Los Alamos Press Highlights

Senate ratifies nuke pact, delivering win to Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START treaty in April 2010.

The administration had addressed a major concern - budgeting adequate funds for the nation's nuclear arsenal and the laboratories that oversee them. The administration pledged $80 billion to maintain the nuclear arsenal over the next 10 years, then added $5 billion more.

Early in December, a letter from the directors of the three major laboratories at Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia, in which they expressed satisfaction with the projected budget, broke the dam of opposition. (Full Story)



Treaty 'good news for labs' in N.M.

The New START arms-control treaty slated for a final Senate vote and expected passage today would trigger new project money for Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico.

As part of the debate over the treaty, the Obama administration has committed to spending $85 billion over the next decade to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, which includes the national laboratories in New Mexico. (Full Story)


New Start treaty boosts national labs

The U.S. Senate's ratification Wednesday of a disarmament treaty with Russia paves the way for a dramatic budget boost in the nuclear weapons program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Full Story)


NASA's next Mars Rover to zap rocks with laser

Researchers prepare for a test of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument that will fly on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

A rock-zapping laser instrument on NASA's next Mars rover has roots in a demonstration that Roger Wiens saw 13 years ago in a colleague's room at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on the rover Curiosity can hit rocks with a laser powerful enough to excite a pinhead-size spot into a glowing, ionized gas. (Full Story)


Los Alamos Lab lists top achievements

Los Alamos National Laboratory has released a list of its top 10 science and technology developments of the year. The list includes achievements by the northern New Mexico federal lab in such areas as bioscience, astrophysics and metallurgy. (Full Story)


Los Alamos to help track Santa's trek

Los Alamos scientists use the FORTE satellite, seen here, and the Cibola Flight Experiment satellite to help track Santa. LANL illustration.

Kiddies - and adults - who want to see Santa's progress on Christmas Eve will get some help from scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Visit santa.lanl.gov beginning at 6 a.m. Friday to follow it.

Los Alamos is supporting trackers at North American Aerospace Defense Command, who've been following Santa on his Christmas journey since 1955. The program hit the Internet in 1998 and receives millions of visitors from hundreds of countries around the world. (Full Story)


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