Lunar Pioneer

LROC captures Earth "In the Shadow of the Moon"

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Fri, 25 May 2012 22:48:00 +0000

Animated compilation of the four images collected by the LROC NAC during the Annular Solar Eclipse of May 2012. Two images were collected during each of two successive orbits. (NAC images E192192490L, E192192869L, E192199689L, E192200072L) View the full size image accompanying the LROC release HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Brett Denevi

LROC News System

A solar eclipse occurs, from the Earth’s perspective, when the Moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun. This alignment results in a shadow of the Moon passing across the Earth. In a total eclipse, the Moon blocks the entire disk of the Sun, and viewers on Earth witness only the the Sun's faint corona that extends thousands of miles into space. However, in an annular (or "ring of fire") eclipse like the one that occurred on 20-21 May 2012, the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun, so terrestrial viewers can see a bright ring or annulus of the Sun around the Moon. Which type of eclipse you experience, total or annular, depends on where the Moon is in its orbit. The Moon's orbit isn't perfectly circular, so sometimes it is closer to the Earth, and bigger in the sky (resulting in a total eclipse), and sometimes it is farther from the Earth and smaller in the sky (an annular eclipse).

The Annular Eclipse, by E. Speyerer, from Kanarraville, Utah, May 20, 2012 (UT) View the spectacular 1667 px original accompanying the LROC image released May 25, 2012 HERE.

What does a solar eclipse look like from the Moon? The LROC NAC captured four images of the Earth, two on each of two successive orbits, during this solar eclipse. In these images you can see the Moon's shadow passing over the Earth over a period of about two hours. The image above shows the eclipse as it progressed over the Aleutian Islands, below you can see it a bit earlier as the Moon's shadow passed over Japan.

The first of four images captured by the LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) during the Annular Eclipse of May 2012, as the Moon's shadow passed over Japan. Annotated NAC image E192192490L. View the original image accompanying the LROC release HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

The LROC NAC cannot easily acquire images of the Earth, and acquiring Earth views requires a significant amount of planning. The NAC is a line scanner, meaning that it has only one row of 5064 pixels per camera. Instead of snapping a single frame, an image is built up by the motion of the spacecraft in orbit about the Moon (about 1600 meters per second). To obtain an image of the Earth the spacecraft is turned 180° to face the Earth, then the spacecraft is pitched as quickly as possible (one-tenth of a degree per second), so that the image is built up line by line. You can see that two of the frames in the animated image below are slightly clipped, because LRO's timing wasn't perfect and the NAC ran out of lines before completing the scan (the NAC buffer is filled up after 52,240 lines, which is 256 Mbytes of data).

Zooming in on the Moon's shadow during the solar eclipse. NAC Image E192199689L. View the full size assembly HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Because it was an annular eclipse, the shadow isn't totally dark; some sunlight still made it down to viewers of the eclipse as it passed over. The image below provides a zoomed in view of the Moon's shadow.

The eclipse was spectacular from the Moon, but it was also quite a view from within the Moon's shadow!

"Just barely," by E. Speyerer. A partial eclipse captured at the same moment as the LROC Featured Image "first of four," above (2012-142 00:33:41.036) from Kanarrville, Utah. The full eclipse had not quite reached Utah, thus the Moon is seen blocking only a small portion of the Sun. View the full size original accompanying the LROC image release HERE [E. Speyerer].

View the full resolution NAC eclipse image, HERE.

Revisit Earlier NAC images of the Earth from the Moon:

Americas from the Moon

Earth from the Moon

Armstrong grants rare interview to Australian CPA's

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:19:00 +0000

Screen grab from an interview with Dr. Neil Armstrong, conducted by Alex Malley, CEO of the Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia. The full interview is posted on the organization's website, http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au [CPA Australia].

CBC News

Legendary astronaut Neil Armstrong, who was the first person to walk on the moon, has surprised the media establishment by granting a rare and comprehensive interview to an unexpected interviewer: the Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia.

Armstrong sat down with the CEO of CPA Australia, Alex Malley, to discuss everything from his time flying fighter planes in the Korean War to the subject he's asked about most: his 1969 mission to the moon.

Armstrong has been careful about which public appearance requests he accepts and has not given many interviews in recent years.

In 2009, his wife, Carol, told the Washington Post that her husband averaged about 10 interview requests per month and rejected all of them.

"I think he thinks it's all been said before," she told the paper.

That may be so, but space enthusiasts will still find his latest account of the Apollo 11 mission fascinating.

An "Iffy lunar landing" & NASA "going in wrong direction," in the full article HERE.

Senate votes to strike 'lunatic' from U.S. Code

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:02:00 +0000

Pete Kasperowicz
The Hill

The United States Senate on Wednesday quickly approved legislation that would remove the word "lunatic" everywhere it appears in the federal code.

The Senate approved S. 2367 by unanimous consent, giving the House a chance to act if it wishes, although no House member has introduced a similar bill.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) introduced the bill back in late April with Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). Conrad said the bill was the result of a conversation with a constituent, who said current law casts a stigma on people with mental disabilities. "Sen. Crapo and I agree that federal law should reflect the 21st-century understanding of mental illness and disease, and that the continued use of this pejorative term has no place in the U.S. Code," Conrad said in April.

The word "lunatic" appears in the U.S. Code in Title 1, Chapter 1, which covers rules of construction. Chapter 1 holds that when determining the meaning of any law, "the words 'insane' and 'insane person' and 'lunatic' shall include every idiot, lunatic, insane person, and person non compos mentis."

According to Conrad's bill, it also appears in laws related to banking that deal with the authority to take receivership of estates.

In April, several health groups supported Conrad's decision to introduce the bill.

The Hasselblad

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:37:00 +0000

By the end of Project Mercury, Hasselblad cameras such as this one, used in the Apollo 11 command module, became the standard for still photography on American space missions. Known for their high quality construction and ease of use, the electric Swedish-made cameras featured a motor-driven mechanism that prepared the film and shutter when the camera was activated. Hasselblad cameras could be modified for use inside the spacecraft or on the lunar surface, with easily detachable black and white or color film magazines.

HT: Gerald at KA-CHING!

Re-release of Iconic Copernicus 'Image of the Century'

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:48:00 +0000

Newly processed high-resolution detail from an unprecedented oblique view of the interior of Copernicus captured by Lunar Orbiter 2, from the "Image of the Century" photographed November 24, 1966. Higher and full resolution images are linked to the Moonviews (LOIRP) announcement, HERE [LOIRP].

Keith Cowing
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project
moonviews.com
NASAWatch.com

Today an iconic image from the initial exploration of the Moon is being re-released showing detail that could not have been seen using technology available at the time the photo was taken. This image features a dramatic view inside the majestic crater Copernicus - a view that left millions in awe when it was first released.

This image was announced at the First Global Space Exploration Conference, co-sponsored by the AIAA and IAF, in Washington, DC.

Between 1966 and 1967 NASA sent five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft to the Moon. Their job was to survey the surface to help determine landing sites for the upcoming Apollo missions. In addition to their recon role, these spacecraft also contributed to the nascent scientific understanding of the Moon. But every once in a while these spacecraft also served as artists, snapping photos of this nearby world in a way that human eyes had never been able to see before.

New magnification possible using the 21st century techniques employed by LOIRP. Higher and full resolution images are linked to the Moonviews (LOIRP) announcement, HERE [LOIRP].

Once such image was taken of crater Copernicus on 24 November 1966 by the Lunar Orbiter 2 spacecraft. What made this photo so unique was the oblique angle it was taken at as well the close proximity of the spacecraft to its target. The image was taken at an altitude of 45 km (27.1 miles) at a distance of approximately 207.7 km (~125 miles) from the center of the crater. Instead of looking down, the spacecraft looked sideways at the Moon.

The bouldered area of the central peaks of Copernicus seen newly sampled at "100 percent" in the image further up were swept up by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera in orbit 909, September 9, 2009; LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) observation M107006443R; resolution 1.15 meters (shown here at 4 meters per pixel) from an altitude of 130.11 kilometers [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

For the first time people saw the Moon as a world with mountains and boulders and other features (some of them strange) that were not apparent from photos where the view was looking straight down. So taken were people at the time that Life Magazine took to calling the photo "The Picture of the Century"

Read about the full details in the original article, HERE.

Roscosmos, JAXA advocate using ISS to support extended human activity on the Moon

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:35:00 +0000

Paired concept of nomadic extended human sortie (Constellation-attendant) architecture envisioned within NASA before Congress, acting on the recommendation the Obama administration, eliminated development of the Altair lander [NASA/Frassinito & Associates].

Dan Leone
spacenews.com

WASHINGTON — NASA is setting its sights on an asteroid as the next big landing destination for astronaut explorers, but senior officials with two of the agency’s international space station (ISS) partners say the Moon should be the goal.

The most senior of these officials is Vladimir Popovkin, head of the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, who said lunar missions are his agency’s top priority for human exploration. Speaking May 22 at a roundtable of government space agency leaders at the Global Space Exploration Conference here, Popovkin said the space station partners should use the outpost to test technologies needed for a return to the Moon.

“We would like to see this phenomenal lab as a test bed that would allow us an opportunity to verify and test lots of technology that will be essential for us to be able to step up and reach deeper space,” Popovkin said through an interpreter.

Given that Roscosmos — like the rest of the world’s space agencies — faces financial and technical constraints that rule out near-term exploration of Mars or an asteroid, “we arrive at the conclusion that the Moon is supposed to be the next target,” Popovkin said. “And when we talk about the Moon, we are not talking about replicating what mankind has already achieved … we are talking about establishing permanent station bases on the surface.”

Without explicitly endorsing Popovkin’s call for permanent Moon bases, a senior official from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) agreed that space agencies across the globe should look to send human explorers to the Moon, and to use the space station to test the technology needed to get there.

The Moon “is the next destination for mankind,” said Yuichi Yamaura, associate executive director of JAXA. “We have a responsibility to continue the ISS program. That may be in preparation for human activity on the Moon.”

Read the full article, HERE.

LROC Second Tycho central peak oblique

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:18:00 +0000

View from the other side: Summit of Tycho crater central peak seen from west-to-east; the rough material on the floor of the crater in the upper right formed as a massive pool of impact melt solidified. Detail from LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) oblique observation M181286769LR, LRO orbit 11829, January 15, 2012. Explore the full range of this spectacular image HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Mark Robinson
Principal Investigator
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera
Arizona State University

The Lunar Orbiters (1966-1968) photographed Tycho crater in 1966 and 1967 and first revealed the beautiful state of preservation of this ~80 km diameter impact crater. Geologists saw sharp, craggy slopes in the crater walls and central peak, some form of ponded liquid and preserved flows, and a labyrinth of fractures in the rough, flat floor. What liquid flowed and ponded inside and outside the crater? Initially geologists hypothesized that the Tycho impact event triggered an upwelling of lava, and the ponds and flows were frozen volcanic forms.

Later it was determined that the hypothesized volcanic ponds and lakes and flows were indeed related to the formation of the crater, but not as volcanic eruptions of subsurface magma. Rather, they were accumulations of massive amounts of lunar rock that was melted as the Tycho asteroid (or comet) slammed into the Moon and released unimaginable amounts of kinetic energy, in an instant. It was only in 1960 that Gene Shoemaker and colleagues proved that Meteor Crater (aka Barringer crater) near Winslow, Arizona, was formed by an asteroid impact. Thus the idea that many craters on the Moon (and Earth) were formed by impacts was only coming into widespread acceptance at the time of the Lunar Orbiter missions. Today we have a growing catalog of impact melt deposits from many young craters across the face of the Moon.

LROC NAC oblique view of Tycho crater, from the west toward the east, in late afternoon. Tycho crater is ~82 km in diameter and the central peak rises some 2000 meters above the crater floor (LROC NAC M181286769LR - Explore the full range of this spectacular image HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

LROC captured a spectacular oblique view of Tycho's central peak on 10 June 2011 looking east-to-west. In today's Featured Image the view is from the other side, and shows the exterior flanks as well as the crater interior. Many impact melt features are easily seen both inside the crater and on its flanks.

Tycho Central Peak labeled - The small black arrows mark the edge of a darker smooth unit interpreted to be a thin frozen coating of impact melt. The small white arrow indicates a 120 meter boulder discussed in a previously released NAC oblique of Tycho crater [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Impact melt is sometimes seen as a thin crust on crater walls and peaks. It can be recognized by its lower reflectance, smooth texture that hugs the substrate, and parallel fractures. Much of the central peak was coated in melt (see the figures above and below) and the previous oblique LROC Tycho peak image.

Slosh mark - Small black arrows mark a distinctive shelf - probably formed as puddled impact melt on the crater floor sloshed up the side of the central peak. "F" indicate areas showing parallel fractures in the impact melt crust, LROC NAC M181286769 [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Above, you can see where smooth impact melt appears to drape over an entire portion of the central peak, and the distinct line where the once-molten impact melt sloshed up the side of the central peak and then drained back to pool on the floor. How did the impact melt coating reach the top of the central peak, which is some 2000 meters (6562 ft) above the crater floor? There are two likely scenarios. First, some amount of impact melt was thrown straight up as the crater was excavated and the central peak was forming. As gravity slowed the flight of the melt it fell back into the crater coating the newly formed peak. A second model involves slumping and collapse of the crater walls. As these large blocks of material slumped into the crater pooled impact in the bottom of the crater was tossed upwards and coated the peak. Less energetic slumps caused waves in the sea of impact melt surrounding the peak, and slosh marks from waves of melt can be seen on the peak and walls of the crater (figure above).

Many of the features are similar to those seen in volcanic flows that pool in low spots of the landscape. How do we know that what we see here isn't volcanic in origin? There are several lines of evidence. First, the locations on top of and coating central the central peaks, on the crater rim, and in ponds on the terraces are consistent with where ejected melt-rock would land, but not with where volcanic eruptions would occur. Second, the composition of the material in this region is that of typical highlands material, inconsistent with all other known lunar volcanic deposits. Finally, the age of the Tycho impact crater is thought to be around 100 million years, which is quite young for a feature on the Moon. By this time, the Moon is thought to have cooled so substantially that it no longer had the internal heat to produce molten volcanic material that could reach the surface. The youngest volcanic deposits on the surface are on the order of a billion years old.

Today's featured image provides a beautiful complementary view of the Moon's ongoing surface evolution via impact cratering. Eventually, Tycho's features will be ground down by subsequent impacts, and new craters with their own spectacular peaks and pools of melt will replace Tycho as one of the most striking features on the Moon. Explore this new spectacular oblique image of Tycho crater and find the impact melt deposits hiding high and low, inside and outside, of the crater.

Be sure to check out the YouTube video:

Download this video (.mov) HERE

Read earlier LROC Featured Images highlighting Tycho crater:
LROC's first oblique of Tycho
Chaotic crater floor in Tycho
Polygonal fractures on Tycho ejecta
Impact melt on Tycho floor
Ejecta on Tycho floor

Revisit other LROC oblique views of the Moon:
Aristarchus crater
Hadley rille
Vertregt J crater
Aitken crater
Bhabha crater

Simulated oblique view (LROC NAC oblique field of view covering the interior of Tycho is boxed by the yellow rectangle) along a line of sight similar to that of the LROC Narrow Angle Camera in orbit 11289, January 15, 2012 [NASA/LMMP/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Lunarcrete, transforming hazard into habitat

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:43:00 +0000

Fine as talcum, abrasive as jagged glass, clinging and ubiquitous, lunar dust mitigation is on everybody's list of the biggest challenges facing extended human (and robotic) activity on the surface of the Moon. One essential strategy involves sintering, or otherwise transforming, regolith into native pavement. In a NASA simulation above the shelved Altair manned lander concept is shown landed and parked near the lunar South Pole where a permanent landing pad has been constructed [NASA].

Keith Veronese
io9.com

So, you are on the moon and need to build a new structure. As one of the first lucky colonists there, what are you going to use? Lunarcrete of course.

Lunarcrete is a mixture similar to concrete that could be created using the loose layer of dust and rock covering the surface of the moon. Creating structures from lunarcrete will be one of the keys to cutting colonization costs and increasing self sufficiency of colonies. Terrestrial experiments show that creating a concrete-like substance from lunar rock is possible, but is it practical?

Continue reading the full article HERE

Ring of Fire manifests through Japan's cloudy sky

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Sun, 20 May 2012 22:37:00 +0000

Panasonic carried twin live solar powered remote feeds through totality. The view above, about two minutes shy of maximum, was captured through breaks in Hokkaido's cool, wet Monday morning clouds (~2229 UT, May 20) [Panasonic/USTREAM].

Annular Solar Eclipse, May 20-21, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Annual Solar Eclipse in Taurus. The Moon crosses the descending node of its orbit meeting the apparent pathway of the Sun through Earth's sky just as the Sun moves through the very same line of sight, back-dropped by the familiar Hyades and Pleiades star clusters of the constellation Taurus. Because the Moon will have passed apogee only a day before, it's greatest distance from Earth, the apparent size of its disk will not not quite match the Sun's photosphere, and the result at totality is an annulus, a spectacular "ring of fire." The simulation above, showing the event from a perspective 12,700 km over South America, hints at the parts of North America, past sunset, where the celestial show will be invisible [Celesta].

Fred Espenak
NASA GSFC

The first solar eclipse of 2012 occurs at the Moon's descending node in central Taurus. An annular eclipse will be visible from a 240 to 300 kilometer-wide track that traverses eastern Asia, the northern Pacific Ocean and the western United States. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, that includes much of Asia, the Pacific and the western 2/3 of North America.

Path of Annularity, traced out on the sun-facing hemisphere of Earth, straddling the International Dateline in the North Pacific Ocean [F. Espenak/ NASA/GSFC].

The annular path begins in southern China at 22:06 UT. Because the Moon passed through apogee one day earlier (May 19 at 16:14 UT), its large distance from Earth produces a wide path of annularity. Traveling eastward, the shadow quickly sweeps along the southern coast of Japan as the central line duration of annularity grows from 4.4 to 5.0 minutes.

Tokyo lies 10 kilometers north of the central line. For the over 10 million residents within the metropolitan area, the annular phase will last 5 minutes beginning at 22:32 UT (on May 21 local time). The annular ring is quite thick because the Moon's apparent diameter is only 94% that of the Sun. Traveling with a velocity of 1.1 kilometers/second, the antumbral shadow leaves Japan and heads northeast across the Northern Pacific. The instant of greatest eclipse [1] occurs at 23:52:47 UT when the eclipse magnitude [2] reaches 0.9439. At that instant, the duration of annularity is 5 minutes 46 seconds, the path width is 237 kilometers and the Sun is 61° above the flat horizon formed by the open ocean.

The shadow passes just south of Alaska's Aleutian Islands as the central track slowly curves to the southeast. After a 7000 kilometer-long ocean voyage lasting nearly 2 hours, the antumbra finally reaches land again along the rugged coastlines of southern Oregon and northern California at 01:23 UT (May 20 local time).

Figure 2. [Fred Espenak / GSFC].

Redding, California lies 30 kilometers south of the central line. Nevertheless, it still experiences an annular phase lasting 4 1/2 minutes beginning at 01:26 UT. It is already late afternoon along this section of the eclipse path. The Sun's altitude is 20° during the annular phase and decreasing as the track heads southeast. Central Nevada, southern Utah, and northern Arizona are all within the annular path.

By the time the antumbra reaches Albuquerque, New Mexico (01:34 UT), the central duration is still 4 1/2 minutes, but the Sun's altitude has dropped to 5°. As its leading edge reaches the Texas Panhandle, the shadow is now an elongated ellipse extending all the way to Nevada. Seconds later, the antumbra begins its rise back into space above western Texas as the track and the annular eclipse end.

During the course of its 3.5-hour trajectory, the antumbral track is approximately 13,600 kilometers long and covers 0.74% of Earth's surface area. Path coordinates and central line circumstances are presented in Table 1.

Partial phases of the eclipse are visible primarily from the USA, Canada, the Pacific and East Asia. Local circumstances for a number of cities are found in Table 2 (Canada, Mexico and Asia) and Table 3 (USA). All times are given in Universal Time. The Sun's altitude and azimuth, the eclipse magnitude and obscuration are all given at the instant of maximum eclipse.

The NASA JavaScript Solar Eclipse Explorer is an interactive web page that can quickly calculate the local circumstances of the eclipse from any geographic location not included in Table 1:

This is the 33rd eclipse of Saros 128 (Espenak and Meeus, 2006). The family began with a series of 24 partial eclipses starting on A.D. 984 Aug 29. The first central eclipse was total and took place A.D. 1417 May 16. After three more totals and four hybrid eclipses, the series changed to annular A.D. 1561 Aug 11. Subsequent members of Saros 128 were all annular eclipses with increasing durations, the maximum of which was reached on Feb 1, 1834 and lasted 8 minutes 35 seconds. The duration of annularity of each succeeding eclipse is now dropping and will reach 4 minutes with the last annular eclipse of the series on July 25, 2120. Saros 128 terminates on November 1, 2282 after a string of 9 partial eclipses. Complete details for the 73 eclipses in the series (in the sequence of 24 partial, 4 total, 4 hybrid, 32 annular, and 9 partial) may be found HERE.

Additional details for the 2012 annular solar eclipse (including tables, maps and weather prospects) can be found HERE.

"Making eclipse magic," Emily Lakdawalla
The Planetary Society

Where to See the Annular Eclipse Online
Sky & Telescope

1st International Workshop on LunarCubes

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Sat, 19 May 2012 02:27:00 +0000

Taking the fullest advantage of the need for science, micro-electronics, materials progress and the need for lightweight payloads, CubeSat concept missions are under development everywhere. Beginning with sub-orbital and low Earth orbit missions, imaginative planners are now looking at the possibilities of CubeSats in lunar orbit.

Flexure Engineering is creating the LunarCubes Working Group and LunarCubes workshops to promote the creation of a standard to facilitate the development of low cost, rapid development payloads that could be easily added to the many Lunar opportunities in the coming decades.

Announcing the 1st International Workshop on LunarCubes: LunarCubes : The Next Frontier, October 4-6, 2012, Mountain View, California

Call for Papers : June 1, 2012. To learn more go to : lunar-cubes.com

Delta IV second stage chosen for Orion tests

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:30:00 +0000

Delta IV upper stage utilized on a variety of
configurations [NASA/USAF].

Todd Halverson
Florida Today

NASA intends to use a modified Delta IV second stage to launch Orion spacecraft on an unmanned test flight in 2017 and then a human expedition to lunar orbit four years later.

The Boeing upper stage is “the only means available to support the immediate in-space propulsion needs” for the excursions, NASA said in a procurement notice issued early this month.

The missions both are to be launched from complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center on early versions of NASA’s new heavy-lift Space Launch System.

The second stage for the first flight must be delivered to KSC no later than the fourth quarter of 2016, the notice said. The fourth quarter of 2020 is the deadline for delivery of the upper stage for the second mission.

NASA performed an internal market study of in-space propulsion systems available in the U.S., Europe and Japan, the notice said. From that research, NASA determined that the Delta IV upper stage “is the only known in-space stage requiring relatively minor modifications” to meet mission requirements as well as the launch schedule, the notice said.

Moreover, NASA said no other in-space propulsion system – “either existing with flight proven performance, or planned” – could be upgraded to fly astronauts with “relatively minor modifications.”

A single Pratt & Whitney RL-10B2 engine powers the Delta IV second stage. The engine runs on supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

The RL-10 was the first liquid hydrogen rocket engine built in the United States and has been flying for 50 years. Versions of it still power Atlas V and Delta IV upper stages.

Read the full article HERE.

Background from Spaceflight NOW

Dusty "DAP-2012" workshop, UC Boulder, June 6-8

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:06:00 +0000

From 2007, a widely-circulated small scale schematic showing the interaction of the Solar Wind and the lunar surface and the Moon's dusty and dynamic exosphere [Jasper Halekas of the University of California at Berkeley].

The "Dust, Atmosphere and Plasma: Moon and Small Bodies" meeting will take place on June 6-8, 2012, in Boulder Colorado. (Program is now available at http://lasp.colorado.edu/ccldas/ldap_2012. Attendees may register online by June 1.

The DAP-2012 workshop will be a forum to discuss current understanding of the surface environment of the Moon and asteroids, to share new results from past and ongoing missions and to describe expectations for future missions.

DAP-2012 is a follow up on the first workshop Lunar dust, atmosphere, and plasma: The next steps (LDAP-2010). Contributions to LDAP-2010 were published in the special issue of Planetary and Space Sciences, and a similar volume is planned to report the contributions to DAP-2012.

The workshop will be focused on open science questions, status of modeling and laboratory capabilities and the definitions of required measurements and instruments for future investigations from orbit or the surface.

The workshop is hosted by Alan Stern and Mihaly Horányi, and supported by the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI): Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies (CCLDAS), the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and the Center for Integrated Plasma Studies of the University of Colorado.

The workshop is set to take place at the LASP Space Science Building, 3665 Discovery Drive, Boulder, Colorado 80303 To register and obtain further information visit the workshop website, HERE.

LROC: Multiple Flow Lobes

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:09:00 +0000

Multiple flow lobes on the northern interior slope of Furnerius A. Field of view 756 meters, LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) observation M187848982R, LRO orbit 12747, March 31, 2012. Sunlight is from northeast, resolution 0.63 meters. View the 1200 x 1200 pixel LROC Featured Image, released May 17, 2012, HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Hiroyuki Sato
LROC News System

Today's Featured Image highlights granular flows on the northern wall of Furnerius A crater (11.21 km in diameter), located between Mare Fecunditatis and the South Pole-Aitken basin. At the bottom of the image, a diagonal boundary delineates between the coarse blocky crater floor (relatively bright) and the still coarsely textured, but relatively darker surface, which is part of the sloping crater wall. From the top of the image extend a number of relatively bright granular flows. At the end of each flow, the flow lobe is visible against the darker, coarsely textured crater wall. Notice that the sunlight is from the right side, thus each flow unit is positive relief (not negative relief) on the top of preexisted slope.

Foreshortened contextual view of the Featured Image detailed within the 4.1 kilometer-across field of view swept up in LROC NAC frame M187848932R, March 31, 2012 [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

These granular flow features are commonly observed inside the fresh crater walls on the Moon. Little by little slope failures degrade the steep walls, which enlarge the apparent diameters of the craters, as well as create shallower crater floors. Over long periods of time, small impacts also destroy any sharp relief features, and someday Furnerius A will be transformed into a crater like Furnerius C (left side crater in the image below). Since the Moon's surface has no water or wind weathering (erosion), the Moon is the best natural museum to learn about the long term evolution of crater forms.

Surrounding area of Furnerius A crater in WAC monochrome mosaic (100 m/pix). Image center is 33.49°S, 59.03°E. The locations of full NAC frame (blue box) and the area highlighted in the LROC Featured Image released May 17, 2012 (yellow arrow) are indicated [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Nearly the same field of view at a higher angle of incidence, perhaps a day after local sunrise (inclination angle 69.65°), reveals more relief, and with the addition of data derived from the LROC WAC Digital Terrain Model, Furnerius A is seen as being on the edge of Furnerius proper to the southeast. LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) observation M177251343 (604nm), LRO orbit 11257, November 30, 2011; resolution 69.7 meters from 51 kilometers [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Explore the beautiful flow lobes in the full NAC frame yourself!

Related Posts:
Detour!
Lunar landslides!
Dark streaks in Diophantus crater
Rock avalanche in Robinson crater

LROC: Meandering

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:38:00 +0000

Western slope of Fabbroni crater cavity; field of view width 1200 meters (view the original 1200 px LROC Featured Image released May 16, 2012 HERE), downslope is to the east. Unreleased LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) observation M188050156R, orbit 12776, April 2, 2012; 1 meter resolution [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Hiroyuki Sato
LROC News System

Young fresh lunar craters always present sharp and spectacular features. Today's Featured Image highlights the western slope of the Fabbroni crater located at the north edge of Mare Tranquillitatis, near the Apollo 17 landing site. Slope failures have created many narrow channels of granular material flowing down toward the center of the crater.

The reflectance of a material changes depending on various factors, such as the composition, grain size, and maturity. The crater cavity slope is composed of multiple layers and their debris. The mixtures of these materials exhibit various reflectances, which bring the flow features into sharp contrast.

Fabbroni crater and immediate vicinity, near the confluence of Mare Serenitatis and Tranquillitatis. Image cropped from LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) monochrome (604nm) mosaic swept up during three sequential orbital passes December 2, 2011; resolution 51 meters from 36.2 kilometers, centered on 18.65°N, 29.27°E, southwest of the landing site of Apollo 17 in 1972. The area highly resolved in the LROC Featured Image released May 16, 2012 is designated by the yellow arrow. The original context image accompanying the Featured Image release, showing a labeled, larger area can be viewed HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Open up the full NAC frame and explore these spectacular meandering flows by yourself, HERE.

Related Posts:
Rock avalanche in Robinson crater
Granular Flow
Dichotomy
Lunar landslides!
Marius A
Pytheas

HDTV still image from above 100 kilometers captured by Japan's lunar orbiter SELENE-1 (Kaguya), released in 2008 shows Fabbroni (left of center bottom) in relation to Mare Serenitatis on the east and Taurus Littrow valley (cul de sac surrounded on three sides by mountains) explored by Cernan and Schmitt of Apollo 17 in December 1972. View the larger image HERE [JAXA/NHK/SELENE].

"The Flight of the Dragon"

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:00:00 +0000

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle [SpaceX/Chris Thompson].

Paul D. Spudis

The Once and Future Moon
Smithsonian Air & Space

If things go according to plan Tuesday, the world will witness SpaceX launch its first Dragon cargo supply mission to the International Space Station. As this flight has been heralded as the dawn of a new age in spaceflight – a paradigm shift in the way the spaceflight is approached – it is appropriate to step back for some reflection and perspective on what this flight may or may not represent. As noted by many, this particular cargo flight has a lot riding on it – with overarching concern for success (even if a bit unfair), created in part both by vociferous advocacy and excessive public pronouncements.

1. A successful or unsuccessful result from this flight neither confirms nor negates the value and/or viability of commercial spaceflight.

This proposition should be obvious. Launch to orbit is an inherently difficult and risky endeavor. Even launch vehicles with long histories of reliable flight fail, sometimes with distressing frequency. We tend to think that space access should be routine but that appearance is deceiving; spaceflight is never routine, simply because orbital flight is possible only on the very edge of our capability. Think of it as carrying a heavy load of luggage while ice skating – you may know how to do it and you may even pull it off successfully a number of times, but if you start taking it for granted, a fall on the posterior is quite likely (with this eventuality more probable in the early stages of the endeavor).

Looked at in another way, a successful mission does not “prove” the case for commercial human spaceflight (the case for commercial unmanned space launch has long since been proven) nor does it negate its feasibility. The real issue with commercial human spaceflight is the existence of a market. Right now, such a market does not exist. New Space advocates have unlimited faith that one will emerge, but hope is not a business plan. It will take years of successful commercial launches (and safe returns) for the creation of a genuine commercial market. The uncertainties in the future legal status of commercial human spaceflight is enough to give one pause – contemplate the likely consequences following the first fatal accident in a commercial human spaceflight, after the ambulance chasers get their teeth into the flesh of every company who ever had anything whatsoever to do with the flight.

2. The creation of SpaceX capability is not “commercial” in the sense that we in the capitalist United States of America understand it. Likewise, a government space program is not “socialism.”

The word commercial has been re-branded. Previously, in most entrepreneurs’ way of thinking, “commercial” enterprise meant that a person or group drew up a business plan, raised private capital and shouldered the financial risk in an attempt to make a profit by providing a product or service. The understanding of the term “commercial space” has been stretched to encompass a business plan where a start-up company requests (and expects) government subsidies on their promise of future delivery of a product and/or service. Because it’s not “run” by the government, this form of government-sponsored crony capitalism is now deemed “commercial.” Financial tweaking is not how most would understand or define a new paradigm in space travel.

Typically during the last 50 years of our federal civil space program, we were working toward some clearly articulated, reachable (that adjective is important) goal on some kind of timetable. Because spaceflight, particularly the manned variety, was considered to be dangerous and technically cutting edge, the program was more of an engineering research program than the deployment of an operational transportation system. Such R&D has important national security and economic ramifications and as such, fits perfectly under the constitutional requirement for the federal government to provide for the common defense and promote economic development. If that’s “socialism,” then America has been a socialist country from its founding.

3. True commercial space firms exist, but they are pursing their goals quietly and generally without excessive hype. They do not rely on government money to support their R&D costs.

Burt Rutan developed Space Ship One for Paul Allen in order to win the Ansari X-Prize (and did) and is currently developing a new spacecraft for Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceline. Robert Bigelow’s company took a discarded NASA design for inflatable spacecraft and is developing a future commercial space station, available for sale of lease (it’s the transportation problem to and from his station that’s holding him back.) None of these efforts are taking the King’s shilling – they are developing hardware and capability themselves. It’s interesting that unlike some New Space firms, they tend to make fewer public pronouncements and the ones they do make are both substantive and realistic (you tend to operate that way when you’re risking your own nickel).

4. The process of contracting with “commercial” firms to carry payloads into orbit is not a space policy.

This last item is obvious, but only if you’re not getting your news exclusively from the space media. Even if SpaceX is completely successful, all we will have done is to add another player to the existing roster of supply vehicles that enable the occupation and use of the ISS. Since discarding the Vision for Space Exploration over two years ago, we have no long-term goal or strategic direction for our civil space program. The pre-existing Commercial Crew and Cargo Program has been billed as a “new direction” but it is simply a utilitarian effort to keep an existing program going, not a new path or direction to follow. Mirages of human missions to asteroids and following a “flexible path” will produce pointless viewgraph engineering – and no missions getting off the ground. At least with the VSE, the nation knew where, when and why we were going.

Even as we hope for a successful SpaceX launch and return, it is vital that America recognize that our government has no space policy or strategic direction – commercial or otherwise. From both a security and an economic perspective, this is a dangerous situation for our nation.

Originally published at his Smithsonian Air & Space blog The Once and Future Moon, Dr. Spudis is a senior staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. The opinions expressed are those of the author and are better informed than average.

LROC: Dark Material Flows

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:25:00 +0000

Low reflectance material inside a degraded small crater south of Dopplemayer J near the center of Mare Humorum. Field of view is 290 meters. LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) observation M168476297L, orbit 9962, August 20, 2011; angle of incidence 41.54° at 40 centimeters per pixel resolution from 23.77 kilometers. View the 500 meters wide field of view in the LROC Featured Image released May 15, 2012 HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]

Hiroyuki Sato
LROC News System

Today's Featured Image shows off a degraded small crater (400 m in diameter) that appears to have been partly flooded by a low reflectance material. This crater is found 1.5 km south of the southern rim of Doppelmayer J crater (5.68 km in diameter), in Mare Humorum. The boulder-rich portion in the image corresponds to the bottom of an unnamed small crater. Following the slope of this small crater cavity, the low reflectance material appears to have flowed in a southeast direction. The distal edge of this dark deposit is on the top of several boulders, indicating that the small crater preexisted before the emplacement of the dark material. What is this material? Where did it came from?

One likely answer is that an impact melt flow from Doppelmayer J invaded this crater. However, the deposit does not have any cracks nor stream lines which are typical melt flow features. Perhaps a long period of micro-meteorite bombardment degraded the original surface textures disguising the true origin of this deposit.

Area surrounding Doppelmayer J and satellite craters in Mare Humorum, LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) monochrome mosaic (100 m/pix), centered near 24.53°S, 318.81°E. The locations of full NAC frame (blue box) and the area highlighted in the Featured Image released May 15, 2012 designated by the yellow arrow [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Explorer this dark feature and surrounding geology in the full NAC frame yourself, HERE.

Related Posts:
Herigonius K Impact Melt Flow
Impact melt tongue
Rootless impact melt flows
Splash and flow
Impact Melt Lobes

Lunar boom: we'll soon mine the Moon

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:24:00 +0000

"As history has repeatedly shown, where there are valuable minerals to be unearthed, adventurous humans will arrive in droves – even if it means battling extreme conditions and risking life and limb. So what will happen when the next great “gold rush” in our history is quite literally out of this world…" A landscape of the imagination, in this case inspired by Mark Maxwell and JAXA, shows part of a larger study for Astrobotic Technology a generation or two beyond their present production line. In the deep lunar south their notional "Moon Digger" vehicles are clearing, perhaps in some places sintering, a new landscape more familiar to human civilization, extracting billions of years of space sediment along the way [Mark Maxwell/Astrobotic/JAXA]..

Leonhard Bernold

Associate Professor of Engineering
University of New South Wales
theconversation.edu.au

As history has repeatedly shown, where there are valuable minerals to be unearthed, adventurous humans will arrive in droves – even if it means battling extreme conditions and risking life and limb.

So what will happen when the next great “gold rush” in our history is quite literally out of this world? And what kind of technology would be needed for the mining? After many years of trying, I believe a have a workable answer to the second of these questions – but what about the first?

Business analysts may poke fun at the “impossibly” expensive cost of mining nearby celestial bodies such as asteroids, or even the moon, but these pursuits are not beyond the realm of possibility.

Returning to the moon for the purposes of mining will require new technologies and new ways of thinking, and this extends to the conventional business model. We cannot write these pursuits off based on high cost alone, especially given the hidden treasures to be found.

So, will we ever see mining trucks hauling material on the moon or on the asteroids? Quite simply, no.

It is a common mistake made by engineers, including myself, to project terrestrial technology on to the moon. After all, the moon’s environment is vastly different to that of Earth.

Read the complete premier, HERE.

Gutheinz searches for commemorative samples

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:41:00 +0000

Piece of rock Rafael Navarro, a former Colombian toy manufacturer, contends came from the moon, photographed in Buffalo, Texas. Navarro has placed rock fragments in the accompanying small plastic box for sale on eBay, seeking $300,000. Joe Gutheinz, a former NASA investigator practicing law outside Houston, is investigating Navarro's claim as he hunts for moon rocks, some missing from the collected retrieved by the twelve American astronauts who walked on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972 [Michael Graczyk / AP]

Michael Graczyk
Associated Press

The dark suit and tie Joe Gutheinz wore set him apart from other customers inside a Texas eatery where the usual attire is jeans and cowboy hats.

An appetite for down-home cooking wasn't what brought the former NASA investigator to the Pitt Grill recently. He was on a quest to identify and maybe recover some of the rarest treasure brought to Earth and then lost: moon rocks.

"We're educating the states and countries of the world about how much they're worth on the black market and we need to increase the security in museums and need to put them back on display," Gutheinz said.

The rock samples were collected by the dozen American astronauts who walked on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972. U.S. states, territories, the United Nations and foreign governments received them as gifts. The samples, which also were loaned to museums and given to scientists for research, range from dust particles to tiny pebbles.

"A lot of them are in storage. And we need to put them in an inventory control system. And that's what's really lacking," said Gutheinz, a Houston lawyer who also teaches college classes in investigative techniques.

Read the full article HERE.

University of Alabama team readies for 3rd NASA Lunabotics competition at KSC, May 21-27

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:15:00 +0000

Early strength testing "using last year's wheels on a new base."

Alabama Lunabotics, a team of students from The University of Alabama and Shelton State Community College, will compete in the 3rd annual NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition, May 21-27, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Competing against 66 teams from all over the world, the University of Alabama team builds on past solid showings, placing fourth last year.

Their remote-operated robot is designed to collect at least 10 kilograms of a lunar regolith simulant in 10 minutes. As Apollo astronauts learned, talcum-grained, but highly abrasive lunar dust (and NASA's proxies) presents an immediate engineering test

Contest judging will be based on their vehicle's weight, the rate and weight of material excavated, moved and redeposited, and bandwidth used in teleoperation. Teams will be judged on its engineering write-ups and less tangible qualities such as "community outreach, team spirit and the multidisciplinary level of the team."

"We decided to do a complete re-design of our robot because of the change in dimensions after last year's competition," writes the team on their website. "Our competition robot from last year is used as an educational tool. We carried several of the concepts over from last year, one of them being a sweeping wheel design."

One of the problems with driving on an extremely powdery and soft surface like the moon is gaining traction.

Conventional steering styles dig into the driving surface while turning. Skid-steering, like a tank, is "exceptionally bad with this, especially when your vehicle has a large mass."

Because the NASA Lunabotics competition revolves around mining and transporting, teams are guaranteed "high mass scenarios." The Alabama Lunabotics teams has chosen to operate each wheel independently, and to sweep them to turn in one spot, or move sideways, while maintaining a "positive driving style."

Alabama Lunabotics sneak-preview video spotlighting "The Base"

SpaceX joins Bigelow in marketing LEO stations

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:23:00 +0000

Exterior camera view of the unmanned inflatable Bigelow Genesis orbital station, in low Earth orbit April 27, 2009 [Bigelow Aerospace].

Hawthorne, California and Las Vegas, Nevada – SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace have agreed to conduct a joint marketing effort focused on international customers. The two companies will offer rides on SpaceX’s Dragon orbiter, using the Falcon launch vehicle, carrying passengers to Bigelow habitats in low Earth orbit.

Bigelow president and founder Robert T. Bigelow said, “We’re very excited to be working with our colleagues at SpaceX to present the unique services that our two companies can offer to international clientele. We’re eager to join them overseas to discuss the substantial benefits that BA 330 leasing can offer in combination with SpaceX transportation capabilities”.

The BA 330 is a habitat that will provide roughly 330 cubic meters of usable volume and can support a crew of up to six. Bigelow Aerospace plans to connect two or more BA 330s in orbit to provide national space agencies, companies, and universities with unparalleled access to the microgravity environment.

NASA signed off on the 7 passenger Dragon seating layout, May 8
[NASA].

“SpaceX and BA have a lot in common. Both companies were founded to help create a new era in space enterprise,” said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. “Together we will provide unique opportunities to entities -- whether nations or corporations -- wishing to have crewed access to the space environment for extended periods. I’m looking forward to working with Bigelow Aerospace and engaging with international customers,” Shotwell explained.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will be capable of carrying seven passengers to orbit. With the company’s Falcon family of rockets, SpaceX is working to create the world’s safest human spaceflight system.

The companies will kick off their marketing effort in Asia. Representatives from Bigelow and SpaceX will meet with officials in Japan shortly after the next launch of the Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft.

Project Morpheus lander - Soft Abort Test

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:00:00 +0000

LROC: Boulder on the Edge

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:49:00 +0000

A boulder situated on the edge of the rim of the unnamed nested within Grotrian, partially covered with a veneer of impact melt. Field of view is roughly 348 by 600 meters, LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) observation M169738975L, orbit 10148, September 4, 2011, angle of incidence 67° at 0.59 meter resolution, from 56.66 kilometers altitude [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Sarah Braden
LROC News System

A boulder rests on the rim of an unnamed fresh crater, whose center is located at 66.615°S, 128.611°E. The boulder is partially covered in a layer of impact melt (dark smooth material). Small pieces of bare rock are visible in the impact melt as high reflectance dots in the relatively lower reflectance melt deposit.

The boulder lies between fractured impact melt (outside the crater rim - left side of the image) and the interior rim of the crater (right side of the image). It appears that pieces of the main boulder broke off and tumbled down the interior crater wall leaving a trail of debris. Some of the impact melt deposit has also crumbled away and fallen towards the interior crater wall.

The sequence of events leading to this geologic scene probably progressed very quickly. First, the impact which formed the crater occurred, generating both the impact melt and the boulders. The boulders and the impact melt were emplaced almost simultaneously. Usually geologists use stratigraphic relationships to determine the order in which events took place, but in this case it is impossible to tell whether the boulder was emplaced first and then the impact melt, or vice versa. In the case where the boulder was emplaced second, it is easy to imagine the impact melt splashing or flowing to partially cover the boulder with a thin veneer of impact melt.

LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) context image of Grotrian crater as surveyed last November 2011, viewed at an average 68 meter resolution, and under an illumination incidence angle of 67° from around 50 kilometers altitude. The yellow arrow marks the location of a boulder perched on the rim of the nested unnamed crater superpositioned on the larger Grotrian impact and the subject of the LROC Featured Image released May 10, 2012 [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]..

Explore the entire NAC frame, HERE.

Related Posts:
Splish Splash
An Impact Melt Veneer in the Highlands
Impact Melt Fingers

Deep South farside. Simulated ILIADS (LMMP) application oblique perspective from 85 km over the interior of Schrödinger basin northeast to Vallis Planck and the Grotrian crater group, detailed in LROC Featured Images released the week of May 7, 2012. The stark transition from highland to Schrödinger's floor is shown in designated elevations relative to the Moon's global mean average [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

"To mine the stars, hire a mining engineer"

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:01:00 +0000

Astrobotic Technology, a competitor for the Google Lunar X-Prize, is engaged in a two-year contract with NASA to develop a prototype robotic excavator to recover water and methane near the Moon’s north pole. Hydrogen compounds and other volatiles mined from the Moon can be transformed for life support and fuel would otherwise continue to be very expensive to transport beyond Earth's atmosphere [Astrobotic Technologies, Inc.].

George Leopold
EET

There’s been a lot of talking lately about mining asteroids for precious metals like platinum. A group of space entrepreneurs recently announced the formation of a company called Planetary Resources to pursue that ambitious goal.

We asked a former miner and NASA engineer who now writes about subjects like mining the moon whether something as audacious as asteroid mining makes any sense.

“I looked [at Planetary Resources’] advisory board, and I did not see a single mining engineer. That’s a big mistake,” warns Homer Hickam, whose escape from the coal mines of West Virginia to a career at NASA was chronicled in his 1998 book, Rocket Boys, and the 1999 film, “October Sky.”

Working below the Earth’s surface, then training shuttle astronauts to work in space gives Hickam a unique perspective on the question of space mining and whether we have the technology to actually do it. “When you start digging in the dirt – I don’t care if it’s on an asteroid, or the moon or West Virginia – you’d better have a mining engineer on board,” Hickam says. “It’s not as simple as you think it is.”

Even if an asteroid contained huge deposits of valuable metals like platinum or nickel, Hickam continues, “How are you going to carve that [metal] out of there? You are going to create a huge amount of debris in the process. And asteroids essentially have no gravity so it’s all going to go flying around.”

Instead, Hickam advocates mining the moon first for rare elements like Helium-3 that could potentially be used as fuel in fusion reactors. “At least you’ve got some gravity there,” he notes.

Read the full article, HERE.

LROC: Impact Melt Fingers

noreply@blogger.com (Joel Raupe) — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:14:00 +0000

Impact melt from an unnamed lunar crater forms ghostly fingers stretching across the Moon's surface. LROC NAC frame M126091916L, LRO orbit 3714, April 16, 2010; image field of view is 320 meters, resolution 0.55 meters from 53.38 kilometers. View the full size 560 meter field of view shown in the LROC Featured Image released May 8, 2012, HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Sarah Braden

LROC News System

When impact melt is ejected from a crater the melt forms flows or ponds. In today's Featured Image we see an example of multiple flows spreading out from what was initially the same impact melt deposit.

The "fingers" of impact melt are flowing radially away from the rim of the parent crater. What caused the impact melt to split into separate flows?

Was it the velocity and direction of the initial impact of the melt, the shape of the existing topography, or another change that occurred moments after the parent crater's formation?

This impact melt deposit originates from a young, unnamed lunar crater (located at 66.63°S, 128.61°E, ~13 km in diameter) inside another larger crater called Grotrian (located at 66.17°S, 128.23°E, 36.78 km in diameter). Both craters are north of the Schrödinger basin (79.30°S, 126.50°E).

LROC Wide Angle Camera context image showing Grotrian crater, in a monochrome (604nm) blend stitched from sequential orbital fly-overs on November 24-25, 2011, at an average 68 meters resolution amd an angle of incidence of 67° from 50 kilometers altitude [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State university].

In the LROC WAC context image below you may also notice a long valley oriented north-south starting from north of crater Grotrian. This is Vallis Planck (451 km long), which was probably formed as a result of ejecta from the Schrödinger basin impact.

LROC WAC context image of the crater Grotrian vicinity and surrounding topography. [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

More interesting impact melt features are located around the western rim of this unnamed crater - explore the entire NAC frame, HERE.

Related Posts:
Herigonius K Impact Melt Flow
Rootless impact melt flows
Forked Impact Melt Flows at Farside Crater