This blog recently reported the Pentagon was changing a policy under which it gave data from surveillance satellites to scientists when the satellites picked up meteors burning their way through the atmosphere. The satellites that gather the data are designed to monitor Earth, looking for nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, and will also detect large meteors.
According to journalist Leonard David, there will be an accomodation. Indeed, the USAF general in charge of dispensing the information says there has been no change in policy. Rather, he says, he has simply been reviewing the procedures that govern the program. Those procedures need tightening, he says, but once that's been done, the data will continue to be released to the scientific community.
He hopes the new procedures will make the data even more useful to scientists.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Pace Of Development
On July 4, 1776, some three million people scattered along the east coast of North America announced to the world their independence from the mightiest empire on Earth. Before two centuries were up, that largely agricultural society had transformed into a continental nation, an industrial giant, leader of the Free World, and a people with the wherewithal and vision to put a dozen men on the Moon and return them all safely to the Earth.
One of many lessons in the sweep of American history bears on the question of interstellar civilizations. Societies change. Sometimes they get on incredible rolls. What is impossible at one time may not be even a short trip down the spacetime road. In 1776, who could've imagined mankind was two long human lifetimes from setting foot on the Moon-- or that the people to do that would be the descendants of New England minute men, Southern planters, and enslaved Africans?
Those who profess to know how interstellar civilizations would behave, or who argue that humans will never travel to the stars, might do better to read more history. Humility and open minds are better guides to the future than simple extrapolation from what we have and think we know today.
One of many lessons in the sweep of American history bears on the question of interstellar civilizations. Societies change. Sometimes they get on incredible rolls. What is impossible at one time may not be even a short trip down the spacetime road. In 1776, who could've imagined mankind was two long human lifetimes from setting foot on the Moon-- or that the people to do that would be the descendants of New England minute men, Southern planters, and enslaved Africans?
Those who profess to know how interstellar civilizations would behave, or who argue that humans will never travel to the stars, might do better to read more history. Humility and open minds are better guides to the future than simple extrapolation from what we have and think we know today.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Data From Phoenix Mars Lander
Results from the mission of the Phoenix Mars Lander are beginning to be published. They make an interesting casse for Martian life.
Perhaps most importantly, Lander confirmed that water ice exists just under the surface in the polar regions. It also found compounds, like calcium carbonates, that can be associated with life.
Increasingly, the case can be made that if life ever arose on Mars, it could have existed for quite some time. In fact, there seems to be a possibility that life could still exist well underground, safe from the deadly radiation that likely makes the surface sterile.
Perhaps most importantly, Lander confirmed that water ice exists just under the surface in the polar regions. It also found compounds, like calcium carbonates, that can be associated with life.
Increasingly, the case can be made that if life ever arose on Mars, it could have existed for quite some time. In fact, there seems to be a possibility that life could still exist well underground, safe from the deadly radiation that likely makes the surface sterile.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Endeavour Rescheduled
NASA engineers think they have found and sealed the hydrogen gas leak that scuttled the shuttle launch last month. Endeavour is now scheduled to launch July 11.
The centerpiece of Endeavour's mission will be the delivery and installation of the final piece of Japan's Kibo laboratory to ISS. Kibo will be an important component of the scientific research capability of ISS.
At the same time NASA is pushing to complete construction of ISS before the planned retirement of the shuttle next year, it is also beginning to look to deorbiting ISS in 2016. After all the billions spent on ISS, that would only give us five years use of the fully deployed station. Surely there's a better way. Such shortsightedness is one piece of the argument for bringing private enterprise and commercial interests into the space program. An element concerned frankly with the creation of wealth would take a more strategic view of assets in space as well as fashioning a broader, more coherent vision of space development. In the current economic situation, creating new wealth would seem to be an excellent idea.
President Bush, in his 2004 speech announcing his Moon-Mars plan, held out the possibility that private companies might be brought into the heart of the program. His NASA never really pursued that. Perhaps the Obama administration, which seems to support public-private partnerships in other areas-- as well as an expansion of basic scientific research-- should approach the private sector about joint space projects. It could begin by trying to work out more of a future for ISS.
The centerpiece of Endeavour's mission will be the delivery and installation of the final piece of Japan's Kibo laboratory to ISS. Kibo will be an important component of the scientific research capability of ISS.
At the same time NASA is pushing to complete construction of ISS before the planned retirement of the shuttle next year, it is also beginning to look to deorbiting ISS in 2016. After all the billions spent on ISS, that would only give us five years use of the fully deployed station. Surely there's a better way. Such shortsightedness is one piece of the argument for bringing private enterprise and commercial interests into the space program. An element concerned frankly with the creation of wealth would take a more strategic view of assets in space as well as fashioning a broader, more coherent vision of space development. In the current economic situation, creating new wealth would seem to be an excellent idea.
President Bush, in his 2004 speech announcing his Moon-Mars plan, held out the possibility that private companies might be brought into the heart of the program. His NASA never really pursued that. Perhaps the Obama administration, which seems to support public-private partnerships in other areas-- as well as an expansion of basic scientific research-- should approach the private sector about joint space projects. It could begin by trying to work out more of a future for ISS.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Troy Comes To Pasadena
JPL engineers trying to find a way to unstick NASA's Mars rover Spirit have built an area duplicating as closely as possible the area around Spirit, which the rover team has dubbed Troy. They've also placed a replica Spirit in the real Spirit's predicament. Soon, they will begin working on ways to free their rover, in hopes that what works in Pasadena will also work on Mars.
The first test will be spinning the wheels. If that has no effect in Pasadena, the engineers can proceed to work the problem with more confidence. If the test rover is easily freed, however, the engineers will have to rebuild their little bit of Mars.
The first test will be spinning the wheels. If that has no effect in Pasadena, the engineers can proceed to work the problem with more confidence. If the test rover is easily freed, however, the engineers will have to rebuild their little bit of Mars.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Kaguya Finds Uranium
Japan's Kaguya spacecraft, launched in 2007 to map the mineral resources of Earth's Moon, found, among many other useful elements and minerals, lunar unanium.
Kaguya used a spectrometer to do its work from lunar orbit. Spectrometers break ordinary light down into its components, and each element has its own spectral signature-- that has been determined by work in laboratories over the past century or so. If a signature is found in a spectrograph of a star or other heavenly body, we can say the element belonging to that signature is present in that heavenly body.
Lunar uranium presents some exciting possibilities. Nuclear reactors fueled by lunar uranium could power lunar bases and colonies, for example. Or, lunar uranium could fuel nuclear-powered spaceships that could allow humans to travel quickly to Mars and beyond without worrying about a launch accident involving radioactive material; the ship's reactor could be fueled after it reaches space. Or, lunar uranium could be used to power commercial reactors on Earth. That would allow nuclear power without the environmental costs of mining on Earth, and lunar uranium mining could be the essential first industry around which a vibrant, diversified lunar economy could be built.
Uranium on the Moon has the potential to be very big news indeed.
Kaguya used a spectrometer to do its work from lunar orbit. Spectrometers break ordinary light down into its components, and each element has its own spectral signature-- that has been determined by work in laboratories over the past century or so. If a signature is found in a spectrograph of a star or other heavenly body, we can say the element belonging to that signature is present in that heavenly body.
Lunar uranium presents some exciting possibilities. Nuclear reactors fueled by lunar uranium could power lunar bases and colonies, for example. Or, lunar uranium could fuel nuclear-powered spaceships that could allow humans to travel quickly to Mars and beyond without worrying about a launch accident involving radioactive material; the ship's reactor could be fueled after it reaches space. Or, lunar uranium could be used to power commercial reactors on Earth. That would allow nuclear power without the environmental costs of mining on Earth, and lunar uranium mining could be the essential first industry around which a vibrant, diversified lunar economy could be built.
Uranium on the Moon has the potential to be very big news indeed.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Comet At Tunguska
One of the enduring mysteries of the twentieth century concerns a horrific explosion over Tunguska in 1908 that leveled 2,000 square kilometers of Siberian forest, but left no crater. Had the explosion occurred over Europe, for instance, the loss of human lives would've been staggering. Had it happened sixty years later, it could easily have triggered nuclear war.
Scientists have narrowed the causes of Tunguska to either a comet or an asteroid exploding in Earth's atmosphere. New evidence may tilt that towards a comet.
Noctilucent clouds are the highest clouds produced in Earth's atmosphere, and physicists are just now beginning to get a handle on them. They consist of water vapor, and are very bright visually. Space shuttle launches, in fact, can trigger formation of these clouds because 97 percent of the exhaust from shuttle engines is water vapor, and some of it is released at very high altitude.
After the Tunguska event, northern Europe experienced several "bright nights"-- nights that didn't get entirely dark. Some scientists now suggest that could have been caused by bright noctilucent clouds high in the atmosphere that were fed by water vapor from whatever exploded. If that were the case-- a comet carries more water than an asteroid.
Scientists have narrowed the causes of Tunguska to either a comet or an asteroid exploding in Earth's atmosphere. New evidence may tilt that towards a comet.
Noctilucent clouds are the highest clouds produced in Earth's atmosphere, and physicists are just now beginning to get a handle on them. They consist of water vapor, and are very bright visually. Space shuttle launches, in fact, can trigger formation of these clouds because 97 percent of the exhaust from shuttle engines is water vapor, and some of it is released at very high altitude.
After the Tunguska event, northern Europe experienced several "bright nights"-- nights that didn't get entirely dark. Some scientists now suggest that could have been caused by bright noctilucent clouds high in the atmosphere that were fed by water vapor from whatever exploded. If that were the case-- a comet carries more water than an asteroid.
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