jump to navigation

NASA Gets a Buzz: Aldrin Speaks Out on the New Space Race (News) June 30, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Current News, Int'l Space Station, McCain, Obama, Soyuz , add a comment

The Telegraph has interviewed Buzz Aldrin, second man on the moon and outspoken advocate of moon colonization, with some interesting results.

“To me it’s abysmal that it has come to this: after 50 years of Nasa, and after putting about $100 billion into the space station, we can’t get our own astronauts to our space station without relying on the Russians.”

-Buzz Aldrin, on the U.S. having to hitch rides on the Russian Soyuz to reach the ISS

Buzz appeals for the next U.S. President to embrace the Vision for Space Exploration (John McCain did so earlier this month) and expressed concern that the U.S. was already falling behind. Last month, according to the interview article, NASA’s Constellation head Rick Gilbrecht “that Chinese astronauts were on schedule to get to the moon by 2017 or 2018″ (on a manned mission to being work on a base), a good two or three years faster than the U.S. He also criticizes the lack of investment in commercial efforts, and NASA’s lack of encouragement of tourist-effort-friendly technologies and policies.

As far as concern over getting to the Moon again before China (as opposed to concern over them actually building a base first), I think it’s not really that significant a loss if China puts men/women on the Moon before we do in this century. Getting a base up first would be nice, yes, but nitpicking (for its own sake) on actually setting foot on Luna again first is probably excessive. We already own the record, and whoever comes along next isn’t that important; though, Aldrin’s concern could be primarily that it would mark the beginning of a trend.

Or, perhaps China getting back to the moon first would do us some good, pinch us out of our sleep. A little kick in the rear might light that patriotic fire is us again (and yes, that’s Buzz himself in that last link).

In the meantime, it should be interesting to keep an eye on what ol’ Buzz continues to do in his quest of advocacy…

Picture of the Week: A Model Example June 26, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Malapert, Picture of the Week , add a comment

That is a model of Malapert and the surrounding area (click for larger image), created by high school students for a project with NASA’s Tom Riley of the Goddard Space Center. Labeled on there is Mount Malapert itself (a Peak of Eternal Light, which as you can imagine is good for solar power) on the right, the South Pole below it, and to the upper left the students’ proposed spot for a settlement. The Malapert area is a leading candidate for the location of NASA’s moon base, which’ll be up and running by 2030.

Also, there’s a section rather curiously marked “The Cold and the Dark”. A quick google on that turns up a book about the aftermath of nuclear war…hmm.

Hotel on the Moon? June 24, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Integration, Lunar conservation, lunar land use planning , add a comment

“Enjoy the view – enjoy low gravity – enjoy your stay”
-The Hotel Lunatic website

In my meanderings across the sphere of the Moon’s presence on the internet, I came across this one particularly eccentric little corner: the Hotel Lunatic.

It’s a draw-up (and a Dutch draw-up, at that) of a lunar hotel concept. There’s an interactive section where you can check out different aspects of the ‘proposed’ towers, and a design aspects list noting that a “good view of the Earth”, a “beacon effect” for people landing on the Moon, and an optimal view of the lunar surface (which probably isn’t too hard).

It’s an interesting and whimsical look into the possibilties of integration on the moon. Waste away on Margarita 1 and take in the sights of the Sea of Tranquility (though, realistically, a hotel would be located someplace not on a mare, as the maria will be big mining targets and that doesn’t typically make for great scenery).

“The rimea Prinz area has been transformed into a nature reserve to preserve the beauty of the moon and not to be polluted by footprint ect.”
-The Hotel Lunatic FAQ

And once again, I see that I’m not the only one with an eye on the idea of preservation on the Moon. I get the impression in my readings and research that there’s a latent consciousness and want for lunar preservation, which is interesting, as the environmentalism movement began around the time NASA’s and other space programs declined (though of course, national parks had been established long before). Barren as the moon is, this was not something I took as a guarantee.

Now, whether a conservation movement, or nations’ and companies’ desire to get as much out of the Moon as they can (and out of their investment) ends up having more leverage as far as what actually gets developed on the moon, we shall see…

Ice, Ice, Baby (News) June 21, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Current News, Phoenix lander, Polar ice , 1 comment so far

Right up there as a big ol’ classic red headline on Drudge Report today was the news that NASA has confirmed that the Phoenix lander on Mars has turned up ice.

That may become one of the more legendary space photos ever taken. It turns out that there’s apprently a whole sheet of ice right there under that dirt; e.g., as that linked article quotes Peter Smith:

“If you got a giant broom and swept if off, it’s a big ice sheet.”
-Peter Smith, Phoenix Principal Investigator, of the University of Arizona, Tucson

The existence of Lunar Ice is still doubtful, but the confirmation of ice on Mars shines a little more possibility into its existence. Even without ice on the moon, at the very least we now know we can ship water back to there from Mars, unorthodox as that may seem…

Huge Moon Tonight (News) June 18, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Current News , add a comment

If you want to see Mare Tranquillitatis and the other features of the moon in their full glory with ye old naked eye, tonight is the night.

With the summer solstice coming along, this particular horizon-hugging full moon appears unusually large; this is referreed to rather simply as the “Moon Illusion“.

For the time of your own local Moonrise, hit up this link. Fun fact: apparently, the moon’s never actually full, but hey, it’s full enough for me.

Picture of the Week: Antarctiluna June 17, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Antarctica, Habitat, Picture of the Week , add a comment

As red as that is, that (of course) is not Mars but our beloved Luna, seen over Antarctica.

Antarctica and the Moon have fates that are intertwined in this era (as Modest Mouse have illustrated), as both are frontiers and similarily hostile environments. Antarctica has become known as “the closest place to Mars“, and as a result, has become a testing ground for habitats for Lunar and Martian colonization.
Within 20-50 years (when I’ll be 44-74), the population of humans on the Moon could well exceed that of those on Antarctica, which is an odd thought.

var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”);
document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-4745756-1″);
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();

(Vacation-June10th-June15th) June 12, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Gaia Selene, Youtube , add a comment

I’m in California from June 10th-June 15th, so even this post is a minor miracle as I don’t have a laptop, etc (beyond borrowing my Dad’s), so expect little to no posts until my return on Monday, and increased activity/a return to near-daily posts after that :)

Until then: Some neat ‘Gaia Selene‘ stuff on Youtube.

McCain voices support for Constellation program! (Huge News) June 7, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Constellation, Current News, McCain, Obama , add a comment

On Thursday (the 5th of june), Sen. John McCain (a candidate that some feared would look to cut back NASA’s Constellation program as President, which includes their Lunar and Martian base efforts; McCain has mentioned a potential freeze on all domestic discretionary funding) voiced support for NASA’s efforts to get a man on Mars, stating that he “would be willing to spend more taxpayer’s dollars” essentially as long as NASA ‘did a better job of inspiring the public’.

“‘I am intrigued by a man on Mars and I think that it would excite the imagination of the American people if we can say, ‘Hey, here’s what it looks like,’ he said.
‘We know that now, and here’s what may be there and let’s all join in that project. I think Americans would be very willing to do that.’ ”
-Sen. John McCain

McCain’s signature thumbs-up now applies to Mars colonization.

Sen. Barack Obama‘s Education plan includes delaying Constellation by five years in order to fund education, though he has stated:

“I grew up on Star Trek…I believe in the final frontier.”
-Sen. Barack Obama

A big part of NASA’s Constellation program is to inspire the public, and one of Obama’s biggest crutches in the campaign so far as been hope and inspiration, so one could speculate Constellation’s mission is solidly within his style.

But, for now, we have confirmation that the less likely supporter of the program (McCain) is entirely for it, which means that no matter who wins in November, Constellation will continue (even if a little delayed) and should go strong for many years.

Hawking for Colonization June 6, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : gravity, NASA, Robert A. Heinlein , add a comment

Recently, at an event marking NASA’s 50th anniversary, the legendary physicist Stephen Hawking joined the ranks of those vocally supporting Lunar and Martian colonization.

And then some. Calling for the world to “devote about 10 times as much as 0.25% of its financial resources to space”, as well as an acceleration of the efforts to get man on Mars (currently looking to be in the early 2030s), he also noted that any long-term colony should have a significant gravity field to avoid microgravity health issues (bone loss, etc.), often cited as a concern for moon colonies and a central feature of Robert A. Heinlein‘s classic novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

The 66-year-old Hawking is brilliant, yet near-paralyzed (he still considers himself “lucky“), and is widely known for his research with theoretical cosmology (the structure and design of the universe), quantum gravity (beyond the description of a simple parentheses), and black holes. Having such high-profile supporters speaking out now asserts how timely colonization is for this era and generation; as colonization picks up even more speed, we may see potentially even more vocal supporters.

Alt. Eagle June 5, 2008

Posted by Nick Azer in : Altair, Apollo, Artemis , add a comment

The Eagles are coming, the Eagles are coming!
-Bilbo Baggins, “The Hobbit”

The successor to the Apollo missions’ Eagle lander is the above: the Altair lander (christened as such last December). It’s named after the twelfth-brightest star in the sky, a star which is within the Aquila (‘Eagle’ in Latin) system.

First going into use in missions around 2019 (that’s only 11 years, folks), the Altair features neat little additions (compared to the Apollo modules) such as an airlock and a ‘food warmer‘ (woot for microwaves and their rough equivalents).

Fun fact: early rumors that the lander would be called Artemis (twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology) turned out to be false; though I’ll say, that’s an awfully cool name, and should by all means be used somewhere else (perhaps in exploration, as Artemis was the goddess of hills and forests) :)