JAL jet collides with coast guard plane at Tokyo airport, 5 dead

Jan 2, 2023

A Japan Airlines Co. airplane collided with one belonging to the Japan Coast Guard at Tokyo's Haneda airport Tuesday, causing both aircraft to catch fire and killing five coast guard members, while all 379 on board the commercial flight escaped without life-threatening injuries.

The JAL plane was arriving from Sapporo with 367 passengers on board, including eight small children, the company said. Five of the six coast guard members who were on board the other aircraft were confirmed dead, while the captain managed to escape, according to police.

The coast guard aircraft, based at Haneda airport, was moving on the runway when it collided with the JAL plane around 5:50 p.m.

The coast guard plane was on its way to its base at Niigata airport to deliver relief aid for people affected by the magnitude-7.6 earthquake that jolted the Noto Peninsula and its vicinity along the Sea of Japan coast Monday, according to the coast guard.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed relevant ministers to make every effort to swiftly investigate the collision while also pledging to provide information about the accident to the public in an appropriate manner.

The passengers and the crew aboard JAL's plane escaped the burning aircraft using emergency slides, the transport ministry said.

"I felt a bump, like the aircraft was colliding with something when touching down. I saw a spark outside the window and the cabin was filled with gas and smoke," one of the passengers said.

The passenger plane that caught fire is an Airbus A350 jetliner, JAL said. The Japan Coast Guard said its aircraft is a Bombardier DHC8-300.

The fire forced Haneda airport to close all four of its runways, according to the transport ministry, which is probing the accident.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/01/0b3984aaa764-urgent-japan-airlines-aircraft-catches-fire-at-haneda-airport-jal.html

>>20169270

New York City firefighters initiated emergency response protocol after explosion sounds were heard and the ground shook early Tuesday morning.

The FDNY was called to the 580 block of Main Street, just south of the Roosevelt Island Bridge & Tram, at around 5.54am, after reports came in of explosions and buildings shaking, the fire department told The Independent.

The NYPD said to The Independent that “it is believed that it was a transformer that possibly caused the incident.”

A transformer is a device that transfers electric energy from one circuit to others.

The police department did not elaborate on where the transformer was located or how exactly it caused the reported explosion sounds and shaking.

The potential explosions have caused power outages on Roosevelt Island, abc7 reports.

People on the Upper East Side and Astoria in Queens also reported they felt small tremors.

Multiple residents reported they were abruptly awoken by loud noises and the feeling of their buildings shaking.

Footage uploaded onto Citizen, a personal safety network, shows multiple firefighters at the scene, along with claims that they were dealing with fires coming from maintenance holes.

While the roads are still open, the NYPD is helping traffic through the area while the large FDNY presence counties to investigate, the outlet said.

The FDNY said they are still at the scene investigating the source of the explosion.

No injuries have been reported and the structural integrity of the surrounding buildings was also being checked, but none seemed affected, the outlet reports.

The FDNY told The Independent that the incident was under control by 7.08am.

They have turned the scene over to Con Edison, the power supply company for New York City.

The Independent has tried to contact Con Edison but has received no reply.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/york-firefighters-respond-explosion-ground-122429631.html

'90210' Star Ian Ziering Viciously Attacked by Bikers on Hollywood Blvd.

12/31/2023 3:48 PM PT

Ian Ziering got jumped by a bunch of bikers running amok in Los Angeles – a horrific moment caught on camera … and one helluva lousy way to end his year.

The 'Beverly Hills, 90210' star fell into the crosshairs of several assailants Sunday who were cruising down Hollywood Blvd. on a variety of motorized mini bikes and weaving in and out of traffic … including, it seems, Ian's vehicle – which we're told may have been hit.

You can see Ian hop out of his car after one of the bikers seemingly catches his attention, possibly from a collision … and the altercation erupts in a violent brawl, all seen on video obtained by TMZ.

Check it out … Ian starts wailing on the guy in question, but soon – he gets ganged up on by the others … who begin to whoop on him mercilessly as he tries to make a run for it. Like we said, the cilp is absolutely bananas … especially considering this a well-known actor.

We're told this beatdown ended with Ian getting back in his car and driving off … ditto for the bikers, who got the hell out of there. It doesn't appear cops were called – so you could say it was left in the streets. Not to make light, but this pretty is 'Sharknado'-coded, no?

We've reached out to his camp for comment … so far, no word back. Here's hoping he's alright – and if not, someone get Fin Shepard on the horn, STAT, to start kicking ass!

https://www.tmz.com/2023/12/31/beverly-hills-90210-ian-ziering-attacked-bikers-streets-nye-los-angeles/

>>20169562

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Jan 2, 2023

Rocket Transits Rippling Moon

Can a rocket make the Moon ripple? No, but it can make a background moon appear wavy. The rocket, in this case, was a SpaceX Falcon Heavy that blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center last week. In the featured launch picture, the rocket's exhaust plume glows beyond its projection onto the distant, rising, and nearly full moon. Oddly, the Moon's lower edge shows unusual drip-like ripples. The Moon itself, far in the distance, was really unchanged. The physical cause of these apparent ripples was pockets of relatively hot or rarefied air deflecting moonlight less strongly than pockets of relatively cool or compressed air: refraction. Although the shot was planned, the timing of the launch had to be just right for the rocket to be transiting the Moon during this single exposure.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

Navajo Nation President Objects to NASA Sending Cremated Human Remains to the Moon

January 2, 2024

The moon has long been revered by many Native American tribes. So, when Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren recently discovered that NASA is planning to launch a rocket headed to the moon in early January with cremated human remains to be placed there, he sent a letter to NASA and the U.S. Department of Transportation asking to delay the launch.

"It is crucial to emphasize that the moon holds a sacred position in many Indigenous cultures, including ours," President Nygren wrote. "We view it as a part of our spiritual heritage, an object of reverence and respect. The act of depositing human remains and other materials, which could be perceived as discards in any other location, on the Moon is tantamount to desecration of this sacred space."

NASA is planning on launching the Vulcan Centaur carrying the Peregrine Mission One by Astrobotic Technology on January 8, 2024. Among 28 payloads are some by Celestis and Elysium Space, companies known for providing memorial services by shipping human cremated remains.

https://www.redlakenationnews.com/story/2024/01/02/news/navajo-nation-president-objects-to-nasa-sending-cremated-human-remains-to-the-moon/119232.html

>>20169975

Dressed to the nines

Quadrantid meteor shower 2024: The year's 1st meteor shower blazes over North America on Jan. 3

Jan 1, 2023

The Quadrantid meteor shower will peak this week and could bring up to 120 shooting stars per hour to the night sky.

It has the potential to be the strongest meteor shower of 2024, according to the American Meteor Society, but with such a short peak — just six hours — the shower's climax can often occur in daylight.

This year, the predicted peak is 7:53 a.m. EST (12:53 GMT) on Jan. 4, according to EarthSky. That makes the pre-dawn hours — from around 4:53 a.m. EST to dawn — the best time to observe the shower from North America. Those in western regions of the continent will have the best chance to watch for Quadrantids earlier at night.

About 25 shooting stars per hour are typically seen in a dark sky during the peak of the Quadrantids, according to the American Meteor Society. However, it's likely not worth traveling to dark skies for this event in 2024 because a bright last quarter moon will be in the sky just as the Quadrantids peak. Moonlight bleaches the sky and makes it more challenging to see fainter shooting stars, though the Quadrantids are known to produce bright fireballs that cut through light pollution of all kinds.

Meteor showers are typically named after the constellation from which they appear to come from. In the case of the Quadrantids, that's the constellation of Quadrans Muralis, though it is no longer recognized as a constellation. It's between the constellations of Bootes and Draco, near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper in the northern sky, according to NASA. Because of its position in the sky, the Quadrantid meteor shower is only visible in the Northern Hemisphere.

https://www.space.com/quadrantid-meteor-shower-2024-comes-this-week

India launches X-ray astronomy satellite

January 1, 2024

India launched an astronomy satellite to start a year that will feature key tests for its human spaceflight program and a potential joint crewed mission with NASA.

A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off at 10:40 p.m. Eastern Dec. 31 (9:10 a.m. local Jan. 1) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. It deployed its primary payload, the XPoSat spacecraft, into a 650-kilometer orbit about 22 minutes later.

The 469-kilogram satellite carries two instruments to conduct X-ray polarimetry measurements. Astronomers plan to use the data collected by XPoSat to study neutron stars, black holes and supernovae.

After deploying XPoSat, the PSLV’s fourth stage maneuvered to a 350-kilometer orbit. Attached to the upper stage is a payload called PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) 3. It carries 10 experiments, such as fuel cells and thrusters, from ISRO, universities and companies expected to operate for about a month.

Lowering POEM-3 to 350 kilometers is intended to mitigate debris by reducing the orbital lifetime of the upper stage. “As a responsible space agency, we decided to bring the fourth stage to a lower orbit so that the life of the stage in the orbit is much less, so we don’t create debris in that process,” said S Somanath, chairman of ISRO, in remarks after the launch.

The launch was the first of 2024, based on Universal Time. It comes after a record-setting 2023 with about 220 orbital launch attempts worldwide. India conducted seven of those launches using the PSLV, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, all of which were successful.

ISRO expects to roughly double that launch rate in 2024, with 12 to 14 launches planned for the year. Among them will be the GSLV launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Earth science mission, a joint effort of the two space agencies. That mission is slated for launch on March 30, NASA officials said at a session of the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in December.

The highlight of 2024 for ISRO, though, will be a series of test flights for its Gaganyaan human spaceflight program. The agency conducted the first such test in October, launching an uncrewed capsule on a suborbital flight to test its launch abort system.

“2024 is going to be the year of Gaganyaan,” Somanath said after the launch, starting with additional abort tests. “This year we are expecting two more such test flights of the test vehicle, followed by the unmanned mission.” That would be an orbital test of the Gaganyaan spacecraft without a crew on board.

That schedule would mean the first crewed Gaganyaan flight would take place no earlier than 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he announced the program in August 2018, set a goal for the first launch to take place in 2022 to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.

The next Indian astronaut to go to space, though, may do so on an American spacecraft. As part of a June 2023 summit meeting between Modi and President Joe Biden, the countries announced they would develop a “strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation” by the end of the year. That would include, according to a joint statement, training of Indian astronauts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and “a goal of launching a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024.”

Neither government has released additional details about those plans, including that strategic framework, since then. A Nov. 9 fact sheet by the U.S. State Department on relations between the United States and India reiterated the goal of a joint mission to the ISS in 2024 and training of Indian astronauts at JSC.

https://spacenews.com/india-launches-x-ray-astronomy-satellite/