On March 20, 2010, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano (pronounced “AYA-feeyapla-yurkul,”) awakened for the first time in 120 years, spewing still-active lava fountains and flows. That day, a NASA “sensor web” — a network of sensors on the ground and aboard NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite, alerted researchers to this new volcanic “hot spot.” The eruption was detected by autonomous “sciencecraft” software aboard the satellite, which is known as EO-1.

Sciencecraft software enables the spacecraft to analyze science data onboard to detect scientific events and respond by sending alerts, producing scientific products and/or re-imaging the event.

Here’s the original recordings of both days together. Day two starts at around 3:00. Clear space is edited out. Radio calls in between are not for emphasis. The scanner clips the audio between both tower channels as it’s recorded so not every word exists on this audio recording. This is the reason for missing audio in some sentences.

What was probably harmless is now being highlighted by the news media and now with FAA repercussions

FAA Statement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Aviation Administration announced today that two employees at John F. Kennedy Airport Tower are on administrative leave following an incident last month when a child was permitted to talk with pilots on an air traffic control frequency.

This lapse in judgment not only violated FAAs own policies, but common sense standards for professional conduct. These kinds of distractions are totally unacceptable, said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. We have an incredible team of professionals who safely control our nations skies every single day. This kind of behavior does not reflect the true caliber of our workforce.

The two JFK Tower employees, a supervisor and an air traffic controller, are on administrative leave pending the outcome of an official FAA investigation into the incident which is already underway.

In addition, all unofficial visits to FAA air traffic control operational areas, such as towers and radar rooms, will be suspended during the investigation. The FAA Administrator has directed a team to conduct a full-scale review of air traffic control policies and procedures related to facility visitors.

http://bit.ly/boyatcjkf

and now the FAA repercussions

FAA Statement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Aviation Administration announced today that two employees at John F. Kennedy Airport Tower are on administrative leave following an incident last month when a child was permitted to talk with pilots on an air traffic control frequency.

This lapse in judgment not only violated FAAs own policies, but common sense standards for professional conduct. These kinds of distractions are totally unacceptable, said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. We have an incredible team of professionals who safely control our nations skies every single day. This kind of behavior does not reflect the true caliber of our workforce.

The two JFK Tower employees, a supervisor and an air traffic controller, are on administrative leave pending the outcome of an official FAA investigation into the incident which is already underway.

In addition, all unofficial visits to FAA air traffic control operational areas, such as towers and radar rooms, will be suspended during the investigation. The FAA Administrator has directed a team to conduct a full-scale review of air traffic control policies and procedures related to facility visitors.

Video courtesy: Transportation Security Administration, the Port Authority and Continental Airlines, and Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ).

Press Release of Senator Lautenberg

Working With Law Enforcement, Lautenberg Releases Video of Newark Airport Security Breach

Thursday, January 7, 2010 NEWARK, NJ – After calling for the release of surveillance footage of the January 3 security breach at Newark Liberty Airport in meetings with top security officials at the Transportation Security Administration, the Port Authority and Continental Airlines, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today released video footage of the security breach. The video, approved for release by the TSA, is not considered Sensitive Security Information and law enforcement officials have determined that it will be useful in helping to advance the ongoing investigation. The release of this video will give law enforcement another tool to help find the person who breached the security gate at Newark Liberty Airport, stated Lautenberg. I encourage this individual or anyone with knowledge of his identity to immediately contact law enforcement. It is unacceptable that the Port Authority took so long to produce this tape, but now that it is public we have a better chance of getting to the bottom of this major security incident.

http://www.virgingalactic.com

SpaceShipTwo (SS2) and its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) herald a new era in commercial space flight with daily space tourism flights set to commence from Spaceport America in New Mexico after test program and all required US government licensing completed.

Mojave Air and Spaceport, California
December 7, 2009

Virgin Founder, Sir Richard Branson and SpaceshipOne (SS1) designer, Burt Rutan, today reveal SS2 to the public for the first time since construction of the worlds first manned commercial spaceship began in 2007. SS2 has been designed to take many thousands of private astronauts into space after test programming and all required U.S. government licensing has been completed.

The unveiling represents another major milestone in Virgin Galactics quest to develop the Worlds first commercial space line providing private sector access to space using an environmentally benign launch system for people, payload and science. The spaceship draws on the experience developed during the successful flights of SS1 in 2004, which won the Ansari X-Prize for completing the worlds first manned private space flights. The SS2 design will be refined and completed during an extensive test flying program to commence shortly, and it will be an entirely new vehicle capable of carrying up to 6 passenger astronauts and up to 2 pilot astronauts into space on a sub-orbital flight.

The unveil itself will take place at Mojave Air and Spaceport as darkness falls on the famous aviation and spaceflight location. Subject to certain U.S. regulatory requirements that will guide the unveiling, SS2 will be attached to her WK2 mothership which was last year unveiled and named EVE after Sir Richard Bransons mother. In the future, WK2 will carry SS2 to above 50,000 feet (16 kilometres) before the spaceship is dropped and fires her rocket motor to launch into space from that altitude. In honour of a long tradition of using the word Enterprise in the naming of Royal Navy, US Navy, NASA vehicles and even science fiction spacecraft, Governor Schwarzenegger of California and Governor Richardson of New Mexico will today christen SS2 with the name Virgin Space Ship (VSS) ENTERPRISE. This represents not only an acknowledgement to that names honorable past but also looks to the future of the role of private enterprise in the development of the exploration, industrialisation and human habitation of space.