Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2002)
NA! TH E BAlIj. «tij Education ird of such ikland, however, separate for parents to '• programs. Hispanic pare said they had, first. But after ie spoke passion d English about! venth-grader'ssc veryone knowst children are at' idoza through (k 10 translated/) to help my child 11 Philip Moore school superit ke to about 20pi ol before decid: white and hasac meetings work ■ind of surprise: i about the met ortable." Railroads in space SrilTech 7A Tuesday, April 16, 2002 THE BATTALION g , T The railroad’s final frontier — space Ttie international space station’s new railcar made a test-run Monday on the firsi-ever railroad in space. The car will be used to ferry the robotic arm and other cargo from one end of the station to ^s 5 *®®* 8 ** fi *>• the other. The first section of track was delivered last week by the shuttle Atlantis. r The robotic arm is nearly 60 feet long when fully extended and has seven motorized joints. It is used for ^ assembly and main- T,,' tenance of the station’s components M I m The two-pronged robotic hand can operate delicate assembly tasks that previously required astronauts. The mobile base attaches to the railcar. Mobile transporter The railcar travels at a top speed of one inch per second. It is attached by wheels above and below the rails. The rail // /s The completed rail line will stretch more than 100 yards and have 10 stops along the way where the car is immobilized. Weight Height Length Width Material 1,950 pounds 3 feet 9 feet 8 feet aluminum Cargo capacity 23 tons SOURCE: NASA N, Rapp. P. Santilli/AP CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronauts sent the international space station’s new railcar down a short stretch of track Monday in the inau gural run of the first permanent railroad in orbit. But they soon encountered a snag, prompting NASA to interrupt the test. “The solution for this is probably going to involve a lot of manual commanding from the ground,” Mission Control informed the astronauts. Space station resident Carl Walz got the railcar rolling Monday morning by sending computer commands from inside. The empty flatcar crept along at less than two- tenths of an inch per second, then sped up to four- tenths of an inch per second as it traveled 17 3/4 feet and then stopped, on cue, at a designated work station. The car was automatically latching into place when a software message indicated a failure, just 10 minutes into the test. Mission Control said there was nothing wrong with the railcar. Rather, magnetic sensors on the bottom of the car apparently lost contact with iron strips embedded in the aluminum track at the work-station locations, and the software halted the latching process. “It’s believed to be perfectly aligned, just a nuance in the software and a learning process,” Mission Control explained. Despite the problem, NASA planned to move the railcar back and forth over the course of a few hours along a 26-foot section of the track that runs the full length of the space station’s newly attached 44-foot girder. Most of the work was to be done by flight controllers. Its top speed is one inch per second, but engi neers did not intend to hit that. The $190 million railcar eventually will be used to transport the space station’s robot arm from one end of the outpost to the other for con struction work. During a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk Sunday, shuttle Atlantis astronauts Steven Smith and Rex Walheim rewired part of the space station and set the stage for Monday’s debut of the railcar. See Space on page 8A Ways to detect anthrax attack WASHINGTON (AP) — Monitoring sales of nonprescrip- lion drugs might help provide early detection of an anthrax attack, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. Early symptoms of deadly inhaled anthrax are similar to the flu, so a sudden increase in sales of flu medications could tip off authorities to check for anthrax before victims become ill enough to seek medical atten tion, the researchers suggest. Anthrax has been the focus of much attention since last fall’s anthrax-by-mail attacks that killed five people and sickened several others. The Carnegie Mellon project w as started long before those We are talking about exposures of thousands of people in a concen trated location... — Stephen E. Feinberg Carnegie Mellon University attacks, said Stephen E. Feinberg of the university's department of statistics. He said the focus is on larger scale attacks in an urban area, not the relatively limited hazard posed by the mailed germs. “We are talking about expo sures of thousands of people in a concentrated location, and then you've got very large-scale impact to assess and every sec ond counts.” Feinberg said. Their report is published in Tuesday’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Meanwhile, the Army this week is launching a series of experiments to see if clouds of chemical or biological agents like anthrax can be detected on radar. There will be test sprays a few miles from Key West, Fla., using safe materials with proper ties similar to potential threats to see if the radars can tell them from rain or clouds. Wmm rsra Mm • Authorized Warranty Service Center • Factory Trained & Certified Technicians • State-of-the-Art Diagnostic Equipment ITS TIME YOU HAD THE BEST! DOUGLASS ' MSSSAPIJ Driven FREE Shuttle Service Clean and Comfortable Waiting Areas Genuine Nissan Parts with 12 Month/12,000 Mile Limited Warranty Nobody knows your Nissan like Douglass Nissan 0 For service appointments call 764-7726 1001 Earl Rudder Freeway South, College Station Wells Fargo provides an Aggie Graduate Loan Program developed just for the Class of ’02 that includes: "k 100% Car Loan 'k Unsecured Personal Loan 'k Wells Fargo® Free Checking 'k FREE Wells Fargo Online® Banking account access k FREE Wells Fargo ATM & Check Card® Call, or come by one of our local branches to open Y ou ^ loan today. o/iqq College Station: 200 Southwest Pkwy: 776-3424, 1801 Rock Pra.ne Rd.: 776-3499, 321 University Dr.: 691-8366 Bryan: 3000 Briarcrest: 776-5402, 501 N. Harvey Mitchell Pkwy.: 821-3120 ©2002 Wells Fargo Banks All rights reserved Member FDIC CLUTCH www.degreegel.com No Purchase Necessary. Open to legal U.S. and Canadian residents (except residents of Florida and Quebec) 18 years of age or older. Void in Florida, Quebec and where prohibited. Subject to complete Official Rules available at www.degreegel.com. Enter at www.degreegel.com, or fill out an entry form available at one of the 172 degree gel events to be held at campuses and bars across the nation. Limit one online entry per person and one entry per event. Online entries must be received by 5:00 P.M. CSX on 9/30/02. 26 Online prizes and 72 local prizes will be awarded. Prize is a trip for two (3-Days/2-Nights) to Grand Cayman Island. Approximate Retail Value of trip is $6,100 U.S. Dollars. Odds of winning depend on the total number of eligible entries received. Online sweepstakes void in Florida. Sponsor: Unilever Fiome and Personal Care North America, 33 Benedict Place, Greenwich, CT 06830. Sweepstakes ends September 30,2002. ©2002 Unilever Home and Personal Care North America Now Hiring If you are interested in writing stories, taking pictures or designing pages for Texas A&M's yearbook, simply fill out this form and drop it off in room 004 (basement) of the Reed McDonald Bldg. Name: Classification: Major: Phone Number(s): E-mail: Paid Positions Include: (Check all desired positions) □ Marketing Editor □ Photo Editor □ Section Editor □ Asst. Photo Editor □ Copy Editor □ Web Editor , □ Asst. Copyeditor Editor Positions: 1) Why do you want an editor position? 2) What changes would you like to make to the yearbook? 3) What experience do you have in leadership roles? Staff Positions: 1) Why do you want to be on the staff? 2) What prior experience do you have that relates to the position you are applying for? Applications Are Due Thursday, April 18 If you have any questions, please call 845-2681 or drop by our office in 004 RDMC. Please type your responses to the following questions on a separate sheet of paper that is to be turned in with this form. Also, attach any samples of work that you have along with a resume. Applicants are encouraged to include any other relevant information. □ Designer □ Writer □ Photographer