Ed Stone, the scientist who guided NASA’s groundbreaking Voyager mission to the outer planets for 50 years and led the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when it landed the first rover on Mars, died Tuesday. He was 88 years old. A physicist on the ground floor of space exploration, Stone played a leading role in NASA missions… Read More »
A black-and-white drone about the size of a couch cushion took off with a gentle buzz at the Hawthorne Police Department earlier this month, hovering and darting back and forth several times before landing on the podium to applause. A small audience and local TV news crews had gathered to see the demonstration of “Responder,”… Read More »
Scientists have been saying for years that atmospheric rivers could either make or break the water supplies of thirsty California cities and farms. Over the past two winters, these massive “rivers in the sky” have consistently dumped record-breaking and drought-busting rainfall across the state, while also causing devastating floods, landslides and dangerous snowstorms. But now,… Read More »
This month, Junipero Serra High School in Gardena held a pep rally to celebrate the accomplishments of its cutting-edge space team, perhaps its least traditional team. Seniors Isaiah Dunn, Christopher Holbert, Travis Leonard, Anderson Pecot and Henry Toler, junior Keith Davie and freshman Jonathan Cruz showed their classmates around the 3D printing experiment they sent… Read More »
After identifying traces of bird flu virus in grocery store milk, federal officials said Wednesday they “believe” the nation’s milk supply is safe and the virus has been neutralized through pasteurization. “Heating milk to a specific temperature by pasteurization for a specific period of time is done to limit the activity of pathogens to a… Read More »
The rotting carcass of a gray whale attracts the attention of visitors at Muir Beach in San Francisco in April 2021. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) When large numbers of gray whales began washing up along the Pacific Coast of North America about six years ago, oceanographers could only speculate about the cause: Was… Read More »
Robert Dedlow, owner of Kentor Canyon Farms in Fillmore, cuts organic thyme while touring his farm in 2021. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) To help California combat climate change, air quality regulators want 20% of the state’s farmland to become organic by 2045. This means converting approximately 65,000 acres of conventional fields to… Read More »
Space shuttle Endeavor is wrapped in protective plastic wrap and parked next to the external fuel tanks, waiting to be lifted by a 1,500-foot crane and placed next to the fuel tanks at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center next week. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Barring weather delays, the space… Read More »
Space shuttle Endeavour’s giant external orange fuel tank, ET-94, stands next to two 149-foot solid rocket boosters at the California Science Center on Wednesday. The tank was lifted by crane on Friday and placed between rocket boosters. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The external fuel tank built to launch explorers and equipment… Read More »
A man takes a photo of the final shuttle fuel tank, ET-94, before it begins its journey toward the California Science Center in Exposition Park through the streets of Los Angeles in 2016. (Los Angeles Times) Finally, the last space shuttle Endeavor ever built and its massive orange external tank are expected to begin their… Read More »