Analysis: Burning less coal to make electricity helped New Zealand achieve its biggest official annual drop in planet-heating gases since records started in 1990.

The same week those figures came out, Resources Minister Shane Jones told Morning Report New Zealand should develop more of its own coal, rather than importing "dirty" coal from Indonesia.

Jones earlier told Parliament that opposition MPs turned a blind eye while New Zealand imported Indonesian coal "every month, to keep the lights on."

While it's true Genesis Energy - owner of the country's only coal-fired station - burns coal to run its Huntly generators, it last year reported that its last shipment of coal had arrived in July 2022.

Government figures show New Zealand was a net exporter of coal every year since records began, except 2021 - a dry year for hydro, coupled with an unexpected shortage on Genesis' gas field.

That was the year Huntly used record amounts of imported Indonesian coal, pushing up the climate impact of the whole country.

A potential new way to travel through space launched aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 located on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.

The mission, named “Beginning of the Swarm,” put two payloads into a Sun-synchronous orbit. The flight lifted off at 22:32 UTC on April 23, 2024.

One of the two payloads aboard the mission is NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3). The goal is to test a new composite that can be folded up inside something as small as a CubeSat and still deploy and remain rigid once in space.

For this test, the solar sail is designed to fit inside a 12-unit (12U) CubeSat, which measures approximately 23 by 23 by 34 centimeters (9 by 9 by 13 inches). This is comparable to the size of a microwave.

A solar sail involves deploying a large metallic sheet that acts like the sail on a sailboat. Similar to a boat, it uses a boom to extend the sails. Rather than using chemical or electrical propulsion, these sails use sunlight and solar wind to help push a spacecraft or satellite.

For this mission, flying the sail is objective number two. The first objective is to unfold the entire sail in approximately 25 minutes and see how well it holds up.

Once unfurled, the square-shaped sail will measure approximately 9 meters (30 feet) per side.

Hiringa, with partners fuel supplier Waitomo Group and Australasia’s largest heavy vehicle fleet owner TR Group, on Tuesday opened three green hydrogen stations, with a fourth under way, within the North Island’s economic “golden triangle” of freight movement.

Beginning Of The Swarm

Well folks, it's time for the 5th Rocket Lab launch of the year!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-04-23 22:32 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZDT) | 2024-04-24 10:32 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customers | NASA, KAIST | | Payloads | ACS3, NeonSat-1 | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into Sun-Synchronous Orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9izutzETw1U | Everyday Astronaut | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RsjdotByms | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui5seaIDzMQ

Stats

• This will be the 5th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 47th overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

ACS3

NASA’s ACS3 technology demonstration uses composite materials - or a combination of materials with different properties, in its novel, lightweight booms that deploy from a CubeSat to support a solar sail. Just as a sailboat is powered by wind in a sail, solar sails employ the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, eliminating the need for conventional rocket propellant. Data obtained from the ACS3 demonstration will guide the design of future larger-scale composite solar sail systems that could be used for space weather early warning satellites, near-Earth asteroid reconnaissance missions, or communications relays for crewed exploration missions.

NeonSat-1

NeonSat-1 is a high-resolution optical satellite that will be deployed as a technology demonstration for a planned future Earth observation constellation. KAIST is Korea’s leading science and technology institution, having developed and operated Korea’s very first satellite KAIST when it was successfully launched more than 30 years ago.

Previous mission (Live and Let Fly (NROL-123)) | Next mission (Ready, Aim, PREFIRE)

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a brand new community, so feedback is very valuable!

Now is time to change Te Papa's Treaty of Waitangi display, the museum's co-leaders say.

It comes after the museum left a defaced version of the Treaty of Waitangi on display over summer to enable "valuable conversations" about te Tiriti o Waitangi

...

Te Papa said it would consult with te Tiriti experts, iwi and communities for the permanent exhibition

...

The removed panel will be stored by the museum, and while no decision has been made about its future, Johnston said it was part of the exhibition's history and the story of te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Wellington City Council has ended negotiations with Reading Cinemas on a proposed deal aimed at reopening the cinema complex on Courtenay Place.

Senior Council staff reached a position where they did not believe they would be able to reach the best possible outcomes for Wellingtonians and the decision was made this week to not pursue the proposal further.

Residents of a small Selwyn community say they will keep fighting to save their homes after being told they must vacate them by 2039.

The district council last month voted to confirm the eviction of the entire Upper Selwyn Huts settlement on the shores of Lake Ellesmere because of the impact of climate change.

We were away for a week and left it on the side of the road. Doesn't look like they were particularly competent, as they ruined the ignition but didn't manage to start it.

They left quite a mess, bit annoyed to be honest.

Was just talking about how cool New Zealand's rare frogs are and wanted to share. These frogs evolved to have no ears, so they also have no croaking noises (what's the point if the mates you are trying to attract are deaf) which is unique!

NB: There probably is a bit of "political" content insofar as some of the people are talking about threats to the frog and opposing its habatat destruction but I think this still belongs in general?

In our two bathrooms we have a switch panel with 4 switches: one for a light, 2 for heat lamps, and 1 for a fan extractor. As we tend to forget the fan extractor I want to make this smart. Something like

It has to work well with Home Assistant. WiFi is fine, Zigbee would probably be better. Should not have a cloud dependency, I can't sell this stuff to my SO saying that she can't turn on the lights if the internet is down. I've flashed Tuya based switches and RF emitters with ESPHome using LibreTiny.

As it's obviously 220v I'd like to avoid Aliexpress stuff. Probably also needs a good IP rating as it's in the bathroom.

Any tips?

Among the list of organisations that have been invited to apply are organisations associated with projects that would destroy a pristine mountaintop and rip up the seafloor.  

It includes organisations that have lost cases in the Environment, High and Supreme Courts, with proposals roundly rejected through prolonged court action.

both the education and health systems are getting absolutely butchered by this government and this is definitely going to impact you and the people around you.

A man and woman were found dead at the Anzac Valley Road address in Waitākere before 7.30am.

Earlier, a family spokesperson for the pair, Dean Burrell, said the deaths involved an animal kept on their property. The pair are believed to have been killed by the ram.

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that doesn’t justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like a hippo
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how's it going?

Link to tweet.

The way to compete against SpaceX, Beck said, “is to outsmart them and outwork them. You have to be the mosquito, that is for sure. And you have to be very agile. … The crazy thing about a mosquito is that it’s kind of annoying, but there’s a nonzero chance that you might get bit, get malaria and die,” he said.

Full article

Full article non-paywall

My car insurance through Trade Me (Tower) is about to renew and the new cost is 100% higher. Any recommendations for a new insurer or are we powerless to prevent these increases?

I work with fire alarm systems for a living, so it's fascinating to see a building get so bad it is shut down entirely by the fire brigade.

No BWOF since 2017 is just incredible though.

Heard this on the BBC news podcast today, they reference our attempt....that we have given up on.

Who could have seen this coming!

May as well participate since we are lucky enough to have a voice in this country