TO THE MOON, MARS, AND BEYOND

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

Friday, January 09, 2015

Department of Space Studies - University of North Dakota

Department of Space Studies
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences - Department of Space Studies

On my SpaceRef news letter today (SpaceRef Newsletter 01/09/2015.)
I noticed an advertisement for the University of North Dakota - Department of Space Studies.
It is located in Grand Forks North Dakota, and just a bit cold today.
I was born in Jamestown North Dakota (left when I was about 5 years old), so caught my eye.  

Nice to know we are offering college courses for those that might want to work in developing a space industry.
- LRK -

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Department of Space Studies
Space……Not Just for Astronauts

The UND Space Studies degrees are your best choice when preparing for a career in the space industry. Our Master of Science and Ph.D. programs are multi-disciplinary and include disciplines such as planetary science, space engineering, life support systems, space policy and law, space history and space-related aspects of business and management. Unlike a typical aerospace engineering degree, the Space Studies degrees provide the student with the broader background necessary to understand the linkages between engineering, space science, and policy.

Student Research Opportunities
  • Study of near-Earth and main-belt asteroids
  • Solar astronomy
  • Spacesuit and spacecraft simulator design, construction & testing
  • Development of a Lunar/Mars base
  • Remote sensing of the environment
  • Aerospace payload development
Learn More
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Current Research Projects: 

NDX-2 Spacesuit, Lunar Rover and Habitat 
Many students are heavily involved with this NASA funded, three year project. Students have been involved with designing, building and testing a new planetary spacesuit, rover and habitat to potentially be used in any future lunar or planetary manned missions.

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Some information about the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences (UND Aerospace) 
- LRK -

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John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences (UND Aerospace)

The John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences (UND Aerospace) is a part of the University of North Dakota (UND) inGrand Forks, North Dakota. The school was formed in 1968. The school's fleet of 120 aircraft is based at nearby Grand Forks International Airport and is the largest fleet of civilian flight training aircraft in North America. Today, the school has many aerospace-related programs including commercial aviation, air traffic control, and airport management, Space Studies, Computer Science, and Atmospheric Sciences.[1] Currently, the school has over 500 faculty and 1,500 students making it the second largest of UND’s degree-granting colleges. The present dean of the school is Bruce Smith.
Unodak aero clifford hall.jpg
John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences - Clifford Hall
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We sometimes forget that it is individuals that do make a difference and we need to instill this attitude in our up and coming students.
John D. Odegard was the founder and dean of UND Aerospace at the University of North Dakota.
- LRK -

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  1. http://www.flightoftheodegard.com/AboutJohnDOdegard.aspx
    John D. Odegard was the founder and dean of UND Aerospace at the University of North Dakota. A department which began with only two donated aircraft and two faculty, the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences has grown into one of the nation’s most widely respected aerospace education programs under his leadership. During his career as an aerospace educator, Odegard’s reputation for leadership earned him industry respect and many honors. 

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    John D. Odegard, after a courageous battle with cancer, passed away in 1998. He is missed by his family, friends, his UND Aerospace family, and the aviation community. His legacy and spirit continue to live on at UND Aerospace, the house that John built.
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Well that is just one instance of what can be done when you have a passion for a project.
You probably know of many more.
Will keep a look out for other examples to share.
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
LUNAR STUDIES

Lunar research was one of the hallmarks of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in its first decade (the 1960s) as the United States prepared for the Apollo missions and LPL led the way in mapping possible landing sites. In the half-century since, the kinds of lunar research performed have changed, but the Moon is still an object of intense scrutiny. Our nearest neighbor in space lacks many of the processes occurring on the surface of Earth today, including the effects of wind, water and biology, so the rocks on its surface contain records of a much earlier era of Solar System history. On the other hand, because it lacks either an atmosphere or a strong internal magnetic field, its surface experiences effects that the Earth’s surface does not. Current LPL researchers study many different aspects of the Moon, including its composition, history, surface properties, magnetic field, interior structure, and even its tenuous atmosphere. Although the first studies were done with telescopes, we now have everything from the samples returned in the Apollo missions to modern spacecraft missions in orbit around the Moon.
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Moon Packed with Precious Titanium, NASA Probe Finds
SPACE.com Staff   |   October 11, 2011 07:00am ET
A new map of the moon has uncovered a trove of areas rich in precious titanium ore, with some lunar rocks harboring 10 times as much of the stuff as rocks here on Earth do.

The map, which combined observations in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths, revealed the valuable titanium deposits. These findings could shed light on some of the mysteries of the lunar interior, and could also lay the groundwork for future mining on the moon, researchers said.

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

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Thursday, January 08, 2015

Chris Hadfield - Next giant leap for mankind should be to moon

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/07/moon-base-before-mars-mission-chris-hadfield-astronaut

It is a New Year, 2015, and I like the above link that Geoff sent me.

You have probably seen many of the pictures Chris Hadfield has posted to the Internet from the ISS.
Wouldn't it be nice to see someone post some pictures from lunar activities at a new lunar outpost.

As Picard would say, "Make it so."
Picard - Make it So - Let It Snow

HAPPY NEW YEAR
- LRK -

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http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/07/moon-base-before-mars-mission-chris-hadfield-astronaut
Next giant leap for mankind should be to moon, not Mars, says Chris Hadfield
Sunday 7 December 2014 16.01 EST


Astronaut says technology is not good enough for Mars missions and focus should be on permanent lunar base.
Chris Hadfield
 Astronaut Chris Hadfield plays his guitar in the International Space Station. Photograph: Nasa/Rex
The next giant leap for mankind should be back on the moon not Mars, the astronaut Chris Hadfield has said.
Famous for sporting a military moustache, tweeting spacewalk selfies and strumming David Bowie songs on board the International Space Station (his hugely popular cover of Space Oddity has recently been reposted on YouTube with Bowie’s consent), Hadfield was the first Canadian to walk in space and became the first Canadian commander of the ISS when he took the reins last year on his final space mission.
Speaking at a Guardian Live event at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Sunday, Hadfield criticised the current scramble to put an astronaut on the red planet. “If we started going to Mars any time soon everybody would die,” he said. “We don’t know what we are doing yet. We have to have a bunch of inventions between now and Mars.”
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Space Oddity

Published on May 12, 2013
A revised version of David Bowie's Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.

Composition: “SPACE ODDITY”
Written by David Bowie
Published by Onward Music Limited

(Note: This video cannot be reproduced and is licensed for online music use only.)

With thanks to Emm Gryner, Joe Corcoran, Andrew Tidby and Evan Hadfield for all their hard work.

Captioning kindly provided by CHS (www.chs.ca)

Find out more:

Twitter: twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AstronautChrisHadfield?­­fref=ts
Google+: plus.google.com/113978637743265603454/po­­sts/p/pub
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Earth as seen from further away.
- LRK -

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  1. 10 Views of Earth from the Moon, Mars and Beyond [Slide ...

    www.scientificamerican.com › Space › Slide Shows

    Scientific American
    10 Views of Earth from the Moon, Mars and Beyond [Slide Show] .... NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1 took this photograph, the first of Earth as seen from the vicinity of the  ...

  2. Pictures of Earth by Planetary Spacecraft | The Planetary ...

    Earth and the Moon as seen by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CTX. As it sped away from Earth on September 8, 2005, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter turned to  ...
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It will be interesting to see who will snap more selfies of themselves on the Moon.
- LRK -

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  1. China's moon rover snaps a view of earth we haven't seen ...

    io9.com/chinas-moon-rover-snaps-a-view-of-earth-we-havent-see-14...

    io9
    Nearly a month after the stunningly successful soft landing on the Moon by China's first lunar mission on Dec. 14, 2013, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has at ...
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Cheers, here is to those that would smile at us from the Moon.
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century
W. W. Mendell, Editor ©1985, Lunar and Planetary Institute
http://ads.harvard.edu/books/lbsa/...
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http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/library/mmm.htm 

MOON MINERS' MANIFESTO
The Moon Miners’ Manifesto has been edited and published by Peter Kokh ten times per year since December 1986. Presented here are (1) chronological collections of non-time-sensitive articles from previous issues, one PDF collection per calendar year, and (2) collected articles by theme.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Friday, December 05, 2014

Drone and Planes Live-Track NASA's Orion Capsule Launch

I am still watching ORION Test Launch and debriefing replays. Nice!

One of the items mentioned was that there were two Navy NP-3D Orion aircraft and the NASA Predator UAV, Ikhana, would be on hand to observe the entry and splashdown.
This gave a lot of information about the heat of the shield and great pictures of the chute deployment.  Our eyes in the sky. :-)
- LRK -

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Drones and Planes Will Live-Track NASA's Orion Capsule Launch
by Elizabeth Palermo, Staff Writer   |   December 03, 2014 09:33am ET

NASA will launch its Orion spaceship — the agency's deep-space capsule built to carry humans on future missions to an asteroid and Mars — on an unmanned test flight tomorrow (Dec. 4), but as the spacecraft rockets thousands of miles away from Earth, it won't be alone. A NASA drone, two U.S. Navy planes and several helicopters will join the capsule for at least part of its journey.
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(Note: launch slipped to Dec 5, 2014 as weather hampered Dec. 4 proposed launch.  P3s and Ikhana did participate. - LRK -)
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Look at the quality of pictures today as opposed to what we saw 40 years ago
- LRK -

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You can thank this Predator drone for capturing NASA’s incredible Orion splashdown
By Brian Fung December 5 at 1:13 PM

That's partly due to improved camera technology, of course. We now get crisper images and better frame rates. But think about what else had to go into NASA's coverage of the Orion splashdown. Countless people tuned in to watch America's next manned spacecraft return to Earth — live, in real-time, over the Internet! — and from an incredible bird's-eye angle.

All of that was made possible by NASA's Predator drone. Yes, since 2006 NASA has had its own unmanned aircraft, modified to do things like monitor wildfires and take measurements of the atmosphere. It doesn't shoot Hellfire missiles, but the drone, named "Ikhana," can fly as high as an airliner at cruising altitude and can carry more than 2,400 pounds of science gear on its wings and in its internal bay.
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NASA Armstrong Ikhana Fact Sheet.
- LRK -

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NASA Armstrong Fact Sheet: Ikhana/Predator B Unmanned Science and Research Aircraft System
February 28, 2014

A General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Predator B unmanned aircraft system (UAS) was acquired by NASA in November 2006 to support Earth science missions and advanced aeronautical technology development. The aircraft, named Ikhana, also acts as a test bed to develop capabilities and technologies to improve the utility of unmanned aircraft systems.

Ikhana is a Native American Choctaw word meaning intelligent, conscious or aware. The name is descriptive of the research goals NASA has established for the aircraft and its related systems.
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NASA's Ikhana Predator B received an avionics upgrade, wingtip winglets, and a new paint scheme in 2013.
NASA's Ikhana Predator B received an avionics upgrade, wingtip winglets, and a new paint scheme in 2013.
Image Credit: 
GA-SAI Photo
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More information about NASA's Ikhana
- LRK -

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Aero-TV: NASA's Ikhana UAV - Predator B Expands Scientific missions
Uploaded on Mar 15, 2010

A Predator By Any Other Name...

NASA's Ikhana unmanned science and technology development aircraft is a Predator B unmanned aerial system. It was acquired by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center to support Earth science missions and advanced aeronautical technology development. The aircraft, named Ikhana, acts as a testbed to develop capabilities and technologies to improve the utility of unmanned aerial systems. NASA obtained the aircraft from the manufacturer, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, in November 2006. Ikhana is a Native American Choctaw word meaning intelligence, conscious or aware. The name is descriptive of the research goals NASA has established for the aircraft and its related systems.

The aircraft, designed for long-endurance, high-altitude flight, has been modified and instrumented for use in multiple civil research roles.
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The Navy NP-3D Orion aircraft had a challenging job to image the heat shield on the ORION capsule.
This article was written for the expected December 4, 2014 launch which in fact took place on December 5, 2014 and was successful in getting data.
- LRK -

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NASA to Take Images of Orion Flight Test Splashdown
November 28, 2014

A number of teams will have eyes, cameras and telescopes trained on the skies for the splashdown of the first flight of NASA's Orion capsule — with the help of Navy and NASA aircraft.

The SCIFLI (Scientifically Calibrated In-Flight Imagery) team, based at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is preparing to capture thermal snapshots of the super hot re-entry of Orion into Earth's atmosphere following its first test flight. The uncrewed capsule is scheduled to launch no earlier than Dec. 4 at 7:05 a.m. ET atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 37 in Florida. Orion will travel to an altitude of 3,600 miles — 15 times higher than the International Space Station — orbit Earth twice, then splash down in the Pacific Ocean four and a half hours later and be recovered.
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Two Navy aircraft equipped with optical "Cast Glance" imaging systems will record the reentry and parachute deployment of the Orion capsule after its first flight.

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The team will use a U.S. Navy NP-3D aircraft, also called Orion, to capture the imagery. It is equipped with a long-range infrared optical system called "Cast Glance." The NP-3D Orion is one of five operated by the NAVAIR Weapons Division's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron-30 (VX-30), Pt. Mugu, California. The research effort is sponsored by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center.
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Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
The NASA IKHANA Unmanned Aircraft
Uploaded on Apr 4, 2007
NASA has acquired a Predator B unmanned aircraft system to conduct Earth science and technology development missions. Named "Ikhana" a Native American Choctaw word meaning intelligent, the aircraft will fly long-endurance, high-altitude flights from its base at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Atmospheric and remote sensing instruments will be installed in the aircraft or in external pods to collect data on flights lasting up to 30 hours.
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ORION Quick Facts

Orion is America’s next generation spacecraft that will take astronauts
to exciting destinations never explored by humans. It will serve as the
exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to distant planetary bodies,
provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space
travel, and provide safe reentry from deep space.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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