To The Moon, Mars, and Beyond
Many folks would like to see us back on the Moon and developing its resources.Special Knoreply@blogger.comBlogger929125
Updated: 7 weeks 5 days ago
Moon mission gets help in Congress
To the Moon or NOT to the Moon, that is a question.
How we get to the Moon, that is a question.
What will pay for going to the Moon, that also is a question.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6780240.html
Moon mission gets help in Congress
Lawmakers insert wording into bill signed by Obama to get leverage over funds for manned spaceflights
By STEWART M. POWELL - HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Dec. 21, 2009, 8:29AM
WASHINGTON — Fearful that the White House might scale back manned space exploration, a bipartisan group of lawmakers slipped a provision into a massive government spending package last week that would force President Barack Obama to seek congressional approval for any changes to the ambitious Bush-era, back-to-the-moon program.
The little-noticed legislative maneuver could yield massive payoffs for the Houston area, which has tens of thousands of jobs tied to manned space exploration. The congressional action hands NASA supporters additional leverage in their behind-the-scenes campaign to persuade Obama to budget an extra $3 billion a year to finance the return of astronauts to the moon by 2020 rather than revamping — and cutting — the manned space effort.
“Congress' commitment to our nation's human spaceflight program is unwavering with respect to the path we have already charted,” says Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, whose congressional district includes Johnson Space Center. “The debate should not be if we are moving forward, but how we are going to pay for it.”
Democrats in the House and Senate joined forces with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., in the end-of-year legislative avalanche to insert language into a must-sign spending package that requires the president to ask Congress for all the money that would be needed to adjust the scope or timetable of human spaceflight.
None of the $18.7 billion given NASA to spend this year and in future years “shall be available for the termination or elimination” of any part of the Constellation program, the legislation declares, or to “create or initiate a new program” without “subsequent appropriations acts.”
snip
-----------------------------------------
And a few days earlier the speculation is that no decision from President Obama yet as to where we stand on going to the Moon.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0912/18whitehouse/
White House says no decision yet on NASA's future
BY STEPHEN CLARK - SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: December 18, 2009
White House officials say President Obama has not yet made a decision on the fate of NASA's moon program, two days after an Oval Office meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
Obama and Bolden met Wednesday afternoon to discuss the space agency's work and the results of the Augustine commission, a panel of experts that submitted options in October for the future of the human space program.
A report by the online edition of Science magazine late Thursday said Obama plans to request a $1 billion increase in the NASA budget for 2011. The money would fund a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, and the agency's current Ares 1 rocket design would be scrapped in favor of commercial crew transportation services to Earth orbit, according to the Science report.
The Ares 5 rocket is currently NASA's design for a heavy-lift launcher. Engineers are also studying other designs more closely based on the space shuttle.
NASA and White House officials claim such reports are mere speculation, but they are providing no information on when a decision could be announced. The administration will file its fiscal year 2011 budget request in February.
"The meeting with Bolden was informational, not decisional," said Nick Shapiro, White House spokesman.
snip
-----------------------------------------
Decisions, decisions, my oh my, what shall we do?
And then all of those suggestions on how we should go.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle-Derived_Launch_Vehicle
The Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle, or simply Shuttle-Derived Vehicle (SDV), is a term describing one of a wide array of concepts that have been developed for creating space launch vehicles from the components, technology and/or infrastructure of the Space Shuttle program. In 2005, NASA decided to develop the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, based in part on highly modified Shuttle components to replace the Space Shuttle and enable exploration of the Moon and Mars.[1][2] In early 2007, the agency confirmed that it was formally studying a third such vehicle, the Ares IV.
snip
-----------------------------------------
My stomach is quizzy, my head is dizzy, the ground under me feels not too solid.
I feel like I am watching a tennis match with the ball flying from one court to another.
Just back in 2008 a summary of launch concepts.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=28514
NASA Background on Ares Vehicles versus the DIRECT Proposal
STATUS REPORT
Date Released: Thursday, July 3, 2008
Source: NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate -
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/index.html
Summary
NASA has spent substantial effort over several years to consider many launch concepts, and the Agency stands by its decision to develop the Constellation architecture, which includes the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle and the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. NASA has chosen these systems based upon significant analysis, and the Agency believes it has the best program in place to meet our Nation's future Exploration needs.
Shortly after arriving at NASA, Administrator Michael Griffin chartered the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) in May 2005, comprised of experts at NASA Headquarters and across the NASA field centers. All databases, expertise and analytical models were applied to this critical task. Particular emphasis was placed on the family of launch vehicles that would be needed to support future Exploration goals. A large number of options were evaluated, including quantitative comparisons on the basis of important measures of merit such as development cost, recurring cost, funding profiles, safety, reliability, development risk, schedule risk, and other factors. The launch families considered included various Shuttle-derived options, Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)-derived options and mixes of the two. Outside experts were brought-in to assess the ESAS results.
Several of the Shuttle-derived concepts that were considered during ESAS, and in other studies, were similar to the Jupiter system identified as part of the DIRECT proposal. However, using current ground rules and assumptions, and utilizing validated NASA and industry design and analysis tools, NASA has determined that the DIRECT proposal is unlikely to achieve its claims of improved performance, safety and development costs when compared to the Ares I and Ares V approach. In addition, the limited data available in the online DIRECT proposal do not support the claims of increased safety. Also, analysis shows that the DIRECT proposal would cost more than the Ares family in the near-term and also on a recurring launch basis. Finally, the DIRECT proposal would take longer to develop when compared to the Ares vehicles when factoring in the extensive core stage development effort and the associated acquisitions.
Since completion of the ESAS, NASA has continued to improve the baseline architecture to significantly lower life cycle costs of the Ares vehicles. NASA's analysis confirms that the Ares I and V vehicles enable the lowest cost and safest launch architecture which meets the Agency's requirements for support of the International Space Station, as well as lunar and Mars exploration. Several improvements have been made to the Ares ESAS baseline (such as the decisions to utilize the J-2X for both the Ares 1 and the Ares V Upper Stage engine and the RS-
68 instead of the Space Shuttle Main Engines for the Ares V core engine) which reduced life cycle costs by several billions of dollars.
snip
-----------------------------------------
It would be nice if we would affirm that we want to develop the Moon, Mars, Asteroids, and the use of space in general, and then follow through with the tasks needed to achieve the goals. Hmmmmmm, seems we do that - seems we do that - seems we do that, wish I didn't sound like a broken record. - LRK -
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/CxEMM_SITE/index.html
Well 2010 is almost here, 2011, then I grow older. Looks like I am going to have to live as long as my mom, now 99, to see something happen.
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
Wish it was as easy as it looks. - LRK -
--------------------------------------------------
http://www.directlauncher.com
DIRECT is an alternative approach to launching missions planned under NASA's new mandate: The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). DIRECT would replace the separate Ares-I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) and Ares-V Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) with one single "Jupiter" launcher, capable of performing both roles.
snip
==============================================================
http://launchcomplexmodels.com/Direct/documents/aug07.pdf
HORIZONS
Volume 32, Issue 3 AIAA Houston Section www.aiaa-houston.org Summer 2007
Table of Contents
From the Editor 3
Chair’s Corner 4
A DIRECT Approach 5
Staying Informed 10
Membership Page 13
AIAA Historic Aerospace Site Plaque at NASA/JSC 14
Virgin Galactic Training for Travel Representatives 15
Summary Report: The 2007 Annual Technical Symposium 17
Student Essay: To Boldly Go 18
Student Essay: You’re a GO for Launch 19
Student Essay: You’re a GO for Launch 19
Odds and Ends 28
Conference Presentations/Articles by Houston Section Members 30
AIAA Local Section News 33
The Engineering and Sciences Contract Group 20
The Space Settlement Design Competition 22
The International Space Development Conference 2007 23
Elon Musk of SpaceX Addresses AIAA Houston 25
Calendar 26
Cranium Cruncher 27
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
How we get to the Moon, that is a question.
What will pay for going to the Moon, that also is a question.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6780240.html
Moon mission gets help in Congress
Lawmakers insert wording into bill signed by Obama to get leverage over funds for manned spaceflights
By STEWART M. POWELL - HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Dec. 21, 2009, 8:29AM
WASHINGTON — Fearful that the White House might scale back manned space exploration, a bipartisan group of lawmakers slipped a provision into a massive government spending package last week that would force President Barack Obama to seek congressional approval for any changes to the ambitious Bush-era, back-to-the-moon program.
The little-noticed legislative maneuver could yield massive payoffs for the Houston area, which has tens of thousands of jobs tied to manned space exploration. The congressional action hands NASA supporters additional leverage in their behind-the-scenes campaign to persuade Obama to budget an extra $3 billion a year to finance the return of astronauts to the moon by 2020 rather than revamping — and cutting — the manned space effort.
“Congress' commitment to our nation's human spaceflight program is unwavering with respect to the path we have already charted,” says Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, whose congressional district includes Johnson Space Center. “The debate should not be if we are moving forward, but how we are going to pay for it.”
Democrats in the House and Senate joined forces with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., in the end-of-year legislative avalanche to insert language into a must-sign spending package that requires the president to ask Congress for all the money that would be needed to adjust the scope or timetable of human spaceflight.
None of the $18.7 billion given NASA to spend this year and in future years “shall be available for the termination or elimination” of any part of the Constellation program, the legislation declares, or to “create or initiate a new program” without “subsequent appropriations acts.”
snip
-----------------------------------------
And a few days earlier the speculation is that no decision from President Obama yet as to where we stand on going to the Moon.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0912/18whitehouse/
White House says no decision yet on NASA's future
BY STEPHEN CLARK - SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: December 18, 2009
White House officials say President Obama has not yet made a decision on the fate of NASA's moon program, two days after an Oval Office meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
Obama and Bolden met Wednesday afternoon to discuss the space agency's work and the results of the Augustine commission, a panel of experts that submitted options in October for the future of the human space program.
A report by the online edition of Science magazine late Thursday said Obama plans to request a $1 billion increase in the NASA budget for 2011. The money would fund a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, and the agency's current Ares 1 rocket design would be scrapped in favor of commercial crew transportation services to Earth orbit, according to the Science report.
The Ares 5 rocket is currently NASA's design for a heavy-lift launcher. Engineers are also studying other designs more closely based on the space shuttle.
NASA and White House officials claim such reports are mere speculation, but they are providing no information on when a decision could be announced. The administration will file its fiscal year 2011 budget request in February.
"The meeting with Bolden was informational, not decisional," said Nick Shapiro, White House spokesman.
snip
-----------------------------------------
Decisions, decisions, my oh my, what shall we do?
And then all of those suggestions on how we should go.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle-Derived_Launch_Vehicle
The Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle, or simply Shuttle-Derived Vehicle (SDV), is a term describing one of a wide array of concepts that have been developed for creating space launch vehicles from the components, technology and/or infrastructure of the Space Shuttle program. In 2005, NASA decided to develop the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, based in part on highly modified Shuttle components to replace the Space Shuttle and enable exploration of the Moon and Mars.[1][2] In early 2007, the agency confirmed that it was formally studying a third such vehicle, the Ares IV.
snip
-----------------------------------------
My stomach is quizzy, my head is dizzy, the ground under me feels not too solid.
I feel like I am watching a tennis match with the ball flying from one court to another.
Just back in 2008 a summary of launch concepts.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=28514
NASA Background on Ares Vehicles versus the DIRECT Proposal
STATUS REPORT
Date Released: Thursday, July 3, 2008
Source: NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate -
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/index.html
Summary
NASA has spent substantial effort over several years to consider many launch concepts, and the Agency stands by its decision to develop the Constellation architecture, which includes the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle and the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. NASA has chosen these systems based upon significant analysis, and the Agency believes it has the best program in place to meet our Nation's future Exploration needs.
Shortly after arriving at NASA, Administrator Michael Griffin chartered the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) in May 2005, comprised of experts at NASA Headquarters and across the NASA field centers. All databases, expertise and analytical models were applied to this critical task. Particular emphasis was placed on the family of launch vehicles that would be needed to support future Exploration goals. A large number of options were evaluated, including quantitative comparisons on the basis of important measures of merit such as development cost, recurring cost, funding profiles, safety, reliability, development risk, schedule risk, and other factors. The launch families considered included various Shuttle-derived options, Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)-derived options and mixes of the two. Outside experts were brought-in to assess the ESAS results.
Several of the Shuttle-derived concepts that were considered during ESAS, and in other studies, were similar to the Jupiter system identified as part of the DIRECT proposal. However, using current ground rules and assumptions, and utilizing validated NASA and industry design and analysis tools, NASA has determined that the DIRECT proposal is unlikely to achieve its claims of improved performance, safety and development costs when compared to the Ares I and Ares V approach. In addition, the limited data available in the online DIRECT proposal do not support the claims of increased safety. Also, analysis shows that the DIRECT proposal would cost more than the Ares family in the near-term and also on a recurring launch basis. Finally, the DIRECT proposal would take longer to develop when compared to the Ares vehicles when factoring in the extensive core stage development effort and the associated acquisitions.
Since completion of the ESAS, NASA has continued to improve the baseline architecture to significantly lower life cycle costs of the Ares vehicles. NASA's analysis confirms that the Ares I and V vehicles enable the lowest cost and safest launch architecture which meets the Agency's requirements for support of the International Space Station, as well as lunar and Mars exploration. Several improvements have been made to the Ares ESAS baseline (such as the decisions to utilize the J-2X for both the Ares 1 and the Ares V Upper Stage engine and the RS-
68 instead of the Space Shuttle Main Engines for the Ares V core engine) which reduced life cycle costs by several billions of dollars.
snip
-----------------------------------------
It would be nice if we would affirm that we want to develop the Moon, Mars, Asteroids, and the use of space in general, and then follow through with the tasks needed to achieve the goals. Hmmmmmm, seems we do that - seems we do that - seems we do that, wish I didn't sound like a broken record. - LRK -
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/CxEMM_SITE/index.html
Well 2010 is almost here, 2011, then I grow older. Looks like I am going to have to live as long as my mom, now 99, to see something happen.
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
Wish it was as easy as it looks. - LRK -
--------------------------------------------------
http://www.directlauncher.com
DIRECT is an alternative approach to launching missions planned under NASA's new mandate: The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). DIRECT would replace the separate Ares-I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) and Ares-V Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) with one single "Jupiter" launcher, capable of performing both roles.
snip
==============================================================
http://launchcomplexmodels.com/Direct/documents/aug07.pdf
HORIZONS
Volume 32, Issue 3 AIAA Houston Section www.aiaa-houston.org Summer 2007
Table of Contents
From the Editor 3
Chair’s Corner 4
A DIRECT Approach 5
Staying Informed 10
Membership Page 13
AIAA Historic Aerospace Site Plaque at NASA/JSC 14
Virgin Galactic Training for Travel Representatives 15
Summary Report: The 2007 Annual Technical Symposium 17
Student Essay: To Boldly Go 18
Student Essay: You’re a GO for Launch 19
Student Essay: You’re a GO for Launch 19
Odds and Ends 28
Conference Presentations/Articles by Houston Section Members 30
AIAA Local Section News 33
The Engineering and Sciences Contract Group 20
The Space Settlement Design Competition 22
The International Space Development Conference 2007 23
Elon Musk of SpaceX Addresses AIAA Houston 25
Calendar 26
Cranium Cruncher 27
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Innovators: X-Prize Effect
If you can watch Flash movies, this is a very nice presentation that Bob Richards tweet alerted me to..
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
Bob_Richards
RT @lukebos: The X PRIZE Effect on Bloomberg, prominently featuring
@PeterDiamandis: http://bit.ly/1dNRad #xprize [30mins]
-----------------------------------------
Also linked at:
-----------------------------------------
http://spacefellowship.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11735&start=0
Nice link at hobbyspace
"This 27 minute video report about the X PRIZE and NewSpace developments includes interviews with Peter Diamandis, Dave Masten, John Carmack and others and lots of on-site clips from Mojave, Caddo Mills, etc."
http://www.bloomberg.com/avp/avp.htm?N=innovators&T=Innovators:%20X-Prize%20Effect&clipSRC=FLASH/innovators/innovators_broadcast-x-prize_effect.flv
Cool hey! :)
Rob
-----------------------------------------
Or at X-Prize
-----------------------------------------
http://www.xprize.org/media-center/news/bloomberg-news-the-x-prize-effect
BLOOMBERG NEWS - The X PRIZE Effect
Innovation Pays: Inspired by the Spirit of St. Louis, Peter Diamandis started the X-Prize Foundation with a $10 million prize for the invention of a private spaceship. Now, the X-Prize is inspiring designers of a lunar lander and research into genetic diseases.
* Read more http://tinyurl.com/ybd83tb
-----------------------------------------
If you found this interesting there are more to be found at the X-Prize web site.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.xprize.org/
X Prize Foundation
[Check out the latest blogs and the Top Stories - LRK -]
#
November 10, 2009
BLOOMBERG NEWS - The X PRIZE Effect
http://www.xprize.org/media-center/news/bloomberg-news-the-x-prize-effect
-----------------------------------------
Hope we have a New Year with more innovators.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation
Innovation is a new way of doing something or "new stuff that is made useful"[1]. It may refer to incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. Following Schumpeter (1934), contributors to the scholarly literature on innovation typically distinguish between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully in practice. In many fields, something new must be substantially different to be innovative, not an insignificant change, e.g., in the arts, economics, business and government policy. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.businessweek.com/innovators/
A Milestone for BusinessWeek
Since 1929, we've been chronicling innovations and the people who make them. Here are some of the best from the past 75 years
snip
==============================================================
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/index.html
The Great Idea Finder
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
Bob_Richards
RT @lukebos: The X PRIZE Effect on Bloomberg, prominently featuring
@PeterDiamandis: http://bit.ly/1dNRad #xprize [30mins]
-----------------------------------------
Also linked at:
-----------------------------------------
http://spacefellowship.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11735&start=0
Nice link at hobbyspace
"This 27 minute video report about the X PRIZE and NewSpace developments includes interviews with Peter Diamandis, Dave Masten, John Carmack and others and lots of on-site clips from Mojave, Caddo Mills, etc."
http://www.bloomberg.com/avp/avp.htm?N=innovators&T=Innovators:%20X-Prize%20Effect&clipSRC=FLASH/innovators/innovators_broadcast-x-prize_effect.flv
Cool hey! :)
Rob
-----------------------------------------
Or at X-Prize
-----------------------------------------
http://www.xprize.org/media-center/news/bloomberg-news-the-x-prize-effect
BLOOMBERG NEWS - The X PRIZE Effect
Innovation Pays: Inspired by the Spirit of St. Louis, Peter Diamandis started the X-Prize Foundation with a $10 million prize for the invention of a private spaceship. Now, the X-Prize is inspiring designers of a lunar lander and research into genetic diseases.
* Read more http://tinyurl.com/ybd83tb
-----------------------------------------
If you found this interesting there are more to be found at the X-Prize web site.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.xprize.org/
X Prize Foundation
[Check out the latest blogs and the Top Stories - LRK -]
#
November 10, 2009
BLOOMBERG NEWS - The X PRIZE Effect
http://www.xprize.org/media-center/news/bloomberg-news-the-x-prize-effect
-----------------------------------------
Hope we have a New Year with more innovators.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation
Innovation is a new way of doing something or "new stuff that is made useful"[1]. It may refer to incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. Following Schumpeter (1934), contributors to the scholarly literature on innovation typically distinguish between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully in practice. In many fields, something new must be substantially different to be innovative, not an insignificant change, e.g., in the arts, economics, business and government policy. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.businessweek.com/innovators/
A Milestone for BusinessWeek
Since 1929, we've been chronicling innovations and the people who make them. Here are some of the best from the past 75 years
snip
==============================================================
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/index.html
The Great Idea Finder
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Merry Christmas and a Wish for a Happy New Year
A tweet from Air and Space reminded me of the Apollo 8 Earth Rise image.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
airandspace - http://twitter.com/airandspace
Today in 1968: Apollo 8 astronauts, 1st humans to view Earth from lunar orbit, took famous "Earthrise" image:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/imagedetail.cfm?imageID=1931
------------------------------------------------------------------
MSNBC has an excerpt from “Genesis” by Robert Zimmerman. Copyright ©1998 Robert Zimmerman. From the book published by Four Walls Eight Windows, New York that has an explanation of how the picture came to be taken. It is a good read and I hope you check it out.
Here I am just going to clip the prayer Frank Boman read as a Christmas wish to all.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077909/
The genesis of Apollo 8’s ‘earthrise’
Decades later, ‘Genesis’ solves the mystery surrounding the image
July 15, 1999 - Back in 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 made the first around-the-moon flight — a Christmas mission that set the stage for the first moon landing less than a year later. In this excerpt from the book “Genesis,” Robert Zimmerman focuses on the events leading up to the “earthrise” picture, the first widely distributed picture of Earth as seen from the moon.
This excerpt begins just after the crew members of Apollo 8 — Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell — fired the Apollo spacecraft’s engines to enter lunar orbit on Dec. 24, 1968.
snip
The conversation soon turned serious. Borman really wanted to participate in that Christmas Day service, but didn’t have any idea what he could do. Fellow parishioner Rod Rose, an engineer at mission control, offered a solution. He would put together a short prayer that Borman could read from orbit, tape Borman’s recitation, and then play the tape back at church. For Borman, the practical test pilot, this plan was perfect. Rose cobbled together a prayer from a number of verses in the Bible, and went over it with Borman until both were happy.
Now, Borman waited until Lovell and Anders finished passing some new data to the ground. Then he began, a little self-consciously. “This is to Rod Rose and the people at St. Christopher’s, actually to people everywhere.” Borman took a breath. “Give us, o God, the vision which can see thy love in the world, in spite of human failure. Give us the faith to trust the goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts, and show us what each one of us can do to set forth the coming of the day of universal peace. Amen.”
“Amen,” Mike Collins echoed softly.
Now Borman sheepishly added, “I was supposed to lay-read tonight, but I couldn’t quite make it.”
“Roger,” said Collins. “I think they understand.”
snip
------------------------------------------------------------------
Another tweet is from Wayne Hale with his "Predictions and Wishes".
Hope you read.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
waynehale - http://twitter.com/waynehale
Just posted a blog update for Christmas wishes:
http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/waynehalesblog/posts/post_1261670536293.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Verakmp passed a clip from NASA News Service which has a link to a nice Holiday Card
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
Happy Holidays
Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:00:00 -0600
Wishing all the happiest of holidays, members of the Cassini-Huygens team offer their views of Saturn and its moons as gifts to the universe. Cassini-Huygens, a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, is a mission that is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA. The Cassini orbiter (pictured at the bottom of this image) and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
link: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1551.html
==
This NASA news has been delivered on behalf of the agency by GovDelivery (800-439-1420) · NASA Headquarters · Washington, DC 20546
------------------------------------------------------------------
I just finished reading "COSMIC FISHING - An account of writing Synergetics with Buckminster Fuller", E.J. APPLEWHITE.
Let me quote from page 156
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
Cosmic Fishing
The information signals are forever bouncing
electromagnetically about the Universe, every so
often impinging on celestial entities and being either
tunably received or bounced off to travel elsewhere.
If we fail to catch a cosmic fish it may be a trillion
years before the opportunity comes again. It will come
. . . but it may not be in this Galaxy. Sumtotally, all
the fish will always eventually be caught and
rebroadcast, but not all at the same rebroadcasting
stations.
------------------------------------------------------------------
In the next year will we be prepared to catch some cosmic fish?
Such as.....
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/23dec_voyager.htm?list965414
December 23, 2009: The solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that physics says should not exist. In the Dec. 24th issue of Nature, a team of scientists reveal how NASA's Voyager spacecraft have solved the mystery.
"Using data from Voyager, we have discovered a strong magnetic field just outside the solar system," explains lead author Merav Opher, a NASA Heliophysics Guest Investigator from George Mason University. "This magnetic field holds the interstellar cloud together and solves
the long-standing puzzle of how it can exist at all."
snip
------------------------------------------------------------------
And if you had the right translator. :-)
http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/2007/03/universal-translator-how-to-talk-to.html
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8
Apollo 8 was the first human spaceflight mission to escape from the gravitational field of planet Earth; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to planet Earth from another celestial body - Earth's Moon. The three-man crew of Mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to see the far side of the Moon with their own eyes, as well as the first humans to see planet Earth from beyond low Earth orbit. The mission was accomplished with the first manned launch of a Saturn V rocket. Apollo 8 was the second manned mission of the Apollo Program.
Originally planned as a low Earth orbit Lunar Module/Command Module test, the mission profile was changed to the more ambitious lunar orbital flight in August 1968 when the Lunar Module scheduled for the flight became delayed. The new mission's profile, procedures and personnel requirements left an uncharacteristically short time frame for training and preparation, thus placing more demands than usual on the time, talent, and discipline of the crew.
After launching on December 21, 1968, the crew took three days to travel to the Moon. They orbited ten times over the course of 20 hours, during which the crew made a Christmas Eve television broadcast in which they read the first 10 verses from the Book of Genesis. The crew timed this reading to coincide with a full view of planet Earth hanging in the empty blackness of space, clearly showing the rich diversity of the living planet, as indicated in Earth's colors, seas, landforms, and weather patterns, rising over the dull gray horizon of the lifeless Moon. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo 8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/Apollo8/Apollo8.html
APPOLO 8 MISSION
The overall objective of the mission was to demonstrate command and service module performance in a cislunar (between the Earth and Moon) and lunar-orbit environment, to evaluate crew performance in a lunar-orbit mission, to demonstrate communications and tracking at lunar distances, and to return high-resolution photography of proposed Apollo landing areas and other locations of scientific interest.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983)[1] was an American architect, author, designer, inventor, and futurist.
Fuller published more than thirty books, inventing and popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", ephemeralization, and synergetics. He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, the best known of which is the geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their resemblance to geodesic spheres.
snip
[1] Encyclopædia Britannica. (2007). "Fuller, R Buckminster".
Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9365050. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
airandspace - http://twitter.com/airandspace
Today in 1968: Apollo 8 astronauts, 1st humans to view Earth from lunar orbit, took famous "Earthrise" image:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/imagedetail.cfm?imageID=1931
------------------------------------------------------------------
MSNBC has an excerpt from “Genesis” by Robert Zimmerman. Copyright ©1998 Robert Zimmerman. From the book published by Four Walls Eight Windows, New York that has an explanation of how the picture came to be taken. It is a good read and I hope you check it out.
Here I am just going to clip the prayer Frank Boman read as a Christmas wish to all.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077909/
The genesis of Apollo 8’s ‘earthrise’
Decades later, ‘Genesis’ solves the mystery surrounding the image
July 15, 1999 - Back in 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 made the first around-the-moon flight — a Christmas mission that set the stage for the first moon landing less than a year later. In this excerpt from the book “Genesis,” Robert Zimmerman focuses on the events leading up to the “earthrise” picture, the first widely distributed picture of Earth as seen from the moon.
This excerpt begins just after the crew members of Apollo 8 — Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell — fired the Apollo spacecraft’s engines to enter lunar orbit on Dec. 24, 1968.
snip
The conversation soon turned serious. Borman really wanted to participate in that Christmas Day service, but didn’t have any idea what he could do. Fellow parishioner Rod Rose, an engineer at mission control, offered a solution. He would put together a short prayer that Borman could read from orbit, tape Borman’s recitation, and then play the tape back at church. For Borman, the practical test pilot, this plan was perfect. Rose cobbled together a prayer from a number of verses in the Bible, and went over it with Borman until both were happy.
Now, Borman waited until Lovell and Anders finished passing some new data to the ground. Then he began, a little self-consciously. “This is to Rod Rose and the people at St. Christopher’s, actually to people everywhere.” Borman took a breath. “Give us, o God, the vision which can see thy love in the world, in spite of human failure. Give us the faith to trust the goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts, and show us what each one of us can do to set forth the coming of the day of universal peace. Amen.”
“Amen,” Mike Collins echoed softly.
Now Borman sheepishly added, “I was supposed to lay-read tonight, but I couldn’t quite make it.”
“Roger,” said Collins. “I think they understand.”
snip
------------------------------------------------------------------
Another tweet is from Wayne Hale with his "Predictions and Wishes".
Hope you read.
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
waynehale - http://twitter.com/waynehale
Just posted a blog update for Christmas wishes:
http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/waynehalesblog/posts/post_1261670536293.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Verakmp passed a clip from NASA News Service which has a link to a nice Holiday Card
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
Happy Holidays
Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:00:00 -0600
Wishing all the happiest of holidays, members of the Cassini-Huygens team offer their views of Saturn and its moons as gifts to the universe. Cassini-Huygens, a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, is a mission that is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA. The Cassini orbiter (pictured at the bottom of this image) and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
link: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1551.html
==
This NASA news has been delivered on behalf of the agency by GovDelivery (800-439-1420) · NASA Headquarters · Washington, DC 20546
------------------------------------------------------------------
I just finished reading "COSMIC FISHING - An account of writing Synergetics with Buckminster Fuller", E.J. APPLEWHITE.
Let me quote from page 156
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
Cosmic Fishing
The information signals are forever bouncing
electromagnetically about the Universe, every so
often impinging on celestial entities and being either
tunably received or bounced off to travel elsewhere.
If we fail to catch a cosmic fish it may be a trillion
years before the opportunity comes again. It will come
. . . but it may not be in this Galaxy. Sumtotally, all
the fish will always eventually be caught and
rebroadcast, but not all at the same rebroadcasting
stations.
------------------------------------------------------------------
In the next year will we be prepared to catch some cosmic fish?
Such as.....
- LRK -
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/23dec_voyager.htm?list965414
December 23, 2009: The solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that physics says should not exist. In the Dec. 24th issue of Nature, a team of scientists reveal how NASA's Voyager spacecraft have solved the mystery.
"Using data from Voyager, we have discovered a strong magnetic field just outside the solar system," explains lead author Merav Opher, a NASA Heliophysics Guest Investigator from George Mason University. "This magnetic field holds the interstellar cloud together and solves
the long-standing puzzle of how it can exist at all."
snip
------------------------------------------------------------------
And if you had the right translator. :-)
http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/2007/03/universal-translator-how-to-talk-to.html
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8
Apollo 8 was the first human spaceflight mission to escape from the gravitational field of planet Earth; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to planet Earth from another celestial body - Earth's Moon. The three-man crew of Mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to see the far side of the Moon with their own eyes, as well as the first humans to see planet Earth from beyond low Earth orbit. The mission was accomplished with the first manned launch of a Saturn V rocket. Apollo 8 was the second manned mission of the Apollo Program.
Originally planned as a low Earth orbit Lunar Module/Command Module test, the mission profile was changed to the more ambitious lunar orbital flight in August 1968 when the Lunar Module scheduled for the flight became delayed. The new mission's profile, procedures and personnel requirements left an uncharacteristically short time frame for training and preparation, thus placing more demands than usual on the time, talent, and discipline of the crew.
After launching on December 21, 1968, the crew took three days to travel to the Moon. They orbited ten times over the course of 20 hours, during which the crew made a Christmas Eve television broadcast in which they read the first 10 verses from the Book of Genesis. The crew timed this reading to coincide with a full view of planet Earth hanging in the empty blackness of space, clearly showing the rich diversity of the living planet, as indicated in Earth's colors, seas, landforms, and weather patterns, rising over the dull gray horizon of the lifeless Moon. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo 8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/Apollo8/Apollo8.html
APPOLO 8 MISSION
The overall objective of the mission was to demonstrate command and service module performance in a cislunar (between the Earth and Moon) and lunar-orbit environment, to evaluate crew performance in a lunar-orbit mission, to demonstrate communications and tracking at lunar distances, and to return high-resolution photography of proposed Apollo landing areas and other locations of scientific interest.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983)[1] was an American architect, author, designer, inventor, and futurist.
Fuller published more than thirty books, inventing and popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", ephemeralization, and synergetics. He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, the best known of which is the geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their resemblance to geodesic spheres.
snip
[1] Encyclopædia Britannica. (2007). "Fuller, R Buckminster".
Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9365050. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
World's First Fuel Cell Ship Docks in Copenhagen
Strange feeling, just began reading "Critical Path" by R. Buckminster Fuller where he is commenting on how we can change from energy wasteful consumption to energy efficient use by changing our ways and using our new technological advances to advantage.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
R. Buckminster Fuller - "Critical Path", Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Adjuvant
Introduction p. xxiii-xxiv
... Continuing to attempt to fit our late-twentieth-century astronautical man-on-Moon-visiting capability into a ninetieth-century horse-and-buggy street pattern, house-to-house-yoo-hooing life-style (and a land baron racket) is so inefficient that the overall design of humanity's present social, economic, and political structuring and the physical technology it uses wastes ninety-five out of every 100 units of the energy it consumes. (Our automobiles' reciprocating engines are only 15-percent efficient, whereas turbines are 30 percent, jet engines 60 percent, and fuel cells used by astronauts 80 percent.) In the United States, throughout all twenty-four hours of every day of the year--year after year--we have an average of two million automobiles standing in front of red stoplights with their engines going, the energy for which amounts to that generated by the full efforts of 200 million horses being completely wasted as they jump up and down going nowhere. ...
--------------------------------------------
And then I read Jun Okushi's Facebook post "World's First Fuel Cell Ship Docks in Copenhagen: Scientific American www.scientificamerican.com Can fuel cells and natural gas help reduce emissions from shipping? "
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=worlds-first-fuel-cell-ship&sc=CAT_SP_20091221
December 21, 2009
World's First Fuel Cell Ship Docks in Copenhagen
Can fuel cells and natural gas help reduce emissions from shipping?
By David Biello
COPENHAGEN—Pleasure yachts and tall ships line the wharves and quays of Nyhavn here in the Danish capital. Shipping in Denmark goes back to the Vikings and their long ships that made perilous sea crossings even beyond Greenland. Now what may be the future of shipping is docked around the corner from Nyhavn at Kvaesthusmolen pier, a bright orange and yellow North Sea supply ship from Norway dubbed "Viking Lady"—the first ship to employ a fuel cell in history.
As a result of flourishing world trade, shipping is now responsible for roughly three percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases, or more than one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, along with smog-forming nitrogen oxides, acid-rain causing sulfur dioxides and soot. In fact, emissions of nitrogen oxides from one ship burning diesel in a year are greater than those from 22,000 cars. That's because ships burn bunker fuel or diesel to cleave through the waves but, according to Tor Svensen, CEO of Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Maritime, "it is possible for shipping to reduce emissions, even taking into account growth in world trade."
snip
But in the case of the 5,900 metric ton Viking Lady, Norwegian shipping company Eidesvik and its partners have gone further, installing a 320-kilowatt molten carbonate fuel cell that operates on liquefied natural gas (and can be reconfigured, if necessary, to run on methanol). Storage tanks for the hydrogen and carbon dioxide that gets the fuel cell started press up against the stern of the 92.2 meter-long ship (in case of explosion) as do the machines to regasify the fuel. The fuel cell operates at 650 degrees Celsius and is warm to the touch, even on a blustery, frigid day in Copenhagen's harbor.
Already, liquefied natural gas is cheaper than diesel—if you can find it. Engineer and project developer Kjell Sandaker of Eidesvik notes there are as many as 15 such fueling stations along the Norwegian coast and the bright orange Viking Lady gases up once a week as its onboard turbines also directly burn the gas to supply electricity to the engines, though they can also burn diesel if necessary. The ship's 220 cubic meter tank can hold roughly 90 metric tons of liquefied natural gas at a time.
snip
--------------------------------------------
Fuel Cell, electric powered ships, what an idea. I hope the fuel cell test is successful and they actually use it to power the electric motors on the ship. Also note, when you read the article, that there is a motivation to use natural gas because of a tax on nitrogen oxide emissions.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
snip
But the investment was also made because Norway has a tax on nitrogen oxide emissions that paid an immediate return for installing gas rather than diesel engines, says Eidesvik CEO Jan Fredrik Meling. Compared to a traditional ship, even without using the fuel cell, the Viking Lady reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent, CO2 emissions by 20 percent and eliminates sulfur dioxide and soot emissions.
snip
-------------------------------------------
Now if they are to make a go of it they will need to have liquid gas stations at dockside. Slight paradigm shift required and as you might have guessed, aaaah, might need some government support.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
snip
Ultimately, whether the Viking Lady remains unique in the annals of shipping will depend on the political decisions that come out of the Copenhagen climate conference and in national capitals. "It will take 20 to 30 years for this technology without government support," says DNV's Tronstad. "If they want to act on climate soon, this is a technology that is available today."
snip
-------------------------------------------
I wonder what would happen if every home used some low tech skills to get us off the power grid? I shall continue to see what R. Buckminster Fuller has to suggest.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm
Fuel Cell Basics
Through this website we are seeking historical materials relating to fuel cells. We have constructed the site to gather information from people already familiar with the technology–people such as inventors, researchers, manufacturers, electricians, and marketers. This Basics section presents a general overview of fuel cells for casual visitors.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that produces electricity from a fuel tank. The electricity is generated through the reaction, triggered in the presence of an electrolyte, between the fuel (on the anode side) and an oxidant (on the cathode side). The reactants flow into the cell, and the reaction products flow out of it, while the electrolyte remains within it. Fuel cells can operate virtually continuously as long as the necessary flows are maintained.
Fuel cells are different from conventional electrochemical cell batteries in that they consume reactant from an external source, which must be replenished[1] – a thermodynamically open system. By contrast, batteries store electrical energy chemically and hence represent a thermodynamically closed system.
Many combinations of fuels and oxidants are possible. A hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen as its fuel and oxygen (usually from air) as its oxidant. Other fuels include hydrocarbons and alcohols. Other oxidants include chlorine and chlorine dioxide.[2]
snip
==============================================================
http://scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/fuel_cell/fuel_cell.html
Build a hydrogen fuel cell.
A fuel cell is a device that converts a fuel such as hydrogen, alcohol, gasoline, or methane into electricity directly. A hydrogen fuel cell produces electricity without any pollution, since pure water is the only byproduct.
Hydrogen fuel cells are used in spacecraft and other high-tech applications where a clean, efficient power source is needed.
You can make a hydrogen fuel cell in your kitchen in about 10 minutes, and demonstrate how hydrogen and oxygen can combine to produce clean electrical power.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
R. Buckminster Fuller - "Critical Path", Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Adjuvant
Introduction p. xxiii-xxiv
... Continuing to attempt to fit our late-twentieth-century astronautical man-on-Moon-visiting capability into a ninetieth-century horse-and-buggy street pattern, house-to-house-yoo-hooing life-style (and a land baron racket) is so inefficient that the overall design of humanity's present social, economic, and political structuring and the physical technology it uses wastes ninety-five out of every 100 units of the energy it consumes. (Our automobiles' reciprocating engines are only 15-percent efficient, whereas turbines are 30 percent, jet engines 60 percent, and fuel cells used by astronauts 80 percent.) In the United States, throughout all twenty-four hours of every day of the year--year after year--we have an average of two million automobiles standing in front of red stoplights with their engines going, the energy for which amounts to that generated by the full efforts of 200 million horses being completely wasted as they jump up and down going nowhere. ...
--------------------------------------------
And then I read Jun Okushi's Facebook post "World's First Fuel Cell Ship Docks in Copenhagen: Scientific American www.scientificamerican.com Can fuel cells and natural gas help reduce emissions from shipping? "
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=worlds-first-fuel-cell-ship&sc=CAT_SP_20091221
December 21, 2009
World's First Fuel Cell Ship Docks in Copenhagen
Can fuel cells and natural gas help reduce emissions from shipping?
By David Biello
COPENHAGEN—Pleasure yachts and tall ships line the wharves and quays of Nyhavn here in the Danish capital. Shipping in Denmark goes back to the Vikings and their long ships that made perilous sea crossings even beyond Greenland. Now what may be the future of shipping is docked around the corner from Nyhavn at Kvaesthusmolen pier, a bright orange and yellow North Sea supply ship from Norway dubbed "Viking Lady"—the first ship to employ a fuel cell in history.
As a result of flourishing world trade, shipping is now responsible for roughly three percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases, or more than one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, along with smog-forming nitrogen oxides, acid-rain causing sulfur dioxides and soot. In fact, emissions of nitrogen oxides from one ship burning diesel in a year are greater than those from 22,000 cars. That's because ships burn bunker fuel or diesel to cleave through the waves but, according to Tor Svensen, CEO of Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Maritime, "it is possible for shipping to reduce emissions, even taking into account growth in world trade."
snip
But in the case of the 5,900 metric ton Viking Lady, Norwegian shipping company Eidesvik and its partners have gone further, installing a 320-kilowatt molten carbonate fuel cell that operates on liquefied natural gas (and can be reconfigured, if necessary, to run on methanol). Storage tanks for the hydrogen and carbon dioxide that gets the fuel cell started press up against the stern of the 92.2 meter-long ship (in case of explosion) as do the machines to regasify the fuel. The fuel cell operates at 650 degrees Celsius and is warm to the touch, even on a blustery, frigid day in Copenhagen's harbor.
Already, liquefied natural gas is cheaper than diesel—if you can find it. Engineer and project developer Kjell Sandaker of Eidesvik notes there are as many as 15 such fueling stations along the Norwegian coast and the bright orange Viking Lady gases up once a week as its onboard turbines also directly burn the gas to supply electricity to the engines, though they can also burn diesel if necessary. The ship's 220 cubic meter tank can hold roughly 90 metric tons of liquefied natural gas at a time.
snip
--------------------------------------------
Fuel Cell, electric powered ships, what an idea. I hope the fuel cell test is successful and they actually use it to power the electric motors on the ship. Also note, when you read the article, that there is a motivation to use natural gas because of a tax on nitrogen oxide emissions.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
snip
But the investment was also made because Norway has a tax on nitrogen oxide emissions that paid an immediate return for installing gas rather than diesel engines, says Eidesvik CEO Jan Fredrik Meling. Compared to a traditional ship, even without using the fuel cell, the Viking Lady reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent, CO2 emissions by 20 percent and eliminates sulfur dioxide and soot emissions.
snip
-------------------------------------------
Now if they are to make a go of it they will need to have liquid gas stations at dockside. Slight paradigm shift required and as you might have guessed, aaaah, might need some government support.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
snip
Ultimately, whether the Viking Lady remains unique in the annals of shipping will depend on the political decisions that come out of the Copenhagen climate conference and in national capitals. "It will take 20 to 30 years for this technology without government support," says DNV's Tronstad. "If they want to act on climate soon, this is a technology that is available today."
snip
-------------------------------------------
I wonder what would happen if every home used some low tech skills to get us off the power grid? I shall continue to see what R. Buckminster Fuller has to suggest.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm
Fuel Cell Basics
Through this website we are seeking historical materials relating to fuel cells. We have constructed the site to gather information from people already familiar with the technology–people such as inventors, researchers, manufacturers, electricians, and marketers. This Basics section presents a general overview of fuel cells for casual visitors.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that produces electricity from a fuel tank. The electricity is generated through the reaction, triggered in the presence of an electrolyte, between the fuel (on the anode side) and an oxidant (on the cathode side). The reactants flow into the cell, and the reaction products flow out of it, while the electrolyte remains within it. Fuel cells can operate virtually continuously as long as the necessary flows are maintained.
Fuel cells are different from conventional electrochemical cell batteries in that they consume reactant from an external source, which must be replenished[1] – a thermodynamically open system. By contrast, batteries store electrical energy chemically and hence represent a thermodynamically closed system.
Many combinations of fuels and oxidants are possible. A hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen as its fuel and oxygen (usually from air) as its oxidant. Other fuels include hydrocarbons and alcohols. Other oxidants include chlorine and chlorine dioxide.[2]
snip
==============================================================
http://scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/fuel_cell/fuel_cell.html
Build a hydrogen fuel cell.
A fuel cell is a device that converts a fuel such as hydrogen, alcohol, gasoline, or methane into electricity directly. A hydrogen fuel cell produces electricity without any pollution, since pure water is the only byproduct.
Hydrogen fuel cells are used in spacecraft and other high-tech applications where a clean, efficient power source is needed.
You can make a hydrogen fuel cell in your kitchen in about 10 minutes, and demonstrate how hydrogen and oxygen can combine to produce clean electrical power.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Indian scientists detect water on Moon
Time has passed since the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) landed on the Moon November 14, 2008.
The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft ended its mission on 28 August 2009 and now we are hearing about the results.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081117132956.htm
India's Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Successful: Moon Impact Probe Hits Lunar Surface
ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2008) — In a historic event, the Indian space programme achieved a unique feat on Friday (November 14, 2008) with the placing of Indian tricolour on the Moon’s surface on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. The Indian flag was painted on the sides of Moon Impact Probe (MIP), one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that successfully hit the lunar surface at 20:31 hrs (8:31 pm) IST.
snip
MIP’s 25 minute journey to the lunar surface began with its separation from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at 20:06 hrs (8:06 pm) IST. This was followed by a series of automatic operations that began with the firing of its spin up rockets after achieving a safe distance of separation from Chandrayaan-1. Later, the probe slowed down with the firing of its retro rocket and started its rapid descent towards the moon’s surface. Information from the its instruments was radioed to Chandrayaan-1 by MIP. The spacecraft recorded this in its onboard memory for later readout. Finally, the probe had a hard landing on the lunar surface that terminated its functioning.
snip
---------------------------------------
The Chandrayan-1 moon mission - discussion group is commenting on why it took so long for the word to get out that MIP had seen indications of water when in crashed into the Moon back in November 2008. This is the link they are talking about.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-found-water-on-moon-10-months-ago/articleshow/5057854.cms
ISRO found water on moon 10 months ago
Prashanth G N, TNN 26 September 2009, 01:00am IST
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
Chandrayan-1 moon mission - discussion group
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4395&start=1680&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
-------
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-found-water-on-moon-10-months-ago/articleshow/5057854.cms
quote
ISRO found water on moon 10 months ago
BANGALORE: Indian Space Research Organisation may have stolen the thunder of discovering water on the Moon.
The Moon Impact Probe on Chandrayaan-I appears to have sensed water earlier than Nasa's Moon Minerolgy Mapper (M3) but protocol did not allow ISRO to declare the discovery. While MIP detected water molecules on November 14, 2008, just 22 days after Chandrayaan-1's launch, M3 did so in March 2009.
J S Goswami, principal investigator for Chandrayaan-1, told TOI: ``We had indications of water on November 14, the day MIP crash-landed on the Moon. It sensed some sort of water molecules. We were absolutely delighted but it had to be corroborated. Without international examination and cross-examination and confirmation of the evidence, it would not have been right on our part to go public about it.''
Mylswami Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan-1 and 2, explained why India did not go public with the discovery. ``International protocol requires us to discuss the evidence, cross-calibrate it with experts and it goes through a peer review and gets their approval. After all this, if it's a credible finding comes the go-ahead for its publication. This process can take three to four months, sometimes even seven. Only after publication can we speak about the evidence.''
ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said the MIP showed indications as it was crash-landing - it caught signatures of water. ``As the MIP was landing, it took some pictures that indicated the water molecules eventually found by M3.''
The MIP had picked up strong signals of water particles towards the polar region from 70 degree latitude to 80 degree latitude, according to Goswami. While this was known in November 2008, the M3 discovery of water in March 2009 was confirmed only three months later ^ in June. That's because US scientists wanted to be sure they had indeed found water and it took three months of rigorous cross-examination to confirm it. Publication after the confirmation also took time.
Officials said India scientists waited all this while to make the discovery public as they wanted the findings of such global significance to be first published in a scientific journal.
-------
snip
----------------------------------------
More information and pictures at MSN.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3242164&page=0
25/09/2009
India's own MIP detects water on moon: Nair, NASA thanks ISRO
Bangalore/Washington: India's own Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on board the country's maiden unmanned lunar craft had also detected evidence of water on the moon in a finding confirmed by US space agency NASA which too had an instrument onboard Chandrayaan-I.
snip
The NASA meanwhile thanked ISRO for enabling the discovery of water on Moon through Chandrayaan-I.
"We want to thank ISRO for making the discovery possible. Moon till now was thought to be a very dry surface with lot of rocks," NASA director Jim Green told reporters in Washington.
snip
In Bangalore, a beaming ISRO Chief G. Madhavan Nair said the MIP while descending from Chandrayaan-I to the moon surface about a fortnight after it was launched in October picked up strong signals of water particles. Nair's remark has triggered speculation whether an Indian space mission was the first to discover water on Moon.
"Our Chandrayaan I has confirmed the presence of water molecules on the moon," he said.
Nair said "while the moon impact probe landed, it took nearly 25 minutes. It took some pictures that indicated these water molecules. Another instrument HYS1 to map minerals also helped NASA'S M3 in finding water."
Apart from India's MIP, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) of NASA on board Chandrayaan-I also confirmed the presence of water, he said. The "quantity found is much larger than what was expected which is a real finding", he added.
snip
ISRO Principal Scientist J P Goswami said the MIP had picked up strong signals of water particles towards polar region from 70 degree latitude to 80 degree latitudes.
The scientists, he said, significantly had indications of the finding "way back in June" but waited all these days to make it public as they wanted the findings of such a global significance to come out in a scientific journal first.
"This surprising finding(water on moon) has come about through the ingenuity, perseverance and international cooperation between NASA and the India Space Research Organisation," Green said.
"We had indication way back in June but we did not want to announce it for the simple reason it had global significance and had to come out in a well established journal," Nair said.
The announcement of the finding has been timed with publication of the article in a journal.
"We have found signature on surface of water not in the form of sea, lake or even a poodle or even a drop you cannot pick it up just like that. It is embedded in surface in mineral and rock and we have clear indication OH and H20 are there on surface may be least for a few millimetre. The quantity was much larger than what was expeced, this is real finding", he said.
According to Goswami, whether there was water down below, the data got from the instruments were still being analysed.
"We have to wait for a while", he said. "Once we have solid results, we will talk to you at the point", he said.
"This is the first time in space research that (presence of) water is confirmed," he said, adding "we have contributed to significant discovery of water on the moon through the Chandrayaan."
Terming it "path breaking discovery" he said, it has "shattered the thought that the moon was bone dry.
snip
----------------------------------------
Some graphics for the briefing.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.isro.org/news/pdf/ISRO-PRESS-BRIEFING.pdf [9 page PDF file - 2.44 MB]
Chandrayaan -1
----------------------------------------
More information on the instruments carried on Chandrayaan-1
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/psexperiments.htm
snip
MIP http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/mip.htm
Moon Impact Probe (MIP) as piggyback on the main orbiter of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which will impact on the surface of the moon.
snip
----------------------------------------
Next hopefully will be India's rover to the Moon with Chandrayaan-2 in 2013
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/index.php/chandrayaan-2.html
snip
What is Chandrayaan-2
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning 2nd moon mission Chandrayaan-2 in 2013. Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) is joining with ISRO for development of Chandrayaan-2 Lander/Rover.
Chandrayaan-2 will consist of the spacecraft and a landing platform with the moon rover.
The rover would move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do a chemical analysis and send the data to the spacecraft orbiting above.
The rover will weigh between 30 kg and 100 kg, depending on whether it is to do a semi-hard landing or soft landing. The rover will have an operating life-span of a month. It will run predominantly on solar power.
snip
----------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1
Chandrayaan-1 (Sanskrit: चंद्रयान-१, lit: moon-traveller, or moon vehicle[3][4] About this sound pronunciation (help·info)) was India's first unmanned lunar probe. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included a lunar orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft by a modified version of the PSLV, PSLV C11[2][5] on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km north of Chennai, at 06:22 IST (00:52 UTC).[6] The mission was a major boost to India's space program,[7] as India researched and developed its own technology in order to explore the Moon.[8] The vehicle was successfully inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.[9]
On 14 November 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated from the Chandrayaan orbiter at 20:06 and struck the south pole in a controlled manner, making India the fourth country to place its flag on the Moon.[10] The probe impacted near Shackleton Crater at 20:31 ejecting underground soil that could be analysed for the presence of lunar water ice.[11]
snip
==============================================================
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indian-scientists-detect-signs-of-life-on-moon_1322785
Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon
Bhargavi Kerur / DNA - Saturday, December 12, 2009 1:48 IST
Bangalore: Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.
They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium here on Friday.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.bautforum.com/space-exploration/98025-indian-scientists-detect-signs-life-moon.html
Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum
Question Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/repo...n-moon_1322785
----------
Quote:
Bangalore: Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.
They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium here on Friday.
End Quote.
----------
Saw this on another forum, wasn't brought up on a search.
Reading through the article, it seems they base this off of readings of carbon and amino acids on the moon. Which, from what I understand of space, isn't so surprising, as both are found in space, without being tied to life.
snip
==============================================================
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=2008-052A
NSSDC ID: 2008-052A
The Indian Space Research Organization announced on 31 August that the Chandrayaan 1 mission has been officially terminated after contact was lost abruptly at 20:00 UT on 28 August. (2009)
Chandrayaan-1 is an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) mission designed to orbit the Moon over a two year period with the objectives of upgrading and testing India's technological capabilities in space and returning scientific information on the lunar surface. The spacecraft bus is roughly a 1.5 meter cube with a dry weight of 523 kg (Launch mass of the system, including its Lunar Apogee Motor, LAM, is 1380 kg). It is based on the Kalpansat meteorological satellite. Power is provided by a solar array which generates 750 W and charges lithium ion batteries. A bipropellant propulsion system is used to transfer Chandrayaan-1 into lunar orbit and maintain attitude. The spacecraft is 3-axis stabilized using attitude control thrusters and reaction wheels. Knowledge is provided by star sensors, accelerometers, and an inertial reference unit. Telecommand communications will be in S-band and science data transmission in X-band.
snip
Chandrayaan-1 will also carry a 35 kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) designed to be released from the spacecraft and hit the lunar surface. The MIP carried a video camera, a radar altimeter, and a mass spectrometer. The side panels of the box-like probe were painted with the Indian
flag.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/mission_sequence.htm
Mission Sequence
* Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota by PSLV-XL (PSLV-C11) on 22 October 2008 at 06:22 hrs IST in an highly elliptical initial orbit (IO) with perigee (nearest point to the Earth) of 255 km and an apogee (farthest point from the Earth) of 22,860 km, inclined at an angle of 17.9 deg to the equator. In this initial orbit, Chandrayaan orbited the Earth once in about six and a half hours.
snip
* On 14 November at 20:06 hrs IST, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was ejected from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and hard landed on the lunar surface near the South Polar Region at 20:31 hrs IST after 25 minutes journey. It placed the Indian tricolour, which was pasted on the sides of MIP on the Moon.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft ended its mission on 28 August 2009 and now we are hearing about the results.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081117132956.htm
India's Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Successful: Moon Impact Probe Hits Lunar Surface
ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2008) — In a historic event, the Indian space programme achieved a unique feat on Friday (November 14, 2008) with the placing of Indian tricolour on the Moon’s surface on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. The Indian flag was painted on the sides of Moon Impact Probe (MIP), one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that successfully hit the lunar surface at 20:31 hrs (8:31 pm) IST.
snip
MIP’s 25 minute journey to the lunar surface began with its separation from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at 20:06 hrs (8:06 pm) IST. This was followed by a series of automatic operations that began with the firing of its spin up rockets after achieving a safe distance of separation from Chandrayaan-1. Later, the probe slowed down with the firing of its retro rocket and started its rapid descent towards the moon’s surface. Information from the its instruments was radioed to Chandrayaan-1 by MIP. The spacecraft recorded this in its onboard memory for later readout. Finally, the probe had a hard landing on the lunar surface that terminated its functioning.
snip
---------------------------------------
The Chandrayan-1 moon mission - discussion group is commenting on why it took so long for the word to get out that MIP had seen indications of water when in crashed into the Moon back in November 2008. This is the link they are talking about.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-found-water-on-moon-10-months-ago/articleshow/5057854.cms
ISRO found water on moon 10 months ago
Prashanth G N, TNN 26 September 2009, 01:00am IST
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
Chandrayan-1 moon mission - discussion group
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4395&start=1680&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
-------
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-found-water-on-moon-10-months-ago/articleshow/5057854.cms
quote
ISRO found water on moon 10 months ago
BANGALORE: Indian Space Research Organisation may have stolen the thunder of discovering water on the Moon.
The Moon Impact Probe on Chandrayaan-I appears to have sensed water earlier than Nasa's Moon Minerolgy Mapper (M3) but protocol did not allow ISRO to declare the discovery. While MIP detected water molecules on November 14, 2008, just 22 days after Chandrayaan-1's launch, M3 did so in March 2009.
J S Goswami, principal investigator for Chandrayaan-1, told TOI: ``We had indications of water on November 14, the day MIP crash-landed on the Moon. It sensed some sort of water molecules. We were absolutely delighted but it had to be corroborated. Without international examination and cross-examination and confirmation of the evidence, it would not have been right on our part to go public about it.''
Mylswami Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan-1 and 2, explained why India did not go public with the discovery. ``International protocol requires us to discuss the evidence, cross-calibrate it with experts and it goes through a peer review and gets their approval. After all this, if it's a credible finding comes the go-ahead for its publication. This process can take three to four months, sometimes even seven. Only after publication can we speak about the evidence.''
ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said the MIP showed indications as it was crash-landing - it caught signatures of water. ``As the MIP was landing, it took some pictures that indicated the water molecules eventually found by M3.''
The MIP had picked up strong signals of water particles towards the polar region from 70 degree latitude to 80 degree latitude, according to Goswami. While this was known in November 2008, the M3 discovery of water in March 2009 was confirmed only three months later ^ in June. That's because US scientists wanted to be sure they had indeed found water and it took three months of rigorous cross-examination to confirm it. Publication after the confirmation also took time.
Officials said India scientists waited all this while to make the discovery public as they wanted the findings of such global significance to be first published in a scientific journal.
-------
snip
----------------------------------------
More information and pictures at MSN.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3242164&page=0
25/09/2009
India's own MIP detects water on moon: Nair, NASA thanks ISRO
Bangalore/Washington: India's own Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on board the country's maiden unmanned lunar craft had also detected evidence of water on the moon in a finding confirmed by US space agency NASA which too had an instrument onboard Chandrayaan-I.
snip
The NASA meanwhile thanked ISRO for enabling the discovery of water on Moon through Chandrayaan-I.
"We want to thank ISRO for making the discovery possible. Moon till now was thought to be a very dry surface with lot of rocks," NASA director Jim Green told reporters in Washington.
snip
In Bangalore, a beaming ISRO Chief G. Madhavan Nair said the MIP while descending from Chandrayaan-I to the moon surface about a fortnight after it was launched in October picked up strong signals of water particles. Nair's remark has triggered speculation whether an Indian space mission was the first to discover water on Moon.
"Our Chandrayaan I has confirmed the presence of water molecules on the moon," he said.
Nair said "while the moon impact probe landed, it took nearly 25 minutes. It took some pictures that indicated these water molecules. Another instrument HYS1 to map minerals also helped NASA'S M3 in finding water."
Apart from India's MIP, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) of NASA on board Chandrayaan-I also confirmed the presence of water, he said. The "quantity found is much larger than what was expected which is a real finding", he added.
snip
ISRO Principal Scientist J P Goswami said the MIP had picked up strong signals of water particles towards polar region from 70 degree latitude to 80 degree latitudes.
The scientists, he said, significantly had indications of the finding "way back in June" but waited all these days to make it public as they wanted the findings of such a global significance to come out in a scientific journal first.
"This surprising finding(water on moon) has come about through the ingenuity, perseverance and international cooperation between NASA and the India Space Research Organisation," Green said.
"We had indication way back in June but we did not want to announce it for the simple reason it had global significance and had to come out in a well established journal," Nair said.
The announcement of the finding has been timed with publication of the article in a journal.
"We have found signature on surface of water not in the form of sea, lake or even a poodle or even a drop you cannot pick it up just like that. It is embedded in surface in mineral and rock and we have clear indication OH and H20 are there on surface may be least for a few millimetre. The quantity was much larger than what was expeced, this is real finding", he said.
According to Goswami, whether there was water down below, the data got from the instruments were still being analysed.
"We have to wait for a while", he said. "Once we have solid results, we will talk to you at the point", he said.
"This is the first time in space research that (presence of) water is confirmed," he said, adding "we have contributed to significant discovery of water on the moon through the Chandrayaan."
Terming it "path breaking discovery" he said, it has "shattered the thought that the moon was bone dry.
snip
----------------------------------------
Some graphics for the briefing.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.isro.org/news/pdf/ISRO-PRESS-BRIEFING.pdf [9 page PDF file - 2.44 MB]
Chandrayaan -1
----------------------------------------
More information on the instruments carried on Chandrayaan-1
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/psexperiments.htm
snip
MIP http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/mip.htm
Moon Impact Probe (MIP) as piggyback on the main orbiter of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which will impact on the surface of the moon.
snip
----------------------------------------
Next hopefully will be India's rover to the Moon with Chandrayaan-2 in 2013
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/index.php/chandrayaan-2.html
snip
What is Chandrayaan-2
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning 2nd moon mission Chandrayaan-2 in 2013. Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) is joining with ISRO for development of Chandrayaan-2 Lander/Rover.
Chandrayaan-2 will consist of the spacecraft and a landing platform with the moon rover.
The rover would move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do a chemical analysis and send the data to the spacecraft orbiting above.
The rover will weigh between 30 kg and 100 kg, depending on whether it is to do a semi-hard landing or soft landing. The rover will have an operating life-span of a month. It will run predominantly on solar power.
snip
----------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1
Chandrayaan-1 (Sanskrit: चंद्रयान-१, lit: moon-traveller, or moon vehicle[3][4] About this sound pronunciation (help·info)) was India's first unmanned lunar probe. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included a lunar orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft by a modified version of the PSLV, PSLV C11[2][5] on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km north of Chennai, at 06:22 IST (00:52 UTC).[6] The mission was a major boost to India's space program,[7] as India researched and developed its own technology in order to explore the Moon.[8] The vehicle was successfully inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.[9]
On 14 November 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated from the Chandrayaan orbiter at 20:06 and struck the south pole in a controlled manner, making India the fourth country to place its flag on the Moon.[10] The probe impacted near Shackleton Crater at 20:31 ejecting underground soil that could be analysed for the presence of lunar water ice.[11]
snip
==============================================================
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indian-scientists-detect-signs-of-life-on-moon_1322785
Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon
Bhargavi Kerur / DNA - Saturday, December 12, 2009 1:48 IST
Bangalore: Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.
They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium here on Friday.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.bautforum.com/space-exploration/98025-indian-scientists-detect-signs-life-moon.html
Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum
Question Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/repo...n-moon_1322785
----------
Quote:
Bangalore: Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.
They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium here on Friday.
End Quote.
----------
Saw this on another forum, wasn't brought up on a search.
Reading through the article, it seems they base this off of readings of carbon and amino acids on the moon. Which, from what I understand of space, isn't so surprising, as both are found in space, without being tied to life.
snip
==============================================================
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=2008-052A
NSSDC ID: 2008-052A
The Indian Space Research Organization announced on 31 August that the Chandrayaan 1 mission has been officially terminated after contact was lost abruptly at 20:00 UT on 28 August. (2009)
Chandrayaan-1 is an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) mission designed to orbit the Moon over a two year period with the objectives of upgrading and testing India's technological capabilities in space and returning scientific information on the lunar surface. The spacecraft bus is roughly a 1.5 meter cube with a dry weight of 523 kg (Launch mass of the system, including its Lunar Apogee Motor, LAM, is 1380 kg). It is based on the Kalpansat meteorological satellite. Power is provided by a solar array which generates 750 W and charges lithium ion batteries. A bipropellant propulsion system is used to transfer Chandrayaan-1 into lunar orbit and maintain attitude. The spacecraft is 3-axis stabilized using attitude control thrusters and reaction wheels. Knowledge is provided by star sensors, accelerometers, and an inertial reference unit. Telecommand communications will be in S-band and science data transmission in X-band.
snip
Chandrayaan-1 will also carry a 35 kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) designed to be released from the spacecraft and hit the lunar surface. The MIP carried a video camera, a radar altimeter, and a mass spectrometer. The side panels of the box-like probe were painted with the Indian
flag.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/mission_sequence.htm
Mission Sequence
* Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota by PSLV-XL (PSLV-C11) on 22 October 2008 at 06:22 hrs IST in an highly elliptical initial orbit (IO) with perigee (nearest point to the Earth) of 255 km and an apogee (farthest point from the Earth) of 22,860 km, inclined at an angle of 17.9 deg to the equator. In this initial orbit, Chandrayaan orbited the Earth once in about six and a half hours.
snip
* On 14 November at 20:06 hrs IST, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was ejected from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and hard landed on the lunar surface near the South Polar Region at 20:31 hrs IST after 25 minutes journey. It placed the Indian tricolour, which was pasted on the sides of MIP on the Moon.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon - (Really? LRK)
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, finishing its mission at our Moon, sends a last bit of information from the probe mass spectrometer on board the Indian payload near the south pole, "Carbon, Carbon, I sense Carbon." What could it mean, what could it mean? Could there be, or have been, life on the Moon? What say you?
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indian-scientists-detect-signs-of-life-on-moon_1322785
Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon
Bhargavi Kerur / DNA - Saturday, December 12, 2009 1:48 IST
Bangalore: Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.
They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium here on Friday.
Organic matter consists of organic compounds, which consists of carbon -- the building block of life.
It indicates the formation of life or decay of a once-living matter.
Pal said the signatures were relayed back to the Bylalu deep space network station near Bangalore by the mass spectrometer on board the Indian payload, the moon impact probe (MIP), on November 14, 2008.
The relay of data happened moments before it crashed near the Moon's south pole. The MIP was the first experiment of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, which was launched on October 22, 2008.
snip
----------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1
Some forum discussion about the statement of possible signs of/for life on the Moon.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.bautforum.com/space-exploration/98025-indian-scientists-detect-signs-life-moon.html
Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum
----------------------------------------
Did you see the movie, or read the book "The Andromeda Strain"?
I was on an airplane bound for Thailand while reading this "Top Secret" book and reports of slain animals were in the news. :-)
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain
The Andromeda Strain (1969), by Michael Crichton, is a techno-thriller novel documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism that rapidly and fatally clots human blood while, in other people, inducing insanity that mostly ended in the insane people committing suicide or murder-suicide. It became a New York Times Bestseller. This novel established Michael Crichton as a best-selling genre author.
snip
----------------------------------------
We have dust from space hitting us all the time, as would the Moon. Then there are meteors with hydrocarbons which may have struck the Moon as well.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/2008/Origins_of_life_research.html
NASA Identifies Carbon-rich Molecules in Meteors as the 'Origin of Life' 09.24.08
Tons, perhaps tens of tons, of carbon molecules in dust particles and meteorites fall on Earth daily. Meteorites are especially valuable to astronomers because they provide relatively big chunks of carbon molecules that are easily analyzed in the laboratory. In the past few years, researchers have noticed that most meteorite carbon are molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are very stable compounds and are survivors.
PAHs are the most common carbon-rich compound in the universe. They are found in everything from distant galaxies to charbroiled hamburgers and engine soot. When they are first formed, or found in space, their structures resemble pieces of chicken wire, fused six-sided rings. However, when found in meteorites, these aromatic rings are carrying extra hydrogen or oxygen.
Scientists at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. performed laboratory experiments that explain the process by which these meteoritic hydrocarbons attract the extra hydrogen and oxygen. They are very similar to the molecules identified as evidence of alien
microbes in an earlier Science paper (McKay et al 1996).
“Our findings are important because it is the first time anybody explained these carbon-rich molecules found in meteorites. They are similar to the molecules that make-up living things,” said Max Bernstein, a space scientist at NASA Ames.
As it happened, their findings were judged significant enough to be award-winning. Published in Science (1999) by Bernstein and fellow NASA Ames scientists Scott Sanford and Louis Allamandola, their paper won the 2008 H. Julian Allen Award at NASA Ames Research Center.
snip
----------------------------------------
And of course you can talk about rocks that may have come from Mars and might show there had been life there. Makes for much discussion, and helped along with "Follow The Water",
has us with missions to the Red Planet.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/nasa1.html
Meteorite Yields Evidence of Primitive Life on Early Mars
A NASA research team of scientists at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, TX, and at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, has found evidence that strongly suggests primitive life may have existed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago.
The NASA-funded team found the first organic molecules thought to be of Martian origin; several mineral features characteristic of biological activity; and possible microscopic fossils of primitive, bacteria-like organisms inside of an ancient Martian rock that fell to Earth as a meteorite. This array of indirect evidence of past life will be reported in the August 16 issue of the journal Science, presenting the investigation to the scientific community at large for further study.
The two-year investigation was co-led by JSC planetary scientists Dr. David McKay, Dr. Everett Gibson and Kathie Thomas-Keprta of Lockheed-Martin, with the major collaboration of a Stanford team headed by Professor of Chemistry Dr. Richard Zare, as well as six other NASA and university research partners.
"There is not any one finding that leads us to believe that this is evidence of past life on Mars. Rather, it is a combination of many things that we have found," McKay said. "They include Stanford's detection of an apparently unique pattern of organic molecules, carbon compounds that are the basis of life. We also found several unusual mineral phases that are known products of primitive microscopic organisms on Earth. Structures that could be microsopic fossils seem
to support all of this. The relationship of all of these things in terms of location - within a few hundred thousandths of an inch of one another - is the most compelling evidence."
snip
----------------------------------------
So I guess a question might be, will the present USA administration, find life on the Moon or at least put some there?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://www.astrochemistry.org/
The Astrophysics & Astrochemistry Laboratory
The Astrophysics and Astrochemistry Laboratory is located in the Space Sciences and Astrophysics Branch (SSA) of the Space Science and Astrobiology Division at NASA's Ames Research Center, in Mountain View, California. This laboratory supports NASA’s space science missions and programs. We study the physical and chemical properties of interstellar, cometary, asteroidal, planetary and lunar materials. Among the materials studied are interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, the largest carbon molecules in space), aerosols in planetary atmospheres, ice mantles on interstellar grains and surface ices on comets and on solar system planets, and laboratory samples of actual extraterrestrial materials (meteorites and cosmic dust). Extraterrestrial material analogs are produced in our laboratory under conditions realistically close to space environments and range from molecules and ions in gas-phase interstellar clouds and planetary atmospheres to interstellar, cometary, and planetary ices and dust. The materials are studied using analytical techniques such as photonic spectroscopy, time-of-flight mass spectrometry and gas chromatography.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycyclic_aromatic_hydrocarbon
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemical compounds that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents.[1] PAHs occur in oil, coal, and tar deposits, and are produced as byproducts of fuel burning (whether fossil fuel or biomass). As a pollutant, they are of concern because some compounds have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. PAHs are also found in foods. Studies have shown that most food intake of PAHs comes from cereals, oils and fats. Smaller intakes come from vegetables and cooked meats.[2][3][4]
They are also found in the interstellar medium, in comets, and in meteorites and are a candidate molecule to act as a basis for the earliest forms of life. In graphene the PAH motif is extended to large 2D sheets.
snip
==============================================================
Sooooh, if the aliens are coming - as green slime - in a refrigerator or in a comet what did they find here? That meat can think. - LRK -
http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html
THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT
"They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"Meat. They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."
"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?"
snip
--------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaFZTAOb7IE
They Are Made Out Of Meat
Another version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0yRsQK9vG0&NR=1
They're Made Out of Meat
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEoZ51lnNrE&feature=related
they're made out of meat
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indian-scientists-detect-signs-of-life-on-moon_1322785
Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon
Bhargavi Kerur / DNA - Saturday, December 12, 2009 1:48 IST
Bangalore: Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.
They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium here on Friday.
Organic matter consists of organic compounds, which consists of carbon -- the building block of life.
It indicates the formation of life or decay of a once-living matter.
Pal said the signatures were relayed back to the Bylalu deep space network station near Bangalore by the mass spectrometer on board the Indian payload, the moon impact probe (MIP), on November 14, 2008.
The relay of data happened moments before it crashed near the Moon's south pole. The MIP was the first experiment of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, which was launched on October 22, 2008.
snip
----------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1
Some forum discussion about the statement of possible signs of/for life on the Moon.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.bautforum.com/space-exploration/98025-indian-scientists-detect-signs-life-moon.html
Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum
----------------------------------------
Did you see the movie, or read the book "The Andromeda Strain"?
I was on an airplane bound for Thailand while reading this "Top Secret" book and reports of slain animals were in the news. :-)
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain
The Andromeda Strain (1969), by Michael Crichton, is a techno-thriller novel documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism that rapidly and fatally clots human blood while, in other people, inducing insanity that mostly ended in the insane people committing suicide or murder-suicide. It became a New York Times Bestseller. This novel established Michael Crichton as a best-selling genre author.
snip
----------------------------------------
We have dust from space hitting us all the time, as would the Moon. Then there are meteors with hydrocarbons which may have struck the Moon as well.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/2008/Origins_of_life_research.html
NASA Identifies Carbon-rich Molecules in Meteors as the 'Origin of Life' 09.24.08
Tons, perhaps tens of tons, of carbon molecules in dust particles and meteorites fall on Earth daily. Meteorites are especially valuable to astronomers because they provide relatively big chunks of carbon molecules that are easily analyzed in the laboratory. In the past few years, researchers have noticed that most meteorite carbon are molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are very stable compounds and are survivors.
PAHs are the most common carbon-rich compound in the universe. They are found in everything from distant galaxies to charbroiled hamburgers and engine soot. When they are first formed, or found in space, their structures resemble pieces of chicken wire, fused six-sided rings. However, when found in meteorites, these aromatic rings are carrying extra hydrogen or oxygen.
Scientists at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. performed laboratory experiments that explain the process by which these meteoritic hydrocarbons attract the extra hydrogen and oxygen. They are very similar to the molecules identified as evidence of alien
microbes in an earlier Science paper (McKay et al 1996).
“Our findings are important because it is the first time anybody explained these carbon-rich molecules found in meteorites. They are similar to the molecules that make-up living things,” said Max Bernstein, a space scientist at NASA Ames.
As it happened, their findings were judged significant enough to be award-winning. Published in Science (1999) by Bernstein and fellow NASA Ames scientists Scott Sanford and Louis Allamandola, their paper won the 2008 H. Julian Allen Award at NASA Ames Research Center.
snip
----------------------------------------
And of course you can talk about rocks that may have come from Mars and might show there had been life there. Makes for much discussion, and helped along with "Follow The Water",
has us with missions to the Red Planet.
- LRK -
----------------------------------------
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/nasa1.html
Meteorite Yields Evidence of Primitive Life on Early Mars
A NASA research team of scientists at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, TX, and at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, has found evidence that strongly suggests primitive life may have existed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago.
The NASA-funded team found the first organic molecules thought to be of Martian origin; several mineral features characteristic of biological activity; and possible microscopic fossils of primitive, bacteria-like organisms inside of an ancient Martian rock that fell to Earth as a meteorite. This array of indirect evidence of past life will be reported in the August 16 issue of the journal Science, presenting the investigation to the scientific community at large for further study.
The two-year investigation was co-led by JSC planetary scientists Dr. David McKay, Dr. Everett Gibson and Kathie Thomas-Keprta of Lockheed-Martin, with the major collaboration of a Stanford team headed by Professor of Chemistry Dr. Richard Zare, as well as six other NASA and university research partners.
"There is not any one finding that leads us to believe that this is evidence of past life on Mars. Rather, it is a combination of many things that we have found," McKay said. "They include Stanford's detection of an apparently unique pattern of organic molecules, carbon compounds that are the basis of life. We also found several unusual mineral phases that are known products of primitive microscopic organisms on Earth. Structures that could be microsopic fossils seem
to support all of this. The relationship of all of these things in terms of location - within a few hundred thousandths of an inch of one another - is the most compelling evidence."
snip
----------------------------------------
So I guess a question might be, will the present USA administration, find life on the Moon or at least put some there?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://www.astrochemistry.org/
The Astrophysics & Astrochemistry Laboratory
The Astrophysics and Astrochemistry Laboratory is located in the Space Sciences and Astrophysics Branch (SSA) of the Space Science and Astrobiology Division at NASA's Ames Research Center, in Mountain View, California. This laboratory supports NASA’s space science missions and programs. We study the physical and chemical properties of interstellar, cometary, asteroidal, planetary and lunar materials. Among the materials studied are interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, the largest carbon molecules in space), aerosols in planetary atmospheres, ice mantles on interstellar grains and surface ices on comets and on solar system planets, and laboratory samples of actual extraterrestrial materials (meteorites and cosmic dust). Extraterrestrial material analogs are produced in our laboratory under conditions realistically close to space environments and range from molecules and ions in gas-phase interstellar clouds and planetary atmospheres to interstellar, cometary, and planetary ices and dust. The materials are studied using analytical techniques such as photonic spectroscopy, time-of-flight mass spectrometry and gas chromatography.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycyclic_aromatic_hydrocarbon
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemical compounds that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents.[1] PAHs occur in oil, coal, and tar deposits, and are produced as byproducts of fuel burning (whether fossil fuel or biomass). As a pollutant, they are of concern because some compounds have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. PAHs are also found in foods. Studies have shown that most food intake of PAHs comes from cereals, oils and fats. Smaller intakes come from vegetables and cooked meats.[2][3][4]
They are also found in the interstellar medium, in comets, and in meteorites and are a candidate molecule to act as a basis for the earliest forms of life. In graphene the PAH motif is extended to large 2D sheets.
snip
==============================================================
Sooooh, if the aliens are coming - as green slime - in a refrigerator or in a comet what did they find here? That meat can think. - LRK -
http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html
THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT
"They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"Meat. They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."
"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?"
snip
--------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaFZTAOb7IE
They Are Made Out Of Meat
Another version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0yRsQK9vG0&NR=1
They're Made Out of Meat
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEoZ51lnNrE&feature=related
they're made out of meat
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Hello World, Meet Google Wave
This may not sound like a Moon, Mars, and Beyond topic, but I think that new ways to connect the population of this earth-bound world will play a part in getting us to space. Some may fear Google, like they fear Microsoft, or any other big and powerful corporation, still what they offer might be useful, especially if what they offer could help in uniting those with a common interest in developing space.
I was given an invitation to try Google Wave and have been looking at it.
At the moment it is still in the pre-Alpha stage so changes happen often and everything is not perfect, still the potential is there to make collaboration possible as more invitations are given out and the product matures.
Let me pass on a few links and let you see for yourself.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------
http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2009/05/hello-world-meet-google-wave.html
Hello World, Meet Google Wave
Thursday, May 28, 2009
This morning at Google I/O we are unveiling a developer preview of Google Wave, a new collaboration and communication product. Google Wave introduces a new platform built around hosted conversations called waves--this model enables people to communicate and work together in new and more effective ways. On top of that, with the Google Wave APIs, developers can take advantage of this collaborative system by building on the Google Wave platform. We want to expand upon that platform, which is why we've put together the initial draft of the Google Wave Federation Protocol, the underlying network protocol for sharing waves between wave providers.
Yes, that's between wave providers: anyone can build a wave server and interoperate, much like anyone can run their own SMTP server. The wave protocol is open to contributions by the broader community with the goal to continue to improve how we share information, together. If you're interested in getting involved, here are a few things you should check out on www.waveprotocol.org:
* Draft Protocol Specification -- This is an early draft and will definitely change
http://www.waveprotocol.org/draft-protocol-spec
* Community Principles -- Understand how this open source project works
http://www.waveprotocol.org/wave-community-principles
* Architecture Whitepapers -- Learn more about the components of Google Wave
http://www.waveprotocol.org/whitepapers
This is just the beginning. To help potential wave providers get started, our plan is to release an open source, production-quality, reference implementation of the Google Wave client and server, as well as provide an open federation endpoint by the time users start getting access.
We're eager to hear your feedback, so please tell us about your interest, http://www.waveprotocol.org/get-involved
and drop a note on the technical engineering forum with your feedback.
http://groups.google.com/group/google-wave-api/?pli=1
Beyond the federation protocol, you may also be interested in learning more about the Google Wave APIs,
http://code.google.com/apis/wave/
as described on the new Google Wave Developers blog.
http://googlewavedev.blogspot.com/
By Dan Peterson, Google Wave Team
snip
-----------------------------------------------------
If you are a programmer you may find that Google Wave doesn't do what you want, never mind, just use the Google Wave APIs and make your own gadget or bot.
Put on your thinking cap and make the Wave work for you.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------
http://code.google.com/apis/wave/guide.html
Google Wave API Overview
1. Welcome to Wave Development
2. Wave Entities
3. What is the Wave API?
4. Sandbox Development
snip
-----------------------------------------------------
We will have to wait and see if this turns out to be something useful for web users to communicate and collaborate. At least the tools are being made available to the public.
Let me know what you think.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------
http://code.google.com/apis/wave/
What is Google Wave?
Google Wave is a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. A "wave" is equal parts conversation and document, where users can almost instantly communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Google Wave is also a
platform with a rich set of open APIs that allow developers to embed waves in other web services and to build extensions that work inside waves.
For more information about Google Wave, please visit wave.google.com.
What is the Google Wave API?
The Google Wave API allows developers to use and enhance Google Wave through two primary types of development:
* Extensions: Build robot extensions to automate common tasks or
build gadget extensions to provide a new way for users to interact
* Embed: Make your site more collaborative by dropping in a Wave
Google Wave is currently available in a developer preview as the APIs and product continue to evolve. Accounts on the developer sandbox will be given out to people intending to build with the Google Wave APIs prior to the public release.
For more information about the capabilities and use cases for each development option, consult the Wave Developer's Guide.
http://code.google.com/apis/wave/guide.html
snip
-----------------------------------------------------
If you are interested and don't already have a Google Wave account, you could try here.
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://code.google.com/labs/
Google Code Labs is home to developer products that are still in their formative stages. Graduating from Labs is a big step, one that indicates long-term commitment on our part.
We distinguish products in Google Code Labs in a few ways:
* Conical flasks
Instead of the typical Google Code logo, Labs products have one
with a conical flask as the "L". If you look in the upper-left corner
of this page, that's the logo you'll see for products in Labs. We're
admittedly fond of conical flasks so they may show up in other places
as well.
* Green is the new blue
Instead of the blue page elements that you see on most Google
Code pages, Labs products use green. For example, see the title bar
above that says "Google Code Labs." For Labs products, you'll also
notice "(Labs)" in the title bar, next to the product name.
snip
==============================================================
http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/python/gettingstarted/
Google App Engine
Getting Started: Python
This tutorial describes how to develop and deploy a simple Python project with Google App Engine. The example project, a guest book, demonstrates how to use the Python runtime environment, and how to use several App Engine services, including the datastore and the Google user service.
This tutorial has the following sections:
* Introduction
* The Development Environment
* Hello, World!
* Using the webapp Framework
* Using the Users Service
* Handling Forms With webapp
* Using the Datastore
* Using Templates
* Using Static Files
* Uploading Your Application
snip
==============================================================
http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/whatisgoogleappengine.html
What Is Google App Engine?
Google App Engine lets you run your web applications on Google's infrastructure. App Engine applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow. With App Engine, there are no servers to maintain: You just upload your application, and it's ready to serve your users.
You can serve your app from your own domain name (such as
http://www.example.com/) using Google Apps. Or, you can serve your app using a free name on the appspot.com domain. You can share your application with the world, or limit access to members of your organization.
Google App Engine supports apps written in several programming languages. With App Engine's Java runtime environment, you can build your app using standard Java technologies, including the JVM, Java servlets, and the Java programming language—or any other language using a JVM-based interpreter or compiler, such as JavaScript or Ruby. App Engine also features a dedicated Python runtime environment, which includes a fast Python interpreter and the Python standard library. The Java and Python runtime environments are built to ensure that your application runs quickly, securely, and without interference from other apps on the system.
With App Engine, you only pay for what you use. There are no set-up costs and no recurring fees. The resources your application uses, such as storage and bandwidth, are measured by the gigabyte, and billed at competitive rates. You control the maximum amounts of resources your
app can consume, so it always stays within your budget.
App Engine costs nothing to get started. All applications can use up to 500 MB of storage and enough CPU and bandwidth to support an efficient app serving around 5 million page views a month, absolutely free. When you enable billing for your application, your free limits are raised, and you only pay for resources you use above the free levels.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
I was given an invitation to try Google Wave and have been looking at it.
At the moment it is still in the pre-Alpha stage so changes happen often and everything is not perfect, still the potential is there to make collaboration possible as more invitations are given out and the product matures.
Let me pass on a few links and let you see for yourself.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------
http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2009/05/hello-world-meet-google-wave.html
Hello World, Meet Google Wave
Thursday, May 28, 2009
This morning at Google I/O we are unveiling a developer preview of Google Wave, a new collaboration and communication product. Google Wave introduces a new platform built around hosted conversations called waves--this model enables people to communicate and work together in new and more effective ways. On top of that, with the Google Wave APIs, developers can take advantage of this collaborative system by building on the Google Wave platform. We want to expand upon that platform, which is why we've put together the initial draft of the Google Wave Federation Protocol, the underlying network protocol for sharing waves between wave providers.
Yes, that's between wave providers: anyone can build a wave server and interoperate, much like anyone can run their own SMTP server. The wave protocol is open to contributions by the broader community with the goal to continue to improve how we share information, together. If you're interested in getting involved, here are a few things you should check out on www.waveprotocol.org:
* Draft Protocol Specification -- This is an early draft and will definitely change
http://www.waveprotocol.org/draft-protocol-spec
* Community Principles -- Understand how this open source project works
http://www.waveprotocol.org/wave-community-principles
* Architecture Whitepapers -- Learn more about the components of Google Wave
http://www.waveprotocol.org/whitepapers
This is just the beginning. To help potential wave providers get started, our plan is to release an open source, production-quality, reference implementation of the Google Wave client and server, as well as provide an open federation endpoint by the time users start getting access.
We're eager to hear your feedback, so please tell us about your interest, http://www.waveprotocol.org/get-involved
and drop a note on the technical engineering forum with your feedback.
http://groups.google.com/group/google-wave-api/?pli=1
Beyond the federation protocol, you may also be interested in learning more about the Google Wave APIs,
http://code.google.com/apis/wave/
as described on the new Google Wave Developers blog.
http://googlewavedev.blogspot.com/
By Dan Peterson, Google Wave Team
snip
-----------------------------------------------------
If you are a programmer you may find that Google Wave doesn't do what you want, never mind, just use the Google Wave APIs and make your own gadget or bot.
Put on your thinking cap and make the Wave work for you.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------
http://code.google.com/apis/wave/guide.html
Google Wave API Overview
1. Welcome to Wave Development
2. Wave Entities
3. What is the Wave API?
4. Sandbox Development
snip
-----------------------------------------------------
We will have to wait and see if this turns out to be something useful for web users to communicate and collaborate. At least the tools are being made available to the public.
Let me know what you think.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------------------
http://code.google.com/apis/wave/
What is Google Wave?
Google Wave is a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. A "wave" is equal parts conversation and document, where users can almost instantly communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Google Wave is also a
platform with a rich set of open APIs that allow developers to embed waves in other web services and to build extensions that work inside waves.
For more information about Google Wave, please visit wave.google.com.
What is the Google Wave API?
The Google Wave API allows developers to use and enhance Google Wave through two primary types of development:
* Extensions: Build robot extensions to automate common tasks or
build gadget extensions to provide a new way for users to interact
* Embed: Make your site more collaborative by dropping in a Wave
Google Wave is currently available in a developer preview as the APIs and product continue to evolve. Accounts on the developer sandbox will be given out to people intending to build with the Google Wave APIs prior to the public release.
For more information about the capabilities and use cases for each development option, consult the Wave Developer's Guide.
http://code.google.com/apis/wave/guide.html
snip
-----------------------------------------------------
If you are interested and don't already have a Google Wave account, you could try here.
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
==============================================================
http://code.google.com/labs/
Google Code Labs is home to developer products that are still in their formative stages. Graduating from Labs is a big step, one that indicates long-term commitment on our part.
We distinguish products in Google Code Labs in a few ways:
* Conical flasks
Instead of the typical Google Code logo, Labs products have one
with a conical flask as the "L". If you look in the upper-left corner
of this page, that's the logo you'll see for products in Labs. We're
admittedly fond of conical flasks so they may show up in other places
as well.
* Green is the new blue
Instead of the blue page elements that you see on most Google
Code pages, Labs products use green. For example, see the title bar
above that says "Google Code Labs." For Labs products, you'll also
notice "(Labs)" in the title bar, next to the product name.
snip
==============================================================
http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/python/gettingstarted/
Google App Engine
Getting Started: Python
This tutorial describes how to develop and deploy a simple Python project with Google App Engine. The example project, a guest book, demonstrates how to use the Python runtime environment, and how to use several App Engine services, including the datastore and the Google user service.
This tutorial has the following sections:
* Introduction
* The Development Environment
* Hello, World!
* Using the webapp Framework
* Using the Users Service
* Handling Forms With webapp
* Using the Datastore
* Using Templates
* Using Static Files
* Uploading Your Application
snip
==============================================================
http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/whatisgoogleappengine.html
What Is Google App Engine?
Google App Engine lets you run your web applications on Google's infrastructure. App Engine applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow. With App Engine, there are no servers to maintain: You just upload your application, and it's ready to serve your users.
You can serve your app from your own domain name (such as
http://www.example.com/) using Google Apps. Or, you can serve your app using a free name on the appspot.com domain. You can share your application with the world, or limit access to members of your organization.
Google App Engine supports apps written in several programming languages. With App Engine's Java runtime environment, you can build your app using standard Java technologies, including the JVM, Java servlets, and the Java programming language—or any other language using a JVM-based interpreter or compiler, such as JavaScript or Ruby. App Engine also features a dedicated Python runtime environment, which includes a fast Python interpreter and the Python standard library. The Java and Python runtime environments are built to ensure that your application runs quickly, securely, and without interference from other apps on the system.
With App Engine, you only pay for what you use. There are no set-up costs and no recurring fees. The resources your application uses, such as storage and bandwidth, are measured by the gigabyte, and billed at competitive rates. You control the maximum amounts of resources your
app can consume, so it always stays within your budget.
App Engine costs nothing to get started. All applications can use up to 500 MB of storage and enough CPU and bandwidth to support an efficient app serving around 5 million page views a month, absolutely free. When you enable billing for your application, your free limits are raised, and you only pay for resources you use above the free levels.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Japanese Kibo Mission - MAXI acquires all-sky X-ray image in the fastest time
I hope you are keeping up with what is happening with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
http://www.jaxa.jp/pr/mail/index_e.html
With this JAXA Mail Service, latest information from JAXA will automatically be e-mailed to your address.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese Kibo Mission - MAXI acquires all-sky X-ray image in the fastest time
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/11/20091126_maxi_e.html
November 26, 2009 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
RIKEN
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and RIKEN have successfully acquired an all-sky X-ray image (Figure 1.) using the "Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI)" installed on the Exposed Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo." This quality image was achieved in the shortest period of time compared to other all-sky X-ray observation projects. In the future, it will be possible to repeatedly take this image every month or every few months.
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/11/20091126_maxi_e.html#pict1
Figure 1. All-sky X-ray image by the GSC of the MAXI
The image shows the all-sky in an oval shape on the "galactic coordinate" which indicates the Milky Way as a horizontal axis and the galactic center at the center of the image.
The image above was compiled using data acquired by the Gas Slit Camera (GSC), one of MAXI's onboard X-ray camera systems (Figure 3. in the Attachment), between August 15 and October 29, 2009 (Japan Standard Time.) (Please also refer to Figure 4. in the Attachment.)
Sources plotted in red in this figure radiate low-energy X-rays, and those in blue emit high-energy X-rays.
In this image, nearly 180 X-ray sources can be recognized by the eye.
Taking less than two months to complete, this is the world's quickest acquisition of an all-sky "color" X-ray image. This kind of all-sky X-ray image in a similar sensitivity and energy band was compiled by composing data obtained by the NASA satellite, HEAO-1, 30 years ago through its two-year survey.
(http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960102.html)
In addition, the MAXI reported to an international mailing list of astronomers on five X-ray sources that have suddenly increased their brightness since the beginning of its mission. (A0535+26, GRB090831A,
GRB090926B, XTE J1752-223 and 4U2206+54 in Figure 2.)
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/11/20091126_maxi_e.html#pict2
Figure 2. Major X-ray sources and brightened sources detected by MAXI
(For more details, please refer to the Attachment)
snip
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/12/20091204_ikaros_e.html
IKAROS International Message Campaign for Mission Support
Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun (IKAROS)
International Message Campaign for Mission Support
December 4, 2009 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is scheduled to launch the Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun (IKAROS)*1 by the H-IIA Launch Vehicle in Japan Fiscal Year 2010 (as a secondary payload to the main payload, Venus Climate Orbiter
"AKATSUKI.")
We would like to launch a mission support campaign together with The Planetary Society in the United States, which also plans to launch a solar sail spacecraft named "LightSail-1"*2 at the end of 2010. JAXA would like to encourage people all over the world to send us their supportive messages to be carried aboard the IKAROS and the LightSail-1 on printed aluminum plates or on a Mini-DVD. We sincerely hope that our campaign will accelerate this international collaboration, exchange and promote the public's understanding of solar sail research and development.
The following is the information about the campaign.
1. Campaign name
"Let's Set Sail for the Solar System on a Solar Yacht!"
2. Campaign period
December 4 (Fri.), 2009 through March 14 (Sun.), 2010 (Japan Standard Time) for the Mini-DVD, December 4 (Fri.), 2009 through February 28 (Sun.), 2010 (Japan Standard Time) for printed metal plates.
3. How to apply
Please send messages through the following websites.
English site: http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/e/index.html
Japanese site: http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/index.html
Your names and messages will be recorded and printed.
We are looking forward to hearing from many of you.
snip
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
https://wave.google.com/wave/
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/dec/HQ_M09-229_WISE_launch_advisory.html
NASA's WISE Sky Surveying Spacecraft Ready for Launch Dec. 11
MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-229
NASA'S WISE SKY SURVEYING SPACECRAFT READY FOR LAUNCH DEC. 11
WASHINGTON -- The launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, aboard a Delta II rocket is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 11, between 9:09 a.m. and 9:23 a.m. EST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NASA will provide television and Internet coverage of prelaunch activities and liftoff of the agency's latest space science mission.
After launch, WISE will scan the entire sky in infrared light with a sensitivity hundreds of times greater than ever before, picking up the glow of hundreds of millions of objects and producing millions of images. The mission will uncover objects never seen before, including the coolest stars, the universe's most luminous galaxies and some of the darkest near-Earth asteroids and comets.
A prelaunch news conference will be held Dec. 9 at 4 p.m. at the NASA Vandenberg Resident Office and broadcast on NASA Television. Reporters can ask questions from participating NASA centers. A WISE mission science briefing immediately will follow the prelaunch news conference. The briefings will be webcast at:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
A WISE webcast with launch and mission managers is scheduled for noon Dec. 10. To access WISE features, visit NASA's WISE Web site at:
http://www.nasa.gov/wise
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/iphone-V-1-1.html
The first official NASA App invites you to discover a wealth of NASA information right on your iPhone or iPod Touch. The NASA App collects, customizes and delivers an extensive selection of dynamically updated information, images and videos from various online NASA sources in a convenient mobile package. Come explore with us.
Features:
* NASA Mission Information
* Launch Information & Countdown clocks
* Sighting Opportunities (Visible Passes for ISS, Space Shuttle)
* Mission Orbit Trackers
* NASA Image of the Day
* Astronomy Picture of the Day
* NASA Videos
* NASA Twitter Feeds/Mission Updates
snip
==============================================================
http://www.spacenews.com/commentaries/091207-obama-americas-space-program-needs-you.html
2/7/09 10:31 AM ET
Mr. Obama, America’s Space Program Needs You
By Gene Kranz & Miles O'Brien
Dear U.S. President Barack Obama: The future direction of America’s civilian space program rests in your hands.
Your decisions must ensure that America builds upon a heritage of space leadership that has been hard-earned over the decades. Doing so will place this country on an energetic, inspiring and sustainable path in space — one that contributes to our technological productivity, economic growth and global stature in the 21st century.
You have the opportunity not only to maintain but to enhance our capabilities in space.
However, as recent studies have found, the U.S. human spaceflight program now finds itself on an unsustainable course in pursuit of goals that do not match allocated resources.
Congressional representatives from all across this nation have affirmed in no uncertain terms their belief that a strong space program is critical to the economic and technological success of the nation.
In many ways, your decisions regarding our space program hearken back to a time when America faced great challenges and difficulties — analogous to the complex issues that you are tackling as president and commander in chief today.
President John F. Kennedy took the high road of space. His leadership and investment in space set in motion the history-making giant leap to the Moon.
The Coalition for Space Exploration calls upon you to make certain our nation is pursuing the best trajectory for America’s space program — one that is safe, innovative, affordable and sustainable.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
http://www.jaxa.jp/pr/mail/index_e.html
With this JAXA Mail Service, latest information from JAXA will automatically be e-mailed to your address.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese Kibo Mission - MAXI acquires all-sky X-ray image in the fastest time
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/11/20091126_maxi_e.html
November 26, 2009 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
RIKEN
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and RIKEN have successfully acquired an all-sky X-ray image (Figure 1.) using the "Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI)" installed on the Exposed Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo." This quality image was achieved in the shortest period of time compared to other all-sky X-ray observation projects. In the future, it will be possible to repeatedly take this image every month or every few months.
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/11/20091126_maxi_e.html#pict1
Figure 1. All-sky X-ray image by the GSC of the MAXI
The image shows the all-sky in an oval shape on the "galactic coordinate" which indicates the Milky Way as a horizontal axis and the galactic center at the center of the image.
The image above was compiled using data acquired by the Gas Slit Camera (GSC), one of MAXI's onboard X-ray camera systems (Figure 3. in the Attachment), between August 15 and October 29, 2009 (Japan Standard Time.) (Please also refer to Figure 4. in the Attachment.)
Sources plotted in red in this figure radiate low-energy X-rays, and those in blue emit high-energy X-rays.
In this image, nearly 180 X-ray sources can be recognized by the eye.
Taking less than two months to complete, this is the world's quickest acquisition of an all-sky "color" X-ray image. This kind of all-sky X-ray image in a similar sensitivity and energy band was compiled by composing data obtained by the NASA satellite, HEAO-1, 30 years ago through its two-year survey.
(http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960102.html)
In addition, the MAXI reported to an international mailing list of astronomers on five X-ray sources that have suddenly increased their brightness since the beginning of its mission. (A0535+26, GRB090831A,
GRB090926B, XTE J1752-223 and 4U2206+54 in Figure 2.)
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/11/20091126_maxi_e.html#pict2
Figure 2. Major X-ray sources and brightened sources detected by MAXI
(For more details, please refer to the Attachment)
snip
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/12/20091204_ikaros_e.html
IKAROS International Message Campaign for Mission Support
Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun (IKAROS)
International Message Campaign for Mission Support
December 4, 2009 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is scheduled to launch the Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun (IKAROS)*1 by the H-IIA Launch Vehicle in Japan Fiscal Year 2010 (as a secondary payload to the main payload, Venus Climate Orbiter
"AKATSUKI.")
We would like to launch a mission support campaign together with The Planetary Society in the United States, which also plans to launch a solar sail spacecraft named "LightSail-1"*2 at the end of 2010. JAXA would like to encourage people all over the world to send us their supportive messages to be carried aboard the IKAROS and the LightSail-1 on printed aluminum plates or on a Mini-DVD. We sincerely hope that our campaign will accelerate this international collaboration, exchange and promote the public's understanding of solar sail research and development.
The following is the information about the campaign.
1. Campaign name
"Let's Set Sail for the Solar System on a Solar Yacht!"
2. Campaign period
December 4 (Fri.), 2009 through March 14 (Sun.), 2010 (Japan Standard Time) for the Mini-DVD, December 4 (Fri.), 2009 through February 28 (Sun.), 2010 (Japan Standard Time) for printed metal plates.
3. How to apply
Please send messages through the following websites.
English site: http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/e/index.html
Japanese site: http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/index.html
Your names and messages will be recorded and printed.
We are looking forward to hearing from many of you.
snip
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
https://wave.google.com/wave/
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/dec/HQ_M09-229_WISE_launch_advisory.html
NASA's WISE Sky Surveying Spacecraft Ready for Launch Dec. 11
MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-229
NASA'S WISE SKY SURVEYING SPACECRAFT READY FOR LAUNCH DEC. 11
WASHINGTON -- The launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, aboard a Delta II rocket is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 11, between 9:09 a.m. and 9:23 a.m. EST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NASA will provide television and Internet coverage of prelaunch activities and liftoff of the agency's latest space science mission.
After launch, WISE will scan the entire sky in infrared light with a sensitivity hundreds of times greater than ever before, picking up the glow of hundreds of millions of objects and producing millions of images. The mission will uncover objects never seen before, including the coolest stars, the universe's most luminous galaxies and some of the darkest near-Earth asteroids and comets.
A prelaunch news conference will be held Dec. 9 at 4 p.m. at the NASA Vandenberg Resident Office and broadcast on NASA Television. Reporters can ask questions from participating NASA centers. A WISE mission science briefing immediately will follow the prelaunch news conference. The briefings will be webcast at:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
A WISE webcast with launch and mission managers is scheduled for noon Dec. 10. To access WISE features, visit NASA's WISE Web site at:
http://www.nasa.gov/wise
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/iphone-V-1-1.html
The first official NASA App invites you to discover a wealth of NASA information right on your iPhone or iPod Touch. The NASA App collects, customizes and delivers an extensive selection of dynamically updated information, images and videos from various online NASA sources in a convenient mobile package. Come explore with us.
Features:
* NASA Mission Information
* Launch Information & Countdown clocks
* Sighting Opportunities (Visible Passes for ISS, Space Shuttle)
* Mission Orbit Trackers
* NASA Image of the Day
* Astronomy Picture of the Day
* NASA Videos
* NASA Twitter Feeds/Mission Updates
snip
==============================================================
http://www.spacenews.com/commentaries/091207-obama-americas-space-program-needs-you.html
2/7/09 10:31 AM ET
Mr. Obama, America’s Space Program Needs You
By Gene Kranz & Miles O'Brien
Dear U.S. President Barack Obama: The future direction of America’s civilian space program rests in your hands.
Your decisions must ensure that America builds upon a heritage of space leadership that has been hard-earned over the decades. Doing so will place this country on an energetic, inspiring and sustainable path in space — one that contributes to our technological productivity, economic growth and global stature in the 21st century.
You have the opportunity not only to maintain but to enhance our capabilities in space.
However, as recent studies have found, the U.S. human spaceflight program now finds itself on an unsustainable course in pursuit of goals that do not match allocated resources.
Congressional representatives from all across this nation have affirmed in no uncertain terms their belief that a strong space program is critical to the economic and technological success of the nation.
In many ways, your decisions regarding our space program hearken back to a time when America faced great challenges and difficulties — analogous to the complex issues that you are tackling as president and commander in chief today.
President John F. Kennedy took the high road of space. His leadership and investment in space set in motion the history-making giant leap to the Moon.
The Coalition for Space Exploration calls upon you to make certain our nation is pursuing the best trajectory for America’s space program — one that is safe, innovative, affordable and sustainable.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
The WOW Factor - Reading between the pixels of the Hubble's latest images
The WOW Factor - Reading between the pixels of the Hubble's latest images
By Joel Achenbach
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Dr. Gene Nelson sent me a link to an article in the Washington Post about the Hubble Telescope.
It is 4 long html pages and gives us something to think about. We have these WOW moments when we look at the Hubble images. Then again, having seen a lot of them, we may be in danger of burnout.
http://hubblesite.org/
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/
At the beginning of the Apollo missions it was all news and excitement, then things dropped to sound bytes. We are again at the Moon, will this too become sound bytes?
Check out the article.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113003590.html
The Wow Factor
Reading between the pixels of the Hubble's latest images
By Joel Achenbach
Sunday, December 6, 2009
By this point, we've all seen so many pretty Hubble pictures that we're in danger of pretty-Hubble-picture burnout. We've seen exploding stars galore. We've seen majestic pillars of gas that are spawning new solar systems. We've seen galaxies colliding, galaxies getting ripped apart, galaxies becoming mired in their own ennui. We've seen Mars and Jupiter and Saturn in such stark close-ups that we can detect the cosmetic surgery scars.
We've seen quasars, pulsars, brown dwarfs, exoplanets, globular clusters and assorted nebulosities. It feels as if we've seen it all. Literally. The whole cosmos, soup to nuts. It kind of makes you wonder if we'll run out of new things to discover. Here's a real headline on a November news release from Stanford: "High-precision measurements confirm cosmologists' standard view of the universe." All figured out; everyone go home now.
So, you can just imagine the challenge that NASA's Hubble Space Telescope scientists faced earlier this year. In May, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis flew to the Hubble and, defying a stuck bolt that nearly derailed the mission, removed an old camera and replaced it with a better one. They fixed two other instruments, even though these things were not designed for orbital maintenance. Crew members installed new gyroscopes and batteries. After five spacewalks and much derring-do, Hubble was, in effect, a brand-new space telescope.
But what to look at next? The Hubble people had to pick targets to demonstrate the revamped telescope's abilities. They would call these images the Early Release Observations, or ERO (at NASA, everything has an abbreviation). They wanted to produce pictures with lots of (their
term) Wow Factor.
snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Nelson has been looking at the WFPC-2 which was recently retrieved from the Hubble Space Telescope and is at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) for a short time. He has seen many visible pits where space debris has struck the radiator surface while it was deployed. WFPC-2 will be on exhibit at NASM for about 2 months, then it will travel to JPL Maybe if you are in the Washington D.C. area you have a chance to visit NASM. At the top of the above article there is a link to comments and Dr. Nelson posted one. There are a lot more of them now but I will leave you with what he wrote.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113003590_Comments.html#
snip
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) on the Mall had a special day-long symposium regarding the Hubble Legacy on 18 November 2009.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=1636
As a symposium attendee, I appreciated the thought-provoking presentations and panel discussions. There are some special artifacts from the Hubble Space Telescope including COSTAR and the Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) that are on special exhibition at the NASM. Some of them will only be there until the end of December, 2009. Be sure and schedule a visit before then. The new "Moving Beyond Earth" Gallery has two of the three new Hubble artifacts - and plenty of "Wow!" with some innovative large scale moving graphics.
(The Hubble Legacy Symposium was made possible by financial support from the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.)
12/5/2009 9:49:59 PM
snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
Step back, take a breath, and prepare for a New Year and many more WOW events.
Don't let the excitement wane.
Give it away and watch it come back.
There is much, much, more to learn.
WOW!
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
https://wave.google.com/wave/
==============================================================
http://hubblesite.org/
Two of Hubble's key instruments now reside at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. The optical device that fixed Hubble's original flawed vision and Hubble's longest-lasting, most prolific camera, both removed during the last servicing mission, will be on display through mid-December. The instruments will then travel for temporary display in California before becoming permanently part of the Smithsonian's collection in March 2010
snip
==============================================================
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/
Capture the extraordinary. Explore the universe through Hubble's eye, and witness the most dangerous, spectacular and mysterious depths of the cosmos.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, and is one of NASA's Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.[4]
Space telescopes were proposed as early as 1923. The Hubble was funded in the 1970s, with a proposed launch in 1983, but the project was beset by technical delays, budget problems, and the Challenger disaster. When finally launched in 1990, scientists found that the main mirror had been ground incorrectly, severely compromising the telescope's capabilities. However, after a servicing mission in 1993, the telescope was restored to its intended quality. Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely sharp images with almost no background light. Hubble's Ultra Deep Field image, for instance, is the most detailed visible-light image ever made of the universe's most distant objects. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.
The Hubble is the only telescope ever designed to be serviced in space by astronauts. There have been five servicing missions, the last occurring in May 2009. Servicing Mission 1 took place in December 1993 when Hubble's imaging flaw was corrected. Servicing missions 2, 3A, and 3B repaired various sub-systems and replaced many of the observing instruments with more modern and capable versions. However, following the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident, the fifth servicing mission was canceled on safety grounds. After spirited public discussion, NASA reconsidered this decision, and administrator Mike Griffin approved one final Hubble servicing mission. STS-125 was launched in May 2009, and installed two new instruments and made numerous repairs.
The latest servicing should allow the telescope to function until at least 2014, when its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is due to be launched. The JWST will be far superior to Hubble for many astronomical research programs, but will only observe in infrared, so it will complement (not replace) Hubble's ability to observe in the visible and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
By Joel Achenbach
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Dr. Gene Nelson sent me a link to an article in the Washington Post about the Hubble Telescope.
It is 4 long html pages and gives us something to think about. We have these WOW moments when we look at the Hubble images. Then again, having seen a lot of them, we may be in danger of burnout.
http://hubblesite.org/
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/
At the beginning of the Apollo missions it was all news and excitement, then things dropped to sound bytes. We are again at the Moon, will this too become sound bytes?
Check out the article.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113003590.html
The Wow Factor
Reading between the pixels of the Hubble's latest images
By Joel Achenbach
Sunday, December 6, 2009
By this point, we've all seen so many pretty Hubble pictures that we're in danger of pretty-Hubble-picture burnout. We've seen exploding stars galore. We've seen majestic pillars of gas that are spawning new solar systems. We've seen galaxies colliding, galaxies getting ripped apart, galaxies becoming mired in their own ennui. We've seen Mars and Jupiter and Saturn in such stark close-ups that we can detect the cosmetic surgery scars.
We've seen quasars, pulsars, brown dwarfs, exoplanets, globular clusters and assorted nebulosities. It feels as if we've seen it all. Literally. The whole cosmos, soup to nuts. It kind of makes you wonder if we'll run out of new things to discover. Here's a real headline on a November news release from Stanford: "High-precision measurements confirm cosmologists' standard view of the universe." All figured out; everyone go home now.
So, you can just imagine the challenge that NASA's Hubble Space Telescope scientists faced earlier this year. In May, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis flew to the Hubble and, defying a stuck bolt that nearly derailed the mission, removed an old camera and replaced it with a better one. They fixed two other instruments, even though these things were not designed for orbital maintenance. Crew members installed new gyroscopes and batteries. After five spacewalks and much derring-do, Hubble was, in effect, a brand-new space telescope.
But what to look at next? The Hubble people had to pick targets to demonstrate the revamped telescope's abilities. They would call these images the Early Release Observations, or ERO (at NASA, everything has an abbreviation). They wanted to produce pictures with lots of (their
term) Wow Factor.
snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Nelson has been looking at the WFPC-2 which was recently retrieved from the Hubble Space Telescope and is at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) for a short time. He has seen many visible pits where space debris has struck the radiator surface while it was deployed. WFPC-2 will be on exhibit at NASM for about 2 months, then it will travel to JPL Maybe if you are in the Washington D.C. area you have a chance to visit NASM. At the top of the above article there is a link to comments and Dr. Nelson posted one. There are a lot more of them now but I will leave you with what he wrote.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113003590_Comments.html#
snip
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) on the Mall had a special day-long symposium regarding the Hubble Legacy on 18 November 2009.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=1636
As a symposium attendee, I appreciated the thought-provoking presentations and panel discussions. There are some special artifacts from the Hubble Space Telescope including COSTAR and the Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) that are on special exhibition at the NASM. Some of them will only be there until the end of December, 2009. Be sure and schedule a visit before then. The new "Moving Beyond Earth" Gallery has two of the three new Hubble artifacts - and plenty of "Wow!" with some innovative large scale moving graphics.
(The Hubble Legacy Symposium was made possible by financial support from the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.)
12/5/2009 9:49:59 PM
snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
Step back, take a breath, and prepare for a New Year and many more WOW events.
Don't let the excitement wane.
Give it away and watch it come back.
There is much, much, more to learn.
WOW!
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
https://wave.google.com/wave/
==============================================================
http://hubblesite.org/
Two of Hubble's key instruments now reside at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. The optical device that fixed Hubble's original flawed vision and Hubble's longest-lasting, most prolific camera, both removed during the last servicing mission, will be on display through mid-December. The instruments will then travel for temporary display in California before becoming permanently part of the Smithsonian's collection in March 2010
snip
==============================================================
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/
Capture the extraordinary. Explore the universe through Hubble's eye, and witness the most dangerous, spectacular and mysterious depths of the cosmos.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, and is one of NASA's Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.[4]
Space telescopes were proposed as early as 1923. The Hubble was funded in the 1970s, with a proposed launch in 1983, but the project was beset by technical delays, budget problems, and the Challenger disaster. When finally launched in 1990, scientists found that the main mirror had been ground incorrectly, severely compromising the telescope's capabilities. However, after a servicing mission in 1993, the telescope was restored to its intended quality. Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely sharp images with almost no background light. Hubble's Ultra Deep Field image, for instance, is the most detailed visible-light image ever made of the universe's most distant objects. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.
The Hubble is the only telescope ever designed to be serviced in space by astronauts. There have been five servicing missions, the last occurring in May 2009. Servicing Mission 1 took place in December 1993 when Hubble's imaging flaw was corrected. Servicing missions 2, 3A, and 3B repaired various sub-systems and replaced many of the observing instruments with more modern and capable versions. However, following the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident, the fifth servicing mission was canceled on safety grounds. After spirited public discussion, NASA reconsidered this decision, and administrator Mike Griffin approved one final Hubble servicing mission. STS-125 was launched in May 2009, and installed two new instruments and made numerous repairs.
The latest servicing should allow the telescope to function until at least 2014, when its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is due to be launched. The JWST will be far superior to Hubble for many astronomical research programs, but will only observe in infrared, so it will complement (not replace) Hubble's ability to observe in the visible and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
LCROSS Science Briefing November 13th 2009
One advantage to social networking is being able to see what others have seen that you may ave missed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xVlBa6YKH4
- LRK -
-----
Bob_Richards
RT @NASA_Ames: [News] @LCROSS_NASA team Press Conference http://bit.ly/6QW8wR
[splashdown results, intro by Pete @Worden]
-----
The LCROSS Press Conference on YouTube is an hour and 20 minutes with the first 31 minutes the presentation the rest devoted to questions and answers.
I found it interesting and you could sense the excitement of the presenters.
Watching it brought back fond memories of sitting in the same auditorium when I was working at NASA Ames Research Center.
A Facebook link about LCROSS
- LRK -
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=154478180006&share_id=175094893166&comments=1
Links on "LCROSS Lunar Impactor Mission"
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/prelim_water_results.html
LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon
It will be interesting to see what develops as a result of spacecraft orbiting the Moon and finding more about our nearest neighbor.
We will wait for the results from the LRO mission and how their data complements what is being seen from LCROSS.
http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/
http://www.examiner.com/x-958-Tampa-Space-Program-News-Examiner~y2009m11d13-LROLCROSS-Mission-a-success--Water-on-the-moon
http://article.wn.com/view/2009/11/13/LRO_LCROSS_Mission_a_success_Water_on_the_moon_puts_moonfirs/
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/indias-lunar-mission-finds-water-on-moon-roundup_100251903.html
Exciting times and next year should be interesting too.
I hope the excitement finds its way into the ears of our Congress as well.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/344612main_Agency_Summary_Final_updates_5_6_09_R2.pdf
NASA FY 2010 Budget Request Summary
Mother may I have a cookie? Have you eaten all of your dinner?
Now where was the cookie jar hidden?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
https://wave.google.com/wave/
==============================================================
http://www.planetary.org/news/2009/1113_LCROSS_Lunar_Impactor_Mission_Yes_We.html
Planetary News: The Moon (2009)
LCROSS Lunar Impactor Mission: "Yes, We Found Water!"
By Emily Stewart Lakdawalla
November 13, 2009
Members of the LCROSS science team were evidently delighted to be able to report at last that when the spacecraft's spent Centaur upper stage smashed into the Moon on October 9, it excavated a crater into a spot on the lunar surface that contained "a significant amount" of water, the mission's principal investigator, Tony Colaprete, said in a press briefing today. The ejecta plume from the impact contained at least 100 kilograms of water. But the same data that conclusively identifies water also indicates that the plume contained a surprisingly complex cocktail of other elements and compounds that the team is now struggling to identify.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/dec/HQ_09-282_SLI.html
NASA CHALLENGES 350 ROCKETEERS NATIONWIDE TO AIM A MILE HIGH
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA has invited more than 350 student rocketeers from middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities -- 37 teams nationwide -- to take part in the 2009-2010 NASA Student Launch Projects. Their challenge is to build powerful rockets of their own design, complete with a working science payload, and launch them to an altitude of 1 mile.
These annual rocketeering projects are the Student Launch Initiative for middle school and high school teams and the University Student Launch Initiative for colleges and universities. Both challenges are designed to inspire students to parlay their interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics into rewarding careers in fields critical to NASA's mission of exploration and scientific discovery.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/dec/HQ_09-278_Moon_work.html
MOON WORK DESIGN CONTEST OFFERS NASA INTERNSHIPS TO WINNERS
WASHINGTON -- Talented engineering students who have ideas on how future explorers might live on the moon could find themselves working at NASA as paid interns.
The 2010 NASA Moon Work engineering design challenge seeks to motivate college students by giving them first-hand experience with the process of developing new technologies. To participate in the contest, students will submit their original design for tools or instruments that can help astronauts live and work on the moon.
Top-ranked students will be offered a chance to intern with a team from NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program.
The Exploration Technology Development Program develops new technologies that will enable NASA to conduct future human exploration missions while reducing mission risk and cost. The program is maturing near-term technologies to help enable the first flight of the Orion crew exploration vehicle and developing long-lead technologies needed for possible lunar exploration missions.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/nov/HQ_09-277_glove_challenge.html
NASA AWARDS $350,000 TO WINNING ASTRONAUT GLOVE DESIGNERS
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Centennial Challenges program awarded $350,000 this week to a pair of designers who developed concepts for more flexible space gloves that could make it easier for astronauts to perform tasks.
The 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge awarded a first place prize of $250,000 to Peter Homer of Southwest Harbor, Maine, and a second place prize of $100,000 to Ted Southern of Brooklyn, N.Y. The competition seeks innovative spacesuit glove design concepts to reduce the effort needed to do work during spacewalks. In this challenge, competitors demonstrated their glove design by performing a range of tasks with the glove in a pressurized chamber.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xVlBa6YKH4
- LRK -
-----
Bob_Richards
RT @NASA_Ames: [News] @LCROSS_NASA team Press Conference http://bit.ly/6QW8wR
[splashdown results, intro by Pete @Worden]
-----
The LCROSS Press Conference on YouTube is an hour and 20 minutes with the first 31 minutes the presentation the rest devoted to questions and answers.
I found it interesting and you could sense the excitement of the presenters.
Watching it brought back fond memories of sitting in the same auditorium when I was working at NASA Ames Research Center.
A Facebook link about LCROSS
- LRK -
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=154478180006&share_id=175094893166&comments=1
Links on "LCROSS Lunar Impactor Mission"
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/prelim_water_results.html
LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon
It will be interesting to see what develops as a result of spacecraft orbiting the Moon and finding more about our nearest neighbor.
We will wait for the results from the LRO mission and how their data complements what is being seen from LCROSS.
http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/
http://www.examiner.com/x-958-Tampa-Space-Program-News-Examiner~y2009m11d13-LROLCROSS-Mission-a-success--Water-on-the-moon
http://article.wn.com/view/2009/11/13/LRO_LCROSS_Mission_a_success_Water_on_the_moon_puts_moonfirs/
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/indias-lunar-mission-finds-water-on-moon-roundup_100251903.html
Exciting times and next year should be interesting too.
I hope the excitement finds its way into the ears of our Congress as well.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/344612main_Agency_Summary_Final_updates_5_6_09_R2.pdf
NASA FY 2010 Budget Request Summary
Mother may I have a cookie? Have you eaten all of your dinner?
Now where was the cookie jar hidden?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
https://wave.google.com/wave/
==============================================================
http://www.planetary.org/news/2009/1113_LCROSS_Lunar_Impactor_Mission_Yes_We.html
Planetary News: The Moon (2009)
LCROSS Lunar Impactor Mission: "Yes, We Found Water!"
By Emily Stewart Lakdawalla
November 13, 2009
Members of the LCROSS science team were evidently delighted to be able to report at last that when the spacecraft's spent Centaur upper stage smashed into the Moon on October 9, it excavated a crater into a spot on the lunar surface that contained "a significant amount" of water, the mission's principal investigator, Tony Colaprete, said in a press briefing today. The ejecta plume from the impact contained at least 100 kilograms of water. But the same data that conclusively identifies water also indicates that the plume contained a surprisingly complex cocktail of other elements and compounds that the team is now struggling to identify.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/dec/HQ_09-282_SLI.html
NASA CHALLENGES 350 ROCKETEERS NATIONWIDE TO AIM A MILE HIGH
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA has invited more than 350 student rocketeers from middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities -- 37 teams nationwide -- to take part in the 2009-2010 NASA Student Launch Projects. Their challenge is to build powerful rockets of their own design, complete with a working science payload, and launch them to an altitude of 1 mile.
These annual rocketeering projects are the Student Launch Initiative for middle school and high school teams and the University Student Launch Initiative for colleges and universities. Both challenges are designed to inspire students to parlay their interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics into rewarding careers in fields critical to NASA's mission of exploration and scientific discovery.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/dec/HQ_09-278_Moon_work.html
MOON WORK DESIGN CONTEST OFFERS NASA INTERNSHIPS TO WINNERS
WASHINGTON -- Talented engineering students who have ideas on how future explorers might live on the moon could find themselves working at NASA as paid interns.
The 2010 NASA Moon Work engineering design challenge seeks to motivate college students by giving them first-hand experience with the process of developing new technologies. To participate in the contest, students will submit their original design for tools or instruments that can help astronauts live and work on the moon.
Top-ranked students will be offered a chance to intern with a team from NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program.
The Exploration Technology Development Program develops new technologies that will enable NASA to conduct future human exploration missions while reducing mission risk and cost. The program is maturing near-term technologies to help enable the first flight of the Orion crew exploration vehicle and developing long-lead technologies needed for possible lunar exploration missions.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/nov/HQ_09-277_glove_challenge.html
NASA AWARDS $350,000 TO WINNING ASTRONAUT GLOVE DESIGNERS
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Centennial Challenges program awarded $350,000 this week to a pair of designers who developed concepts for more flexible space gloves that could make it easier for astronauts to perform tasks.
The 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge awarded a first place prize of $250,000 to Peter Homer of Southwest Harbor, Maine, and a second place prize of $100,000 to Ted Southern of Brooklyn, N.Y. The competition seeks innovative spacesuit glove design concepts to reduce the effort needed to do work during spacewalks. In this challenge, competitors demonstrated their glove design by performing a range of tasks with the glove in a pressurized chamber.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
The Pioneer Anomaly in the Light of New Data
Carl Walter asked me for an update on the Pioneer Anomaly and I had to check and see if anything new was being published. I thought I would check and see if Dr. Slava Turyshev and Viktor Toth might have something and sure enough, google found this. [Note: Viktor hosts my web site so maybe a bit biased. - LRK -] ------------------------------------------------------------- The Pioneer Anomaly in the Light of New Data http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0906/0906.0399v1.pdf Abstract The radio-metric tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from the distances between 20–70 astronomical units from the Sun has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted Doppler frequency drift that limited the accuracy of the orbit reconstruction for these vehicles. This drift was interpreted as a sunward acceleration of aP = (8.74±1.33)×10−10 m/s2 for each particular spacecraft. This signal has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly is still being investigated.
Recently new Pioneer 10 and 11 radio-metric Doppler and flight telemetry data became available. The newly available Doppler data set is much larger when compared to the data used in previous investigations and is the primary source for new investigation of the anomaly. In addition, the flight telemetry files, original project documentation, and newly developed software tools are now used to reconstruct the engineering history of spacecraft. With the help of this information, a thermal model of the Pioneers was developed to study possible contribution of thermal recoil force acting on the spacecraft. The goal of the ongoing efforts is to evaluate the effect of on-board systems on the spacecrafts’ trajectories and possibly identify the nature of this anomaly.
Techniques developed for the investigation of the Pioneer anomaly are applicable to the New Horizons mission. Analysis shows that anisotropic thermal radiation from on-board sources will accelerate this spacecraft by ∼41×10−10 m/s2.We discuss the lessons learned from the study of the Pioneer anomaly for the New Horizons spacecraft. Keywords Pioneer anomaly · gravitational experiments · deep-space navigation · thermal modeling.
Slava G. Turyshev
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 USA
E-mail: turyshev@jpl.nasa.gov
Viktor T. Toth
Ottawa, ON K1N 9H5, Canada
E-mail: vttoth@vttoth.com ------------------------------------------------------------- We haven't always had spacecraft you know. I just finished reading a chapter from "The YOUNG FOLKS TREASURY", Vol. VIII, "WONDERS OF SCIENCE AND INVENTION", entitled "The Motor Vehicle," by Herbert T. Wade, where he talks about cars that used steam, or electricity, or even a gas-engine. Oh, I failed to mention, the books were copyright 1909, a year before my mom started her life of living through all these technological advances. :-) [Note to myself - I can still read a hundred year old book - Wonder if my Amiga computer still works.] I can't wait to read the next chapter, "The Flying Machine," and then "The Gyroscope and Its Applications." Could they have even thought about Cell Phones that show pictures that rotate to match which way you hold it? Are we having fun yet? And what will we think of when we start developing the resources of the Moon? Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/ https://wave.google.com/wave/
============================================================== Viktor Toth's articles on arXiv
http://arxiv.org/a/toth_v_1 snip[7] arXiv:0906.0399 [ps, pdf, other] Title: The Pioneer Anomaly in the Light of New Data Authors: Slava G. Turyshev, Viktor T. Toth Comments: 19 pages, 5 figures Subjects: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) snip [9] arXiv:0903.0075 [pdf] Title: Study of the Pioneer Anomaly: A scientific detective story Authors: Viktor T. Toth Comments: 4 pages, 1 figure. Invited article Journal-ref: The Postgraduate Magazine 2007;1:24-30 (School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne) Subjects: Space Physics (physics.space-ph) snip [12] arXiv:0901.3466 [ps, pdf, other] Title: Independent analysis of the orbits of Pioneer 10 and 11 Authors: Viktor T. Toth Comments: 22 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in IJMPD Journal-ref: Int.J.Mod.Phys.D18:717-741,2009 Subjects: Space Physics (physics.space-ph); General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
snip [18] arXiv:0710.2656 [ps, pdf, other] Title: Pioneer Anomaly: Evaluating Newly Recovered Data Authors: Viktor T. Toth, Slava G. Turyshev Comments: 12 pages, 15 figures, invited talk at the "III Mexican Meeting on Mathematical and Experimental Physics," Mexico City, Mexico, 10-14 September 2007 Journal-ref: AIPConf.Proc.977:264-283,2008 Subjects: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) [19] arXiv:0710.0191 [ps, pdf, other] Title: Physics Engineering in the Study of the Pioneer Anomaly Authors: Slava G. Turyshev, Viktor T. Toth Comments: 6 pages, 5 figures, invited talk at the "IV Physics Engineering International Meeting," Mexico City, Mexico, 15-19 October 2007 Subjects: Space Physics (physics.space-ph); General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); General Physics (physics.gen-ph) [20] arXiv:gr-qc/0603016 [ps, pdf, other] Title: The Pioneer Anomaly: Seeking an explanation in newly recovered data Authors: Viktor T Toth, Slava G Turyshev Comments: Final manuscript prior to publication; 20 pages, 23 figures, 1 table Journal-ref: Can.J.Phys.84:1063-1087,2006 Subjects: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) [21] arXiv:gr-qc/0512121 [ps, pdf, other] Title: The Study of the Pioneer Anomaly: New Data and Objectives for New Investigation Authors: Slava G. Turyshev, Viktor T. Toth, Larry R. Kellogg, Eunice. L. Lau, Kyong J. Lee Comments: 43 pages, 40 figures, 3 tables, minor changes before publication Journal-ref: Int.J.Mod.Phys.D15:1-56,2006 Subjects: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Recently new Pioneer 10 and 11 radio-metric Doppler and flight telemetry data became available. The newly available Doppler data set is much larger when compared to the data used in previous investigations and is the primary source for new investigation of the anomaly. In addition, the flight telemetry files, original project documentation, and newly developed software tools are now used to reconstruct the engineering history of spacecraft. With the help of this information, a thermal model of the Pioneers was developed to study possible contribution of thermal recoil force acting on the spacecraft. The goal of the ongoing efforts is to evaluate the effect of on-board systems on the spacecrafts’ trajectories and possibly identify the nature of this anomaly.
Techniques developed for the investigation of the Pioneer anomaly are applicable to the New Horizons mission. Analysis shows that anisotropic thermal radiation from on-board sources will accelerate this spacecraft by ∼41×10−10 m/s2.We discuss the lessons learned from the study of the Pioneer anomaly for the New Horizons spacecraft. Keywords Pioneer anomaly · gravitational experiments · deep-space navigation · thermal modeling.
Slava G. Turyshev
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 USA
E-mail: turyshev@jpl.nasa.gov
Viktor T. Toth
Ottawa, ON K1N 9H5, Canada
E-mail: vttoth@vttoth.com ------------------------------------------------------------- We haven't always had spacecraft you know. I just finished reading a chapter from "The YOUNG FOLKS TREASURY", Vol. VIII, "WONDERS OF SCIENCE AND INVENTION", entitled "The Motor Vehicle," by Herbert T. Wade, where he talks about cars that used steam, or electricity, or even a gas-engine. Oh, I failed to mention, the books were copyright 1909, a year before my mom started her life of living through all these technological advances. :-) [Note to myself - I can still read a hundred year old book - Wonder if my Amiga computer still works.] I can't wait to read the next chapter, "The Flying Machine," and then "The Gyroscope and Its Applications." Could they have even thought about Cell Phones that show pictures that rotate to match which way you hold it? Are we having fun yet? And what will we think of when we start developing the resources of the Moon? Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lrkellogg Google Wave: larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/ https://wave.google.com/wave/
============================================================== Viktor Toth's articles on arXiv
http://arxiv.org/a/toth_v_1 snip
snip
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
What an interesting time we live in.
I am watching on cable TV the Numb3s program where mathematics is used to solve FBI crime cases.
I know, it is TV, but still, an interesting program that shows how mathematics can be useful, well if you are a math genius. :-)
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/
At the same time I am watching on my laptop the live TV of the STS-129 crew and the those on the ISS with a Bluetooth wireless headset so as not to bother others.
This has been from launch to docking to working on EVAs.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts129/
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://tinyurl.com/ykh2hb8 for Plantronics
Then there is Google's new Wave where a YouTube of NASA TV live has been made available to those that have received invitations to the pre-Beta release of Wave.
https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252BAAcnCi2UA
And a Wave that has useful links for the STS-129 mission.
https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252BNH3IxUaoG
We now have intelligent cell phones where you can send pictures, use GPS navigation, play games, search the Internet, and even call a friend by way of voice or text.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/index.html
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/pda-phones-smartphones.jsp
http://pocketpccentral.net/device_menus/android.htm
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphone-reviews/
Missions are now taking place at our nearest neighbor, the Moon or have recently ended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_and_future_lunar_missions
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/17/MNJ41887O2.DTL
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-10268241-239.html
http://www.kaguya.jaxa.jp/index_e.htm
http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3240/early-end-to-indias-moon-mission
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-03/01/content_7523687.htm
And of course there have been and are deep space probes.
http://www.vttoth.com/probes/probes.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_probe
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/deepspace/index.html
Now when do we as Earth bound citizens learn to live off world and establish a human presence?
http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/colonies.html
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/explore/colonies/
http://www.nss.org/settlement/library.html
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave Invite info: http://mashable.com/2009/09/29/google-wave-invites-2/
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/
https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
==============================================================
http://writings.mike-combs.com/deaddebr.htm
Deadly Debris
By Mike Combs
mikecombs@aol.com
Copyright © 1995
In a low Earth orbit, a glove slowly tumbled in the brilliant sunshine. The glove's career as a tiny artificial satellite of the earth began on the day an astronaut of the early American space program had neglected to keep up with it. While the spacewalker was distracted with other matters, the glove had decided to venture out of the space capsule. By the time he took note of this, it had drifted beyond his reach.
The orbiting item of apparel had even deserved mention in books and magazine articles as an example of the kind of objects Space Command could track with its space-scanning radars. The glove dutifully returned every radar signal bounced up to it. As it rounded the blue-and-white globe below, it was privy to the kind of view which had never failed to deeply move the humans who had made it. The glove alternately warmed in the unimpeded rays of the sun and chilled in the shadow of the Earth as it progressed through innumerable ninety-minute days.
On this day, however, its circular journeys were coming to an end. The glove's path was intersecting with that of a defunct Russian weather satellite. It hit the bulky space platform almost dead-on with a velocity which would have made a rifle bullet seem a dawdler. The metal and plastic structure erupted with myriad pieces of debris. Mere minutes later, that swarm of fragments began slamming into the abandoned lower stage of a rocket launched over a decade ago. The giant cylinder pitched about crazily before being riddled and then disintegrated by the densest part of the swarm. It added its particles to the rapidly-moving cloud of space junk, and now the swarm was more dangerous still. Satellites, both functional and long disused, fell to the rapid attack and in turn became part of the Kamikaze assault themselves. Like a splitting nucleus which split other nuclei which split still more in an out-of-control nuclear chain reaction, the belt of speeding debris grew and spread along its orbit, devastating everything in its path.
* * *
snip
==============================================================
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-moon14-2009nov14,0,2036369.story
'The moon is alive,' NASA says after water discovery
The mission that plunged a rocket into the moon's surface last month detected about 25 gallons of water in the form of vapor and ice --enough to inspire hope for a lunar colony.
Scientists have found "significant" amounts of water in a crater at the moon's south pole, a major discovery that will dramatically revise the characterization of the moon as a dead world and likely make it a more attractive destination for future human space missions.
"The moon is alive," declared Anthony Colaprete, the chief scientist for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/index.html
NASA Orbital Debris Program Office
The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, located at the Johnson Space Center, is the lead NASA center for orbital debris research. It is recognized world-wide for its initiative in addressing orbital debris issues. The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office has taken the international lead in conducting measurements of the environment and in developing the technical consensus for adopting mitigation measures to protect users of the orbital environment. Work at the Center
continues with developing an improved understanding of the orbital debris environment and measures that can be taken to control debris growth.
snip
=========================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=========================================================
I know, it is TV, but still, an interesting program that shows how mathematics can be useful, well if you are a math genius. :-)
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/
At the same time I am watching on my laptop the live TV of the STS-129 crew and the those on the ISS with a Bluetooth wireless headset so as not to bother others.
This has been from launch to docking to working on EVAs.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts129/
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://tinyurl.com/ykh2hb8 for Plantronics
Then there is Google's new Wave where a YouTube of NASA TV live has been made available to those that have received invitations to the pre-Beta release of Wave.
https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252BAAcnCi2UA
And a Wave that has useful links for the STS-129 mission.
https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252BNH3IxUaoG
We now have intelligent cell phones where you can send pictures, use GPS navigation, play games, search the Internet, and even call a friend by way of voice or text.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/index.html
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/pda-phones-smartphones.jsp
http://pocketpccentral.net/device_menus/android.htm
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphone-reviews/
Missions are now taking place at our nearest neighbor, the Moon or have recently ended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_and_future_lunar_missions
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/17/MNJ41887O2.DTL
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-10268241-239.html
http://www.kaguya.jaxa.jp/index_e.htm
http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3240/early-end-to-indias-moon-mission
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-03/01/content_7523687.htm
And of course there have been and are deep space probes.
http://www.vttoth.com/probes/probes.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_probe
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/deepspace/index.html
Now when do we as Earth bound citizens learn to live off world and establish a human presence?
http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/colonies.html
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/explore/colonies/
http://www.nss.org/settlement/library.html
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
Google Wave Invite info: http://mashable.com/2009/09/29/google-wave-invites-2/
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/
https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
==============================================================
http://writings.mike-combs.com/deaddebr.htm
Deadly Debris
By Mike Combs
mikecombs@aol.com
Copyright © 1995
In a low Earth orbit, a glove slowly tumbled in the brilliant sunshine. The glove's career as a tiny artificial satellite of the earth began on the day an astronaut of the early American space program had neglected to keep up with it. While the spacewalker was distracted with other matters, the glove had decided to venture out of the space capsule. By the time he took note of this, it had drifted beyond his reach.
The orbiting item of apparel had even deserved mention in books and magazine articles as an example of the kind of objects Space Command could track with its space-scanning radars. The glove dutifully returned every radar signal bounced up to it. As it rounded the blue-and-white globe below, it was privy to the kind of view which had never failed to deeply move the humans who had made it. The glove alternately warmed in the unimpeded rays of the sun and chilled in the shadow of the Earth as it progressed through innumerable ninety-minute days.
On this day, however, its circular journeys were coming to an end. The glove's path was intersecting with that of a defunct Russian weather satellite. It hit the bulky space platform almost dead-on with a velocity which would have made a rifle bullet seem a dawdler. The metal and plastic structure erupted with myriad pieces of debris. Mere minutes later, that swarm of fragments began slamming into the abandoned lower stage of a rocket launched over a decade ago. The giant cylinder pitched about crazily before being riddled and then disintegrated by the densest part of the swarm. It added its particles to the rapidly-moving cloud of space junk, and now the swarm was more dangerous still. Satellites, both functional and long disused, fell to the rapid attack and in turn became part of the Kamikaze assault themselves. Like a splitting nucleus which split other nuclei which split still more in an out-of-control nuclear chain reaction, the belt of speeding debris grew and spread along its orbit, devastating everything in its path.
* * *
snip
==============================================================
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-moon14-2009nov14,0,2036369.story
'The moon is alive,' NASA says after water discovery
The mission that plunged a rocket into the moon's surface last month detected about 25 gallons of water in the form of vapor and ice --enough to inspire hope for a lunar colony.
Scientists have found "significant" amounts of water in a crater at the moon's south pole, a major discovery that will dramatically revise the characterization of the moon as a dead world and likely make it a more attractive destination for future human space missions.
"The moon is alive," declared Anthony Colaprete, the chief scientist for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/index.html
NASA Orbital Debris Program Office
The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, located at the Johnson Space Center, is the lead NASA center for orbital debris research. It is recognized world-wide for its initiative in addressing orbital debris issues. The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office has taken the international lead in conducting measurements of the environment and in developing the technical consensus for adopting mitigation measures to protect users of the orbital environment. Work at the Center
continues with developing an improved understanding of the orbital debris environment and measures that can be taken to control debris growth.
snip
=========================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=========================================================
Deadly Debris
Deadly Debris
Back in February 2009, I posted to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond blog some
items dealing with space debris.
http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/2009/02/up-up-and-away-ping-ping-thunk-thud-and.html
Chad sent me a link to Mike Combs short story, "Deadly Debris" which it
looks like DARPA should now read. A very riviting story.
http://writings.mike-combs.com/deaddebr.htm
In September DARPA released a Request for Information (RFI) regarding
orbital debris removal capabilities. Tiny URL for
http://tinyurl.com/yl6j33v
Launchspace http://www.launchspace.com/editorials.html had an editorial
September 28, 2009 entitled Space Debris Gets Some Respect, which mentions
it.
----------------------
For the last few decades the international space community has freely used
near-Earth space for many important applications without regard for the
impact of artificial satellites on the space environment. Although
space-faring nations have spewed trash from 200 km to beyond 36,000 km, the
space below about 1,600 km has been severely abused. Recent events have
finally persuaded the U.S. Government to start thinking about cleaning up
this environmental "super fund site." No, it is not the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) that has been given the task of figuring out how to
remove space debris. It is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), a part of the Department of Defense (DOD).
On September 17th, DARPA released a Request for Information (RFI) regarding
orbital debris removal capabilities. This request is addressed to all
potential domestic and foreign sources and it asks for innovative solutions
that might lead to the eventual removal of orbital debris.
snip
----------------------
If folks would like to participate in on-line discussions of topics like
Deadly Debris in space, Google has a way to do this with Google Wave.
It is by invitation only for now and MemphisDJ sent me an invitation so I
have been reading up on Google Wave, watching videos, and looking at some
conversations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave
http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html
I thought I would post this to a New Wave and if you have a Google Wave
account you can let me know what you think.
Title is: Deadly Debris
https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252B091sB_F2A.1
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
GoogleWave larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://mashable.com/2009/09/29/google-wave-invites-2/
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/
https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
==============================================================
http://writings.mike-combs.com/deaddebr.htm
Deadly Debris
By Mike Combs
mikecombs@aol.com
Copyright © 1995
In a low Earth orbit, a glove slowly tumbled in the brilliant sunshine. The
glove's career as a tiny artificial satellite of the Earth began on the day
an astronaut of the early American space program had neglected to keep up
with it. While the spacewalker was distracted with other matters, the glove
had decided to venture out of the space capsule. By the time he took note of
this, it had drifted beyond his reach.
The orbiting item of apparel had even deserved mention in books and magazine
articles as an example of the kind of objects Space Command could track with
its space-scanning radars. The glove dutifully returned every radar signal
bounced up to it. As it rounded the blue-and-white globe below, it was privy
to the kind of view which had never failed to deeply move the humans who had
made it. The glove alternately warmed in the unimpeded rays of the sun and
chilled in the shadow of the Earth as it progressed through innumerable
ninety-minute days.
On this day, however, its circular journeys were coming to an end. The
glove's path was intersecting with that of a defunct Russian weather
satellite. It hit the bulky space platform almost dead-on with a velocity
which would have made a rifle bullet seem a dawdler. The metal and plastic
structure erupted with myriad pieces of debris. Mere minutes later, that
swarm of fragments began slamming into the abandoned lower stage of a rocket
launched over a decade ago. The giant cylinder pitched about crazily before
being riddled and then disintegrated by the densest part of the swarm. It
added its particles to the rapidly-moving cloud of space junk, and now the
swarm was more dangerous still. Satellites, both functional and long
disused, fell to the rapid attack and in turn became part of the Kamikaze
assault themselves. Like a splitting nucleus which split other nuclei which
split still more in an out-of-control nuclear chain reaction, the belt of
speeding debris grew and spread along its orbit, devastating everything in
its path.
* * *
snip
==============================================================
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a55fd6e5721284ee7df2068d2b300b5f&tab=core&_cview=0
Tiny URL for above http://tinyurl.com/yl6j33v
Solicitation Number:
DARPA-SN-09-68
Notice Type:
Special Notice
Synopsis:
Added: Sep 17, 2009 4:58 pm
DARPA Orbital Debris Removal (ODR)
Request for Information
for
Tactical Technology Office (TTO)
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
DESCRIPTION
This is a Request for Information (RFI) by the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office (TTO) regarding
implementation of an orbital debris removal capability. The Government does
not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay
for the information solicited. The Government may consider issuing a formal
solicitation at a later date.
Information is sought from all potential sources, domestic and foreign, on
innovative technological solutions that will enable the Government to
provide orbital debris removal capabilities and to identify interest and
qualification for participation in any future program.
snip
==============================================================
http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/pdfs/ODQNv13i1.pdf
Orbital Debris Quarterly News
Volume 13, Issue 1
January 2009
New Debris Seen from Decommissioned
Satellite with Nuclear Power Source
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Back in February 2009, I posted to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond blog some
items dealing with space debris.
http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/2009/02/up-up-and-away-ping-ping-thunk-thud-and.html
Chad sent me a link to Mike Combs short story, "Deadly Debris" which it
looks like DARPA should now read. A very riviting story.
http://writings.mike-combs.com/deaddebr.htm
In September DARPA released a Request for Information (RFI) regarding
orbital debris removal capabilities. Tiny URL for
http://tinyurl.com/yl6j33v
Launchspace http://www.launchspace.com/editorials.html had an editorial
September 28, 2009 entitled Space Debris Gets Some Respect, which mentions
it.
----------------------
For the last few decades the international space community has freely used
near-Earth space for many important applications without regard for the
impact of artificial satellites on the space environment. Although
space-faring nations have spewed trash from 200 km to beyond 36,000 km, the
space below about 1,600 km has been severely abused. Recent events have
finally persuaded the U.S. Government to start thinking about cleaning up
this environmental "super fund site." No, it is not the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) that has been given the task of figuring out how to
remove space debris. It is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), a part of the Department of Defense (DOD).
On September 17th, DARPA released a Request for Information (RFI) regarding
orbital debris removal capabilities. This request is addressed to all
potential domestic and foreign sources and it asks for innovative solutions
that might lead to the eventual removal of orbital debris.
snip
----------------------
If folks would like to participate in on-line discussions of topics like
Deadly Debris in space, Google has a way to do this with Google Wave.
It is by invitation only for now and MemphisDJ sent me an invitation so I
have been reading up on Google Wave, watching videos, and looking at some
conversations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave
http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html
I thought I would post this to a New Wave and if you have a Google Wave
account you can let me know what you think.
Title is: Deadly Debris
https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252B091sB_F2A.1
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
GoogleWave larry.kellogg@googlewave.com
Google Wave Invite info:
http://mashable.com/2009/09/29/google-wave-invites-2/
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/
https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/
http://www.googlewaveinvite.com/category/google-wave-news/
==============================================================
http://writings.mike-combs.com/deaddebr.htm
Deadly Debris
By Mike Combs
mikecombs@aol.com
Copyright © 1995
In a low Earth orbit, a glove slowly tumbled in the brilliant sunshine. The
glove's career as a tiny artificial satellite of the Earth began on the day
an astronaut of the early American space program had neglected to keep up
with it. While the spacewalker was distracted with other matters, the glove
had decided to venture out of the space capsule. By the time he took note of
this, it had drifted beyond his reach.
The orbiting item of apparel had even deserved mention in books and magazine
articles as an example of the kind of objects Space Command could track with
its space-scanning radars. The glove dutifully returned every radar signal
bounced up to it. As it rounded the blue-and-white globe below, it was privy
to the kind of view which had never failed to deeply move the humans who had
made it. The glove alternately warmed in the unimpeded rays of the sun and
chilled in the shadow of the Earth as it progressed through innumerable
ninety-minute days.
On this day, however, its circular journeys were coming to an end. The
glove's path was intersecting with that of a defunct Russian weather
satellite. It hit the bulky space platform almost dead-on with a velocity
which would have made a rifle bullet seem a dawdler. The metal and plastic
structure erupted with myriad pieces of debris. Mere minutes later, that
swarm of fragments began slamming into the abandoned lower stage of a rocket
launched over a decade ago. The giant cylinder pitched about crazily before
being riddled and then disintegrated by the densest part of the swarm. It
added its particles to the rapidly-moving cloud of space junk, and now the
swarm was more dangerous still. Satellites, both functional and long
disused, fell to the rapid attack and in turn became part of the Kamikaze
assault themselves. Like a splitting nucleus which split other nuclei which
split still more in an out-of-control nuclear chain reaction, the belt of
speeding debris grew and spread along its orbit, devastating everything in
its path.
* * *
snip
==============================================================
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a55fd6e5721284ee7df2068d2b300b5f&tab=core&_cview=0
Tiny URL for above http://tinyurl.com/yl6j33v
Solicitation Number:
DARPA-SN-09-68
Notice Type:
Special Notice
Synopsis:
Added: Sep 17, 2009 4:58 pm
DARPA Orbital Debris Removal (ODR)
Request for Information
for
Tactical Technology Office (TTO)
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
DESCRIPTION
This is a Request for Information (RFI) by the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office (TTO) regarding
implementation of an orbital debris removal capability. The Government does
not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay
for the information solicited. The Government may consider issuing a formal
solicitation at a later date.
Information is sought from all potential sources, domestic and foreign, on
innovative technological solutions that will enable the Government to
provide orbital debris removal capabilities and to identify interest and
qualification for participation in any future program.
snip
==============================================================
http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/pdfs/ODQNv13i1.pdf
Orbital Debris Quarterly News
Volume 13, Issue 1
January 2009
New Debris Seen from Decommissioned
Satellite with Nuclear Power Source
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Hidden Territory on Mercury Revealed
Hidden Territory on Mercury Revealed
SpaceWarper sent me an alert for the recent information about the MESSENGER spacecraft third flyby of Mercury.
I must admit that I have not been following the mission closely.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php
My bad, as there are some interesting results and the spacecraft isn't even in orbit yet.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/03nov_hiddenterritory.htm?list1335507
Hidden Territory on Mercury Revealed
11/03/2009
Nov. 3, 2009: The MESSENGER spacecraft's third flyby of the planet Mercury has given scientists, for the first time, an almost complete view of the planet's surface and revealed some dramatic changes in Mercury's comet-like tail.
"The new images remind us that Mercury continues to hold surprises," says Sean Solomon, principal investigator for the mission and director of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The probe flew by Mercury on Sept. 29th, executing a critical gravity assist maneuver designed to help MESSENGER enter Mercury-orbit in 2011. Despite shutting down temporarily because of a power system switchover during a solar eclipse, the spacecraft's cameras and instruments revealed 6 percent of the planet's surface never before seen at close range, including this picturesque region pocked by impact craters and molded by volcanic activity:
snip
--------------------------------------------
IRON AND TITANIUM SURFACE
--------------------------------------------
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1104/p02s10-usgn.html
NASA's Messenger probe reveals new clues about Mercury
Mercury, the oddest of the rocky planets, has been little understood by scientists. But on a swing by the planet, NASA's Messenger sent back intriguing data about Mercury's surface minerals and volcanic activity.
NASA's Mercury mission spacecraft, Messenger, is revolutionizing humanity's view of the first rock from the sun. And its primary science mission hasn't even started yet.
During its third and final flyby of Mercury, NASA's Messenger has found minerals on the planet's surface that current models say shouldn't be there in such abundance. And it appears that the planet
was volcanically active – explosively so – for far longer than current ideas about its geological history suggest.
The flyby took place Sept. 29. Mission scientists unveiled highlights from the flyby during a press briefing Tuesday afternoon.
snip
--------------------------------------------
Many images and much information.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon_multi6.html
MESSENGER Teleconference Multimedia Page
Presenter #1
Sean Solomon, MESSENGER Principal Investigator, The Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.
A MESSENGER color observation of Mercury obtained as the spacecraft approached the planet for its third and final flyby on 29 September 2009. The 1000, 700, and 430 nm filters were combined in red, green, and blue to create this color image (approximately 5 km/pixel resolution), the last that will be acquired until MESSENGER goes into orbit around Mercury in March of 2011. Only 6% of Mercury's surface in this image had not been viewed previously by spacecraft, and most of the measurements made by MESSENGER's other instruments during this flyby were made prior to closest approach. The observations nonetheless revealed fresh surprises.
Presenter #2
Ronald J. Vervack, Jr., MESSENGER Participating Scientist, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
Illustration of the major source and loss processes that generate and maintain Mercury’s exosphere. The panels on the left summarize the three primary sources of exospheric material. Photon-stimulated desorption occurs when solar photons excite surface-bound atoms or molecules, releasing them to the exosphere. Sunlight also heats the surface, causing atoms and molecules to evaporate. These are both low-energy processes, so most of the released material reaches only low altitudes and usually returns to the surface. Ion sputtering occurs when ions from the solar wind or Mercury’s magnetosphere impact the surface, “knocking off” atoms and molecules. Meteoroid vaporization occurs when incoming meteoroids, generally small dust
particles, impact Mercury’s surface at high speeds, causing the surface material to vaporize. Both ion sputtering and meteoroid vaporization are high-energy processes, and the released material can reach high altitudes. All material in the exosphere is accelerated in the anti-sunward direction by radiation pressure; atoms and molecules at sufficiently high altitudes for this force to overcome the gravitational influence of the planet enter Mercury’s neutral tail. Neutral constituents in the tail either escape the Mercury system or are ionized by solar radiation. The ionized material can also escape along open magnetic field lines, but some of the ions are returned to the surface by Mercury’s magnetosphere.
snip
Presenter #3
David J. Lawrence, MESSENGER Participating Scientist,
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
Schematic view of Mercury’s interior showing its large, iron-rich core, which constitutes at least ~60% of the planet’s mass.
Observations from Earth and by MESSENGER at visible and near-infrared wavelengths have shown that Mercury’s surface has a very low concentration of iron (Fe) in silicate minerals, leading to the common view that Mercury’s surface and crust are generally low in iron. A puzzle for investigations of Mercury’s formation and evolution is how a planet with such a large Fe-rich core could form with such an Fe-poor surface?
snip
Presenter #4
Brett Denevi, MESSENGER Imaging Team member and Postdoctoral Researcher, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.
Combined image coverage map of Mercury after Mariner 10 and MESSENGER’s first two flybys of Mercury. Although 90% of Mercury’s surface had been imaged after MESSENGER’s second flyby, there was a gap in longitudinal coverage centered at about 60° E. snip
[Note: your really want to go to the reference link to see all the images and information I left out. - LRK -]
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon_multi6.html
--------------------------------------------
Why Mercury - First Rock from the Sun.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/why_mercury/index.html
Mercury: The Key to Terrestrial Planet Evolution
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are terrestrial (rocky) planets. Among these, Mercury is an extreme: the smallest, the densest (after correcting for self-compression), the one with the oldest surface, the one with the largest daily variations in surface temperature, and the
least explored. Understanding this "end member" among the terrestrial planets is crucial to developing a better understanding of how the planets in our Solar System formed and evolved. To develop this understanding, the MESSENGER mission, spacecraft, and science instruments are focused on answering six key outstanding questions that will allow us to understand Mercury as a planet. For additional, detailed information about the driving science questions of the MESSENGER mission, check out some of the articles given on the MESSENGER publication list.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/publications.html
snip
--------------------------------------------
Read more about the mission.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/index.html
The Mission
To become the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, MESSENGER must follow a path through the inner solar system, including one flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and three flybys of Mercury. This impressive journey is returning the first new spacecraft data from Mercury since
the Mariner 10 mission over 30 years ago. Here you can find details about that journey, the MESSENGER spacecraft, and the instrument payload.
--------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/03nov_hiddenterritory.htm?list1335507
Hidden Territory on Mercury Revealed
snip
The observations also show that calcium and magnesium in the exosphere exhibit different seasonal changes than sodium--a difference that researchers do not yet fully understand. After MESSENGER enters Mercury orbit in 2011, it can make a continuous study of seasonal changes in all exospheric constituents. That will provide key information on the relative importance of the processes that generate, sustain, and modify Mercury's atmosphere.
Approximately 98 percent of Mercury's surface now has been imaged by NASA spacecraft. After MESSENGER goes into orbit, it will see the polar regions, which are the only remaining unobserved areas of the planet.
More images and data from the 3rd flyby.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon_multi6.html
Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
-----------------------------------
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php -- home page
The MESSENGER project is the seventh in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, scientifically focused missions. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory of Laurel, Md., designed, built and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science instruments were built by the Applied Physics Laboratory; Goddard; the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; and the University of Colorado in Boulder. GenCorp Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., and Composite Optics Inc. of San Diego provided the propulsion system and composite structure.
snip
==============================================================
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/links.html
MESSENGER - Related links
The MESSENGER Program
NASA
NASA MESSENGER Site
NASA Science Mission Directorate
NASA Discovery Program
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory – Space Department
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Carnegie Institution of Washington – Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
GenCorp Aerojet
Composite Optics Inc.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
University of Colorado - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
University of Michigan – Solar and Heliospheric Research Group
MESSENGER Education and Outreach Resources
Kennedy Space Center MESSENGER Site
MESSENGER Acronyms and Abbreviations
Mercury Information
“Welcome to the Planets” – Mercury Images
Mercury Links and Resources – National Space Science Data Center
“Mercury Unveiled” – An article by G. Jeffrey Taylor, University of Hawaii
“Mercury Messenger” Newsletter – Lunar and Planetary Institute
Mercury Profile – The Nine Planets
Planetary Exploration Information
Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group
Venus Exploration Analysis Group
Outer Planets Assessment Group
Solar System Exploration Strategy, National Academies
Reports of the NASA Advisory Council Science Subcommittees
BepiColombo Mission - ESA page
BepiColombo Mission - JAXA page
Venus Express Mission
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
SpaceWarper sent me an alert for the recent information about the MESSENGER spacecraft third flyby of Mercury.
I must admit that I have not been following the mission closely.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php
My bad, as there are some interesting results and the spacecraft isn't even in orbit yet.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/03nov_hiddenterritory.htm?list1335507
Hidden Territory on Mercury Revealed
11/03/2009
Nov. 3, 2009: The MESSENGER spacecraft's third flyby of the planet Mercury has given scientists, for the first time, an almost complete view of the planet's surface and revealed some dramatic changes in Mercury's comet-like tail.
"The new images remind us that Mercury continues to hold surprises," says Sean Solomon, principal investigator for the mission and director of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The probe flew by Mercury on Sept. 29th, executing a critical gravity assist maneuver designed to help MESSENGER enter Mercury-orbit in 2011. Despite shutting down temporarily because of a power system switchover during a solar eclipse, the spacecraft's cameras and instruments revealed 6 percent of the planet's surface never before seen at close range, including this picturesque region pocked by impact craters and molded by volcanic activity:
snip
--------------------------------------------
IRON AND TITANIUM SURFACE
--------------------------------------------
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1104/p02s10-usgn.html
NASA's Messenger probe reveals new clues about Mercury
Mercury, the oddest of the rocky planets, has been little understood by scientists. But on a swing by the planet, NASA's Messenger sent back intriguing data about Mercury's surface minerals and volcanic activity.
NASA's Mercury mission spacecraft, Messenger, is revolutionizing humanity's view of the first rock from the sun. And its primary science mission hasn't even started yet.
During its third and final flyby of Mercury, NASA's Messenger has found minerals on the planet's surface that current models say shouldn't be there in such abundance. And it appears that the planet
was volcanically active – explosively so – for far longer than current ideas about its geological history suggest.
The flyby took place Sept. 29. Mission scientists unveiled highlights from the flyby during a press briefing Tuesday afternoon.
snip
--------------------------------------------
Many images and much information.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon_multi6.html
MESSENGER Teleconference Multimedia Page
Presenter #1
Sean Solomon, MESSENGER Principal Investigator, The Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.
A MESSENGER color observation of Mercury obtained as the spacecraft approached the planet for its third and final flyby on 29 September 2009. The 1000, 700, and 430 nm filters were combined in red, green, and blue to create this color image (approximately 5 km/pixel resolution), the last that will be acquired until MESSENGER goes into orbit around Mercury in March of 2011. Only 6% of Mercury's surface in this image had not been viewed previously by spacecraft, and most of the measurements made by MESSENGER's other instruments during this flyby were made prior to closest approach. The observations nonetheless revealed fresh surprises.
Presenter #2
Ronald J. Vervack, Jr., MESSENGER Participating Scientist, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
Illustration of the major source and loss processes that generate and maintain Mercury’s exosphere. The panels on the left summarize the three primary sources of exospheric material. Photon-stimulated desorption occurs when solar photons excite surface-bound atoms or molecules, releasing them to the exosphere. Sunlight also heats the surface, causing atoms and molecules to evaporate. These are both low-energy processes, so most of the released material reaches only low altitudes and usually returns to the surface. Ion sputtering occurs when ions from the solar wind or Mercury’s magnetosphere impact the surface, “knocking off” atoms and molecules. Meteoroid vaporization occurs when incoming meteoroids, generally small dust
particles, impact Mercury’s surface at high speeds, causing the surface material to vaporize. Both ion sputtering and meteoroid vaporization are high-energy processes, and the released material can reach high altitudes. All material in the exosphere is accelerated in the anti-sunward direction by radiation pressure; atoms and molecules at sufficiently high altitudes for this force to overcome the gravitational influence of the planet enter Mercury’s neutral tail. Neutral constituents in the tail either escape the Mercury system or are ionized by solar radiation. The ionized material can also escape along open magnetic field lines, but some of the ions are returned to the surface by Mercury’s magnetosphere.
snip
Presenter #3
David J. Lawrence, MESSENGER Participating Scientist,
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
Schematic view of Mercury’s interior showing its large, iron-rich core, which constitutes at least ~60% of the planet’s mass.
Observations from Earth and by MESSENGER at visible and near-infrared wavelengths have shown that Mercury’s surface has a very low concentration of iron (Fe) in silicate minerals, leading to the common view that Mercury’s surface and crust are generally low in iron. A puzzle for investigations of Mercury’s formation and evolution is how a planet with such a large Fe-rich core could form with such an Fe-poor surface?
snip
Presenter #4
Brett Denevi, MESSENGER Imaging Team member and Postdoctoral Researcher, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.
Combined image coverage map of Mercury after Mariner 10 and MESSENGER’s first two flybys of Mercury. Although 90% of Mercury’s surface had been imaged after MESSENGER’s second flyby, there was a gap in longitudinal coverage centered at about 60° E. snip
[Note: your really want to go to the reference link to see all the images and information I left out. - LRK -]
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon_multi6.html
--------------------------------------------
Why Mercury - First Rock from the Sun.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/why_mercury/index.html
Mercury: The Key to Terrestrial Planet Evolution
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are terrestrial (rocky) planets. Among these, Mercury is an extreme: the smallest, the densest (after correcting for self-compression), the one with the oldest surface, the one with the largest daily variations in surface temperature, and the
least explored. Understanding this "end member" among the terrestrial planets is crucial to developing a better understanding of how the planets in our Solar System formed and evolved. To develop this understanding, the MESSENGER mission, spacecraft, and science instruments are focused on answering six key outstanding questions that will allow us to understand Mercury as a planet. For additional, detailed information about the driving science questions of the MESSENGER mission, check out some of the articles given on the MESSENGER publication list.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/publications.html
snip
--------------------------------------------
Read more about the mission.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/index.html
The Mission
To become the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, MESSENGER must follow a path through the inner solar system, including one flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and three flybys of Mercury. This impressive journey is returning the first new spacecraft data from Mercury since
the Mariner 10 mission over 30 years ago. Here you can find details about that journey, the MESSENGER spacecraft, and the instrument payload.
--------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/03nov_hiddenterritory.htm?list1335507
Hidden Territory on Mercury Revealed
snip
The observations also show that calcium and magnesium in the exosphere exhibit different seasonal changes than sodium--a difference that researchers do not yet fully understand. After MESSENGER enters Mercury orbit in 2011, it can make a continuous study of seasonal changes in all exospheric constituents. That will provide key information on the relative importance of the processes that generate, sustain, and modify Mercury's atmosphere.
Approximately 98 percent of Mercury's surface now has been imaged by NASA spacecraft. After MESSENGER goes into orbit, it will see the polar regions, which are the only remaining unobserved areas of the planet.
More images and data from the 3rd flyby.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon_multi6.html
Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
-----------------------------------
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php -- home page
The MESSENGER project is the seventh in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, scientifically focused missions. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory of Laurel, Md., designed, built and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science instruments were built by the Applied Physics Laboratory; Goddard; the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; and the University of Colorado in Boulder. GenCorp Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., and Composite Optics Inc. of San Diego provided the propulsion system and composite structure.
snip
==============================================================
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/links.html
MESSENGER - Related links
The MESSENGER Program
NASA
NASA MESSENGER Site
NASA Science Mission Directorate
NASA Discovery Program
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory – Space Department
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Carnegie Institution of Washington – Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
GenCorp Aerojet
Composite Optics Inc.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
University of Colorado - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
University of Michigan – Solar and Heliospheric Research Group
MESSENGER Education and Outreach Resources
Kennedy Space Center MESSENGER Site
MESSENGER Acronyms and Abbreviations
Mercury Information
“Welcome to the Planets” – Mercury Images
Mercury Links and Resources – National Space Science Data Center
“Mercury Unveiled” – An article by G. Jeffrey Taylor, University of Hawaii
“Mercury Messenger” Newsletter – Lunar and Planetary Institute
Mercury Profile – The Nine Planets
Planetary Exploration Information
Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group
Venus Exploration Analysis Group
Outer Planets Assessment Group
Solar System Exploration Strategy, National Academies
Reports of the NASA Advisory Council Science Subcommittees
BepiColombo Mission - ESA page
BepiColombo Mission - JAXA page
Venus Express Mission
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
NASA and X Prize Announce Winners of Lunar Lander Challenge
Well the Lunar Lander Challenge has been met. I hope you got to see some of the action.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------
http://space.xprize.org/lunar-lander-challenge
2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X PRIZE Challenge
---------------------------------------------------------------------
It is official, see the NASA announcement.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/nov/HQ_09-258-Lunar_Lander.html
Nov. 02, 2009
Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761
sonja.r.alexander@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 09-258
NASA AND X PRIZE ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF LUNAR LANDER CHALLENGE
WASHINGTON -- NASA will award $1.65 million in prize money Thursday to a pair of innovative aerospace companies that successfully simulated landing a spacecraft on the moon and lifting off again.
NASA's Centennial Challenges program will give a $1 million first prize to Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif., and a $500,000 second prize to Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Tex., for their Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge flights. The competition was managed by the X PRIZE Foundation. The Northrop Grumman Corporation is a commercial sponsor that provided operating funds for the contest to the X PRIZE Foundation.
An awards ceremony for the winning teams will be held at noon on Nov. 5 in room 2325 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington.
Journalists should contact Sonja Alexander at 202-358-1761 for more information about the ceremony.
The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge involves building and flying a rocket-powered vehicle that simulates the flight of a vehicle on the moon. The lander must take off vertically then travel horizontally, flying a mission profile designed to demonstrate both power and control before landing accurately at another spot. The same vehicle then must take off again, travel horizontally back to its original takeoff point and land successfully, all within a two-hour-and-15-minute time period.
The challenge requires exacting control and navigation, as well as precise control of engine thrust, all done automatically. The rocket's engine must be started twice in a short time with no ground servicing other than refueling. This represents the technical challenges involved in operating a reusable vehicle that could land on the moon.
The prize purse is divided into first and second prizes for Level 1 and Level 2. Level 1 requires a flight duration of at least 90 seconds on each flight and Level 2 requires a duration of at least 180
seconds. One of the landings for a Level 2 attempt must be made on a simulated lunar terrain with rocks and craters.
Masten Space Systems met the Level 2 requirements by achieving accurate landings and captured the first place prize during flights of their "Xoie" (pronounced "Zoey") vehicle Oct. 30 at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Masten also claimed a $150,000 prize as part of the Level 1 competition.
Armadillo Aerospace was the first team to qualify for the Level 2 prize with successful flights of its Scorpius rocket Sept. 12 in Caddo Mills, Tex. Armadillo placed second in the Level 2 competition, earning a $500,000 prize.
The average landing accuracy determined which teams would receive first and second place prizes. The Masten team achieved an average accuracy of 7.5 inches while Armadillo Aerospace's average accuracy was 34 inches.
The events of the past two months have brought the four-year Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge to a conclusion. All $2 million in prize money has been awarded.
"The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge has had its intended impact, with impressive performances by multiple teams representing a new generation of aerospace entrepreneurs" said Andrew Petro, NASA's Centennial Challenge program manager at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. "These companies have demonstrated reusable vehicles with rapid turnaround and a surprising degree of precision in flight, and they have done all this at a much lower cost than many thought possible."
Four teams had been in pursuit of the 2009 Lunar Lander Challenge prizes during the competition that opened in July. The BonNova team dropped out of the competition last week. Unreasonable Rocket, a father-and-son team from Solana Beach, Calif., conducted flight
attempts during the final days of the competition but did not complete any qualifying flights.
In the Level 1 competition, Armadillo Aerospace previously claimed the first place prize of $350,000 in 2008. Masten Space Systems qualified for the remaining second place prize on Oct. 7, 2009, with an average landing accuracy of 6.3 inches. Because there were no other qualifying Level 1 flights this year, the Masten team will receive the second place prize of $150,000.
NASA's Centennial Challenges program's goals are to drive progress in aerospace technology that is of value to NASA's missions; encourage participation of independent teams, individual inventors, student groups and private companies of all sizes in aerospace research and development; and find innovative solutions to technical challenges through competition and cooperation.
The Northop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is one of six Centennial Challenges managed by NASA's Innovative Partnership Program. The competition was managed for NASA at no cost to the taxpayer by the X PRIZE Foundation under a Space Act Agreement. NASA provided all of the prize funds.
For more information on Centennial Challenges, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/innovation_incubator/cc_home.html
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
-end-
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=29542
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
http://space.xprize.org/lunar-lander-challenge
One more time in case you missed it.
- LRK -
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http://www.youtube.com/user/xprize#p/a/0/lcys-t2thk8
Masten qualifies for Level2 of Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
From: xprize | October 31, 2009 | 216 views
On Oct 30, 2009, Team Masten qualified for Level 2 of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Hear what Dave Masten, Team Leader and CEO of Masten Space Systems felt like after successfully putting Xoieon the trailer at the end of Flight #2. Find out more at:
www.thelaunchpad.xprize.org
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcys-t2thk8&feature=channel
If you are still with me and think rocket science is easy, just read some of the Masten Space Systems story here.- LRK 0
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http://masten-space.com/blog/
Masten Space Systems Qualifies for $1 Million Prize admin on 10/30/2009 at 2:01 pm — General —Masten Space Systems Qualifies for $1 Million Prize FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mojave, California – October 30, 2009 – Masten Space Systems successfully qualified for first place in Level Two of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Wednesday. Flying a brand new vehicle named XA-0.1E (nicknamed Xoie), Masten demonstrated their ability to
build, debug and fly a vehicle on a very short timeline.
snip
750-3 Engine Module Development Update jongoff on 10/10/2009 at 4:49 am — General —
(This is a combination of Joel’s ARocket post and some more details from me — Jon)
750-3 Engine Development
At the time of my last detailed update, back in June, we had just flown our 60 second hover on our first aluminum chamber (the -2AS). A while after the flight, we disassembled the engine, and noticed that a critical weld joint had cracked and was leaking a little. The chamber also showed some sign of thermal warping. It hadn’t buckled, but it looked like it was getting hotter than we wanted. Shortly thereafter, the brazed aluminum chamber (the -2AB) also showed similar problems after an even smaller number of firings. We had never had an engine actually buckle in flight, and weren’t sure if it would damage other hardware, so we decided it was time to revisit our cooling design.
snip
The end result was that we were able to come up with a cooling channel geometry that looked substantially better than our old geometry, but with only 40% the original pressure drop. When we measured the pressure drop, that part of the calculation was within a few psi of what the model predicted, though the thermal stuff is harder to model.
In addition to the change in cooling channel geometry, I had also thinned out the wall substantially, rolling all those changes into two aluminum 750-3 chambers.
Unfortunately we ran into a buckling issues on these two engines. The first aluminum one failed due to some debris (a shard from an igniter o-ring) blocking the IPA injector ring in one section, leading to mixture ratio excursions and hot spots. The second one failed between firings, which led us to make some changes to make our shutdown sequence more thermally benign.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/innovation_incubator/cc_home.html
Innovative Partnership Program
snip
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http://spacefellowship.com/2009/09/13/armadillo-aerospace-claim-level-2-ngllc-prize/
Armadillo Aerospace Claim Level 2 NGLLC Prize
Published By Rob GoldsmithOn: 13 September 2009 9:02 AM CEST
Armadillo Aerospace have officially completed the 2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level 2, on a rainy day at Caddo Mills, Texas. Reports came in from various locations during the day and spectators posted videos and images using social networking tools such
as Twitter. The Space Fellowship earlier reporting that the team were getting ready to fly.
Level 2 requires the rocket to fly for 180 seconds before landing precisely on a simulated lunar surface constructed with craters and boulders. The minimum flight times are calculated so that the Level 2 mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real descent from lunar orbit down to the surface of the Moon. First place is a prize of $1 million while second is $500,000.
Earlier on in the day John Carmack (Team Leader) had made jokes about the wet weather, saying “at least we don’t have to worry about grassfires today” As the rain eased away a window was expected to appear in which the team would attempt to win the prize. The team had a pre-flight meeting and got ready, Peter Diamandis posting “Team Armadillo on the move… rolling out to launchpad!“. The vehicle for level 2 is called Scorpious or the Super MOD.
The team completed the first flight, John Carmack on the radio saying “good nominal flight, one down, one to go“. The vehicle was refuelled and flight preparations were again underway. At 6.22pm EDT there was a problem with the igniter, however, eight minutes later it was reported
that the problem was a software glitch and that the second leg had been flown successfully.
To complete the prize the team now needed to prep the vehicle and return to the finish line, they did it. Soon afterwards judges announced that Armadillo Aerospace had officially been confirmed as completing both flights within the rules.
snip
==============================================================
http://masten-space.com/blog/
Masten Space Systems Qualifies for $1 Million Prize
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
admin on 10/30/2009 at 2:01 pm
Mojave, California – October 30, 2009 – Masten Space Systems successfully qualified for first place in Level Two of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Wednesday. Flying a brand new vehicle named XA-0.1E (nicknamed Xoie), Masten demonstrated their ability to
build, debug and fly a vehicle on a very short timeline.
“To come from not flying at all last year to qualifying for level one AND level two of the LLC this year shows how far our technology has progressed,” Masten Space Systems CEO David Masten said. “After a short vacation we will start modifying Xoie for commercial payloads and begin work on Xoie’s successor.”
Xoie is a larger, lightweight version of Masten’s Level One vehicle Xombie and features an aluminum structure, larger tanks and a more powerful engine. Originally designed for only 750 pounds of thrust, Xoie’s engine produces over 1000 pounds of thrust. “Our engines go to 11! Now we go build the 2500 pound version,” stated MSS propulsion engineer Jonathan Goff. A visibly exhausted but happy Ian Garcia, guidance engineer, said, “We wrote our flight control system from scratch and it just does what I tell it to do! Making it work for supersonic flight is going to be a fun challenge.”
snip
==============================================================
http://thelaunchpad.xprize.org/2009/10/masten-qualifies-for-150000-level-1.html
The Launch Pad
NGLLC 09: Masten Qualifies for $150,000 Level 1 Prize Purse 10/07/2009 12:51:00 PM
Masten Space Systems successfully flew their Xombie vehicle today, completing two flights and meeting the Level 1 requirements of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
Masten had a previous attempt on September 16, 2009, but did not complete the second flight due to engine damage. Masten went back to their workshop and solved the engine problem, tested it over the last several weeks and today flew an aluminum engine, making this the first
known flight of such an engine on a reusable launch vehicle (Armadillo Aerospace also flew a aluminum engine for their September 12, 2009 flight, although also utilized a graphite liner).
Amidst chants of "Fly Xombie, fly!", the first flight lasted about 93 seconds and the vehicle landed ~20 cm from the center of the pad; almost a perfect repeat of their first NGLLC flight. The second flight lasted 91 seconds and the vehicle landed 11 cm from the center of the pad -- an impressive feat indeed (all numbers preliminary until judges declare them official).
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------
http://space.xprize.org/lunar-lander-challenge
2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X PRIZE Challenge
---------------------------------------------------------------------
It is official, see the NASA announcement.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/nov/HQ_09-258-Lunar_Lander.html
Nov. 02, 2009
Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761
sonja.r.alexander@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 09-258
NASA AND X PRIZE ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF LUNAR LANDER CHALLENGE
WASHINGTON -- NASA will award $1.65 million in prize money Thursday to a pair of innovative aerospace companies that successfully simulated landing a spacecraft on the moon and lifting off again.
NASA's Centennial Challenges program will give a $1 million first prize to Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif., and a $500,000 second prize to Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Tex., for their Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge flights. The competition was managed by the X PRIZE Foundation. The Northrop Grumman Corporation is a commercial sponsor that provided operating funds for the contest to the X PRIZE Foundation.
An awards ceremony for the winning teams will be held at noon on Nov. 5 in room 2325 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington.
Journalists should contact Sonja Alexander at 202-358-1761 for more information about the ceremony.
The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge involves building and flying a rocket-powered vehicle that simulates the flight of a vehicle on the moon. The lander must take off vertically then travel horizontally, flying a mission profile designed to demonstrate both power and control before landing accurately at another spot. The same vehicle then must take off again, travel horizontally back to its original takeoff point and land successfully, all within a two-hour-and-15-minute time period.
The challenge requires exacting control and navigation, as well as precise control of engine thrust, all done automatically. The rocket's engine must be started twice in a short time with no ground servicing other than refueling. This represents the technical challenges involved in operating a reusable vehicle that could land on the moon.
The prize purse is divided into first and second prizes for Level 1 and Level 2. Level 1 requires a flight duration of at least 90 seconds on each flight and Level 2 requires a duration of at least 180
seconds. One of the landings for a Level 2 attempt must be made on a simulated lunar terrain with rocks and craters.
Masten Space Systems met the Level 2 requirements by achieving accurate landings and captured the first place prize during flights of their "Xoie" (pronounced "Zoey") vehicle Oct. 30 at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Masten also claimed a $150,000 prize as part of the Level 1 competition.
Armadillo Aerospace was the first team to qualify for the Level 2 prize with successful flights of its Scorpius rocket Sept. 12 in Caddo Mills, Tex. Armadillo placed second in the Level 2 competition, earning a $500,000 prize.
The average landing accuracy determined which teams would receive first and second place prizes. The Masten team achieved an average accuracy of 7.5 inches while Armadillo Aerospace's average accuracy was 34 inches.
The events of the past two months have brought the four-year Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge to a conclusion. All $2 million in prize money has been awarded.
"The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge has had its intended impact, with impressive performances by multiple teams representing a new generation of aerospace entrepreneurs" said Andrew Petro, NASA's Centennial Challenge program manager at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. "These companies have demonstrated reusable vehicles with rapid turnaround and a surprising degree of precision in flight, and they have done all this at a much lower cost than many thought possible."
Four teams had been in pursuit of the 2009 Lunar Lander Challenge prizes during the competition that opened in July. The BonNova team dropped out of the competition last week. Unreasonable Rocket, a father-and-son team from Solana Beach, Calif., conducted flight
attempts during the final days of the competition but did not complete any qualifying flights.
In the Level 1 competition, Armadillo Aerospace previously claimed the first place prize of $350,000 in 2008. Masten Space Systems qualified for the remaining second place prize on Oct. 7, 2009, with an average landing accuracy of 6.3 inches. Because there were no other qualifying Level 1 flights this year, the Masten team will receive the second place prize of $150,000.
NASA's Centennial Challenges program's goals are to drive progress in aerospace technology that is of value to NASA's missions; encourage participation of independent teams, individual inventors, student groups and private companies of all sizes in aerospace research and development; and find innovative solutions to technical challenges through competition and cooperation.
The Northop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is one of six Centennial Challenges managed by NASA's Innovative Partnership Program. The competition was managed for NASA at no cost to the taxpayer by the X PRIZE Foundation under a Space Act Agreement. NASA provided all of the prize funds.
For more information on Centennial Challenges, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/innovation_incubator/cc_home.html
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
-end-
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=29542
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
http://space.xprize.org/lunar-lander-challenge
One more time in case you missed it.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/user/xprize#p/a/0/lcys-t2thk8
Masten qualifies for Level2 of Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
From: xprize | October 31, 2009 | 216 views
On Oct 30, 2009, Team Masten qualified for Level 2 of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Hear what Dave Masten, Team Leader and CEO of Masten Space Systems felt like after successfully putting Xoieon the trailer at the end of Flight #2. Find out more at:
www.thelaunchpad.xprize.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcys-t2thk8&feature=channel
If you are still with me and think rocket science is easy, just read some of the Masten Space Systems story here.- LRK 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://masten-space.com/blog/
Masten Space Systems Qualifies for $1 Million Prize admin on 10/30/2009 at 2:01 pm — General —Masten Space Systems Qualifies for $1 Million Prize FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mojave, California – October 30, 2009 – Masten Space Systems successfully qualified for first place in Level Two of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Wednesday. Flying a brand new vehicle named XA-0.1E (nicknamed Xoie), Masten demonstrated their ability to
build, debug and fly a vehicle on a very short timeline.
snip
750-3 Engine Module Development Update jongoff on 10/10/2009 at 4:49 am — General —
(This is a combination of Joel’s ARocket post and some more details from me — Jon)
750-3 Engine Development
At the time of my last detailed update, back in June, we had just flown our 60 second hover on our first aluminum chamber (the -2AS). A while after the flight, we disassembled the engine, and noticed that a critical weld joint had cracked and was leaking a little. The chamber also showed some sign of thermal warping. It hadn’t buckled, but it looked like it was getting hotter than we wanted. Shortly thereafter, the brazed aluminum chamber (the -2AB) also showed similar problems after an even smaller number of firings. We had never had an engine actually buckle in flight, and weren’t sure if it would damage other hardware, so we decided it was time to revisit our cooling design.
snip
The end result was that we were able to come up with a cooling channel geometry that looked substantially better than our old geometry, but with only 40% the original pressure drop. When we measured the pressure drop, that part of the calculation was within a few psi of what the model predicted, though the thermal stuff is harder to model.
In addition to the change in cooling channel geometry, I had also thinned out the wall substantially, rolling all those changes into two aluminum 750-3 chambers.
Unfortunately we ran into a buckling issues on these two engines. The first aluminum one failed due to some debris (a shard from an igniter o-ring) blocking the IPA injector ring in one section, leading to mixture ratio excursions and hot spots. The second one failed between firings, which led us to make some changes to make our shutdown sequence more thermally benign.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/innovation_incubator/cc_home.html
Innovative Partnership Program
snip
==============================================================
http://spacefellowship.com/2009/09/13/armadillo-aerospace-claim-level-2-ngllc-prize/
Armadillo Aerospace Claim Level 2 NGLLC Prize
Published By Rob GoldsmithOn: 13 September 2009 9:02 AM CEST
Armadillo Aerospace have officially completed the 2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level 2, on a rainy day at Caddo Mills, Texas. Reports came in from various locations during the day and spectators posted videos and images using social networking tools such
as Twitter. The Space Fellowship earlier reporting that the team were getting ready to fly.
Level 2 requires the rocket to fly for 180 seconds before landing precisely on a simulated lunar surface constructed with craters and boulders. The minimum flight times are calculated so that the Level 2 mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real descent from lunar orbit down to the surface of the Moon. First place is a prize of $1 million while second is $500,000.
Earlier on in the day John Carmack (Team Leader) had made jokes about the wet weather, saying “at least we don’t have to worry about grassfires today” As the rain eased away a window was expected to appear in which the team would attempt to win the prize. The team had a pre-flight meeting and got ready, Peter Diamandis posting “Team Armadillo on the move… rolling out to launchpad!“. The vehicle for level 2 is called Scorpious or the Super MOD.
The team completed the first flight, John Carmack on the radio saying “good nominal flight, one down, one to go“. The vehicle was refuelled and flight preparations were again underway. At 6.22pm EDT there was a problem with the igniter, however, eight minutes later it was reported
that the problem was a software glitch and that the second leg had been flown successfully.
To complete the prize the team now needed to prep the vehicle and return to the finish line, they did it. Soon afterwards judges announced that Armadillo Aerospace had officially been confirmed as completing both flights within the rules.
snip
==============================================================
http://masten-space.com/blog/
Masten Space Systems Qualifies for $1 Million Prize
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
admin on 10/30/2009 at 2:01 pm
Mojave, California – October 30, 2009 – Masten Space Systems successfully qualified for first place in Level Two of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Wednesday. Flying a brand new vehicle named XA-0.1E (nicknamed Xoie), Masten demonstrated their ability to
build, debug and fly a vehicle on a very short timeline.
“To come from not flying at all last year to qualifying for level one AND level two of the LLC this year shows how far our technology has progressed,” Masten Space Systems CEO David Masten said. “After a short vacation we will start modifying Xoie for commercial payloads and begin work on Xoie’s successor.”
Xoie is a larger, lightweight version of Masten’s Level One vehicle Xombie and features an aluminum structure, larger tanks and a more powerful engine. Originally designed for only 750 pounds of thrust, Xoie’s engine produces over 1000 pounds of thrust. “Our engines go to 11! Now we go build the 2500 pound version,” stated MSS propulsion engineer Jonathan Goff. A visibly exhausted but happy Ian Garcia, guidance engineer, said, “We wrote our flight control system from scratch and it just does what I tell it to do! Making it work for supersonic flight is going to be a fun challenge.”
snip
==============================================================
http://thelaunchpad.xprize.org/2009/10/masten-qualifies-for-150000-level-1.html
The Launch Pad
NGLLC 09: Masten Qualifies for $150,000 Level 1 Prize Purse 10/07/2009 12:51:00 PM
Masten Space Systems successfully flew their Xombie vehicle today, completing two flights and meeting the Level 1 requirements of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
Masten had a previous attempt on September 16, 2009, but did not complete the second flight due to engine damage. Masten went back to their workshop and solved the engine problem, tested it over the last several weeks and today flew an aluminum engine, making this the first
known flight of such an engine on a reusable launch vehicle (Armadillo Aerospace also flew a aluminum engine for their September 12, 2009 flight, although also utilized a graphite liner).
Amidst chants of "Fly Xombie, fly!", the first flight lasted about 93 seconds and the vehicle landed ~20 cm from the center of the pad; almost a perfect repeat of their first NGLLC flight. The second flight lasted 91 seconds and the vehicle landed 11 cm from the center of the pad -- an impressive feat indeed (all numbers preliminary until judges declare them official).
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
EXPEDITION WEEK: Mars: Making the New Earth - Thursday, November 19 at 9PM ET/PT
Corrie Oberdin - Social Media & Digital PR Consultant, sent me a note about some upcoming shows on the National Geographic Channel. One of them has to do with making the environment on Mars more habitable should we ever get around to going there.
While I was at NASA Ames I attended one of the work shops that talked about terraforming Mars. It might be interesting to see what Dr. Chris McKay has to say about the subject.- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/expedition-week/4588/Overview
The notion of bringing Mars to life -- transforming a cold, dry, uninhabitable desert into a living planet -- called terraforming, has been around for almost a century. Initially just a science fiction concept, it has become a subject of serious scientific investigation.
NASA astrobiologist Dr. Chris McKay has spent 30 years researching extreme environments to understand the potential of such planetary engineering. On the surface, the red planet's freeze-dried world of rocks, ice and dust looks like an unlikely place to plant a garden. But rocks and minerals found by the Mars rovers show it must once have had warmer, habitable living conditions. Now, using photorealistic CGI visualizations, we'll make a science fiction dream of Mars -- a world of trees, rivers and blue skies -- a plausible future, bringing it to life after three and a half billion years in a deep freeze.
snip
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/expedition-week/4588/Videos/07257_00#tab-Videos/07257_00
Video "Preview: Mars: Making the New Earth" - An 18,500 foot volcano in Mexico is a living laboratory for NASA scientist Chris McKay as he investigates how to transform Mars from a cold, dead planet into a living world like planet Earth.
-------------------------------------------
A bit about Dr. McKay.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://spacescience.arc.nasa.gov/people/mckay/
Principal Scientific Interests and Brief Background:
Dr. Christopher P. McKay, Planetary Scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames. Chris received his Ph.D. in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and has been a research scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center since that time. His current research focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human exploration. Chris been involved in research in Mars-like environments on Earth, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys, Siberia, the Canadian Arctic, and the Atacama desert to study life in these Mars-like environments. His was a co-I on the Titan Huygen's probe in 2005, the Mars Phoenix lander misson for 2007, and the Mars Science Lander mission for 2009.
snip
-------------------------------------------
Dr. McKay on YouTube.
Hmmm, I remember him with a beard, clean shaved here.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
Tiny URL for some YouTube clips found with Google search for Dr. Chris McKay NASA Ames
http://tinyurl.com/yc654sc
-------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars
The terraforming of Mars is the hypothetical process by which the climate, surface, and known properties of Mars would be deliberately changed with the goal of making it habitable by humans and other terrestrial life, thus providing the possibility of safe and sustainable colonization of large areas of the planet.
Based on experiences with Earth, the environment of a planet can be altered deliberately; however, the feasibility of creating an unconstrained planetary biosphere is undetermined. Several of the methods described below may fall within humanity's current technological capabilities, but at present the economic resources required to execute such methods are far beyond that which any government or society is willing to allocate.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy
The Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicle the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries. Ultimately, more utopian than dystopian, the story focuses on egalitarian, sociological, and scientific advances made on Mars, while Earth suffers from overpopulation and ecological disaster.
The three novels are Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993), and Blue Mars (1996). An additional collection of short stories and background information was published as The Martians (1999). The main trilogy won a number of prestigious awards.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.astrobiology.com/terraforming.html
The Astrobiology Web: Your Online Guide to the Living Universe TM Terraforming
[Some links broken but enough to give you some information. - LRK -]
http://www.astrobiology.com/
http://www.astrobiology.net/
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
While I was at NASA Ames I attended one of the work shops that talked about terraforming Mars. It might be interesting to see what Dr. Chris McKay has to say about the subject.- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/expedition-week/4588/Overview
The notion of bringing Mars to life -- transforming a cold, dry, uninhabitable desert into a living planet -- called terraforming, has been around for almost a century. Initially just a science fiction concept, it has become a subject of serious scientific investigation.
NASA astrobiologist Dr. Chris McKay has spent 30 years researching extreme environments to understand the potential of such planetary engineering. On the surface, the red planet's freeze-dried world of rocks, ice and dust looks like an unlikely place to plant a garden. But rocks and minerals found by the Mars rovers show it must once have had warmer, habitable living conditions. Now, using photorealistic CGI visualizations, we'll make a science fiction dream of Mars -- a world of trees, rivers and blue skies -- a plausible future, bringing it to life after three and a half billion years in a deep freeze.
snip
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/expedition-week/4588/Videos/07257_00#tab-Videos/07257_00
Video "Preview: Mars: Making the New Earth" - An 18,500 foot volcano in Mexico is a living laboratory for NASA scientist Chris McKay as he investigates how to transform Mars from a cold, dead planet into a living world like planet Earth.
-------------------------------------------
A bit about Dr. McKay.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://spacescience.arc.nasa.gov/people/mckay/
Principal Scientific Interests and Brief Background:
Dr. Christopher P. McKay, Planetary Scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames. Chris received his Ph.D. in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and has been a research scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center since that time. His current research focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human exploration. Chris been involved in research in Mars-like environments on Earth, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys, Siberia, the Canadian Arctic, and the Atacama desert to study life in these Mars-like environments. His was a co-I on the Titan Huygen's probe in 2005, the Mars Phoenix lander misson for 2007, and the Mars Science Lander mission for 2009.
snip
-------------------------------------------
Dr. McKay on YouTube.
Hmmm, I remember him with a beard, clean shaved here.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
Tiny URL for some YouTube clips found with Google search for Dr. Chris McKay NASA Ames
http://tinyurl.com/yc654sc
-------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars
The terraforming of Mars is the hypothetical process by which the climate, surface, and known properties of Mars would be deliberately changed with the goal of making it habitable by humans and other terrestrial life, thus providing the possibility of safe and sustainable colonization of large areas of the planet.
Based on experiences with Earth, the environment of a planet can be altered deliberately; however, the feasibility of creating an unconstrained planetary biosphere is undetermined. Several of the methods described below may fall within humanity's current technological capabilities, but at present the economic resources required to execute such methods are far beyond that which any government or society is willing to allocate.
snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy
The Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicle the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries. Ultimately, more utopian than dystopian, the story focuses on egalitarian, sociological, and scientific advances made on Mars, while Earth suffers from overpopulation and ecological disaster.
The three novels are Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993), and Blue Mars (1996). An additional collection of short stories and background information was published as The Martians (1999). The main trilogy won a number of prestigious awards.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.astrobiology.com/terraforming.html
The Astrobiology Web: Your Online Guide to the Living Universe TM Terraforming
[Some links broken but enough to give you some information. - LRK -]
http://www.astrobiology.com/
http://www.astrobiology.net/
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
http://space.xprize.org/lunar-lander-challenge
Watching the future unfold in real time.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://spacefellowship.com/2009/09/13/armadillo-aerospace-claim-level-2-ngllc-prize/
Armadillo Aerospace Claim Level 2 NGLLC Prize
Published By Rob GoldsmithOn: 13 September 2009 9:02 AM CEST
Armadillo Aerospace have officially completed the 2009 Northrop
Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level 2, on a rainy day at Caddo Mills,
Texas. Reports came in from various locations during the day and
spectators posted videos and images using social networking tools such
as Twitter. The Space Fellowship earlier reporting that the team were
getting ready to fly.
Level 2 requires the rocket to fly for 180 seconds before landing
precisely on a simulated lunar surface constructed with craters and
boulders. The minimum flight times are calculated so that the Level 2
mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real descent
from lunar orbit down to the surface of the Moon. First place is a
prize of $1 million while second is $500,000.
Earlier on in the day John Carmack (Team Leader) had made jokes about
the wet weather, saying “at least we don’t have to worry about
grassfires today” As the rain eased away a window was expected to
appear in which the team would attempt to win the prize. The team had
a pre-flight meeting and got ready, Peter Diamandis posting “Team
Armadillo on the move… rolling out to launchpad!“. The vehicle for
level 2 is called Scorpious or the Super MOD.
The team completed the first flight, John Carmack on the radio saying
“good nominal flight, one down, one to go“. The vehicle was refuelled
and flight preparations were again underway. At 6.22pm EDT there was a
problem with the igniter, however, eight minutes later it was reported
that the problem was a software glitch and that the second leg had
been flown successfully.
To complete the prize the team now needed to prep the vehicle and
return to the finish line, they did it. Soon afterwards judges
announced that Armadillo Aerospace had officially been confirmed as
completing both flights within the rules.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Has been interesting watching these rocket fly.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://thelaunchpad.xprize.org/2009/10/masten-qualifies-for-150000-level-1.html
The Launch Pad
NGLLC 09: Masten Qualifies for $150,000 Level 1 Prize Purse
10/07/2009 12:51:00 PM
Masten Space Systems successfully flew their Xombie vehicle today,
completing two flights and meeting the Level 1 requirements of the
Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
Masten had a previous attempt on September 16, 2009, but did not
complete the second flight due to engine damage. Masten went back to
their workshop and solved the engine problem, tested it over the last
several weeks and today flew an aluminum engine, making this the first
known flight of such an engine on a reusable launch vehicle (Armadillo
Aerospace also flew a aluminum engine for their September 12, 2009
flight, although also utilized a graphite liner).
Amidst chants of "Fly Xombie, fly!", the first flight lasted about 93
seconds and the vehicle landed ~20 cm from the center of the pad;
almost a perfect repeat of their first NGLLC flight. The second flight
lasted 91 seconds and the vehicle landed 11 cm from the center of the
pad -- an impressive feat indeed (all numbers preliminary until judges
declare them official).
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://masten-space.com/blog/
Masten Space Systems Qualifies for $1 Million Prize
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
admin on 10/30/2009 at 2:01 pm
Mojave, California – October 30, 2009 – Masten Space Systems
successfully qualified for first place in Level Two of the Northrop
Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Wednesday. Flying a brand new vehicle
named XA-0.1E (nicknamed Xoie), Masten demonstrated their ability to
build, debug and fly a vehicle on a very short timeline.
“To come from not flying at all last year to qualifying for level one
AND level two of the LLC this year shows how far our technology has
progressed,” Masten Space Systems CEO David Masten said. “After a
short vacation we will start modifying Xoie for commercial payloads
and begin work on Xoie’s successor.”
Xoie is a larger, lightweight version of Masten’s Level One vehicle
Xombie and features an aluminum structure, larger tanks and a more
powerful engine. Originally designed for only 750 pounds of thrust,
Xoie’s engine produces over 1000 pounds of thrust. “Our engines go to
11! Now we go build the 2500 pound version,” stated MSS propulsion
engineer Jonathan Goff. A visibly exhausted but happy Ian Garcia,
guidance engineer, said, “We wrote our flight control system from
scratch and it just does what I tell it to do! Making it work for
supersonic flight is going to be a fun challenge.”
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today live from the Mojave.
http://far.pyroinnovations.com/
Friends of Amateur Rocketry is a licensed non-profit organization
dedicated to further innovation in the field of experimental rocketry.
F.A.R. conducts launches once a month at the F.A.R. Rocket Test
Facility (RTF) in the Mojave desert near Cantil, CA.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/user/xprize#p/a/0/lcys-t2thk8
Masten qualifies for Level2 of Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
From: xprize | October 31, 2009 | 216 views
On Oct 30, 2009, Team Masten qualified for Level 2 of the Northrop
Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Hear what Dave Masten, Team Leader and
CEO of Masten Space Systems felt like after successfully putting Xoie
on the trailer at the end of Flight #2. Find out more at:
www.thelaunchpad.xprize.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcys-t2thk8&feature=channel
Live streaming for October 31, 2009 of the Unreasonable Rocket, Level
1 and Level 2 attempts for the Northrup Grumman Lunar Lander
Challenge.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/northrop-grumman-lunar-lander-challenge
Back to the show.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://www.mikemassee.com/gallery/v/aviationandspace/masten_level_II_lunar_lander/
Masten Space Level II Lunar Lander Challenge (Xoie)
Masten's first attempt at the Lunar Lander Challenge Level II - there
was a small fire after the first flight which ended the attempt, but
there may be another on Friday.
http://www.mikemassee.com/about.html
About the Artist
Hello and thanks for visiting my site. I'm a professional
photographer, cinematographer, solids modeler, graphics artist,
photoshop expert, broadcast engineer, adventurer, traveller, foodie,
recovering 3D animator and occasional web coder.
I hope you enjoy my photos as much as I enjoyed taking them, along
with all the other content on this site.
snip
http://www.mikemassee.com/index.php
Home
snip
==============================================================
http://twitter.com/ngllc09
NGLLC09
Next attempt for Blue will be early this afternoon, @unrocket thinks. #ngllc
5 minutes ago from web
snip
==============================================================
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/
Google Lunar X-Prize
Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Live
Webcast starts on Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 9am PST / 16:00 UTC
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
http://space.xprize.org/lunar-lander-challenge
Watching the future unfold in real time.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://spacefellowship.com/2009/09/13/armadillo-aerospace-claim-level-2-ngllc-prize/
Armadillo Aerospace Claim Level 2 NGLLC Prize
Published By Rob GoldsmithOn: 13 September 2009 9:02 AM CEST
Armadillo Aerospace have officially completed the 2009 Northrop
Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level 2, on a rainy day at Caddo Mills,
Texas. Reports came in from various locations during the day and
spectators posted videos and images using social networking tools such
as Twitter. The Space Fellowship earlier reporting that the team were
getting ready to fly.
Level 2 requires the rocket to fly for 180 seconds before landing
precisely on a simulated lunar surface constructed with craters and
boulders. The minimum flight times are calculated so that the Level 2
mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real descent
from lunar orbit down to the surface of the Moon. First place is a
prize of $1 million while second is $500,000.
Earlier on in the day John Carmack (Team Leader) had made jokes about
the wet weather, saying “at least we don’t have to worry about
grassfires today” As the rain eased away a window was expected to
appear in which the team would attempt to win the prize. The team had
a pre-flight meeting and got ready, Peter Diamandis posting “Team
Armadillo on the move… rolling out to launchpad!“. The vehicle for
level 2 is called Scorpious or the Super MOD.
The team completed the first flight, John Carmack on the radio saying
“good nominal flight, one down, one to go“. The vehicle was refuelled
and flight preparations were again underway. At 6.22pm EDT there was a
problem with the igniter, however, eight minutes later it was reported
that the problem was a software glitch and that the second leg had
been flown successfully.
To complete the prize the team now needed to prep the vehicle and
return to the finish line, they did it. Soon afterwards judges
announced that Armadillo Aerospace had officially been confirmed as
completing both flights within the rules.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Has been interesting watching these rocket fly.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://thelaunchpad.xprize.org/2009/10/masten-qualifies-for-150000-level-1.html
The Launch Pad
NGLLC 09: Masten Qualifies for $150,000 Level 1 Prize Purse
10/07/2009 12:51:00 PM
Masten Space Systems successfully flew their Xombie vehicle today,
completing two flights and meeting the Level 1 requirements of the
Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
Masten had a previous attempt on September 16, 2009, but did not
complete the second flight due to engine damage. Masten went back to
their workshop and solved the engine problem, tested it over the last
several weeks and today flew an aluminum engine, making this the first
known flight of such an engine on a reusable launch vehicle (Armadillo
Aerospace also flew a aluminum engine for their September 12, 2009
flight, although also utilized a graphite liner).
Amidst chants of "Fly Xombie, fly!", the first flight lasted about 93
seconds and the vehicle landed ~20 cm from the center of the pad;
almost a perfect repeat of their first NGLLC flight. The second flight
lasted 91 seconds and the vehicle landed 11 cm from the center of the
pad -- an impressive feat indeed (all numbers preliminary until judges
declare them official).
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://masten-space.com/blog/
Masten Space Systems Qualifies for $1 Million Prize
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
admin on 10/30/2009 at 2:01 pm
Mojave, California – October 30, 2009 – Masten Space Systems
successfully qualified for first place in Level Two of the Northrop
Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Wednesday. Flying a brand new vehicle
named XA-0.1E (nicknamed Xoie), Masten demonstrated their ability to
build, debug and fly a vehicle on a very short timeline.
“To come from not flying at all last year to qualifying for level one
AND level two of the LLC this year shows how far our technology has
progressed,” Masten Space Systems CEO David Masten said. “After a
short vacation we will start modifying Xoie for commercial payloads
and begin work on Xoie’s successor.”
Xoie is a larger, lightweight version of Masten’s Level One vehicle
Xombie and features an aluminum structure, larger tanks and a more
powerful engine. Originally designed for only 750 pounds of thrust,
Xoie’s engine produces over 1000 pounds of thrust. “Our engines go to
11! Now we go build the 2500 pound version,” stated MSS propulsion
engineer Jonathan Goff. A visibly exhausted but happy Ian Garcia,
guidance engineer, said, “We wrote our flight control system from
scratch and it just does what I tell it to do! Making it work for
supersonic flight is going to be a fun challenge.”
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today live from the Mojave.
http://far.pyroinnovations.com/
Friends of Amateur Rocketry is a licensed non-profit organization
dedicated to further innovation in the field of experimental rocketry.
F.A.R. conducts launches once a month at the F.A.R. Rocket Test
Facility (RTF) in the Mojave desert near Cantil, CA.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/user/xprize#p/a/0/lcys-t2thk8
Masten qualifies for Level2 of Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
From: xprize | October 31, 2009 | 216 views
On Oct 30, 2009, Team Masten qualified for Level 2 of the Northrop
Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Hear what Dave Masten, Team Leader and
CEO of Masten Space Systems felt like after successfully putting Xoie
on the trailer at the end of Flight #2. Find out more at:
www.thelaunchpad.xprize.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcys-t2thk8&feature=channel
Live streaming for October 31, 2009 of the Unreasonable Rocket, Level
1 and Level 2 attempts for the Northrup Grumman Lunar Lander
Challenge.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/northrop-grumman-lunar-lander-challenge
Back to the show.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://www.mikemassee.com/gallery/v/aviationandspace/masten_level_II_lunar_lander/
Masten Space Level II Lunar Lander Challenge (Xoie)
Masten's first attempt at the Lunar Lander Challenge Level II - there
was a small fire after the first flight which ended the attempt, but
there may be another on Friday.
http://www.mikemassee.com/about.html
About the Artist
Hello and thanks for visiting my site. I'm a professional
photographer, cinematographer, solids modeler, graphics artist,
photoshop expert, broadcast engineer, adventurer, traveller, foodie,
recovering 3D animator and occasional web coder.
I hope you enjoy my photos as much as I enjoyed taking them, along
with all the other content on this site.
snip
http://www.mikemassee.com/index.php
Home
snip
==============================================================
http://twitter.com/ngllc09
NGLLC09
Next attempt for Blue will be early this afternoon, @unrocket thinks. #ngllc
5 minutes ago from web
snip
==============================================================
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/
Google Lunar X-Prize
Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Live
Webcast starts on Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 9am PST / 16:00 UTC
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
LRO - Apollo 17 Lunar Module Landing Site
It now seems we can see some pictures of the Apollo 17 landing site
from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
- LRK -
------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc_20091028_apollo.html
LRO - Apollo 17 Lunar Module Landing Site
Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger descent stage comes into focus from
the new lower 50 km mapping orbit, image width 102 meters. Credit:
NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/397620main_challenger_4x_350.jpg
LRO maneuvered into its 50-km mapping orbit on September 15. The next
pass over the Apollo 17 landing site resulted in images with more than
two times better resolution than previously acquired. At the time of
this recent overflight the Sun was high in the sky (28° incidence
angle) helping to bring out subtle differences in surface brightness.
The descent stage of the lunar module Challenger is now clearly
visible, at 50 cm per pixel (angular resolution) the descent stage
deck is 8 pixels across (4 meters), also note that the legs are also
now distinguishable. The descent stage served as the launch pad for
the ascent stage as it blasted off for a rendezvous with the command
module America on 14 December 1972.
Tracks are clearly visible and can be followed to the east, where
astronauts Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan set up the Surface Electrical
Properties experiment (SEP). Cernan drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle
(LRV) in an intersecting north-south and east-west course to mark
positions for laying out the SEP 35-meter antennas (circle labeled
"SEP" marks the area of the SEP transmitter). The dark area just below
the SEP experiment is where the astronauts left the rover, in a prime
spot for monitoring the liftoff.
snip
------------------------------------
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=32693
LRO Image of Apollo 17 Landing Site
LRO maneuvered into its 50-km mapping orbit on September 15. The next
pass over the Apollo 17 landing site resulted in images with more than
two times better resolution than previously acquired. At the time of
this recent overflight the Sun was high in the sky (28° incidence
angle) helping to bring out subtle differences in surface brightness.
The descent stage of the lunar module Challenger is now clearly
visible, at 50 cm per pixel (angular resolution) the descent stage
deck is 8 pixels across (4 meters), also note that the legs are also
now distinguishable. The descent stage served as the launch pad for
the ascent stage as it blasted off for a rendezvous with the command
module America on 14 December 1972.
------------------------------------
Also - http://www.onorbit.com/node/1658
A quick refresher on Apollo 17
- LRK -
------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo
program. It was the first night launch of a U.S. human spaceflight and
the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program. The
mission was launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, and
concluded on December 19. It remains both the most recent manned moon
landing and manned flight beyond low Earth orbit. It also broke
several records set by previous flights, including longest manned
lunar landing flight; longest total lunar surface extravehicular
activities; largest lunar sample return, and longest time in lunar
orbit.
snip
------------------------------------
Maybe you would like to read about what Apollo 17 mission was about.
- LRK -
------------------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/A17_PressKit.pdf
Press Kit
176 page PDF file
APOLLO 17 LAUNCH DECEMBER 6
The night launch of Apollo 17 on December 6 will be
visible to people on a large portion of the eastern seaborad
as the final United States manned lunar lhnding mission gets
underway.
------------------------------------
We have had access to a lot of Apollo images from the actual mission time frame.
Off course some would probably say they were all part of lunar hoax. :-)
- LRK -
------------------------------------
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Apollo Image Atlas
Foreword
Scanning and Processing Information
Credits
The Apollo Image Atlas can be accessed in the following ways:
Browse Image Catalog
70mm Hasselblad
Mapping (Metric)
Panoramic
Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera (ALSCC)
35mm Nikon
Search
Search by Feature Name
Search by Coordinate
Search by Description
Slideshows
70mm Hasselblad
Mapping (Metric)
The Apollo Image Atlas is a comprehensive collection of Apollo-Saturn
mission photography. Included are almost 25,000 lunar images, both
from orbit and from the moon's surface, as well as photographs of the
earth, astronauts and mission hardware.
Other sites of interest:
Apollo Surface Panoramas
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollopanoramas/
Consolidated Lunar Atlas of the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/cla/
Lunar Orbiter Photo Gallery
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunarorbiter/
Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/
Ranger Photographs of the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/ranger/
USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/
------------------------------------
When will a tourist be able to snap their own pictures at these
historical sites?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo17info.html
Apollo 17
Launched: 7 December 1972 UT 05:33:00 (12:33:00 a.m. EST)
Landed on Moon: 11 December 1972 UT 19:54:57 (02:54:57 p.m. EST)
Landing Site: Taurus-Littrow (20.19 N, 30.77 E)
Returned to Earth: 19 December 1972 UT 19:24:59 (02:24:59 p.m. EST)
Eugene A. Cernan, commander
Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot
Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot
snip
==============================================================
If you like the numbers you will find them here. - LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00a_Cover.htm
APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS:
A Statistical Reference
by
Richard W. Orloff
NASA History Division
Office of Policy and Plans
NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC 20546
NASA SP-2000-4029
2000
Revised, September 2004
ISBN 0-16-050631-X
-----------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00g_Table_of_Contents.htm
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Dedication
About The Author
Apollo 1 - The Fire
Apollo 7 - The First Mission: Testing the CSM in Earth Orbit
Apollo 8 - The Second Mission: Testing the CSM in Lunar Orbit
Apollo 9 - The Third Mission: Testing the LM in Earth Orbit
Apollo 10 - The Fourth Mission: Testing the LM in Lunar Orbit
Apollo 11 - The Fifth Mission: The First Lunar Landing
Apollo 12 - The Sixth Mission: The Second Lunar Landing
Apollo 13 - The Seventh Mission: The Third Lunar Landing Attempt
Apollo 14 - The Eighth Mission: The Third Lunar Landing
Apollo 15 - The Ninth Mission: The Fourth Lunar Landing
Apollo 16 - The Tenth Mission: The Fifth Lunar Landing
Apollo 17 - The Eleventh Mission: The Sixth Lunar Landing
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_17a_Summary.htm
snip
==============================================================
http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal is a record of the lunar surface
operations conducted by the six pairs of astronauts who landed on the
Moon from 1969 through 1972. The Journal is intended as a resource for
anyone wanting to know what happened during the missions and why. It
includes a corrected transcript of all recorded conversations between
the lunar surface crews and Houston. The Journal also contains
extensive, interwoven commentary by the Editor and by ten of the
twelve moonwalking astronauts.
snip
==============================================================
http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/images17.html
Apollo 17 Image Library
This Apollo 17 Image Library contains all of the pictures taken on the
lunar surface by the astronauts together with pictures from pre-flight
training and pictures of equipment and the flight hardware.
High-resolution version of many of the lunar surface images are
included. A source for both thumbnail and low -resolution versions of
the lunar surface images is a website compiled by Paul Spudis and
colleagues at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
- LRK -
------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc_20091028_apollo.html
LRO - Apollo 17 Lunar Module Landing Site
Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger descent stage comes into focus from
the new lower 50 km mapping orbit, image width 102 meters. Credit:
NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/397620main_challenger_4x_350.jpg
LRO maneuvered into its 50-km mapping orbit on September 15. The next
pass over the Apollo 17 landing site resulted in images with more than
two times better resolution than previously acquired. At the time of
this recent overflight the Sun was high in the sky (28° incidence
angle) helping to bring out subtle differences in surface brightness.
The descent stage of the lunar module Challenger is now clearly
visible, at 50 cm per pixel (angular resolution) the descent stage
deck is 8 pixels across (4 meters), also note that the legs are also
now distinguishable. The descent stage served as the launch pad for
the ascent stage as it blasted off for a rendezvous with the command
module America on 14 December 1972.
Tracks are clearly visible and can be followed to the east, where
astronauts Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan set up the Surface Electrical
Properties experiment (SEP). Cernan drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle
(LRV) in an intersecting north-south and east-west course to mark
positions for laying out the SEP 35-meter antennas (circle labeled
"SEP" marks the area of the SEP transmitter). The dark area just below
the SEP experiment is where the astronauts left the rover, in a prime
spot for monitoring the liftoff.
snip
------------------------------------
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=32693
LRO Image of Apollo 17 Landing Site
LRO maneuvered into its 50-km mapping orbit on September 15. The next
pass over the Apollo 17 landing site resulted in images with more than
two times better resolution than previously acquired. At the time of
this recent overflight the Sun was high in the sky (28° incidence
angle) helping to bring out subtle differences in surface brightness.
The descent stage of the lunar module Challenger is now clearly
visible, at 50 cm per pixel (angular resolution) the descent stage
deck is 8 pixels across (4 meters), also note that the legs are also
now distinguishable. The descent stage served as the launch pad for
the ascent stage as it blasted off for a rendezvous with the command
module America on 14 December 1972.
------------------------------------
Also - http://www.onorbit.com/node/1658
A quick refresher on Apollo 17
- LRK -
------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo
program. It was the first night launch of a U.S. human spaceflight and
the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program. The
mission was launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, and
concluded on December 19. It remains both the most recent manned moon
landing and manned flight beyond low Earth orbit. It also broke
several records set by previous flights, including longest manned
lunar landing flight; longest total lunar surface extravehicular
activities; largest lunar sample return, and longest time in lunar
orbit.
snip
------------------------------------
Maybe you would like to read about what Apollo 17 mission was about.
- LRK -
------------------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/A17_PressKit.pdf
Press Kit
176 page PDF file
APOLLO 17 LAUNCH DECEMBER 6
The night launch of Apollo 17 on December 6 will be
visible to people on a large portion of the eastern seaborad
as the final United States manned lunar lhnding mission gets
underway.
------------------------------------
We have had access to a lot of Apollo images from the actual mission time frame.
Off course some would probably say they were all part of lunar hoax. :-)
- LRK -
------------------------------------
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Apollo Image Atlas
Foreword
Scanning and Processing Information
Credits
The Apollo Image Atlas can be accessed in the following ways:
Browse Image Catalog
70mm Hasselblad
Mapping (Metric)
Panoramic
Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera (ALSCC)
35mm Nikon
Search
Search by Feature Name
Search by Coordinate
Search by Description
Slideshows
70mm Hasselblad
Mapping (Metric)
The Apollo Image Atlas is a comprehensive collection of Apollo-Saturn
mission photography. Included are almost 25,000 lunar images, both
from orbit and from the moon's surface, as well as photographs of the
earth, astronauts and mission hardware.
Other sites of interest:
Apollo Surface Panoramas
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollopanoramas/
Consolidated Lunar Atlas of the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/cla/
Lunar Orbiter Photo Gallery
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunarorbiter/
Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/
Ranger Photographs of the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/ranger/
USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/
------------------------------------
When will a tourist be able to snap their own pictures at these
historical sites?
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo17info.html
Apollo 17
Launched: 7 December 1972 UT 05:33:00 (12:33:00 a.m. EST)
Landed on Moon: 11 December 1972 UT 19:54:57 (02:54:57 p.m. EST)
Landing Site: Taurus-Littrow (20.19 N, 30.77 E)
Returned to Earth: 19 December 1972 UT 19:24:59 (02:24:59 p.m. EST)
Eugene A. Cernan, commander
Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot
Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot
snip
==============================================================
If you like the numbers you will find them here. - LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00a_Cover.htm
APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS:
A Statistical Reference
by
Richard W. Orloff
NASA History Division
Office of Policy and Plans
NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC 20546
NASA SP-2000-4029
2000
Revised, September 2004
ISBN 0-16-050631-X
-----------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00g_Table_of_Contents.htm
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Dedication
About The Author
Apollo 1 - The Fire
Apollo 7 - The First Mission: Testing the CSM in Earth Orbit
Apollo 8 - The Second Mission: Testing the CSM in Lunar Orbit
Apollo 9 - The Third Mission: Testing the LM in Earth Orbit
Apollo 10 - The Fourth Mission: Testing the LM in Lunar Orbit
Apollo 11 - The Fifth Mission: The First Lunar Landing
Apollo 12 - The Sixth Mission: The Second Lunar Landing
Apollo 13 - The Seventh Mission: The Third Lunar Landing Attempt
Apollo 14 - The Eighth Mission: The Third Lunar Landing
Apollo 15 - The Ninth Mission: The Fourth Lunar Landing
Apollo 16 - The Tenth Mission: The Fifth Lunar Landing
Apollo 17 - The Eleventh Mission: The Sixth Lunar Landing
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_17a_Summary.htm
snip
==============================================================
http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal is a record of the lunar surface
operations conducted by the six pairs of astronauts who landed on the
Moon from 1969 through 1972. The Journal is intended as a resource for
anyone wanting to know what happened during the missions and why. It
includes a corrected transcript of all recorded conversations between
the lunar surface crews and Houston. The Journal also contains
extensive, interwoven commentary by the Editor and by ten of the
twelve moonwalking astronauts.
snip
==============================================================
http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/images17.html
Apollo 17 Image Library
This Apollo 17 Image Library contains all of the pictures taken on the
lunar surface by the astronauts together with pictures from pre-flight
training and pictures of equipment and the flight hardware.
High-resolution version of many of the lunar surface images are
included. A source for both thumbnail and low -resolution versions of
the lunar surface images is a website compiled by Paul Spudis and
colleagues at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
And now we wait - Why? - I ask.
The Augustine Commission final report is out and we wait to see when the government decides whether to fund or not to fund whatever it is they decide to fund or not!!!
- LRK -
--------------------------
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1499/1
And now we wait.
by Jeff Foust
Monday, October 26, 2009
For months the space community had been waiting for it, and on Thursday they finally got it: the final report of the Augustine committee. Jeff Foust reports on the reaction and how the report is the next step, but not the last step, in crafting a new space policy.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1499/1
--------------------------
I watched the press briefing on the Internet and have been reading through the 157 page PDF Augustine Report file.
I am not sure why we needed a blue ribbon panel of experts to tell us that Congress cut NASA's funding.
There is a cute interactive flash presentation for the Constellation program showing the Orion docking with the ISS as test of carrying astronauts to the ISS.
I guess that will just be another publication of proposed missions that never get completed.
Too many posters I have, of missions to nowhere.
- LRK -
Sort of hard to dock with the ISS if it is de-orbited before you have a rocket or a crew capsule to get there.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html
- LRK -
--------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/hsf/meetings/10_22_pressconference.html
Date and Time: October 22, 2009 - 1 pm EDT
Location Information:
Zenger Room of the National Press Club
529 14th St. NW, in Washington, D.C.
The Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee Chairman Norman Augustine will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT, on Thursday, Oct. 22, in the Zenger Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, in Washington.
Augustine will be accompanied by committee member Ed Crawley. Printed copies of the committee's final report will be available during the press conference.
Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee - Final Report (pdf, 7.7MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396093main_HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf
snip
Video link here as well as on the NASA site - LRK - http://vimeo.com/7270323
Also Senate hearings - http://vimeo.com/user1955131
--------------------------
I copied part of the Executive Summary from the Augustine Commission before and it has been suggested that I should have copied a bit more.
I have done so and unacceptable I think the comment is, that if we can't afford the money to achieve the goals we should accept the disappointment of setting lesser goals.
Why should I accept the disappointment?
Maybe I should accept the resignation of those in Congress that don't wish to fund our ability to develop space properly and maybe THEY should just accept the disappointment of not being re-elected.
- LRK -
--------------------------
The Augustine Commission issued its final report.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396093main_HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf
[7.9 MB, 157 pages ]
Review of Human Space Flight Plans Committee
p9. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources. Space operations are among the most demanding and unforgiving pursuits ever undertaken by humans. It really is rocket science. Space operations become all the more difficult when means do not match aspirations. Such is the case today.
The nation is facing important decisions on the future of human spaceflight. Will we leave the close proximity of low-Earth orbit, where astronauts have circled since 1972, and explore the solar system, charting a path for the eventual expansion of human civilization into space? If so, how will we ensure that our exploration delivers the greatest benefit to the nation? Can we explore with reasonable assurances of human safety? Can the nation marshal the resources to embark on the mission?
Whatever space program is ultimately selected, it must be matched with the resources needed for its execution. How can we marshal the necessary resources? There are actually more options available today than in 1961, when President Kennedy challenged the nation to “commit itself to the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
First, space exploration has become a global enterprise.
Many nations have aspirations in space, and the combined annual budgets of their space programs are comparable to NASA’s. If the United States is willing to lead a global program of exploration, sharing both the burden and benefit of space exploration in a meaningful way, significant accomplishments could follow. Actively engaging international partners in a manner adapted to today’s multi-polar world could strengthen geopolitical relationships, leverage global financial and technical resources, and enhance the exploration enterprise.
Second, there is now a burgeoning commercial space industry.
If we craft a space architecture to provide opportunities to this industry, there is the potential—not without risk—that the costs to the government would be reduced. Finally, we are also more experienced than in 1961, and able to build on that experience as we design an exploration program. If, after designing cleverly, building alliances with partners, and engaging commercial providers, the nation cannot afford to fund the effort to pursue the goals it would like to embrace, it should accept the disappointment of setting lesser goals.
snip
--------------------------
To fund or not to fund, that is the question.
Congress, are you listening?
To be re-elected, THAT is the question.
- LRK -
We need to learn to LIVE off world, NOT JUST GO CAMPING. - IMHO
Is this just going to be another web link that I have to go look up on the Web Archive? http://www.archive.org/index.php
http://web.archive.org/web/*hh_/www.nasa.gov/#
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/index.html
At the core of NASA's future space exploration is a return to the moon, where we will build a sustainable long term human presence.
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
NASA SETS ARES I-X PRELAUNCH EVENTS AND COUNTDOWN DETAILS
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/oct/HQ_M09-206_Ares_I-X.html
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- News conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are set for the upcoming Ares I-X flight test. The rocket is targeted to lift off at 8 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The launch will be carried live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's Web site.
A launch day blog will update the countdown beginning at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Originating from Kennedy, the blog is the definitive Internet source for information leading up to launch. To follow the blog, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/aresIX
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html
Launch Vehicle: Ares I-X
Targeted Launch Date: Oct. 27
Launch Window: 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39B
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
NASA's first flight test for the agency's next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system, called Ares I-X, will bring NASA one step closer to its exploration goals. The flight test will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.
More Information
› Prelaunch Events and Countdown Details
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/releases/2009/release-20091023b.html
› Ares I-X Press Kit (PDF, 3.2 MB )
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396682main_Ares_I-X-pk.pdf
› Ares I-X Fact Sheet (PDF, 1.0 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/354470main_aresIX_fs_may09.pdf
› Ares I-X Mission Specifications (PDF, 8 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/271630main_aresIx_flyer_090408.pdf
› Management Bios
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/AresIX_Bios.html
› Ares I-X Integration Map (PDF, 4 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/283121main_IX_%20Integrated_Map_10_9_08_CMR.pdf
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/altair/index.html
NASA Tests Engine Technology for Landing Astronauts on the Moon A technology development engine that may help NASA safely return astronauts to the lunar surface has successfully completed its third round of testing. The goal of these tests is to reduce risk and advance technology for a reliable and robust rocket engine that could enable America's next moon landing.
The tests by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in West Palm Beach, Fla., helped to gather data on this concept engine that might play a role in the next stage of human exploration of the moon. Most rockets make spacecraft travel faster. The goal of a lunar lander descent engine is to slow the vehicle so astronauts can land safely.
snip
The Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine, or CECE, is fueled by a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen chilled to sub-zero temperatures. Image Credit: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne + View large image
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/multimedia/cece.html
+ View Video (Windows, streaming)
http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/anon.nasa-global/MARSHALL/CECE_Engine.asx
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/index.html
At the core of NASA's future space exploration is a return to the moon, where we will build a sustainable long term human presence.
As the space shuttle approaches retirement and the International Space Station nears completion, NASA is building the next fleet of vehicles to bring astronauts back to the moon, and possibly to Mars and beyond.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
- LRK -
--------------------------
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1499/1
And now we wait.
by Jeff Foust
Monday, October 26, 2009
For months the space community had been waiting for it, and on Thursday they finally got it: the final report of the Augustine committee. Jeff Foust reports on the reaction and how the report is the next step, but not the last step, in crafting a new space policy.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1499/1
--------------------------
I watched the press briefing on the Internet and have been reading through the 157 page PDF Augustine Report file.
I am not sure why we needed a blue ribbon panel of experts to tell us that Congress cut NASA's funding.
There is a cute interactive flash presentation for the Constellation program showing the Orion docking with the ISS as test of carrying astronauts to the ISS.
I guess that will just be another publication of proposed missions that never get completed.
Too many posters I have, of missions to nowhere.
- LRK -
Sort of hard to dock with the ISS if it is de-orbited before you have a rocket or a crew capsule to get there.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html
- LRK -
--------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/hsf/meetings/10_22_pressconference.html
Date and Time: October 22, 2009 - 1 pm EDT
Location Information:
Zenger Room of the National Press Club
529 14th St. NW, in Washington, D.C.
The Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee Chairman Norman Augustine will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT, on Thursday, Oct. 22, in the Zenger Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, in Washington.
Augustine will be accompanied by committee member Ed Crawley. Printed copies of the committee's final report will be available during the press conference.
Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee - Final Report (pdf, 7.7MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396093main_HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf
snip
Video link here as well as on the NASA site - LRK - http://vimeo.com/7270323
Also Senate hearings - http://vimeo.com/user1955131
--------------------------
I copied part of the Executive Summary from the Augustine Commission before and it has been suggested that I should have copied a bit more.
I have done so and unacceptable I think the comment is, that if we can't afford the money to achieve the goals we should accept the disappointment of setting lesser goals.
Why should I accept the disappointment?
Maybe I should accept the resignation of those in Congress that don't wish to fund our ability to develop space properly and maybe THEY should just accept the disappointment of not being re-elected.
- LRK -
--------------------------
The Augustine Commission issued its final report.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396093main_HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf
[7.9 MB, 157 pages ]
Review of Human Space Flight Plans Committee
p9. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources. Space operations are among the most demanding and unforgiving pursuits ever undertaken by humans. It really is rocket science. Space operations become all the more difficult when means do not match aspirations. Such is the case today.
The nation is facing important decisions on the future of human spaceflight. Will we leave the close proximity of low-Earth orbit, where astronauts have circled since 1972, and explore the solar system, charting a path for the eventual expansion of human civilization into space? If so, how will we ensure that our exploration delivers the greatest benefit to the nation? Can we explore with reasonable assurances of human safety? Can the nation marshal the resources to embark on the mission?
Whatever space program is ultimately selected, it must be matched with the resources needed for its execution. How can we marshal the necessary resources? There are actually more options available today than in 1961, when President Kennedy challenged the nation to “commit itself to the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
First, space exploration has become a global enterprise.
Many nations have aspirations in space, and the combined annual budgets of their space programs are comparable to NASA’s. If the United States is willing to lead a global program of exploration, sharing both the burden and benefit of space exploration in a meaningful way, significant accomplishments could follow. Actively engaging international partners in a manner adapted to today’s multi-polar world could strengthen geopolitical relationships, leverage global financial and technical resources, and enhance the exploration enterprise.
Second, there is now a burgeoning commercial space industry.
If we craft a space architecture to provide opportunities to this industry, there is the potential—not without risk—that the costs to the government would be reduced. Finally, we are also more experienced than in 1961, and able to build on that experience as we design an exploration program. If, after designing cleverly, building alliances with partners, and engaging commercial providers, the nation cannot afford to fund the effort to pursue the goals it would like to embrace, it should accept the disappointment of setting lesser goals.
snip
--------------------------
To fund or not to fund, that is the question.
Congress, are you listening?
To be re-elected, THAT is the question.
- LRK -
We need to learn to LIVE off world, NOT JUST GO CAMPING. - IMHO
Is this just going to be another web link that I have to go look up on the Web Archive? http://www.archive.org/index.php
http://web.archive.org/web/*hh_/www.nasa.gov/#
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/index.html
At the core of NASA's future space exploration is a return to the moon, where we will build a sustainable long term human presence.
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
NASA SETS ARES I-X PRELAUNCH EVENTS AND COUNTDOWN DETAILS
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/oct/HQ_M09-206_Ares_I-X.html
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- News conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are set for the upcoming Ares I-X flight test. The rocket is targeted to lift off at 8 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The launch will be carried live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's Web site.
A launch day blog will update the countdown beginning at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Originating from Kennedy, the blog is the definitive Internet source for information leading up to launch. To follow the blog, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/aresIX
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html
Launch Vehicle: Ares I-X
Targeted Launch Date: Oct. 27
Launch Window: 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39B
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
NASA's first flight test for the agency's next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system, called Ares I-X, will bring NASA one step closer to its exploration goals. The flight test will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.
More Information
› Prelaunch Events and Countdown Details
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/releases/2009/release-20091023b.html
› Ares I-X Press Kit (PDF, 3.2 MB )
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396682main_Ares_I-X-pk.pdf
› Ares I-X Fact Sheet (PDF, 1.0 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/354470main_aresIX_fs_may09.pdf
› Ares I-X Mission Specifications (PDF, 8 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/271630main_aresIx_flyer_090408.pdf
› Management Bios
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/AresIX_Bios.html
› Ares I-X Integration Map (PDF, 4 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/283121main_IX_%20Integrated_Map_10_9_08_CMR.pdf
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/altair/index.html
NASA Tests Engine Technology for Landing Astronauts on the Moon A technology development engine that may help NASA safely return astronauts to the lunar surface has successfully completed its third round of testing. The goal of these tests is to reduce risk and advance technology for a reliable and robust rocket engine that could enable America's next moon landing.
The tests by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in West Palm Beach, Fla., helped to gather data on this concept engine that might play a role in the next stage of human exploration of the moon. Most rockets make spacecraft travel faster. The goal of a lunar lander descent engine is to slow the vehicle so astronauts can land safely.
snip
The Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine, or CECE, is fueled by a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen chilled to sub-zero temperatures. Image Credit: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne + View large image
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/multimedia/cece.html
+ View Video (Windows, streaming)
http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/anon.nasa-global/MARSHALL/CECE_Engine.asx
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/index.html
At the core of NASA's future space exploration is a return to the moon, where we will build a sustainable long term human presence.
As the space shuttle approaches retirement and the International Space Station nears completion, NASA is building the next fleet of vehicles to bring astronauts back to the moon, and possibly to Mars and beyond.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
NASA SETS ARES I-X PRELAUNCH EVENTS AND COUNTDOWN DETAILS
NASA SETS ARES I-X PRELAUNCH EVENTS AND COUNTDOWN DETAILS
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/oct/HQ_M09-206_Ares_I-X.html
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- News conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are set for the upcoming Ares I-X flight test. The rocket is targeted to lift off at 8 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The launch will be carried
live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's Web site.
A launch day blog will update the countdown beginning at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Originating from Kennedy, the blog is the definitive Internet source for information leading up to launch. To follow the blog, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/aresIX
---------------------------
With all eyes on the test, I hope it goes well.
- LRK -
--------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html
Launch Vehicle: Ares I-X
Targeted Launch Date: Oct. 27
Launch Window: 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39B
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
NASA's first flight test for the agency's next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system, called Ares I-X, will bring NASA one step closer to its exploration goals. The flight test will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.
More Information › Prelaunch Events and Countdown Details
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/releases/2009/release-20091023b.html
› Ares I-X Press Kit (PDF, 3.2 MB )
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396682main_Ares_I-X-pk.pdf
› Ares I-X Fact Sheet (PDF, 1.0 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/354470main_aresIX_fs_may09.pdf
› Ares I-X Mission Specifications (PDF, 8 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/271630main_aresIx_flyer_090408.pdf
› Management Bios
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/AresIX_Bios.html
› Ares I-X Integration Map (PDF, 4 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/283121main_IX_%20Integrated_Map_10_9_08_CMR.pdf
snip
--------------------------
Best be on good behavior, the boss is looking.
- LRK -
--------------------------
http://www.spacenews.com/launch/091022-bolden-garver-expected-for-flight.html
10/22/09 12:00 PM ET
Bolden and Garver Expected to Be On Hand for Ares 1-X Flight
By Amy Klamper
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver are planning to attend the unmanned suborbital test flight of the Ares 1-X rocket, targeted for Oct. 27 at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., according to NASA officials.
The test is a major early milestone for NASA’s Constellation program, a five-year-old effort to build new rockets and spacecraft capable of returning humans to the Moon by 2020.
The Ares 1-X test shot comes as Bolden and Garver mull the findings of a blue-ribbon panel tasked with determining a range of options for NASA’s manned spaceflight future. The panel, led by former Lockheed Martin chief Norm Augustine, included completion of the Ares 1 rocket
in two of the five broad options detailed in its report. But the other options would scrap Ares 1 and make substantial changes to other aspects of the Constellation program, including dropping the Moon in favor of other destinations.
snip
--------------------------
Well the Augustine report is out.
What now?
- LRK -
--------------------------
The Augustine Commission issued its final report.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396093main_HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf
[7.9 MB, 157 pages ]
Review of Human Space Flight Plans Committee
p9. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources. Space operations are among the most demanding and unforgiving pursuits ever undertaken by humans. It really is rocket science. Space operations become all the more difficult when means do not match aspirations. Such is the case today.
The nation is facing important decisions on the future of human spaceflight. Will we leave the close proximity of low-Earth orbit, where astronauts have circled since 1972, and explore the solar system, charting a path for the eventual expansion of human civilization into space? If so, how will we ensure that our exploration delivers the greatest benefit to the nation? Can we explore with reasonable assurances of human safety? Can the nation marshal the resources to embark on the mission?
Whatever space program is ultimately selected, it must be matched with the resources needed for its execution. How can we marshal the necessary resources? There are actually more options available today than in 1961, when President Kennedy challenged the nation to “commit itself to the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
snip
--------------------------
To fund or not to fund, that is the question.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18030-found-first-skylight-on-the-moon.html
Found: first 'skylight' on the moon
23:54 22 October 2009 by Rachel Courtland
A deep hole on the moon that could open into a vast underground tunnel has been found for the first time. The discovery strengthens evidence for subsurface, lava-carved channels that could shield future human colonists from space radiation and other hazards.
The moon seems to possess long, winding tunnels called lava tubes that are similar to structures seen on Earth. They are created when the top of a stream of molten rock solidifies and the lava inside drains away, leaving a hollow tube of rock.
Their existence on the moon is hinted at based on observations of sinuous rilles – long, winding depressions carved into the lunar surface by the flow of lava. Some sections of the rilles have
collapsed, suggesting that hollow lava tubes hide beneath at least some of the rilles.
But until now, no one has found an opening into what appears to be an intact tube. "There's sort of a chicken-and-egg problem," says Carolyn van der Bogert of the University of Münster in Germany. "If it's intact, you can't see it."
Finding a hole in a rille could suggest that an intact tube lies beneath. So a group led by Junichi Haruyama of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency searched for these "skylights" in images taken by Japan's Kaguya spacecraft, which orbited the moon for almost two years
before ending its mission in June.
snip
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/23oct_ladee.htm?list965414
NASA Mission to Study the Moon's Fragile Atmosphere
10.23.2009
Oct. 23, 2009: Right now, the Moon is a ghost town. Nothing stirs. Here and there, an abandoned Apollo rover — or the dusty base of a lunar lander — linger as silent testimony to past human activity. But these days, only occasional asteroid impacts disrupt the decades-long
spell of profound stillness.
And this stillness presents scientists with an important opportunity.
Currently, the Moon's tenuous atmosphere is relatively undisturbed. But that won't be true for long. NASA is planning to return people to the Moon, and human activity will kick up dust, expel rocket exhaust, and release other gaseous emissions into the lunar atmosphere. Because
the atmosphere is so thin, these disturbances could quickly swamp its natural composition.
If scientists are ever to know the lunar atmosphere in a relatively natural state, now is the time to look. So researchers are building a probe called the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) that will orbit the Moon and measure its wispy atmosphere better than ever before.
"It's important that we understand it in its pristine state before there's much perturbation," says Anthony Colaprete of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "It's such a fragile system. It's possible that it will be hard to study once humans are once more living and working on the Moon."
snip
==============================================================
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/10/22/moon-earth-formation.html
Controversial Moon Origin Theory Rewrites History
Michael Reilly, Discovery News
Oct. 22, 2009 -- The moon may have been adopted by our planet instead of descended from it.
If a new twist on a decades-old theory is right, conditions in the early solar system suggest the moon formed inside Mercury's orbit and migrated out until it was roped into orbit around Earth.
The idea flies in the face of scientific consensus, known as the giant impact hypothesis, which holds that the moon formed from red-hot debris left over after a Mars-sized object collided with Earth around 4.5 billion years ago.
However, the moon has several curious traits that go unexplained with that theory, and Robert Malcuit of Denison University has argued for decades for an alternative view of our moon's history.
Malcuit's version of events is tantamount to cosmic blasphemy, but scientists have recently found 4 billion-year-old minerals in Australia that suggest our planet was too cool to have sustained a cataclysmic moon-forming impact early in its history.
"Everything in the giant impact model is hot, hot, hot," he said. "It's incompatible with what we see in the geologic record. Earth is cool enough at that time to have ocean water on its surface."
Malcuit's computer modeling studies, which he has worked on since the 1980s, show that it is possible for Earth's gravitational pull to capture the moon. At first, the moon's orbits would have been highly elliptical, swinging close to Earth and then far away about eight times a year.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/10/20091023_akatsuki_campaign_e.html
[JAXA:0211] Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (PLANET-C) Message Campaign
October 23, 2009 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is scheduled to launch the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (PLANET-C) by H-IIA Launch Vehicle in Japan Fiscal Year 2010. The AKATSUKI will enter the orbit of Venus about half a year after its launch, and will take some two years to explore the atmosphere of Venus.
JAXA would like to enhance people’s interest in space and the Earth by holding a "message campaign" in which we invite people to send us messages that will be printed in fine letters on an aluminum plate and placed aboard the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI". We will accept
messages both from Japan and overseas so that we can bind the feelings and thoughts of everybody in the world into one, and inject it into the orbit of Venus. Through this campaign, we would like to boost the public’s knowledge about Japanese space science research activities in
Japan as well as abroad.
With the cooperation of the "International Year of Astronomy 2009 Japan Committee," we would like to carry out the "message campaign" to collect messages to be attached to the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" as follows.
1. Campaign name
"We will deliver your message to the bright star Venus"
- "AKATSUKI" Message Campaign -
2. Message accepted
From October 23, 2009 thru December 25, 2009 (Japan Standard Time)
3. How to send your message
[For individual senders]
Through the Internet
Japanese site: http://www.jaxa.jp/event/akatsuki/index_j.html
English site: http://www.jaxa.jp/event/akatsuki/index_e.html
You can send a message in Japanese characters (Hiragana, Kanji, and Katakana) as well as using numbers and/or Roman letters. However, some letters (such as half-sized Katakana) or some PC specific letters may not be properly encoded on our side. Therefore, if you use such
letters, they may not be printed as you intend.
Only a name (without a message) is also acceptable.
The International Year of Astronomy 2009 Japan Committee will be in charge of accepting names and messages sent through the Internet, counting them, and protecting your private information.
Your message and illustration may be used on our Web site, leaflet, and/or magazines for the purpose of public affairs and promotion.
Copyright of the messages and illustrations basically belong to JAXA.
snip
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.jaxa.jp/event/akatsuki/index_e.html
Venus is well known by the Japanese as the first star, and has been called the "morning bright star" or "evening bright star" since ancient times. In the West, its shining beauty is explained in its name "Venus", the Goddess of beauty. Venus comes closest to the Earth, and the dimensions of the two planets are very similar, hence they are often called "brother planets." However, it is imagined that there are no oceans on Venus because it is located a little closer to the Sun.
As its atmosphere mostly consists of carbon dioxide, which causes the greenhouse effect, Venus has become a tropical heat planet unlike theEarth. Although Venus has little rotation, its surface is surrounded by strong east winds called a "super rotation," which is one of the biggest wonders of meteorology.
The Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (PLANET-C), scheduled to be launched by JAXA in Japan Fiscal Year 2010, will explore this unique climate of Venus to elucidate the mechanism of determining the planetary environment in order to help deepen our understanding of the Earth's climate.
This year also marks the 400th anniversary since Galileo Galilei first turned a telescope to the night sky to open the door to space. The United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Science, and Culture Organization recognize this year as the "International Year of Astronomy 2009," and a lot of space-related events are being carried out all over the world. It is said that Galileo became certain about the theory of "Heliocentrism" thanks to observing the waxing and
waning of Venus.
snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/oct/HQ_M09-206_Ares_I-X.html
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- News conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are set for the upcoming Ares I-X flight test. The rocket is targeted to lift off at 8 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The launch will be carried
live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's Web site.
A launch day blog will update the countdown beginning at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Originating from Kennedy, the blog is the definitive Internet source for information leading up to launch. To follow the blog, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/aresIX
---------------------------
With all eyes on the test, I hope it goes well.
- LRK -
--------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html
Launch Vehicle: Ares I-X
Targeted Launch Date: Oct. 27
Launch Window: 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39B
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
NASA's first flight test for the agency's next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system, called Ares I-X, will bring NASA one step closer to its exploration goals. The flight test will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.
More Information › Prelaunch Events and Countdown Details
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/releases/2009/release-20091023b.html
› Ares I-X Press Kit (PDF, 3.2 MB )
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396682main_Ares_I-X-pk.pdf
› Ares I-X Fact Sheet (PDF, 1.0 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/354470main_aresIX_fs_may09.pdf
› Ares I-X Mission Specifications (PDF, 8 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/271630main_aresIx_flyer_090408.pdf
› Management Bios
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/AresIX_Bios.html
› Ares I-X Integration Map (PDF, 4 MB)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/283121main_IX_%20Integrated_Map_10_9_08_CMR.pdf
snip
--------------------------
Best be on good behavior, the boss is looking.
- LRK -
--------------------------
http://www.spacenews.com/launch/091022-bolden-garver-expected-for-flight.html
10/22/09 12:00 PM ET
Bolden and Garver Expected to Be On Hand for Ares 1-X Flight
By Amy Klamper
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver are planning to attend the unmanned suborbital test flight of the Ares 1-X rocket, targeted for Oct. 27 at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., according to NASA officials.
The test is a major early milestone for NASA’s Constellation program, a five-year-old effort to build new rockets and spacecraft capable of returning humans to the Moon by 2020.
The Ares 1-X test shot comes as Bolden and Garver mull the findings of a blue-ribbon panel tasked with determining a range of options for NASA’s manned spaceflight future. The panel, led by former Lockheed Martin chief Norm Augustine, included completion of the Ares 1 rocket
in two of the five broad options detailed in its report. But the other options would scrap Ares 1 and make substantial changes to other aspects of the Constellation program, including dropping the Moon in favor of other destinations.
snip
--------------------------
Well the Augustine report is out.
What now?
- LRK -
--------------------------
The Augustine Commission issued its final report.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396093main_HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf
[7.9 MB, 157 pages ]
Review of Human Space Flight Plans Committee
p9. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources. Space operations are among the most demanding and unforgiving pursuits ever undertaken by humans. It really is rocket science. Space operations become all the more difficult when means do not match aspirations. Such is the case today.
The nation is facing important decisions on the future of human spaceflight. Will we leave the close proximity of low-Earth orbit, where astronauts have circled since 1972, and explore the solar system, charting a path for the eventual expansion of human civilization into space? If so, how will we ensure that our exploration delivers the greatest benefit to the nation? Can we explore with reasonable assurances of human safety? Can the nation marshal the resources to embark on the mission?
Whatever space program is ultimately selected, it must be matched with the resources needed for its execution. How can we marshal the necessary resources? There are actually more options available today than in 1961, when President Kennedy challenged the nation to “commit itself to the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
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To fund or not to fund, that is the question.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
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http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18030-found-first-skylight-on-the-moon.html
Found: first 'skylight' on the moon
23:54 22 October 2009 by Rachel Courtland
A deep hole on the moon that could open into a vast underground tunnel has been found for the first time. The discovery strengthens evidence for subsurface, lava-carved channels that could shield future human colonists from space radiation and other hazards.
The moon seems to possess long, winding tunnels called lava tubes that are similar to structures seen on Earth. They are created when the top of a stream of molten rock solidifies and the lava inside drains away, leaving a hollow tube of rock.
Their existence on the moon is hinted at based on observations of sinuous rilles – long, winding depressions carved into the lunar surface by the flow of lava. Some sections of the rilles have
collapsed, suggesting that hollow lava tubes hide beneath at least some of the rilles.
But until now, no one has found an opening into what appears to be an intact tube. "There's sort of a chicken-and-egg problem," says Carolyn van der Bogert of the University of Münster in Germany. "If it's intact, you can't see it."
Finding a hole in a rille could suggest that an intact tube lies beneath. So a group led by Junichi Haruyama of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency searched for these "skylights" in images taken by Japan's Kaguya spacecraft, which orbited the moon for almost two years
before ending its mission in June.
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http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/23oct_ladee.htm?list965414
NASA Mission to Study the Moon's Fragile Atmosphere
10.23.2009
Oct. 23, 2009: Right now, the Moon is a ghost town. Nothing stirs. Here and there, an abandoned Apollo rover — or the dusty base of a lunar lander — linger as silent testimony to past human activity. But these days, only occasional asteroid impacts disrupt the decades-long
spell of profound stillness.
And this stillness presents scientists with an important opportunity.
Currently, the Moon's tenuous atmosphere is relatively undisturbed. But that won't be true for long. NASA is planning to return people to the Moon, and human activity will kick up dust, expel rocket exhaust, and release other gaseous emissions into the lunar atmosphere. Because
the atmosphere is so thin, these disturbances could quickly swamp its natural composition.
If scientists are ever to know the lunar atmosphere in a relatively natural state, now is the time to look. So researchers are building a probe called the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) that will orbit the Moon and measure its wispy atmosphere better than ever before.
"It's important that we understand it in its pristine state before there's much perturbation," says Anthony Colaprete of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "It's such a fragile system. It's possible that it will be hard to study once humans are once more living and working on the Moon."
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http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/10/22/moon-earth-formation.html
Controversial Moon Origin Theory Rewrites History
Michael Reilly, Discovery News
Oct. 22, 2009 -- The moon may have been adopted by our planet instead of descended from it.
If a new twist on a decades-old theory is right, conditions in the early solar system suggest the moon formed inside Mercury's orbit and migrated out until it was roped into orbit around Earth.
The idea flies in the face of scientific consensus, known as the giant impact hypothesis, which holds that the moon formed from red-hot debris left over after a Mars-sized object collided with Earth around 4.5 billion years ago.
However, the moon has several curious traits that go unexplained with that theory, and Robert Malcuit of Denison University has argued for decades for an alternative view of our moon's history.
Malcuit's version of events is tantamount to cosmic blasphemy, but scientists have recently found 4 billion-year-old minerals in Australia that suggest our planet was too cool to have sustained a cataclysmic moon-forming impact early in its history.
"Everything in the giant impact model is hot, hot, hot," he said. "It's incompatible with what we see in the geologic record. Earth is cool enough at that time to have ocean water on its surface."
Malcuit's computer modeling studies, which he has worked on since the 1980s, show that it is possible for Earth's gravitational pull to capture the moon. At first, the moon's orbits would have been highly elliptical, swinging close to Earth and then far away about eight times a year.
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http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2009/10/20091023_akatsuki_campaign_e.html
[JAXA:0211] Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (PLANET-C) Message Campaign
October 23, 2009 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is scheduled to launch the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (PLANET-C) by H-IIA Launch Vehicle in Japan Fiscal Year 2010. The AKATSUKI will enter the orbit of Venus about half a year after its launch, and will take some two years to explore the atmosphere of Venus.
JAXA would like to enhance people’s interest in space and the Earth by holding a "message campaign" in which we invite people to send us messages that will be printed in fine letters on an aluminum plate and placed aboard the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI". We will accept
messages both from Japan and overseas so that we can bind the feelings and thoughts of everybody in the world into one, and inject it into the orbit of Venus. Through this campaign, we would like to boost the public’s knowledge about Japanese space science research activities in
Japan as well as abroad.
With the cooperation of the "International Year of Astronomy 2009 Japan Committee," we would like to carry out the "message campaign" to collect messages to be attached to the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" as follows.
1. Campaign name
"We will deliver your message to the bright star Venus"
- "AKATSUKI" Message Campaign -
2. Message accepted
From October 23, 2009 thru December 25, 2009 (Japan Standard Time)
3. How to send your message
[For individual senders]
Through the Internet
Japanese site: http://www.jaxa.jp/event/akatsuki/index_j.html
English site: http://www.jaxa.jp/event/akatsuki/index_e.html
You can send a message in Japanese characters (Hiragana, Kanji, and Katakana) as well as using numbers and/or Roman letters. However, some letters (such as half-sized Katakana) or some PC specific letters may not be properly encoded on our side. Therefore, if you use such
letters, they may not be printed as you intend.
Only a name (without a message) is also acceptable.
The International Year of Astronomy 2009 Japan Committee will be in charge of accepting names and messages sent through the Internet, counting them, and protecting your private information.
Your message and illustration may be used on our Web site, leaflet, and/or magazines for the purpose of public affairs and promotion.
Copyright of the messages and illustrations basically belong to JAXA.
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http://www.jaxa.jp/event/akatsuki/index_e.html
Venus is well known by the Japanese as the first star, and has been called the "morning bright star" or "evening bright star" since ancient times. In the West, its shining beauty is explained in its name "Venus", the Goddess of beauty. Venus comes closest to the Earth, and the dimensions of the two planets are very similar, hence they are often called "brother planets." However, it is imagined that there are no oceans on Venus because it is located a little closer to the Sun.
As its atmosphere mostly consists of carbon dioxide, which causes the greenhouse effect, Venus has become a tropical heat planet unlike theEarth. Although Venus has little rotation, its surface is surrounded by strong east winds called a "super rotation," which is one of the biggest wonders of meteorology.
The Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (PLANET-C), scheduled to be launched by JAXA in Japan Fiscal Year 2010, will explore this unique climate of Venus to elucidate the mechanism of determining the planetary environment in order to help deepen our understanding of the Earth's climate.
This year also marks the 400th anniversary since Galileo Galilei first turned a telescope to the night sky to open the door to space. The United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Science, and Culture Organization recognize this year as the "International Year of Astronomy 2009," and a lot of space-related events are being carried out all over the world. It is said that Galileo became certain about the theory of "Heliocentrism" thanks to observing the waxing and
waning of Venus.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
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