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Check This Out

This blog is for elementary  age students.  The posted devotions, news articles, videos and other materials are gleaned from websites by my student advisers.  They believe this material would be of interest to other students of their same ages.​

Student Advisers (grade): 
N. Shackleford   (6 Technician),
J. Crawford (6)   "Tech and Science"
E. Unthank (5)   "DOGO News" 
J. Wood (4)   "TKSST"

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DOGO News: Rocket Lab Plans To Catch Its Reusable Rockets In Midair With A Helicopter

12/9/2019

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Rocket Lab Plans To Catch Its Reusable Rockets In Midair With A Helicopter

"Two years ago, aerospace manufacturer SpaceX stunned the world by landing its reusable booster engine — the biggest and most costly part of the rocket used to power spacecrafts into low orbit — on an autonomous drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Now, California-based startup Rocket Lab, has come up with an even bolder idea: using parachutes and helicopters to capture the returning booster, or first stage as it is often called, in midair!

Rocket Lab's decision to avoid the “propulsive,” or vertical, landing used by SpaceX stems from its business model to keep its Electron rockets small and cost-effective. Standing just 57 feet (17 meters) tall, they are designed to deliver smaller payloads of about 500 lbs (225 kilograms) for a "mere" $5 million a liftoff. In contrast, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which measures 229 feet (70 m) tall and can lift up to 50,000 pounds, costs about $62 million a mission. "We're not in the business of building medium-sized launch vehicles," Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said. "We're in the business of building small launch vehicles for dedicated customers to get on orbit frequently."

Similar to other rockets, the Electron splits into two once it reaches outer space. While the top part, carrying the cargo, continues on to its final destination, the booster engine falls back to Earth. The company envisions deploying a ballute — a parachute-like braking device — to quickly slow down the booster's supersonic speed upon its reentry into the atmosphere. Once it slows down to a reasonable pace, a helicopter will grab the rocket from midair and deposit it onto an awaiting ship to transport to the company's headquarters for repair and relaunch. According to Beck, “The grand goal here is if we can capture the vehicle in wonderful condition, in theory, we should be able to put it back on the pad, charge the batteries up, and go again.”

The idea, still in the concept stage, will become one step closer to becoming a reality during Electron's next launch, scheduled for sometime around November 25, 2019. Though the company will not attempt to recover the rocket on this flight, they will carefully observe its reentry to determine the optimal way to slow down its speed. “We’re doing basically everything except popping parachutes,” Beck said. "Engineers will monitor the first stage as it reenters, testing its ability to guide its descent."


Please Note: The above information comes directly from their website. Click here to read more.
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Newsela: Women are Key to Saving the Environment, New Study Shows How

12/6/2019

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Women are Key to Saving the Environment, New Study Shows How

"When women make decisions about how to use land, it is a good thing for the environment, a new study has found. 

The recent study shows involving more women can help stop deforestation. The study looked at what happens when more women are in groups deciding about land.

Addressing Inequality Between Men And Women

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) led the study. Last month, their results were published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study explored whether gender quotas for local law making groups could help reduce deforestation. In this case, a gender quota makes sure a certain number of women participate in groups deciding about the environment. Creating groups with an equal number of women could also address inequalities between women and men. 


Many of the world's threatened forests are owned and managed by small community groups. Women frequently have had no decision-making powers in those groups. For this reason, some legislatures and local governments have made laws. The laws require that a certain number of decision-makers are women. 
​

Gender quota laws have been made in Argentina, India and Rwanda. These countries stipulated that 30 percent, or one-third, of the groups must be women. The laws also say the leaders in local governing bodies should be women. Since 2009, the country of Nepal has required that local committees representing forest communities include at least half women.
Still, those examples are an exception, suggested study co-author Krister Andersson. He's a professor and researcher at CU Boulder. He explained that when policymakers think about how to improve conservation, gender quotas aren't usually considered. "This study suggests they should be," he said."



Please Note: The above information comes directly from their website. Click here to read more.
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DOGO News: Researchers Freeze Ship Into Arctic Ice For Year-Long Study On Climate Change

12/5/2019

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Researchers Freeze Ship Into Arctic Ice For Year-Long Study On Climate Change

"
In 1893, Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen deliberately lodged his wooden ship in the sea ice north of Siberia, hoping that its natural drift would take him to the North Pole. Though the Norwegian scientist failed to reach his desired destination, his three-year-long, 2,000-kilometer journey into the North Atlantic Ocean revealed important data about the then-mysterious Arctic Ocean. Now, an international team of researchers have embarked on a similar journey for a groundbreaking climate change study of the Arctic.

The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition began in Tromso, Norway, in late September 2019. The team's first challenge was finding a suitable floe to moor their research vessel — German icebreaker Polarstern. The ice sheet had to be both strong enough to drag the ship and wide enough to accommodate a landing strip for research and emergency airplanes. It took a few days, but by October 4, 2019, they had identified a 2.5-by-3.5 kilometer (about 1.5-by-2.2 mile) sheet that could do the job. "It may not be the perfect floe, but it's the best one in this part of the Arctic, and offers better working conditions than we could have expected in a warm Arctic summer," said expedition leader Markus Rex of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.

Carried by the floe's drift, the Polarstern will now make its way across the Arctic Ocean at a leisurely pace of 7 km/hr, allowing MOSAiC researchers to record scientific data and test theories about the impact of global warming. For example, it has long been suggested that the phytoplankton population has dramatically increased due to the warmer Arctic water. However, the assumption “is based on remote sensing [only] during the ice-free period. And we don’t have such observations from the central Arctic,” says Rolf Gradinger, who is leading the expedition’s ecosystem team. MOSAiC's year-long observations will help determine if that is indeed the case. The team will also use snowmobiles and helicopters to establish a network of autonomous research stations on the ice to collect additional climate data.

The Polarstern will be refueled and restocked with food and supplies by four different icebreakers at about three-month intervals starting December 2019. The boats will also bring in new teams of scientists and crew members and take back those whose three-month stints are done. All in all, 600 scientists from 19 countries will get a chance to conduct research on this historic $150 million expedition."


Please Note: The above information comes directly from their website. Click here to read more.
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DOGO News: Super Typhoon Hagibis Causes Extensive Flooding And Destruction In Japan

12/4/2019

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Super Typhoon Hagibis Causes Extensive Flooding And Destruction In Japan

"Japan, which gets hit by an average of three typhoons annually, is no stranger to the powerful tropical storms. However, Typhoon Hagibis, which made landfall in the Shizuoka Prefecture at about 7:00 pm local time on October 12, 2019, is the worst storm experienced by the island nation in almost 60 years. Dropping as much as 35 inches of rain in some areas, it caused massive landslides, flooded rivers, and damaged homes and businesses in eight of Japan's 47 prefectures.

The Fukushima prefecture, an agricultural area in the Tōhoku region, was the worst hit with the Abukuma River's levees bursting in at least 14 places. Residents say the water rose rapidly to chest height within an hour, making it difficult to escape to higher ground. Sixty-eight-year-old Yoshinaga Higuchi, whose house was flooded by the overflowing river, says, "I heard there was a flood once before the war, but we just weren't expecting the water to come over the levee despite all the warnings."

Nagano city in central Japan, was also severely impacted after an embankment along the Chikuma River collapsed, flooding homes and buildings. Tens of thousands of military personnel had to be sent to rescue the stranded residents trapped by water and mud. Over 376,000 Japanese residents across the country lost power during the storm, and, as of Tuesday, October 14, 2019, 24,000 homes still remained in the dark, while 138,000 families had no water. The storm claimed 77 lives, and rescuers are losing hope for the ten still listed missing. The thousands that remain in shelters have no idea when they will be allowed to return home and what they will find when they get there.

The clean-up efforts, which began in earnest on Thursday, October 17, 2019, may be hampered by more torrential rain that is forecast to hit already-inundated areas in the coming days. Officials are worried that the additional water will further weaken storm walls along the already over-full rivers, leading to more mudslides and devastation. The large numbers of ruined appliances, cars, plastic bottles, and other waste generated by Hagibis are also of concern, and could take multiple years to dispose of properly.

The full extent of the damage will not be known for a few weeks or even months. However, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has allocated $4.6 billion to the cleanup and rebuilding efforts, has promised the government will do everything possible to help Hagibis victims get back on their feet."


Please Note: The above information comes directly from their website. Click here to read more.
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DOGO News: Veterans Day Celebrates Our Real-Life Superheroes

12/3/2019

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Veterans Day Celebrates Our Real-Life Superheroes

"Always wanted to meet a real-life superhero? Then you are in luck for November 11 is Veterans Day, an opportunity to thank the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces, who often risk their lives to protect our freedom. This includes all those who have served in the US Army, Navy, Marine Corps, National Guard, Air Force, and the Coast Guard.

Formerly known as Armistice Day, the 100-year-old tradition was started by US President Woodrow Wilson on November 11, 1919, to commemorate World War I soldiers. The day marked the first anniversary of the November 11, 1918, armistice between the Allied Nations and Germany, which led to the end of the four-year, three-month-long “Great War.” Armistice Day, which became a federal US holiday in 1938, was renamed as Veterans Day in 1954 to include World War II (1939—1945) and Korean War (1950—1953) soldiers.

The 1968 Uniform Holiday Bill passed to ensure three-day weekends for federal employees altered the dates of the celebration of four national holidays — Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day — to Mondays. Under this bill, Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October. However, given the date's significance, many states were unhappy with the change and continued commemorating the holiday on November 11.
To end the confusion, on September 20, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a law to return the celebration to its original date. The law went into effect in 1978, and since then, Veterans Day has always been observed on November 11."
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Please Note: The above information comes directly from their website. Click here to read more.
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DOGO News: Delivery Drones May Finally Become A Reality In The US Skies

12/2/2019

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Delivery Drones May Finally Become A Reality In The US Skies

"On October 20, 2019, Wing, a subsidiary of American multinational conglomerate Alphabet Inc., began the most advanced trials of commercial drone delivery in the US yet in Christiansburg, Virginia. Residents can now use a smartphone app to order items from Wing partners such as pharmacy giant Walgreens and local specialty chocolate and popcorn retailer Sugar Magnolia. A Wing drone will pick up the order and gently lower the package with the help of a tether outside the customer's door within an hour!

Though Wing is the first American company to receive Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to use commercial drones as a widespread service, it is not the only one. On October 22, 2019, multinational package delivery company UPS, which has also received FAA approval for its drone fleet, announced it would soon begin trial deliveries of prescriptions and other goods from retail and health care company CVS. Meanwhile, ridesharing company Uber, which has partnered with McDonald's, hopes to dispatch its drones to deliver food to hungry customers in San Diego, CA, before the end of 2019. Amazon also plans on testing its long touted "Prime Air" service in a yet-to-be-determined location in the upcoming months.

While every company's drones can carry packages weighing up to five pounds, their design and delivery mechanisms differ widely. The Wing drone's airplane-like wings are fitted with propellers, which enable it to fly longer distances on less fuel. The autonomous aircraft has a maximum speed of 70 miles per hour and can travel up to 12 miles in under 10 minutes. The Wing drone bypasses the challenge of finding a suitable landing area by using a tether to lower the package to the ground. Upon landing, the goods are automatically unclipped and the drone returns to the closest warehouse to pick up its next delivery."

Please Note: The above information comes directly from their website. Click here to read more.​
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