Midweek

                            PHOTO: © SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
FLY, FALCON, FLY:  The third time was a charm for SpaceX. This afternoon, after scrubbed attempts on Sunday and Tuesday, SpaceX launched its first deep space mission, dubbed DSCOVR. 

You can watch video of the pre-launch, launch, and stage separation-plus on LiveStream. (If you want to go right to the rocket fire, just drag the tab to the 15 minute mark.) I will say, it's worth watching for a few minutes post launch to see the faring explode away from the cargo!

Speaking of cargo, unlike other SpaceX missions, where a Dragon capsule ferried cargo to the ISS, this mission requires the rocket to fly further - specifically 930,000 miles from Earth, to the LaGrange point in orbit. LaGrange Point 1 is the "sweet spot," as it's 
gravitationally stable.

The $340 million mission is a joint project of NASA, the U.S. Air Force and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The new spacecraft will watch for solar storms that could affect satellite ops and Earth's power grids.

SpaceX had planned on trying to recover the first stage of the rocket by landing it on a barge in the Atlantic, but severe weather and three-story waves precluded that attempt today. Bummer. They planned to shoot for a 'soft water' landing instead, not expecting to recover the rocket, but hopefully at least some data.

PONDERING WATER: A couple of weeks ago, CJ and Annabelle began attending a weekly social issues club with some other area kids. This month's theme is worldwide water scarcity and quality. 

One of the things we learned last week is that about 70 percent of the world's water resources are used in agriculture (according to the Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations). On the way out of the meeting the kids and I were talking about that staggering percentage, and how a growing world population will mean more demand for food, which could drive water usage for agriculture up. We discussed the need for farmers to be able to produce more food with less water, and how efficient use is clearly key.

During today's lunchtime meeting, students were asked to choose one aspect regarding water issues and make a poster to share about it. It just so happened that last night, we watched a "Shark Tank" re-run featuring an irrigation supply specialist, Johnny Georges, who came up with a simple-but-brilliant idea to save millions of gallons of water by tenting around the bottom of growing trees. He called his product the Tree T-PEE.  We brought a sheet of info about the Tree T-PEE to the meeting, and the kids integrated it into their poster project.

The fact sheet tells about Georges, the irrigation-guy-turned-inventor.  When talking to the "Sharks" on "Shark Tank," Georges said he and his dad used to protect small trees by piling mulch over them to keep them warm when cold weather was coming, and then they'd have to unbury them when the cold crisis passed. Georges was tired of the repetitive, manual labor of burying and unburying the trees and suggested an alternative way to protect them, using a tepee shaped cone. The Tree T-PEE was born!

A plastic cone made of 100 percent recycled materials, when placed around the base of a young tree, the Tree T-PEE protects it from weather, but it also conserves a tremendous amount of water. According to what Georges told the sharks, trees with a tepee need just 800 gallons of water per year per tree instead of 25,000!  And when you need less water, you need less power for the pumps that provide that water. The tepeed trees also need significantly less fertilizer, which is better for the environment.

On the official Tree T-PEE Web site, they tell the story of one 1750-acre citrus grove in southwest Florida where over 250,000 tree T-PEEs in in use.  At 145 trees per acre, using a blue micro jet at 10.5 gallons per hour, per tree,  T-PEE reports an average watering time of 6 hours would use 15.8 million gallons of water. However, using their product, T-PEE says the average watering time was cut down to only one hour, using only 2.6 million gallons of water - reaping a savings of 13.2 million gallons of water per watering. 

The kids and I talked about how cool it is that an 'everyday' type of person identified a problem, had a 'light bulb' moment, and invented something capable of making a huge change in water conservation. It just goes to show, one doesn't have to be a scientist in a lab coat to make a big difference in this regard. 

OVERFLOWING: A couple of days back we reported sending a card and a few dozen stickers to Bubby, a 9-year old boy living in Graham, Washington. Bubby has a whole host of severe medical challenges, and his parents started a stickers-for-Bubby campaign to bring a little sunshine into his life. Their story went viral, and Bubby is now swimming in stickers, so to speak. 

You can read an update (and see photos) here: 
http://q13fox.com/2015/02/07/bubby-overwhelmed-by-b-day-cards-letters-and-stickers/

PARK IT:  In honor of Presidents Day, all 405 National Parks are offering free admission this weekend (Feb. 14-16). If this weekend doesn't work for you, mark your calendars for other, upcoming free days: 
April 18-19 — Opening weekend of National Park Week
Aug. 25 — National Park Service Birthday
Sept. 26 — National Public Lands Day
Nov. 11 — Veterans Day

Washington State parks aren't free this weekend, but there are a number of free park day opportunities coming up: 

March 19 — In honor of Washington State Parks’ 101st birthday
April 19 — Spring Saturday free day
April 22 — Earth Day
May 10 — Spring Saturday free day
June 7 & 8 — National Trails Day and WDFW Free Fishing Weekend
June 14 — National Get Outdoors Day
Aug. 25 — National Park Service’s birthday
Sept. 27 — National Public Lands Day
Nov. 11 — Veteran’s Day weekend