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Rockets explode near Ashdod, can be heard in Yavneh; at least five mortars and two Qassams strike western Negev; attacks come after day of IAF strikes on militant targets in Gaza. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two Grad rockets at southern Israel on Thursday, as cross-border tensions continued to escalate. Tne of the rockets struck south of of Ashdod and the other just north of the city. It was not exactly clear where the second rocket hit, but the explosion could be heard in Yavneh, some 25 kilometers from Tel Aviv. A Grad rocket hit Ashdod and another...

This artifact was found on March 21, 2011, about 2 PM, in NW Colorado. It was reported that it was still warm when found.

Israel launched five airstrikes at the Gaza Strip on Monday, two days after Hamas militants fired dozens of mortar shells and rockets at Israel, witnesses and militant groups said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Hundreds of millions of US taxpayer dollars have been wasted on everything from doughnuts to rockets, auditors told Congress Thursday as budget-minded lawmakers prepared to slash science funding. For example, hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent each month on a NASA program to return Americans to the moon, even though the US space agency, Congress and President Barack Obama have agreed not to proceed with it. Old, rundown buildings are draining 300 million dollars a year from NASA in repair costs alone, and at least one space telescope project has run billions over budget, more...

A Grad rocket which was fired on Monday evening from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory exploded in the southern Israel town of Netivot. The rocket hit a parked car. There were no reports of casualties but four people were treated for shock, the Negev District Police said. Residents in the area reported that the “red alert” alarm that is usually heard before a rocket explosion did not work this time. Several minutes after the rocket attack on Netivot, a second Grad rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in the city of Ofakim. There were no reports of injuries...

Egypt has told Hamas that Israel might launch a Gaza war to curb rocket attacks, a warning that led the group to urge other militant factions to cease fire, sources familiar with Egypt-Hamas contacts said on Wednesday. "Egypt has told Hamas the Gaza situation was similar to that before December 2008," said one source, referring to the start of the three-week war Israel waged in the Hamas-run enclave with the declared aim of halting cross-border rocket strikes.

Hizbullah would likely shoot between 400 and 600 missiles a day into Israel during a future war, a senior Mossad official told a congressional delegation to Israel in 2009, according to a US diplomatic cable published on Sunday. The cable from November 2009 summed up meetings a delegation led by Ike Skelton (D-Missouri) held with top officials from the Mossad, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the IDF. It was first published on Sunday by Norway’s Aftenposten newspaper, which received it from WikiLeaks. According to the Mossad official, 100 of the missiles will hit Tel Aviv.

"Rocket fire prompts IDF strike on Gaza" SNIPPET: "IAF targets two weapon caches in northern, southern Strip following ongoing rocket fire on Israel's south" SNIPPET: "Israel Air Force jets struck two Gaza targets overnight, following yet another day of continuous rocket fire on Israel's south. Fighter jets targeted two weapons warehouses in southern and northern Gaza in the early hours of Thursday morning. The IDF Spokesman's Unit said the pilots confirmed hitting their targets before safely returning to their base. No injuries were reported among the Palestinians at this time."

NASA's latest five-segment solid rocket development motor (DM-2)   (Source: NASA) DM-2 awaits its first test fire Rocket will see first action in 2015 delivering new rescue capsule (Orion) to the ISS The U.S. space program is about to go through some dramatic changes.  President Barack Obama has moved ahead with plans to retire the Space Shuttle in 2011.  U.S. missions to the International Space Station will be provided by Russia's aging Soyuz modular spacecraft. Meanwhile, the U.S. government will work to fill its manned spacecraft needs with more permanent replacements from private sector companies like SpaceX and will fill in the...

Just how much of a threat are the Kassam and Grad rockets aimed at Israeli civilians? This interactive map shows the rocket range and threat to Israeli population centers.
http://blog.dailyalert.org/2010/08/01/range-of-rockets-from-gaza/ 
For more on creating defensible borders for a secure Israel, see: http://www.defensibleborders.org/security/ - Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

At least four people are reportedly injured after a series of rockets were fired at the southern Israeli town of Eilat. A series of explosions were heard in and around the resort town in far southern Israel near the borders with Jordan and Egypt. Israeli media say five rockets were fired at the city by militant groups either in Jordan or the Sinai Desert. The attacks come three days after militants in Gaza fired a Katyusha rocket at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, and a more crude rocket into the Negev Desert. In retaliation Israeli forces on Saturday bombed two...

SNIPPET: "Police are working to figure out the origin of the rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip Saturday evening and exploded near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, without causing damage or injures. A total of four rockets and two mortar shells were fired at Israel on Saturday, causing no injuries. An initial examination revealed that the rocket fired at Nahal Oz was manufactured using professional means, most likely outside of the borders of the Gaza Strip. The rocket had a diameter of 115 millimeters, and police sappers were working to locate fragments of it to be tested."

U.S. Air Force scientists have performed their own rocket propellant test without contractor assistance and eye continued in-house experimentation. The Armed Forces News Service reported that officials at the Air Force Research Laboratory said the 3-second, 15-pound Ballistic Test and Evaluation System, in which a small-scale apparatus is used to test rocket propellant and designs in a standardized rocket motor casing, yielded extraordinary amount of data due to new high-speed digital video cameras used for recording it. "What's special about this test is that it was entirely in-house," said 1st. Lt. Rob Antypas, the AFRL program manager and a developmental...

Houston-based United Space Alliance tolds its workforce of 8,100 that 15 percent of them would be laid off by October 1. Most of the cuts would be on the Space Coast where the company is contracted to work on the space shuttle program. "The accomplishments of this team are unmatched in human spaceflight," said USA Company President Virginia Barnes in a press release, She noted that the workforce has long known that its jobs were coming to an end, "but layoffs are always difficult for everyone involved." The company is first asking workers to agree to voluntary severance. The other...

For those who contend Hamas and other militant Arabs in Gaza are seeking a peaceful solution with Israel you'll have a hard time explaining these rocket attacks by them. Hamas will not remove or disavow from it's charter the destruction of Israel as a goal. What is the point of Israel agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas when it is obvious that the sole purpose is for Hamas to lick their wounds and rebuild their offensive arsenal. Hamas does not want peace with Israel, never has and never will. They use Arabs of Gaza as human shields everyday, abuse their...

IDF strikes in Gaza in response to rocket Air Force planes target weapons warehouse, two smuggling tunnels in Strip; no injuries reported Hanan Greenberg Published: 06.25.10, 07:57 / Israel News Israel Air Force aircraft bombed a weapons warehouse in northern Gaza and two smuggling tunnels in the southern Strip on Thursday night. The Israel Defense Forces said the targets were hit and that all planes returned safely to their base. There were no reports of injuries. The attack was a response to the firing of a rocket and mortar shells at western Negev communities on Thursday. The IDF stressed that...

"Navy foils attack in waters near Gaza" SNIPPET: "As Gaza flotillas make headlines, Palestinian cell wearing diving suits attempts to launch attack from sea. IDF force spots cell members in waters of Nahal Aza area, opens fire. Al-Aqsa Brigades say four people killed, one missing. Shortly afterwards, IAF attacks rocket launching cell attacked in northern Gaza; one gunmen moderately hurt SNIPPET: "As the Gaza-bound flotillas continue to make headlines, the Israeli Navy thwarted an attack from the sea early Monday. According to the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Unit, a Navy force spotted a cell in the waters of the Nahal...

Two rockets exploded in the Gaza Belt city of Sderot Wednesday night but both landed in open areas. No one was injured and no damage was reported in the attack. One of the rockets fired Sunday was identified by IDF personnel as a type never before launched from Gaza, a Russian S5K that was used in the war between Iran and Afghanistan.

For more than three years, NASA chief Michael Griffin has maintained that the safest, most reliable and affordable way to return astronauts to the moon is on the Ares I, a rocket he helped design from parts of the space shuttle. Alternatives, he insisted, such as modified military rockets, were simply not capable of carrying humans to the moon and beyond. But interviews, as well as documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, indicate that military rockets can lift astronauts safely into space -- and to the moon -- for billions less and possibly sooner than NASA's current designs. While it's...

“The West, particularly the USA, is a civilization of packages. They can give a very good visual presentation of things, but the package does not imply good quality of products. US space products often lagged behind Soviet products especially in the space industry. In the USSR the situation was different. The quality of packaging was poor, but the quality of products was superb,” Mr. Sivkov said.