FAA: Changes coming to prevent tarmac delays

Administration officials promised Wednesday to make changes before the Christmas travel season in an effort to prevent airline passengers from suffering the nightmare of being trapped for hours on a tarmac with no way to reach an airport gate.

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"We can move pretty quickly on this," Federal Aviation Administrator Randy Babbitt told reporters after hosting a forum with airlines, airports and government officials on ways to prevent a repeat of an October incident that left hundreds of passengers stranded in Hartford, Conn.

Twenty-eight planes ? seven were large international flights ? arrived unexpectedly at Bradley International Airport on Oct. 29 during a freak snowstorm. The planes were forced to divert because weather and equipment problems prevented them from landing at New York-area airports.

Many of the flights sat on the ground for hours ? several for more than seven hours ? before they could either refuel and depart or unload their passengers. The captain of JetBlue flight 504 begged for help to get his plane to a gate, saying passengers were becoming unruly and he had paraplegic and diabetic passengers who needed to get off.

Within the next week, the FAA will begin including airports in national and regional conference calls they hold with airlines several times a day to discuss problems that are affecting the flow of air traffic. The agency is also launching a hotline and a webpage for airports to alert the FAA and airlines of problems on the ground such as difficulties with as snow removal and de-icing equipment or a shortage of available gates, Babbitt said.

Much of the chaos during the Hartford incident could have been mitigated by better communication among airlines, airports and air traffic controllers, Babbitt said.

If airlines had known so many flights were diverting to Hartford, some probably would have sent their planes to other airports in Providence, R.I.; Albany, N.Y.; Allentown, Pa.; and Baltimore, transportation officials said. Bradley, a medium-size airport, has only 23 gates and typically handles few international flights, officials said.

"This wasn't anybody's fault necessarily," Babbitt said. "People just weren't aware of what other people were doing. That's what we're going to try to alleviate going forward."

A Transportation Department rule implemented in April 2010 limits tarmac delays to a maximum of three hours before airlines must allow passengers to get off the plane. Airlines that exceed the time limit can face fines of up to $27,500 per person. Although Babbitt's comments appeared to relieve airlines of responsibility for the Oct. 29 incident, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood emphasized that his department's investigations into each of the flights that exceeded the three-hour limit aren't yet complete.

Airlines say there are a lot of reasons for extended tarmac delays, most related to airport congestion created by poor weather. If planes are held at gates because poor weather prevents or slows departures, then incoming flights have trouble finding a free gate. Sometimes planes sitting for hours in line waiting to take off are unable to return to gates where new planes have taken their place. Customs and security officials won't allow passengers off international flights unless they have enough officials to process them or a secure place to hold them until they can be processed.

Airlines, which opposed the three-hour rule, say many of the delays are beyond their control. For example, one of the problems at Bradley was that there weren't enough U.S. Customs officials on duty to handle the influx of large international flights with hundreds of passengers. Indeed, the room Customs officials use at Bradley was far too small to accommodate all the passengers waiting to be processed that day, officials said.

The airport received 20 inches of snow during the storm, which marked the first time that area of Connecticut had received over an inch of snow in October in more than a century of record-keeping, a National Weather Service official told the forum.

The storm knocked out power to the airport several times during the day. Luggage belts quit working. Tugs that move planes out of the way couldn't get traction on the ice. Planes had trouble refueling and de-icing because of the power outages, preventing departures.

If a plane can't get de-iced, "you might as well just weld the aircraft to the ramp ? it's not going anywhere," Babbitt said.

And if planes can't depart, there's no room to unload planes that have landed.

No one, including controllers, had a complete picture of what was happening, Babbitt told the forum.

"There is a lot of knowledge out there," he said. "If everyone had access to the whole picture, they wouldn't have continued to send planes to (Bradley)."

But FAA officials acknowledged they shared some responsibility for the episode as well. The agency was in the midst of a scheduled shutdown of navigation equipment for servicing at John F. Kennedy International Airport when visibility rapidly deteriorated and winds kicked up. Several industry officials questioned why FAA continued with the maintenance shutdown in light of the forecast storm, but LaHood said no one had anticipated a snowstorm that severe in October.

The problems were exacerbated when other FAA equipment at Kennedy and nearby Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey malfunctioned in freezing temperatures. Reports of wind shear limited the use of some runways, forcing changes in flight paths that decreased the number of planes that could land at Kennedy, Newark, LaGuardia Airport in New York and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, which was closed for a time.

More than a dozen planes were diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston, but Logan had problems as well. One of the diverted planes was an Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial passenger plane. Logan, which doesn't normally serve A380s, had to close a runway for a time because there was nowhere else to put the supersize plane. Tarmac space to accommodate planes at Logan was further limited by a military flight that happened to bring soldiers wounded in Libya to the U.S. for medical care that day. Logan officials said they had to make room on the tarmac for 10 ambulances.

An FAA review also found that it wasn't necessarily obvious to controllers that an unusually large number of flights were being diverted to Bradley, agency officials said.

Among FAA's proposals to airlines and airports for better information-sharing:

  • Creating a webpage monitored by FAA where airports can continuously update information. Airline dispatchers could check the site before deciding where they want to send flights unable to land at their intended destination. Airlines, rather than controllers, decide which airports they want to send diverted flights to based on factors such as personnel and equipment at the airport.

For example, if a plane spends too much time on the ground, the flight crew may exceed the maximum number of hours they're allowed to work in a single day under FAA safety regulations. In those cases, airlines have to find another flight crew and get them to the plane before the flight can depart.

  • Expand FAA-hosted teleconferences with airlines to include airports. FAA and airline officials exchange information in teleconferences each day about weather-related and other difficulties affecting the flow of air traffic around the country, but airport officials generally don't join those conversations.
  • Create a better system for air traffic controllers to identify diverted flights. While special handling would not be provided based sole on diversion status, it would heighten situational awareness about the potential for congestion on the ground at airport and for planes in the air to run low on fuel.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45495946/ns/travel-news/

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Canon EOS 1000D washes ashore in BC, Canada, SD card reveals it was lost at sea for over a year (update)

What you're looking at was once a fully functional Canon EOS 1000D, now merely a relic of the sea (the Pacific Ocean, to be exact), which was recently posted on Google+. User Marcus Thompson, found the DSLR washed up near a wharf while on a diving job in Deep Bay British Columbia, Canada and decided to take it home to find out what could be salvaged. After removing and cleaning the SanDisk Extreme III SD card inside of it, he was successfully able to recover about 50 photos with EXIF data from August 2010, showcasing what's described to be a firefighter and his family on vacation. While he hasn't located the owner of the shooter turned coffee table decoration just yet, Marcus is currently asking the "Google+ hive mind" to help get the two reunited. If you're from BC area and want to help out -- or just curious to see this DSLR from more angles -- you'll find some pictures from the SD card and more information about the camera at the source link below.

Update (5:00PM): The original Google+ post was updated within the last hour, noting that the owner of the camera has indeed been identified!

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/27/canon-eos-1000d-washes-ashore-sd-card-reveals-it-was-lost-at-se/

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Mayor pushes $170 water bill cut

Mayor Ron Clarke says water bills could be cut by at least $170 a year

WATER bills could fall by at least $170 a year if an audacious challenge by outgoing Mayor Ron Clarke is adopted by an incoming council.

Cr Clarke, who will retire at the council election on March 31, said a report to be handed down before a full contingent of Gold Coast City councillors today paved the way for future water and wastewater service fee reductions.

The report by auditing firm KPMG is expected to show there would be minimal additional cost to the $27.2 million already allocated by the council to disconnect from Allconnex Water and re-establish Gold Coast Water.

The council decided in June to pull out of Allconnex Water after a vigorous outcry from residents over significant increases to water bills.

But the decision sparked further criticism after accusations the disconnection could cost ratepayers more than $200 million.

Cr Clarke said the KPMG report, which he endorsed yesterday, proved such accusations ''had always been nonsense'', with the final cost expected to come in at just over the $27.2 million already set aside in the 2011/12 Budget.

''This is great news for ratepayers,'' Cr Clarke said.

''(Councillors) have all the weapons now to do what they should be doing.

''I believe the new Gold Coast City Council should insist on a reduction of at least $170 per annum for its residents.

''Surely Gold Coast Water can be as efficient as Unity Water (the supplier for Brisbane residents).''

Cr Clarke said Gold Coast residents currently paid $308 more per year for water than their Brisbane counterparts.

''I believe that is far too high and that is why the whole resolution to take over from Allconnex came about,'' he said.

''I think this puts us into a position where we can have that price reduced from next financial year.''

Cr Clarke said the $170 reduction would be gained via a reduction in service charges as opposed to bulk water charges which are dictated by the State Government and unable to be altered.

But Cr Bob La Castra, who on Friday described council's decision to opt out of Allconnex as ''the worst decision in the history of local government'', said he could not fathom the mayor's interpretation of the KPMG report.

''KPMG must have written two reports and sent one to the mayor for his eyes only because I don't know how he could interpret what he's put in his media release if he's read the same report that I've read,'' Cr La Castra said.

''That is from another planet, it is not even close. You could not come to that conclusion from the report I've read.''

?

Source: http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2011/11/28/369371_gold-coast-lead-story.html

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World stocks rise from 7-week low on Europe hopes (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? World stocks rose from last week's 7-week low on Monday as hopes grew euro zone leaders would unveil fresh measures to resolve the two-year-old debt crisis, while caution ahead of next week's key summit kept the euro and German yields under pressure.

An unsourced report in Italian daily La Stampa suggested the International Monetary Fund was preparing a rescue plan for Italy worth up to 600 billion euros ($796 billion), later dismissed by an IMF spokesperson.

But a downgrade in Belgium's sovereign rating late on Friday and a warning by Moody's that the rapid escalation of the region's sovereign and banking crisis threatens the rating of all European government bonds kept top-rated German debt supported.

"The bears out there will know that markets do not go down in a straight line and this could be just a relief rally in what will prove to be a prolonged bear market," said Stan Shamu, strategist at IG Markets.

MSCI world equity index (.MIWD00000PUS) gained 0.9 percent, rising for the first time after ten consecutive days of losses. The index is down nearly 15 percent since January and more than 22 percent since hitting a three-year high in May.

European stocks (.FTEU3) and emerging stocks (.MSCIEF) both rose around 1.5 percent.

U.S. stock futures were up more than 2 percent, pointing to a firmer open on Wall Street later.

The market was also expected to get some support from news that U.S. retailers racked up a record $52.4 billion in sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, a 16.4 percent jump.

U.S. crude oil gained 2.2 percent to $98.92 a barrel.

Bund futures were steady on the day.

After the Italian aid report, Italian/German 10-year government bond yield spread tightened 10 basis points to 496 bps.

The premium investors pay to hold Belgium's 10-year government bonds rather than German debt was largely unchanged from Friday at 368 basis points.

Belgian borrowing costs have increased sharply in past weeks as the country has struggled to set up a government, with the country's benchmark 10-year yield rising near the 6 percent level on Friday, beyond which financing costs could become unsustainable.

A sustained rise in yields is likely to scare some of the long-term euro bond buyers. Kokusai Asset Management, Japan's biggest mutual fund, said it had sold all its Italian, Spanish and Belgian bond holdings, spooked by a jump in Italian bond yields to above 7 percent and other signs that the crisis in Europe was deepening [ID:nL4E7MS152].

Investors will keep a close eye on developments in the euro zone. Documents showed detailed operational rules for the region's bailout fund were ready for approval and will clear the way for the 440 billion euro facility to attract cash from private and public investors in coming weeks.

Officials say Germany and France are exploring ways for rapid fiscal integration among euro zone countries. Germany's original plan was to get all 27 countries on board, but officials have been looking at alternatives such as an agreement among just the euro zone countries or a separate agreement outside the EU treaty that could involve a core of around 8-10 euro zone countries.

The euro fell 0.1 percent to $1.3301.

The dollar (.DXY) fell 0.6 percent against a basket of major currencies.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111128/bs_nm/us_markets_global

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Gaga's Thanksgiving special no turkey for ABC (omg!)

Singer Lady Gaga carries a pair of scissors during a ribbon cutting ceremony to launch Gaga's Workshop at Barneys department store in New York November 21, 2011. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving" proved plenty bounteous for ABC.

Though it failed to grab the ratings crown for the night, the holiday special presided over by the "Alejandro" chanteuse provided a significant boost for the network Thursday night, generating a four-year Thanksgiving best in the timeslot and handily beating last year's Turkey Day music offering, "Beyonce's I Am World Tour."

"A Very Gaga Thanksgiving," airing from 9:30 p.m. to 11, averaged a 1.6/3 in the adults 18-49 demographic, a 23 percent improvement over the concert special delivered by her former collaborator Beyonce on the network last season.

The special also averaged 5.4 million total viewers -- an increase of 1.3 million total viewers compared to last year.

Prior to the Gaga special, ABC ran "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" at 8, which averaged a 1.7/6 share in the demographic and 5.7 million total viewers -- a 16 percent increase over last year's viewership. A repeat of "The Middle" was sandwiched between the two specials.

CBS, however, won the night's top ratings and best overall performance of the night. A repeat of "The Big Bang Theory" at 8 drew a 3.6/12, easily the night's best performance, and 8.4 million total viewers, which also made it the most-watched program of the night. The rest of the network's primetime slate also consisted of repeats, but despite the lack of fresh programing the network pulled out an overall win, averaging a 2.1/6 and 8.4 million total viewers.

Fox's night began with the special "Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas" at 8, which drew a 2.3/7 with 7 million total viewers, while another special, "Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown," from 8:30 to 9:30 averaged a 1.6/5 and 4.9 million total viewers. The network finished the night out with a "Simpsons" rerun.

NBC ran the Dr. Seuss movie "Horton Hears a Who" from 8 to 10, which averaged a 1.1/3 and 3.7 million total viewers, followed by "The 85th Anniversary of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade," which also averaged a 1.1/3 and 3.7 million total viewers.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_gagas_thanksgiving_special_no_turkey_abc185349805/43713773/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/gagas-thanksgiving-special-no-turkey-abc-185349805.html

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Some questions, answers about the NBA labor deal

(AP) ? No, the NBA lockout is not over. Not yet, but soon ? once owners and players approve the deal that would have NBA games resume on Christmas Day. Here's a look at some of the most prevalent questions about the state of things in the league right now.

___

Q: What happened to get this deal done?

A: As one person involved in the talks told The Associated Press, "sanity prevailed." Neither side was winning. Owners were losing money. Players were losing money. Fans were getting angry. Because Christmas is traditionally the day when the public really start watching NBA games, there was a late push to try and to salvage the Dec. 25 schedule.

___

Q: So it's done?

A: Well, no. There's still a slew of issues to work through, and then there's the not-so-small matter of having owners and players actually vote on the deal. Though the deal's expected to be approved, it won't be unanimous as there are factions of hard-liners in both camps who will be unhappy with substantive portions of the deal.

___

Q: How could union chief Billy Hunter and president Derek Fisher "negotiate" with the NBA if the players' union had been disbanded?

A: When players dissolved the union that meant Hunter and Fisher no longer had the power to negotiate and agree to terms for the players. What could happen and what did happen with the NBA, as it did with the NFL this summer, is that lawyers and representatives for both sides can hold discussions under the guise of antitrust settlement talks. Hunter is an attorney. He knew the rules and the risks. Certainly, this could have blown up for the players and risked their antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota.

___

Q: What happens to that lawsuit?

A: Barring something crazy, the players will ask that it be dismissed. The league also must dismiss its New York lawsuit about the legality of the lockout.

___

Q: When will training camp start?

A: Dec. 9. Free agency is expected to begin then, too, meaning some locker rooms may as well start installing revolving doors now.

___

Q: And the first games?

A: The league wants three games on Christmas Day, and it's a safe bet the previously scheduled matchups ? Boston at New York, Miami at Dallas in a finals rematch, and Chicago at the Los Angeles Lakers ? will go on as planned. The Dec. 26 schedule and beyond? Get out your erasers. A lot will be changing.

___

Q: I don't understand. If there's a deal, why is nothing happening for two weeks?

A: Only the framework of a deal is in place. Now the rules, the language, the nuances, they all must be put to paper by the lawyers who will be charged with actually writing the new collective bargaining agreement. Until that's done, no players can be signed, traded, etc., since there are still no real operating rules by which teams would have to abide.

___

Q: How will the schedule work?

A: Still unclear. The easiest way to fill a 66-game schedule would be for teams to play four games against each divisional opponent (16 games) and two games against every other team in the league (50 games). It would also ensure that every team makes at least one appearance in every league arena, which is what fans would want anyway. A season without Kobe Bryant going to Madison Square Garden? Not happening.

___

Q: Will there be preseason games?

A: A person involved with the process tells The AP there will be, but details are still pending. (A good guess: Teams would play two games, probably against a nearby rival.) It's a strong possibility that those games will have reams of low-priced tickets, a gesture of apologizing to fans for the delay in getting basketball going again.

___

Q: What about the players who signed overseas? Can they come home?

A: In most cases, yes. New Jersey guard Deron Williams said on Twitter early Saturday that he would soon be leaving his Turkish club, Besiktas. That team will not be thrilled to see him leave ? Williams had a 50-point game a few days ago. Some players who signed deals with Chinese clubs may have to work a bit harder (or, well, pay) to escape those contracts.

___

Q: What happens to these scheduled charity games, like the "Homecoming Tour" featuring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, or Mario Chalmers' game in Alaska on Dec. 1?

A: Organizers were working Saturday to salvage at least some of them. Wade said he wanted to use the planned four-game tour he's involved with as a way to play competitive basketball before the season, even though he didn't know at the time when the season would begin. Although most players are in great shape, there's a big difference between that and "game shape." A two-week training camp might not be enough time to get them there, either.

___

Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-11-26-BKN-NBA-Labor-Q-and-A/id-d41c4c8e76e74781b65723d9721b377d

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NASA launches super-size rover to Mars: 'Go, Go!'

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. The rocket will deliver a science laboratory to Mars to study potential habitable environments on the planet. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. The rocket will deliver a science laboratory to Mars to study potential habitable environments on the planet. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. The rocket will deliver a science laboratory to Mars to study potential habitable environments on the planet. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

Backdropped by the Atlantic Ocean, the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolls toward the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Friday Nov. 25, 2011. Atop the rocket is NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover nicknamed Curiosity enclosed in its payload fairing. Liftoff is planned during a launch window which extends from 10:02 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. EST on Saturday Nov. 26. Curiosity, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and will help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. (AP Photo/NASA

In this 2011 artist's rendering provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of its arm, which extends about 2 meters (7 feet). The mobile robot is designed to investigate Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech)

(AP) ? The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer, NASA's Curiosity rover, rocketed toward Mars on Saturday on a search for evidence that the red planet might once have been home to itsy-bitsy life.

It will take 8? months for Curiosity to reach Mars following a journey of 354 million miles.

An unmanned Atlas V rocket hoisted the rover, officially known as Mars Science Laboratory, into a cloudy late morning sky. A Mars frenzy gripped the launch site, with more than 13,000 guests jamming the space center for NASA's first launch to Earth's next-door neighbor in four years, and the first send-off of a Martian rover in eight years.

NASA astrobiologist Pan Conrad, whose carbon compound-seeking instrument is on the rover, had a shirt custom made for the occasion. Her bright blue, short-sleeve blouse was emblazoned with rockets, planets and the words, "Next stop Mars!"

Conrad jumped, cheered and snapped pictures as the rocket blasted off a few miles away. So did Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roger Wiens, a planetary scientist in charge of Curiosity's rock-zapping laser machine, called ChemCam.

Wiens shouted "Go, Go, Go!" as the rocket soared. "It was beautiful," he later observed, just as NASA declared the launch a full success.

The 1-ton Curiosity ? as large as a car ? is a mobile, nuclear-powered laboratory holding 10 science instruments that will sample Martian soil and rocks, and analyze them right on the spot. There's a drill as well as the laser-zapping device.

It's "really a rover on steroids," said NASA's Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator for science. "It's an order of magnitude more capable than anything we have ever launched to any planet in the solar system."

The primary goal of the $2.5 billion mission is to see whether cold, dry, barren Mars might have been hospitable for microbial life once upon a time ? or might even still be conducive to life now. No actual life detectors are on board; rather, the instruments will hunt for organic compounds.

Curiosity's 7-foot arm has a jackhammer on the end to drill into the Martian red rock, and the 7-foot mast on the rover is topped with high-definition and laser cameras. No previous Martian rover has been so sophisticated or capable.

With Mars the ultimate goal for astronauts, NASA also will use Curiosity to measure radiation at the red planet. The rover also has a weather station on board that will provide temperature, wind and humidity readings; a computer software app with daily weather updates is planned.

The world has launched more than three dozen missions to the ever-alluring Mars, which is more like Earth than the other solar-system planets. Yet fewer than half those quests have succeeded.

Just two weeks ago, a Russian spacecraft ended up stuck in orbit around Earth, rather than en route to the Martian moon Phobos.

"Mars really is the Bermuda Triangle of the solar system," Hartman said. "It's the death planet, and the United States of America is the only nation in the world that has ever landed and driven robotic explorers on the surface of Mars, and now we're set to do it again."

Curiosity's arrival next August will be particularly hair-raising.

In a spacecraft first, the rover will be lowered onto the Martian surface via a jet pack and tether system similar to the sky cranes used to lower heavy equipment into remote areas on Earth.

Curiosity is too heavy to use air bags like its much smaller predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity, did in 2004. Besides, this new way should provide for a more accurate landing.

Astronauts will need to make similarly precise landings on Mars one day.

Curiosity will spend a minimum of two years roaming around Gale Crater, chosen as the landing site because it's rich in minerals. Scientists said if there is any place on Mars that might have been ripe for life, it would be there.

"I like to say it's extraterrestrial real estate appraisal," Conrad said with a chuckle earlier in the week.

The rover ? 10 feet long and 9 feet wide ? should be able to go farther and work harder than any previous Mars explorer because of its power source: 10.6 pounds of radioactive plutonium. The nuclear generator was encased in several protective layers in case of a launch accident.

NASA expects to put at least 12 miles on the odometer, once the rover sets down on the Martian surface.

This is the third astronomical mission to be launched from Cape Canaveral by NASA since the retirement of the venerable space shuttle fleet this summer. The Juno probe is en route to Jupiter, and twin spacecraft named Grail will arrive at Earth's moon on New Year's Eve and Day.

NASA hails this as the year of the solar system.

___

Online:

NASA: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2011-11-26-US-SCI-Mars-Rover/id-1f06d3e7fed54e5599ac08bb00968a74

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IMDB Rating: 50/50 (2011) - IMDb
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Run Time: 99 min
Language: English
Director: Jonathan Levine
Writer: Will Reiser
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick

Plot: A comedic account of a 27-year-old guy's cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.

Official Trailer - '50/50" HD - YouTube



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