THE 2011 BUDGET AND A BOLD NEW APPROACH TO EXPLORATION - hmmmmm!

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_M10-018_NASA_2011_Budget_prt.htm
THE 2011 BUDGET AND A BOLD NEW APPROACH TO EXPLORATION - hmmmmm!
A BOLD NEW APPROACH TO EXPLORATION - hmmmmm!
EXPLORATION - hmmmmm!
So says Jabba the Hutt -
http://www.starstore.com/acatalog/Jabba_Hutt-Sideshow-l.jpg
- LRK -

Jan. 31, 2010

Morrie Goodman
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
morrie.goodman@nasa.gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-018

NASA ANNOUNCES TWO NEWS CONFERENCES TO DISCUSS THE 2011 BUDGET AND A
BOLD NEW APPROACH TO EXPLORATION

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold news conferences on Monday, Feb. 1, and
Tuesday, Feb. 2, to discuss the fiscal year 2011 budget request and
announce bold new developments in the nation's civil space effort.

On Monday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Chief Financial
Officer Beth Robinson will brief reporters about the agency's fiscal
year 2011 budget during a teleconference at 12:30 p.m. EST. This is a
change from the previously announced 3 p.m. Monday news conference in
the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in
Washington.

Following remarks, reporters will have an opportunity to ask
questions. To dial into the news conference, news media
representatives should call:
800-857-5728 or 1-630-395-0025 and use the pass code "NASA"

A limited number of phone lines are available, so people are
encouraged to call early. Replays of the teleconference will be
available approximately one hour after the call ends. To listen to a
replay, call:
866-431-2903 or 203-369-0952

On Tuesday, Administrator Bolden, Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the
President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House
Office of Science and Technology Policy, will introduce new
commercial space pioneers, launching a game-changing way of
developing technology to send humans to space.

The announcement will take place at 10 a.m. in the National Press
Club's ballroom, located at 529 14th Street NW in Washington.
Reporters attending the event will have the opportunity to ask
questions after remarks by Dr. Holdren and Administrator Bolden. NASA
Television and the agency's Web site will carry the briefing live.

In addition to the two NASA events, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver
will participate with Dr. Holdren in a briefing by the Office of
Science and Technology Policy about the federal government's 2011
research and development budget. The briefing will take place at 1
p.m. EST, Monday, Feb. 1 in the auditorium of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. The association is
located at 1200 New York Avenue, NW, with an entrance at 12th St. and
H St. NW.

Reporters who plan to attend must register in advance at:
aaas.org/go/ostp/

The event also can be viewed online at the Web site listed above.

Summary of Events
What: Fiscal Year 2011 budget briefing
When: 12:30 p.m. EST on Monday, Feb. 1
Who: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson
Where: Teleconference - call 800-857-5728 or 1-630-395-0025 and use
the pass code
"NASA"

What: Briefing by the Office of Science and Technology Policy on the
federal government's
2011 research and development budget
When: 1 p.m. EST on Monday, Feb. 1
Who: NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and Dr. John Holdren,
assistant to the President for science and technology and director of
the White House
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Where: The American Association for the Advancement of Science's
auditorium, located at
1200 New York Ave., NW, with an entrance at 12th St. and H St. NW.

What: Newsmaker event at the National Press Club
When: 10 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 2
Who: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Dr. John Holdren, assistant
to the President for science and technology and director of the White
House Office of
Science and Technology Policy
Where: The National Press Club's ballroom, located at 529 14th Street
NW in Washington

To listen to the news conferences online, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

NASA budget and supporting information will be posted at 12:30 p.m.,
Feb. 1, at:
http://www.nasa.gov/budget

-end-
------------------------------

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

hmmmmm!
While in the Navy I once was REQUESTED to attend a briefing on how I
would really like to HAVE to complete 30 years of service in order to
retire and then I would LIKE to wait until I was 65 years old to start
collecting it. Everyone please nod your head in agreement. It didn't
happen. I only did 26 years and started collecting immediately.
Whew!

hmmmmm!
Follow the CONFERENCES and don't forget to nod your head in agreement.
hmmmmm!
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
Sorry, have this funny feeling in my stomach.
- LRK -
snip
==============================================================

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

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

Habitats - Geodesic Domes - what now?

I just finished reading "IDEAS AND INTEGRITIES" by Buckminster Fuller written back in 1963 and was thinking about Geodesic Domes for lunar construction and whether they might be of use for providing shelter to the many Haitian survivors of the recent earthquake there.

Buckminster Fuller has a lot to say about how we have been living based on past models and how he felt things could be a lot better if we spent more time and research on making better use of materials, especially for providing habitats for all of those on Space Ship Earth.

He mentions that in holding to the idea of survival of the fittest we spend a lot more on making war machines than we do in providing for peace time use of livable habitats. Only as a secondary by product of all of the technological achievement do we gain by technology transfer the makes it possible to have more with less energy input by human muscle power.

I don't know what the NASA budget will look like for supporting going to the Moon. Will have to wait for next month to see what is being requested and then see how folks adjust.

With that said, let me copy a couple of paragraphs near the end of "IDEAS AND INTEGRITIES" and let you think about where we are going and what individuals might do building on where we find ourselves today.

This from page 307-308, "IDEAS AND INTEGRITIES - remember this is 1963 and we haven't landed on the Moon yet. - LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------

We are shooting to get to the moon. What soldiers want is to get the first commanding platform in space. That's what the militarists are after. To be able to send a man to the moon, you first have to be able to give him his own private little earth, and he's been living on an enormous earth with great energy-exchanging patterns he knows very little about. He knows a little about the air he breathes or the gas plants give off. He doesn't know why men's temperatures are ninety-eight and six tenths degrees, Fahrenheit when in good health. He doesn't really know about his extraordinary energy balance. Our processes are so secret that nobody really knows anything about plumbing. Everything fundamental about our sewage system was invented in India by 2500 B.C. No one has made significant improvements since that time. No architect ever looks back of the purple tiles, no scientist ever studies plumbing. We never hire scientists to look at our homes. Scientists, however, work with weaponry, and its by-products go back into our homes, but it is completely inadvertent. What would happen if the scientist helped us to use everything he and we've learned to make the world a success for man?

This is what is going to happen with our explorations into space, because we can no longer be wasteful. We will have extraordinary energy cycles developed in our behalf by the scientists. We're going to have to give our spaceman enough food--he needs a ton a year, and he'll have to process that. We are going to have to find out how to use that valuable chemistry we have been turning over to Nature's landscape to process for us. While we look the other way the spaceman won't be able to get rid of it. If he spits there is no gravity to take it away. It stays right there in front of him in space. We are not going to send the spaceman out into space to find out what to do with his chemistry to make him survive. If our scientists on earth haven't figured it all out very satisfactorily in every respect, psychologically and esthetically, as well as chemically, before we send that space-boy "out," he'll never com back "in" again--alive.

For the first time in history we are employing scientists to work on a little house. It hasn't been thought of, architecturally, as a house, but it's the most important house that's ever been worked on. In America we are spending three billion dollars a year and in Russia they are spending six billion dollars a year on this autonomous dwelling device--for man.

The little black box that will take care of our sanitation will be more effective than anything that's been used before. Men will control their environment and be very healthy. ....
---------------------------------------------------------

Well that is about going to space and the ISS has been doing some of what "Bucky" predicted, but not enough. We haven't learned to recycle EVERYTHING on the ISS and setting up a base camp on the Moon is going to have to consider that.

How about something her on Earth for Haiti?
- LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.readyforanything.org/?p=1090
GEODESIC AND MONOLITHIC DOMES OFFER BEST SHELTER FOR HAITI’S 1.5 MILLION HOMELESS EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS. I.P.N. WORKING TO CREATE DOMEBUILDER ALLIANCE.
Posted on January 21st, 2010 by admin

By Aton Edwards, I.P.N. Executive Director

As I post this story at 4:10 AM on Thursday morning, January 21th, the body count in Port-au-Prince is estimated at over 200,000 with over 20,000 people dying daily from untreated injuries alone. Roads to Port-au-Prince from the Dominican Republic are clogged and, rapidly degrading because of the constant traffic. Hundreds of thousands are still without food & very little clean water is available.

snip

I already knew that there was only one way to house the survivors. Wyclef and his team needed Bucky Fuller’s finest creation, the geodesic dome. All I needed at that point was to design a workable plan that his associates at could make it happen as rapidly as possible, so, I began to develop a workable strategy.

The geodesic domes offer the earthquake survivors disaster resistant, simple to set-up and transport, and relatively inexpensive (when compared to traditional structures) shelters. They come in many different sizes ranging from 16′ to large 90′ structures. All have the capacity to withstand high winds and, can be designed to withstand even the most powerful hurricanes. I knew that Pacific Domes of Oregon manufactured several versatile geodesic dome models that could be used to help solve this enormous housing crisis. So, my first choice was made.

Stage one of the dome building operation would begin with Pacific Domes.
snip

I also knew that more permanent housing would also be needed. Monolithic domes started a special program back in 2009 called One Dome At A Time created up by Haitian born Hip-Hop artist Won-G.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------
http://pacificdomes.org/
http://pacificdomes.org/relief_domes.html
Pacific Domes are the strongest portable structures known to man.
These highly portable structures are quick and easy to erect with a
ratchet! They are engineered to withstand hurricane force winds and
heavy snow loads. Many sizes are available depending on the
application. The larger domes can be used for warehouses, distribution
of supplies, and also for kitchens and food services. Our mid-range
domes are perfect for classrooms and medical centers. Smaller domes
provide a safe and weather proof shelter for displaced families.
---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.monolithic.com/
Monolithic Domes & Eco-Shells can provide the people of Haiti with
permanent low-cost disaster resistant homes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm29nmhmQjM&feature=player_embedded
---------------------------------------------------------

You may know of others that have plans to provide housing that is quick to erect.

Individuals can make a difference.
- LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/01/gates_foundation_pledges_10_bi.html
January 29, 2010

Gates Foundation Pledges $10 Billion For Vaccines
The $34 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is more than
doubling its vaccine portfolio -- already its largest focus.

The Gateses announced today at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, that they plan to spend $10 billion on vaccine
development and deployment over the next decade. "We must make this
the decade of vaccines," Microsoft founder Bill Gates says.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://www.moon-isru.com/information/ASEM2004.pdf
Design and Construction for Self-sufficiency in a Lunar Colony
Niklas Järvstråt1* & Cengiz Toklu2
1TMD, University of Trollhättan/Uddevalla, Box 957, SE-461 29
Trollhättan, Sweden
niklas.jarvstrat@htu.se
2 Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimagusa, Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus
cengiz.toklu@emu.edu.tr

ABSTRACT
Construction on the moon poses radically new design challenges. We
will give a brief overview over the resources available, the
structural loads and other design requirements, and some suggestions
for construction approaches. The main structural load will not be
gravita-tional loads, but rather internal pressure and airtightness,
while additional specific considera-tions such as radiation protection
and meteorite impact safety must be considered. It is argued that any
long-term habitat on the moon will be buried deep – either by piling
regolith on the structures or beneath rock in caves or mineshafts.

snip
==============================================================
http://simplydifferently.org/Geodesic_Dome_Notes?page=18
Simply Differently org

Geodesic Dome Notes
written by Rene K. Mueller, Copyright (c) 2005, 2006, 2007, last
updated January 15, 2009

Real Life Application

I considered the geodesic dome for doing a temporary building or
habitat. Using a set of struts, build by wooden roof laths (very cheap
and easy to get here in Switzerland), and building a 5-6m diameter
dome for myself to live in it. I merely doing the skeleton of the dome
(no faces), and put then a cover over it (shape not yet determined).

snip
==============================================================
http://www.cjfearnley.com/fuller-faq.html
The R. Buckminster Fuller FAQ
Christopher J. Fearnley, cjf@CJFearnley.com

snip
==============================================================
http://www.di.net/articles/archive/2381/
The Importance of Being Bucky (Buckminster Fuller)
Andrew Charles Yanoviak

An Unorthodox Primer on How to Be Great

As a 20th century futuristic practitioner and iconic philosopher,
“Bucky” Fuller was and is, an architect’s architect and a scientist’s
scientist. As an omnidirectional “superstar,” he very strongly
influenced several other luminaries such as I. M. Pei and Sir Norman
Foster (as dramatically manifested in their avant-garde geometric
works-of-architecture), as well as other stellar design leaders and
firms.

In recorded history, there is no other A/P/E as honored as Bucky, with
the eponymous allotrope Carbon 60 named “buckminsterfullerene,”
nicknamed “buckyball.” And rightfully so, because his insightful
geometric explorations and foresightful synergistic discoveries, e.g.,
his “bible” in Synergetics: Exploration in the Geometry of Thinking,
have poignantly created a global multidisciplinary nanotechnological
revolution with phenomenal economic benefits for all of mankind
dwelling on what he coined “Spaceship Earth.”

British editor and author Martin Pawley notes, “Richard Buckminster
Fuller (1895-1983), inventor, engineer, scientist, philosopher and
poet, bequeathed more guidance to posterity than any of the great
pioneers of ‘modern architecture,’ whose influence and thinking has
already waned under changing circumstances … He died loaded with
honors from the ‘world of architecture,’ a profession that had earlier
rejected him, only later recognizing the limitless possibilities that
his concept of ‘design science’ offered for the future. Today, the
reality of this bequest is larger than life and to be seen
everywhere.”

snip
==============================================================
http://www.monolithic.com/
Welcome to Monolithic.com

Monolithic is a family of companies sharing a mutual goal: To improve
the lives of people worldwide through the introduction and
construction of Monolithic Domes, for personal and public use, that
are superior in strength, energy-efficiency and cost control.

Located in Italy, Texas, Monolithic has been constructing these
quality buildings for more than thirty years. This website is devoted
to broadening the understanding and education of this technologically
advanced construction process.

A complex of seven, 60-foot, interconnected, colorfully painted and
decorated domes dominates the far end of Monolithic’s headquarters. It
is Bruco – Monolithic’s 14,000 square foot factory that houses the
state-of-the-art equipment for the design and manufacture of Airforms
and various other tarps, covers and liners.

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

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

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

Doctor's Office Hit By Meteorite in Lorton, Virginia

Here it is January 22, 2010 and I have had my head in books about, or by, R. Buckminster Fuller and contemplating what will be, that might be.

Bob sent me a couple of URL links and I just had to stop and pass this bit on to you.

Lorton, VA., is just south of Washington D.C. and near where my Army daughter is stationed at Ft. Belvoir, VA, so it did get my attention. Meteorite falls through the roof of a doctors office and about the size of a baseball before it broke apart.

They were kind enough to send it to the Smithsonian for study. I wonder where it would have been sent if it had fallen through the roof of the White House.

There is a nice video clip at the link but I haven't seen anything on our local news here in northern California. I guess a baseball size hole in your roof is not the same as a 7.1 earthquake on a nearby island country.

You don't expect earthquakes (unless you live where I do) but then you don't expect rocks to fall out of the sky either. Didn't a 10-meter wide asteroid just fly by two days after it was discovered? (2010 AL30)

Now if that had dropped in at the Pentagon it would have raised some eyebrows.

Will add a few more informational links for you consideration.
Happy New Year.
- LRK -

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

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/national/doctors-office-hit-by-meteorite-0121101264170289032
Doctor's Office Hit By Meteorite

Updated: Friday, 22 Jan 2010, 2:11 PM EST
Published : Thursday, 21 Jan 2010, 9:39 AM EST

By JOHN HENREHAN/myfoxdc

When Lawrence Reese was cleaning up his sub shop in Lorton, Virginia, late Monday afternoon, he heard a tremendous impact outside.

"Loud. Loud enough [that] you could hear it, maybe, a block or two away," recalls Reese. "I'm surprised it didn't break our glass. That's how loud it was."

Something had come hurtling out of the sky, and crashed through the roof of a nearby doctor's office, landing in an empty examination room.

"I thought something fell in Dr. Gallini's office," explained his partner, Dr. Frank Ciampi. "I thought a bookshelf fell on him, so I ran out and saw that he was okay. And then I looked to the left and saw the debris in the hallway."

The debris was smoldering and metallic. The two physicians puzzled over the items. Whatever had come through the roof had broken into several pieces. The two doctors speculated that part of an airliner had come off and fallen through their roof. A nearly circular hole was punched through the building's roof.

An acquaintance suggested the possibility of a meteorite, so the debris was sent to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum in nearby Washington, D.C.

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

Here is a link to the MSNBC "Mystery object whizzes past Earth harmlessly" article.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34826596/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Mystery object whizzes past Earth harmlessly
Scientists debate its origins but conclude it was likely an asteroid
updated 5:50 p.m. PT, Wed., Jan. 13, 2010
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/news.html

A near-Earth object hurtled past us on Wednesday, just two days after its discovery was announced.

Orbital projections indicated that the object called 2010 AL30 flew by Earth at a distance of just 80,000 miles (130,000 kilometers). That's only one-third of the way from here to the moon.

If the object had been on a collision course with Earth, it wouldn't have done any damage anyway. But planetary scientists said the asteroid, or whatever it was, set a new standard: A 10-meter-wide (33-foot-wide) asteroid can be detected two days before it potentially hits Earth.

snip
Note: A link on the page to some MSNBC videos about same and similar.
Gets rather silly. Enjoy if you don't mind viewing a 30 second ad first.
- LRK -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/34831765#34738196
-----------------------------------------

This JPL link has some news about recent Near Earth Objects that have gone by.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/
Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 To Fly Past The Earth
January 12, 2010

Asteroid 2010 AL30, discovered by the LINEAR survey of MIT's Lincoln Laboratories on Jan. 10, will make a close approach to the Earth's surface to within 76,000 miles on Wednesday January 13 at 12:46 pm Greenwich time (7:46 EST, 4:46 PST).
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news167.html

Small Asteroid 2009 VA Whizzes By The Earth
November 9, 2009

A newly discovered asteroid designated 2009 VA, which is only about 7 meters in size, passed about 2 Earth radii (14,000 km) from the Earth's surface Nov. 6 at around 16:30 EST. This is the third-closest known (non-impacting) Earth approach on record for a cataloged asteroid.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news166.html

Asteroid Impactor Reported over Indonesia
October 23, 2009

On October 8, 2009 about 03:00 Greenwich time, an atmospheric fireball blast was observed and recorded over an island region of Indonesia.
The blast is thought to be due to the atmospheric entry of a small asteroid about 10 meters in diameter that, due to atmospheric pressure, detonated in the atmosphere with an energy of about 50 kilotons (the equivalent of 110 million pounds of TNT explosives). The blast was recorded visually and reported upon by local media representatives. See the YouTube video here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeQBzTkJNhs&videos=jkRJgbXY-90

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

Here is the link to Space Weather with more kinds of information and near the bottom a table of near misses that might have brightened your sky if they had been dead on.
- LRK -

-----------------------------------------
http://spaceweather.com/
What's Up in Space January 22, 2010
snip
Near-Earth Asteroids
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On January 22, 2010 there were 1093 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Jan. 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid Date(UT) Miss Distance Mag. Size
2010 AL2 Jan. 11 11.5 LD 20 23 m
24761 Ahau Jan. 11 70.8 LD 16 1.4 km
2000 YH66 Jan. 12 69.5 LD 17 1.1 km
2010 AL30 Jan. 13 0.3 LD 14 18 m
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance
between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the
visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.
snip
-----------------------------------------

I have just finished reading R. Buckminster Fuller's "NINE CHAINS TO THE MOON" and "Critical Path". I highly recommend reading if you would like to learn more about what had transpired through out history right up to 1980. I hope someone is writing about the last 30 years because a lot of the behind the doors, using your money for other people's gain, still goes on. He had some suggestions on how that might be changed but I don't see it happening.
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/82410297.html

New Report Spotlights Impact Hazards
Given the odds of some giant space rock crashing into Earth and what it might do when it hits, scientists now estimate that on average 100 people will die each year from a cosmic impact. How much this number scares you depends on how far out you want to look into the crystal ball. Within the next couple of centuries a Tunguska-like blast might match the devastation of the earthquake that just devastated Haiti. Or fast forward 10 million years, and you can expect a titanic crash powerful enough to wipe out a billion people worldwide.

So should you be worried or not? Put another way, to what lengths — and at what cost — should we go to try to protect ourselves from some asteroid or comet "going rogue" in the foreseeable future?

snip
==============================================================
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091230/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_asteroid_encounter
Space head: Russia may send spacecraft to asteroid

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 30, 8:28 am ET

MOSCOW – Russia's space chief said Wednesday his agency will consider sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth.

Anatoly Perminov said the space agency will hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis, telling Golos Rossii radio that it would invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project once it is finalized.

When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated the chances of it smashing into Earth in its first flyby in 2029 were as high as 1-in-37.

Further studies ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 18,300 miles (29,450 kilometers) above Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters.

In October, NASA lowered the odds that Apophis could hit Earth in 2036 from a 1-in-45,000 as earlier thought to a 1-in-250,000 chance after researchers recalculated the asteroid's path. It said another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact.

Scientists have long theorized about asteroid deflection strategies. Some have proposed sending a probe to circle around a dangerous asteroid to gradually change its trajectory. Others suggested sending a spacecraft to collide with the asteroid and alter its momentum, or using nuclear weapons to hit it.

Without mentioning NASA findings, Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. "I don't remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032," Perminov said.
snip
==============================================================
http://meteorites.lpl.arizona.edu/toc.html
Meteorites and Their Properties

Table of Contents
I. Introduction [En Español]
II. The origin of meteorites [En Español]
III. The structure and composition of meteorites [En Español]
IV. Impacting meteorites and their craters [En Español]
V. Frequency of falls [En Español]
VI. The appearance of a freshly-fallen meteorite [En Español]
VII. Hunting for meteorites [En Español]
VIII. Tests for suspected meteorite specimens [En Español]
IX. Meteor reports [En Español]
X. Articles and books of related interest [En Español]
XI. Glossary [En Español]
XII. Credits and Acknowledgements [En Español]

snip
==============================================================
http://www.meteorite.com/news/index.htm
Meteorite News - Meteorites in the News Meteorite-Times Magazine RSS Feed
Expanded Meteorite News Headlines from Around The World

Meteorite Crashes Through Virginia Doctor's Office
A small meteorite fell from the sky and crashed through the roof of a doctor's office in Virginia, but luckily no one was hit, experts say. The half-pound meteorite struck the Lorton, Va office of Dr. Frank Ciampi, a general practice physician, on Monday evening while he was on the second floor of his two-story building.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/22/meteorite-crashes-virginia-doctors-office/?test=latestnews

snip
==============================================================
http://geology.com/meteorites/value-of-meteorites.shtml
HOW MUCH ARE METEORITES WORTH?

A GUIDE TO COLLECTING AND THE METEORITE MARKETPLACE
The fourth in a series of articles by Geoffrey Notkin, Aerolite Meteorites

Meteorite Collecting - The Early Days

When I was a little boy growing up in England in the late 1960s, my greatest treat was traveling up to London’s marvelous Geological Museum (now part of the Natural History Museum, London) to visit their mineral and meteorite collections. At that time nearly all known meteorites were housed in universities and museums and private ownership was not commonplace.

The pioneering American meteorite scientist Harvey H. Nininger opened his Meteorite Museum next to Route 66 in Arizona in 1946 and was one of the first people to start offering meteorite specimens for sale to the public. A few of the natural history supply companies such as Ward's Natural Science were also a source for meteorite specimens but, for the most part, space rocks were the domain of academia and a few eccentric collectors.

During the 1970s and early '80s bold enthusiasts such as Robert Haag, Allan Langheinrich, Marvin Kilgore, Blaine Reed and Edwin Thompson began turning their passion for space rocks into legitimate businesses and the modern world of meteorite collecting was born. In the pre-Internet days, with no popular print publication aimed at the budding space rock collector, it was difficult to meet fellow enthusiasts. The magazines Astronomy and Sky & Telescope would
occasionally publish articles on meteorites; sometimes a small ad for "Meteorites" could be found among the back pages of those publications and the early dealers mailed out newsletters and handmade catalogs to their small customer bases.

Today, space rocks are readily available from many different outlets and the quarterly Meteorite magazine caters to the space rock enthusiast, as does the monthly online publication Meteorite Times and the Meteorite Mailing List (online listserve). There are a number of people, like myself, who work with meteorites full time, and a multitude of collector/dealers who operate part time meteorite-related businesses in order to help underwrite the cost of expanding their own personal collections.

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

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