Waco is a city in central Texas and is the county seat and largest city of McLennan County, United States. It is situated along I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin; the city had a 2010 population of 124,805. The 2018 US Census population estimate is 138,183 The Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of McLennan and Falls Counties, which had a 2010 population of 234,906. Falls County was added to the Waco MSA in 2013; the 2018 US Census population estimate for the Waco MSA is 271,942. Indigenous peoples occupied areas along the river for thousands of years. In historic times, the area of present-day Waco was occupied by the Wichita Indian tribe known as the "Waco". In 1824, Thomas M. Duke was sent to explore the area after violence erupted between the Waco people and the European settlers, his report to Stephen F. Austin, described the Waco village: This town is situated on the West Bank of the River, they have a spring as cold as ice itself. All we want is some Sugar to have Ice Toddy, they have about 400 acres planted in corn, beans and melons and that tended in good order.

I think. After further violence, Austin halted an attempt to destroy their village in retaliation. In 1825, he made a treaty with them; the Waco were pushed out of the region, settling north near present-day Fort Worth. In 1872, they were moved onto a reservation in Oklahoma with other Wichita tribes. In 1902, the Waco became official US citizens. Neil McLennan settled in an area near the South Bosque River in 1838. Jacob De Cordova bought McLennan's property and hired a former Texas Ranger and surveyor named George B. Erath to inspect the area. In 1849, Erath designed the first block of the city. Property owners wanted to name the city Lamartine, but Erath convinced them to name the area Waco Village, after the Indians who had lived there. In March 1849, Shapley Ross built the first house in Waco, a double-log cabin, on a bluff overlooking the springs, his daughter Kate was the first settler child to be born in Waco. In 1866, Waco's leading citizens embarked on an ambitious project to build the first bridge to span the wide Brazos River.

They formed the Waco Bridge Company to build the 475-foot brick Waco Suspension Bridge, completed in 1870. The company commissioned a firm owned by John Augustus Roebling in Trenton, New Jersey, to supply the cables and steelwork for the bridge, contracted with Mr. Thomas M. Griffith, a civil engineer based in New York, for the supervisory engineering work on the bridge; the economic effects of the Waco bridge were large. The cowboys and cattle-herds following the Chisholm Trail north, crossed the Brazos River at Waco; some chose to pay the Suspension Bridge toll. The population of Waco grew as immigrants now had a safe crossing for their horse-drawn carriages and wagons. Since 1971, the bridge has been open only to pedestrian traffic and is in the National Register of Historic Places. In the late 19th century, a red-light district called the "Reservation" grew up in Waco, prostitution was regulated by the city; the Reservation was suppressed in the early 20th century. In 1885, the soft drink Dr Pepper was invented in Waco at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store.

In 1845, Baylor University was founded in Texas. It merged with Waco University, becoming an integral part of the city; the university's Strecker Museum was the oldest continuously operating museum in the state until it closed in 2003, the collections were moved to the new Mayborn Museum Complex. In 1873, AddRan College was founded by brothers Randolph Clark in Fort Worth; the school moved to Waco in 1895, changing its name to Add-Ran Christian University and taking up residence in the empty buildings of Waco Female College. Add-Ran changed its name to Texas Christian University in 1902 and left Waco after the school's main building burned down in 1910. TCU was offered $200,000 by the city of Fort Worth to relocate there. In the 1890s, William Cowper Brann published the successful Iconoclast newspaper in Waco. One of his targets was Baylor University. Brann revealed that Baylor officials had been importing South American children recruited by missionaries and making house-servants out of them. Brann was shot in the back by a Baylor supporter.

Brann wheeled, drew his pistol, killed Davis. Brann was helped home by his friends, died there of his wounds. In 1894, the first Cotton Palace fair and exhibition center was built to reflect the dominant contribution of the agricultural cotton industry in the region. Since the end of the Civil War, cotton had been cultivated in the Brazos and Bosque valleys, Waco had become known nationwide as a top producer. Over the next 23 years, the annual exposition would welcome over eight million attendees; the opulent building which housed the month-long exhibition was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1910. In 1931, the exposition fell prey to the Great Depression, the building was torn down. However, the annual Cotton Palace Pageant continues, hosted in late April in conjunction with the Brazos River Festival. On September 15, 1896, "The Crash" took place about 15 miles north of Waco. "The Crash at Crush" was a publicity stunt done by the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad company, featuring two locomotives intentionally set to a head-on collision.

Meant to be a family fun event with food and entertainment, the Crash turned deadly when both boilers exploded send

Nordic Quartet is an album by English saxophonist John Surman featuring Karin Krog, Terje Rypdal and Vigleik Storaas recorded in 1994 and released on the ECM label. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 2 stars, stating, "The group never meshes their disparate voices together and few of the spacey group originals other than "Wild Bird" are at all memorable. All of the principals have sounded better elsewhere". All compositions by John Surman except as indicated"Traces" - 7:14 "Unwritten Letter" - 3:49 "Offshore Piper" - 2:09 "Gone to the Dogs" - 3:58 "Double Tripper" - 6:18 "Ved Sørevatn" - 8:06 "Watching Shadows" - 5:20 "The Illusion" - 5:57 "Wild Bird" - 7:30Recorded at Rainbow Studio in Oslo, Norway in August 1994 John Surman – soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone, alto clarinet, bass clarinet Vigleik Storaas – piano Terje Rypdal – guitar Karin Krog – voice

NEXTAR is a Low Earth orbit Earth observation satellite bus designed and manufactured by NEC Space Systems of Japan. This three axis stabilized platform has a bus dry mass of 250 kg, it can carry payloads up to 250 kg and 600 W, it uses tri-junction GaAs has an expected life between 5 years. Its telemetry and control subsystem includes S band and X band channels; as of 2014, there are three different models of the NEXTAR standardized platform. All feature a common core of features like using the SpaceWire communications protocol, the SpaceCube2 on-board computer and autonomous control functions; the different models are: NX-300L: Low Earth orbit platform for small observation satellites in the 300 to 500 kg range. It was born out of the ASNARO 1 work and is used for Earth observation applications. NX-1500L: Low Earth orbit platform for medium observation satellites in the 1,000 to 1,500 kg range, it began with the work on GCOM-W and is used for Earth observation applications. NX-G: Geosynchronous orbit platform for small communication satellites in the 1.5 to 3 t range.

Based on the work of the WINDS satellite, it will be used for communications applications. Satellites using the NEXTAR platform. Star Bus – Another comparable satellite bus made by Orbital ATK. NEC's NEXTAR page