B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
An expert in software tracking objects in space says that a SpaceX rocket booster is "certain" to impact the moon in a few weeks, marking what is believed to be the first case of unintentional space junk hitting the Earth's moon.
Bill Gray has been tracking the Falcon 9 upper stage as part of his Project Pluto blog. The rocket booster was originally launched from Florida in February 2015 in order to send up a space weather satellite, marking the first SpaceX launch into interplanetary space.
Since then, the booster has run out of fuel and is unable to return to Earth or to get out of the gravity of the Earth-Moon system, according to meteorologist Eric Berger, who wrote about the Falcon 9's upper stage in a recent post for Ars Technica. Since then, Berger says the booster has been following a "chaotic orbit" in space.
But Gray, using his software and other available data, wrote in his Jan. 21 blog post that he predicts the booster will hit the far side of the moon on March 4. The four-ton booster is calculated to make impact at 2.58 km/second.
His calculations, as well as his prediction of March 4 as the date of impact, were confirmed in a tweet by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
There are some small uncertainties that could impact the orbit of the booster, including light from the sun "pushing" the object and altering its course minutely. These changes may impact exactly where the booster lands, which Gray is continuing to track and predict, but he says he is "100 per cent certain" that it will make an impact somewhere on the moon.
When it comes to whether people should be worried about the impact, Gray says there is "zero concern," adding that the moon is hit with larger natural space objects like asteroids at even faster speeds "fairly routinely." But when it comes to man-made objects and space junk, Gray says this is the first unintentional case of impact of which he is aware.
While this event will likely be unobservable from Earth, Gray says there is a possibility that there could be something to learn about the moon because of this impact.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and India's Chandrayaan-2 are expected to eventually pass over the site of the booster's hit. If the exact location on the moon can be determined, Gray says the lunar orbiters could "see a very fresh impact crater" and possible "ejecta" -- material expelled from under the surface of the moon from the force of the impact.
From these observations, researchers could learn more about the geological makeup of the moon.
"I am rooting for a lunar impact," Gray wrote.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.