TYB
Advisory on the rocket launch of Long March 3B/E
9 May 2024
The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) confirms the launch of the Long March 3B/E rocket of the People’s Republic of China. Expected debris from the rocket launch was projected to have fallen within the identified drop zones approximately 28 NM away from Rozul Reef and 38 NM away from Patag Island.
Long March 3B/E was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan China around 09:50 AM PhST on 09 May 2024.
Details of the rocket drop zone were disclosed through a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) warning of an “aerospace flight activity.” PhilSA has disseminated a pre-launch report to relevant government agencies and authorities prior to the launch.
Unburned debris from rockets, such as the booster and faring, are designed to be discarded as the rocket enters outer space. While not projected to fall on land features or inhabited areas, falling debris poses danger and potential risk to ships, aircraft, fishing boats, and other vessels that will pass through the drop zone. There is also a possibility for the debris to float around the area and wash toward nearby coasts. Additionally, the possibility of an uncontrolled re-entry to the atmosphere of the rocket’s upper stages returning from outer space cannot be ruled out at this time.
PhilSA reiterates its advice for the public to inform local authorities if suspected debris is sighted. PhilSA also cautions against retrieving or coming in close contact with these materials that may contain remnants of toxic substances such as rocket fuel.
https://philsa.gov.ph/news/advisory-on-the-rocket-launch-of-long-march-3b-e/
New Space for All projects to inspire young people
10 May 2024
The UK Space Agency has awarded funding to 15 projects across the UK designed to engage young people from all backgrounds and inspire the next generation into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers.
The Agency’s Space for All fund aims to inspire young people to pursue STEM education and attract talent to the UK space sector.
Just over a £1 million will go to programmes in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Space for All is part of the UK Space Agency’s £12 million Inspiration programme which delivers multiple long-lasting interventions and opportunities across the UK, engaging with parents, teachers, club leaders, and role models, as well as young people themselves.
Professor Anu Ojha, Director of Championing Space at the UK Space Agency, said:
As part of the UK Space Agency’s long-term investment in space education and skills, our Space for All funding is backing projects that will engage young people from all backgrounds across the UK. Through long lasting interventions we aim to demonstrate the value of space to everyday life and the broad range of exciting future careers available, through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pathways and wider.
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https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-space-for-all-projects-to-inspire-young-people
2023 Nuclear Deterrence Operations, Missile Operations awards announced
May 9, 2024
Department of the Air Force officials announced the 2023 winners of the Nuclear Deterrence Operations Awards and the Nuclear and Missile Operations functional awards.
These awards recognize the outstanding accomplishments of Airmen, Guardians, and civilians contributing to nuclear deterrence operations and the missile operations career field.
“We are proud to recognize and highlight the amazing achievements of Department of the Air Force personnel across the nuclear enterprise.” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Andrew J. Gebara, Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration deputy chief of staff. “This year we introduced the Personnel Reliability and Assurance Program Manager of the Year award and expanded eligibility to our Total Force partners. Congratulations to the award earners and to all the Airmen, Guardians, civilians, and teams that were nominated.”
These outstanding nuclear professionals were selected from a diverse field within the Department of the Air Force’s major commands, unified combatant commands, and other agencies including the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.
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https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3770542/2023-nuclear-deterrence-operations-missile-operations-awards-announced/
Remarks by CSO Gen. Chance Saltzman at the Australian Air and Space Conference
Published May 9, 2024
CANBERRA, Australia (AFNS) As Delivered by Chief of Space Operations U.S. Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman on May 9, 2024. – Introduction: Group Captain Sleeman:
We are delighted and honored to be joined by General Chance Saltzman, the United States Space Force Chief of Space Operations to deliver the keynote address. General Saltzman is a distinguished career which encompasses a broad array of technical, operational and command appointments.
General Saltzman has deep expertise in strategic missile space operations.
This is complemented by high level academic studies and fellowships.
He's the chief of the world's first and largest space force and the space adviser on the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff. He's a champion for the rules-based order in space and a close partner for all of us who work in the space domain.
General Saltzman, we are honored and delighted to have you in Australia. And I invite you to address the conference.
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https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3771009/remarks-by-cso-gen-chance-saltzman-at-the-australian-air-and-space-conference/
The £14,200,000 space-age tower left to rot next to UK motorway
Updated May 10, 2024, 8:46am
If you regularly use the M6 motorway you’ll no doubt be familiar with this bizarre, space-age building which towers above the road.
The Pennine Tower was built as part of the Forton motorway services in 1965 and it towers 90ft above the road which connects the Lancaster and Preston bypasses.
But if you’re taking the M6 for the first time, the tower’s design may cause you to look twice.
It was built in a futuristic (at the time) hexagonal shape and was intended to be used as a fine dining restaurant serving up lobster and steak.
When it opened, the 150-seat Pennine Tower was the highest motorway restaurant, and it had views of Morecambe Bay and an observation platform.
Forton motorway services was one of the first to be built in the UK, as growing numbers of car owners led to the development of our motorway networks.
It reportedly cost £885,000 to build – which in today’s money is equivalent to about £14.2 million.
As well as the Pennine Tower the services also feature an enclosed bridge, so visitors can use the facilities on both sides of the carriageway, along with two self-service cafeterias and facilities for lorry drivers.
In an archive of the now offline Forton Services website, the memories of a former Pennine Tower’s waitress, Noreen Blackburn, are recounted.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Noreen recalled leaving school in 1966 and going to work in the service’s separate cafeteria, filling shelves with sandwiches and cakes.
She said: ‘As I was eager to learn, my next job was serving tea and coffee – tea was made in a huge teapot and poured as necessary – coaches made the place very busy. The phrase used was the “tea and pee brigade”.
‘However, my greatest wish was to be a waitress in the tower and I really pushed the catering manager to consider me.
‘The uniform was so chic in a shade of mid-green with a pencil slim skirt which had to be just above knee level, a white blouse, a waistcoat with shiny chrome buttons and a Top Rank emblem embroidered on it.’
Unfortunately, despite the restaurant’s lofty ambitions, the food left a lot to be desired. In 1978, acclaimed food critic, Egon Ronay called the restaurant’s food ‘an insult to one’s taste buds’, rating the food at the services as ‘appalling’.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the restaurant didn’t last, and it was converted to a trucker’s lounge before closing completely in 1989.
The services were sold by its original owners, Top Rank, to Pavilion, who then sold it to Granada.
Now owned by Moto, the Forton services still serve motorists every day – but the tower remains closed off to the public.
The tower was awarded Grade II listed status in 2012, with Historic England explaining: ‘Forton demonstrated a new popularist architecture ideally suited to the democratic new aesthetic of the motorway, the Pennine Tower Restaurant acting both as a beacon to attract the passing motorists and as a glamorous vantage point from which they were able to enjoy spectacular prospects of the motorway below and more extensively over the miles of surrounding countryside through which they [are] passing.’
The tower itself remains closed off to the public, and is out of use after having been used as an office and storage space for a number of years.
Photos taken about 10 years ago show how the inside of the tower has become a shadow of its former glory, with dated furniture piled up against the walls and sad green carpet looking worse for wear.
But despite being long abandoned, the Pennine Tower still evokes strong memories and fondness for the strange, UFO-like building hovering above the motorway.
https://metro.co.uk/2024/05/10/14-200-000-space-age-tower-left-rot-a-uk-motorway-20810302/
UFO Welcome Center burns in Bowman, gutting one of SC's oddest attractions
May 9, 2024
BOWMAN — The famed UFO Welcome Center in Bowman, one of South Carolina's oddest tourist attractions, has burned to the ground.
A fire took down the hulking structure in the early morning of May 9. Crews from several area departments battled to save the center, but to no avail. All that was left were smoldering ruins of wood and metal.
Jody Pendarvis, who built the UFO Welcome Center in his backyard, said he doesn't know what started the fire, and he's not hopeful officials will figure out how it started. It's a total loss, he said, including the trailer he lives in.
"Maybe another UFO came by and set the fire," Pendarvis told The Post and Courier four hours after the blaze, as he ate breakfast at a nearby diner.
The fire began at 6:30 a.m., Pendarvis said. He doesn't suspect foul play but marveled at the ferocity of the blaze.
"I can't believe it went up so quick," he said of the "huge fire."
Bowman residents stopped their vehicles on the streets and at a nearby parking lot to gawk at the still smoking ruins.
“It was amazing to see how he built it,” said Odis Harrison, a Bowman resident. “A lot of tourists will miss it.”
Johnna Hansen, a Summerville resident who has visited the site multiple times to take photos, recalled when Pendarvis would charge visitors 25 cents for a “tour” of the center, during which he would drop a makeshift ramp leading into the building.
“It was hilarious,” Hansen recalled. “It was a wonderful little roadside attraction and oddity. I’m really sad that it’s gone.”
What is the UFO Welcome Center?
A once-thriving dairy community in Orangeburg County, Bowman now has just under 1,000 residents. The UFO Welcome Center, built by Pendarvis over the past 25 years to greet aliens, brought people from across the nation to this tiny outpost about an hour from Charleston.
A sign near the outside entrance of the welcome center read, “Space People Only. Enter at Own Risk, Danger.”
As you walked in the narrow hallway entrance, a visitors' registry was presented next to a few American flags, a television remote control and a toilet. The book asked you to write down your name and what planet you're from.
The ceiling boards were covered in exposed wires and cables that were intertwined throughout the center. Staircases took you to a dome-shaped room at the top, where dozens of pie plates were used as porthole windows. From there, you could look out for signs of UFOs in the sky or see Jody sitting in front of the TV flipping through to a channel playing old episodes of "Star Trek."
The welcome center began in 1994 as an office space outside of Pendarvis' trailer. It sprung up without a diagram or any plans, just a place where he could work. He used plywood and material he found from his grandparents’ property or that was discarded around town.
"I walked into town hall and applied for a building permit and got an application to run for mayor," he told The Post and Courier in 2019. "I got 41 votes."
Over time, the structure morphed into the 16-foot-tall, 46-foot-wide welcome center.
https://www.postandcourier.com/news/ufo-welcome-center-bowman-fire-burned/article_206b08d2-0e09-11ef-88e7-374073b82396.html