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Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #40 January 26, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : Google Lunar X Prize, Google Lunar X Prize Roundup , 1 comment so far

The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million competition challenging private space enterprises to land a rover on the Moon. Each week, I round up all the latest developments as the teams rocket forwards and upwards…

This site is Apture-enabled, so highlight any phrase to discover more about it :)

Here’s your first salvo of GLXP goodness for 2011, covering all the highlights from January 1st-15th:

For more GLXP goodness, check out the increasingly-active official Youtube channel of the GLXP! :)

Findings with Gravity: NASA’s Upcoming Lunar GRAIL Mission January 20, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : GRAIL, gravity, interior composition, mass concentrations (mascons), Raytheon, space conflict , add a comment

NASA is launching a new lunar orbiter mission this year, and it’s one whose findings will carry a lot of gravity: the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)!

Utilizing nifty twin spacecraft, the mission (to be launched in Fall 2011) will map out the interior structure of the Moon in unprecedented detail, helping to reveal mysteries of its gravity and just how the Moon’s geologic thermal evolution unfolded.

A sister project of sorts to GRACE—successful twin satellites that have been measuring Earth’s gravitational fields since 2002—GRAIL is part of the NASA Discovery program, an initiative to develop smaller, cheaper, faster science missions to tackle objectives similar to more unwieldy missions of the past.

The Moon’s interior has been in the news lately; GRAIL’s findings will deepen (literally) this kind of knowledge, which could lend itself to understanding not just the Moon better, but also other bodies in the Solar System.

The findings will also help understand more about why the Moon’s gravity is “lumpy”. Yes, lumpy:

“The Moon is extraordinarily lumpy, gravitationally speaking. I don’t mean mountains or physical topography. I mean in mass. What appear to be flat seas of lunar lava have huge positive gravitational anomalies—that is, their mass and thus their gravitational fields are significantly stronger than the rest of the lunar crust.” -JPL planetary scientist Alex S. Konopliv, “Bizarre Lunar Orbits“, Nasa.Science.Gov

These lumps—called mass concentrations, or ‘mascons’—are tied to five maria on the near side. Why, exactly, is a mystery; one the GRAIL hopes to unravel.

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Another interesting fold to the mission is the origin of the spacecraft design: the Airforce’s controversial XSS-11 satellite. Launched in 2005, the XSS-11 was seen by many as a step towards the U.S. military’s goal of ‘operationally responsive space’; the mission raised concerns that the design could later be used as a weapon to attack foreign satellites. (See Raytheon’s page on responsive space for more on the military concept.)

But, for now, we’ll be seeing the XSS-11 design put to peaceful (and awesome) use with the Moon. Success for GRAIL could open the door to more affordable missions across the solar system, and potentially more such practical missions to the Moon…and hopefully, with no costly satellite dogfights along the way. :)

Moon Confirmed to Have Earth-Like Core! January 8, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : interior composition , add a comment

Recent research utilzing modern seismic analysis with Apollo-era data has confirmed that the Moon has an Earth-like core!

After years of speculation, this confirmation narrows down the potential scenarios that could have created the Moon—namely,  that the Moon was likely a fragment blasted off of old Earth.

The lunar core does differ, in that there’s also a partially-molten border layer there.

For more details, check out this Discovery News article; and for a great look at the formation of the Moon in general, see the pretty neat “Moon” episode of the History Channel series “The Universe”. The episode’s available over Netflix instant streaming, and even (for now…) on Youtube.

Once again, it’s shown how little we really know about the Moon to this point (confirmation only coming 40 years after Apollo). It’s full of surprises, and its overall composition should prove an important force into what moon colonization happens where.

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #39 January 5, 2011

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

The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million competition challenging private space enterprises to land a rover on the Moon. Each week, I round up all the latest developments as the teams rocket forwards and upwards…

This site is Apture-enabled, so highlight any phrase to find out more about it :)

With the holidays in the rear view mirror and 2011 upon us, it’s time for a gift-sized GLXP roundup— all the GLXP news and highlights for the entire month of December! Directly from Santa, who apparently (as Apollo 8 reported) is an at least part-time resident of the Moon: