jump to navigation

Interim Administrator Scolese Suggests NASA Reconsidering Moon Outpost? April 29, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : NASA , add a comment

The New Scientist reports today some comments from current interim NASA administrator Chris Scolese to the congressional Commerce, Justice, and Science subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee that suggest NASA may be reconsidering having an outright moon base:

“”We were looking at an outpost on the moon, as the basis for that [2020] estimate and that one is being revisited,” he said. “It will probably be less than an outpost on the moon, but where it fits between sorties, single trips, to the moon to various parts and an outpost is really going to be dependent on the studies that we’re going to be doing.”" -Chris Scolese, Deputy Administrator and current Interim Administrator of NASA, as reported by the New Scientist

The New Scientist article’s headline is “NASA may abandon plans for moon base”, which I think is a bit strong—while Scolese’s comments do certainly suggest that NASA is at least considering that other lunar options may make more sense, full-scale ‘abandonment’ of lunar plans does not seem to be in order.

A main motivation for actual habitation is to prepare for Mars, where astronauts would have to reside for months before having a return opening. If NASA feels that they can accomplish Mars-planning and other scientific goals on the Moon without actually residing there, then an actual outpost might prove unnecessary. The private sector is certainly growing in regards to the Moon, so for longer-term commercial goals like helium-3 (that countries like China have been more outward about), it may end up being needlessly cost-prohibitive for NASA to build themselves, when there could be lots of private lunar homesteading (if you will) already underway.

It may also be just a departure from the current timeframe—Scolese’s comments note the ’2020 estimate’ being revisited. NASA’s lunar plans were comparatively ahead of the curve (countries like China and Japan have been estimated at ~2030 for lunar bases), so even if an outpost is not included in the 2020-2025 timeframe of lunar missions, building an outpost later–while less ambitious and trailblazing— would still be competitive with other nations. And competition might not enter into the equation in the end, anyways: an international lunar outpost, much like the ISS, could make more sense regardless.

For some great details on the lunar studies NASA has been looking at as of late, check out the presentations from the Lunar Surface Systems Workshop in February (and my ongoing coverage of that).

Google Lunar X PRIZE: Video of Astrobotic's Red Rover Appearance at Carnegie Mellon April 26, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : Astrobotic, Google Lunar X Prize, rover , add a comment

That’s a quick little video of Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor Astrobotic‘s Red Rover this past weekend in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon University.

That’s actually a bit of an outdated design, though–a video from July (embedded below) as well as Astrobotic’s recent feature on 3D from the Moon give a good look at the current design and the reasons for the changes:

The Dust is Settled?: Lunar Dust 'Stickiness' Influenced By Sun's Elevation April 21, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : Apollo, lunar land use planning, Lunar Surface Systems Workshop, NASA , add a comment

A new study of old dusted-off data has shown that lunar dust’s stickiness varies with the elevation of the sun.

75-year-old Australian scientist Brian O’Brien compiled the study by himself over a period of two years. By studying the data of the dust collection on various instruments and when it fell off, he determined that the sun’s rays affected the forces keeping the dust attached to the objects.

Lunar dust is quite the nuisance, and generally the greatest hazard on the Moon—causing equipment to overheat and posing a health threat to astronauts should it get inside working spaces. So, any knowledge towards solving the lunar dust issue is a huge boon to lunar planning of any variety. Check out the news release for the full skinny on O’Briens story and how he made his conclusions.

O’Brien offers a straightforward solution to the problem—a sun-proof shed to shadow lunar operations from the sun’s rays, therefore reducing the stickiness of the dust.

According to Leonard David over at the Space Coalition blog, O’Brien says that “more surprising findings from his studies are on the way”, so stay tuned…

For more on lunar dust solutions, keep an eye on my Lunar Surface Systems Workshop coverage, as several presentations from that forum offer neat concepts and scenarios for dealing with various dust issues.

MoonPop: Trailer and Poster Now Up for This Summer's "Moon"! (Sam Rockwell as a Helium-3 Miner) April 16, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : MoonPop , 2comments

The poster and trailer (embedded below) for the upcoming movie “Moon” were released last week.

The movie stars Sam Rockwell as a helium-3 miner trying to get through the end of a long, lonely haul out on the Moon:

My MoonPop series here covers the Moon and lunar colonization in pop culture—and this film is a doozy.

I personally meet very few people in the general public who have heard anything at all about the ‘base race’ back to the Moon, or about the commercial efforts to go there (the Google Lunar X PRIZE, etc.); so to even have just this trailer talking about ‘clean energy’ (fusion power) from the Moon is going to vastly increase public awareness of the subject. And, it seems, the film itself is going to be a great one—it’ll stick around, and it’ll be known.

For a solid recap on helium-3 mining, fusion power, and why they matter, check out my Youtube video intro on the subject (the first “Luna C/I film” :) ).

“Moon” is set for release in New York and Los Angeles on June 12th, with other cities to follow “soon”. Can’t wait, as both moon blogger and film buff :)

Google Lunar X PRIZE: Astrobotic's Red Rover to Have Interactive Appearance, Stream Video April 16, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : Astrobotic, Google Lunar X Prize, rover , add a comment

One of the leading Google Lunar X PRIZE teams, Astrobotic, will have their rover (Red Rover) making an interactive appearance this Saturday the 18th at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

20 participants at the event will get to actually drive the rover, and for those of us who can’t make it out there, there will be a live stream of what the rover sees.

That last bit might seem like a footnote, but it’s more significant than that—as one of the requirements to win the X PRIZE is to send back HD video, this is potentially a cool preview of the vantage point that we’ll have for the surface of the Moon in Astrobotic’s eventual Mooncast.

So check out that stream on Saturday, and take a moment to see not gobs of excited geeks, but the view those eyes could be giving us of the lunar surface someday soon… :)

LSSW: The Families of Lunar Surface Scenarios April 12, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : Lunar Surface Systems Workshop, NASA , add a comment

This is the latest in my ongoing series of coverage of the Lunar Surface Systems Workshop, where oodles of new, advanced concepts for NASA’s future lunar base were shown.

Lunar Surface Architecture Status: Part 3

With the general introductory material out of the way, the first subject looked at is the eleven different families of lunar surface scenarios. Only scenarios 4, 5, and 8 are looked at in detail in the presentation, and I’ll cover those in subsequent posts.

Here’s the list of all 11, and any tidbits of background I have on each:

 The LCCR was the first big internal review of lunar base concepts at NASA. (Click here for my post detailing the full skinny on that.) As you see there, there’s three general orientations: full-on everything (=$$$?), an outpost focused more on sorties across the lunar surface, and an outpost focused more on habitation of the primary location.

The nuclear power scenario, which is one of the three looked at in detail in this PowerPoint, is an alternative to solar—have a shielded or buried nuclear reactor a safe distance from the base.

There’s a pretty healthy Wiki article on power beaming in general as a starter, but solar beaming (particularly, from Earth orbit to Earth) has generated some hubbub as a cutting-edge alternative energy source over the medium-term.

The Lunar Electric Rovers are really cool—being pressurized, astronauts won’t need their suits inside them, and they’re designed for sojourns that can last for weeks. One was shown off as a part of President Obama’s inaugural parade, garnering it a whole lot of attention.

A major motivation for the lunar colonial efforts is to prepare for putting a man on Mars–it takes months to get to Mars (versus several days to the Moon), and once there any astronaut would have to stay for months before having a return launch window, and so mastering colonial systems is key to both putting people on Mars, and getting them back alive. The lunar environment is similar to the Martian one, so it’s a natural test bed.

 —

Check back soon for Part 4 of the Lunar Surface Architecture Status: a closer look at Scenario 4 and the lunar architecture’s support technology.

 

Google Lunar X PRIZE: Two New Team Euroluna Videos April 9, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : Google Lunar X Prize, Youtube , add a comment

Team Euroluna of the Google Lunar X PRIZE has posted two new videos to their team blog. The first video talks about the current technical designs for their competing craft, while the second is a new installment in a series on building the craft:

The Google Lunar X PRIZE folks and all the competing teams have really started putting up tons of video and other content, so expect more coverage here going forward of all the goodies that come along :)

LSSW: Sunflowers, and the Basic Capabilities of NASA's Lunar Outpost April 7, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : Lunar Surface Systems Workshop, NASA , add a comment

This is the latest in my ongoing series of coverage of the Lunar Surface Systems Workshop, where oodles of new, advanced concepts for NASA’s future lunar base were shown.

Lunar Surface Architecture Status: Part 2

The next section of this presentation starts with a nice rendering, featuring what I’ve started referring to as “sunflowers”:

SunflowersUnlabeled

Each element of that image is covered as the presentation goes along, but for now we take a look at the “Basic Outpost Capabilities” (Slide 9):

So our first settlers will be a crew of four; our lunar Pilgrims (or Vikings; though the Apollo crews probably fulfill that latter allegorical role).

“ISRU” is in situ resource utilization–e.g., using lunar-local resources (hit that link for an interesting discussion of lunar ISRU).

NASA’s pressurized rover (e.g., don’t need a suit inside it) is the Lunar Electric Rover, which made a dashing appearance in President Obama’s inaugural parade. I find the idea that the astronauts can go on little surface adventures for weeks at a time a really fun concept :)

Those last three bullets are pretty self-explanatory.

 

Tune in soon for Part 3 of the Lunar Surface Architecture Status, as the presentation begins delving into particular scenarios for outpost development.

 

Japan To Have Bipedal Robots on the Moon by 2020? April 3, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : Japan, robotics , add a comment

The cabinet-level Japanese Strategic Headquarters for Space Development has, according to an AP report, laid out a plan to have a walking robot on the Moon by 2020.

While details are thin at the moment (at least until the more detailed framework is released next month), Japan’s role in the base race has been increasing as of late–their Kaguya orbiter has made significant findings (including recently disproving the concept of a lunar “peak of eternal light”), they plan on having an astronaut on the moon by 2030, and the Japan Space Elevator Association made headlines as a leading effort.

NASA has a vaguely similar concept already in development–the Robonaut (arms and a head, but no legs):

Today is Luna C/I's One Year Anniversary! April 2, 2009

Posted by Nick Azer in : Luna C/I , add a comment

One year ago today, I went off on a limb and did my first-ever post at the old Luna C/I Blogger site.

Little did I know just how immediate and big the subject was once I first got in; a good thing, to be sure :) It’s been a surprising and exciting education so far, and I’m really glad to have strapped myself onto this rocket when I did. Who know whats worlds this blog will have taken me to, a year from now…

Some of the highlights of this first year:

It’s been a fun and pivotal year in my life, and the great thing about this subject is I know this blog will be around for many more–there’s only going to be more and more news from this point going forward, as the base race and the private space boom really begin to heat up over the next 2-10 years :) It’s going to be a blast, and I hope you’re here along with me for it.