World/Nation Briefs September 6, 2013
U.S. heads back to the moon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA is headed back to the moon, this time to explore its thin atmosphere and rough dust.
The robotic spacecraft LADEE will fly to the moon by way of Virginia's Eastern Shore.
Liftoff is set for late tonight from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.
Weather permitting, the soaring Minotaur rocket should be visible along much of the East Coast - as far south as South Carolina, as far north as Maine and as far west as Pittsburgh.
LADEE - short for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer - will be the first spacecraft to be launched into outer space from Wallops. And it will be the first moonshot ever from Virginia in 54 years of lunar missions.
The unmanned Minotaur rocket consists of converted intercontinental ballistic missile motors. A peace treaty between the United States and Russia specifies the acceptable launch sites for those missile parts; Wallops is on that short list.
All but one of NASA's approximately 40 moon missions - most memorably the manned Apollo flights of the late 1960s and early 1970s - originated from Cape Canaveral. The most recent were the twin Grail spacecraft launched two years ago this weekend. The lone exception, Clementine, a military-NASA venture, rocketed away from Southern California in 1994.
Scientists involved in the $280 million, moon-orbiting mission want to examine the lunar atmosphere - yes, that's right, the moon's atmosphere.
"Sometimes, people are a little taken aback when we start talking about the lunar atmosphere because, right, we were told in school that the moon doesn't have an atmosphere," said Sarah Noble, NASA program scientist.
"It does. It's just really, really thin."
The atmosphere is so thin and delicate, in fact, that spacecraft landings can disturb it. So now is the time to go, Noble said, before other countries and even private companies start bombarding the moon and fouling up the atmosphere.
Just last week, China announced plans to launch a lunar lander by year's end.
Administration mulls training of Syrian rebels
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is considering a plan to use U.S. military trainers to help increase the capabilities of the Syrian rebels, in a move that would greatly expand the current CIA training being done quietly in Jordan, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Any training would take place outside Syria, and one possible location would be Jordan.
The officials said no decision had been made, but that discussions were going on at high levels of the government. It comes as the Obama administration prods Congress to authorize limited military strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad's government in retaliation for a deadly Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack.
The proposal to use the U.S. military to train the rebels - something the administration has resisted through more than two years of civil war - would answer the demands of some lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to do more to train and equip the Syrian opposition. President Barack Obama in June decided to provide lethal aid to the rebels, but so far none of that assistance has gotten to the opposition.
Also on Thursday, McCain faced a tough crowd largely opposed to military action in Syria during a town hall meeting Thursday in Phoenix.
The Republican senator repeatedly told about 150 constituents at the morning meeting that there would be no plans to send U.S. troops to retaliate for the alleged chemical weapons attack last month near Damascus.
Health law could leave some with big medical bills
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's health care law appears to mirror a trend in job-based insurance, where employees are being nudged into cost-saving plans that require them to pay a bigger share of their medical expenses.
Two independent studies out this week highlighted attractive prices for less-generous "bronze" plans that will offer low monthly premiums but require patients to pick up more of the cost if they get sick.
Consumers might avoid "rate shock" over premiums, but some could end up struggling with bigger bills for the care they receive.
The Obama plans will be available starting Oct. 1 for people who don't have access to coverage on the job.
Studies by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation and Avalere Health provided the first look at rates filed by insurers around the country, ahead of the Oct. 1 opening of new state insurance markets under the law.
- The Associated Press