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

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

World's First Image Taking of the Moon by HDTV


Looks like we are going to get some nice views of the Moon from 100 km.
- LRK -

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http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071107_kaguya_e.html#pict01
*North Pole Area (still image cut out from the first image shooting)*

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See more in the JAXA press release below.
- LRK -

KAGUYA(SELENE) mission web site.
http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/selene/index_e.html

Go there. It has this link to the movie in HD, no audio, titles in Japanese.
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071107_kaguya_movie_e.html

While viewing the movie in my Firefox browser, down-loaded the flash file
with the Firefox extension DownloadHelper and later played it full screen
on my laptop with the VLC media player.

Just like being there. Nice.

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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*** JAXA MAIL SERVICE ***
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
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KAGUYA (SELENE)
World's First Image Taking of the Moon by HDTV

November 7, 2007 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NHK (Japan
Broadcasting Corporation) have successfully performed the world's
first high-definition image taking by the lunar explorer "KAGUYA"
(SELENE,) which was injected into a lunar orbit at an altitude of
about 100 km on October 18, 2007, (Japan Standard Time. Following
times and dates are all JST.)

The image shooting was carried out by the onboard high definition
television (HDTV) of the KAGUYA, and it is the world's first high
definition image data acquisition of the Moon from an altitude about
100 kilometers away from the Moon.

The image taking was performed twice on October 31. Both were eight-
fold speed intermittent shooting (eight minutes is converged to one
minute.) The first shooting covered from the northern area of the
"Oceanus Procellarum" toward the center of the North Pole, then the
second one was from the south to the north on the western side of the
"Oceanus Procellarum." The moving image data acquired by the KAGUYA
was received at the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Center, and processed by NHK.

The satellite was confirmed to be in good health through telemetry
data received at the Usuda station.


Moon Images Shot by the Onboard HDTV of the KAGUYA

(1) North Pole Area
(still image cut out from the first image shooting)
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071107_kaguya_e.html#pict01
This is a still image taken out from the first moving image shooting
when the KAGUYA flew from the northern area of the "Oceanus Procel
larum"(*1) to the center of the North Pole.
As the altitude near the North Pole is high, the angle of the coming
sunlight was lower, thus the shade of the crater topography looks
long in the image.
The moving image was taken at 4:07 a.m. on October 31, 2007 (JST) by
eight-fold speed intermittent shooting (eight minutes is converged to
one minute) from the KAGUYA, and the data was received at the JAXA
Usuda Deep Space Center on the same day.

(*1) Oceanus Procellarum:
The dark area on the Moon's surface called "ocean." It is located at
the left end of the northern hemisphere on the front side of the Moon
when we look up at it from the Earth.


(2) The western side of the "Oceanus Procellarum"
(cut out from the second image shooting)
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071107_kaguya_e.html#pict02
This is a still image taken out from the second moving image shooting
when the KAGUYA flew from the south to the north on the western side
of the "Oceanus Procellarum."
The dark part on the right of the above image is the Ocean (Oceanus
Procellarum,) and the light area on the left is called the "highland."
The moving image was taken at 5:51 a.m. on Oct. 31, 2007 (JST) by
eight-fold speed intermittent shooting (eight minutes is converged to
one minute) from the KAGUYA, and the data was received at the JAXA
Usuda Deep Space Center on the same day.


(3) The west side of the "Oceanus Procellarum"
(cut out from the second image shooting)
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071107_kaguya_e.html#pict03
This is a still image taken out from the end part of the second moving
image taking.
We can observe a crater called "Repsold," whose diameter is 107 km, at
the center on the near side of this image. The channel that crosses
this crater is called the "Repsold Valley," and its length is about
180 km (equivalent to the distance between Tokyo and Shizuoka on the
Tokaido Line in Japan.) The shooting time was the same as the above (2.)


Moving image of the Moon shot by the HDTV camera (480x270, no audio)
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071107_kaguya_movie_e.html

Reference
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071107_kaguya_e.html#ref01


This page URL:
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071107_kaguya_e.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Publisher : Public Affairs Department
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Marunouchi Kitaguchi Building,
1-6-5, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8260
Japan
TEL:+81-3-6266-6400

JAXA WEB SITE :
http://www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html

About This Mail Service :
To change registered e-mail address, or to cancel this service,
please access to
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Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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Sunday, November 04, 2007

Space Robotics - When A Mind of Their Own?

Watch the Sci-Fi movies and the robots that think for themselves.
Read the Sci-Fi books and do battle with robots run a muck.

Do you want to do all the work by yourself or will you use labor saving
devices?
Will they be smart enough to do some of the assigned tasks by themselves?

Some have said, 'Send in the ROBOTS' well maybe not in those exact words.
Still, there is a thirst to know our own mind and could we just hand off
some of the thinking to a robot.

You may have seen some of those 'HELPFUL' robots on TV or in the movies.
Well maybe there was someone inside or maybe it was just computer
graphics, BUT, could it ever be?

Some time back I read a short science fiction story about a robotics
technician being sent out to a small asteroid where the mining robots
seemed to be doing a dance rather than cutting through rock. After
checking everything out at the mainframe computer that was in charge of
all the mining robots, the conclusion was that the system had been over
loaded and that the mainframe computer couldn't make up its mind what to
do next and was DRUMMING ITS FINGERS, that is,- the mining robots seemed
to be doing a dance. :-)

Shall we look up and see how the robots in space are doing?
Then again, the astronauts did a fine job of fixing the solar panels on
the ISS.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Did you watch it?
- LRK -

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html
---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/
The STS-120 crew bid farewell to the Expedition 16 crew before the
hatches closed at 3:03 p.m. EST Sunday between Discovery and the
station. Attention now turns to Discovery's undocking from the station a
little after 5:30 a.m. Monday.
---------------------------------------------------------------

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://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/eva/robotics.html
Space Station Extravehicular Activity

A New Generation of Space Robotics
To build and maintain the International Space Station, space walking
astronauts will work in partnership with a new generation of space
robotics. The space shuttle's mechanical arm and a new space station arm
operate both as "space cranes" to precisely maneuver large modules and
components and also as space "cherry pickers" to maneuver astronauts to
work areas.

The shuttle's Canadian-built mechanical arm has been enhanced with a new
"Space Vision System" (SVS) that helps the operator literally see around
corners. Tested on past space shuttle missions STS-74, STS-80 and
STS-85, the SVS uses video image processing and a series of markings on
the objects being maneuvered to develop a graphical laptop computer
display to assist the arm operator. It allows the shuttle arm to be
operated with great precision even when visibility is obstructed, and
the system was used operationally during the first assembly mission as
Astronaut Nancy Currie, with her view partially obstructed, attached the
first station component, the Zarya Control Module, to the second
component, the Unity Connecting Module.

Snip
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http://ranier.hq.nasa.gov/telerobotics_page/internetrobots.html
Selected Robotics Resources on the Internet

Listed below is a compilation of space robotics-related and general
purpose robotics-related resources (web sites, ftp sites, gopher sites,
newsgroups, etc.) available on the Internet. Although not 100 percent
comprehensive (no list of this type ever is complete), it does provide a
represenative sample of materials being offered on the 'net. If you have
any additions or corrections to the list, please email the site
webmaster and let us know. The list is divided into the following
categories:

Snip
==============================================================
http://robotics.nasa.gov/
FIRST Robotics Competition
Learn about the Cool Cosmos
Second Annual 21st Century Explorer Podcast Competition
NASA Student Opportunities

http://robotics.nasa.gov/archive/crw_archive.php
Cool Robots Archive

Snip
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http://www.hightechscience.org/robots.htm
HighTechScience.org's
Full Size Robot Collection

Snip
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000
HAL 9000 (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is a fictional
character in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey saga. The novels, along
with two films, begin with 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968. It
was ranked #13 on a list of greatest film villains of all on the AFI's
100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains.

HAL is an artificial intelligence, the sentient on-board computer of the
spaceship Discovery. HAL is usually represented only as his television
camera "eyes" that can be seen throughout the Discovery spaceship. The
voice of HAL 9000 was performed by Canadian actor Douglas Rain. In the
book, HAL became operational on January 12, 1997 (1992 in the movie)[1]
at the HAL Plant in Urbana, Illinois, and was created by Dr. Chandra. In
the 2001 film, HAL is depicted as being capable not only of speech
recognition, facial recognition, and natural language processing, but
also lip reading, art appreciation, interpreting emotions, expressing
emotions, reasoning, and, of course, chess.
Snip

http://www.palantir.net/2001/sounds.html
Snip
==============================================================
[AMEE (Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion) robot that becomes
more than helpful. - LRK -]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Red Planet (film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Planet_(film)

http://redplanetmovie.warnerbros.com/cmp/redplanet.html

http://www.colinmackenzie.net/robots/amee/
COLINMACKENZIE.NET
Borrowing ideas from the movie Red Planet

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1384314394110803718
Gallagher vs AMEE (RED PLANET)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIEWQVImE1I
Amee Test Animation, version II

Snip
==============================================================
http://robots.mit.edu/
FIELD AND SPACE ROBOTICS LABORATORY
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Snip
==============================================================
http://www.astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/home-e.html*
*Tohoku University
The Space Robotics Lab (Space Exploration Lab)
Robotics for Space Science and Exploration Missions

The Space Robotics Laboratory, led by Professor Yoshida, is dedicated to
the research and development of the robotic systems for space science
and exploration missions. The lab has contributed to the Engineering
Test Satellite-VII (launched in 1997 for orbital robotics experiments)
and "Hayabusa" asteroid sample-return probe (launched in 2003 and
expectied to return in 2010). Today one of our focus is put on the
mechanics and control of lunar exploration rovers. Technologies for
remote planetary exploration (such as mapping and localization in the
unstructured environment, rough terrain mobility, and teleoperation with
time delay) can also be applied to the robots for search and rescue
missions.

Snip
==============================================================
http://www.ri.cmu.edu/centers/sri/*
*The Space Robotics Initiative
The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

The Space Robotics Initiative is developing robots and their support
technologies (communication, manipulators, and multiple robot
coordination) for interplanetary exploration, space solar power station
construction and MRO, and solar-powered spaceflight.

Snip
==============================================================
[Reading some books about how the mind might work and what one might
consider in trying to design a mechanical brain. - LRK -]
Two books by Steve Grand;
*"Growing Up with Lucy: How to Build an Android in Twenty Easy Steps"*
Steve Grand; Paperback
*"Creation: Life and How to Make It"*
Steve Grand; Hardcover

Two by Marvin Minsky;
*"The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence,
and the Future of the Human Mind"*
Marvin Minsky; Hardcover
*"Society of Mind"*
Marvin Minsky; Paperback

Snip
==============================================================

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

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

Saturday, November 03, 2007

*The Wall Street Journal: Arctic Thaw Defrosts a Sea Treaty*

When we start landing on the Moon again, having found something worth
digging up and selling to space travelers or shipping back to Earth,
there are sure to be discussions as to who has the right to dig, right
here, where I am standing.

Something not so far away is what is under the ocean, like gas, oil, and
other hard to find minerals.
Who has the right to drill here, right where my ship is anchored?
- LRK -

--------------------------------------------------------------------
*The Wall Street Journal: Arctic Thaw Defrosts a Sea Treaty*

By NICK TIMIRAOS
November 3, 2007

The Senate moved closer to ratifying a sweeping international treaty
that governs every aspect of maritime law, from ocean shipping to
deep-sea mining. A 17-4 panel vote sent the Law of the Sea Treaty to the
full Senate, where it must win a two-thirds vote for ratification.

The treaty enjoys an odd mix of support from the Bush administration,
top diplomats and military leaders, the oil industry and
environmentalists. But it is opposed by conservatives who worry it would
undermine U.S. sovereignty, and Senate critics repeatedly have blocked
the 25-year-old treaty, to which 155 nations have signed on.
Snip
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Who gets the taxes and fees involved in setting up and running an
International governing body that says what you can and cannot do on the
ocean floor?
Who will get the taxes and fees involved in setting up and running an
International governing body that will determine how your Lunar wealth
will be distributed?
Just a thought.

Look up, look down, look around, now where did I put that purse full of
gold, titanium, He3, gas, oil?
Must get back to patching up my fish net, drag gear, under water
submersible, and space tug.

How much did you say I had to pay that International Space Law Lawyer?


Soooo, many things to look up at, or on the sea floor below.
- LRK -

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
==============================================================
TOPIC: *Law of the Sea Treaty* (*LOST*)
http://www.eagleforum.org/topics/LOST/
Collection of articles and news items on Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST).
www.eagleforum.org/topics/LOST/
Snip

The world government *Law of the Sea treaty*: it's baaaaack!
<http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/vernon/070514>
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/vernon/070514
Wes Vernon
May 14, 2007
Those who scheme night and day to curb America's sovereignty never �
never ever ever � give up.
Possessed with something akin to the patience of the Asian mind, they
brush off defeat as if it were some annoying flyspeck, and then redouble
their efforts.
Snip

United Nations Convention on the *Law of the Sea* - Wikipedia, the *...*
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea

The United Nations Convention on *Law of the Sea* (UNCLOS), also called
the *Law of* *the Sea* Convention and the *Law of the Sea Treaty* ( or
*LOST* by its critics), *...*
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_*Law*_of_the_*Sea*
- 68k

Snip

http://www.nss.org/legislative/NSS-LoST-WhitePaper.pdf
Rejecting the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST)
Abstract
The United States Senate must reject the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS or Law of the Sea Treaty�LOST) because it
places constraints on commercial development of untapped resources in
unclaimed parts of the Earth's oceans. Ratification would set a bad
precedent for the future development and settlement of outer space.
While the National Space Society (NSS) has little quarrel with most
of LOST, Part XI establishes an international regime of approval,
oversight, technology transfer, and taxation that interferes with
private enterprise to an unprecedented and unnecessary degree.
Because LOST is an all-or-nothing treaty, NSS urges the Senate
and the President to renegotiate LOST or to continue complying with
all of its provisions except Part XI. This paper details how
'common heritage' treaties like LOST and the Moon Treaty do not
just discourage, but they actually inhibit, development of resources
from the unexplored reaches of our world and solar system. These
treaties prevent space development in two ways. First, by stating that
resources in unexplored places are "the common heritage of all mankind,"
they ensure that no one person will attempt to develop them privately.
Second, resources necessary to the future health of our civilization
will be subject to, as well as confiscated and redistributed by the UN,
an organization with a long history of opposing the United States. The
very future of our civilization will depend upon the resources and
technologies gained by exploring new worlds. We should not restrict
that future through short-sighted decisions today. Accepting the UN's
mandate on future resource development will mean a dimmer future for all-not
just the U.S. Free enterprise must be allowed to continue to expand, on
this world and others for the sake of our civilization.
Snip
==============================================================

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
*Spacewalkers Complete Array Repair, Deployment*

Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock successfully
repaired a torn solar array today during STS-120�s fourth spacewalk. The
7-hour, 19-minute excursion wrapped up at 1:22 p.m. EDT.

Shortly after the spacewalk began, Parazynski rode the station�s robotic
arm up to the damaged area of the array. He was secured in a foot
restraint on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, or OBSS � the
extension to the shuttle robot arm used for inspection of the orbiter�s
thermal protection system.

After reaching the area of the damage, Parazynski went to work
installing the cufflinks that were built by the crew. Once the five
cufflinks were in place, the crew inside then deployed the array half a
bay at a time until the array was fully deployed.

Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli coordinated today�s spacewalk activities.
Snip
==============================================================
Hi Larry

Here is an interesting piece by Christopher Riley, co-producer &
assistant director of In the Shadow of the Moon. This statement caught
my eye "We are now looking for footage to accompany interviews we are
conducting with some of the 400,000 engineers and scientists who worked
on Apollo. The resulting series for the Discovery Science Channel will
air next summer - bringing a fresh insite (sic) into just how hard it
was to go to the Moon. Something we will perhaps never fully grasp until
we attempt to do it again."

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/10/caught_on_film.html

best wishes

Ross

Snip
==============================================================
Hi Larry

I thought this article on "Plundering the Moon" by Andrew Smith (author
of Moondust) would be of interest. The comments section on the original
page covers a range of reader's opinions - some of them good and some of
them (in my view) unbelievably daft!

best wishes

Ross

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2200256,00.html

*Plundering the moon*

The new space race isn't focused on science or discovery, but is about
exploiting lunar minerals

*Andrew Smith*
*Saturday October 27, 2007*

*Guardian*

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

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