Month: March 2021

Enlarge / The Space Launch System was created as part of a political compromise between US Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and senators from Alabama and Texas. (credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

This morning, the White House nominated former US Sen. Bill Nelson to become the next administrator of NASA.

Nelson, who is 78 years old, lost his 2018 bid for reelection to the Senate. He had served six terms as a member of the House of Representatives and three terms in the upper house. He has a close relationship with President Biden and effectively lobbied to gain the appointment. Nelson must still be confirmed by a majority of the US Senate, but this seems likely to happen given early support from some Republicans already.

"Most every piece of space and science law has had his imprint, including passing the landmark NASA bill of 2010 along with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson," the nomination states.

Enlarge / Lots of California's water delivery system is exposed to the air. (credit: NSF)

A major factor driving the growth of solar power in the US has been the economics of large, utility-scale solar projects. The scale of plants ensures that their developers can buy components in bulk; use larger, more robust hardware; and install everything efficiently. That's in major contrast to most distributed installations, like rooftop solar.

But these installations do come with downsides. They often occur on undeveloped land, which can offset some of their positive contributions to climate change, especially if the land that has to be cleared was sequestering carbon. Ideally, it would be better to find a way to mix the best features of both—use previously developed sites, but on a scale that puts them on par with dedicated installations.

One of the solutions that has been floated (pun intended) is to put the panels on reservoirs. Reservoirs are large and already developed, and there's a side benefit of floating the panels onto the water: it cuts down on evaporation, potentially enhancing the value of the reservoir. Now, researchers have examined an alternative: covering all of California's open-air aqueducts, which supply one of the most productive agricultural regions on the planet, with photovoltaics.