Keep Looking Up
01/06/12 05:50
Today’s blog takes a look at things that have been falling from the sky. There have been several headlines about falling things that have caught my attention.
For over a month now, clouds of steam and ash have been rising from Popocatepetl, a dramatic 17,800-foot volcano that is visible from Mexico City. The mountain, called “Popo” by locals, was completely dormant for more than fifty years before reawakening in 1994, but the activity has been relatively minor until April 12 when it began to be rocked by earthquakes. Since then it has spewed out plumes of gas and multiple explosions have shot glowing rocks from the summit. According to geologists, the mountain has the potential to erupt violently every 2,000 or 3,000 years.
Perhaps the biggest danger from the mountain is of mudflow, also called debris flows or lahars. Such flows occur when water suddenly mixes with volcanic ash near a volcano’s summit. Water can come from melting glaciers or from heavy rains. The results can be devastating. The 1985 eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in Columbia killed more than 23,000 in the mudflow. It is technically accurate to describer such flows as “mud,” but it probably makes more sense to think of them as “cement.” The wall of debris is extremely sticky. People who are caught in flows are unable to extract themselves. Even trained workers have a difficult time extracting people from the flows.
There is a lot of geological evidence of massive mudflows from Popocatepeti about 11,000 years ago that inundated surrounding valleys. Popocatepeti sits roughly halfway between Mexico City and the city of Puebla. That means that 25 million people live within a 60-mile radius of the mountain. If additional activity creates a need for evacuations, there are a lot of people who might have to move. No country has the infrastructure to handle 25 million refugees.
The alert level has been raised and Mexican authorities have been preparing evacuation routes and shelters. Authorities say that they have shelters prepared for up to 60,000 people if evacuations are required. However, more than half of the people who live near the volcano say that they will not move. For generations, villagers have seen volcanic activity as acts of God. Attendance at local churches, where prayers are regularly offered that there be no further eruptions, goes up every time there is more activity on the mountain.
So the scientists and urban planners are watching the volcano with care hoping that this round of eruptions will calm without any signs of more massive events. Predictions are, however, that the eruptions will become greater as time passes. For now they watch, wait and pray. And then they pray again.
Halfway around the world, it wasn’t falling ash from a volcano that caused havoc on a busy highway in Melbourne, Australia. It was falling sheep. People who know me will understand how the headline caught my attention when it declared, “Hundreds of sheep ‘rain’ on Melbourne motorists.”
At the intersection of two major motorways in Melbourne, a truck carrying 400 sheep rolled on its side and hung over the edge of an overpass. Unsuspecting people driving on the highway below were caught by surprise as sheep fell from the truck. At least two cars took sheep directly in the windshield. One rolled multiple times in the median after swerving amidst the falling sheep. Several cars struck sheep carcasses on the highway. Fortunately no people were injured in the accidents.
The inbound Princes Highway was blocked and one outbound land of the Westgate Freeway also had to be closed as council rangers cleaned up the sheep, rescuing those that survived and loading carcasses onto trucks.
One eyewitness described it this way: “First of all we looked up and we could see the truck flip on its side and the next minute we were underneath and well yea it rained sheep.”
Meanwhile SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft dropped to earth as planned. It landed in the Pacific Ocean very close to the planned splashdown point, completing a historic first commercial mission to the International Space Station. The capsule took a half-ton of food and supplies up to the ISS astronauts and brought down about 2/3 ton of completed experiments and unneeded equipment. The plan is for the capsules to begin regular missions to and from the space station. Eventually SpaceX will be also transporting people to and from the station.
The successful landing of the capsule opens the door for a large contract to provide cargo services and another possible contract later this decade for crew transport services. It is the beginning of private commercial space ventures.
Private ventures were always at the heart of the development of aviation. The first airplanes were largely private ventures. Space exploration, however, has been much more costly. Previously only governments could amass the large amount of funds required for ventures into space. It is clear, however, that a new era is beginning. SpaceX has demonstrated that it is possible for a private company to engage in space travel.
Well, that is about the list of things that have been falling from the sky. As one who was raised around airplanes, I am often looking up. Perhaps I’ll see something falling one of these days.
J. Foley A. Horkheimer, who passed away in 2010, was known for his Star Gazer series on PBS television. He always signed off his show by saying, “Keep looking up!” He wrote a small reflection once that I have kept and refer to from time to time:
For over a month now, clouds of steam and ash have been rising from Popocatepetl, a dramatic 17,800-foot volcano that is visible from Mexico City. The mountain, called “Popo” by locals, was completely dormant for more than fifty years before reawakening in 1994, but the activity has been relatively minor until April 12 when it began to be rocked by earthquakes. Since then it has spewed out plumes of gas and multiple explosions have shot glowing rocks from the summit. According to geologists, the mountain has the potential to erupt violently every 2,000 or 3,000 years.
Perhaps the biggest danger from the mountain is of mudflow, also called debris flows or lahars. Such flows occur when water suddenly mixes with volcanic ash near a volcano’s summit. Water can come from melting glaciers or from heavy rains. The results can be devastating. The 1985 eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in Columbia killed more than 23,000 in the mudflow. It is technically accurate to describer such flows as “mud,” but it probably makes more sense to think of them as “cement.” The wall of debris is extremely sticky. People who are caught in flows are unable to extract themselves. Even trained workers have a difficult time extracting people from the flows.
There is a lot of geological evidence of massive mudflows from Popocatepeti about 11,000 years ago that inundated surrounding valleys. Popocatepeti sits roughly halfway between Mexico City and the city of Puebla. That means that 25 million people live within a 60-mile radius of the mountain. If additional activity creates a need for evacuations, there are a lot of people who might have to move. No country has the infrastructure to handle 25 million refugees.
The alert level has been raised and Mexican authorities have been preparing evacuation routes and shelters. Authorities say that they have shelters prepared for up to 60,000 people if evacuations are required. However, more than half of the people who live near the volcano say that they will not move. For generations, villagers have seen volcanic activity as acts of God. Attendance at local churches, where prayers are regularly offered that there be no further eruptions, goes up every time there is more activity on the mountain.
So the scientists and urban planners are watching the volcano with care hoping that this round of eruptions will calm without any signs of more massive events. Predictions are, however, that the eruptions will become greater as time passes. For now they watch, wait and pray. And then they pray again.
Halfway around the world, it wasn’t falling ash from a volcano that caused havoc on a busy highway in Melbourne, Australia. It was falling sheep. People who know me will understand how the headline caught my attention when it declared, “Hundreds of sheep ‘rain’ on Melbourne motorists.”
At the intersection of two major motorways in Melbourne, a truck carrying 400 sheep rolled on its side and hung over the edge of an overpass. Unsuspecting people driving on the highway below were caught by surprise as sheep fell from the truck. At least two cars took sheep directly in the windshield. One rolled multiple times in the median after swerving amidst the falling sheep. Several cars struck sheep carcasses on the highway. Fortunately no people were injured in the accidents.
The inbound Princes Highway was blocked and one outbound land of the Westgate Freeway also had to be closed as council rangers cleaned up the sheep, rescuing those that survived and loading carcasses onto trucks.
One eyewitness described it this way: “First of all we looked up and we could see the truck flip on its side and the next minute we were underneath and well yea it rained sheep.”
The successful landing of the capsule opens the door for a large contract to provide cargo services and another possible contract later this decade for crew transport services. It is the beginning of private commercial space ventures.
Private ventures were always at the heart of the development of aviation. The first airplanes were largely private ventures. Space exploration, however, has been much more costly. Previously only governments could amass the large amount of funds required for ventures into space. It is clear, however, that a new era is beginning. SpaceX has demonstrated that it is possible for a private company to engage in space travel.
Well, that is about the list of things that have been falling from the sky. As one who was raised around airplanes, I am often looking up. Perhaps I’ll see something falling one of these days.
J. Foley A. Horkheimer, who passed away in 2010, was known for his Star Gazer series on PBS television. He always signed off his show by saying, “Keep looking up!” He wrote a small reflection once that I have kept and refer to from time to time:
Uncharted suns and planets past all counting,
whirling, twirling down unnumbered years,
nations by the trillion, faintly guessed at,
come and gone and still more yet to be;
Incomprehensible.
Far as man made eyes can reach
and farther . . .
perched and poised peer through the night
and seem to beg, plead, cry in our stead
Peace
If only for one Speck of Time
. . . Speck of Space
tonight
HOPE
It seems that the advice “Keep looking up” is still valid.