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Beginning today, all Earth imagery from a prolific Japanese remote sensing instrument operating aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft since late 1999 is now available to users everywhere at no cost. The public will have unlimited access to the complete 16-plus-year database for Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument, which images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER's database currently consists of more than 2.95 million individual scenes. The content ranges from massive scars across the Oklahoma landscape from an EF-5 tornado and the devastating aftermath...

Singapore to acquire European surface-to-air missile system SINGAPORE — Singapore is acquiring an advanced European air defence system as a replacement for its ageing US-made Hawk surface-to-air batteries, the defence chief said Monday. Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said the ASTER-30 Surface-to-Air Missile System, manufactured by European defence firm MBDA, will allow the city-state to counter multiple threats from fighter jets, helicopters, drones and precision guided missiles. "The ASTER-30's capabilities are many times more potent than our I-HAWK ground-based air defence system," he told parliament. He did not reveal the cost of the system or when Singapore will make the...

MBDA's Aster, the first European missile to successfully carry out a ballistic intercept MBDA is celebrating the total success of an Aster missile firing carried out on 18th October 2010 by the DGA EM (Direction Générale de l’Armement - Essais de Missiles) in the Landes region of France. This firing deployed the Aster 30 Block 1 missile variant developed for the French Air Force’s Mamba medium range air defence system (also known as SAMP/T or Surface Air Moyenne Portée Terrestre) and optimised for the interception of aerial as well as ballistic threats. The Aster missile family (which also includes the...

Duff French missiles for Royal Navy finally fixed New £1bn destroyers get post-1940s weaponry at last By Lewis Page Problems with the primary armament of the Royal Navy's new, £1bn+ Type 45 destroyers have been rectified, according to reports. The Royal Navy already has two Type 45s, HMS Daring and HMS Dauntless, but test-firings last year of their main armament - the Principal Anti Air Missile System (PAAMS, the British configuration of which is known as "Sea Viper") - were failures, meaning that the weapons could not be accepted into service. This left the Type 45s - one of which...

The linked source above provides the article and a link to a full-size image. Here's the smaller version: Here's a "where is it?" context map: and here are various images from Farewell Spit (apparently -- not absolutely certain in the case of the first two, but very likely). This appears to be one of the world's ultimate natural beaches. and finally, found on the page that provided the last image above, these "Pancake Rocks" are somewhere in the vicinity:

Link post: Geology Picture of the Week, June 23-30, 2002