Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Stock Time Travelers -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: faqsnlojiks who wrote (715)	9/30/2004 2:38:49 AM
From: KLP	Respond to of 753

Now Mt St Helens again~~ Who knows J~~ Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, and now a possible volcano attack.... We must be in the full moom season... Come to think of it, we are. That must explain it! Scientists Find Mount St. Helens Movement Wed Sep 29,11:53 AM ET By PEGGY ANDERSEN, Associated Press Writer MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. - The lava dome in Mount St. Helens' crater apparently is growing, possibly a new sign of an impending eruption, but a major explosion doesn't seem likely, a top volcano scientist said Wednesday. AP Photo Reuters Slideshow: Volcanoes Missed Tech Tuesday? Why more software may not keep your PC safe, but simple Windows tweaks and upgrades might. "There seems to be some movement in the lava dome," said Jeff Wynn, chief scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites)'s Cascade Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., about 50 miles south of the mountain. The pressure could come either from a buildup of gases within the 8,364-foot volcano, which erupted with devastating force in 1980, or from molten rock moving into the dome, Wynn said. The volcano began stirring again last week. Seth Moran, a seismologist at the observatory, estimated the initial movement at 4 centimeters, about an inch and a half. Wynn said the movement "sort of suggests that we're getting closer" to an eruption that could hurl rocks and ash a few thousand feet into the air. He emphasized that the estimates were highly preliminary and inexact because there is only one measuring device on the dome, estimating scientists will need about 48 hours to interpret the data more clearly. Scientists were keeping a close eye on the 925-foot-tall dome of hardened lava that has grown inside the crater since the May 18, 1980, eruption that blew the top off the mountain. Swarms of tiny earthquakes — more than 1,000 since the mountain began stirring last Thursday — have gradually increased, cranking up to a level not seen since 1986, when the volcano's last dome-building eruption occurred. But neither the earthquake activity nor the apparent growth in the dome indicated a major eruption was likely, Wynn said. He predicted a relatively small explosion of rocks, ash and steam within a few days. On Tuesday, the quakes were occurring at a rate of two or three a minute. The volcano was releasing three to four times the energy it was releasing Monday, Wynn said. Scientists are trying to determine if the quakes are caused by steam from water seeping into the dome or by magma moving beneath the crater. Early tests of gas samples collected above the volcano by helicopter Monday did not show unusually high levels of carbon dioxide or sulfur, which could indicate the movement of magma. Seismologist George Thomas at the University of Washington said that on a scale of zero to 10, with 10 being the explosion at the mountain in 1980, the current activity would rate a one. Thomas said any rocks, ash or steam coming out of the volcano would most likely be contained within the crater itself. "The alerts we're sending out are just to protect hikers and scientists doing research within the crater," he said. The USGS (news - web sites) issued a notice of volcanic unrest on Sunday. U.S. Forest Service officials closed hiking trails above the tree line at 4,800 feet. The visitors center and most other trails at the Mount St. Helens National Monument have remained open. The volcano's 1980 blast killed 57 people, spawned mud flows that choked the Columbia River, leveled hundreds of square miles of forests and showered distant communities with volcanic ash. ___ On the Net: Cascades Volcano Observatory, vulcan.wr.usgs.gov Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network, pnsn.org news.yahoo.com

To: faqsnlojiks who wrote (715)	9/30/2004 2:49:56 AM
From: KLP	Respond to of 753

And who knows where this SpaceShipOne will go: ~~~One down, one to go for private spacecraft Pilot has a wild ride on the first leg of a stratospheric bid for the X-Prize Sept. 29, 2004, 11:30PM By MARK CARREAU Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle chron.com After SpaceShipOne and its veteran pilot survived a whirling, nail-biting ascent Wednesday, the pioneering team that pulled off the private space journey could be just days from a second trip that would guarantee a multimillion-dollar bounty. A nervous Mojave Desert crowd and anxious national television viewers watched Mike Melvill wrestle the glistening, squid-shaped spacecraft from an unexpected twisting trajectory, then throttle to a 63.9-mile peak that pushed it comfortably beyond the international space boundary. The safe glide back to a private airport runway north of Los Angeles 82 minutes later meant a successful repeat flight by Oct. 13 will secure the $10 million Ansari X-Prize for SpaceShipOne's billionaire financier Paul Allen, a Microsoft co-founder, and maverick designer Burt Rutan. "I just loved every second of it. Maybe I'm crazy," said Melvill, a 63-year-old grandfather who also guided a successful test flight in June. Team members insisted Wednesday that the mystery over SpaceShipOne's spiraling sunrise climb isn't expected to threaten plans for the next attempt, which could come as early as Monday. Rutan is expected to make an announcement today on the next scheduled flight. When it rolled dozens of times after rocketing from a carrier aircraft at 50,000 feet, a worried Rutan and others on the team asked Melvill to shut down the engine 11 seconds early. He did moments later, but only after climbing two miles beyond the altitude X-Prize organizers say the winning team must reach twice in the same spacecraft within two weeks. Radar from nearby Edwards Air Force Base confirmed the height of Wednesday's journey. Both Melvill and Rutan took responsibility for the drama. Melvill pointed to a possible lapse in his piloting skills. Rutan blamed a previously known design feature that will be eliminated in upgrades. The problem causes the spacecraft to roll in response to high altitude windshear, he said. "You are extremely busy at that point," said Melvill, who relies on a stick and rudder rather than a computer-fed autopilot to control the supersonic spacecraft. "Your feet and hands and your eyes and everything is working about as fast as you can work them. Probably I stepped on something too quickly and caused the roll," he said. Melvill also battled vertical roll during a June 21 test flight that made SpaceShipOne the first privately financed human spaceflight. His struggle at a low altitude threw the ship more than 20 miles off course. Wednesday, engineers studied flight performance data in search of an explanation before scheduling an encore. "We are analyzing whether there are any safety issues related to the fact we rolled," Rutan said. The St. Louis-based X-Prize Foundation hailed the achievement as a step toward eventual commercial space passenger travel. For Rutan and Allen, the flight punctuated an already pioneering week. Monday, they signed lucrative agreements with British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson to transform SpaceShipOne's design into the first commercial space tourism project. "One down. One to go," said Dr. Peter Diamandis, the physician-businessman who chairs the X-Prize foundation. "We have the start of the personal space flight revolution." Among Wednesday's spectators was NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, who praised the X-Prize competition, which has attracted entries by two dozen teams from seven nations in its eight years. "This is history," O'Keefe said. For Melvill, it was also emotional. Keepsakes from crew members were loaded on the flight to give it a mandatory weight. Melvill brought along the ashes of his mother, Irene, who died four years ago. Said Melvill: "She flew today." mark.carreau@chron.com