Many folks would like to see us back on the Moon and developing its resources.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Moon Base - Moon Outpost - or will it be just a tent under the stars?

Administrations change, rumors fly, money is tight, budget for next year not yet published, who knows which way the wind blows?
- LRK -

The International Space Station was going to be big, it was going to be small, it almost didn't happen at all.
Now we have been told we are going back to the Moon and those on the ground are beating each other with their favorite proposal.
Or they are saying my proposal, not yours, I didn't even want to go there, go here.
- LRK -

I hope someone will go to the Moon, dig into some regolith, and open up a Real Estate Office.
[Or go up and see if they can claim the lunar plot they already bought.]
[ http://www.lunarlandowner.com/lunar_city_project.htm ]
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17052-nasa-may-abandon-plans-for-moon-base.html
NASA may abandon plans for moon base
* 18:33 29 April 2009 by David Shiga
NASA will probably not build an outpost on the moon as originally planned, the agency's acting administrator, Chris Scolese, told lawmakers on Wednesday. His comments also hinted that the agency is open to putting more emphasis on human missions to destinations like Mars or a near-Earth asteroid.

NASA has been working towards returning astronauts to the moon by 2020 and building a permanent base there. But some space analysts and advocacy groups like the Planetary Society have urged the agency to cancel plans for a permanent moon base, carry out shorter moon missions instead, and focus on getting astronauts to Mars.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Chris Scolese Written Statement
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/338546main_NASA_Testimony.pdf

- Chris Scolese Oral Statement
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/338547main_Oral_Statement.pdf

There was a time when no one could beat the 4 minute mile, but then the record was broken and now others have too.
No one had done a quad spin in ice skating but now it is expected.

I hope we show that a private commercial firm can go to the Moon.
Maybe if the government only has enough money for a pup tent, the ground will at least be prepared.
Send in the tourist, make a Disney movie, hold the Olympics on the Moon, turn a profit.

If any of you have already purchased your lunar lot with a view, demand access rights.
When does the next shuttle flight leave for the Moon?

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://lunarnetworks.blogspot.com/2009/04/moon-base-not-abandoned.html
LUNAR NETWORKS - blog by Joel Raupe
LUNAR PIONEER, LLP

Reports following testimony Wednesday, April 29, from NASA acting administrator Chris Scolese saying "NASA may abandon plans for moon base " are incorrect.

Congress and the President might one day, even soon, decide to abandon the long-term national goal of setting up a manned station on the Moon, but such a change in policy did not happen, nor was it remotely hinted at, today.

Nothing in Soclese's testimony before a U.S. House committee was inconsistent with present law or NASA policy.

snip
==============================================================
--- A lot of comments on NASA WATCH about the New Scientist article. - LRK -

http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2009/04/a_shift_in_poli.html
A Shift in Policy? Moon Base Axed?
NASA may abandon plans for moon base, New Scientist

"NASA will probably not build an outpost on the moon
as originally planned, the agency's acting administrator, Chris Scolese, told lawmakers on Wednesday. His comments also hinted that the agency is open to putting more emphasis on human missions to destinations like Mars or a near-Earth asteroid."

"Under Scolese's predecessor, Mike Griffin, the agency held firm to its moon base plans. But the comments by Scolese, who will lead NASA until President Barack Obama nominates the next administrator, suggest a shift in the agency's direction. He spoke to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the House Committee on Appropriations."

Editor's note: According to the New Scientist both Chris Scolese and Doug Cooke were vague on certain answers. If a shift is coming we'll have more details on May 6 when the 2010 budget is due.

Editor's Update: While I don't have Scolese's testimony at this time Rob Coppinger was Twittering the testimony. Here are the tweets with respect to a question on what impact the FY2010 budget would have on moon planning:
"- We are still looking at what we mean by Moon, is that an outpost that is very expensive or is it an Apollo

- Return to the Moon could just be extended sorties

- Scolese says return to Moon could be less than an outpost"

And here is the opening statement by Chairmain Alan B. Mollohan
- Opening Statement of Chairman Alan B. Mollohan
http://images.spaceref.com/news/2009/CJS-FY10-04-29-09.pdf

Editor's Update: Here's the testimony by Chris Scolese:
- Chris Scolese Written Statement
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/338546main_NASA_Testimony.pdf

- Chris Scolese Oral Statement
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/338547main_Oral_Statement.pdf

snip
==============================================================
--- Not only the USA having money problems and questions has how to proceed. - LRK -

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0904/25russia/
Russian lunar and Mars missions face delays
BY CRAIG COVAULT
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: April 25, 2009

The planned revival by Russia of its once mighty lunar and planetary robotic exploration program is beginning to falter due to Russian budget and spacecraft problems.

The difficulties are threatening to delay Russia's first mission to the Moon in 33 years. A Russian roundtrip mission to the Martian moon Phobos is also in trouble.

The former Soviet Union, which launched dozens of successful deep-space probes in the 1960s-1980s, has not flown a fully successful planetary mission of any kind since the 1984 Vega 2 Halley's Comet/Venus mission. And it has launched no successful missions to the Moon or Mars in 33 years.

In an effort to revive the Russian lunar program, the unique Russian "Lunar Glob" orbiter is to fire instrumented Russian penetrators into the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 landing sites explored by U.S. astronauts nearly 40 years ago.

The Russian mission, equipped with several surface penetrators and perhaps a small soft lander, is set for launch in 2012.

But that plan is going to be reviewed extensively in May and June by the Russian government and its contractor Lavochkin.

snip
==============================================================
--- Maybe the civilian community will go. - LRK -

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/090428-tw-glxp-astrobotic.html
*Private Moon Rover Aims for Apollo 11 Landing Site *
*By Jeremy Hsu *
Staff Writer
posted: 29 April 2009
09:26 am ET

/Nearly 40 years after Americans first set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969 with NASA's historic Apollo 11 flight, a host of private rocketeers are hoping to follow to win a $30 million prize. Here, SPACE.com looks at Astrobotic, one of 17 teams competing in the Google Lunar X Prize:/

If there's one name that's on the lips of many Google Lunar X Prize competitors, it's Astrobotic. The team boasts a name that readily conveys its ambitious aspirations for reaching the moon and beyond.

"Astrobotic Technology is going to do a series of missions for scouting, prospecting, mining, and all sorts of things that robots can do to get ready for the human return to the moon ," said David Gump, President of Astrobotic.

Winning the Google Lunar X Prize requires teams to land a robot on the moon, move at least 1,640 feet (500 meters) and beam high definition views back to Earth.

The team plans for a pinpoint landing just over a mile from the Apollo 11 site, where Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. Astrobotic's "Red Rover" would then beam back high-definition images of the dusty footprints left by Armstrong and fellow Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, all while taking care not to disturb the historical site.

That rover takes its name from team expert Red Whittaker, a famed Carnegie Mellon University roboticist who led his team to victory in the 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge.

*Founding a frontier *

Astrobotic also gained serious financial muscle by partnering with Raytheon Company — a leading aerospace and defense corporation — to help establish itself as a long-term player in the race back to the moon and beyond. Carnegie Mellon University and Arizona State's Lunar and Planetary Institute have similarly signed on.

"Unlike during the Apollo era, it's clear to many people that the future of the lunar frontier will be a mixed colony of humans and robots simultaneously," Gump explained. "Our goal is to be a company to which you can outsource things. You want to scout a landing site ahead of time, you hire us. You want to get a soil sample before sending your mining machines, you hire us. You need some electrical power supply, we'd have a service."

Potential clients could include nations that would hire one or more Astrobotic rovers to gather rocks and soil, as part of a prestige sample return mission. The team has already lined up at least one private client in Celestis, which announced plans to hire both Astrobotic and fellow competitor Odyssey Moon to fly cremated human remains to the moon.

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

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

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

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

2009 NASA/NSS Student Space Settlement Design contest results

While I worked at NASA Ames Research Center I met Al Globus and had the pleasure of helping judge submissions for the NASA/NSS Student Space Settlement Design contest. It was always a thrill to see the creativity expressed in the submissions.

Some of the high school submissions looked like PhD thesis submissions and even the ones from 4th grade students were often beautiful.

There were submissions from around the world and the winners we would host and give a tour of NASA Ames.
Check out the web site. These students may well be our next engineers or passengers to a city in space. :-)
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/Contest/Results/2009/index.html
2009 NASA/NSS Student Space Settlement Design contest results

Statistics

This year we received 294 submissions from 808 students sponsored by 93 teachers. Entries came from Bulgaria, Canada, China, Dubai, UAE, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Romania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uruguay. U.S. entries were received from 8 states: California, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York and Utah.

Note: All certificates will be sent out by 5/12/2009.

Important: All contestants, their families, and teachers are invited to attend the International Space Development Conference (ISDC - http://www.isdc2009.org/). If you are a contestant and plan to attend ISDC, please contact nss-students@comcast.net to determine if you will give an oral presentation of poster.

Winners

Grand Prize

The Grand Prize winning submissions for 2009 went to Eric Yam, Pooja Bhattacharga and Swastika Bhattacharga.
Eric is a student of Ms. Gillian Evans at Northern Secondary School in Toronto Canada. His project was named *ASTEN*.

Pooja Bhattacharga and Swastika Bhattacharga were instructed by Ms. Gishree Nanda of St. Xavier's High School in Orissa India. *Orissa Design Inspired Systemsand Aerovehicles * was the title of their submission.

Note: for the rest of the prizes there were individual, team (consisting of 2-6 students) and large group awards for two groups: 6-9^th grade and 10-12^th grade. Team names are listed by submission.

Student Art Gallery

First Prize

* /Extraterrestrial Residence City, /Sayantan Bhattacharya, Mary
Immaculate School, West Bengal, India. 6-9 Individual.
* /Space Settlement, /Chaitra M. Kumbargoudar, Karnataka, India.
10-12 Individual.
* /Gusto Smawaat, / Islamabad, Pakistan. 10-12 Team.
* /E-NeXt, /Jay Sanjay Patrikar, Shantanu Milaind Manke and Madhur
Sameer Bhalkar, Somalwar High School, Maharashtra, India . 6-9 Team .
* /EDENEST, /Apeejay School, Jalandhar, India. 6-9 Large Group. (tie)
* /MEGA, /Courtland Jr. SR. High School, Cortland, New York. 6-9
Large Group. (tie)
* /TOMIS, /Colegiul National "Mircea cel Batran", Constanta,
Romania. 10-12 Large Group.
* /DIVYA-Constanta Omega, /Colegiul National "Mircea cel Batran",
Constanta, Romania. Life Science.
* /UDAAN ART GALLERY, /Ryan International School, New Delhi, India.
6-9 Artistic Merit.
* /Space Settlements in Color, / Student Ching, School of
Creativity, Hong Kong, China. 6-9 Artistic Merit.
* /Space Settlements in Color, /Student Sing, School of Creativity,
Hong Kong, China. 10-12 Artistic Merit. (tie)
* /Abhivyakti, /Ryan International School, New Delhi, India. 10-12
Artistic Merit. (tie)
* /MERC, /Little Flowers Public Sr. Sec. School, Delhi, India.
Literary Merit.

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
==============================================================
2009 NASA/NSS Student Space Settlement Design contest results
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/Contest/Results/2009/index.html

--- The above notice was from an e-mail by Al Globus. His signature line follows. - LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first space tourism business is already profitable! Burt Rutan spent about $40 million of Paul Allen's money to build SpaceShip One. This vehicle was piloted into space three times in 2004. The third flight won the $10 million dollar Ansari X-Prize, writing 'Virgin' on the vehicle's tail pulled in some more cash, and technology sales put it over the top. The flights lead to a $120 million contract with Virgin Galactic to build the first true sub-orbital tourist vehicle.

Al Globus
http://alglobus.net
Views expressed in this email are only my opinions and are not the position of any organization I'm familiar with.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/
Space Settlements
spreading life throughout the solar system
"I know that humans will colonize the solar system and one day go beyond." Mike Griffin, NASA Administrator.

Humanity has the power to fill outer space with life. Today our solar system is filled with plasma, gas, dust, rock, and radiation -- but very little life; just a thin film around the third rock from the Sun. We can change that. In the 1970's Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill with the help of NASA Ames Research Center and Stanford University showed that we can build giant orbiting spaceships and live in them. These orbital space colonies could be wonderful places to live; about the size of a California beach town and endowed with weightless recreation, fantastic views, freedom, elbow-room in spades, and great wealth. In time, we may see hundreds of thousands of orbital space settlements in our solar system alone. Building these settlements will be an evolutionary event in magnitude similar to, if not greater than, ocean-based Life's colonization of land half a billion years ago.

Basics

* Who?
Pioneers at first, billions of ordinary people later.

* What?
Artificial ecosystems inside gigantic rotating, pressurized
spacecraft shielded from radiation.

* Where?
In orbit; near Earth at first.

* How?
Solar energy, lunar and asteroidal materials, and lots of hard work.

* Why?
To grow.

* When?
Good question, when do you start working on it?

* How much will it cost?
If you have to ask, you can't afford it ... *unless*

snip
==============================================================
--- Financial times are not the best but countries are still interested in space. - LRK -

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0904/25russia/

Russian lunar and Mars missions face delays
BY CRAIG COVAULT
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: April 25, 2009

The planned revival by Russia of its once mighty lunar and planetary robotic exploration program is beginning to falter due to Russian budget and spacecraft problems.

The difficulties are threatening to delay Russia's first mission to the Moon in 33 years. A Russian roundtrip mission to the Martian moon Phobos is also in trouble.

The former Soviet Union, which launched dozens of successful deep-space probes in the 1960s-1980s, has not flown a fully successful planetary mission of any kind since the 1984 Vega 2 Halley's Comet/Venus mission. And it has launched no successful missions to the Moon or Mars in 33 years.

In an effort to revive the Russian lunar program, the unique Russian "Lunar Glob" orbiter is to fire instrumented Russian penetrators into the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 landing sites explored by U.S. astronauts nearly 40 years ago.
snip
==============================================================
--- Some are not waiting for laws to change but are working to change them where the use of space is at stake. - LRK -

Galactic Mining Industries, Inc
http://www.space-mining.com/

http://www.space-mining.com/GMI-FINAL.htm
Proposal # X9.01-8721
ISRU Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) as a low-energy,
high-performance metals extraction and fabrication substitute for
Heavy Industries in support of Manned Exploration.
Galactic Mining Industries, Inc. // sysRand Corporation
Denver, Colorado 80212-2922 719-930-3161

Phase 1 Proposal

Parts:
1. Table of Contents – 1
2. Identification and Significance of the Innovation – 1
3. Technical Objectives – 6
4. Work Plan – 7
5. Related R/R&D – 9
6. Key Personnel and Bibliography of Directly Related Work – 10
7. Relationship with Phase 2 or Future R/R&D – 16
8. Company Information and Facilities – 18
9. Subcontracts and Consultants – 18
10. Potential Post Applications – 19
11. Similar Proposals and Awards -- 19
12. Letter of Commitment from sysRand -- 20
13. Letter of Commitment from Colorado School of Mines -- 21

Part 2: Identification and Significance of the Innovation -
In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is the key enabler of future space travel and space exploration and colonization. It is essential to use materials indigenous to the Moon to build and support exploration missions, Moon bases and other space infrastructure construction programs. Present-day estimates are that it costs about $50,000 to $100,000 ("Tom Sullivan, pers. comm.")to take a one kilogram mass from the Earth to the surface of the Moon. With such a prohibitive cost, it will be essential to learn to “live off the land” on the Moon. Effective and efficient utilization of in-situ resources on the Moon must be maximized to provide the exploration effort with the infrastructure, propellants, and other material requirements necessary for lunar operations. Cost control for lunar and other space operations can be achieved by the use of in-situ resources.

This proposal describes iron reduction technology and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) technology which are together capable of converting lunar soils into things such as oxygen and steel products. Analogous CVD technologies are used by International Nickel (INCO) of Canada to process over 100,000,000 pounds of nickel annually. CVD technology in this respect is not a laboratory curiosity, but is a well developed industrial process with significant levels of success.

snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Galactic Mining Industries and Telepossession and Galactic Mining Industries*
http://www.space-mining.com/Telepossession.htm

ABSTRACT: /Telepossession/ is a relatively new legal concept, which has been applied to maritime salvage in the case of the SS Central America. Herein, we propose the utilization of this concept to establish title to asteroids accessible from Earth orbit. We propose the acquisition of Stony/Iron and Iron Asteroids, and Cometary materials. Possession of these resources will facilitate the arrangement of financing and provide in-situ materials for the development of extraterrestrial infrastructure and habitats. /Telepossession/ is the utilization of robots to perform the tasks, which men would perform to establish title and ownership of space resources. In performing tasks such as men would perform at a remote site, the telepresence of a research group can have legal standing to establish a-priori domain over a property, and establish a form of legal possession.
snip
==============================================================
--- One person can make a difference. If you have a burning passion, let folks know. - LRK -

*Jerry Stone* FBIS FRAS
http://www.geocities.com/spaceflight_uk/jerry_stone.html

Freelance Presenter on Astronomy and Space Exploration
http://www.geocities.com/spaceflight_uk
Contact me about space workshops for schools and public lectures on space

Author of "One Small Step", commemorating the first men on the Moon

STEMNET Science & Engineering Ambassador
http://www.stemnet.org.uk/home.cfm

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

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

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

Friday, April 24, 2009

Some Space Related Reasons to Look Up

I get wound up in activities here and am reminded by you folks to look up. :-)

Maurizio sent me a note with some interesting links, see below.
Its focus is on "Planetary Science".
TinyUrl for - http://tinyurl.com/cwvkso

Geoff sent me info from Space.com on "Moon Dust May Be Worse Than Apollo Missions Found."
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090421-st-moon-dust-sunangle.html

If you subscribe to NASA Science News you probably got this bit about NASA's SPoRT program.
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://science.nasa.gov/
NASA Puts the Right Stuff in the Right Hands
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/22apr_severeweather.htm?list965414
-------------------------------------------------------------

If you have the band width there was also links to some NASA Podcasts.
- LRK -

View the latest updates on NASA's Ares rockets and their role in America's journey to the moon on the America's Rockets podcast, in either HD <http://streaming.msfc.nasa.gov/podcast/ares/ARES.xml> or for mobile devices <http://streaming.msfc.nasa.gov/podcast/ares/ARES_SD.xml>.

The ARES web site will also have the information available and you could view with QuickTime or subscribe there to Podcast: America's Rockets.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/index.html
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
This Ares Quarterly Progress Report, originally released to the public Mar 4th, 2009, includes progress updates on:
-Ares I Wind Tunnel testing
-Casting of the first stage Demonstration Motor 1
-First stage and Ares I-X avionics manufacturing
-Roll Control System Thruster Testing
-Ares I-X Roll Control Hardware Assembly and Shipment
-Workhorse Gas Generator Testing
-Test Stand A-3 Construction Progress

For a closed-captioned version of the video, please visit us on the Web at
http://www.nasa.gov/ares.
-------------------------------------------------------------
*
*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
==============================================================
Larry

Your readers might find it interesting to know that the April 2009 issue of Nature Geosciences, focussed on "Planetary Science", is free to download, at least for now

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/focus/planetary-science/index.html?gclid=COD41IfZiZoCFQ2T3wodEmWzGA

There is also an article by Spudis on returning to the Moon
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v2/n4/pdf/ngeo481.pdf

regards
maurizio
http://omnologos.wordpress.com
http://mauriziomorabito.wordpress.com

snip
==============================================================
Moon Dust May Be Worse Than Apollo Missions Found
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090421-st-moon-dust-sunangle.html
*By Leonard David newsspace@aol.com>*
SPACE.com’s Space Insider Columnist
posted: 21 April 2009
09:00 am ET

The first astronauts to walk on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s were inundated by sticky lunar dust that clung to their spacesuits whenever they ventured outside. Now, four decades later, a self-funded study by an Australian physicist has found a link between the dust's stickiness and the angle of the sun at the time of each moonwalk.

snip
==============================================================
http://science.nasa.gov/
NASA Science News for April 22, 2009

All research and no application makes data a dull toy. NASA's SPoRT program brings data to life by putting it in the hands of people who can use it best--the National Weather Service forecasters who send us scurrying for cover when severe weather looms.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/22apr_severeweather.htm?list965414

View the latest updates on NASA's Ares rockets and their role in America's journey to the moon on the America's Rockets podcast, in either HD <http://streaming.msfc.nasa.gov/podcast/ares/ARES.xml> or for mobile devices <http://streaming.msfc.nasa.gov/podcast/ares/ARES_SD.xml>.

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

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

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

Thursday, April 16, 2009

PILOT OF FINAL SHUTTLE MISSION TO HUBBLE SET FOR SATELLITE INTERVIEWS

----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/apr/HQ_M09-060.html
MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-060

PILOT OF FINAL SHUTTLE MISSION TO HUBBLE SET FOR SATELLITE INTERVIEWS

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Gregory C. Johnson, a native of Seattle, will be available for live interviews via satellite from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, April 21. Johnson will make his first trip into space as the pilot of space shuttle Atlantis during STS-125, the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch is targeted for May 12 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
snip
----------------------------------------------------------

We are finally getting going up to service the Hubble Telescope for the last time.
Later we should launch the Webb telescope.
- LRK -

----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr142009/snt20090413129971.asp
Time to bid adieu to Hubble
The Guardian
The Hubble telescope has expanded our vision of the universe. Soon its replacement will unleash a torrent of new discoveries, writes Inayat Bunglawala
----------------------------------------------------------

Hope there will be money for both.
- LRK -

----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2013. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.
----------------------------------------------------------

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/home/hqnews/2009/apr/HQ_M09-060.html
April 15, 2009

Michael Curie
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
michael.curie@nasa.gov

James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
james.a.hartsfield@nasa.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-060

PILOT OF FINAL SHUTTLE MISSION TO HUBBLE SET FOR SATELLITE INTERVIEWS

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Gregory C. Johnson, a native of Seattle, will be available for live interviews via satellite from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, April 21. Johnson will make his first trip into space as the pilot of space shuttle Atlantis during STS-125, the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch is targeted for May 12 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

To schedule interviews, reporters should contact NASA's Johnson Space Center newsroom at 281-483-5111 by noon Monday, April 20.

The 11-day flight will include five spacewalks on consecutive days to make repairs and upgrades to the telescope. Johnson will help guide the spacewalkers from inside the shuttle. Atlantis' astronauts will be the last humans to see the Hubble telescope in person.

Johnson was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in 1998. He has served in various agency roles, including manager of launch integration for the Space Shuttle Program at Kennedy.

Along with Johnson, the crew members of Atlantis are Commander Scott Altman and Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Megan McArthur.

For Johnson's complete biography, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/johnson-gc.html
For information about the STS-125 mission and its crew, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
-end-

snip
==============================================================
http://hubble.nasa.gov/

Named after the trailblazing astronomer Edwin P. Hubble (1889-1953), the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a large, space-based observatory which has revolutionized astronomy by providing unprecedented deep and clear views of the Universe, ranging from our own solar system to extremely remote fledgling galaxies forming not long after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/2009/04/nasa-preps-rescue-shuttle-for-friday.shtml
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
NASA Preps Rescue Shuttle For Friday Rollout

NASA aims to roll shuttle Endeavour out to launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center this week, a move that will set the stage to launch -- if need be -- a mission to rescue a Hubble Space Telescope servicing crew.

Now stacked in High Bay No. 1 of the landmark Vehicle Assembly Building, Endeavour is slated to start a 4.2-mile move out to the pad at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

A giant tracked transporter originally built for the Apollo moon-landing project will haul Endeavour down a river-rock crawlerway that stretches between the assembly building and the pad.

With the transporter crawling at less than one mile per hour, the trip is expected to take six to eight hours to complete.

snip
==============================================================
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/

NewsCenter is the complete collection of every Hubble Space Telescope news release and its supporting materials, along with tools and resources designed to further your knowledge of astronomy.

snip
==============================================================
Tiny URL for Google search of Hubble Images
*http://tinyurl.com/cyhcet

*snip
==============================================================

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

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

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Lunar Base Construction Robots - Will they be intelligent?

Folks have been thinking about this for some time.
How close to the science fiction stories do you think they will get?
- LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spacedaily.com/spacenet/text/lunar-b.html
Japan Space Net
Talk About Lunar Base Getting Serious

Once simply the fodder for science-fiction stories, building a base on the moon is now being looked at in earnest by Japan.

Tokyo -- December 19,1996 -- Recently some 170 of the world's top space scientists, engineers and mission specialists attending the Second International Lunar Workshop in Kyoto, debating not only an extensive scientific re-exploration of the lunar landscape, but the setting up of a permanent manned presence within thirty years.

Speaker after speaker talked of the scientific and technical benefits to be accrued from exploring the moon. Some pointed to the huge tasks ahead developing critical technology needed even to get there again. But while the problem of raising finance was conveniently skipped during the five day confab, one topic dominated discussions; how to build a lunar base.

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

Nine years later, still a topic of interest.
- LRK -
___________________________________________
http://www.pcworld.com/article/121442/japan_dreams_of_robot_moon_base_in_2025.html
Japan Dreams of Robot Moon Base in 2025
Advanced humanoid robots could take over mining, telescope-building chores for humans.
Paul Kallender, IDG News Service
Jun 20, 2005 1:00 am

TOKYO -- Japan wants to help build a lunar base and populate it with advanced versions of today's humanoid robots by around 2025, according to the head of the nation's space agency.

The idea is more than a pipe-dream; it is part of a 20-year plan, called JAXA Vision 2025, that was drawn up by Keiji Tachikawa, a former president of Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo, who is now president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA).

As part of the plan, Japan would use advanced robotic technologies to help build the moon base, while redeveloped versions of today's humanoid robots, such as Honda Motor's Asimo and Sony's Qrio, could work in the moon's inhospitable environment in place of astronauts, he said in a recent interview.

Japan's lunar robots would do work such as building telescopes and prospecting and mining for minerals, Tachikawa said.
"I see a big role for Japan's robotics technologies on the moon," he said. "Japanese robots will be one of our big contributions. If there is work where robots can replace humans, they will."

U.S. Also Interested
Tachikawa's plan follows a January 2004 decision by U.S. President George W. Bush that the U.S., with the assistance of partners including Japan, should build a lunar base by about 2020 and use it as a staging point for the human exploration of Mars.
The plan has struck a chord in Japan, which has long harbored dreams of building such a base

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

and now four years later again, robots to go to the Moon.
What kind of robots would colonize the Moon?
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article6032128.ece
From The Times
April 4, 2009
One step for a robot, a giant leap for tin-mankind
Leo Lewis in Tokyo
The cutting-edge models can lumber around a room without falling over. A few can play the trumpet or serve tea. The truly sophisticated ones can just about manage the washing-up.
But by 2020, Japan predicts, humanoid robots will be ready to colonise the Moon. Other metallic brethren of these mechanical pioneers, said scientists in Tokyo, will be engaged in the bigger, more prosaic mission of cleaning Earth’s orbit of junk.
---------------------------------------------------------

If we think that a robot might be intelligent, what would that mean?
When you hear the word "Robot" what image does that bring up:
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------
http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/groups/intelligent-robotics/
Intelligent Robotics

The NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) is dedicated to enabling humans and robots to explore and learn about extreme environments, remote locations, and uncharted worlds. IRG conducts applied research in a wide range of areas with an emphasis on robotics systems science and field testing. IRG's expertise includes applied computer vision (navigation, 3D surface modeling, automated science support), human-robot interaction, mobile manipulation, interactive 3D visualization, and robot software architecture.

IRG maintains and operates a variety of robot hardware, including fifteen "Personal Exploration Rovers" (low-cost, educational mobile robots), the K9 planetary rover (based on a JPL FIDO chassis), four K10 planetary rovers, and dexterous manipulators (Amtec Schunk arms and Barrett grippers). IRG's research facilities include the Marscape (3,000 sq. meter outdoor rover test facility and Mars surface analog) and the Moonscape (250 sq. meter indoor rover test facility with high-precision optical tracking).

We firmly believe that collaboration is an essential part of modern research, which improves quality and speeds technology transfer. Thus, we are presently working on joint projects with partners from academia, government, and industry.

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

or do you just want to get some job done and a colony of robots much like an ant colony would be enough?
- LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.journal.univagora.ro/download/pdf/261.pdf
Int. J. of Computers, Communications & Control, ISSN 1841-9836, E-ISSN 1841-9844
Vol. III (2008), Suppl. issue: Proceedings of ICCCC 2008, pp. 92-107
Colony of robots: New Challenge
Workshop invited key lecture
Gastón Lefranc

Abstract: The evolution on Robotics has in a cross way of application. For one side is
the applications to manufacturing, other one is application to medicine, another one in space
exploration and it is starting home applications. It is very popular to have contest of robots
for students, motivating very well to student, supported by universities, achieving good image
for the institutions.
One way for mobile robots is Nomad, a nice application for having new knowledge in the
space, but the inversion it is very expense and complex. If it has problem or fail, all the work
will stop. Instead of that, if you use a community of robots, working like a society of insect, it
is possible to have simpler mobile robots to have specific tasks, less expensive, more reliable
to reach the same aims.
In this presentation is focusing in colony of robots. This implies to merge several disciplines
based on models of communities, to have control of a society of robots working together in a
collaborative and cooperative way in non structured environments.
Keywords: Multi-robots, Colony of robots, Multiagents Systems

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

If you think your robot should be intelligent, would you mean that it should have the ability to acquire and use knowledge?

And by knowledge, you mean that it should be able to organize information?
Would you want it to be able to communicate, that is transfer its knowledge?
Should it have intuition, that is built in knowledge.

How would it acquire knowledge?
Have feelings, that is experience sensory input.
Should it have perception, the ability to transform sensations into knowledge?

What about being able to reason, applying logic to thinking.
Oh, should it be able to think, analyze what it imagined.
Aaah, have imagination, that is be able to visualize, model and devise simulations.

And lets be scarry, should it be aware, that is have knowledge of the world (Moon) situation.
Should it show emotion, that is have value judgment, evaluation of good and bad.
Lastly, throw in some consciousness, the ability to include self in the world model.

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.james-albus.org/interest.htm
snip
A PowerPoint presentation of the potential impact of intelligent machines on science, economics, military strength, and human well being can be found here:
http://www.james-albus.org/Engineering%20of%20Mind3.ppt [116 KB, 22 slides - LRK -]
snip
---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.amazon.com/Engineering-Mind-Introduction-Science-Intelligent/dp/0471438545
Engineering of Mind: An Introduction to the Science of Intelligent Systems (Hardcover)
Presenting a reference model architecture for the design of intelligent systems
Engineering of Mind presents the foundations for a computational theory of intelligence. It discusses the main streams of investigation that will eventually converge in a scientific theory of mind and proposes an avenue of research that might best lead to the development of truly intelligent systems.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------

Will be interesting to see just what kind of robots go to the Moon.
- LRK -

Some added links below from 1990 until 2009.
What kind of robot would you like to have helping you colonize the Moon?

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
*http://tinyurl.com/ckess3
*

*Lunar base construction robots*
Brooks, R.A.; Maes, P.; Mataric, M.J.; More, G.
Intelligent Robots and Systems apos;90. apos;Towards a New Frontier of Applicationsapos;, Proceedings. IROS apos;90. IEEE International Workshop on
Volume , Issue , 3-6 Jul 1990 Page(s):389 - 392 vol.1
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/IROS.1990.262415
*Summary:*President Bush called for the construction of a permanently manned lunar base. All serious plans for such a base require the use of lunar soil as shielding material against the Sun's radiation. Plans rely on the use of a large bulldozer-like vehicle to be driven by an astronaut, either locally or under teleoperation control. Brooks and Flynn (89) proposed an alternate approach to a single large and complex robot based on many small totally autonomous robots which trade off time to achieve the task with lowered complexity and cost of the system. In this paper the authors describe an experimental system they are building with 20 small bulldozers, which work without explicit coordination or communication, but nevertheless cooperate to achieve tasks that will be useful in building a manned lunar base. In particular the authors believe such tasks as digging out trenches in which the habitation units will be placed, stockpiling a supply of loose lunar soil to cover the habitation units, and actually covering them when delivered, can all be carried out by such small bulldozers

» View citation and abstract

==============================================================
http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU05/10554/EGU05-J-10554.pdf
Robotic evolution for the Human Lunar Base

Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 7, 10554, 2005
SRef-ID: 1607-7962/gra/EGU05-A-10554
© European Geosciences Union 2005

K. Matsumoto, S. Wakabayashi, T. Hoshino, K. Matsumoto
ISTA/JAXA (matumoto@chofu.jaxa.jp / 81-422-40-3146)

The human lunar base and human lunar exploration is going to be the next world wide
space exploration target, after 30 years absence. In these 30 years, many technologies
have been drastically advanced, especially in the robotics, computers, artificial
intelligence, communications, and so on.

In consideration of the too severe lunar environment, such as the night temperature,
space radiation, and so on, before the human base, the full utilization of those robotic
technologies will be implemented and developed to support and build the safe, reliable,
and affordable human lunar base.

In this presentation, we will discuss and propose the stepwise evolution scenario to
the safe human lunar base, from the view points of robotic technologies. These steps
will start with the international robotic village by the virtual collaboration, as the first
step, and will reach the international human lunar base with many assistant and support
robot systems as the lunar base infrastructure. Those robot systems will be large
scale construction robot for the lunar base assembly, geological sample assembly robot
for in-site resource utilization, maintenance and repair robot of the lunar base itself,
assembly and maintenance of the scientific equipments with delicate fingers or end
effectors, and so on. These lunar base robots will be the next generation space robots
after the ISS space robots and rover robots on the Mars.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=5672
Crew/Robot Coordinated Planetary EVA Operations at a Lunar Base Analog Site

M. Diftler, R. Ambrose, W. Bluethmann, F. Delgado, E. Herrera, J. Kosmo, B. Janoiko, B. Wilcox, J. Townsend, J. Matthews, Terrence W. Fong, M. Bualat, S. Y. Lee, John Dorsey, and W. Doggett

38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March, 2007.

Download
* Adobe portable document format (pdf) (626KB)
http://www.ri.cmu.edu/pub_files/pub4/diftler_m_2007_1/diftler_m_2007_1.pdf

Copyright notice: This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.

Abstract
Under the direction of NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program, robots and space suited subjects from several NASA centers recently completed a very successful demonstration of coordinated activities indicative of base camp operations on the lunar surface. For these activities, NASA chose a site near Meteor Crater, Arizona close to where Apollo Astronauts previously trained. The main scenario demonstrated crew returning from a planetary EVA (extra-vehicular activity) to a temporary base camp and entering a pressurized rover compartment while robots performed tasks in preparation for the next EVA. Scenario tasks included: rover operations under direct human control and autonomous modes, crew ingress and egress activities, autonomous robotic payload removal and stowage operations under both local control and remote control from Houston, and autonomous robotic navigation and inspection. In addition to the main scenario, participants had an opportunity to explore additional robotic operations: hill climbing, maneuvering heaving loads, gathering geological samples, drilling, and tether operations. In this analog environment, the suited subjects and robots experienced high levels of dust, rough terrain, and harsh lighting.

Notes
Text Reference
M. Diftler, R. Ambrose, W. Bluethmann, F. Delgado, E. Herrera, J. Kosmo, B. Janoiko, B. Wilcox, J. Townsend, J. Matthews, Terrence W. Fong, M. Bualat, S. Y. Lee, John Dorsey, and W. Doggett, "Crew/Robot Coordinated Planetary EVA Operations at a Lunar Base Analog Site," 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March, 2007.
snip

- LRK -
Participants: Two suited subjects, four robots and a pressurized rover compartment participated in the demonstration. The Johnson Space Center provided the two space suits and the suit subjects, the two person SCOUT (Science Crew Operations and Utility Testbed) rover, and the dexterous humanoid Centaur robot. The K-10 robot from the Ames Research Center performed inspection activities and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) robot maneuvered and supported a pressurized rover compartment provided by the Langley Research Center.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080614180350.htm
ScienceDaily (June 16, 2008) — Conditions on the moon will be harsher, but prototype NASA robotic vehicles braved sand storms and unprecedented temperature swings this month on sand dunes near Moses Lake, Wash., to prepare for future lunar expeditions. Teams from seven NASA centers and several universities conducted the tests from June 2-13.

"The goal was to gain hands-on experience with specific technical challenges anticipated when humans return to the moon by 2020, begin to explore the lunar surface, and set up outposts," said Test Director Bill Bluethmann of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA's Human Robotic Systems Project, part of the agency's Exploration Technology Development Program, focused on human and robotic mobility systems for the moon, but also looked at communication and command and control systems that will connect the explorers with Earth and each other. The Moses Lake dunes provided a wide variety of soil consistencies and terrain that allowed the team to put prototype scout robots, rovers, cargo carriers, cranes and spacesuits through tests in a harsh and changing environment.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090225132353.htm
Small Robots Can Prepare Lunar Surface For NASA Outpost

ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2009) — Small robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASA’s Moon outpost, according to a NASA-sponsored study prepared by Astrobotic Technology Inc. with technical assistance from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.

Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon researchers analyzed mission requirements and developed the design for an innovative new type of small lunar robot under contract from NASA’s Lunar Surface Systems group.

The results will be presented February 27 in Washington, D.C., at a NASA Lunar Surface Systems conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its Space Enterprise Council.

“NASA faces a challenge in planning the layout for its outpost, which is expected to begin operations in 2020,” said William “Red” Whittaker, chairman and chief technical officer of Astrobotic and a Carnegie Mellon professor of robotics. “For efficient cargo transfer, the landing site needs to be close to the outpost’s crew quarters and laboratories. Each rocket landing and takeoff, however, will accelerate lunar grit outwards from the pad. With no atmosphere to slow it down, the dry soil would sandblast the outpost.”

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

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

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

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Japan aims for walking robot on the moon by 2020

Japan aims for walking robot on the moon by 2020
-----------------------------------------------------
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioijx5DLWQ4vTbjJmhNgHsNszNhwD97AVVSG0
By JAY ALABASTER – 1 day ago
TOKYO (AP) — Japan hopes to have a two-legged robot walk on the moon by around 2020, with a joint mission involving astronauts and robots to follow, according to a plan laid out Friday by a government group.

Specifics of the plan, including what new technologies will be required and the size of the project's budget, are to be decided within the next two years, according to Japan's Strategic Headquarters for Space Development, a Cabinet-level working group.
snip
-----------------------------------------------------

Bob in Texas mentioned the above link and these also.
- LRK -

___________________________________________
http://i.gizmodo.com/5197523/japan-pledges-to-land-humanoid-robot-on-moon-by-2020
Japan Pledges To Land Humanoid Robot On Moon By 2020
By Wilson Rothman, 7:00 PM on Fri Apr 3 2009, 8,440 views
In an otherwise vague announcement, Japan's Strategic Headquarters for Space Development said that it would put a two-legged humanoid robot on the moon by 2020.
This is to be part of a bigger space plan, whose details will be decided in the next couple of years. It's no surprise that Japan is eager to put robots on the moon (they're eager to put robots anywhere), and it's also no surprise that they wish to follow up the robots-only mission with a manned mission, using robot helpers.
___________________________________________

___________________________________________
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article6032128.ece
From The Times
April 4, 2009
One step for a robot, a giant leap for tin-mankind
Leo Lewis in Tokyo
The cutting-edge models can lumber around a room without falling over. A few can play the trumpet or serve tea. The truly sophisticated ones can just about manage the washing-up.
But by 2020, Japan predicts, humanoid robots will be ready to colonise the Moon. Other metallic brethren of these mechanical pioneers, said scientists in Tokyo, will be engaged in the bigger, more prosaic mission of cleaning Earth’s orbit of junk.
___________________________________________

___________________________________________
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/03/japan_proposes_two_legged_robot_on_moon_by_2020/
Japan talks lunar 'bots as commies go hot
Time to stretch those servos
By Austin Modine • Get more from this author
Posted in Rise of the Machines, 3rd April 2009 18:16 GMT
As North Korea preps a ballistic missile launch over Japan, the Japanese are grandstanding back with promises of robots walking on the moon by 2020.
___________________________________________

We have mentioned that it would be nice to have some robots to help set up a lunar base camp.
We have also mentioned that the lunar regolith is not going to be kind to mechanical devices.
It will be interesting to see how well a robot will handle all of the grit.
- LRK -

I have been reading the writings of James S. Albus and I know we have a number of robotic machines being used in industry.
http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/documents/library/isd_pub.html
http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/personnel/albus/


We have seen cars run on their own across the desert.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/october12/stanleyfinish-100905.html
Will someone make an automatic railroad track installer for the Moon?
http://www.distant-galaxy.com/maelstrom2/DigiMatte/ACC_M2LunarRailMountains.html

I wonder what the response from the USA will be?
Are we really going to do more than just spend a couple of days on a mountain?
Who or what is going to install power lines?

What will be the next robot toy or transformer you buy at the store?
One of an astronaut robot and its adventures on the Moon?
Will you be able to buy a lunar base camp kit?

Hope we see more books about living on the Moon.
Enjoyed watching the TV series Space: 1999.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072564/

Who is writing about the Moon Base Alpha now?

Any movies being developed showing how we will live on the Moon?
http://www.distant-galaxy.com/maelstrom2/MaelstromII.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
==============================================================
> Title: Theory of Cerebellar Function
> Author: Albus, J.S.
> Published: Mathematical Biosciences, Volume 10, Numbers 1/2, February
> 1971, pgs. 25-61
> Keywords: Brain Models & Neural Nets
> Ref Num: 1 Year: 1971 Project: CMAC
> Online versions: PDF [2 M]
> http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/documents/albus/Loc_01.pdf
==============================================================
> http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/documents/albus/Ref_Model_Arch345.pdf
> [38 pages, 132 KB]
> A Reference Model Architecture for Intelligent Systems Design
>
> James S. Albus
> Intelligent Systems Division
> Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory
> National Institute of Standards and Technology
>
> Introduction
> A previously published outline for a theory of intelligence defines
> intelligence as “the ability to act appropriately in an uncertain environment, where appropriate
> action is that which increases the probability of success, and success is the achievement of
> behavioral goals[1].” The intelligent system acts so as to maximize probability of success and minimize
> probability of failure. Both goals and success criteria are generated in the environment external
> to the intelligent system. At a minimum, intelligence requires the abilities to sense the environment,
> make decisions, and control action. Higher levels of intelligence require the abilities to
> recognize objects and events, store and use knowledge about the world, and to reason about and plan for the
> future. Advanced forms of intelligence have the abilities to perceive and analyze, to plot and
> scheme, to choose wisely and plan successfully in a complex, competitive, hostile world. The amount
> of intelligence is determined by the computational power of the computing engine, the
> sophistication and elegance of algorithms, the amount and quality of information and values, and
> the efficiency and reliability of the system architecture. The amount of intelligence can grow
> through programming, learning, and evolution. Intelligence is the product of natural selection,
> wherein more successful behavior is passed on to succeeding generations of intelligent systems, and less
> successful behavior dies out. Natural selection is driven by competition between individuals within
> a group, and groups within the world.
> snip
==============================================================
> A New Approach to Manipulator Control: The Cerebellar Model
> Articulation Controller
>
> http://www4.cs.umanitoba.ca/~jacky/Robotics/Papers/Albus-ANewApproachForManipulatorControlCMACS.pdf
> [4 pages, 68 KB]
>
> The Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller (CMAC) [1, 2] is a neural
> network that models the structure and function of the part of the
> brain known as the cerebellum. The cerebellum provides precise coordination of motor
> control for such body parts as the eyes, arms, fingers, legs, and
> wings. It stores and retrieves information required to control thousands of muscles in
> producing coordinated behavior as a function of time. CMAC was
> designed to provide this kind of motor control for robotic manipulators.
> snip
==============================================================

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

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

Thursday, April 02, 2009

NASA Joins "Around the World in 80 Telescopes"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/apr/HQ_09-076_Telescopes_webcast.html
snip
NASA Joins "Around the World in 80 Telescopes"

WASHINGTON -- A collection of NASA missions will be involved in a live event April 3 that will allow the public to get an inside look at how these missions are run. "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" is a 24-hour webcast that is part of the "100 Hours of Astronomy" event for the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

During the webcast, viewers will be able to visit some of the most advanced telescopes on and off the planet. For NASA's space-based missions, the webcast will be broadcast from control centers throughout the United States. To view the webcast, visit: http://100hoursofastronomy.org/webcast

As part of the webcast, each mission will release a never-before-seen image from the telescope or observatory. The new images can be found on the websites listed below. Please note these times correspond to the beginning of each mission's segment on the live webcast and when each new image will be available.
snip
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://twitter.com/telescopecast

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/home/hqnews/2009/apr/HQ_09-076_Telescopes_webcast.html

April 02, 2009

J.D. Harrington Headquarters, Washington 202-358-5241 j.d.harrington@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 09-076

NASA JOINS "AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 TELESCOPES"

WASHINGTON -- A collection of NASA missions will be involved in a live event April 3 that will allow the public to get an inside look at how these missions are run. "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" is a 24-hour webcast that is part of the "100 Hours of Astronomy" event for the International Year of Astronomy 2009.
During the webcast, viewers will be able to visit some of the most advanced telescopes on and off the planet. For NASA's space-based missions, the webcast will be broadcast from control centers throughout the United States. To view the webcast, visit: http://100hoursofastronomy.org/webcast
As part of the webcast, each mission will release a never-before-seen image from the telescope or observatory. The new images can be found on the websites listed below. Please note these times correspond to the beginning of each mission's segment on the live webcast and when each new image will be available.
The NASA missions participating in the Webcast, in chronological order, are (times EDT, April 3):
Hubble Space Telescope: 1:20 p.m. http://hubblesite.org/news/2009/04
Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer: 1:40 p.m. http://www.nasa.gov/swift
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope: 2 p.m. http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
SOHO and TRACE: 3:20 p.m. http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov and http://sunland.gsfc.nasa.gov/smex/trace
STEREO: 3:40 p.m. http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov
Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX): 4:20 p.m. http://www.galex.caltech.edu
Chandra X-ray Observatory: 4:40 p.m. http://www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009
Spitzer Space Telescope: 5:20 p.m. http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer/index.shtml
Kepler 3:05 a.m. (April 4) http://kepler.nasa.gov
For information about the International Year of Astronomy, visit: http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov
-end

snip
==============================================================
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=44537
Join ESA's XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL observatories in the 'Around the World in 80 Telescopes' webcast
30 Mar 2009

On 3 April 2009 ESA astronomers will take part in a unique live webcast, 'Around the world in 80 telescopes'. During the webcast viewers will visit astronomers at observatories and research institutes around the world, including ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid in Spain. This is part of the 100 Hours of Astronomy, a cornerstone project for the International Year of Astronomy.

This special webcast starts at 09:00 UT (11:00 CEST) on 3 April and will run for 24 hours, following night and day around the globe to some of the most advanced observatories both on and off the planet. ESA's dedicated segment will provide viewers with an insight into two space observatories, XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL, and an opportunity to meet astronomers working on these missions.
snip
==============================================================
http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/join-our-mailing-list/75-live-24-hour-research-0bservatory-webcast
Around the World in 80 Telescopes

Live 24-hour webcast from astronomical observatories
Organised by ESO, the European Southern Observatory, from its HQ in Garching, Germany
Date: 3 April 2009, 09:00 UT (Universal Time/GMT) to 4 April 2009, 09:00 UT (Universal Time/GMT).
Duration: 24 hours

"Around the World in 80 Telescopes" is a unique live 24-hour webcast, following night and day around the globe to some of the most advanced observatories both on and off the planet. You can watch it right here on the 100HA website, and on the 100HA channel on Ustream.tv.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/100-hours-of-astronomy

Find out what's happening at a research observatory in your country, or on the other side of the planet, and discover what astronomers are doing right now! Who is observing? What are they researching? What do they hope to discover?

You'll see a snapshot of life at many different observatories where astronomers will present exclusive images and talk about their work. Some will be observing distant galaxies, searching for extrasolar planets around other stars or studying our own Solar System. Some will be studying the Universe in visible light, others in radio waves or other wavelengths. Some may be working at solar observatories or with telescopes out in space. All of them will have a different story to tell.
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http://twitter.com/telescopecast
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Lunar Dust & Mt. Redoubt

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http://spaceweather.com/
April 1, 2009
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*NEW VERB: *There's a new verb in Alaska: "to ash." It's like "to snow," only grayer and more sulfurous. Residents downwind of Mt. Redoubt are using it like this: "We don't run our ski lifts when *it ashes* because it damages the electric motors," says Michelle Cosper of the Alyeska Resort near Girdwood. It's been ashing a lot lately as Mt. Redoubt has erupted more than 19 times since March 22nd. "The ash has created a moonscape with all the highlights of gray," she says.

The resemblance to moondust is more than superficial. Consider the following: Volcanic ash is gray, abrasive, can be dangerous to breathe and easily electrified. Moondust is gray, abrasive, can be dangerous to breathe and easily electrified . Indeed, Alaskans are getting a taste of life on the Moon.
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Michael Murphy sent me the link to the above SpaceWeather article on the problems with volcanic ash from the latest eruption of Mt. Redoubt in Alaska.
His comment on the article.
- LRK -
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I find the comparison to the composition of moondust to be quite interesting. Maybe this (and other similar situations) would be an opportunity to test hardware and try out possible decontamination (dust removal) processes that would be essential in a Lunar Habitat.
Michael W. Murphy
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Would be nice to take advantage of these natural happenings as we consider how to live on the Moon.
At present NASA needs Fake Moondust.
- LRK -

http://www.space.com/news/0701032_technovelgy_moondust.html
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/28dec_truefake.htm?list955127

The folks at the airport are trying to be creative.
- LRK -

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http://www.adn.com/volcano/story/740777.html
Airport opens, residents clean up ash
By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com
Published: March 29th, 2009 03:17 PM
Last Modified: March 30th, 2009 12:30 PM

The day after Redoubt volcano spewed ash across Anchorage and much of Southcentral Alaska, the city began to clean up the soggy gray mess. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport reopened Sunday afternoon, though many flights were still canceled or delayed. Hundreds of passengers anticipate being stranded for days in hubs like Seattle and Minneapolis.

Drivers lined up at car washes to blast off the scratchy gunk. Worried pet owners flooded the phones at an emergency vet clinic. And everyone watched for any signs of another explosion from Redoubt.

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The ash is mainly fine bits of abrasive volcanic glass that can damage lungs, vehicles or electronics equipment. But the ash fall on Anchorage, Nikiski and elsewhere in Southcentral Alaska on Saturday was considered minor.

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*Slide show:* Airport crew uses new technique to get ash off runways

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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
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http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/newsreader/story/741454.html
March 30: Time-lapse volcano video; fur trapper reflects; sheefish season; lawmakers, aides shoot guns; Alaskan Brewing's green dreams; polluting wood boilers
Today's News for the Last Frontier
Compiled by Mark Dent
mdent@adn.com
Published: March 30th, 2009 08:58 AM
Last Modified: March 31st, 2009 09:41 AM

TIME-LAPSE PHOTOS CAPTURE REDOUBT ERUPTION (Bretwood Higman, Ground Truth Trekking / Vimeo.com): Seldovia photographer Higman on Friday set up a camera to shoot Redoubt Volcano at 15-second intervals. He got lucky with a dramatic series of photos showing a sunset eruption.
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http://vimeo.com/3892358
Redoubt Eruption March 27 2009
by Bretwood Higman
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dangerous to breathe
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/22apr_dontinhale.htm

*April 22, 2005: *This is a true story.

In 1972, Apollo astronaut Harrison Schmitt sniffed the air in his Lunar Module, the /Challenger/. "[It] smells like gunpowder in here," he said. His commander Gene Cernan agreed. "Oh, it does, doesn't it?"

**The two astronauts had just returned from a long moonwalk around the Taurus-Littrow valley, near the Sea of Serenity. Dusty footprints marked their entry into the spaceship. That dust became airborne--and smelly.

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easily electrified
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/30mar_moonfountains.htm

*March 30, 2005: * It's astounding how prophetic some science fiction has been.

**Back in 1956, two years before NASA was even created, Hal Clement wrote a short story called "Dust Rag" published in /Astounding Science Fiction/, about two astronauts descending into a crater on the Moon to investigate a mysterious haze dimming stars near the lunar horizon. After discarding a wild guess that they were seeing traces of a lunar atmosphere--"gases don't behave that way"--they figured it had to be dust somehow suspended above the ground. In a conversation remarkable for its scientific prescience, one of the astronauts explains:

"…The [Moon's] surface material is one of the lousiest imaginable electrical conductors, so the dust normally on the surface picks up and keeps a charge. And what, dear student, happens to particles carrying like electrical charges?"

"They are repelled from each other."

"Head of the class. And if a hundred-kilometer circle with a rim a couple of [kilometers] high is charged all over, what happens to the dust lying on it?

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080924191552.htm
NASA’s Dirty Secret: Moon Dust

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2008) — The Apollo Moon missions of 1969-1972 all share a dirty secret. “The major issue the Apollo astronauts pointed out was dust, dust, dust,” says Professor Larry Taylor, Director of the Planetary Geosciences Institute at the University of Tennessee. Fine as flour and rough as sandpaper, Moon dust caused ‘lunar hay fever,’ problems with space suits, and dust storms in the crew cabin upon returning to space.

Taylor and other scientists will present their research on lunar dust at the “Living on a Dusty Moon” session on Thursday, 9 October 2008, at the Joint Meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies (GCAGS) in Houston, Texas, USA.* NASA will use these findings to plan a safer manned mission to the Moon in 2018. Taylor will also deliver a Pardee Keynote Session talk on Sunday, 5 October 2008 entitled “Formation and Evolution of Lunar Soil from An Apollo Perspective.”

The trouble with moon dust stems from the strange properties of lunar soil. The powdery grey dirt is formed by micrometeorite impacts which pulverize local rocks into fine particles. The energy from these collisions melts the dirt into vapor that cools and condenses on soil particles, coating them in a glassy shell.

These particles can wreak havoc on space suits and other equipment. During the Apollo 17 mission, for example, crewmembers Harrison “Jack” Schmitt and Gene Cernan had trouble moving their arms during moonwalks because dust had gummed up the joints. “The dust was so abrasive that it actually wore through three layers of Kevlar-like material on Jack’s boot,” Taylor says.

To make matters worse, lunar dust suffers from a terrible case of static cling. UV rays drive electrons out of lunar dust by day, while the solar wind bombards it with electrons by night. Cleaning the resulting charged particles with wet-wipes only makes them cling harder to camera lenses and helmet visors. Mian Abbas of the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will discuss electrostatic charging on the moon and how dust circulates in lunar skies.

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

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Moon and Mars - Videos

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