Word: nitrogen
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...simpler explanation for the deaths: a mechanical or structural failure aboard Soyuz. Because the cosmonauts were not in protective pressure suits at the time of the descent, they could have died from any number of causes-excessive heat, carbon dioxide fumes from a small fire, a nitrogen leak from the spacecraft's atmosphere system, or even a rapid drop in cabin pressure. Such theories got support from some unconfirmed reports that all radio transmissions-not only voice but also telemetry signals-stopped at the end of the braking maneuver. In fact, most speculation centered on a failure...
...better reason to be-than the automakers. Under the Clean Air Act of 1970, Detroit's 1975 models must be built to emit 90% less of both carbon monoxide and gaseous hydrocarbons than is given off by 1970 cars; by the 1976 model year, emissions of nitrogen oxides must be reduced by a similar amount. If Detroit fails to meet these deadlines, the Federal Government can close the industry down. As a result, the automakers have launched a crash program, investing both manpower and money ($250 million in 1970) to solve the problems...
...Between the 1962 and the 1970 models, he said, Detroit cut carbon-monoxide emissions by 70% and hydrocarbons by 80%. "Thus," he complained, "the task presented to us of an additional 90% reduction is formidable. We are most pessimistic about our ability to comply with the 1976 requirements on nitrogen oxides...
There are good grounds for Detroit's gloom. By raising exhaust temperatures, a device called a catalytic converter can burn away carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Trouble is, this step may also increase the output of nitrogen oxides, which no one yet knows how to curb economically. Unless the automakers can develop radical, new technological solutions, they fear that the expense of meeting the federal requirements may add as much as $600 to the cost of each...
...environmentalists retorted that even 1% of the huge plants' gases and soot will constitute much more pollution than New York or Los Angeles power plants now produce. Each day, according to environmentalists, the complex will emit 1,970 tons of poisonous sulfur dioxide, 1,280 tons of nitrogen oxides and 240 tons of fly ash. Obscuring the nation's clearest skies, the soot would cripple the region's astronomical observatories. Particles would also rain down on six national parks, three national recreation areas, and 28 national monuments-visited last year by 16 million people in search...