted by President George W. Bush to build the first of a new generation of manned rockets that can return to the planet by 2020. However, the new president has appointed an independent panel to review America's costly manned space programme, called Constellation, and make recommendations by the end of...

The long-range rocket North Korea launched in April could be converted into a ballistic missile that can theoretically hit half the United States with a substantial payload, two U.S. physicists have concluded from their joint study. North Korea launched on April 5 what it claims was a rocket designed to carry a satellite into orbit. The U.S. and its allies say nothing entered orbit, calling the "Unha-2" rocket a disguised form of a ballistic missile capable of flying over 6,700 kilometers.

India's space agency plans to double its revenues to $120 million a year by increasing satellite launches to claim a bigger chunk of the global space business, the head of its space agency said on Friday. Last April, India sent 10 satellites into orbit from a single rocket, signalling its intention to expand into that business. It also dispatched its first unmanned moon mission last October to join the Asian space race in the footsteps of rival China. ISRO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 26 countries for launching satellites and joint research work, including Russia, France, Germany...

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information what appeared to be a model rocket that nearly missed a Continental Express jet late last month. The rocket sizzled past the plane after it took off from Bush Intercontinental Airport about 8 p.m. on May 29, officials said. Investigators determined it lifted off somewhere in Chambers County, but they have been unable to find out who launched it. Ken DeFoor, chief deputy of the Liberty County sheriff's office, said the incident has generated several leads his office has turned over to the FBI. He declined to elaborate. The jet carried four...

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Republic of Congo Rockets Fired; Electrical Storm CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS Sub-Saharan Africa - Congo (Republic) 14 Apr 2009 Printer Friendly Email Article RELATED REPORTS 26 Mar 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: CONGO INCREASES SECURITY PRESENCE FOR FRENCH VISIT 19 Mar 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: FUNERAL PROCESSION, LARGE CROWDS EXPECTED 21 Jan 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: CHADIAN NATIONAL AIRLINE, AIR TOUMAI, PROHIBITED FOR U.S. EMBASSY EMPLOYEES 14 Jan 2009 REPUBLIC OF CONGO 2009 CRIME & SAFETY REPORT U.S. Embassy Brazzaville issued the following Warden...

IT’S a birthright proffered by science and prophesied by “Star Trek,” “Battlestar Galactica” and a thousand other space operas: We’re destined to go to the stars. Our descendants will spread beyond this nondescript solar system and seek adventure and bumpy-headed pals in the stellar realms. Well, cool your warp jets, Mr. Scott, because we’re not about to breach the final frontier. Piling into a starship and barreling into deep space may long remain — like perfect children or effort-free bathroom cleaners — a pipe dream. The fastest rocket ever launched, NASA’s New Horizons probe to Pluto, roared off its pad...

Four rockets fired at western Negev Tuesday afternoon. Sderot resident breaks leg after tripping while rushing to take shelter Several hours after the IDF clashed with terrorists in the Kissufim area, Red Color rocket sirens sounded throughout the western Negev Tuesday afternoon. Four rockets fired from Gaza apparently landed in open fields near Sderot. The first alert siren was heard at about 1 pm, and followed by a rocket landing in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. No injuries or damage wee reported. Shortly later, two other Qassams were fired at the area. A woman and a teenage girl tripped as...

Iran missile experts in North Korea to help with rocket launch Missile experts from Iran are in North Korea to help Pyongyang prepare for its rocket launch, according to reports. Amid increasing global concern over the rocket launch, believed by the US and its allies to be an illegal missile launch, Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper claimed today a 15-strong delegation from Tehran has been in the country advising the North Koreans since the beginning of March. The Iranian experts include senior officials with Iranian rocket and satellite producer Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, the daily said. The Iranians brought a letter...

Hamas and Hizbullah terrorists have amassed an arsenal of 50,000 rockets aimed at Israel, United Press International (UPI) has reported. Israel still has no defense against the threat, and the government’s highly touted Iron Dome short-range missile defense system is far from being in operation and may not even be practical.

A company tested four hybrid-fuel propulsion rockets in Butte recently in the first experiment at the Butte AeroTec facility. Space Propulsion Group, an offshoot of Stanford University, conducted the approximately eight-second tests March 6-8, according to company president Arif Karabeyoglu.

Palestinian militants launched a rocket and a mortar shell into Israel on Sunday, causing no injuries. Rocket fire by Gaza militants and Israeli retaliatory airstrikes have become nearly daily occurrences.

EXCERPT: Just as we were starting to think we’d never find anyone crazier than Hamas, along comes Roseanne Barr. The former star and current lunatic claims Israel is firing those rockets at itself. This comes direct from her website, Roseanne World.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton placed on Hamas’s shoulders the responsibility to return calm to the region by halting rocket attacks on Israel. Unlike previous American messages that sought a “balance” in blame, she did not couple the halt of attacks with the issue of Gaza border crossings. Israel has restricted shipments of humanitarian aid through the crossings in order to lessen the movement of materials that can be used for terrorist strikes. "The fist step is a durable peace, but that can only be achieved if Hamas ceases the rocket attacks,” Secretary Clinton said at a press...

'Improved' Grad Rocket on Ashkelon - Shock Victims and Damage An "improved" Grad rocket struck an Ashkelon school Saturday morning, returning Israel to the days before the Cast Lead operation that was carried out to end the terrorist strikes. The rocket caused...( read more at)

(IsraelNN.com) Islamists reached new heights of audacity in a face-off with pro-Israel demonstrators in Malmö, Sweden on Sunday, firing rockets and throwing pipe bombs at the pro-Israel group in broad daylight and under police's noses. No one was hurt. The incident was videotaped by Swedish blogger Ted Ekeroth, whose blog contains videos showing the attack. Between 400 and 500 people gathered in Stortorget Square for a peaceful pro-Israeli protest. The police sealed off the entire square and only allowed in the protesters, as well as a smaller group of Islamists, and separated the two groups from each other. Blogger Ekeroth...

Iran's Space Agency (ISA) announced that the first domestically-built satellite of Iran called "Omid" (Hope) would be sent to the space by March 20, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. In November, Iran successfully launched a space rocket "Kavosh 2" (Explorer 2), which after completing its mission, has returned to the earth.

Following orders from Tehran, the Palestinian Hamas used the cover of the 22-day Gaza conflict to aim rockets at the American Forward-Based X-band Transportable (FBX-T) anti-missile radar system lodged at Israel's big Nevatim air base east of the Negev capital Beersheba. Destruction of the FBX-T, which was installed last November to intercept incoming Iranian Shehab-3 ballistic missiles, would have crowned Hamas' offensive with success. Jan. 18, two days before joining Israel's unilateral ceasefire, Hamas tried to hit the American facility with a salvo of 3 Grad rockets. They missed their aim, landing on empty ground west of Beersheba, without triggering...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52795 Missile Defense Agency Successfully Tests Newest Target Launcher By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2009 – Missile Defense Agency officials announced the newest addition to the agency’s “flexible target family” today after a successful rocket motor test yesterday at the China Lake Naval Warfare Center in Ridgecrest, Calif. The agency successfully completed a static-fire testing of the two-stage launch vehicle, known as the LV-2. It was integrated from former Navy Trident C4 rocket motors to imitate a long-range, intercontinental ballistic missile threat, Defense Missile...

A broad overview of Hamas's use of human shields... The Video: http://www.liveleak.com/e/45c_1231682078 The source: http://www.mererhetoric.com/archives/11275394.html

Sunday, Jan. 18, Hamas leader Mussa Abu Marzuk in Damascus declared an immediate ceasefire on behalf of all the Palestinian organizations conditional on Israel's withdrawal from Gaza within a week. A few minutes later, two rockets exploded in two kibbutzim near the Gaza border, topping 15 fired earlier at Sderot, Ashkelon, Eshkol, Ashdod and Kiryat Gat. DEBKAfile's military sources report that armed Hamas units are moving to take control of the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces redeploy ready to withdraw.

Israel's air force fired around 20 missiles at targets in Gaza City on Saturday, causing heavy damage, a Reuters witness said. The IDF has confirmed the report. (Hanan Greenberg and Reuters)

(IsraelNN.com) The cabinet has voted to accept a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza. Two ministers voted against the proposal and one abstained from voting.

(YNET NEWS.com) January 16, 2009 "THE GUARDIANS OF ISRAEL NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP" SNIPPET: "Israel and the US succeeded in preventing a United Nations announcement condemning the Jewish state for its strike on a UN compound in Gaza Thursday. The condemnation was proposed by Britain among other countries." SNIPPET: "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized for the incident before UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, but stressed that IDF forces were attacked from the building before it was hit."

JANUARY 15, 2009...22:58 "IDF Targets Senior Hamas Leader, Summary of Today’s Events, 15 Jan 2009, 22:10 IST" SNIPPET: "January 15th, 2009 IDF Targets Senior Hamas Leader Said Siam Summary of Today’s Aerial Attacks In a joint IDF and ISA operation in Gaza City early Thursday evening, the IAF targeted a building in which the following senior Hamas operatives were residing – Said Siam, Ia’ad Siam and Salah Abu-Sharah. The forces reported a direct hit."

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "Mexico condemns the excessive use of force associated with the Israeli army operation in Gaza, " a statement from the Mexican Foreign Ministry said late Tuesday. It also condemned "the continued launching of mortars into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip". Latin American countries have largely condemned Israel over its launch of 'Operation Cast Lead' on Gaza on December 27. Immediately after Israeli warplanes attacked the strip, Cuba called the offensive an "act of genocide" and a "criminal military operation, the bloodiest one executed by Israel against the Palestinian people." Three day later, the Bolivian Foreign...

SNIPPET: "A North Texas imam is calling on Muslims to take up arms in defense of Palestinians in Gaza. Sheikh Mohamed El-Moctar El-Shinqiti, director of the Islamic Center of South Plains in Lubbock, Texas, participated in an online chat, "Fatwas on Gaza," at the web site IslamOnline.net. El-Shinqiti encouraged readers to fight - or if they can't, to send money to those who are fighting - in response to six out of the eight questions posed to him in the online chat. When asked what can be done to help the people in Gaza, El-Shinqiti emphasized war over sending food...

"HAMAS MISSILES FOR ISRAELI FOOD" (Added January 12, 2009) VIDEO DESCRIPTION - QUOTE: IsraelMFA January 12, 2009 Israel gives food, medicine and electricity to Gaza citizens and gets rockets in return. Category: News & Politics Tags: Israel Hamas war rockets missile humanitarian aid children shield Gaza

"HAMAS AND THEIR SYSTEMATIC VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAWS (NOT TO MENTION BASIC HUMAN DECENCY)" "Video follows"

"IT'S NOT SO MUCH THAT THE HAMAS OFFICER WAS KILLED... ...it's that he was killed operating a mortar that his subordinates were not firing, because they refused to come out of hiding."

LastJanuary Hamas destroyed a section of the Sinai- Gaza border wall. Egyptian Security caught some Hamas operatives before they were able to carry out some of the plan mass murders. Hundreds of Hamas fighters were able to infiltrate the Sinai and take care of other plans, securing rockets manufactured in China. After the free 12-day pass to transport above ground was stopped, Hamas continued to smuggle rockets into Gaza thru the network of tunnels that is presently the focus of the Israeli attacks. The rockets pass thru many hands on their way to Gaza, Iran, Hizbullah, Yemem, Sudan, Egypt. Yet...

SNIPPET: "The fundamental truth is that Hamas' road to Iran runs through the international Muslim Brotherhood, and has for two decades. What is often missing in the discussion of the Muslim Brotherhood is that Hamas, according to its own founding charter, is an integral and armed part of the Ikwhan, not separate from it."

It is not that long ago that Israel was waging war in Gaza when Hezbollah militants opened up a second front with Lebanon. In July 2006, Israeli troops were two weeks into their unsuccessful campaign to rescue captured soldier Gilad Shalit when the Shia Muslim political and militant movement attacked from the north. Its fighters launched dozens of Katyusha rockets and mortars at Israel and seized two more soldiers and killed eight others in cross-border raids. It was seen as a dramatic gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians, but Israel's response was far more dramatic and devastating to Lebanon. Hezbollah...

"THE BRIEF LIFE AND EXQUISITE MARTYRDOM OF A HAMAS MORTAR CREW" Snippet: "Via Hamas' al-Aqsa TV station, said to be filmed in Jabaliya on 06 January 2008. At about 1'15" the crew is hit by an apparent Israeli counter-strike."

GAZA CITY, Gaza – Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rockets resumed after a brief pause Wednesday to allow food and fuel to reach Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where an Israeli warplane dropped leaflets urging some residents to flee because of imminent attacks. Even as the Israeli government tentatively welcomed a cease-fire proposal from Egypt and France, its military was instructed to continue its assault on Hamas.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Ttragedy_school_Jebaliya_6-Jan-2009.htm Behind the Headlines: The tragedy at the school in Jebaliya 6 Jan 2009 An initial inquiry by forces on operating in the area of the incident indicates that a number of mortar shells were fired at IDF forces from within the Jebaliya school. In response to the incoming enemy fire, the forces returned mortar fire to the source. Preliminary Background Briefing Today, a reported 30 Palestinians were killed in a heartrending tragedy at a school in Jebaliya. Initial investigations indicate that Hamas terrorists fired mortar bombs from the area of the school...

(IsraelNN.com) Head of Military Intelligence General Amos Yadlin warned Monday that Hizbullah may open up another front in the ongoing war. Yadlin warned that Hizbullah may fire Katushya rockets at Israeli cities in the coming days.