Short Takes – 10-4-22

What happens if Lake Powell runs out of water? TheHill.com article. Power generation and downstream water flow problems outlined. Pull quote: “If the water level continues falling on its own, “below minimum power pool, the dam is physically incapable of releasing a lot of water. And so this creates a lot of potential problems downstream in the Grand Canyon, it creates management problems for the reservoir itself in Glen Canyon, and most importantly, it jeopardizes the upper [Colorado River] basin’s ability to meet its delivery obligation downstream,” Balken said.”

Artificial enzyme splits water. NewsWise.com article. Preliminary lab work still needs scaleup to produce truly green hydrogen. “The long-term goal of the Würzburg group is to integrate the water oxidation catalyst into an artificial device that splits water into oxygen and hydrogen with the help of sunlight. This will take some time, as the catalyst must be coupled with other components to form a functioning overall system – with light-harvesting dyes and with so-called reduction catalysts.”

Russia space agency seeking to extend ISS participation past 2024: official. Phys.org article. Off and on again. Pull quote: “Krikalev admitted that building a new station would not happen quickly, "so probably we will keep flying until we will have any new infrastructure."”

Iran says it launched test 'tug' into suborbital space. Phys.org article. And Iran needs a space tug for what? Pull quote: “Hassan Salarieh, chief of the Islamic Republic's space agency, told state TV that officials "hope to use and test the main tug in near future." Iran unveiled the craft in 2017. A space tug can transfer a satellite from one orbit to another.”

Florida’s Strengthened Electric Grid Mostly Withstood Hurricane Ian. WSJ.com article. Differences between transmission and distribution networks. Pull quote: “The company [Florida Power and Light] says it didn’t lose a single transmission structure during Ian, a strong Category 4 storm, after replacing the majority of wooden structures with ones made of concrete or steel. The process began after Hurricane Wilma, a Category 3 storm in 2005 during which it lost 100 transmission structures, and is now almost complete.”

Communication – the heart of safe operations. AICHE.org Beacon. Pull quote: “The scope of work can change as the work progresses. It is important for all groups to communicate changes and evaluate if it is safe to continue work. This may mean shutting the work down until it can be reviewed, and a revised work plan is developed and approved.”

The Curious Fate of Citizen Snowden’s Archive. SpyTalk.co blog post. An interesting relook at Snowden and the NSA information still in the wild. Pull quote: “These three [Greenwald, Poitras, and Gellman] have the goods that inflame national security mandarins and Twitterati alike. They are not eager to talk about it, not the least because the journalists find themselves in the ironic position of responsibly protecting some of NSA’s most sensitive secrets.”

Ten Codes. Wikipedia.org article. It is October and dates remind us of radio ‘Ten Codes’ – 10-4.