The Taylor Star-STEM,Business and Political Science: December 2020

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

NASA Firms Up International Collaboration on Deep Space Missions

Both the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and European Space Agency (ESA) have recently committed to participate in NASA'S crewed deep space exploration plans.On 16 December 2020, NASA and CSA inked a pact initiating collaboration on the Gateway,a small space station in lunar orbit that will facilitate sustainable human lunar and Mars exploration.The agreement enlists Canada to provide the Canadarm3 external robotics system for the Gateway, and commits NASA to provide crew opportunities for Canadian astronauts on an Artemis mission to Gateway and on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on the Orion spacecraft that will take astronauts to a high lunar orbit, farther from Earth than ever before, in 2023.* Said Kathy Lueders, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations: Gateway will enable a robust, sustainable, and eventually permanent human presence on the lunar surface where we can prove out many of the skills, operations, and technologies that will be key for future human Mars missions.* Gateway will be one sixth the size of ISS and at a maximum distance of tens of thousands of miles from the Moon in a near-rectilinear halo orbit.NASA and International and commercial partners will conduct unprecedented deep space science and technology investigations on the station.Gateway will be a rendezvous point for astronauts traveling to low-lunar orbit and descending to the Moon on a commercially-developed lander.* According to Dan Hartman, Gateway Program Manager at NASA Johnson Space Center,Houston: Our efforts are well underway on Gateway to integrate CSA's robotics system with arm attachment points and smaller dexterous adapters already being incorporated into the individual Gateway modules including the PPE (Power and Propulsion Element),HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost), Gateway logistics, and international habitation element designs.* In October, NASA enlisted ESA contributions to provide the PPE and HALO modules to Gateway,as well as enhanced lunar communications and the European Service Modules for Orion.ESA will also provide a scientific investgation onboard Gateway,the European Radiation Sensors Array (ERSA), for monitoring space radiation at high energies for astronaut protection.NASA will provide a heliophysics investigation called HERMES (Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite).*

Biden Delivers Remarks On Covid-19 | NBC News

Live: Kamala Harris Receives Coronavirus Vaccine | NBC News

Monday, December 14, 2020

Full remarks by President-elect Joe Biden on his Electoral College victory

Election Update:Electoral College Elects Biden 46th President

At 5:28 pm Eastern, the California electors cast their 55 votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President of the United States, respectively,thus pushing them over the 270 electoral vote requirement for victory over President Donald Trump.Electors from all 50 states and the District of Columbia met today to officially elect the president and vice president in accordance with Article II of the Constitution.The electors met in legislative chambers and conference rooms across the country, often escorted by police in light of violent threats made by extremists,who had been agitated by baseless claims of widespread voter fraud by President Trump and his associates.Ultimately, the US Supreme Court refused to even allow the claims to be filed.Repeatedly the groundless claims were rejected by state and federal courts, the Republican and Democrat judges alike appalled by the lack of evidence for them.* President-elect Biden will address the nation at 7:30 pm Eastern on his electoral college win and the crises facing the American people and the world.*