Ostapenko Replaces Popovkin As New Head Of Roscosmos

 redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Former deputy defense minister Oleg Ostapenko has replaced Vladimir Popovkin has the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), various media outlets reported Thursday.

According to AFP writer Anna Smolchenko, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev made the decision to replace Popovkin after less than three years on the job in the hopes that Ostapenko, a former commander of space forces, can help “turn around the once-pioneering industry after a series of high-profile setbacks.”

“The previous Roscosmos chief Popovkin was appointed to the job in April 2011 amid frustration in the government with the country’s space program including a series of satellite crashes and other setbacks,” Smolchenko added. “However Popovkin’s own stint was marked by continuing embarrassments including a spectacular explosion of an unmanned carrier rocket upon takeoff that was caught on live television in July.”

That crash, which involved an unmanned Russian Proton-M rocket, took place shortly after it launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The rocket exploded in a fireball and spread hundreds of tons of toxic kerosene, heptyl and amyl (the components of rocket fuel) in the region, according to BBC News.

“I hope that a whole number of problems that unfortunately have lately been observed in Roscosmos activities will be overcome with your arrival,” Medvedev said during a meeting with Ostapenko, according to Anatoly Medetsky of the Moscow Times.

“I am hoping that everything, including future launches, will be implemented in accordance with the existing plans,” he added, according to AFP. “Everything that Roscosmos does should be in agreement with state development plans.”

In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the formation of a new state corporation known as the United Rocket and Space Corporation. Smolchenko reported that the organization will group together all of the nation’s aerospace manufacturers, though it is unclear how this new entity and Roscosmos will share responsibility for the country’s space program moving forward.

Medetsky wrote that the Russian government is looking to “strip Roscosmos of its powers to influence day-to-day business decisions” and many aerospace businesses, while also replacing them as official representatives for Putin’s regime on companies’ boards and management teams. However, the space agency would still “hold on to its role as policymaker, dispenser of contracts, supervisor of research and operator of launch pads,” he added.

There has been some speculation that Popovkin was replaced because he did not agree with the decision to form the United Rocket and Space Corporation, Smolchenko noted. She added that economists have criticized the Russian government because of its decision to form these kinds of super-corporations in other industries (including automotive and aviation industries), claiming that they cannot be competitive with private firms.

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online

Prof Peter Higgs did not know he had won Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Prof Peter Higgs has revealed he did not know he had won the award until a woman congratulated him in the street.

Prof Higgs, who does not own a mobile phone, said a former neighbour had pulled up in her car as he was returning from lunch in Edinburgh.

He added: "She congratulated me on the news and I said 'oh, what news?'"

The woman had been alerted by her daughter in London that Prof Higgs had won the award, he revealed.

He added: "I heard more about it obviously when I got home and started reading the messages."

The 84-year-old emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh was recognised by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for his work on the theory of the particle which shares his name, the Higgs boson.

He shares this year's physics prize with Francois Englert of Belgium, and joins the ranks of past Nobel winners including Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk

Reducing Phosphorous In Lakes May Weaken Their Ability To Remove Nitroge

Attempts to manage algae blooms and improve the water quality of large lakes may cause such bodies of water even more harm, according to new research. Lowering the level of phosphorous in large lakes can in turn hinder the microbial processes that remove nitrogen -- another potentially harmful nutrient present in the water -- University of Minnesota researchers reported in a study published online in the journal ScienceFriday.

Phosphorus is found in Minnesota’s many lakes after it is washed into them, frequently in the form of agricultural and lawn fertilizers. Excessive amounts of the nutrient can then cause algae blooms and otherwise lower the quality of the water, an issue that many water-cleanup efforts attempt to correct by reducing the phosphorous levels in affected lakes. The University of Minnesota researchers note this focus on cutting levels of phosphorous can result in significant accumulations of nitrogen in the lakes and increased nitrogen pollution in rivers and coastal regions downstream from them.

“Freshwater ecosystems, including lakes, streams and wetlands, are a large global sink for reactive nitrogen,” lead author Jacques C. Finlay, an associate professor in the College of Biological Sciences, said in a statement. “By reducing one aquatic pollutant -- phosphorus -- we are in some cases reducing the ability of lakes to remove nitrogen.”

The researchers reached their conclusion by analyzing differences in the amount of nitrogen that goes into lakes and the amount of nitrogen that later comes out of them downstream. They combined these data with “time-series analyses of nitrogen and phosphorus concentration in large lakes,” allowing them to gain a better understanding of the way removing phosphorus and nitrogen affects the levels of these nutrients and the quality of water.

“The work was motivated by our thinking about the case of a single lake -- Lake Superior. This lake is one that we would expect to efficiently remove nitrogen, but it doesn’t, and it has extremely low phosphorus, so this work arose from efforts to generalize beyond a single system,” Finlay said. The researcher added that the study highlights the need to “pay attention to the way that nutrients interact in ecosystems and maintain our focus on reducing phosphorus and nitrogen pollution.” And Finlay is convinced that combining these two goals will ultimately lead to better local and downstream water quality.

Source:http://www.ibtimes.com

Whatever Happened To The Deal To Save The Everglades?

South of Florida's Lake Okeechobee, hundreds of thousands of acres of sugar cane thrive in the heart of one of the world's largest wetlands. The Everglades stretches from the tip of the peninsula to central Florida, north of Lake Okeechobee.

"The Everglades actually begins at Shingle Creek, outside of Orlando," says Jonathan Ullman of the Sierra Club.

That's nearly 200 miles north of the agricultural land that Ullman and other environmentalists say is crucial to state and federal efforts to restore the wetlands area to a healthy ecosystem.

Five years ago, Florida officials announced a deal many believed would do just that. It was a plan to buy nearly 300 square miles of Everglades land owned by U.S. Sugar. But then, reality set in: The economy worsened and political opposition grew, forcing state officials to settle for a much smaller parcel.To understand why the land is so important to restoring the ecosystem, a place to start is a storm water treatment area owned by the South Florida Water Management District. It's an expanse of marshland and shallow lakes with one main purpose: to scrub phosphorus from the water flowing south from the sugar cane fields.

It's large, nearly 17,000 acres. But Ullman says it's just a fraction of what's needed to restore the Everglades to a healthy ecosystem. "What we want to do," he says, "is have more water come south, be stored and cleaned up so it can be sent south to the Everglades."

'You've Got To Add More Land'

For more than 20 years, environmental groups, Florida officials and the federal government have worked together to restore the Everglades. A key part of that effort is recreating the historic flow of water out of Lake Okeechobee south, through land that decades ago was drained and converted into farmland, mostly for sugar.

It's a vision that received a big boost in 2008 when then-Gov. Charlie Crist announced that Florida had struck a deal to buy most of U.S. Sugar's Everglades holdings for $1.75 billion. At a news conference held under a tent in a wildlife refuge, Crist said, "I can envision no better gift to the Everglades, the people of Florida and the people of America as well as our planet than to place in public ownership this missing link that represents the true key to restoration."

But, it was not to be. As the recession took hold, the state found itself short of money. Two years after it was announced, Florida closed on a much smaller contract, buying just one-seventh of the land on offer. The contract included an important clause though: For three years, it gave Florida the exclusive option to buy some or all of the U.S. Sugar land. That exclusive option expires this week.

Recently, 38 environmental groups in Florida sent a letter to the state's current governor, Rick Scott, asking him to carry through on the contract signed by his predecessor. Ullman says this deal remains the key to fixing the Everglades. "You've got to add more land," he says. "It's the only way."In Florida, the financial picture has improved over the last two years. Tax revenues are up and the state has about $3 billion in reserves.

But while the money may be there, the political will is not. Scott, a Republican elected with strong Tea Party support, has cut funding for land acquisition. In fact, his administration is now moving to sell some state land in conservation areas.

Eyes On The Long Game

Recently, there's been a new call to restore Lake Okeechobee's flow south through the Everglades — and it's coming from people who live on Florida's Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.

Weeks of heavy rainfall this year forced the Army Corps of Engineers to release large amounts of water from Lake Okeechobee down waterways to nearby coastal communities. The water, rich in nutrients from agricultural runoff, has caused algae blooms, some toxic.

At a state Senate hearing in Tallahassee, David Cullen of the Sierra Club told lawmakers the best way to protect communities along the coasts is to buy the U.S. Sugar land and send the water south. "The deadline is upon us," Cullen said, "but government can do amazing things when it wants to." Cullen said the cost to buy the rest of the U.S. Sugar land, more than 150,000 acres, would be $1.13 billion.

Committee Chairman Joe Negron, a Republican from Stuart, one of the affected communities, interrupted him asking, "And where's that money going to come from?"

In South Florida, it's a skepticism shared by water management officials who say they already have enough land for current Everglades projects.

At one of the stormwater treatment lakes in the Everglades, Mark Lehman launches his small skiff for a day of fishing. He says these stormwater ponds can be good places to find largemouth bass.

He says he's looking forward to the day when more water from Lake Okeechobee runs south through the Everglades. "Fishing and everything will be better if they get it back to normal," Lehman says.

Environmental groups hope Scott may still act to buy some of the U.S. Sugar land before the state's exclusive option expires later this week. But they also have their eyes on the long game. After this week, Florida has a nonexclusive option to buy the land for another seven years. That's a deadline that comes after the next gubernatorial election.

Source:http://www.npr.org