Leonids and Project Constellation

Something for now and hopefully something for later; lights in the sky this weekend and to light the sky when we go back to the Moon.
- LRK -

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Space Weather News for Nov. 17, 2006
http://spaceweather.com

Every year in mid-November, Earth glides through a veritable minefield of comet dust clouds. The source of the debris is Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. This weekend Earth will graze one of those clouds, producing a mild outburst of Leonid meteors.

If forecasters are correct, the outburst will peak around 0445 UT on Sunday, Nov. 19th (11:45 p.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 18th). The timing favors observers in western Europe, Brazil and the Atlantic coast of North America, who could see as many as 100 meteors per hour. Dark skies are strongly recommended.

Please visit http://spaceweather.com for sky maps and more information--including links to a meteor radar where you can listen to the Leonids.

http://spaceweather.com/images2006/19nov06/skymap_north.gif
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Project Constellation is NASA's current plan for space exploration.

Keep pushing to see that it happens.
- LRK -

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Constellation
Project Constellation
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Project Constellation is NASA's current plan for space exploration.

It consists of a family of new spacecraft, launchers and associated hardware that allow for a variety of missions, from Space Station resupply, to lunar landings. Most of the Constellation hardware is based on systems originally developed for the Space Shuttle, although the key hardware, the Orion Spacecraft (formerly known as the "Crew Exploration Vehicle" or CEV), is heavily influenced by the earlier Apollo Spacecraft, using a two-part crew and service module system.

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More links below.

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
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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http://www.arm.ac.uk/leonid/
The Leonid Meteors

Predicting the most spectacular meteor storms is now a remarkably exact science, with some excellent Leonid displays happening in recent years, for observers in the right parts of the world. These predictions involve the accurate modelling of dust trails within the Leonid stream.

Leonid outburst in 2006

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http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/
2006 LEONID FORECASTING

The 2006 Leonids will show a dust trail encounter with the 1932-dust trail of comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, as well as the possible return of the Filament component. David Asher's original prediction put the peak time at 04:45 UT on November 19, with a peak rate of about 100 per hour, visible from western Europe and western Africa. Peak time of the Filament component is uncertain.
The traditional maximum of the annual Leonid shower is earlier on November 17, around 16:45 UT, well placed for the western USA (early morning of November 18 local time). More information:
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http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/leonids.html
The Leonids
Leonids Made Simple

Leonid Main . Introduction . Observing . Predictions History . Photos . Artwork . Links . Leonid MAC '99 Snip

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http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/
Meteor Showers and Viewing Tips

2006 Meteor Showers
The next meteor shower is the Leonids on November 17-20.
Name Date of Peak Moon Phase
Quadrantids January 3 Evening crescent
Lyrids April 22 Morning crescent
Eta Aquarids May 6 Past first quarter
Delta Aquarids July 28 Evening crescent
Perseids August 12 Almost full
Orionids October 21 New Moon
Leonids November 17 New Moon
Geminids December 14 Morning crescent

What are meteor showers?

An increase in the number of meteors at a particular time of year is called a meteor shower.

Comets shed the debris that becomes most meteor showers. As comets orbit the Sun, they shed an icy, dusty debris stream along the comet's orbit. If Earth travels through this stream, we will see a meteor shower. Depending on where Earth and the stream meet, meteors appear to fall from a particular place in the sky, maybe within the neighborhood of a constellation.

Meteor showers are named by the constellation from which meteors appear to fall, a spot in the sky astronomers call the radiant. For instance, the radiant for the Leonid meteor shower is located in the constellation Leo.
The Perseid meteor shower is so named because meteors appear to fall from a point in the constellation Perseus.

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http://www.martiansoil.com/archives/cat_project_constellation.php
January 24, 2006
True Names

Alan Boyle (writing at MSNBC.com) reports on names that sources say will be used in the vehicles of Project Constellation. The launch vehicles will be called Ares, with the Crew Launch Vehicle or "Stick" will be the Ares I, the heavy-lift version or "Magnum" will be the Ares 5. The CEV's Apollo-like capsule and service module will be called Antares and the lunar lander will be called Artemis.

(With thanks to Mark Whittington at Curmudgeon's Corner.)

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http://exploration.nasa.gov/documents/project_constellation_wbs.pdf
Code T
Office of Exploration Systems Enterprise Project Constellation Work Breakdown Structure

[38 page PDF file of what constitutes the Project Constellation - LRK -]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Constellation
Project Constellation
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Project Constellation is NASA's current plan for space exploration.

It consists of a family of new spacecraft, launchers and associated hardware that allow for a variety of missions, from Space Station resupply, to lunar landings. Most of the Constellation hardware is based on systems originally developed for the Space Shuttle, although the key hardware, the Orion Spacecraft (formerly known as the "Crew Exploration Vehicle" or CEV), is heavily influenced by the earlier Apollo Spacecraft, using a two-part crew and service module system.

The new transportations system, which uses both an Earth Orbit Rendezvous and a Lunar Orbit Rendezvous technique, can be broken down into three parts:
The Orion Crew & Service Modules, the Lunar Surface Access Module, and the Earth Departure Stage. The rockets to be used for launching of the different components consist of the unmanned Ares V (for launch of the Earth Departure Stage and either the LSAM or cargo), and the manned Ares I for launch of the Orion Spacecraft.
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html
The new crew spacecraft will have more volume than the Apollo capsules, reducing development time, boosting stability, and permitting safe travel for up to six crewmembers.

NASA has selected Lockheed Martin Corp. as the prime contractor to design, develop, and build Orion, America's spacecraft for a new generation of explorers.

The Orion crew capsule will carry astronauts back to the moon and later to Mars. The first flight with astronauts aboard is planned for no later than 2014. Orion's first flight to the moon is planned for no later than 2020.

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/orion_contract.html

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_%28spacecraft%29
Orion (spacecraft)
Orion is a manned spacecraft currently under development by the United States. Prior to receiving its current name Orion was known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). The new spacecraft will replace the current Space Shuttle fleet after the shuttles are retired in 2010, and will be launched from Kennedy Space Center on the new Ares I crew launch vehicle. Orion will initially handle logistic flights to the International Space Station, but will be a key component for future missions to the Moon and Mars after 2015.

Together with the Earth Departure Stage (EDS), the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM), and the Ares I and Ares V Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicles (SDLV), Orion is one of the elements of NASA's Project Constellation. [1] Snip

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Surface_Access_Module
Lunar Surface Access Module
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) is the planned American moon landing vehicle that will allow astronauts to land there around 2020 as part of NASA's Project Constellation.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Departure_Stage
Earth Departure Stage
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The Ares V Earth Departure Stage (EDS) is the high-energy cryogenic upper stage of NASA's proposed new Ares V launch vehicle. Its purpose is to provide propulsion for the Orion spacecraft as part of Project Constellation operations in Earth orbit, near-Earth space, and beyond. Unlike the S-IVB stage of the earlier Saturn V launcher, which had to propel the entire Apollo spacecraft (i.e. both the Apollo Command/Service Module and Lunar
Module) into both a low Earth "parking" orbit and then again to the Moon, the EDS will boost only the Orion spacecraft's Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) into space; the Orion CSM stack will be launched separately atop an Ares I launch vehicle and will link up with the EDS/LSAM on orbit, a method of known as Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR), a technique considered by NASA and Dr. Wernher von Braun for the Apollo program in the early stages of planning, but was dropped in favor of the lunar orbit rendezvous approach.
Once all vehicle components are properly configured, the EDS will restart and propel the complete Orion spacecraft to Earth escape velocity for transits to lunar orbit and other destinations.
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/index.html
NASA's Ares rockets, named for the Greek god associated with Mars, will return humans to the moon and later take them to Mars and other destinations.

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http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/154047main_Ares_V_Labeled.jpg

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14594789/
Lockheed Martin to build future moonship Team chosen over Northrop Grumman, Boeing for $3.9 billion Orion project

By Alan Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC
Updated: 9:05 a.m. MT Sept 1, 2006

Lockheed Martin on Thursday won NASA's multibillion-dollar nod to build the Orion crew exploration vehicle, a spaceship with a look and a mission that echoes the space agency's giant leap to the moon in the 1960s.

The announcement kicks off an effort to produce spacecraft that would replace NASA's fleet of space shuttles, due for retirement in 2010. NASA's timetable calls for the cone-shaped Orion ships to bring cargo or up to six crew members to the international space station by 2014, and carry up to four astronauts to the moon and back by 2020.

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http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=17675&rsbci=21&fti=0&ti=0&sc=400
Orion Crew Vehicle

The Orion program will provide a state-of-the-art human space flight system capable of safely transferring astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), the Moon, Mars and other destinations beyond low earth orbit (LEO).

Utilizing a safe, affordable, staged approach to accomplishing these missions, the Lockheed Martin Orion Team is focused on providing NASA the capability to return to the Moon by the middle of the next decade with a low risk, high confidence program plan.

The Lockheed Martin Orion team -- Lockheed Martin, United Space Alliance, Honeywell, Hamilton Sundstrand, and Orbital -- brings to bear the nation's premier human space flight and exploration expertise in the development of NASA's next generation crew transportation system. Our collective expertise spanning five decades in large-scale systems integration, planetary exploration, human space flight systems and operations, launch vehicles, military aircraft, and autonomous flight systems provides a critical foundation for NASA's vision for space exploration. NASA will fly out the remaining Space Shuttle missions through 2010 as it completes the International Space Station and other missions that will utilize the Space Shuttle. Then an exciting new chapter in space exploration will begin as the Orion crew vehicle begins its missions to the International Space Station and ventures forth to return human explorers to the moon with a bold new mission of exploration as we prepare for human missions to Mars. Our state-of-the-art capsule concept provides a solution that is highly extensible for those future missions. This 21st century spacecraft design:
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http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fnec&ti=106
Lockheed Martin

VIDEO GALLERY

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&prfr=false&ci=16800&sc=400&rsbci=16800&rsbi=
Lockheed Martin Photo Gallery

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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