Lunarpedia - Existing Commercial Potential for Helium-3 from the Moon -
[Return To The Moon] Digest Number 290
Here in Tracy, California and it is December 31, 2006.
As I turn 69 years young, I wonder what will be in store for us in 2007.
An e-mail from the "return_to_the_moon" yahoo group shows one effort, the
new Wiki - lunarpedia.
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http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/return_to_the_moon/
Description
Discussions regarding America's new projects to return to the moon.
Returning to the moon, and eventual settlement driven by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration's new mandate.
Reminder: New members are initially moderated.
Part of the InsideKSC.com yahoo discussion groups:
Inside KSC: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/inside_ksc
Project Constellation: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Project_Constellation
Snip
828 Existing Commercial Potential for Helium-3 from the Moon
I posted some ideas on lunarpedia about Existing Commercial Potential for
Helium-3 from Luna. The Moon is an abundant source of He3. He3 has a market
value,...
Snip
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Take a look at what has been started.
- LRK -
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http://www.lunarpedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
Main Page
>From Lunarpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Welcome to Lunarpedia!
Groundbreaking began on the evening of 12 September 2006 and things are
still in an early stage of development. The goal is to cover everything we
will need to know how to do on Luna to set up colonies, as well as related
efforts, designs, and business models that may eventually lead there.
You can help! Click here to create your account -- or donate your content
anonymously (at least for the time being).
Lunarpedia:Outline draft -- Peter Kokh presented us with this and we think
it's a good start on a framework for Lunarpedia. Please take a look through
it and add anything we may have left out. Keep in mind that some subjects
will have considerable overlaps with others. If you can think of a way of
charting those overlaps we'd love to hear from you.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
- 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
==============================================================
[Return To The Moon] Digest Number 290 - LRK -
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1a. Existing Commercial Potential for Helium-3 from the Moon
Posted by: "Charles F. Radley"
Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:27 am (PST)
I posted some ideas on lunarpedia about Existing Commercial Potential
for Helium-3 from Luna.
The Moon is an abundant source of He3. He3 has a market value, even
though He3 fusion is not yet demonstrated. It might be worth collecting
He3 from the Moon today simply to sell into the existing terrestrial
market.
Current market price for He3 is about $46,500 per troy ounce
($1500/gram, $1.5M/kg), more than 120 times the value of gold and over
eight times the value of Rhodium.
Question: can we reduce the cost of recovering He3 from the lunar
surface to that level, e.g. $1500 per gram? What would be the capital
cost of setting up a small He3 production facility on Luna?
See this web link for more detailed discussion.
http://www.lunarpedia.org/index.php?title=Helium3
Snip
==============================================================
The NSS web site is also being updated. - LRK -
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http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/index.html
Excerpt from speech of John Marburger
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Executive Office of the President
March 15, 2006
The Moon has unique significance for all space applications for a reason
that to my amazement is hardly ever discussed in popular accounts of space
policy. The Moon is the closest source of material that lies far up Earth's
gravity well. Anything that can be made from Lunar material at costs
comparable to Earth manufacture has an enormous overall cost advantage
compared with objects lifted from Earth's surface. The greatest value of the
Moon lies neither in science nor in exploration, but in its material. I am
talking about the possibility of extracting elements and minerals that can
be processed into fuel or massive components of space apparatus. The
production of oxygen in particular, the major component (by mass) of
chemical rocket fuel, is potentially an important Lunar industry.
What are the preconditions for such an industry? That, it seems to me, must
be a primary consideration of the long range planning for the Lunar agenda.
Science studies provide the foundation for a materials production roadmap.
Clever ideas have been advanced for the phased construction of electrical
power sources - perhaps using solar cells manufactured in situ from Lunar
soil. A not unreasonable scenario is a phase of highly subsidized capital
construction followed by market-driven industrial activity to provide Lunar
products such as oxygen refueling services for commercially valuable
Earth-orbiting apparatus.
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
LUNAR BASE DESIGNS
"We can be sure that those who come after us will think of much better ways of doing these things - and will wonder at our conservatism and our quaint, old-fashioned ideas. And they in their turn will be laughed at by those who come after them, when the Moon is only a suburb of the Earth, and the real frontier is far away among the planets. . ."
-Arthur C. Clarke
At JSC - High School Aerospace Scholars - http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/
http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/em/6/default.cfm
http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/em/6/1.cfm
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/em/6/8.cfm
What will the first lunar base actually look like? No one knows yet, but many have been designed. In the 1950's and 1960's, many designs were put forth by scientists and engineers who hoped that by the next century a lunar base would be fully operational. In 1992, the FLO design, the First Lunar Outpost reference, mission was developed (and rejected) by NASA. Igloos, railroads, buses, ecospheres, and domes, have all been proposed. Inflatable structures, underground structures, structures at the South Pole, and space ports at lunar libration points have all been designed. Hotels, laboratories, observatories, sports arenas, as well as mining and manufacturing plants are all very real possibilities. What would a lunar base that you designed look like? What types of power will be used on the moon? Solar? Nuclear? Fission reactors? Fusion reactors? Lasar beamed electricity? What kinds of fuel will be developed for rockets making the journey? Aluminum? Oxygen? Hydrogen? Solar sails?
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
Russian Space Web - News and History in the Former USSR http://www.russianspaceweb.com/index.html
and what is listed about lunar base proposals.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/lunar_base.html
In the 1960s, the Moon Race between the United States and the Soviet Union made many scientists in both countries believe that human colonization of the Moon was at hand. Lunar bases became a frequent subject for the popular press and sci-fi novels; however, the space community also started looking at the problem seriously.
Advocates of lunar settlements believed that a permanent outpost on the Moon would allow extensive exploration of the Earth's natural satellite for future mining of its resources, for the use of its surface as a platform for astronomy research and as a "proving ground" for further planetary exploration.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
Maurizio Morabito was not pleased with the analysis of the authors on the last post. He has some good suggestions for use of Lunar Bases. Read his rant below. Appreciate the thoughts.
- LRK -
Before we mentioned the Asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)near approach in 2029 and possible collision with Earth in 2036. Larry Klaes passed a link to a competition to design a mission to tag the asteroid.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Design an asteroid tag, win $50,000
A competition to design a 'tagging' mission to mark and track an asteroid in danger of hitting the Earth in 2036 was announced this week in the USA.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/925
--------------------------------------------------------------
Also at the Planetary Society web site.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/apophis_competition/
Snip
The Planetary Society is conducting a competition to design a mission to rendezvous with and "tag" a near-Earth asteroid such as Apophis.
The competition is being conducted in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). Findings of the competition will be presented at relevant conferences, and winning entries will be shared with space agencies directly, including those actively cooperating in this competition.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
Copied a larger snip below.
- LRK -
Hope we have continued support for going back to the Moon.
It is going to take some time, so every administration will count. Put those politicians in office that think as you do.
- 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
==============================================================
Thanks for the rant Maurizio. - LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Larry
I find these discussions more than self-defeating. Where else in the Universe can we place a radiotelescope permanently shielded from terrestrial interference by hundreds of kilometers of rock, but on the opposite side of the Moon?
Do those people understand there is virtually no astronomical observation at all in the low-frequency radio bands? What are _their_ plans for neutrino astronomy in the 1GeV-10TeV energy band? Both are ideas that become feasible in the Lunar environment
And do they really believe it is easy and inexpensive to place a set of free-flying observatories at the precise distances necessary for interferometry? LISA is at least 10 years away, if not more
Do I need to continue? Where else can we easily excavate regolith that contains the recording of billions of years of solar activity, in the form of isotopes embedded in the soil? If there is any place where the solar rays never illuminate, how much of the history of the galaxy are we going to be able to read simply by analyzing the composition of its terrain?
What other marvels serendipitously wait for us to go beyond timidity and explore the ONE astronomical thing that is not millions of miles away?
Stuff such as Lester/Yorke/Mather's reminds me of the definition of
stupidity: to damage somebody else without gaining a thing for yourself
(sorry for the rant and merry Christmas!)
regards
maurizio
Snip
==============================================================
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/925
Design an asteroid tag, win $50,000
Thursday, 14 December 2006
Cosmos Online
SYDNEY: A competition to design a 'tagging' mission to mark and track an asteroid in danger of hitting the Earth in 2036 was announced this week in the USA.
This week at the autumn meeting of the American Geophysical Union, The Planetary Society - a U.S. non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing space research - announced the launch of their Apophis Mission Design Competition, which invites participants to submit designs for a mission to rendezvous with and 'tag' a potentially dangerous near-Earth asteroid.
The organisation believes that tagging may be necessary to track an asteroid accurately enough to determine whether it will impact Earth, and thus help facilitate the decision whether to mount a deflection mission to alter its orbit. The Society is offering US$50,000 in prize money for the competition.
Apophis is an approximately 400-metre 'near-Earth object' (NEO), which will come closer than 36,000 km to Earth in 2029 - inside the the orbit of many satellites. On that pass, the asteroid will be gravitationally perturbed to an unknown orbit, one that could cause it to hit Earth in 2036.
"While the odds are very slim that this particular asteroid will hit Earth in 30 years, they are not zero, and Apophis and other NEOs represent threats that need to be addressed," said Rusty Schweickart, Apollo astronaut, and head of the Association for Space Explorers NEO committee.
Bruce Betts, The Planetary Society's Director of Projects said, "With this competition, we hope not only to generate creative thinking about tagging Apophis, but also to stimulate greater awareness of the broader near-Earth object threat."
Snip
http://www.planetary.org/home/
http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/apophis_competition/
==============================================================
Thanks for the Pioneer Anomaly info Larry Klaes. - LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0612567
From: John Hodge [view email]
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:54:25 GMT (32kb)
Scalar potential model of the Pioneer Anomaly
Authors: John C. Hodge
The unexplained sunward acceleration $a_\mathrm{P}$ of the Pioneer 10 (P10) and the Pioneer 11 (P11) spacecraft remains a mystery. A scalar potential model (SPM) that derived from considerations of galaxy clusters, of redshift, and of H{\scriptsize{I}} rotation curves of spiral galaxies is applied to the Pioneer Anomaly. Matter is posited to warp the scalar potential $\rho$ field. The gradient of the $\rho$ field produces a force on matter and light. The changing $\rho$ along the light path causes the Pioneer Anomaly. The SPM is consistent with the general value of $a_\mathrm{P}$, with the annual periodicity, with the differing $a_\mathrm{P}$ between the spacecraft, with the slowly declining $a_\mathrm{P}$, with the low value of $a_\mathrm{P}$ immediately before the P11's Saturn encounter, with the high uncertainty in the value of $a_\mathrm{P}$ obtained during and after the P11's Saturn encounter, and with the cosmological connection suggested by $a_\mathrm{P} \approx cH_\mathrm{o}$. The effect of the $\rho$ field warp appears as the curvature of space proposed by general relativity.
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0612567
Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0612599
From: Mike McCulloch [view email]
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:57:45 GMT (19kb)
Modelling the Pioneer anomaly as modified inertia
Authors: M.E. McCulloch
Comments: 15 pages, 2 bw figures, accepted by MNRAS 19th December 2006
This paper proposes an explanation for the Pioneer anomaly: an unexplained Sunward acceleration of 8.74 +/- 1.33 x 10^-10 m s^-2 seen in the behaviour of the Pioneer probes. Two hypotheses are made: (1) Inertia is a reaction to Unruh radiation and (2) this reaction is weaker for low accelerations because some wavelengths in the Unruh spectrum do not fit within a limiting scale (twice the Hubble distance) and are disallowed: a process similar to the Casimir effect. When these ideas are used to model the Pioneer crafts' trajectories there is a slight reduction in their inertial mass, causing an anomalous Sunward acceleration of 6.9 +/- 3.5 x 10^-10 m s^-2 which agrees within error bars with the observed Pioneer anomaly beyond 10 AU from the Sun. This new scheme is appealingly simple and does not require adjustable parameters. However, it also predicts an anomaly within 10 AU of the Sun, which has not been observed. Various observational tests for the idea are proposed.
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0612599
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
"We can be sure that those who come after us will think of much better ways of doing these things - and will wonder at our conservatism and our quaint, old-fashioned ideas. And they in their turn will be laughed at by those who come after them, when the Moon is only a suburb of the Earth, and the real frontier is far away among the planets. . ."
-Arthur C. Clarke
At JSC - High School Aerospace Scholars - http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/
http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/em/6/default.cfm
http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/em/6/1.cfm
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/em/6/8.cfm
What will the first lunar base actually look like? No one knows yet, but many have been designed. In the 1950's and 1960's, many designs were put forth by scientists and engineers who hoped that by the next century a lunar base would be fully operational. In 1992, the FLO design, the First Lunar Outpost reference, mission was developed (and rejected) by NASA. Igloos, railroads, buses, ecospheres, and domes, have all been proposed. Inflatable structures, underground structures, structures at the South Pole, and space ports at lunar libration points have all been designed. Hotels, laboratories, observatories, sports arenas, as well as mining and manufacturing plants are all very real possibilities. What would a lunar base that you designed look like? What types of power will be used on the moon? Solar? Nuclear? Fission reactors? Fusion reactors? Lasar beamed electricity? What kinds of fuel will be developed for rockets making the journey? Aluminum? Oxygen? Hydrogen? Solar sails?
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
Russian Space Web - News and History in the Former USSR http://www.russianspaceweb.com/index.html
and what is listed about lunar base proposals.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/lunar_base.html
In the 1960s, the Moon Race between the United States and the Soviet Union made many scientists in both countries believe that human colonization of the Moon was at hand. Lunar bases became a frequent subject for the popular press and sci-fi novels; however, the space community also started looking at the problem seriously.
Advocates of lunar settlements believed that a permanent outpost on the Moon would allow extensive exploration of the Earth's natural satellite for future mining of its resources, for the use of its surface as a platform for astronomy research and as a "proving ground" for further planetary exploration.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
Maurizio Morabito was not pleased with the analysis of the authors on the last post. He has some good suggestions for use of Lunar Bases. Read his rant below. Appreciate the thoughts.
- LRK -
Before we mentioned the Asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)near approach in 2029 and possible collision with Earth in 2036. Larry Klaes passed a link to a competition to design a mission to tag the asteroid.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Design an asteroid tag, win $50,000
A competition to design a 'tagging' mission to mark and track an asteroid in danger of hitting the Earth in 2036 was announced this week in the USA.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/925
--------------------------------------------------------------
Also at the Planetary Society web site.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/apophis_competition/
Snip
The Planetary Society is conducting a competition to design a mission to rendezvous with and "tag" a near-Earth asteroid such as Apophis.
The competition is being conducted in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). Findings of the competition will be presented at relevant conferences, and winning entries will be shared with space agencies directly, including those actively cooperating in this competition.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
Copied a larger snip below.
- LRK -
Hope we have continued support for going back to the Moon.
It is going to take some time, so every administration will count. Put those politicians in office that think as you do.
- 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
==============================================================
Thanks for the rant Maurizio. - LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Larry
I find these discussions more than self-defeating. Where else in the Universe can we place a radiotelescope permanently shielded from terrestrial interference by hundreds of kilometers of rock, but on the opposite side of the Moon?
Do those people understand there is virtually no astronomical observation at all in the low-frequency radio bands? What are _their_ plans for neutrino astronomy in the 1GeV-10TeV energy band? Both are ideas that become feasible in the Lunar environment
And do they really believe it is easy and inexpensive to place a set of free-flying observatories at the precise distances necessary for interferometry? LISA is at least 10 years away, if not more
Do I need to continue? Where else can we easily excavate regolith that contains the recording of billions of years of solar activity, in the form of isotopes embedded in the soil? If there is any place where the solar rays never illuminate, how much of the history of the galaxy are we going to be able to read simply by analyzing the composition of its terrain?
What other marvels serendipitously wait for us to go beyond timidity and explore the ONE astronomical thing that is not millions of miles away?
Stuff such as Lester/Yorke/Mather's reminds me of the definition of
stupidity: to damage somebody else without gaining a thing for yourself
(sorry for the rant and merry Christmas!)
regards
maurizio
Snip
==============================================================
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/925
Design an asteroid tag, win $50,000
Thursday, 14 December 2006
Cosmos Online
SYDNEY: A competition to design a 'tagging' mission to mark and track an asteroid in danger of hitting the Earth in 2036 was announced this week in the USA.
This week at the autumn meeting of the American Geophysical Union, The Planetary Society - a U.S. non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing space research - announced the launch of their Apophis Mission Design Competition, which invites participants to submit designs for a mission to rendezvous with and 'tag' a potentially dangerous near-Earth asteroid.
The organisation believes that tagging may be necessary to track an asteroid accurately enough to determine whether it will impact Earth, and thus help facilitate the decision whether to mount a deflection mission to alter its orbit. The Society is offering US$50,000 in prize money for the competition.
Apophis is an approximately 400-metre 'near-Earth object' (NEO), which will come closer than 36,000 km to Earth in 2029 - inside the the orbit of many satellites. On that pass, the asteroid will be gravitationally perturbed to an unknown orbit, one that could cause it to hit Earth in 2036.
"While the odds are very slim that this particular asteroid will hit Earth in 30 years, they are not zero, and Apophis and other NEOs represent threats that need to be addressed," said Rusty Schweickart, Apollo astronaut, and head of the Association for Space Explorers NEO committee.
Bruce Betts, The Planetary Society's Director of Projects said, "With this competition, we hope not only to generate creative thinking about tagging Apophis, but also to stimulate greater awareness of the broader near-Earth object threat."
Snip
http://www.planetary.org/home/
http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/apophis_competition/
==============================================================
Thanks for the Pioneer Anomaly info Larry Klaes. - LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0612567
From: John Hodge [view email]
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:54:25 GMT (32kb)
Scalar potential model of the Pioneer Anomaly
Authors: John C. Hodge
The unexplained sunward acceleration $a_\mathrm{P}$ of the Pioneer 10 (P10) and the Pioneer 11 (P11) spacecraft remains a mystery. A scalar potential model (SPM) that derived from considerations of galaxy clusters, of redshift, and of H{\scriptsize{I}} rotation curves of spiral galaxies is applied to the Pioneer Anomaly. Matter is posited to warp the scalar potential $\rho$ field. The gradient of the $\rho$ field produces a force on matter and light. The changing $\rho$ along the light path causes the Pioneer Anomaly. The SPM is consistent with the general value of $a_\mathrm{P}$, with the annual periodicity, with the differing $a_\mathrm{P}$ between the spacecraft, with the slowly declining $a_\mathrm{P}$, with the low value of $a_\mathrm{P}$ immediately before the P11's Saturn encounter, with the high uncertainty in the value of $a_\mathrm{P}$ obtained during and after the P11's Saturn encounter, and with the cosmological connection suggested by $a_\mathrm{P} \approx cH_\mathrm{o}$. The effect of the $\rho$ field warp appears as the curvature of space proposed by general relativity.
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0612567
Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0612599
From: Mike McCulloch [view email]
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:57:45 GMT (19kb)
Modelling the Pioneer anomaly as modified inertia
Authors: M.E. McCulloch
Comments: 15 pages, 2 bw figures, accepted by MNRAS 19th December 2006
This paper proposes an explanation for the Pioneer anomaly: an unexplained Sunward acceleration of 8.74 +/- 1.33 x 10^-10 m s^-2 seen in the behaviour of the Pioneer probes. Two hypotheses are made: (1) Inertia is a reaction to Unruh radiation and (2) this reaction is weaker for low accelerations because some wavelengths in the Unruh spectrum do not fit within a limiting scale (twice the Hubble distance) and are disallowed: a process similar to the Casimir effect. When these ideas are used to model the Pioneer crafts' trajectories there is a slight reduction in their inertial mass, causing an anomalous Sunward acceleration of 6.9 +/- 3.5 x 10^-10 m s^-2 which agrees within error bars with the observed Pioneer anomaly beyond 10 AU from the Sun. This new scheme is appealingly simple and does not require adjustable parameters. However, it also predicts an anomaly within 10 AU of the Sun, which has not been observed. Various observational tests for the idea are proposed.
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0612599
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) - yr 2029 will be visible to the unaided eye.
Ron Wells sent me a note about Apophis (see below) which points out that there are asteroids of INTERIST.
Whether I will be around in 2029 to look up remains to be seen, but the kids and grandkids will be. It would be nice if we could learn to get a HANDLE on these asteroids and turn them into a resource rather than a threat.
The one you don't know about could possibly level more than the World Trade Center. Wouldn't it be nice if the folks on spaceship Earth would work together rather than raising a fuss in their cubical?
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/~ostro/mn4/index.html
Radar Refinement of the Orbit of Asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) [See image at web site. - LRK -]
The several-hundred-meter asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) was discovered in June 2004 and lost until it was rediscovered in December 2004. Integration of the orbit calculated from the half-year-long set of optical astrometry revealed an extremely close approach to Earth on April 13, 2029. Arecibo delay-Doppler radar astrometry obtained during the last week in January 2005 showed the object to be several hundred kilometers closer than had been predicted by the optical position measurements.
This correction refined our estimate of the orbit and predicted a 2029 approach to the geocenter at a distance of:
0.000242 +/- 0.000058 AU
36200 +/- 8700 km
0.094 +/- 0.023 Earth-Moon distances
5.7 +/- 1.4 Earth radii
This is 28,000 km closer than predicted by the pre-radar (optical-only) orbit and closer than geosynchronous satellites.
The asteroid's 2029 flyby is closer than any known past or future approach by natural objects larger than about 10 meters (other than objects that have entered Earth's atmosphere).
2004 MN4 is expected to reach 3rd magnitude for observers in Europe, Africa, and western Asia, where it will be visible to the unaided eye.
Approaches as close as the 2029 event, by objects as large as 2004 MN4, are very rare, occurring on average at intervals longer than a thousand years.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
(other than objects that have entered Earth's atmosphere). Hmmmmmm.
That sort of says it all.
Repeat after me, other than objects that have entered the Earth's atmosphere.
What was it the Dinosaurs said, wow, that was the closest we have seen, I wonder when one will enter the atmosphere?
Thanks for looking up with me.
(more eyes might help - and you said reduce funding for Arecibo?!!!)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/06/1143242
http://ksulib.typepad.com/talking/2006/12/save_arecibo.html
http://www.naic.edu/~astro/NSFSR/NAIC_implementation.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234843,00.html?sPage=fnc.science/space
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Puerto_Rico_Observatory_Cuts.html
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
==============================================================
Thanks for this info Ron. - LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
> This current asteroid miss is nothing remarkable! The one to watch out for is still 2004MN4 now called Apophis! (Interesting name for it, given that Apophis is the Egyptian demon that will eat a person's heart should it not balance exactly the Ma'at feather of truthfulness, righteousness and well being on the weighing scales!). It was thought to be a high probable impactor in April, 2029. But enough critical observations have been obtained, especially by radar, to be precise with its miss distance. On April 13.9, 2029 it will fly by the Earth at an altitude of 23,566 miles! That is within the geosynchronous orbital distance! Assuming no perturbations between now and then. It is roughly a half km in diameter. Why not develop rockets to attach to it just before it gets here and brake it into Earth orbit as a second moon? It should be thoroughly studied mineralogically. It might be worth capturing from a mining point of view.
Snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis
99942 Apophis
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(99942) Apophis (previously known by its provisional designation 2004 MN4) is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a relatively large probability that it would strike the Earth in 2029. However, additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on Earth or the Moon in 2029. However there remained a possibility that during the 2029 close encounter with Earth, Apophis would pass through a "gravitational keyhole", a precise region in space no more than about 400 meters across, that would set up a future impact on April 13, 2036. This possibility kept the asteroid at Level 1 on the Torino impact hazard scale until August 2006.
Additional observations of the trajectory of Apophis revealed the "keyhole" would likely be missed and on August 5, 2006, Apophis was lowered to a Level 0 Torino impact hazard scale. As of October 19, 2006 the impact probability for April 13, 2036 is estimated at 1 in 45,000. An additional impact date in 2037 has been identified, however the impact probability for that encounter is 1 in 12.3 million.
Snip
==============================================================
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=3434
Asteroid Apophis set for a makeover
Astronomers name the asteroid that will sweep past Earth in 2029 and suggest how Earth's gravity may alter the space rock.
Bill Cooke
August 18, 2005
Last month was significant for the asteroid formerly known as 2004 MN4. On July 19, it lost its provisional designation and acquired its permanent number and name. The number, 99942, is the largest yet assigned to an asteroid. The name, which will delight Egyptologists and science-fiction fans alike, is Apophis.
Between July 9 and 11, astronomers Dave Tholen, Fabrizio Bernardi, and Roy Tucker took what are likely the last optical images of the asteroid before 2007. They used the 90-inch Bok Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. The same team discovered the asteroid last June.
On April 13, 2029, Apophis will pass 22,600 miles (36,350 kilometers) from Earth — so close it skirts the belt of orbiting geosynchronous satellites and will be visible to the unaided eye as a moving, magnitude 3.3, starlike point. Astronomers estimate the space rock is 1,050 feet (320 meters) across and has a striking power equivalent 850 million tons of TNT, or more than 4 times the energy released when the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa erupted in 1883.
Snip
==============================================================
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/a99942.html
99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)
Earth Impact Risk Summary
Analysis based on 2 radar delay, 5 Doppler, and
731 optical observations spanning 884.52 days
(2004-Mar-15.10789 to 2006-Aug-16.626954)
Torino Scale (maximum) 0
Palermo Scale (maximum) -2.52
Palermo Scale (cumulative) -2.52
Impact Probability (cumulative) 2.2e-05
Number of Potential Impacts 2
Vimpact 12.59 km/s
Vinfinity 5.87 km/s
H 19.7
Diameter 0.250 km
Mass 2.1e+10 kg
Energy 4.0e+02 MT
all above are mean values
weighted by impact probability
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==============================================================
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=99942
Asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)
Orbit - where now -
- LRK -
Snip
==============================================================
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9871982/
NASA sets schedule for handling asteroid threat Letter suggests probe in 2019 and deflector by 2028 ... if needed
By Alan Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC
Updated: 11:04 a.m. PT Oct 31, 2005
NASA has outlined what it could do, and in what time frame, in case a quarter-mile-wide asteroid named Apophis is on a course to slam into Earth in the year 2036. The timetable was released by the B612 Foundation, a group that is pressing NASA and other government agencies to do more to head off threats from near-Earth objects.
The plan runs like this: Eight years from now, if there's still a chance of a collision in 2036, NASA would start drawing up plans to put a probe on the space rock or in orbit around it in 2019. Measurements sent back from the probe would characterize Apophis' course to an accuracy of mere yards (meters) by the year 2020.
If those readings still could not rule out a strike in 2036, NASA would try to deflect the asteroid into a non-threatening course in the 2024-2028 time frame by firing an impactor at it — using this year's Deep Impact comet-blasting probe as a model. Experts would start planning for the "Son of Deep Impact" mission even before they knew whether or not it was needed.
Snip
==============================================================
http://www.b612foundation.org/press/press.html
News by and about B612
News by B612
14. White papers and presentations submitted by B612 members at the NASA NEO Workshop held in Vail, Colorado, 26-28 June, 2006. This workshop was organized by NASA in response to the congressional requirement that it be provided an initial report on its progress in implementation of the George E. Brown Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey (see Subtitle C, Section 321, (d)(4)).
Snip
1. Asteroid Apophis and the B612 exchange with NASA
* NASA Ames, 7/22/2005
http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/news_detail.cfm?ID=161
* Christian Science Monitor, 7/26/2005 http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0726/p01s04-stss.html
* Time Online, 8/13/2005
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,1093624,00.html
* SpaceRef.Com, 10/28/2005
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18138
* Astromart, 10/29/2005
http://www.astromart.com/news/default.asp
* NASA Ames, 10/31/2005
http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/news_detail.cfm?ID=165
* Space Daily, 10/31/2005
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/asteroid-05v.html
* MSNBC, 10/31/2005
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9871982/
* The Register (UK), 10/31/2005
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/31/nasa_has_a_plan/
* New Scientist - Space, 11/1/2005
http://space.newscientist.com/channel/solar-system/dn8245-nasa-decline-to-deflect-asteroid--for-now.html
* MSNBC, 11/1/2005
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9890268
* San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 11/2005
[no longer available - LRK -]
* CNN.Com, 11/7/2005
[page not found - LRK -]
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Ron Wells sent me a note about Apophis (see below) which points out that there are asteroids of INTERIST.
Whether I will be around in 2029 to look up remains to be seen, but the kids and grandkids will be. It would be nice if we could learn to get a HANDLE on these asteroids and turn them into a resource rather than a threat.
The one you don't know about could possibly level more than the World Trade Center. Wouldn't it be nice if the folks on spaceship Earth would work together rather than raising a fuss in their cubical?
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/~ostro/mn4/index.html
Radar Refinement of the Orbit of Asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) [See image at web site. - LRK -]
The several-hundred-meter asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) was discovered in June 2004 and lost until it was rediscovered in December 2004. Integration of the orbit calculated from the half-year-long set of optical astrometry revealed an extremely close approach to Earth on April 13, 2029. Arecibo delay-Doppler radar astrometry obtained during the last week in January 2005 showed the object to be several hundred kilometers closer than had been predicted by the optical position measurements.
This correction refined our estimate of the orbit and predicted a 2029 approach to the geocenter at a distance of:
0.000242 +/- 0.000058 AU
36200 +/- 8700 km
0.094 +/- 0.023 Earth-Moon distances
5.7 +/- 1.4 Earth radii
This is 28,000 km closer than predicted by the pre-radar (optical-only) orbit and closer than geosynchronous satellites.
The asteroid's 2029 flyby is closer than any known past or future approach by natural objects larger than about 10 meters (other than objects that have entered Earth's atmosphere).
2004 MN4 is expected to reach 3rd magnitude for observers in Europe, Africa, and western Asia, where it will be visible to the unaided eye.
Approaches as close as the 2029 event, by objects as large as 2004 MN4, are very rare, occurring on average at intervals longer than a thousand years.
Snip
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(other than objects that have entered Earth's atmosphere). Hmmmmmm.
That sort of says it all.
Repeat after me, other than objects that have entered the Earth's atmosphere.
What was it the Dinosaurs said, wow, that was the closest we have seen, I wonder when one will enter the atmosphere?
Thanks for looking up with me.
(more eyes might help - and you said reduce funding for Arecibo?!!!)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/06/1143242
http://ksulib.typepad.com/talking/2006/12/save_arecibo.html
http://www.naic.edu/~astro/NSFSR/NAIC_implementation.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234843,00.html?sPage=fnc.science/space
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Puerto_Rico_Observatory_Cuts.html
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
==============================================================
Thanks for this info Ron. - LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
> This current asteroid miss is nothing remarkable! The one to watch out for is still 2004MN4 now called Apophis! (Interesting name for it, given that Apophis is the Egyptian demon that will eat a person's heart should it not balance exactly the Ma'at feather of truthfulness, righteousness and well being on the weighing scales!). It was thought to be a high probable impactor in April, 2029. But enough critical observations have been obtained, especially by radar, to be precise with its miss distance. On April 13.9, 2029 it will fly by the Earth at an altitude of 23,566 miles! That is within the geosynchronous orbital distance! Assuming no perturbations between now and then. It is roughly a half km in diameter. Why not develop rockets to attach to it just before it gets here and brake it into Earth orbit as a second moon? It should be thoroughly studied mineralogically. It might be worth capturing from a mining point of view.
Snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis
99942 Apophis
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(99942) Apophis (previously known by its provisional designation 2004 MN4) is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a relatively large probability that it would strike the Earth in 2029. However, additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on Earth or the Moon in 2029. However there remained a possibility that during the 2029 close encounter with Earth, Apophis would pass through a "gravitational keyhole", a precise region in space no more than about 400 meters across, that would set up a future impact on April 13, 2036. This possibility kept the asteroid at Level 1 on the Torino impact hazard scale until August 2006.
Additional observations of the trajectory of Apophis revealed the "keyhole" would likely be missed and on August 5, 2006, Apophis was lowered to a Level 0 Torino impact hazard scale. As of October 19, 2006 the impact probability for April 13, 2036 is estimated at 1 in 45,000. An additional impact date in 2037 has been identified, however the impact probability for that encounter is 1 in 12.3 million.
Snip
==============================================================
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=3434
Asteroid Apophis set for a makeover
Astronomers name the asteroid that will sweep past Earth in 2029 and suggest how Earth's gravity may alter the space rock.
Bill Cooke
August 18, 2005
Last month was significant for the asteroid formerly known as 2004 MN4. On July 19, it lost its provisional designation and acquired its permanent number and name. The number, 99942, is the largest yet assigned to an asteroid. The name, which will delight Egyptologists and science-fiction fans alike, is Apophis.
Between July 9 and 11, astronomers Dave Tholen, Fabrizio Bernardi, and Roy Tucker took what are likely the last optical images of the asteroid before 2007. They used the 90-inch Bok Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. The same team discovered the asteroid last June.
On April 13, 2029, Apophis will pass 22,600 miles (36,350 kilometers) from Earth — so close it skirts the belt of orbiting geosynchronous satellites and will be visible to the unaided eye as a moving, magnitude 3.3, starlike point. Astronomers estimate the space rock is 1,050 feet (320 meters) across and has a striking power equivalent 850 million tons of TNT, or more than 4 times the energy released when the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa erupted in 1883.
Snip
==============================================================
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/a99942.html
99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)
Earth Impact Risk Summary
Analysis based on 2 radar delay, 5 Doppler, and
731 optical observations spanning 884.52 days
(2004-Mar-15.10789 to 2006-Aug-16.626954)
Torino Scale (maximum) 0
Palermo Scale (maximum) -2.52
Palermo Scale (cumulative) -2.52
Impact Probability (cumulative) 2.2e-05
Number of Potential Impacts 2
Vimpact 12.59 km/s
Vinfinity 5.87 km/s
H 19.7
Diameter 0.250 km
Mass 2.1e+10 kg
Energy 4.0e+02 MT
all above are mean values
weighted by impact probability
Snip
==============================================================
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=99942
Asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)
Orbit - where now -
- LRK -
Snip
==============================================================
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9871982/
NASA sets schedule for handling asteroid threat Letter suggests probe in 2019 and deflector by 2028 ... if needed
By Alan Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC
Updated: 11:04 a.m. PT Oct 31, 2005
NASA has outlined what it could do, and in what time frame, in case a quarter-mile-wide asteroid named Apophis is on a course to slam into Earth in the year 2036. The timetable was released by the B612 Foundation, a group that is pressing NASA and other government agencies to do more to head off threats from near-Earth objects.
The plan runs like this: Eight years from now, if there's still a chance of a collision in 2036, NASA would start drawing up plans to put a probe on the space rock or in orbit around it in 2019. Measurements sent back from the probe would characterize Apophis' course to an accuracy of mere yards (meters) by the year 2020.
If those readings still could not rule out a strike in 2036, NASA would try to deflect the asteroid into a non-threatening course in the 2024-2028 time frame by firing an impactor at it — using this year's Deep Impact comet-blasting probe as a model. Experts would start planning for the "Son of Deep Impact" mission even before they knew whether or not it was needed.
Snip
==============================================================
http://www.b612foundation.org/press/press.html
News by and about B612
News by B612
14. White papers and presentations submitted by B612 members at the NASA NEO Workshop held in Vail, Colorado, 26-28 June, 2006. This workshop was organized by NASA in response to the congressional requirement that it be provided an initial report on its progress in implementation of the George E. Brown Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey (see Subtitle C, Section 321, (d)(4)).
Snip
1. Asteroid Apophis and the B612 exchange with NASA
* NASA Ames, 7/22/2005
http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/news_detail.cfm?ID=161
* Christian Science Monitor, 7/26/2005 http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0726/p01s04-stss.html
* Time Online, 8/13/2005
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,1093624,00.html
* SpaceRef.Com, 10/28/2005
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18138
* Astromart, 10/29/2005
http://www.astromart.com/news/default.asp
* NASA Ames, 10/31/2005
http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/news_detail.cfm?ID=165
* Space Daily, 10/31/2005
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/asteroid-05v.html
* MSNBC, 10/31/2005
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9871982/
* The Register (UK), 10/31/2005
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/31/nasa_has_a_plan/
* New Scientist - Space, 11/1/2005
http://space.newscientist.com/channel/solar-system/dn8245-nasa-decline-to-deflect-asteroid--for-now.html
* MSNBC, 11/1/2005
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9890268
* San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 11/2005
[no longer available - LRK -]
* CNN.Com, 11/7/2005
[page not found - LRK -]
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Friday, December 15, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
STS-116 - Great Viewing
Have been watching the STS-116 activities at the International Space Station on the web.
Hope we get to see similar activities when we set up camp on the Moon.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
WATCH NASA TV NOW
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts116/index.html
MISSION NEWS
--------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to build an orbiting city in the sky for say 10,000 inhabitants, will it be on the evening news or will the commercial firm doing the work have to put up their own web site to let us watch?
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
STS-116 Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang completed their scheduled electrical work and are now concentrating on other spacewalking tasks.
Shortly after the start of the spacewalk at 2:41 p.m. EST, Curbeam and Fuglesang began STS-116’s work to rearrange the International Space Station's power system from a temporary status to a permanent setup by rewiring two of the station’s four power channels. Systems were powered up at 4:45 p.m. following the completion of the electrical work.
The remaining two channels will be rewired during the mission’s third spacewalk, slated for Saturday. The STS-116 crew is performing the electrical work to bring power generated by the P4 solar arrays on line for use by the station's systems and prepare for more arrays to be added next year.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
By the end of the Apollo missions going to the Moon was just a sound byte on the evening news. The ISS in LEO, going around Earth in 92 minutes is old hat. We have always been able to do that, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station
We have always had cell phones too, right, color TV with plasma panels, right, radio with transistors, right?
When will we be able to say we have always been living on the Moon and mining asteroids? Make it so.
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
==============================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=22763
NASA STS-116 FD-4 Execute Package
STATUS REPORT
Date Released: Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Source: Johnson Space Center
Good morning Joanie, Nick, and STS-116 & Increment 14 crews!
Welcome to another day of transfer ops! We were fortunate enough yesterday to see you on downlink video already transferring items...you're looking good up there! We apologize for all the transfer list change pages today. You'll see new items and several changes to return locations due to Spacehab optimizing their return weight and c.g. This was done to accommodate potential return items when identified.
Today you'll fill 2 PWRs in the Middeck, which will require you to retrieve them from Spacehab prior to the activity in the afternoon. You'll also need to pull 2 CWCs out of Spacehab to support the FD05 fills (because you have no transfer time scheduled prior to the first CWC fill tomorrow).
Snip
Download Report
http://images.spaceref.com/news/2006/164700main_FD4-Xpack.pdf
Snip
==============================================================
http://mynasa.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts116/launch/astro_webcast.html
NASA DIRECT
STS-116 Mission Webcast
+ View Replay of Webcast (Real)
+ View Replay of Webcast (Windows)
+ View question board
Hosted by Space Shuttle Discovery Flow Director Stephanie Stilson, this webcast takes you behind the scenes as NASA prepares for mission STS-116 to the International Space Station. Learn more about the mission objectives and payloads as the astronauts continue the expansion of the orbiting outpost.
Our guest astronaut, Richard M. Linnehan, answers questions about living and working in space. Linnehan flew on missions STS-78, STS-90 and STS-109, logging over 43 days in space and conducting three spacewalks totaling more than 21 hours.
During the webcast, you'll also get insight about what the astronauts eat while in orbit and how their food is prepared here on Earth.
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Have been watching the STS-116 activities at the International Space Station on the web.
Hope we get to see similar activities when we set up camp on the Moon.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
WATCH NASA TV NOW
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts116/index.html
MISSION NEWS
--------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to build an orbiting city in the sky for say 10,000 inhabitants, will it be on the evening news or will the commercial firm doing the work have to put up their own web site to let us watch?
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
STS-116 Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang completed their scheduled electrical work and are now concentrating on other spacewalking tasks.
Shortly after the start of the spacewalk at 2:41 p.m. EST, Curbeam and Fuglesang began STS-116’s work to rearrange the International Space Station's power system from a temporary status to a permanent setup by rewiring two of the station’s four power channels. Systems were powered up at 4:45 p.m. following the completion of the electrical work.
The remaining two channels will be rewired during the mission’s third spacewalk, slated for Saturday. The STS-116 crew is performing the electrical work to bring power generated by the P4 solar arrays on line for use by the station's systems and prepare for more arrays to be added next year.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
By the end of the Apollo missions going to the Moon was just a sound byte on the evening news. The ISS in LEO, going around Earth in 92 minutes is old hat. We have always been able to do that, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station
We have always had cell phones too, right, color TV with plasma panels, right, radio with transistors, right?
When will we be able to say we have always been living on the Moon and mining asteroids? Make it so.
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
==============================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=22763
NASA STS-116 FD-4 Execute Package
STATUS REPORT
Date Released: Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Source: Johnson Space Center
Good morning Joanie, Nick, and STS-116 & Increment 14 crews!
Welcome to another day of transfer ops! We were fortunate enough yesterday to see you on downlink video already transferring items...you're looking good up there! We apologize for all the transfer list change pages today. You'll see new items and several changes to return locations due to Spacehab optimizing their return weight and c.g. This was done to accommodate potential return items when identified.
Today you'll fill 2 PWRs in the Middeck, which will require you to retrieve them from Spacehab prior to the activity in the afternoon. You'll also need to pull 2 CWCs out of Spacehab to support the FD05 fills (because you have no transfer time scheduled prior to the first CWC fill tomorrow).
Snip
Download Report
http://images.spaceref.com/news/2006/164700main_FD4-Xpack.pdf
Snip
==============================================================
http://mynasa.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts116/launch/astro_webcast.html
NASA DIRECT
STS-116 Mission Webcast
+ View Replay of Webcast (Real)
+ View Replay of Webcast (Windows)
+ View question board
Hosted by Space Shuttle Discovery Flow Director Stephanie Stilson, this webcast takes you behind the scenes as NASA prepares for mission STS-116 to the International Space Station. Learn more about the mission objectives and payloads as the astronauts continue the expansion of the orbiting outpost.
Our guest astronaut, Richard M. Linnehan, answers questions about living and working in space. Linnehan flew on missions STS-78, STS-90 and STS-109, logging over 43 days in space and conducting three spacewalks totaling more than 21 hours.
During the webcast, you'll also get insight about what the astronauts eat while in orbit and how their food is prepared here on Earth.
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
NASA plans to put a base on the moon by 2020
Not new, new, news, but want to keep the sound bytes in front of us in hopes that the idea will really catch on with others as well as you folks on this lunar-update list.
I think it is alright to point and shout, look, look, see what they can do now in space. What do you think we could do if we were really living in space. (have been watching STS-116 http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ )
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-12-04-nasa-moon-base_x.htm
NASA plans to put a base on the moon by 2020 Updated 12/4/2006 10:00 PM ET
By Traci Watson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - NASA plans to surpass the Apollo missions by establishing a base on the moon that could lead to a permanent human presence on the lunar surface, space agency officials said Monday.
For the first time since President Bush announced in 2004 that American astronauts would return to the moon, NASA has specified what it plans to do once there. No human has set foot on the moon since 1972. That final stay, the longest, lasted three days.
Under the plans outlined Monday, human habitation of the moon would begin in 2020 with four-person crews that would stay for a week. Visits would lengthen until astronauts could live on the base for up to six months at a stretch. This could occur as early as 2024.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
One more link to that has more links to the news articles.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spacetoday.net/Summary/3581
NASA unveils lunar base plans
Posted: Tue, Dec 5, 2006, 7:24 AM ET (1224 GMT) Lunar base illustration (NASA) NASA plans to develop a base near one of the poles of the Moon that will be permanently inhabited by 2024. The lunar exploration architecture, unveiled on Monday in Houston, calls for human missions to the Moon to begin by 2020, starting with one-week stays that eventually expand to half-year expeditions. NASA plans to gradually build up a base near one the poles, with the crater Shackleton near the south pole a leading candidate. Bases at those locations would enjoy near-constant sunlight and are also near permanently-shadowed regions that may harbor deposits of water ice. NASA also released Monday what it called the initial elements of a "Global Exploration Strategy" that explains why humans should go to the Moon and what people should do once they're there. The strategy was developed with the assistance of experts in a number of countries, although what roles, if any, those countries may play in the lunar architecture are uncertain.
Related Links:
* CBS News/Spaceflight Now article
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0612/04lunarbases/
* SPACE.com article
http://space.com/news/061204_nasa_moon.html
* New York Times article
> requires subscription<
* NASA SpaceFlight.com article
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=4936
* NASA press release
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/dec/HQ_06361_ESMD_Lunar_Architecture.html
<
--------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
(have dropped SBC e-mail, use Gmail account)
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
==============================================================
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-12-04-nasa-moon-base_x.htm
NASA plans to put a base on the moon by 2020 Updated 12/4/2006 10:00 PM ET
By Traci Watson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - NASA plans to surpass the Apollo missions by establishing a base on the moon that could lead to a permanent human presence on the lunar surface, space agency officials said Monday.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
IMAGE GALLERY: NASA's vision for the moon http://www.usatoday.com/tech/space/moon/flash.htm
Sixteen images from Lockheed Martin Corp.
- LRK -
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Not new, new, news, but want to keep the sound bytes in front of us in hopes that the idea will really catch on with others as well as you folks on this lunar-update list.
I think it is alright to point and shout, look, look, see what they can do now in space. What do you think we could do if we were really living in space. (have been watching STS-116 http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ )
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-12-04-nasa-moon-base_x.htm
NASA plans to put a base on the moon by 2020 Updated 12/4/2006 10:00 PM ET
By Traci Watson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - NASA plans to surpass the Apollo missions by establishing a base on the moon that could lead to a permanent human presence on the lunar surface, space agency officials said Monday.
For the first time since President Bush announced in 2004 that American astronauts would return to the moon, NASA has specified what it plans to do once there. No human has set foot on the moon since 1972. That final stay, the longest, lasted three days.
Under the plans outlined Monday, human habitation of the moon would begin in 2020 with four-person crews that would stay for a week. Visits would lengthen until astronauts could live on the base for up to six months at a stretch. This could occur as early as 2024.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
One more link to that has more links to the news articles.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spacetoday.net/Summary/3581
NASA unveils lunar base plans
Posted: Tue, Dec 5, 2006, 7:24 AM ET (1224 GMT) Lunar base illustration (NASA) NASA plans to develop a base near one of the poles of the Moon that will be permanently inhabited by 2024. The lunar exploration architecture, unveiled on Monday in Houston, calls for human missions to the Moon to begin by 2020, starting with one-week stays that eventually expand to half-year expeditions. NASA plans to gradually build up a base near one the poles, with the crater Shackleton near the south pole a leading candidate. Bases at those locations would enjoy near-constant sunlight and are also near permanently-shadowed regions that may harbor deposits of water ice. NASA also released Monday what it called the initial elements of a "Global Exploration Strategy" that explains why humans should go to the Moon and what people should do once they're there. The strategy was developed with the assistance of experts in a number of countries, although what roles, if any, those countries may play in the lunar architecture are uncertain.
Related Links:
* CBS News/Spaceflight Now article
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0612/04lunarbases/
* SPACE.com article
http://space.com/news/061204_nasa_moon.html
* New York Times article
> requires subscription<
* NASA SpaceFlight.com article
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=4936
* NASA press release
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/dec/HQ_06361_ESMD_Lunar_Architecture.html
<
--------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
(have dropped SBC e-mail, use Gmail account)
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
==============================================================
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-12-04-nasa-moon-base_x.htm
NASA plans to put a base on the moon by 2020 Updated 12/4/2006 10:00 PM ET
By Traci Watson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - NASA plans to surpass the Apollo missions by establishing a base on the moon that could lead to a permanent human presence on the lunar surface, space agency officials said Monday.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
IMAGE GALLERY: NASA's vision for the moon http://www.usatoday.com/tech/space/moon/flash.htm
Sixteen images from Lockheed Martin Corp.
- LRK -
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Looking up - The 2006 Geminid Meteor Shower
--------------------------------------------------------------
NASA Science News
NASA Science News for December 12, 2006
The best meteor shower of the year peaks this week on Thursday, Dec. 14th.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/12dec_geminids.htm?list113887
Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml !
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at the orbit of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon (1983 TB) believed to be the source of the debris that Earth passes through for the Geminid Meteor Shower. You will see that it is quite a bit out of the ecliptic plain.
Think there might be a time when the asteroid 3200 Phaethon (1983 TB) passes by Earth where the two orbits cross. That should make for quite a meteor show.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=Phaethon&group=all&search=Search
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
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/12dec_geminids.htm?list113887
The 2006 Geminid Meteor Shower
Dec. 12 , 2006: The best meteor shower of the year peaks this week on Dec.
14th.
"It's the Geminid meteor shower," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, Alabama. "Start watching on Wednesday evening, Dec. 13th, around 9 p.m. local time," he advises. "The display will start small but grow in intensity as the night wears on. By Thursday morning, Dec. 14th, people in dark, rural areas could see one or two meteors every minute."
The source of the Geminids is a mysterious object named 3200 Phaethon. "No one can decide what it is," says Cooke.
The mystery, properly told, begins in the 19th century: Before the mid-1800s there were no Geminids, or at least not enough to attract attention. The first Geminids appeared suddenly in 1862, surprising onlookers who saw dozens of meteors shoot out of the constellation Gemini. (That's how the shower gets its name, the Geminids.)
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
More to the story ...
Geminid sky map -- from Spaceweather.com http://spaceweather.com/images2006/14dec06/skymap_north.gif
3200 Phaethon -- 3D orbit
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=Phaethon&group=all&search=Search
History of the Geminids
http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/geminidhistory.html
Geminid Photo Galleries:
2004, http://spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_13dec04.htm
2002, http://spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_14dec02.html
2001 http://spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_13dec01.html
The Vision for Space Exploration
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/main/index.html
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------
NASA Science News
NASA Science News for December 12, 2006
The best meteor shower of the year peaks this week on Thursday, Dec. 14th.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/12dec_geminids.htm?list113887
Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml !
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at the orbit of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon (1983 TB) believed to be the source of the debris that Earth passes through for the Geminid Meteor Shower. You will see that it is quite a bit out of the ecliptic plain.
Think there might be a time when the asteroid 3200 Phaethon (1983 TB) passes by Earth where the two orbits cross. That should make for quite a meteor show.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=Phaethon&group=all&search=Search
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
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/12dec_geminids.htm?list113887
The 2006 Geminid Meteor Shower
Dec. 12 , 2006: The best meteor shower of the year peaks this week on Dec.
14th.
"It's the Geminid meteor shower," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, Alabama. "Start watching on Wednesday evening, Dec. 13th, around 9 p.m. local time," he advises. "The display will start small but grow in intensity as the night wears on. By Thursday morning, Dec. 14th, people in dark, rural areas could see one or two meteors every minute."
The source of the Geminids is a mysterious object named 3200 Phaethon. "No one can decide what it is," says Cooke.
The mystery, properly told, begins in the 19th century: Before the mid-1800s there were no Geminids, or at least not enough to attract attention. The first Geminids appeared suddenly in 1862, surprising onlookers who saw dozens of meteors shoot out of the constellation Gemini. (That's how the shower gets its name, the Geminids.)
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
More to the story ...
Geminid sky map -- from Spaceweather.com http://spaceweather.com/images2006/14dec06/skymap_north.gif
3200 Phaethon -- 3D orbit
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=Phaethon&group=all&search=Search
History of the Geminids
http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/geminidhistory.html
Geminid Photo Galleries:
2004, http://spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_13dec04.htm
2002, http://spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_14dec02.html
2001 http://spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_13dec01.html
The Vision for Space Exploration
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/main/index.html
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
Friday, December 08, 2006
"WHY EXPLORE SPACE?" - by Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger
David Brandt-Erichsen mentioned the following.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Snip
Regarding "Why Space?", a good statement on this subject can be found here:
http://www.meaus.com/whyExplore.html
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
If you check out the above link, you might also look at the home link as well.
- LRK -
Also, you will see that the article is by Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger.
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Stuhlinger
Ernst Stuhlinger
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger is an American atomic, electrical and rocket scientist born in Niederrimbach, Germany, on December 19, 1913. He earned his Ph.D. in physics at age 23, and in 1939 went to work for the German Atomic Energy Program. In 1943, he joined Dr. Wernher von Braun's team at the German village of Peenemuende, where he worked in the field of guidance systems. He was one of 126 scientists who immigrated to the United States with Dr. von Braun after World War II as part of Operation Paperclip. Stuhlinger was director of the space science lab at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, from 1960 to 1968, and then its associate director for science from 1968 to 1975, when he retired and became an adjunct professor and senior research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In 1955, he became a naturalized United States citizen.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
AND, you will find his name mentioned in the following monograph.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/monograph21.pdf
Humans to Mars
Fifty Years of Mission Planning
1950 - 2000
By David S. F. Portree
--------------------------------------------------------------
Closer to the now -
The shuttle was supposed to launch yesterday. Was watching the countdown on the Internet with my new cable modem facilitating the streaming video.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
All for naught as the weather caused a scrub. Maybe tomorrow.
- LRK -
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts116/061207scrub/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.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
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
Hope you can continue to use material from Koelle's website as we learn more
about going back to the Moon.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/
Heinz-Hermann Koelle
Snip
* *Lunar Database Index*
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Content.pdf>
* 0. Basic Data
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap0.pdf>
* 1. Lunar Market
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap1.pdf>
* 2. Lunar Base Program
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap2.pdf>
* 3. Lunar Science
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap3.pdf>
* 4. Lunar Facilities
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap4.pdf>
* 5. Lunar Logistics
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap5.pdf>
* 6. Lunar Space Transportation Systems
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap6.pdf>
* 7. Lunar Cost And Benefits
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap7.pdf>
* 8. Blueprints For Program Alternatives
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap8.pdf>
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap4.pdf
4. LUNAR FACILITIES
Table of Contents- 2pp (9 docs.,73 pp.,37tabs., 1 fig. 179 refs.)
Snip
Doc-L42 : LUNAR FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT (LF)
42.1 Classification
The functions listed in Doc-L41 can be carried out only with the help of
facilities, equipment and people. The beginning of all identified functions
has to be specified with respect to a particular point in the timeline,
since this will determine development and delivery schedule as well as labor
requirements for this specific facility or piece of equipment. The size of
the facility or equipment will depend on the performance required. There
will be an initial size at the beginning of the operation, a growth rate and
a final size, determined by the maximum performance or throughput required
during its lifetime. All of these variables will have to be specified for
each scenario analysed. This is done best by the simulation of the entire
life cycle of the respective base model under consideration. - In general,
one has to expect the following types of facilities and equipment in a major
lunar base:
Snip
==============================================================
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/#0612
JPL Space Calendar
Snip
# Dec 06-08 - Workshop: Locating PeV Cosmic-Ray Accelerators - Future
Detectors in Multi-TeV Gamma-Ray Astronomy, Adelaide, Australia
# Dec 09 -Hot[Dec 08] STS-116 Launch, Space Shuttle Discovery, P5 Truss
Segment, (International Space Station 12A.1)
# Dec 07 - Comet C/2005 YW (LINEAR) Perihelion (1.993 AU)
# Dec 07 - Asteroid 5648 (1990 VU1) Occults HIP 60957 (5.7 Magnitude Star)
# Dec 07 - Lecture: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft, Pasadena,
California
# Dec 07 -Updated[Dec 08] 5th Anniversary (2001), Jason/ TIMED Launch
# Dec 08 -Updated[Dec 08] Wildblue 1/ AMC-18 Ariane 5 Launch
# Dec 08 -Updated[Dec 04] Feng Yun 2-D CZ-3A Launch (China)
# Dec 08 - Lecture: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft, Pasadena,
California
# Dec 08-10 - Workshop on Early Planetary Differentiation, Sonoma County,
California
# Dec 09 - Asteroid 4535 Adamcarolla Closest Approach To Earth (2.219 AU)
Snip
==============================================================
When you look up what do you see?
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nss.org/
(December 4, 2006)
NSS announced the launch of the NSS Space Settlement Nexus, a public
Internet portal that offers unlimited access to the most comprehensive
collection of documents, studies and other resources concerning Space
Settlement and related issues. Timed to coincide with NASA's release earlier
today of the agency's Global Exploration Strategy and Lunar Architecture,
the unveiling of the NSS Space Settlement Nexus (www.NSS.org/settlement)
underscores the National Space Society's continued strong support for NASA's
Vision for Space Exploration and the placement of Space Settlement at the
center of NASA's long-term plans. Read Full Text
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nss.org/settlement/
Space Settlement Nexus
An all-volunteer effort including over 8,000 pages of reference materials
"The people of Earth have both the knowledge
and resources to colonize space."
That was the stated conclusion of this NASA-sponsored study - in 1975! There
are two things you need to know about space settlement:
* We can do it, starting now.
* A future with space settlements is vastly better than one without
them.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/index.html
Lunar Bases and Settlement
Excerpt from speech of John Marburger
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Executive Office of the President
March 15, 2006
The Moon has unique significance for all space applications for a reason
that to my amazement is hardly ever discussed in popular accounts of space
policy. The Moon is the closest source of material that lies far up Earth's
gravity well. Anything that can be made from Lunar material at costs
comparable to Earth manufacture has an enormous overall cost advantage
compared with objects lifted from Earth's surface. The greatest value of the
Moon lies neither in science nor in exploration, but in its material. I am
talking about the possibility of extracting elements and minerals that can
be processed into fuel or massive components of space apparatus. The
production of oxygen in particular, the major component (by mass) of
chemical rocket fuel, is potentially an important Lunar industry.
What are the preconditions for such an industry? That, it seems to me, must
be a primary consideration of the long range planning for the Lunar agenda.
Science studies provide the foundation for a materials production roadmap.
Clever ideas have been advanced for the phased construction of electrical
power sources - perhaps using solar cells manufactured in situ from Lunar
soil. A not unreasonable scenario is a phase of highly subsidized capital
construction followed by market-driven industrial activity to provide Lunar
products such as oxygen refueling services for commercially valuable
Earth-orbiting apparatus.
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
David Brandt-Erichsen mentioned the following.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Snip
Regarding "Why Space?", a good statement on this subject can be found here:
http://www.meaus.com/whyExplore.html
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
If you check out the above link, you might also look at the home link as well.
- LRK -
Also, you will see that the article is by Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger.
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Stuhlinger
Ernst Stuhlinger
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger is an American atomic, electrical and rocket scientist born in Niederrimbach, Germany, on December 19, 1913. He earned his Ph.D. in physics at age 23, and in 1939 went to work for the German Atomic Energy Program. In 1943, he joined Dr. Wernher von Braun's team at the German village of Peenemuende, where he worked in the field of guidance systems. He was one of 126 scientists who immigrated to the United States with Dr. von Braun after World War II as part of Operation Paperclip. Stuhlinger was director of the space science lab at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, from 1960 to 1968, and then its associate director for science from 1968 to 1975, when he retired and became an adjunct professor and senior research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In 1955, he became a naturalized United States citizen.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
AND, you will find his name mentioned in the following monograph.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/monograph21.pdf
Humans to Mars
Fifty Years of Mission Planning
1950 - 2000
By David S. F. Portree
--------------------------------------------------------------
Closer to the now -
The shuttle was supposed to launch yesterday. Was watching the countdown on the Internet with my new cable modem facilitating the streaming video.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
All for naught as the weather caused a scrub. Maybe tomorrow.
- LRK -
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts116/061207scrub/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.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
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
Hope you can continue to use material from Koelle's website as we learn more
about going back to the Moon.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/
Heinz-Hermann Koelle
Snip
* *Lunar Database Index*
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Content.pdf>
* 0. Basic Data
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap0.pdf>
* 1. Lunar Market
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap1.pdf>
* 2. Lunar Base Program
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap2.pdf>
* 3. Lunar Science
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap3.pdf>
* 4. Lunar Facilities
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap4.pdf>
* 5. Lunar Logistics
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap5.pdf>
* 6. Lunar Space Transportation Systems
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap6.pdf>
* 7. Lunar Cost And Benefits
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap7.pdf>
* 8. Blueprints For Program Alternatives
<http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap8.pdf>
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ilr.tu-berlin.de/koelle/Moonbase/Kap4.pdf
4. LUNAR FACILITIES
Table of Contents- 2pp (9 docs.,73 pp.,37tabs., 1 fig. 179 refs.)
Snip
Doc-L42 : LUNAR FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT (LF)
42.1 Classification
The functions listed in Doc-L41 can be carried out only with the help of
facilities, equipment and people. The beginning of all identified functions
has to be specified with respect to a particular point in the timeline,
since this will determine development and delivery schedule as well as labor
requirements for this specific facility or piece of equipment. The size of
the facility or equipment will depend on the performance required. There
will be an initial size at the beginning of the operation, a growth rate and
a final size, determined by the maximum performance or throughput required
during its lifetime. All of these variables will have to be specified for
each scenario analysed. This is done best by the simulation of the entire
life cycle of the respective base model under consideration. - In general,
one has to expect the following types of facilities and equipment in a major
lunar base:
Snip
==============================================================
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/#0612
JPL Space Calendar
Snip
# Dec 06-08 - Workshop: Locating PeV Cosmic-Ray Accelerators - Future
Detectors in Multi-TeV Gamma-Ray Astronomy, Adelaide, Australia
# Dec 09 -Hot[Dec 08] STS-116 Launch, Space Shuttle Discovery, P5 Truss
Segment, (International Space Station 12A.1)
# Dec 07 - Comet C/2005 YW (LINEAR) Perihelion (1.993 AU)
# Dec 07 - Asteroid 5648 (1990 VU1) Occults HIP 60957 (5.7 Magnitude Star)
# Dec 07 - Lecture: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft, Pasadena,
California
# Dec 07 -Updated[Dec 08] 5th Anniversary (2001), Jason/ TIMED Launch
# Dec 08 -Updated[Dec 08] Wildblue 1/ AMC-18 Ariane 5 Launch
# Dec 08 -Updated[Dec 04] Feng Yun 2-D CZ-3A Launch (China)
# Dec 08 - Lecture: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft, Pasadena,
California
# Dec 08-10 - Workshop on Early Planetary Differentiation, Sonoma County,
California
# Dec 09 - Asteroid 4535 Adamcarolla Closest Approach To Earth (2.219 AU)
Snip
==============================================================
When you look up what do you see?
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nss.org/
(December 4, 2006)
NSS announced the launch of the NSS Space Settlement Nexus, a public
Internet portal that offers unlimited access to the most comprehensive
collection of documents, studies and other resources concerning Space
Settlement and related issues. Timed to coincide with NASA's release earlier
today of the agency's Global Exploration Strategy and Lunar Architecture,
the unveiling of the NSS Space Settlement Nexus (www.NSS.org/settlement)
underscores the National Space Society's continued strong support for NASA's
Vision for Space Exploration and the placement of Space Settlement at the
center of NASA's long-term plans. Read Full Text
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nss.org/settlement/
Space Settlement Nexus
An all-volunteer effort including over 8,000 pages of reference materials
"The people of Earth have both the knowledge
and resources to colonize space."
That was the stated conclusion of this NASA-sponsored study - in 1975! There
are two things you need to know about space settlement:
* We can do it, starting now.
* A future with space settlements is vastly better than one without
them.
Snip
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/index.html
Lunar Bases and Settlement
Excerpt from speech of John Marburger
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Executive Office of the President
March 15, 2006
The Moon has unique significance for all space applications for a reason
that to my amazement is hardly ever discussed in popular accounts of space
policy. The Moon is the closest source of material that lies far up Earth's
gravity well. Anything that can be made from Lunar material at costs
comparable to Earth manufacture has an enormous overall cost advantage
compared with objects lifted from Earth's surface. The greatest value of the
Moon lies neither in science nor in exploration, but in its material. I am
talking about the possibility of extracting elements and minerals that can
be processed into fuel or massive components of space apparatus. The
production of oxygen in particular, the major component (by mass) of
chemical rocket fuel, is potentially an important Lunar industry.
What are the preconditions for such an industry? That, it seems to me, must
be a primary consideration of the long range planning for the Lunar agenda.
Science studies provide the foundation for a materials production roadmap.
Clever ideas have been advanced for the phased construction of electrical
power sources - perhaps using solar cells manufactured in situ from Lunar
soil. A not unreasonable scenario is a phase of highly subsidized capital
construction followed by market-driven industrial activity to provide Lunar
products such as oxygen refueling services for commercially valuable
Earth-orbiting apparatus.
Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================
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