Newly-discovered asteroid 2009 BD is slowly passing by Earth - 26 Jan 2009

Newly-discovered asteroid 2009 BD is slowly passing by Earth - 26 Jan 2009

A note from John with a question for you.
- LRK -

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey Larry:

I've long been a proponent of capturing NEOs for mining, long-duration
habitat research, etc etc...wonder if any of your readers have the
math chops to figure how much delta-v would be needed to nudge this
one into GEO?...since it's apparently co-orbital [or nearly], one
would think it would be a lot easier to manage than one that's flying
by at several kph...

Once we figure the delta-v, if we knew the object's mass, then we
could get some real numbers on what it would take...

Thanks,

J

...in deepest, darkest SE GA

==========================================================

CURIOUS ASTEROID FLYBY: Newly-discovered asteroid 2009 BD is slowly
passing by Earth today only 400,000 miles away. The approximately 10
meter-wide space rock poses no significant threat, but it merits
attention anyway: The orbit of 2009 BD appears to be almost identical
to the orbit of Earth. 2009 BD may be a rare "co-orbital asteroid,"
circling the sun in near-tandem with our planet. If current
measurements of the asteroid's orbit are correct, 2009 BD will remain
in Earth's neighborhood for many months and possibly years to come.
Visit http://spaceweather.com to view the asteroid's curious orbit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

We just keep finding rocks in our neighborhood.
Sure would be nice to be able to practice our ability to control some of them.
At least be able to tag them and do mineral surveys for ones with rare metals.
Where are those nanobots that could digest them?

Just twice the distance to the Moon.
Then again, if you were on the Moon maybe toss a line.
Who is good with a harpoon?
- 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

==============================================================
http://spaceweather.com/
snip

STRANGE ASTEROID: Newly-discovered asteroid 2009 BD is slowly passing
by Earth today only 400,000 miles away. The small 10m-wide space rock
poses no threat, but it merits attention anyway. The orbit of 2009 BD
appears to be almost identical to the orbit of Earth. 2009 BD may be a
rare co-orbital asteroid, circling the sun in near-tandem with our
planet. Extrapolating the motion of 2009 BD into the future, we see
that it remains in the vicinity of Earth for many months to come,
never receding farther than 0.1 AU (9.3 million miles) until Nov.
2010. Future observations may reveal the nature of this strange
asteroid; stay tuned!

snip
==============================================================
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2009%20BD;orb=1
(2009 BD)
Classification: Apollo [NEO] SPK-ID: 3444297

snip
==============================================================
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Unusual/K09B00D.html
2009 BD
Orbital Elements

and

Ephemeris

snip
==============================================================
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/01/25/strange-asteroid-2009-bd-stalks-the-earth/
January 25th, 2009
Strange Asteroid 2009 BD Stalks the Earth

Written by Ian O'Neill

snip

On looking at the NASA JPL Small-Body Database orbital plot, it is
hard to distinguish between the orbital path of the Earth and 2009 BD,
showing just how close the asteroid is shadowing the Earth on its
journey around the Sun…

snip
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/09jun_moonlets.htm
Corkscrew Asteroid

06.09.2006

A tiny asteroid looping around Earth for the past seven years is about
to leave the neighborhood.

June 9, 2006: News flash: Earth has a "second moon." Asteroid 2003
YN107 is looping around our planet once a year. Measuring only 20
meters across, the asteroid is too small to see with the unaided
eye—but it is there.

This news, believe it or not, is seven years old.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.hohmanntransfer.com/mn/09/09018_0118.htm
The Tracking News
Observations of small Solar-System bodies
News of published astrometry from professional & amateur observers
around the world + Risk monitoring results

Yesterday Sunday, 18 January 2009 - Compiled at 2359 UTC on 18 Jan.
2009 Tomorrow

snip
<<>> MPEC 2009-B18 - "07:05 UT" - Daily Orbit Update

* Observations of risk-listed objects
* K09B00E 2009 BE (small asteroid, arc=2 days, H=26.0 ~21m) from
LINEAR (Jan. 17.28-33p4)
* K09B00D 2009 BD (small asteroid, arc=2 days, H=28.8 ~6m) from
LINEAR (Jan. 17.27-32p5), Calar Alto Obs. (Jan. 18.01p3), and
Saint-Barthelemy Obs. (Jan. 18.03-05p4)
* K08Y03C 2008 YC3 (small asteroid, arc=27 days, H=25.4 ~28m)
from Magdalena Ridge Obs. (MRO) (Jan. 18.10-11p2 at R=22.0-22.5)

snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

Soyuz 4 and 5 docking January 16 1969 - Soyuz 5 rough landing coming up

A bit late in posting this bit but something to think about when you
consider your desire to be an astronaut, cosmonaut, or other
space-naut.

Thanks Mark. He is referring to Soyuz 5 re-entry experience, January 17 1969.
- LRK -

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Larry,

slashdot reminds that today is the anniversary of Soyuz 4 and 5, and a
rather nasty re-entry for one hardy cosmonaut.

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/17/2113235

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2009/01/dayintech_0116

http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/soyuz45/soyuz45.html

Reading this, and reflecting on US Airways new Hudson River runway,
"happy landings" has special meaning.

/m
--------------------------------------------------------------------

And this link gives more information on how it is supposed to go.
- LRK -
http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/Soyuz4-5/Index.htm

If your interest has been aroused then take a look at a more sober
account from Encyclopedia Astronautica.
- LRK -

--------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.astronautix.com/flights/soyuz5.htm
snip
What went wrong: Service module failed to separate resulting in
nose-first re-entry.
snip
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Want to go to the Moon?
Make sure your vehicle is road(space) tested.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jan/HQ_09-014_AresI-X_module_LAS.html
NASA a Step Closer to First Flight Test of Next Crew Launch Vehicle -
RELEASE : 09-014

HAMPTON, Va. -- NASA is a step closer to the first flight test of the
rocket that will send humans on their way to the moon as part of the
agency's Constellation Program. Rocket hardware critical for the test,
known as Ares I-X, was completed this week at NASA's Langley Research
Center in Hampton, Va. The flight of Ares I-X will be an important
step toward verifying analysis tools and techniques needed to develop
Ares I, NASA's next crew launch vehicle.
snip
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

==============================================================
http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/soyuz45/soyuz45.html
The flight of Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5

* Launch of Soyuz-4 on 14 January 1969
* Launch of Soyuz-5 on 15 January 1969
* Rendezvous and docking on 16 January 1969
* Radio tracking of the mission by the Kettering Group
o World-wide coverage
o Biomedical subcommutation
o Voice on shortwaves
o Telemetry during the final orbit of Soyuz-5
* The mission ends - dramatically for Soyuz-5
* References and notes

snip
==============================================================
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F17%2F2113235&from=rss
Posted by kdawson on Saturday January 17, @05:33PM

dj writes in with a reminder that forty years ago, on January 16,
1969, the two Russian spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 carried out the
first docking between two manned spacecraft and transfer of crew
between the craft. Wired's piece gives a gripping account of "one of
the roughest re-entries in the history of space flight": "Soyuz 5's
service module failed to detach at retrofire, causing the vehicle to
assume an aerodynamic position that left the heat shield pointed the
wrong way as it re-entered the atmosphere. The only thing standing
between Volynov and a fiery death was the command module's thin hatch
cover. The interior of Volynov's capsule filled with noxious fumes as
the gaskets sealing the hatch started to burn, and it got very hot in
there (which, a short time later was something he probably missed).
... But wait. There's more."
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2009/01/dayintech_0116

snip
==============================================================
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2009/01/dayintech_0116

Science : Discoveries RSS
Jan. 16, 1969: A Rendezvous, and a Rough Ride Home
By Tony Long Email 01.16.09
A Soviet technician prepares an early Soyuz spacecraft for flight.
Photo: Today in Science History

1969: Two Soviet spacecraft rendezvous in orbit and transfer
cosmonauts, marking the first time spacefarers go up in one craft and
return to Earth in another.

Soyuz 4 lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Jan. 14 with Commander
Vladimir Shatalov flying solo. Soyuz 5 followed a day later, carrying
three cosmonauts: Boris Volynov, Aleksei Yaliseyev and Eugeni Khrunov.

The mission, with the docking and transfer as its centerpiece, was
undertaken as part of the experimental run-up to a Soviet lunar
mission, which never came off, and as a dress rehearsal for the
establishment of a permanent space station, which did. Soyuz 4 was the
active vehicle in the docking maneuver, which went off without a
hitch.

After conducting various scientific experiments, running tests of both
vehicles' on-board systems, and evaluating the docking procedure,
Yaliseyev and Khrunov donned their space suits, bid Comrade Pilot
Volynov a hearty farewell and joined Shatalov in Soyuz 4. They would
be very glad they did.

snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

The Curious Case of Martian Methane - Sky and Telescope News Blog

------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/37667714.html
The Curious Case of Martian Methane

Those of you old enough to have lived through the 1960s might remember
comedian Bill Dana's routine involving "Jose Jimenez," the first
astronaut in space. When asked whether there might be life on Mars,
the reluctant space pioneer replied, "Maybe . . . if I land on a
Saturday night."

Be honest: deep down inside, don't you wish that life of some kind
exists (or at least once existed) on Mars? Whether you do or don't,
the news today out of NASA's Washington headquarters would really have
piqued Jose's interest.
snip
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above blog is a nice read and has some good thoughts about the
below announcement.
- LRK -

The Red Planet is Not a Dead Planet 1.15.2009
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/15jan_marsmethane.htm?list965414

When you read the Sky and Telescope News Blog also consider the length
of time it takes to develop a mission and then how long it takes to
actually fly the mission. I think you almost have to sign on to these
projects back when you are getting your doctorate and then spend the
rest of your career working and waiting and working and waiting.

Put a sensor on a new rover destined for Mars. Rover launch gets put
off until 2011 and by then I will have less hair on my head. :-(
Maybe you have read about the development of the present Mars Rovers
and listened to the Squyres.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.marstoday.com/viewpr.html?pid=15601
Reports Detail NASA Rover Discoveries of Wet Martian History

http://vivo.cornell.edu/individual/vivo/individual5700
Squyres, Steven Weldon

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/mer_ready_030513.html
All Systems Go: The Mars Exploration Rovers are Ready for Launch
By Leonard David Senior Space Writer posted: 07:00 am ET 13 May 2003
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prepare your students for the long haul and 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
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/marsmethane.html
Martian Methane Reveals the Red Planet is not a Dead Planet

Mars today is a world of cold and lonely deserts, apparently without
life of any kind, at least on the surface. Worse still, it looks like
Mars has been cold and dry for billions of years, with an atmosphere
so thin, any liquid water on the surface quickly boils away while the
sun's ultraviolet radiation scorches the ground.

But there is evidence of a warmer and wetter past -- features
resembling dry riverbeds and minerals that form in the presence of
water indicate water once flowed through Martian sands. Since liquid
water is required for all known forms of life, scientists wonder if
life could have risen on Mars, and if it did, what became of it as the
Martian climate changed.

New research reveals there is hope for Mars yet. The first definitive
detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars indicates the planet is
still alive, in either a biologic or geologic sense, according to a
team of NASA and university scientists.

snip
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/15jan_marsmethane.htm?list965414

Jan. 15, 2009: Mars today is a world of cold and lonely deserts,
apparently without life of any kind, at least on the surface. Indeed
it looks like Mars has been cold and dry for billions of years, with
an atmosphere so thin, any liquid water on the surface quickly boils
away while the sun's ultraviolet radiation scorches the ground.

The situation sounds bleak, but research published today in Science
Express reveals new hope for the Red Planet. The first definitive
detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars indicates that Mars is
still alive, in either a biologic or geologic sense, according to a
team of NASA and university scientists.

"Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety
of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the
northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 indicates some ongoing process is
releasing the gas," says lead author Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center. "At northern mid-summer, methane is released at a
rate comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil
Point in Santa Barbara, Calif."
snip
==============================================================
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_life_050216.html
Exclusive: NASA Researchers Claim Evidence of Present Life on Mars
By Brian Berger
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 16 February 2005
02:09 pm ET

WASHINGTON -- A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space
officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong
evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and
sustained by pockets of water.

The scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA's Ames Research
Center in Silicon Valley, told the group that they have submitted
their findings to the journal Nature for publication in May, and their
paper currently is being peer reviewed.

What Stoker and Lemke have found, according to several attendees of
the private meeting, is not direct proof of life on Mars, but methane
signatures and other signs of possible biological activity remarkably
similar to those recently discovered in caves here on Earth.

snip

==============================================================

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

==============================================================

NASA Radar Provides First Look Inside Moon's Shadowed Craters

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jan/HQ_09-010_Moon_radar_pictures.html

WASHINGTON -- Using a NASA radar flying aboard India's Chandrayaan-1
spacecraft, scientists are getting their first look inside the moon's
coldest, darkest craters.

The Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, has
passed its initial in-flight tests and sent back its first data. The
images show the floors of permanently-shadowed polar craters on the
moon that aren't visible from Earth. Scientists are using the
instrument to map and search the insides of the craters for water
ice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See NASA News post below. - LRK -

I wonder is they will be able to notice where Lunar Prospector crashed.
Would be nice to know if we made it inside the crater.
http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/datavis/locpos.htm
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/prospector/prospector.html

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
NASA Radar Provides First Look Inside Moon's Shadowed Craters
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jan/HQ_09-010_Moon_radar_pictures.html

Jan. 16, 2009

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
katherine.trinidad@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 09-010

NASA RADAR PROVIDES FIRST LOOK INSIDE MOON'S SHADOWED CRATERS

WASHINGTON -- Using a NASA radar flying aboard India's Chandrayaan-1
spacecraft, scientists are getting their first look inside the moon's
coldest, darkest craters.

The Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, has
passed its initial in-flight tests and sent back its first data. The
images show the floors of permanently-shadowed polar craters on the
moon that aren't visible from Earth. Scientists are using the
instrument to map and search the insides of the craters for water
ice.

"The only way to explore such areas is to use an orbital imaging radar
such as Mini-SAR," said Benjamin Bussey, deputy principal
investigator for Mini-SAR, from the Johns Hopkins University Applied
Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "This is an exciting first step for
the team which has worked diligently for more than three years to get
to this point."

The images, taken on Nov. 17, 2008, cover part of the Haworth crater
at the moon's south pole and the western rim of Seares crater, an
impact feature near the north pole. Bright areas in each image
represent either surface roughness or slopes pointing toward the
spacecraft. Further data collection by Mini-SAR and analysis will
help scientists to determine if buried ice deposits exist in the
permanently shadowed craters near the moon's poles.

These first images and other information about NASA's Mini-SAR, also
known as Mini-RF, can be found at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mini-rf

"During the next few months we expect to have a fully calibrated and
operational instrument collecting valuable science data at the moon,"
said Jason Crusan, program executive for the Mini-RF Program for
NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate in Washington.

Mini-SAR is one of 11 instruments on the Indian Space Research
Organization's Chandrayaan-1 and one of two NASA-sponsored
contributions to its international payload. The other is the Moon
Mineralogy Mapper, a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer that will
provide the first map of the entire lunar surface at high spatial and
spectral resolution. Data from the two NASA instruments will
contribute to the agency's increased understanding of the lunar
environment as it implements America's space exploration plan, which
calls for robotic and human missions to the moon.

Chandrayaan-1 launched from India's Satish Dhawan Space Center on Oct.
21 and began orbiting the moon Nov. 8. The Applied Physics Laboratory
performed the final integration and testing on Mini-SAR. It was
developed and built by the Naval Air Warfare Center and several other
commercial and government contributors. The Applied Physics
Laboratory's Satellite Communications Facility is Chandrayaan-1's
primary ground station in the Western Hemisphere.

snip
==============================================================
For more information about the Moon Mineralogy Mapper, visit:
http://m3.jpl.nasa.gov

M3 AND INDIA'S FIRST MISSION TO THE MOON

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is one of two instruments that NASA is
contributing to India's first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1
(meaning "Lunar Craft" in ancient Sanskrit), which launched on October
22, 2008. M3 is a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer that will
provide the first map of the entire lunar surface at high spatial and
spectral resolution, revealing the minerals of which it is made.

snip
==============================================================
For more information about Chandrayaan-1, visit:
http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan

About Chandrayaan
"THE MOON" with the history of the early solar system etched on it
beckons mankind from time immemorial to admire its marvels and
discover its secrets. Understanding the moon provides a pathway to
unravel the early evolution of the solar system and that of the planet
earth.

Through the ages, the Moon, our closest celestial body has aroused
curiosity in our mind much more than any other objects in the sky.

More: http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/about_chandrayaan.htm
snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

The Red Planet is Not a Dead Planet 1.15.2009

------------------------------------------------------------------------

NASA Science News for January 15, 2009

A team of NASA and university scientists has discovered 'substantial
plumes' of methane floating through the atmosphere of Mars. The
discovery indicates Mars is either biologically or geologically
active.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/15jan_marsmethane.htm?list965414

Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml
------------------------------------------------------------------------

How does the saying go, "Where there is smoke there might be fire?"
And the implication here, "Where there is methane there should be life."
- LRK -

Of course it sounds better if you have a drum roll and proclaim,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NASA REVEALS LIFE ON MARS.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2133475.ece

and

ALIEN bugs are responsible for strong plumes of methane gas detected
on Mars, it was claimed tonight.
snip
------------------------------------------------------------------------

then one should whisper in the financial officer's ear - "Just need
the money for the next expedition to prove it."

Well a lot of methane might make for fuel for a return flight from Mars.
OH, that has already been suggested, even if you have to make your own.
- LRK -

------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nss.org/settlement/mars/zubrin-promise.html
The Promise of Mars
by Robert Zubrin
From Ad Astra May/June 1996
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Methane does burn but we won't discuss the college dorm experiment
with a match and a body bent over. :-)
Yup, does burn.
- 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
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/15jan_marsmethane.htm?list965414

Jan. 15, 2009: Mars today is a world of cold and lonely deserts,
apparently without life of any kind, at least on the surface. Indeed
it looks like Mars has been cold and dry for billions of years, with
an atmosphere so thin, any liquid water on the surface quickly boils
away while the sun's ultraviolet radiation scorches the ground.

The situation sounds bleak, but research published today in Science
Express reveals new hope for the Red Planet. The first definitive
detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars indicates that Mars is
still alive, in either a biologic or geologic sense, according to a
team of NASA and university scientists.

"Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety
of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the
northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 indicates some ongoing process is
releasing the gas," says lead author Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center. "At northern mid-summer, methane is released at a
rate comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil
Point in Santa Barbara, Calif."
snip
==============================================================
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_life_050216.html
Exclusive: NASA Researchers Claim Evidence of Present Life on Mars
By Brian Berger
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 16 February 2005
02:09 pm ET

WASHINGTON -- A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space
officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong
evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and
sustained by pockets of water.

The scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA's Ames Research
Center in Silicon Valley, told the group that they have submitted
their findings to the journal Nature for publication in May, and their
paper currently is being peer reviewed.

What Stoker and Lemke have found, according to several attendees of
the private meeting, is not direct proof of life on Mars, but methane
signatures and other signs of possible biological activity remarkably
similar to those recently discovered in caves here on Earth.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=8583
March 3, 2005 | Science
Hydrogen and methane provide raw energy for life at 'Lost City'

The hydrothermal vents were miles from where anyone could have
imagined. One massive seafloor vent was an unheard of 18 stories tall.
And all were creamy white and gray, suggesting a very different
composition than vent systems studied since the 1970s.

Scientists who named the spot Lost City knew they were looking at
something never seen before when the field was serendipitously
discovered in December 2000 during a National Science Foundation
expedition to the mid-Atlantic.

This week in Science, researchers publish for the first time findings
about the gases produced at Lost City and the organisms that make
their living off them. Both are so different from so-called
black-smoker hydrothermal vents that they may provide a whole new
avenue for looking for the earliest life on Earth and for signs of
life on other planets, according to Deborah Kelley, University of
Washington oceanographer and lead author of the Science article.

Microorganisms at Lost City are living in fluids with alkaline pH that
ranges from 9 to 11, which is nearly as caustic as Liquid-Plumr,
Kelley says. This compares to the previously studied black-smoker
vents where organisms are well adjusted to acidic pHs.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2008/10/should-the-next-mars-rover-fol.html
Should the next Mars rover 'follow the methane'?
October 21, 2008 10:54 PM

The detection of methane on Mars in 2004 raised the tantalising
possibility that the cold, dry planet now harbours life in the form of
subsurface, methane-producing bacteria. Now, detailed observations
suggest a way to potentially find any such life.

Nature News reports that observations made over the last four years
show the gas is not spread evenly around the planet but concentrated
in a handful of "hotspots".

The observations were reported at a planetary sciences meeting earlier
this month by Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland. They show that methane clouds spanning hundreds
of kilometres form over these hotspots and dissipate within a year -
much shorter than the 300 years it was thought to take for atmospheric
methane to be destroyed by sunlight. If methane is being destroyed so
quickly, it must be created at far higher rates than previously
thought, Mumma said at the meeting.

snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

High-Energy Gamma-rays and Neutrinos from Extra-Galactic Sources

High-Energy Gamma-rays and Neutrinos from Extra-Galactic Sources
http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/icecube/HdWorkshopNo2/index2.htm

When you look up and put a hand up to shield your eyes, what do you
feel going through you?

I remember as a teenager going to a science fair where they had a
large rectangular display field with horizontal Geiger tubes that
would spark when a high energy particle from space came streaming down
through the display. A set of sparks making a line down through the
tubes and possibly going right through me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger-M%C3%BCller_tube

Didn't feel a thing but made a lasting impression on my young mind.
There are things out there shooting at me.

When the Apollo 17 Astronauts went to the Moon they carried some live
animals that were later checked for the effects of radiation.
http://lis.arc.nasa.gov/lis/Programs/Apollo/Apollo_17/Apollo_17.html
Astronauts have experienced flashes of lights in their vision that may
have been from energy particles going through them.

There were experiments before and after the lunar flights have checked
for the effects of radiation.
http://www.spacetoday.org/Astronauts/Animals/Dogs.html

For us down here on Earth with a nice blanket of air and a
magnetosphere, the effects of high energy particles from space are
lessened.
That doesn't mean we are completely safe. Just the UV from the Sun
can disrupt our skin cells and their programming for a proper
reproduction growth cycle.

When we go back to the Moon to stay we had better understand the
danger and know how to limit exposure to harmful rays.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-22-voa19.cfm
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988STIN...8914210N
http://www.lowdose.energy.gov/2001mtg/abstracts/deangelis.htm

There are those studying such events.

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
==============================================================

High-Energy Gamma-rays and Neutrinos from Extra-Galactic Sources
http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/icecube/HdWorkshopNo2/index2.htm

2nd Heidelberg Workshop
Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics,
13.-16. 01. 2009
The goal of this workshop is to foster discussions and ideas about
hadronic and leptonic processes and neutrino production mechanisms in
sources as:

* Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN);
* Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs);
* Diffuse Emission;
* Other.

The core discussion will be the connection between astrophysical
sources, neutrino candidates, cosmic rays, and the diffuse emission of
a possible neutrinos and gamma rays.
Each day will concentrate on one category of source, reviewing models
and observations. Discussion time is allocated at the end of each day
in order to address open issues and future developments needed.
If you are interested contact us via the registration page.
Organizing Comittee:

* Co-chairs: Elisa Resconi (MPI-K, Heidelberg)
* Felix Aharonian (MPI-K, Heidelberg and DIAS, Dublin)

* Organization Committee: Cecile Roucelle (MPI-K, Heidelberg)
* Olaf Schulz (MPI-K, Heidelberg)
* Valenti Bosch Ramon (MPI-K, Heidelberg )
* Dmitry Khangulyan (MPI-K, Heidelberg)
* Martin Raue (MPI-K, Heidelberg)
* Frank Rieger (MPI-K, Heidelberg)
* Andrew Taylor (MPI-K, Heidelberg)
* Olga Zacharopoulou (MPI-K, Heidelberg)
* Stefan Wagner (LSW, Heidelberg)

* Organizational Support: Gabriele Weese

==============================================================
Space Marauder » Blog Archive » NASA: Astronauts back on Moon by 2020
http://spacemarauder.com/2008/12/nasa-astronauts-moon-2020/
moon-base. NASA started out with the lunar missions, and now 30 years later
NASA is planning on having a permanent base set up on the moon by 2020.
This permanent base will allow sustained human presence on the moon
and will also ...
Space Marauder - http://spacemarauder.com/
snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

Public Events Mark Mars Rovers' Five-Year Anniversary

If you are in the JPL area this week, Gene thought you might be
interested in attending the pubic affairs event celebrating the Mars
Rovers Five-Year Anniversary.
Also see the events for upcoming dates in January 2009.
Copied the announcement below.
- 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
==============================================================

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-04
January 12, 2009

PASADENA, Calif. -- Public events during the next two weeks will share
the adventures of the still-active NASA Mars rovers Spirit and
Opportunity, which landed five years ago this month on missions
originally scheduled to last three months.

Rover mission leaders will present free, illustrated talks Thursday,
Jan. 15, and Friday, Jan. 16, in Pasadena, with the Jan. 15 event
streamed live online and archived for later viewing.

On Friday, Jan. 23, through Sunday, Jan. 25, rover team members will
give a series of talks at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. The
observatory will also display a full-size Mars rover model, with team
members available to answer visitors' questions.

Since landing on opposite sides of Mars during January of 2004, Spirit
and Opportunity have made important discoveries about historically wet
and violent environments on ancient Mars. They also have returned a
quarter-million images, driven more than 21 kilometers (13 miles),
climbed a mountain, descended into craters, struggled with sand traps
and aging hardware, survived dust storms, and relayed more than 36
gigabytes of data via NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. Both rovers remain
operational for new exploration campaigns the team has planned.

The public presentations on Jan. 15 and 16, "Spirit and Opportunity:
The Corps of Discovery for Mars Rolls On," are part of the monthly von
Kármán Lecture Series by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal
investigator for the science payloads on the rovers, will deliver the
Jan. 15 talk in Beckman Auditorium on the campus of the California
Institute of Technology, Pasadena, on Michigan Avenue one block south
of Del Mar Avenue. JPL's John Callas, project manager for the rovers,
will deliver the Jan. 16 talk in Pasadena City College's Vosloh Forum,
1570 E. Colorado Ave.

Squyres and Callas will begin their presentations at 7 p.m. Admission
is free, on a first-come, first-seated basis. For more information
about the lectures and the webcast of the Jan. 15 event, see
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures.cfm?year=2009&month=1 .

At Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, the full-size rover model will
be on display in the Depths of Space gallery Jan. 23 through Jan. 25,
accompanied by rover team members from JPL. Talks about topics such as
how the team drives the rovers and what the rovers have revealed about
Mars will be presented in the observatory's Leonard Nimoy Event
Horizon Theater. These talks, by JPL rover-team members Al Herrera,
Scott Lever, Scott Maxwell, John Callas, Bruce Banerdt and Ashley
Stroupe, are scheduled for the following times: 7 p.m. on Jan. 23;
1:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Jan. 24; and 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on
Jan. 25.

For more information about visiting Griffith Observatory, see
http://www.griffithobs.org/ .

JPL, a division of Caltech, manages the Mars Exploration Rovers for
the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. More information
about the rovers is at http://www.nasa.gov/rovers .

Media contacts: Guy Webster/Rhea Borja 818-354-6278/0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov/rhea.r.borja@jpl.nasa.gov

2009-004
snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

Archaeology of Space Garbage

Bob in Texas sent me the link to the article below as he thought I
might be interested. I was, thanks.
We have posted before about the amount of stuff in orbit around Earth
but the article that was copied presents it in an interesting way
talking about the archaeological value.

Historically humans have built cities on top of cities and often on
top of their garbage dumps. Later we go dig up those cities and dumps
and read the history we find. Now we can look up to the dump in the
sky and read a new history.

Soon we will be able to go back to the Moon and read the signs from
the trash we find there. [and probably add to that trash too unless
we think about our projects from birth to death - which should include
the trash too] - LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Archaeology of Space Garbage
We're Loading the Final Frontier with Technology's Trash
by W. L. Rathje
as seen at -
http://www.kenlarson.net/code/scienc01.htm
Kenneth A. Larson - General Site
Science - Space Trash

Website content including photographic and graphic images may not be
redistributed for use on another website.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But maybe you would like to read the interesting article that was
copied there. - LRK -

A lot of the stuff is probably too small to see but then there are
many items much bigger, take a look. - LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/
Satellite Tracking
snip
Live 3D Java Tracking Display -
http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3D.html
Did you know there are over eight thousand artificial objects orbiting
Earth? Over 2,500 are satellites, operative and inoperative. The
remaining objects are orbital debris: parts such as nosecone shrouds,
lens, hatch covers, rocket bodies, payloads that have disintegrated or
exploded, and even objects that "escape" from manned spacecraft during
operations.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Garbage images - Tiny URL of Google image search
http://tinyurl.com/9pwrte

Space Trash images - Tiny URL of Google imgae search
http://tinyurl.com/8hpdkl

As we are planning to go back to the Moon and working on making
simulated regolith to use in testing how to work the Moon, maybe also
time to consider who will be looking at our trash there too.
- LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/e90719f928af57969f597c0d44e3a8ec.html
CU-Boulder Selected for Two Lunar Research Grants Totaling $11 Million
January 9, 2009

The University of Colorado at Boulder was awarded two grants totaling
$11 million today from NASA's Lunar Science Institute to probe the
cosmos from observatories on the moon and to conduct science and
safety investigations on the dusty lunar surface and its atmosphere.
snip
Burns said some of the LUNAR observations will take place from the far
side of the moon, the only "truly quiet" environment in terms of radio
emissions in the inner solar system. The LUNAR team will develop new
instruments, including a low-frequency array of radio antennas. One
version of the array has antennas embedded in a plastic sheet that can
be rolled out on the far side of the moon's surface to search for
faint "hisses" generated by primordial material forming the first
stars and galaxies, he said.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well a new term for me - Exo-Archaeology - and Chicken Little said
the sky is falling, hmmmmm.
What was it that fell?
Who made it and when?
- LRK -

Some might be looking for what the aliens have left. Now what do you
find at the Lagrange points?
http://www.physics.montana.edu/faculty/cornish/lagrange.html

And when we go to the Moon and look down into those dark places at the
lunar poles, what debris will we find?
Maybe when you boil the soil to get your coffee water you should also
check for other items of interest.

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://proteus.brown.edu/13things/7713
Exoarchaeology

The relationship between man and space trash is evident in the
archaeological nature of garbage. Before getting into this I want to
mention that, for me, archaeology is the scientific study of people of
the past through objects. There has been extensive debate as to what
qualifies an object as being worthy of archaeological study, and as to
what the past entails, like the fifty or two-thousand year rule. In
this vein, Shanks writes, "…the 'Garbage Project' at the University of
Arizona began systematically collecting, sorting through, and
recording household refuse…Most archaeologists denied that the
Project's workers were doing archaeology…citing the 'fifty-year rule'"
(Shanks, 68). I think that the actual definition of archaeology is
larger than any label can apply, and in this vein, I think Shanks and
Rathje make a valid point that, "archaeologists study garbage"
(Shanks, 65), and that, "Garbage: 99 percent or more of what most
archaeologists dig up, record, and analyze in obsessive detail is what
past peoples threw away as worthless…" (Shanks, 65). Moreover, I think
their definition of archaeology is one of the better ones because they
think that the study of the product of culture is often more valuable
than studying culture itself.

Ex- or Exo- archaeology is the archaeology of outer space. This
sometimes seems to focus on alien material we could potentially find
as it comes through the atmosphere or is spotted on radar. For
instance, the Allan Hills meteorite from Mars found in Antarctica
purportedly contains biological tracings:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/meteorite_chain_010226.html.
In this paper, as you know by now, I decided to focus on man-made
space junk, rather than meteorites or alien (make-believe?) material.
Space junk is significant archaeologically as it continues to fall to
Earth on one level, because it has the potential to tell us about the
space race, Cold War, more recent global politics, government
spending, business spending, hidden spy technologies, and therefore
about our grandparents, parents, and ourselves. On another level, the
existence of significant quantities of space trash and the fact that
we've polluted beyond our atmosphere says a lot about our society in
terms of a consumer- based disposable culture. Shanks writes that
modernity's ruins are located in the landfill:
snip

Space Junk is of definite cultural significance in terms of
human-thing engineering and "reverse-engineering" in the manner
discussed the Man and Satellite section. Other cultural aspects tied
to space junk include recordings of human voices put on CD's in some
satellites, to the plaque discussed in class designed by Carl Sagan
and put on research Satellite Pioneer 10 in 1978. There's a lot more
information available at a space archaeology wiki in the works cited
section of this paper. Although archaeological study of these
materials needs to be done, there's the problem as to how to
accomplish this. We can wait for things in LEO to crash down to Earth,
or we can proactively decide exactly what the most significant items
would be for study and then launch retrieval missions.

snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenoarchaeology

Xenoarchaeology is a hypothetical form of archaeology concerned with
the physical remains of past (but not necessarily extinct) alien
cultures. These may be found on planets or satellites, in space, the
asteroid belt, planetary orbit or Lagrangian points.

Xenoarchaeology is currently only hypothetical science that exists
mainly in science fiction works and is not practiced by mainstream
archaeologists. Although some fringe theories of alien archaeology
exist, and several attempts at observing extraterrestrial structures
at common Lagrangian points in our solar system have been made, most
serious archaeological work has been in refutation of it.

snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

Senses - yours - mine - others - and adaptations to extend them

We have a rather limited view of the electromagnetic spectrum.
What is visible to our eyes doesn't include the ultra violet or the
infrared, rather narrow view me thinks.

Our ears don't hear high frequencies of the ultrasonics or the very
low frequencies.
We don't hear the low rumbles of elephants communicating.

Our nose again is rather limited in its range of sensed smells.
Yes, some wine tasting connoisseurs can tell you much about that wine
being tasted but not all of us.

I think the list could go on but what we can't do is not what is interesting.
How we go about making up for these short comings is what I am looking for.

There are many things going on around us and as we go to space we need
to add to our tools and expand on our look into what is happening.

Flavio in Italy is interested in listening to VLF, those low frequency
vibrations in the electromagnetic spectrum that can be picked up down
here on Earth.
Since 1992 he has been involved in the Inspire project a Goddard based
VLF project and since 1993 is the European Coordinator.

------------------------------------------------------

http://theinspireproject.org/
"Certainly one of the most enthralling things about human life is the
recognition that we live in what, for practical purposes, is a
universe without bounds."
James Alfred Van Allen
(7 September 1914 - 9 August 2006)
An American physicist who discovered the Earth's magnetosphere, two
toroidal zones of radiation due to trapped charged particles
encircling the Earth.

The INSPIRE Project, Inc. is offering you competitions which will
award you resources to explore this vast universe creatively and with
precision. Co-Founder Dr. Bill Taylor had Dr. Van Allen as a mentor at
the University of Iowa while pursuing his graduate degrees. INSPIRE
encourages students of all ages to participate in its Memorial
Scholarship and Internships programs. So please read on, delve into
our website and decide that you would like to be included in our next
generation of scientists, technologists, engineers or mathematicians.
snip
------------------------------------------------------

What about these VLF signals? Some maybe caused by mother Earth
herself, some by lightning, some my meteors, some by man in VLF
communications, and some of unknown sources.

How do you translate what is happening around you and turn it into
something you can see and examine, and analyze?

Flavio is looking for software that will work on his Mac.
He uses a Powerbook 1.67 GHz, 2 GB Ram and OS X 10.4.11, a powerpc,

What he is looking for is Mac software able to analyze audio signals
in the VLF radio field (30 kHz to 200 or lower Hz).
You can see something similar (for pc only) and well done here:
http://freenet-homepage.de/dl4yhf/

If any of you are interested in VLF and might be using a Mac, let me
know and I will share with Flavio.
OK, if you are using a PC and would like to share, I have a PC and
would love to hear from you as well.
- LRK -

When you become familiar with what is normal and the normal suddenly
changes, one's attention is alerted.
A twig snaps in the quiet and you look for the tiger in the grass.
A snap in the electromagnetic spectrum may mean our magnetosphere has
been hit by a burst of energy from our Sun.

Can you feel the change in the force?
Do you have the proper matrix translator turned on?
Can you make the proper adaptations in time to save us from the unknown?
Are you listening?

Be one with the force. :-)

Thanks for looking up with me. (which includes down, and around, and
over your shoulder too)

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast19jan_1.htm
Earth Songs
Our planet is a natural source of radio waves at audio frequencies. An
online receiver at the Marshall Space Flight Center is playing these
songs of Earth so anyone can listen.

January 19, 2001 -- If humans had radio antennas instead of ears, we
would hear a remarkable symphony of strange noises coming from our own
planet. Scientists call them "tweeks," "whistlers" and "sferics." They
sound like background music from a flamboyant science fiction film,
but this is not science fiction. Earth's natural radio emissions are
real and, although we're mostly unaware of them, they are around us
all the time.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/BonyFish/senses.html
Senses - Bony Fishes

A. Acoustic senses.
B. Eyesight.
C. Taste.
D. Smell.
E. Electroreception.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.fathom.com/course/10701056/
Bioacoustics: Cetaceans and Seeing Sounds

How does one see a sound? Scientists like Patrick Miller, postdoctoral
investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, use a
spectrogram, or visual representation of sound waves graphed over
time. Spectrograms are used in bioacoustics, or the study of animal
sounds, and in fields like linguistics to determine sound patterns.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.dolphinear.com/data/dolphin_echo_location.htm
Dolphin echo location
Seeing without eyes?

If you were a dolphin, and you lived in the murky waters of river
deltas, or the blackness of the deep ocean, your eyes would be
useless. You wouldn't find food, you wouldn't even find your fellow
dolphins. Dolphin echo location has evolved to take over where eyes
fail.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.k5kj.net/meteor.htm
Sam's Meteor Radio Echo Page

This page is intended to help anyone who might be interested in
setting up a receiving system to monitor meteor radio echoes. Some of
the text below was taken from e-mail discussion.

snip
==============================================================
The Universal Translator
Or
How to Talk to The Dolphins, Crickets, Elephants,
Or
Aliens

The sound goes around.
To and fro it bounds.

I can see for you and me.
A picture for me,
A sound for thee.

How does a picture sound?
Can I send it around?

Would you hear in your ear,
What I see and fear?

How does it sound?
As I send it around?

My picture in sound.

What does my mind see?
What does my mind hear?

Just a wiggle and a squiggle,
An itch and a twitch.

Something in motion,
Much like the ocean.

It wiggles and squiggles,
With ups and downs,
And motion all around

Is it sound that rebounds?
Or the motion that goes around?

What is it I see?
What do you hear?
Is it by ear?
Or by bone?

Do I care how I hear?
What is it I hear?

But a motion applied to motion,
The difference I sense.

The vibration goes around
and it comes around.
Having seen what was there
Being modified by air

Do I really care?
If it is by air.

Could be from afar?
Or just from a jar?

This sound that went around.

How does it rebound?
When it goes around.

I send and I see
What comes back to me.

How does it differ?
>From what I send.

Does that tell me,
Where it has been?

The sound goes around
With a wiggle and a squiggle.
And an added jiggle.

What does it do,
For me and for you?

One day I'll see
What you have heard
And you can hear
What I see.

What goes around
And comes back sound
May go around
And come to me,
As something to see.

The shrimp it clicks
The insect stamps

A shriek, a bellow

Over there, over here

A sensor, a sensor
Feeling this vibration.

To be in tune,
To listen to the moon,
In an afternoon.

A vision to see,
Using the medium
For free.

How do I see?
What does it mean for me?
Just a translation.

>From a vibration,
To an elation.

Its motion all around.

How does it vibrate?
How does it shake?
What information
Does it make?

The background,
All a twitter.

The background,
All around.

The noise,
How gray.

The noise
What does it say?

To enhance the dance
And see the prance.

The lights they play
What do they say?

A vibration against the white
A sound in the night
A magnetic push
A gravitational pull
How do they differ,
>From the background of all?

What information from around
When pushed and pulled by the sound?

A blare, a flair,
In the air, I don't care.
In the water, it's a medium,
In the ether, no tedium.

Radiation, it's the difference that counts.
How it wiggles and how it bounce.

A throb, a bob
A wiggle, a squiggle.

How it differs, because of the surround,
Is what goes, and comes around.

What differs from expectation,
Is what makes for information.

The play on the gray
Extracted today
Is what went,
And came back,
With information
On this and that.

Be it magnetic or electrostatic
It's the wiggle and the squiggle
That comes around
With information on the surround.

So where are you immersed?
And in what are you versed?

Can I change my wiggle,
To match your squiggle?

So that what I sent around
Come to from the surround.

It's the difference, that extra jiggle
That has information to make you giggle.

>From its sound
And image to see,
The medium is different
For you and for me.

May I transform my jiggle
To be heard as a giggle?

So what is seen from light to me
Is hear in the sea, an image for thee.

The difference applied
To light from aside,
May for me
And image be.

How do I see?
What does it mean for me?
Just a translation
>From a vibration
To an elation
An image to see.


Copyright May 28, 2001 by L & S Robotics, Larry Kellogg
Edited April 9, 2004 - LRK -
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

Light Pollution - Hard to see what's out there

> Maybe you remember what got you interested in space exploration.
> Care to let me know?

Some of you have shared and thanks.

Some of us date back to before the Apollo program and life was
simpler. (and maybe gasoline was 25 cents a gallon)
There were no houses between my house and the one up the hill. We
could look across Lake Washington and the Seattle sky line and see the
Olympics. At night I could look up at the stars in a black sky. Not too many
street lights and they had ordinary light bulbs not high intensity
sodium vapor lights.

Today the street is solid with houses that have turned into two story
castles, can't see much of the sky line or the Olympics unless the
rain has cleared the air. At night there is a glow in the sky and harder to see the stars.

My brother lives north of Everett Washington, out in the country on a
little island cut by a meandering river. (which is flooding now that
the snow is melting) No street lights and still dark skies.

I would venture a guess that a number of you have experienced something similar.

If you have been to Las Vegas here in the states you probably
have seen the beam sky ward from the Luxor hotel.
Here in Tracy I have a very bright street light that reflects off of
the houses around me. If I hide in the back yard and look through the
trees, maybe I can see the stars, assuming the neighbors behind me
have there inside lights off.

I can probably see the full moon this Saturday as it will be the
biggest full moon of 2009. (which will make it hard to see Pioneer 10
in Taurus, sorry)
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/08jan_bigmoon2009.htm

If you would like to learn more about light pollution, try this link.
Some of the links are dead but you will get the idea.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.starrynightlights.com/lpIndex.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg
In a nutshell, Light Pollution is misdirected or misused light...
generally resulting from an inappropriate application of exterior
lighting products. Light Pollution comes in several flavors... each
with its own negative effects.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------

So I guess any aliens can pass the word, just turn left at that
glowing planet, they probably won't see you even if they are looking
up. :-(

Thanks for looking up with me. (or at least trying to)

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution

Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution,
is excessive or obtrusive artificial light. It obscures the stars in
the night sky for city dwellers, interferes with astronomical
observatories, and, like any other form of pollution, disrupts
ecosystems and has adverse health effects. Light pollution can be
divided into two main types: 1) annoying light that intrudes on an
otherwise natural or low-light setting and 2) excessive light
(generally indoors) that leads to discomfort and adverse health
effects. Since the early 1980s, a global dark-sky movement has
emerged, with concerned people campaigning to reduce the amount of
light pollution.

Light pollution is a side effect of industrial civilization. Its
sources include building exterior and interior lighting, advertising,
commercial properties, offices, factories, streetlights, and
illuminated sporting venues. It is most severe in highly
industrialized, densely populated areas of North America, Europe, and
Japan and in major cities in the Middle East and North Africa like
Cairo, but even relatively small amounts of light can be noticed and
create problems. Like other forms of pollution (such as air, water,
and noise pollution) light pollution causes damage to the environment.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/us/26nightsky.html?_r=3
Preserving the Starry Night in the Glare of Light Pollution

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 25, 2008

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — High atop Dante's View,
overlooking sheets of salt flats and ribbons of sand dunes, Dan
Duriscoe shined a laser beam at the North Star and steadied his
digital camera at the starry heavens.

Click. The sky looks dark.

Mr. Duriscoe panned the camera toward the light factory of Las Vegas,
85 miles away.

Click. The sky is on fire.

snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================
This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com
https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
This list is a moderated list.
The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com
Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry.
==============================================================

FOXNews.com - Scientists Find Evidence of Livable Areas on Mars

Bob in Texas sent me the below URL.

--------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,469931,00.html
Evidence of a key mineral on Mars has been found at several locations
on the planet's surface, suggesting that any microbial life that might have been there
back when the planet was wetter could have lived comfortably.

The findings offer up intriguing new sites for future missions to
probe, researchers said.
snip
--------------------------------------------------------------

My comment was - I wonder if we as humans will ever get there.
Would be interesting to see the Mars Trilogy take place.
- LRK -

At least at the moment we are still working on going back to the Moon.
We have mentioned the need to understand how to handle the powder fine
reolith dust.

NASA Science News for January 7, 2009 says, "Sledgehammer-toting
scientists are "bustin' rocks" to make the finest possible simulated
lunar regolith (a.k.a. fake moondust) in support of NASA's return to
the Moon."

--------------------------------------------------------------
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/07jan_sixteentons.htm?list965414
Jan. 7, 2009: If you listen closely, you might hear a NASA project
manager singing this song. Lately, Marshall Space Flight Center's
Carol McClemore has been working at the end of a sledge hammer
opposite a big pile of rocks, so she has good reason to sing the song
Tennessee Ernie Ford made famous.

"I call it 'choppin' rocks,' " says McClemore, who manages Marshall's
Regolith Simulant Team." The guys keep correcting me. 'It's 'bustin'
rocks, Carole,' they say."

Whether choppin' or bustin', what's this petite woman doing with a
sledge hammer in her hands? She's making fake moon dust.

"We call it "simulated lunar regolith'," says McClemore. "We need just
the right kind of rocks to make this stuff, and we're getting them
from the Stillwater Mine in Nye, Montana."

snip
--------------------------------------------------------------

Going to space could provide a lot of interesting jobs and open up a
whole new field for business development.
I hope the recent financial melt down does not stop exploration and
utilization of space.
Need to see some innovative and creative minds working the problems.
- LRK -

Maybe some gamers will create some Lunar and Martian games for all of
those kids playing on their latest hand held game machine.
Need to encourage some minds like the "2001: A Space Odyssey" and Star Trek have
http://www.scifidimensions.com/Dec00/2001books.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek

Maybe you remember what got you interested in space exploration.
Care to let me know?

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy
Mars trilogy

The Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels
by Kim Stanley Robinson, chronicling the settlement and terraforming
of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed
viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two
centuries. Ultimately more utopian than dystopian, the story focuses
on egalitarian, sociological, and scientific advances made on Mars,
while Earth suffers from overpopulation and ecological disaster.

The three novels are Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993) and Blue Mars
(1996). An additional collection of short stories and background
information was published as The Martians (1999). The main trilogy won
a number of prestigious awards.

snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science
fiction writer, probably best known for his award-winning Mars
trilogy.

His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and
many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own
scientific fascinations, such as the 15 years of research and lifelong
fascination with Mars which culminated in his most famous work. He
has, due to his fascination with Mars, become a member of the Mars
Society.

Robinson's work has been labeled by reviewers as "literary science fiction".

Robinson will be an instructor at the Clarion Workshop in 2009. In
2010, Robinson will be Guest of Honor at the 68th World Science
Fiction Convention to be held in Melbourne, Australia.

snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

Moon Pioneer 10 spacecraft align in Taurus

Tonight is Thursday, Jan 08 2009

-----------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.earthsky.org/skywatching/moon-pioneer-10-spacecraft-align-in-taurus
Moon Pioneer 10 spacecraft align in Taurus

Tonight, the waxing gibbous moon shines in front of the constellation
Taurus the Bull. Unfortunately, the big, bright moon will wash out
most of the constellation's stars. Despite the moonlit glare, you may
note Taurus' brightest star, Aldebaran, to the right of the moon this
evening, and Elnath, Taurus' second brightest star, to the left of the
moon.

This Thursday evening, the moon almost pinpoints where the Pioneer 10
spacecraft is moving away from Earth and toward the constellation
Taurus. But keep in mind that the moon resides only a little over one
light-second from Earth, whereas Pioneer 10 lies in the hinterlands of
the solar system at some 13.4 light-hours away. Even though the moon
and Pioneer 10 are in close alignment as seen from Earth, the two are
nowhere near one another.
snip
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Was looking for something interesting for this 8th day of January and
our friend Google said look here, up in the sky, out toward the Moon
and off towards Taurus.

We do remember Pioneer 10 who finally quit talking to us but still has
folks wondering why it might be slowing down just a bit, yes?

http://www.space-time.info/pioneer/pioanomlit.html
http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0512121
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missions/archive/pioneer10-11.html

Well that brought back memories. Pioneer 10 data being read on a Mac
Quadra 950 with a program written in NI's LabVIEW version 3.0 a long
time ago by yours truly. What fun, trying to read software
programming guides with all those 'TBD' fill in spots and then reading
assembly printouts for the original telemetry program algorithms.

Now talking no more. Just a plaque showing the aliens where we are.
Going, going, gone.
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/sp349.htm
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/epilog.htm#183

Wipe away a tear.

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_10

Pioneer 10 (also called Pioneer-F) was the first spacecraft to travel
through the asteroid belt, which it entered on July 15, 1972, and to
make direct observations of Jupiter, which it passed by on December 3,
1973. It was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch
Complex 36A on March 2, 1972. Pioneer 10 is heading in the direction
of Aldebaran, located in Taurus. By some definitions, Pioneer 10 has
become the first artificial object to leave the solar system. It is
surely the first human-built object to have been set upon a trajectory
leading out of the solar system. However, it still has not passed the
heliopause or Oort cloud[1].

Its objectives were to study the interplanetary and planetary magnetic
fields; solar wind parameters; cosmic rays; transition region of the
heliosphere; neutral hydrogen abundance; distribution, size, mass,
flux, and velocity of dust particles; Jovian aurorae; Jovian radio
waves; atmosphere of Jupiter and some of its satellites, particularly
Io; and to photograph Jupiter and its satellites.

snip
==============================================================
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Pioneer_10

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid
belt and reach the outer solar system, flying past Jupiter at a
distance of about 130,354 km (81,000 miles) from the cloudtops. [See
current missions to Jupiter.] During its Jupiter encounter, Pioneer 10
imaged the planet and its moons, and took measurements of Jupiter's
magnetosphere, radiation belts, magnetic field, atmosphere, and
interior. These measurements of the intense radiation environment near
Jupiter were crucial in designing the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft.

Also, as the first spacecraft to use a planetary gravity assist to
change its velocity, Pioneer 10 then headed out of the solar system in
the direction opposite to the Sun's motion through the Milky Way
galaxy. Except for Voyager 1, which is travelling in the opposite
direction, Pioneer 10 is farther from Earth than any other human
artifact. Even so, it will take another 2 million years for Pioneer 10
to reach the first star on its trajectory. Pioneer 10 carries a plaque
intended to communicate something about its home planet should the
spacecraft ever meet up with another intelligent species. Routine
tracking of Pioneer 10 ended in 1997, but the spacecraft continued to
send out signals until January 2003.

snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================

FIRST Robotics Competition is Underway

FIRST Robotics Competition is Underway

-----------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.designnews.com/article/161612-FIRST_Robotics_Competition_is_Underway.php
FIRST Robotics Competition is Underway
John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief -- Design News, January 5, 2009

The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) kicked off over the weekend and
details of this contest, dubbed "Lunacy" to celebrate the 40th
anniversary of landing the first man on the moon, have been set.

Lunacy requires this year's robots, which for the first time have
restrictions on weight and dimensions, to pick up "Orbit" balls
designated as Moon Rocks, Empty Cells and Super Cells. Each is to be
deposited in a trailer hitched to their opponent's robot in the
allotted time, 2 min 15 sec. To add some suspense and last-second
heroics, teams can earn additional points in the last 20 sec of their
match by placing a Super Cell special "orbit" ball in their opponent's
trailer.

"The Super Cell is almost like a Hail Mary type of pass and is worth
15 points," says Bill Miller, director of FRC, now in its 18th year.
Scoring with a Moon Rock is worth 2 points apiece. FIRST, which
spelled out means "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology" is the umbrella organization founded by engineer and
inventor Dean Kamen in 1989 that sponsors events encouraging,
recognizing and rewarding high school students for engineering
accomplishments.

This year's lunar landing theme given that NASA is a FIRST sponsor
includes a low-friction playing field (57 ft x 24 ft) surface and
slippery robot wheels to minimize the advantage veteran teams might
have with drive trains.

"We wanted to simulate moonlike conditions without breaking the bank.
So if you a veteran focused on your drive train, you have to think
again. Everyone goes back to a level playing field," says Miller.
snip
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Looks like there is a bit of advertisement for going to the moon here
and a lot of interested students that just may go on to become
engineers.
Great!
- LRK -

Now if I could just learn how to make that Positronic Brain and the
artificial neurons I've been working on.
http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/2811
- LRK -

You can practice with your robotic helper using Lego Mindstorms NXT
powered by NI LabVIEW.
http://www.ni.com/academic/mindstorms/

Maybe you know someone that can help me since I seem to be a slow learner.
You can ask David in England and Bob in New Zealand to confirm that.
Dense, I am, just keep reading books and forgetting to write to you all.

Now when you go to the Moon, you may want a little robot helper.
Check out those at the FIRST Robotics Competition.
I am sure some of them will be making those helpers.
- 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
==============================================================
http://www.usfirst.org/
Calling All FIRST Alumni
Dean's homework

FRC 2009

*Control System info
*Lunacy Animation
*Press Release
*Game Description
*Event Schedule

snip
==============================================================
http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2009_frcwebcasts.php
2009 Season Kickoff
took place on
January 3, 2009
10 a.m. EST

NASA Television Viewing Options

# Direct TV Channel 283
# Dish Network Channel 213
# Viewing via commercial satellite instructions
# Via Internet Webcast
# Get Kickoff event information from FIRST

snip
==============================================================

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

==============================================================