From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Thu Mar 1 14:29:51 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2007 11:29:51 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] REAPERS of the DUST - A Prairie Chronicle - And you want to go to the Moon! Message-ID: <45E729AF.4000401@gmail.com> REAPERS of the DUST - A Prairie Chronicle - And you want to go to the Moon! REAPERS of the DUST - A Prairie Chronicle is a small book, a collection of stories about the hard times of a North Dakota family during the 1930s depression and drought. It is by my cousin, Lois Phillips Hudson, who was born in 1927. She gave me a copy back in December of 1995 and I just finished reading it again. http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfomhspress.cfm?Product_ID=233 Why do I mention this if we are talking about setting up a colony on the Moon? Sometimes we just think about the adventure and forget what it takes to overcome what nature throws at us. The first story in the book is entitled "The Dust Storm" and I would like to copy the first paragraph and while you read it, think about what it will be like on the Moon, in a space suit, putting up with talcum powder glass grit that will get into every nook and cranny. Think about what the gloves of the space suit will do to your fingers as you battle the stiffness of a pressurized suit. - LRK - ------------------------------------------------------------ Two SPRINGS AGO, according to local newspapers and to coughing, red-eyed service-station operators in the Rocky Mountains, we drove through the worst dust storm Wyoming had suffered in eighteen years. The wind was prematurely aging the young Rockies, pushing dusty fingers under the loosening fragments of thin topsoil that covered the grazing plateaus, picking up the small greenish gravel from the road shoulders, and hurling dust and gravel into the air at sixty miles an hour. If we dipped into a trough between plateaus, its shelter enabled us to see the laden wind rising over the mountains and the sky running in massive dirty currents above us. After reaching the Coast we replace the badly pitted window glass, had the car repainted, and cleaned the seats, floor mats, and window crevices. Yet months after we thought we had breathed the last Wyoming grit, we turned on the defroster and blew bits of the Rocky Mountains all through the car ------------------------------------------------------------ There may not be any wind on the Moon but the fine regolith will electro statically stick to whatever it contacts and as the terminator advances you may find it rising into space and settling on items as the lunar day begins. This dust won't be rounded grains but rather sharp and abrasive. How will you work in this harsh environment? - LRK - http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/aurora/Moonbase.jpg [2.8 meg] http://moon.jaxa.jp/ja/gallery/moon_base/IMAGE/moon_base06_s.jpg [54 KB] Will the Moon be a land of opportunity or hardship? Still want to go? Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfomhspress.cfm?Product_ID=233 Reapers of the Dust *By: Lois Phillips Hudson* Format: Paper, xvi, 173 pp., 1984 Publisher: MHS Press Usually ships in: 1-3 business days ISBN 0-87351-177-8 /A Prairie Chronicle/ First published in 1965, her childhood recollections of living in North Dakota are what Lois Phillips Hudson used to spin these unusual, moving stories of simple, joyful days and of continuing battles with the hostile elements on the Great Plains during the 1930s. Lois Hudson is recognized as a major chronicler of America's agricultural heartland during the grim years of the Great Depression. New Introduction by the author Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Fri Mar 2 00:04:18 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:04:18 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Lunar Habitat - Inflate That Prefab Message-ID: <45E7B052.8010209@gmail.com> Lunar Habitat - Inflate That Prefab. You are an astronaut, sent to the Moon, and told to set up camp. You are not too happy with the thought of fastening a lot of pieces of metal together since in a pressurized spacesuit it would be both tiresome and hard on your fingernails. You are pleased to find out that a complete structure will be inflated in space and dropped intact and ready to occupy thanks to Bigelow Aerospace, a company that has been orbiting inflatable structures back on Earth. Make a note, take wife on a second honeymoon in Low Earth Orbit when you get back. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/22/65477.aspx Bigelow Shots For The Moon Posted: Thursday, February 22, 2007 6:36 PM by Alan Boyle Even as Bigelow Aerospace gears up for launching its second prototype space station into orbit, the company has set its sights on something much, much bigger: a project to assemble full-blown space villages at a work site between Earth and the moon, then drop them to the lunar surface, ready for immediate move-in. In an exclusive interview this week, Las Vegas billionaire Robert Bigelow confirmed that his company has been talking about the concept with NASA -- and that the first earthly tests of the techniques involved would take place later this year. The scenario he sketched out would essentially make Bigelow a general contractor for the final frontier. Snip http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/070222/070222_Bigelow_hmed_1p.jpg An artist's conception shows a Bigelow Aerospace complex in Earth orbit. Such a station could serve as the precursor for prefabricated lunar bases after 2020. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16639526/ Before you go, maybe a good idea to do some testing here on Earth. - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/mmb/inflatable-lunar-hab.html Snip The first steps in making a lunar outpost a reality are being taken now, as planners intensify their efforts to determine what it will take for humans to safely live and work on the lunar surface. Snip http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/170069main_influnarhab01-330.jpg http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/170068main_influnarhab01-1024.jpg The "planetary surface habitat and airlock unit" has been delivered to NASA Langley for ground-based evaluation of emerging technologies such as health monitoring of flexible structures. Credit: NASA/Jeff Caplan. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== More thoughts about inflatables. - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.asi.org/adb/02/06/inflatables-study-1.html Study on Inflatable Lunar Habitats William Mook has prepared a number of studies on space development, some of which relate directly to the Artemis Project's goals. This concept of an inflatable habitat could be a possibility for expanding the pressurized space of Moonbase Artemis for increased crew, or for lunar tourism. He has posted the following brief summary of his study: Polyester film has a yield strength of about 25,000 psi. So a reinforced polyester film blown to form a 60-foot-diameter sphere would need to be about 1/80 inch thick to sustain a 3.75 psi pressure. You would need about 1/20 inch thick film to sustain 14.70 psi pressure. Assume an outer shell 1/80 inch thick, and an inner shell 1/80 inch thick, separated by 2 inches. The film is bonded together every 2 inches or so by kevlar netting. The space between the two films is filled with lightweight polystyrene. The whole sphere would inflate from a small pillbox type container. Assuming 3.75 psi working pressure, the sphere would weigh about 1,275 lb. The oxygen would weigh 2,225 lbs! More than the container! Five floors would be formed the same way, and deployed along with the inflation of the spherical shell. They would consist of 2 sheets of polyester film separated by a kevlar reinforced polystyrene filler. The poles of the sphere would be connected by a lanyard-deployed continuous longeron coilable boom. This would interconnect the five floors. Starting at the south pole of the 60-ft-diameter sphere, the first floor is 5 ft above the pole. It is a circle 46 ft in diameter containing 1668 square ft of space. The second floor is 15 ft above the south pole. It is a cirle 53.6 ft in diameter and 2262 sq. ft. in area. The third floor is largest, with an area of 2,750 sq. ft. and a diameter of 59.2 ft. We then repeat the same sequence in reverse. The sixth panel is actually the ceiling of the fifth floor. The mass of these floors is 1,200 lbs. The mass of the vertical shaft is 280 lb. Assume the sphere is inflated on the lunar surface, from the nose of a landing craft. The craft is a cylinder 12 ft in diameter and 18 ft tall. http://www.asi.org/images/asi199800032.jpg From the side of this cylinder is a 30-ft-long, 10-ft-diameter tube cut into two sections. The end of each section has attached to it an airlock door made of diffusion bonded/superplastically deformed titanium. The weight of each airlock is 480 lb. The weight of the outer tube, made of polystyrene foam inflated polyester film is 360 lb. Another lanyard-deployed continuous longeron coilable boom connects each of the airlock doors. The innermost door is attached to the airframe of the pillbox/spacecraft. This spacecraft contains all the environmental control systems as well as consumables. It is airtight, and forms a link between the airlocks and the station above. It also is a control center from which to control the station. The longeron coilable boom weighs 150 lb. Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://news.altair.com/pipermail/lunar-update/attachments/20070301/3a159a4e/attachment.htm From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Fri Mar 2 22:16:25 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2007 19:16:25 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Lunar Habitat - Habitable or Not? Message-ID: <45E8E889.8060800@gmail.com> Lunar Habitat - Habitable or Not? You are an astronaut, sent to the Moon, and told to set up camp. I mentioned that to save your fingers in constructing your Lunar Camp you could drop in an inflatable. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/22/65477.aspx Bigelow Shots For The Moon Posted: Thursday, February 22, 2007 6:36 PM by Alan Boyle Even as Bigelow Aerospace gears up for launching its second prototype space station into orbit, the company has set its sights on something much, much bigger: a project to assemble full-blown space villages at a work site between Earth and the moon, then drop them to the lunar surface, ready for immediate move-in. In an exclusive interview this week, Las Vegas billionaire Robert Bigelow confirmed that his company has been talking about the concept with NASA ? and that the first earthly tests of the techniques involved would take place later this year. The scenario he sketched out would essentially make Bigelow a general contractor for the final frontier. Snip http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/070222/070222_Bigelow_hmed_1p.jpg An artist's conception shows a Bigelow Aerospace complex in Earth orbit. Such a station could serve as the precursor for prefabricated lunar bases after 2020. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16639526/ Maurizio Morabito mentioned that I didn't say anything about protecting the Astronauts from radiation. In looking for information about Radiation Shielding I found a very interesting and informative 30 page paper on the topic. Only one problem, Maurizio talks about 12 feet or so of regolith to cover you and keep a person working in the radiation industry below 5 rem a year exposure. The article talks about much less thickness and only a need to protect and Astronaut from 50 rem a year exposure. In David Schrunk and company's book, "THE MOON - Resources, Future Development and Colonization", page 310 says the general public maximum whole-body radiation dose rate should be less than 0.5 rem/year and those who work with radiation should be less than 5 rem/year. The paper is very interesting and I will give you the link. - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19910008686_1991008686.pdf Radiation Protection for Human Missions to The Moon and Mars. NASA Technical Paper 3079, 1991 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That said I was reading some of Maurizio's blogs (see his note below) and I thought I would see if I could find the reference he sites. It turns out that on the newly updated NSS web site we have a nice list of reading material and you can find the links there. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.nss.org/settlement/library.html http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/library/index.htm *1985: Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century. *Edited by W. W. Mendell. Lunar and Planetary Institute. 866 pages. [Complete online copy ] [Buy from Amazon ] Page 663 is where your article starts. http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1985lbsa.conf..663S There are other references to radiation shielding in articles on pages 141, 211, 363, 375, and the one on 663. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shielding is going to be something that has to be dealt with. Heavier metals in stopping high energy tend to make for secondary emissions that are lower in energy but give that energy up in blood forming tissue in a rather disruptive manner. Water and plastics have hydrogen bound up and that is a good match to stop a lot of energetic particles without making a lot more nasties in the process. Metals on the other hand need to be thick enough to slow the high energy particles as well as the secondary emissions. Regolith, the dirt of the Moon, is high in aluminum content and is more like a metal than water. Depending on which of the reports you want to consider you are talking about inches or feet in thickness. Lugging thick metal slabs into space will take some energy. Living inside your water supply is a consideration, well not in the water but with the water storage part of the surrounding walls. Wrapping yourself in plastic wrap might be good too. The spacesuits are multilayer and so is Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable. I don't know if an Astronaut is considered stronger or just more expendable. :-( I am sure some of you who have worked with things radio active would be better informed than I. Now you have to look out for the dust, physical exertion, and radiation exposure. Next? Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== Note from Maurizio - LRK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Larry There is one important thing obviously missing from these suggestions. The thought of spending more than a couple of days virtually unprotected on the Lunar surface should not enthuse anybody. It has been computed (*) that on average a maximum 20% of time should be spent by humans outside the protection of a minimum 4 meters of regolith. http://omnologos.wordpress.com/tag/moon/ (*) R Silberberg et al, 'Radiation Transport of Cosmic Ray Nuclei in Lunar Material and Radiation Doses', in W W Mendell, ed, 'Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century', Lunar and Planetary Institute, 1985, p668 If we seriously consider going back to the Moon, resources should be spent investigating how easy it will be to bury those Habitats (inflatable or otherwise) either under excavated regolith _OR_ in lava tubes _OR_ in artificial giant caves. Especially the caves should be easy to create with explosives, if there is no water in the lunar rocks. regards maurizio --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://omnologos.wordpress.com/2006/06/15/www-moon-the-why-what-and-when-of-a-permanent-manned-lunar-colony/ ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Sun Mar 4 16:28:04 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:28:04 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Working The Moon Message-ID: <45EB39E4.1020709@gmail.com> Working The Moon Put some pictures up at the blog site. http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/2007/03/working-moon.html Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== Working The Moon What will it be like to work on the Moon? What will we see? http://www.nss.org/settlement/spaceresources/library.htm Snip *1992: Space Resources, NASA SP-509. Overview. *44 pages. [HTML ] [PDF 2.5 MB ] * Volume 1: Scenarios. *68 pages. [HTML ] [PDF 3.4 MB ] *Volume 2: Energy, Power, and Transport.* 182 pages. [HTML ] [PDF 7.6 MB ] *Volume 3: Materials.* 330 pages. [HTML ] [PDF 14.4 MB ] *Volume 4: Social Concerns.* 314 pages. [HTML ] [PDF 14.8 MB ] Snip Who will we communicate with? Are you looking out the window at far away beaches? Do you see the corporate lobster holding your project? Do you have the patience of the panther, deep in thought? Have you learned how to quiet the alligators? Do you have your toys to play with? How is the mission going out there? When do we go back to the Moon? ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Tue Mar 6 00:02:10 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2007 21:02:10 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Radiation - For Good or Bad? Message-ID: <45ECF5D2.8000908@gmail.com> Radiation - For Good or Bad? When you hear the term "RADIATION" and you see a Radiation Hazard symbol, my guess is that you think of Radiation Poison or something not good or maybe even bad. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Radiation_warning_symbol.svg/180px-Radiation_warning_symbol.svg.png Things that glowed were not always understood and we have learned much about the use of radioactive materials with time. The early pioneers, like Maurie Curie, suffered from too much exposure. - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/label_France/ENGLISH/SCIENCES/CURIE/marie.html Snip *The ashes of Marie Curie and her husband Pierre have now been laid to rest under the famous dome of the Panth?on, in Paris, alongside the author Victor Hugo, the politician Jean Jaur?s and the Resistance fighter Jean Moulin. Through her discovery of radium, Marie Curie paved the way for nuclear physics and cancer therapy. Born of Polish parents, she was a woman of science and courage, compassionate yet stubbornly determined. Her research work was to cost her her life.* Snip --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since I mentioned what was considered safe exposure levels but left you with the question of why the difference in limits for the general public, radiation workers, and astronauts I thought I should provide some more information about radiation poison and uses of radio active sources. As our understanding has improved limits change. As I was growing up you could look at your toes in your shoes by using a fluoroscope. Wasn't a good idea then because you got too much of an exposure to the x-rays. Today you could use image intensifiers and a lot lower setting. The limit of 0.5 rem/yr for the general public is what they would normally get from just being the general public. Not going to do any good to have a lower limit than what walking around gets you. The folks who work in the radiation industry carry dosimeters, are monitored for exceptions to the normal background and may see 5 rem/yr in the normal conduct of their tasks. We here on Earth have the advantage of a magnetic shield and an atmosphere that contains moisture. Radiation from space runs into just a few atoms to slow its progress and even then some secondary particles do at times reach us on the ground. Airline pilots, flying high, get less protection and more exposure. - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0952-4746/21/1/003 Radiation exposures of aircrew in high altitude flight L W Townsend 2001 J. Radiol. Prot. *21* 5-8 doi:10.1088/0952-4746/21/1/003 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Astronauts are going to be in an environment that will naturally have a larger risk for higher levels of radiation. The 50 rem/yr are not expected to be harmful nor would astronauts be expected to live out a life in space. Or could they? In setting up habitats that will house personnel for extended periods of time, additional protection will be in order. If you drop into a depression, the surrounding regolith will narrow the view of the sky and your exposure to Galatic Cosmic Rays. You may not even be able to see the Sun which should limit your exposure to its fiery breath. If you are going to be on our Moon you will also spend time in Earth's magnetosphere as the Moon made its journey around Earth. Lunar Prospector could detect the affects on the Moon. Much to learn. http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Sept99/MoonCore.html More information below. - LRK - One parting thought that was passed to me. If someone dies who somewhere in there lifetime was exposed to radiation, well.... --------------------------------------- Quote, poking fun at journalists: Look this is very simple: 1. The person was exposed to radiation. 2. The person died. 3. Therefor the radiation caused the death. 4. Those persons who caused her death by exposing her to radiation must pay. 5. End of story. --------------------------------------- Hmmmm, when I die, will it be because I wiggled my toes in some mysterious machine? Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/shoefittingfluor/shoe.htm* Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope (ca. 1930-1940)* *Basic Description * The shoe fitting fluoroscope was a common fixture in shoe stores during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. A typical unit, like the Adrian machine shown here, consisted of a vertical wooden cabinet with an opening near the bottom into which the feet were placed. When you looked through one of the three viewing ports on the top of the cabinet (e.g., one for the child being fitted, one for the child's parent, and the third for the shoe salesman or saleswoman), you would see a fluorescent image of the bones of the feet and the outline of the shoes. Snip --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.mtn.org/quack/devices/shoexray.htm Shoe Fitting X-Ray Device In the late 1940's and early 1950's, the shoe-fitting x-ray unit was a common shoe store sales promotion device and nearly all stores had one. It was estimated that there were 10,000 of these devices in use. This particular shoe-fitting x-ray unit was produced by the dominant company in the field, the Adrian X-Ray Company of Milwaukee WI, now defunct. Brooks Stevens , a noted industrial designer whose works included the the Milwaukee Road Olympian and an Oscar Meyer Wienermobile , designed this machine. Snip --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoroscopy Fluoroscopy >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia*Fluoroscopy* is an imaging technique commonly used by physicians to obtain real-time images of the internal structures of a patient through the use of a fluoroscope. In its simplest form, a fluoroscope consists of an x-ray source and fluorescent screen between which a patient is placed. However, modern fluoroscopes couple the screen to an x-ray image intensifier and CCD video camera allowing the images to be played and recorded on a monitor. The use of x rays , a form of ionizing radiation , requires that the potential risks from a procedure be carefully balanced with the benefits of the procedure to the patient. While physicians always try to use low dose rates during fluoroscopy procedures, the length of a typical procedure often results in a relatively high absorbed dose to the patient. Recent advances include the digitization of the images captured and flat-panel detector systems which reduce the radiation dose to the patient still further. Snip --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_poisoning Radiation poisoning >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia *Radiation poisoning*, also called "radiation sickness", is a form of damage to organ tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation . The term is generally used to refer to acute problems caused by a large dosage of radiation in a short period. Many of the symptoms of radiation poisoning occur as ionizing radiation interferes with cell division. This interference allows for treatment of cancer cells; such cells are among the fastest-dividing in the body, and will be killed by a radiation dose that adjacent normal cells are likely to survive. Strictly speaking the correct name for "radiation sickness" is acute radiation syndrome as described by the CDC [1] [2] [3] [4] . A chronic radiation syndrome does exist but is very uncommon; this has been observed among workers in early radium source production sites and in the early days of the Soviet nuclear program.[5] [6] A short exposure can result in acute radiation syndrome; chronic radiation syndrome requires a prolonged high level of exposure. The use of radionuclides in science and industry is strictly regulated in most countries (in the U.S. by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ). In the event of an accidental or deliberate release of radioactive material, either evacuation or sheltering in place will be the recommended measures. Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Sun Mar 11 22:26:54 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:26:54 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] The Prophet of Garbage - Solid Waste Managent Message-ID: <45F4BA6E.2040008@gmail.com> The Prophet of Garbage - Solid Waste Managent What to do when your landfills are full? What to do when you haven't started a landfill and you are on the Moon? What, you want to go camping and you forgot that roll of paper. --------------------------------------- http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/873aae7bf86c0110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html *The Prophet of Garbage **Joseph Longo's Plasma Converter turns our most vile and toxic trash into clean energy---and promises to make a relic of the landfill* By Michael Behar | March 2007 It sounds as if someone just dropped a tricycle into a meat grinder. Snip --------------------------------------- Same as above, but from a blog in Panama where the technology is being used. Format a bit easier to read. - LRK- ------ http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20070223212011318 Plasma Converter turns garbage into energy Friday, February 23 2007 @ 09:20 PM EST Contributed by: Don Winner By Michael Behar - It sounds as if someone just dropped a tricycle into a meat grinder. Snip --------------------------------------- Going to the Moon will need creative minds to come up with new ideas to handle the everyday needs, and engineers to make it happen. Just make sure you do a patent search to make sure someone has not already thought of YOUR idea. Be prepared to spend a few years perfecting the product. Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/873aae7bf86c0110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html *The Prophet of Garbage* *Joseph Longo's Plasma Converter turns our most vile and toxic trash into clean energy---and promises to make a relic of the landfill* By Michael Behar | March 2007 It sounds as if someone just dropped a tricycle into a meat grinder. I'm sitting inside a narrow conference room at a research facility in Bristol, Connecticut, chatting with Joseph Longo, the founder and CEO of Startech Environmental Corporation. As we munch on takeout Subway sandwiches, a plate-glass window is the only thing separating us from the adjacent lab, which contains a glowing caldera of "plasma" three times as hot as the surface of the sun. Every few minutes there's a horrific clanking noise---grinding followed by a thunderous voomp, like the sound a gas barbecue makes when it first ignites. "Is it supposed to do that?" I ask Longo nervously. "Yup," he says. "That's normal." Snip ============================================================== There are mandates in many places to reduce the amount of items going to landfill. Buckminster Fuller had a lot of ideas, which he patented even if you could not accomplish the idea at the time. He then made a living collecting royalties when someone else put the idea to work. I suppose someone will have to pay to use the idea of a dry toilet on the Moon. - LRK - --------------------------------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller http://www.buckminster.info/Ideas/07-IcosHouseToiletScientific.htm Snip ============================================================== http://recoveredenergy.com/ *TECHNOLOGY* Recovered Energy, Inc. is an independent engineering and consulting firm dedicated to the promotion of the most current technologies for the recovery of energy from waste. In our opinion, the waste "problem" is the solution to our energy needs. We like to think of waste as an asset rather than a liability. Current technologies using plasma gasification and pyrolysis processes can convert almost any waste material into usable products such as electricity , ethanol , vitrified glass and other salable products . This is a true waste to energy system that goes way beyond the traditional incinerator and beyond standard gasification processes. We promote technology that allows for 100% conversion of waste to energy in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. green electricity. Plasma gasification and pyrolysis processes allow for the virtual elimination of landfills , recycling without sorting , the complete thermal conversion of all types of waste to energy in the form of green electricity or ethanol. Snip ============================================================== >>>>>> My insertions. LRK <<<<<< --------------------------------------- http://www.recycle.ab.ca/Download/MSW_Options_Report.pdf Snip p. 162 7.2.3.4 Plasma Technology Industrial applications of plasma arc technologies are well established and include electric arc furnaces used in the steel industry, and arc welding units used in the construction industry. Plasma technology is also used for treating hazardous waste. The technology involves relatively high capital and operating costs, but may offer some environmental advantages in certain applications. The environmental advantages include the 'ultimate destruction' of highly problematic hazardous materials such as PCBs and complex stable volatile organic compounds, due to the application of extremely high operating temperatures, and the resultant production of a vitrified inert ash. Plasma arc processes use extremely high temperatures in an oxygen-starved environment to pyrolyze waste into simple molecules. A thermal plasma field is created by directing an electric current through a low pressure gas stream, thereby creating a stream of plasma at temperatures of 5,000 to 15,000?C. The by-products of the process are slags and combustible gases. The combustible gases are subsequently either combusted in an afterburner or treated by catalytic conversion. >>>>>>> Plasma may be either a net energy user or producer, depending on factors such as the nature of the waste, feedstock and scale of operation. In theory the sythetic gas produced by plasma technologies can be used in many applications, including fuel cells.<<<<<<<<<< Despite considerable research to study the environmental applications of plasma technology, the technology is still at the developmental stage. Currently there are no commercial scale units managing MSWs in North America. There are, however, a number of different patented plasma arc systems proposed for the treatment of MSW in the future. >>>>>>>Two examples of companies offering plasma arc systems are "Pyrogenesis Inc." and "Plasco Energy Group" (formerly RCL Plasma Inc.). Both companies claim to be able to treat processed MSW using plasma generators which create extreme heat and convert the waste into a synthetic gas, heat and an inert slag. The process forms a 1,000?C syngas composed of simple molecules such as H2, N2, CO, CO2, etc. This gas is then cleaned and combusted in an engine or turbine for energy recovery.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< "Plasco" has been developing their patented Plasma Gasification Process (PGP) since 1973. According to the company, the gasification process itself has no air emissions, and the emissions from gas combustion in a Jenbacher engine fall well below the stringent CCME and Ontario A-7 guidelines. The City of Ottawa is considering the installation of a 75 tonne per day plant near its Trail Road landfill, to be owned and operated by "Plasco". A Spanish waste management firm, "Hera", has contracted for a 200 tonne per day "Plasco" facility in Barcelona, with an 85 tonne phase 1, and 115 tonne phase 2. "Pyrogenesis" has operated their demonstration Plasma Resources Recovery System (PRRS) in Montreal since 2002, treating 25 to 100 kg/h. The units run for periods of several hours and not on a continuous basis. The unit has been tested on various Municipal Waste Integration Network / Recycling Council of Alberta Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Options: Integrating Organics Management and Residual Treatment/Disposal wastes including MSW, automobile shredder residue, tires, and hazardous waste. The information from the operation of this pilot unit has been used to scale up the design from 5 up to 200 tonnes per day. They are currently looking for a demonstration site for the technology, to scale the operation up to 20 tonnes/day. They also manufacture compact plasma gasification units, which can process over 5 tonnes per day of dry waste -- plastic and paper. These units were developed under a contract from the US Navy, and one was installed on a "Carnival" cruise ship in 2003. These systems are scheduled for more cruise ships and possibly an aircraft carrier by 2007. Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://news.altair.com/pipermail/lunar-update/attachments/20070311/1949a9e9/attachment.htm From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Wed Mar 14 22:49:00 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:49:00 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] SpaceX Posts New Details of Dragon Spacecraft Message-ID: <45F8B41C.3090003@gmail.com> SpaceX Posts New Details of Dragon Spacecraft It is time again to see if SpaceX can make it to space. - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In today's space news from SpaceRef: -- SpaceX Posts New Details of Dragon Spacecraft http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23605 "The Dragon spacecraft is a pressurized capsule used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members. Initiated internally by SpaceX in 2005, Dragon will be utilized to fulfill our NASA COTS contract for demonstration of cargo re-supply of the ISS." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.spacex.com/updates.php#demoflight_2_launch_update_6 DemoFlight 2 Update *Posted March 5, 2007* The launch window is now March 19th to 22nd (California time). During extended ground testing in late February, one of our second stage thrust vector control boards indicated a problem. Although our analysis showed substantial margin for flight, we decided nonetheless to increase the robustness of certain of the components and run a delta qualification. The upgraded boards will be installed this week. If all goes well, Falcon 1 will do a static fire next week and then launch in the week of the 19th. --Elon-- Snip --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wish SpaceX good fortune as it would be another step to commercializing space. Getting things to orbit cheaply is the hurdle we need to overcome. - LRK - Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== If we can go to LEO, can we build a home in space? - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.nss.org/settlement/ColoniesInSpace/index.html Colonies in Space Complete online book by T. A. Heppenheimer Copyright 1977, 2007 by T. A. Heppenheimer The National Space Society is proud to present this online edition of the complete text of the 1977 hardcover edition of the landmark book, /Colonies in Space/. The key ideas are presented in Chapter 2 , with the rest of the book an elaboration on those ideas. We were not able to obtain permissions for many of the illustrations, but were able to include the nice color plates in the center of the book. See also our review of this book and our page about the author . Snip ============================================================== http://www.nss.org/settlement/ Space Settlement Nexus An all-volunteer effort including over 8,000 pages of reference materials *"The people of Earth have both the knowledge and resources to colonize space."* That was the stated conclusion of this NASA-sponsored study ? in 1975! There are two things you need to know about space settlement: * *We can do it, starting now. * * *A future with space settlements is vastly better than one without them.* We Can Do It Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Fri Mar 16 15:58:30 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:58:30 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] NASA Seeks To Readjust Lunar Robotic Program - Again Message-ID: <45FAF6E6.1040102@gmail.com> NASA Seeks To Readjust Lunar Robotic Program - Again *Orbital Outposts: A Better Bet than a Moonbase? *NASA Chief Says China May Make It To the Moon Hmmmm, has this story been told before? - LRK - ----------------------------------------------------- NASA Seeks To Readjust Lunar Robotic Program - Again http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.nl.html?id=1199 "According to NASA sources, the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP) office at MSFC is either being totally shut down or dramatically reduced in size with lunar mission coordination moving back to NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC." Snip ------------------------------------------------------ Web links that don't work, like the Pioneer 10/11, may be part of moving items to NASA's ONE PORTAL. Still don't have a new URL for the Pioneer 10/11 move but Dr. Lasher says sometime in June. Will let you know when that happens. Still that is ancient history and here we are talking about the future, which often moves further off into the future. - LRK - ------------------------------------------------------ http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/lunar.html Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program The Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program (LPRP) supports America's return to the Moon by executing lunar robotic missions to conduct research and prepare for future human exploration. LPRP missions will gather data important for reducing the risks of returning humans to the Moon by 2020, such as examining the lunar radiation environment, which has implications for astronaut safety. Surface imaging and mapping will assist landing site selection by identifying terrain hazards (slope, roughness, obstacles) as well as areas of scientific and operational interest. Temperature and lighting conditions over an annual cycle, along with a good characterization of dust, environmental conditions, and radiation are needed for mission and hardware design. Resource identification and mapping will inform decisions about possible future use of in-situ resources. Future LPRP missions may also demonstrate prototype technologies such as precision landing and in-situ resource utilization. Specific LPRP activities will include topographic mapping, resource and mineral identification and mapping, identifying permanently lighted and permanently shadowed areas near the lunar poles, and characterizing the radiation and dust environment and landing site hazards. LPRP is considering a mix of orbiters, landers, and impactors to obtain required data. LPRP's first mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), is in development, with launch planned late in October 2008. LRO will provide critical information about the Moon to enable selection of safe landing sites with compelling exploration and scientific features. Using a robust suite of instruments to measure the topography of the moon's surface, LRO will take high-resolution images of sites of interest, globally assess thermal and radiation environments, and assay potential resources. Launching with LRO is the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). This low-cost secondary payload will investigate the presence of lunar volatiles in a permanently shadowed region of the lunar surface. The Lunar Architecture Team (LAT) study is examining lunar exploration requirements needed to support a human lunar sortie by 2020. The LAT is scheduled to conclude Phase 2 architecture refinements in July 2007, and will assist in determining future missions and instruments to follow LRO and LCROSS. For more information, please see the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program , Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite Web sites. Snip [Note: The above LPRP link will break. - LRK -] ------------------------------------------------------ Okay, can't get out of Low Earth Orbit, maybe try building a new home there and then just drift away when you get your act together. - LRK - ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.space.com/adastra/070316_orbital.html *Orbital Outposts: A Better Bet than a Moonbase? * *By Al Globus * Because we are planetary creatures, most people assume the first and most numerous space settlements must be on the Moon or Mars. In fact, we may live in orbit long before settling the Moon or Mars , and there may always be far more space settlers in orbit than on any planet or moon. Orbital settlements are huge spacecraft, big enough for many thousands to live in comfortably, that provide radiation protection, a breathable atmosphere, nearly self-sufficient life support, and that rotate to provide something that feels much like Earth-normal gravity at the rim. Why do I think orbital settlements will precede and vastly outperform those on planets and moons? Three reasons: 1. It's easier. 2. There's more. 3. The kids will be able to visit Earth Snip ------------------------------------------------------ Well if not invented here, then maybe made in China. Who will be the first to open a big box store on the Moon? - LRK - ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501830.html NASA Chief Says China May Make It To the Moon By Marc Kaufman Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 16, 2007; A06 The next humans to walk on the moon may well be Chinese, NASA's administrator told Congress yesterday. He said that the combination of budget cuts and restraints in the NASA lunar program and a determined and well-funded effort by the Chinese made that once-unthinkable possibility a real one. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told the House Committee on Science and Technology that, based on the status of the Chinese space program and its projected growth, China could land a man on the moon within a decade. Under current projections, a U.S. lunar return would not take place until 2019 at the earliest. "If they wanted to mount a lunar mission, they could do so," Griffin said. "And yes, they could get to the moon before we return." The Chinese space program employs about 200,000 people, Griffin said, while NASA has a workforce of about 75,000. Griffin's assessment came during a day of NASA budget hearings in which both Republicans and Democrats decried a lack of funding for NASA, which has been given many ambitious missions. Snip ------------------------------------------------------ More links from SpaceRef below if you have not already read. - LRK - Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== THE DAY IN SPACE __________________ In today's space news from SpaceRef: -- Mars Express radar gauges water quantity around Mars' south pole http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22126 -- Ice on Mars' South Pole Is Deep and Wide http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22125 "New measurements of Mars' south polar region indicate extensive frozen water. The polar region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer approximately 36 feet deep. A joint NASA-Italian Space Agency instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft provided these data." -- RNA enzyme structure offers a glimpse into the origins of life http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22137 "Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have determined the three-dimensional structure of an RNA enzyme, or "ribozyme," that carries out a fundamental reaction required to make new RNA molecules. Their results provide insight into what may have been the first self- replicating molecule to arise billions of years ago on the evolutionary path toward the emergence of life." -- NASA, AOL, Mad Science Host the Space Pennant Design Challenge http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22136 "For some scientists and engineers, designing something that flies in space might be the pinnacle of a career. NASA now is offering that opportunity to grade school students. NASA, AOL's Kids Service KOL and Mad Science are teaming up for the NASA Space Pennant Design Challenge, which begins Thursday, March 15." -- Global 'sunscreen' has likely thinned, report NASA scientists http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22129 "A new NASA study has found that an important counter-balance to the warming of our planet by greenhouse gases ? sunlight blocked by dust, pollution and other aerosol particles ? appears to have lost ground." -- FY08 NASA Budget Request Insufficient for Space Exploration Program http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22128 -- Statement of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin Before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23624 -- Statement of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin Before the House Committee on Science & Technology http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23623 -- Statement of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23622 -- Opening Statement by Rep. Mark Udall - House Committee on Science and Technology Hearing: NASA's Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Request http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23620 -- Opening Statement by Rep. Bart Gordon - House Committee on Science and Technology Hearing: NASA's Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Request http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23621 "First, the FY 2008 budget request continues a pattern of Administration requests that fail to ask for the level of funding that the White House had said NASA would need to carry out the exploration initiative and its other core activities. Specifically, in the three years since the President announced his exploration initiative, the White House has cut NASA's five-year budget plan by a total of $2.26 billion. And based on this year's budget submittal, that shortfall will worsen by another $420 million in FY 2009." Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Mon Mar 19 19:28:26 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 16:28:26 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 16 March 2007 - T-17min Message-ID: <45FF1C9A.9020808@gmail.com> -- SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 16 March 2007 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23640 "The flight readiness review conducted tonight shows all systems are go for a launch attempt at 4pm California time (11pm GMT) tomorrow (Monday). The webcast can be seen at spacex.com/ webcast.php and will start at T-60 minutes. Please check back for updates, as the launch will be postponed if we have even the tiniest concern." From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Mon Mar 19 19:59:42 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 16:59:42 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 19 March 2007 - abort at T-00:01:02 Message-ID: <45FF23EE.5010605@gmail.com> Well almost launched. Now trying to determine why a terminal abort. Update said to be coming in 10 minutes. Thought I had something for you. Now wait and see. Larry Kellogg -- SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 16 March 2007 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23640 *18 March Update: The flight readiness review conducted tonight shows all systems are go for a launch attempt at 4pm California time (11pm GMT) tomorrow (Monday). The webcast can be seen at spacex.com/webcast.php and will start at T-60 minutes. Please check back for updates, as the launch will be postponed if we have even the tiniest concern.* From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Mon Mar 19 20:59:26 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:59:26 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 19 March 2007 - launch aborted at T-00:01:02 - try again tormorrow Message-ID: <45FF31EE.4030706@gmail.com> Good day again, Launch terminated at the last moment. Video viewing terminated with the comment that they would reset for 24 hours and try tomorrow. Abort happened because of the breakdown during countdown of the communication link for telemetry. Such is the life of a rocketeer. - LRK - ================================================ Some info on Kwajalein where they are to launch. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/575/1 Snip *Bjelde:* If you take the distance from El Segundo, California to Hawaii and you double it, you are about 9 degrees off the equator, 8,500 kilometers. From here to California, you have all these atolls in the South Pacific, such as Micronesia and Marshall Islands. Kwajalein is the atoll of interest to us. Kwajalein Island is the main island in the Kwajalein atoll. We?ll land there, set up shop there, have our office there, and our command center. Everything is on Kwaj. Kwaj has a little network, a little ring. We took advantage of existing facilities on Kwajalein and built our own facilities on Omelek, which is a 40-kilometer offshoot from Kwajalein. This is a little island that barely peaks out above the water, barely a third of a meter at low tide. Snip http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/kwa/ Kwajalein Atoll is located in the western Pacific Ocean, about 2,100 miles southwest of Hawai'i and 1,400 miles east of Guam. The island is home to USAKA(United States Army Kwajalein Atoll), the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, and about 2,000 support personnel and family members on Kwajalein and Roi-Namur islands. Snip http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/ Kwajalein Atoll and Rockets [A number of pictures of the Falcon 1 during countdown. - LRK-] ================================================ Well almost launched. Now trying to determine why a terminal abort. Update said to be coming in 10 minutes. Thought I had something for you. Now wait and see. Larry Kellogg -- SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 16 March 2007 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23640 *18 March Update: The flight readiness review conducted tonight shows all systems are go for a launch attempt at 4pm California time (11pm GMT) tomorrow (Monday). The webcast can be seen at spacex.com/webcast.php and will start at T-60 minutes. Please check back for updates, as the launch will be postponed if we have even the tiniest concern.* Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Tue Mar 20 12:20:53 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:20:53 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 20 March 2007 - Launch scheduled for 4 PM California Time (Tues) Message-ID: <460009E5.9030007@gmail.com> SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 20 March 2007 - Launch scheduled for 4 PM California Time (Tues) Good day, SpaceX launch of Falcon 1 rescheduled for today at 4 PM. Maybe we will have a live video again at: http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php Larry ------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.spacex.com/updates.php DEMOFLIGHT 2 UPDATE *Posted March 20, 2007* The abort that occurred a few minutes before T-0 was triggered by our ground control software. It commanded a switchover of range telemetry from landline to radio, which took place correctly, however, because of the hardware involved, this transition takes a few hundred milliseconds. Before it had time to complete, our system verification software examined state and aborted. Our simulations done beforehand all passed, because the simulator did not account for a hardware driven delay in the transition. We considered putting the vehicle into a safe state yesterday and updating the ground control software to make the very minor fix needed, but the safer course of action was to stand down. Yesterday afternoon and evening (Kwaj time), our launch team updated the software to address the timing issue and verified that there were no similar problems elsewhere. We ran the software through several simulated countdowns and then once again with the rocket and range in the loop. All systems are now go for launch with T-0 at 4pm California time today (Tues). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Some info from before. - LRK - ================================================ Some info on Kwajalein where they are to launch. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/575/1 Snip *Bjelde:* If you take the distance from El Segundo, California to Hawaii and you double it, you are about 9 degrees off the equator, 8,500 kilometers. From here to California, you have all these atolls in the South Pacific, such as Micronesia and Marshall Islands. Kwajalein is the atoll of interest to us. Kwajalein Island is the main island in the Kwajalein atoll. We?ll land there, set up shop there, have our office there, and our command center. Everything is on Kwaj. Kwaj has a little network, a little ring. We took advantage of existing facilities on Kwajalein and built our own facilities on Omelek, which is a 40-kilometer offshoot from Kwajalein. This is a little island that barely peaks out above the water, barely a third of a meter at low tide. Snip http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/kwa/ Kwajalein Atoll is located in the western Pacific Ocean, about 2,100 miles southwest of Hawai'i and 1,400 miles east of Guam. The island is home to USAKA(United States Army Kwajalein Atoll), the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, and about 2,000 support personnel and family members on Kwajalein and Roi-Namur islands. Snip http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/ Kwajalein Atoll and Rockets [A number of pictures of the Falcon 1 during countdown. - LRK-] ================================================ -- SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 16 March 2007 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23640 *18 March Update: The flight readiness review conducted tonight shows all systems are go for a launch attempt at 4pm California time (11pm GMT) tomorrow (Monday). The webcast can be seen at spacex.com/webcast.php and will start at T-60 minutes. Please check back for updates, as the launch will be postponed if we have even the tiniest concern.* Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Tue Mar 20 21:49:59 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:49:59 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 20 March 2007 - Launch Slips to 5:05 - aborts - recycle and launch Message-ID: <46008F47.3060108@gmail.com> SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 20 March 2007 - Launch Slips to 5:05 - aborts - recycle and launch. There was an abort at T+00:00:10 and then they did a recycle and picked up the count at T-00:16:00 After launch web cast showed the view from rocket looking back at Earth. Nice. See picture at http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/ Lost contact with web cast. Maybe ended or overloaded. Was nice while it lasted. - LRK - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 20 March 2007 - Launch scheduled for 4 PM California Time (Tues) Good day, SpaceX launch of Falcon 1 rescheduled for today at 4 PM. Maybe we will have a live video again at: http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php Larry ------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.spacex.com/updates.php DEMOFLIGHT 2 UPDATE *Posted March 20, 2007* The abort that occurred a few minutes before T-0 was triggered by our ground control software. It commanded a switchover of range telemetry from landline to radio, which took place correctly, however, because of the hardware involved, this transition takes a few hundred milliseconds. Before it had time to complete, our system verification software examined state and aborted. Our simulations done beforehand all passed, because the simulator did not account for a hardware driven delay in the transition. We considered putting the vehicle into a safe state yesterday and updating the ground control software to make the very minor fix needed, but the safer course of action was to stand down. Yesterday afternoon and evening (Kwaj time), our launch team updated the software to address the timing issue and verified that there were no similar problems elsewhere. We ran the software through several simulated countdowns and then once again with the rocket and range in the loop. All systems are now go for launch with T-0 at 4pm California time today (Tues). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Some info from before. - LRK - ================================================ Some info on Kwajalein where they are to launch. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/575/1 Snip *Bjelde:* If you take the distance from El Segundo, California to Hawaii and you double it, you are about 9 degrees off the equator, 8,500 kilometers. From here to California, you have all these atolls in the South Pacific, such as Micronesia and Marshall Islands. Kwajalein is the atoll of interest to us. Kwajalein Island is the main island in the Kwajalein atoll. We?ll land there, set up shop there, have our office there, and our command center. Everything is on Kwaj. Kwaj has a little network, a little ring. We took advantage of existing facilities on Kwajalein and built our own facilities on Omelek, which is a 40-kilometer offshoot from Kwajalein. This is a little island that barely peaks out above the water, barely a third of a meter at low tide. Snip http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/kwa/ Kwajalein Atoll is located in the western Pacific Ocean, about 2,100 miles southwest of Hawai'i and 1,400 miles east of Guam. The island is home to USAKA(United States Army Kwajalein Atoll), the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, and about 2,000 support personnel and family members on Kwajalein and Roi-Namur islands. Snip http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/ Kwajalein Atoll and Rockets [A number of pictures of the Falcon 1 during countdown. - LRK-] ================================================ -- SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 16 March 2007 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23640 *18 March Update: The flight readiness review conducted tonight shows all systems are go for a launch attempt at 4pm California time (11pm GMT) tomorrow (Monday). The webcast can be seen at spacex.com/webcast.php and will start at T-60 minutes. Please check back for updates, as the launch will be postponed if we have even the tiniest concern.* Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Wed Mar 21 14:23:46 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 11:23:46 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 - Launched - 95 percent good - failed to reach full orbital velocity Message-ID: <46017832.1020406@gmail.com> SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 - Launched - 95 percent good - failed to reach full orbital velocity SpaceX has posted an update to yesterdays launch (update copied here). - LRK - ------------------------------------------------ http://www.spacex.com/ http://www.spacex.com/updates.php#demoflight_2_launch_update_12 DEMOFLIGHT 2 UPDATE *Posted March 20, 2007* The second test launch of Falcon 1 took place today at 6:10 pm California time. The launch was not perfect, but certainly pretty good. Given that the primary objectives were demonstrating responsive launch and gathering test data in advance of our first operational satellite launch later this year, the outcome was great. Operationally responsive (i.e. fast) launch has become an increasingly important national security objective, so demonstrating rapid loading of propellants and launch in less than an hour, as well as a rapid recycle following the first engine ignition are major accomplishments. We retired almost all of the significant development risk items, in particular: - 1st stage ascent past max dynamic pressure - avionics operation in vacuum and under radiation - stage separation - 2nd stage ignition - fairing separation - 2nd stage nozzle/chamber at steady state temp in vacuum Falcon flew far beyond the "edge" of space, typically thought of as around 60 miles. Our altitude was approximately 200 miles, which is just 50 miles below the International Space Station. The second stage didn't achieve full orbital velocity, due to a roll excitation late in the burn, but that should be a comparatively easy fix once we examine the flight data. Since it is impossible to ground test the second stage under the same conditions it would see in spaceflight, this anomaly was also something that would have been very hard to determine without a test launch. All in all, this test has flight proven 95+ percent of the Falcon 1 systems, which bodes really well for our upcoming flights of Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, which uses similar hardware. We do not expect any significant delay in the upcoming flights at this point. The Dept of Defense satellite launch is currently scheduled for late Summer and the Malaysian satellite for the Fall. I'd like to thank DARPA and the Air Force for buying the two test flights and helping us work through a number of challenges over the past year. I'd also like to express my appreciation for the efforts of the Kwajalein Army Range (Reagan Test Site) and we look forward to many more launches in the future. Finally, thank you to everyone at SpaceX for working so hard to make this a great test. This is a big leap forward for commercial spaceflight! --Elon-- ------------------------------------------------ You can watch the video from the link on SpaceX homepage. http://www.spacex.com/ Which should take you to their Video Gallery. http://www.spacex.com/video_gallery.php ------------------------------------------------ Another take on this launch and others is at Florida Today where you can read about a Delta 4 being disassembled so that pad damage due to cracks. http://www.floridatoday.com/floridatoday/blogs/spaceteam/ Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== THE DAY IN SPACE _________________ In today's space news from SpaceRef: -- Falcon 1 Launched Into Space http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.nl.html?id=1202 -- SpaceX Post-flight Comments Regarding Second Falcon 1 Launch http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23667 "Falcon flew far beyond the "edge" of space, typically thought of as around 60 miles. Our altitude was approximately 200 miles, which is just 50 miles below the International Space Station. The second stage didn't achieve full orbital velocity, due to a roll excitation late in the burn, but that should be a comparatively easy fix once we examine the flight data. Since it is impossible to ground test the second stage under the same conditions it would see in spaceflight, this anomaly was also something that would have been very hard to determine without a test launch." Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Fri Mar 23 17:14:21 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:14:21 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] MIT models interplanetary supply chain Message-ID: <4604432D.7020101@gmail.com> MIT models interplanetary supply chain You say you plan to go to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond. Do you have enough room in your vehicle to take everything you need all in one trip? Will you need to get more food later? Do you have enough tents, pots and pans, and rolls of toilet paper? Have you studied your charts and maps? - LRK - -------------------------------------------------------------- From the age of instant information: http://www.wikisky.org/ An article that explains it: http://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/ The site features a map of more than half a billion astronomical objects. You can navigate around it easily by clicking and dragging the map and using a zoom-in/zoom-out sidebar. You can also search on specific objects by name from a database, and it seems pretty tolerant of requests that use informal terms. (Ask for a lobster or a rotten egg and it will find you one.) Snip -------------------------------------------------------------- Will you have any support from the community you left behind? - LRK - -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5048 Griffin maps out NASA's moon and Mars plans up to 2057 By Chris Bergin, 3/15/2007 12:49:05 AM NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has given his thoughts on the direction the US space program will be taking over the next 50 years, specifically on the exploration of the moon and eventually Mars. Griffin outlined the future - which he believes will "begin" once the shuttle is retired in 2010 - with his projected 2022 end date for the International Space Station, moon base plans and the potential for nine missions to Mars within a 20 year period. Snip -------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== A bit from the MIT website. - LRK - -------------------------------------------------------------- http://spacelogistics.mit.edu/ Interplanetary Supply Chain Network for Space Exploration The graphic shows planetary surface nodes, orbital nodes and Lagrangian nodes. The nodes are connected via arcs, representing launch, in-space trajectories as well as entry-descent-and-landing operations. Elements are traveling on these arcs, containing human crews, robotic agents, propellant, collected samples as well as various supply items. There also exists a supporting information network (not shown). MIT Space Logistics Project Sustainable space exploration will require appropriate interplanetary supply-chain management. Unlike Apollo, where everything was carried along, future exploration will have to rely on a complex supply-chain network on the ground and in space. The primary goal of the Interplanetary Supply Chain Management and Logistics Architectures (IPSCM&LA) project is to develop a comprehensive SCM framework and planning tool for space logistics. The overall objective of this project is to develop an integrated capability for guiding the development of the interplanetary supply chain that will be required to enable sustainable space exploration of the Earth-Moon-Mars system and beyond. more>> http://spacelogistics.mit.edu/about.htm Snip ============================================================== Info below from Larry Klaes e-mail. - LRK - -------------------------------------------------------------- MIT models interplanetary supply chain For Immediate Release THURSDAY, MAR. 22, 2007 PHOTO, GRAPHICS AVAILABLE - Contact: Elizabeth A. Thomson, MIT News Office Phone: 1-617-258-5402 Email: thomson at mit.edu CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--If you think shipping freight from Cincinnati to El Paso is challenging, imagine trying to deliver an oxygen generation unit from the Earth to a remote location on the moon. By 2020, NASA plans to establish a long-term human presence on the moon, potentially centered on an outpost to be built at the rim of the Shackleton crater near the lunar South Pole. To make such a scenario possible, a reliable stream of consumables such as fuel, food and oxygen, spare parts and exploration equipment would have to make its way from the Earth to the moon as predictably as any Earth-based delivery system. Or more predictably: One missed shipment could have devastating consequences when you can't easily replenish essential supplies. To figure out how to do that, MIT researchers Olivier L. de Weck, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems, and David Simchi-Levi, professor of engineering systems and civil and environmental engineering, created SpaceNet, a software tool for modeling interplanetary supply chains. The latest version, SpaceNet 1.3, was released this month. The system is based on a network of nodes on planetary surfaces, in stable orbits around the Earth, the moon or Mars, or at well-defined points in space where the gravitational force between the two bodies (in this case, the Earth and the moon) cancel each other out. These nodes act as a source, point of consumption or transfer point for space exploration logistics. "Increasingly, there is a realization that crewed space missions such as the International Space Station or the buildup of a lunar outpost should not be treated as isolated missions, but rather as an integrated supply chain," said de Weck. The International Space Station already relies on periodic visits by the space shuttle and automated, unpiloted Russian Progress re-supply vehicles. While "supply chain" usually refers to the flow of goods and materials in and out of manufacturing facilities, distribution centers and retail stores, de Weck said that a well-designed interplanetary supply chain would operate on much the same principles, with certain complicating factors. Transportation delays could be significant-as much as six to nine months in the case of Mars-and shipping capacity will be very limited. This will require mission planners to make difficult trade-offs between competing demands for different types of supplies. A reliable supply chain will "improve exploration capability and the quality of scientific results from the missions while minimizing transportation costs and reducing risks" to crew members, de Weck said. SpaceNet evaluates the capability of vehicles to carry pressurized and unpressurized cargo; it simulates the flow of vehicles, crew and supply items through the trajectories of a space supply network, taking into account how much fuel and time are needed for single-sortie missions as well as multiyear campaigns in which an element or cargo shipment might have to be prepositioned by one set of vehicles or crew members while being used by another. In addition to determining a logical route, SpaceNet also allows mission architects, planners, systems engineers and logisticians to focus on what will be needed to support crewed exploration missions. To experience an environment as close as possible to harsh planetary conditions, MIT conducted an expedition to Devon Island in the Canadian arctic in 2005. The researchers established a semi-permanent shelter at the existing NASA-sponsored Haughton-Mars Research Station (www.marsonearth.org) and compiled an inventory of materials at the base, including key items such as food, fuel, tools and scientific equipment, while carefully tracking inbound and outbound flights. They also experimented with modern logistics technologies, such as radio frequency identification, that autonomously manage and track assets with the goal of creating a "smart exploration base" that could increase safety and save astronauts and explorers precious time. SpaceNet 1.3 is written in MATLAB, a high-level technical computing language and interactive environment for algorithm development, data visualization, data analysis and numerical computation. The SpaceNet development team includes MIT graduate students, postdoctoral associates and research staff led by de Weck and Simchi-Levi, aided by partners at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Payload Systems Inc., which provides science and engineering services for spaceflight applications; and NASA industry partner United Space Alliance. For more information on SpaceNet 1.3, go to spacelogistics.mit.edu. This work was funded by NASA. Snip ============================================================== THE DAY IN SPACE __________________ In today's space news from SpaceRef: -- Enceladus Geysers Mask the Length of Saturn's Day http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22197 n a David and Goliath story of Saturnian proportions, the little moon Enceladus is weighing down giant Saturn's magnetic field so much that the field is rotating slower than the planet. This phenomenon makes it nearly impossible to measure the length of the Saturn day using techniques that work at the other giant planets. -- Mrs. Chippy joins NASA for astrobiology research in the desert! http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23688 "Remember me? The adorable :-) little teddy bear that sent you e-mails from Antarctica back in December? Well I've been invited by a friend of Allan's (Dan Wray from Indiana) from the NASA Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers to join the Spacebound Mojave expedition that will be taking place beginning next week in Zzyyxx, California. We'll be teaming up with NASA astrobiology scientists looking at understanding similar questions to some of those that we explored in Antarctica - specifically how life can survive in extreme environments." -- NASA Studies Life's Limits in China's Extreme Deserts http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22195 "Searching for clues to the potential for life on Mars, NASA scientists recently explored microbial communities in some of the world's oldest, driest and most remote deserts, in China's northwest region, and found evidence suggesting that conditions there may be similar to those in certain regions of Mars." -- Space Traveler To Talk With Students ? Directly From Space http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22194 "In his continued effort to inspire youth in the science of space travel, Charles Simonyi, Ph.D., the fifth private space traveler, will speak with high school students in three events across the United States through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program." -- NASA Spaceward Bound Scientists and Teachers Study the Mojave http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22193 "NASA scientists and teachers will step back in time as they investigate the Mojave Desert to study the unique geologic formations and the supremely adapted microbes that call it home. On March 28, 2007, news media representatives are invited to join the expedition." -- Worldwide testing and ISS traffic push ATV launch to autumn 2007 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22192 "Jules Verne, the first of five Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV), stands on the brink of flight. Its hardware is 100 percent assembled and ready to fly. The inaugural mission, set for the second half of 2007, will follow an extensive three-year test campaign." Snip ============================================================== Keep a watchful eye open while you are on the Moon. - LRK - -------------------------------------------------------------- NASA has just released never-before-seen movies of intense activity in an unexpected place on the sun. The images were captured by a space telescope onboard Japan's Hinode spacecraft. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/21mar_chromosphere.htm?list965414 Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Sun Mar 25 19:52:10 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2007 16:52:10 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] Solar 'superflare' shredded Earth's ozone - Woould that ruin your day? Message-ID: <46070B2A.6030204@gmail.com> Solar 'superflare' shredded Earth's ozone http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn11456-solar-superflare-shredded-earths-ozone.html Larry Klaes forwarded me the e-mail I copied below. I found the subject about a 'superflare' interesting as well as Alex Bonnici's reference to Dennis Chamberland's novel "Quantum Storms". We have mentioned the potential for danger to astronauts from Solar Storms so I looked at the NewScientist article and another one it references. - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn7142-superflares-could-kill-unprotected-astronauts.html Superflares could kill unprotected astronauts --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I also went and looked at the reference to Dennis Chamberland's book "Quantum Storms" at his website http://www.quantumeditions.com/ If you choose to go there you will see that Dennis is interested in both Space Colonies and Undersea Colonies. Go to the bottom of his book page and you can read a bit about Dennis Chamberland and get a link to his blog page. http://chamberland.blogspot.com/ On his blog page you will see that folks are working on Undersea Habitats in the now. You might also find yourself taking a look at Chamberland's home page. http://dennischamberland.com/ There you could go to his link about "Legue of the New Worlds" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The League of the New Worlds is a non-profit research foundation committed to the permanent human settlement of the ocean and space frontiers. It is our express purpose to plan, design, launch and permanently occupy the unsettled regions of the world?s oceans and space. We approach our purpose with an incremental development of off-the-shelf technologies integrated with intelligence and purposeful synergy, fusing the goals of ocean and space settlement into a single enterprise called the League of the New Worlds. Snip --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have been reading a novel that my cousin Louis Phillips Hudson wrote, "the BONES of PLENTY" that details the trials of a North Dakota community during the dust storms and depression of the 1930s. It makes me wonder what it will be like trying to make a go of a Lunar Colony should you chose to form one. http://www.amazon.com/Bones-Plenty-Borealis-Philip-Hudson/dp/0873511751 How to plan for all the government red tape, the profits taken by big business and the middle men, while you put your sweat equity into working with what nature hands out. Pay your insurance premiums, your loans, and take care of normal or abnormal wear and tear on your equipment. Will you find the challenge rewarding enough to make a go of it? Will you see any profit at the end of the year? Will you be able to raise a family? (there or leave them behind) If you have not read the three books in the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson you may find them enlightening in what it could be like on Mars in a terraforming environment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy It will a stimulating time working on the new problems that come along. The Undersea Colony ideas will also get you thinking outside the box or maybe inside the habitat box. :-) - LRK - Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== The e-mail below was sent to me and others by Larry Klaes and it looks like Alex sent it to a number of groups before, so possibly you have seen it. In case you haven't, I left the e-mail addresses for the Yahoo groups so you could check them out should they be of interest. The content may well be of interest also. - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From: "Alex Michael Bonnici" >To: "The Carl Sagan Club Online" , , , , "SETI Bioastro" , "Major Matt Mason Club" >Subject: SETI bioastro: Solar 'superflare' shredded Earth's ozone Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2007 19:01:56 +0200 Hello Gang, Here is a potential threat to our long term existence on planet Earth. This story caught my eye today because I am currently reading a fantastic science fiction novel entitled "Quantum Storms" by Dennis Chamberland that deals with a plot line similar this. Check out this link to a doorway to adventure: http://www.quantumeditions.com/ Alex Solar 'superflare' shredded Earth's ozone http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn11456-solar-superflare-shredded-earths-ozone.html The largest solar flare in the last 500 years may have shredded Earth's ozone layer to a greater extent than human-made chemicals have in recent decades, new research suggests, but the effect was only temporary. If such a flare occurred today, it would likely be even more damaging to the ozone and could increase the rate of skin cancer around the world. Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Mon Mar 26 19:07:22 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:07:22 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] Lawyers, insurance, and money: the business challenges of NewSpace Message-ID: <4608522A.20804@gmail.com> Lawyers, insurance, and money: the business challenges of NewSpace I finished reading the novel my cousin Louis Phillips Hudson wrote, "the BONES of PLENTY" that details the trials of a North Dakota community during the dust storms and depression of the 1930s. http://www.amazon.com/Bones-Plenty-Borealis-Philip-Hudson/dp/0873511751 We hear a lot about global warming today but we have been dealing with the problems we create by our use of machines to make our life easier for a long time. You plow the thick grasslands and the winds blow the topsoil away. We have seen this around the world. We also know that weather patterns change as the Sun varies its output. Are you prepared for the next twist that nature throws at you? I was born in 1937 and we left North Dakota when I was five and a half but I remember many of the places Louis talks about. I also remember the talk about the problems of being the little guy who did the work but didn't control what he got paid. Has that changed all that much for the better in 70 years? We also know that governments do not always make the best laws nor do they always enforce them equally. Going back to the Moon will present many engineering problems, it will also present political problems. It may be fun to launch rockets but how do you come up with the money to do the big ones if you want to be a global enterprise? Can you fill out the proper paper work to meet the International Traffic in Arms Requirements (ITAR)? So what pops up on the e-mail, but some writings by Jeff Foust on this week's issue of The Space Review. You may find them interesting if you have not already read them. - LRK - In this week's issue of The Space Review: (see more below) --------------------------------------------------------------- Lawyers, insurance, and money: the business challenges of NewSpace --- For years individuals and companies in the entrepreneurial space industry have focused on debating technology. Now, Jeff Foust reports, there is a shift in emphasis towards business and legal issues critical to the industry's long-term success. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/840/1 --------------------------------------------------------------- Will it be all fun and games at your new Lunar Colony? Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== Welcome to this week's issue of The Space Review: Lawyers, insurance, and money: the business challenges of NewSpace --- For years individuals and companies in the entrepreneurial space industry have focused on debating technology. Now, Jeff Foust reports, there is a shift in emphasis towards business and legal issues critical to the industry's long-term success. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/840/1 A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies (enjoy the crime, and the jazz...) --- At the root of many popular science fiction tales, as well as space advocacy in general, is the belief that exploring and developing space will benefit humankind. Dwayne Day reviews an animated series that takes a more dystopian viewpoint and raises the question of whether humanity really will be better off in space than on the Earth. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/839/1 Asteroid missions: be patient, or bring lotsa gas --- Some have suggested that near Earth asteroids might be interesting destinations for future human missions. Tom Hill examines the orbital mechanics associated with such missions and finds that only a handful of asteroids would make good low-delta-v targets. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/838/1 Getting there --- Last week's Falcon 1 flight, while not a complete success, was a big step forward for both SpaceX and the emerging space industry. Derek Webber explains what makes that event such a milestone for the future of space access. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/837/1 European missile defense: why bother? --- US proposals to place missile defense systems in Eastern Europe have met with strong opposition by some in Europe. Taylor Dinerman argues that this is another reason why the US should pursue space-based missile defense options. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/836/1 Snip ============================================================== Go to the web link and see what is planned for the kids in Utah if they can scrape together enough for the trip. -LRK- --------------------------------------------------------------- THE DAY IN SPACE __________________ In today's space news from SpaceRef: -- Help These Students See Their Experiment Launched http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.nl.html?id=1203 "Dear NASA Watch: My name is Carolyn Bushman. I teach at Wendover High School, Utah's only NASA Explorer School. Wendover has 180 7-12 grade students. Last year I had the opportunity of taking students to the Wallops Fight Facility to see their experiment fly on an Orion Rocket. I met Pamela Ghaffarian of Franke Park Elementary, Multiage Classroom and she told me how NASA Watch had helped get her students to Wallops. Well this year I'm facing a similar dilemma Due to cut backs the sub-sem is no longer happening, but the NES brought my attention to a new opportunity of having an experiment flown out of New Mexico. My students submitted an experiment and got it accepted." Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Wed Mar 28 00:35:43 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 21:35:43 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] The Pioneer Web Page is Live on the NASA Portal Message-ID: <4609F09F.8000508@gmail.com> The Pioneer Web Page is Live on the NASA Portal http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missions/archive/pioneer.html Larry Lasher says the Pioneer Missions Archive is now available for viewing. The old links to the Space Projects web site are no more as you may have noticed. There does not seem to be any redirect page at Ames to the NASA One Portal page. I will have to update my web page as will others. L [http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNhome.html] DEAD. Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== The page is live: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missions/archive/pioneer.html Please announce it to your distribution lists. -- ================================ Larry Lasher, Ph.D. Pioneer Project Manager MS 213-13 NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 voice: 650-604-3076 fax: 650-604-3913 email: Lawrence.E.Lasher at nasa.gov Web Site: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missions/archive/pioneer.html /*Hail and Farewell - Pioneer. You are dearly missed!*/ Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ============================================================== From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Fri Mar 30 02:28:09 2007 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 23:28:09 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] Willy Ley - RANGER TO THE MOON Message-ID: <460CADF9.30305@gmail.com> Willy Ley - RANGER TO THE MOON A small book of 128 pages written in 1965. The promo on the front cover reads, "The fascinating story behind the history-making flight of the American rocket Ranger VII -- what science has learned about the moon's topography, orbit, origins.... ILLUSTRATED" There is a picture section in the middle with 25 images. A number are drawings of what was thought craters were like. It was very interesting to read about the history of what we knew about astronomical bodies and the Moon in particular before we started sending spacecraft to them. In the beginning eyes only looked up and we wrote about what we thought we saw, then after Galileo we improved what we could see and we continued to write about what we thought we saw. Later we added cameras which improved what we could see. There still were different ideas about what the Moon was really like. What has gone on before is hard to change. When you do your research will you find volcanoes or meteor impacts? - LRK - On the back cover is this paragraph, "July 31, 1964: Ranger VII transmits over 4,000 close-up photos of the lunar surface....A new era of astronomy has been introduced---exploration by spacecraft." It also mentions that the Russian's crashed a rocket on the Moon before, back on September 13, 1959. This little book cost 60 cents back then. You might find a copy on Amazon.com for $3.75 or on eBay for as much as $39.99. http://www.amazon.com/Ranger-Moon-Willie-Ley/dp/1251026680 http://cgi.ebay.com/Ranger-to-the-Moon-Willy-Ley-Good_W0QQitemZ270084189239QQcmdZViewItem You know who Willy Ley is, right? -------------------------------------------------------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Ley *Willy Ley* (October 2 , 1906 - June 24 , 1969 ) was a science writer and space advocate who helped popularise rocketry and spaceflight in Germany and the United States . -------------------------------------------------------------- You might want to see what the Ranger Missions were all about. Take a look at some of the links below. - LRK - Thanks for looking up with me. Larry Kellogg Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ============================================================== * Past Missions - Ranger 1-9* -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/ranger.html *Spacecraft* /Mass:/ 305 to 367 kilograms (675 to 809 pounds) /Configuration:/ Cone-shaped structure mounted on six-sided base, flanked by pair of solar panels. Dimensions about 3 to 4 meters (10 to 13 feet) high, 1.5 meter (5 feet) in diameter, spanning about 4.6 to 5.2 meters (15 to 17 feet) across solar panels /Science instruments:/ Varied; early Rangers emphasized study of radiation environment in space, while later Rangers featured television cameras *Overview* The Ranger project of the 1960s was the first U.S. effort to launch probes directly toward the Moon. The spacecraft were designed to relay pictures and other data as they approached the Moon and finally crash-landed into its surface. A variety of difficulties plagued the first several attempted missions in this series, but the later Rangers were finally a complete success. Ranger 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 23, 1961, followed by the launch of Ranger 2 on November 18 of that year. In both cases, the Agena B rocket engine failed to restart and both spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere a short time later. Ranger 3 was launched January 26, 1962, but an inaccuracy put it off course and it missed the Moon. Ranger 4 had a perfect launch on April 23 of that year, but the spacecraft was completely disabled. The project team tracked the seismometer capsule to impact just out of sight on the far side of the Moon, validating the spacecraft's communications and navigation system. Ranger 5 missed the Moon following its launch on October 18, 1962, and was disabled. Ranger 6 was launched January 30, 1964, and had a flawless flight culminating in impact as planned on the Moon; its television system, however, was disabled by an in-flight accident and could take no pictures. The next three Rangers, with a redesigned television, were completely successful. Ranger 7 was launched July 28, 1964, and sent more than 4,300 pictures on its way down to target in a lunar plain, soon named Mare Cognitum, south of the crater Copernicus. Following launch on February 17, 1965, Ranger 8 successfully completed its mission with a planned crash-landing in Mare Tranquillitatis, where the Apollo 11 astronauts would land 4-1/2 years later. Ranger 8 garnered more than 7,300 images. Ranger 9 was launched March 21, 1965, and impacted the Moon in the 90-kilometer-diameter (75-mile) crater Alphonsus, sending back more than 5,800 images. More Information: *Ranger (1961-1965) (National Space Science Data Center)* *Ranger & Surveyor Missions Fact Sheet (PDF)* *More about Ranger* Snip ============================================================== http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_program Ranger program >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The *Ranger program* was a series of unmanned space missions by the United States in the 1960s whose objective was to obtain the first close-up images of the surface of the Moon . The Ranger spacecraft were designed to collide with the lunar surface, returning imagery until they were destroyed upon impact. Ranger was originally designed, beginning in 1959, in three distinct phases, called "blocks." Each block had different mission objectives and progressively more advanced system design. The JPL mission designers planned multiple launches in each block, to maximize the engineering experience and scientific value of the mission and to assure at least one successful flight. Total research, development, launch, and support costs for the Ranger series of spacecraft (Rangers 1 through 9) was approximately $170 million. Snip ============================================================== http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/ranger/ *Ranger* Photography of the *Moon* /Ranger Photographs of the Moon/ is the online version of the NASA documents on the 1964-1965 NASA Lunar Ranger Program. It contains selected Ranger 7, Ranger 8, and Ranger 9 mission images and documentation from the photographic edition of the following Ranger publications. /Ranger VII Photographs of the Moon, Part I: Camera "A" Series/, Photographic Edition (1964) Also published as /Ranger VII Photographs of the Moon, Part I: Camera "A" Series/, NASA SP-61 (1964) /Ranger VII Photographs of the Moon, Part I: Camera "B" Series/, Photographic Edition (1965) Also published as /Ranger VII Photographs of the Moon, Part I: Camera "B" Series/, NASA SP-62 (1965) /Ranger VII Photographs of the Moon, Part I: Camera "P" Series/, Photographic Edition (1965) Also published as /Ranger VII Photographs of the Moon, Part I: Camera "P" Series/, NASA SP-63 (1965) /Ranger VIII Photographs of the Moon/, Photographic Edition (1966) Also published as /Ranger VII Photographs of the Moon/, NASA SP-111 (1966) /Ranger IX Photographs of the Moon/, Photographic Edition (1966) Also published as /Ranger VII Photographs of the Moon/, NASA SP-112 (1966) Snip ============================================================== http://agile.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/ranger.html Ranger 3 & 5 Missions/ Mission Overview / The Ranger program was a probe series to transmit close-up black and white photographs of the Moon before crashing into the Lunar surface. Three of the nine Rangers (7,8,9) were successful. Rangers 1 through 5 experienced technical problems which affected the success of the missions: the launch vehicles malfunctioned for Ranger 1 and 2, Rangers 3 and 5 missed the Moon, and Ranger 4 landed on the back side of the Moon and returned no data. Ranger 3 was launched on 26 January 1962. It carried an instrument designed to measure gamma-rays coming from the surface of the moon. It was intended that the instrument would take some 60 hours of data during the flight before lunar impact in order to determine the interplanetary gamma-ray flux, and to determine the background for the lunar measurements. Twelve hours of data were to be taken with the detector in a stowed position, and the remaining data were to be taken with the detector extended on a 6 ft. boom. These data permitted a determination of the satellite body effect on the measured gamma-ray flux. Missing the moon, the satellite went into a solar orbit (apogee 1.163 AU; perigee 0.9839 AU) and returned no further data. Ranger 5 was launched on 18 October 1962. Missing the Moon by 725 km, it went into a heliocentric orbit, with apogee 1.052 AU and perigee 0.949 AU, at orbital inclination 0.39 degrees. Five hours of data were taken of the cosmic gamma-ray background, with the detector in the stowed position only. Snip ============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== This is the lunar-update at news.altair.com https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update This list is a moderated list. The moderator is Larry Kellogg (larry.kellogg AT gmail.com) Please send suggestions for postings directly to Larry. ==============================================================