From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Wed Jan 2 13:36:38 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:36:38 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Happy New Year, already a couple of days into 2008. :-) Should be an interesting one. Message-ID: <477BD9B6.70800@gmail.com> Happy New Year, already a couple of days into 2008. :-) Should be an interesting one. Larry Klaes forwarded an e-mail with some discussions about InterPlanetary Ventures planning on going to the moon in pursuit of the Google Lunar X Prize and having room for CubeSats. Send money or pledges. :-) Interplanetary Ventures. ------------------------------------------ http://www.interplanetaryventures.org/ InterPlanetary Ventures is developing the inner solar system for human settlement, with infrastructure, exploration and development projects that will take us from near earth space to the rings of Saturn in the next ten years, paving the way for others to follow. Our goal is to create the terrestrial and space based infrastructure required to support humanity's permanent expansion into the bountiful reaches of our solar system. InterPlanetary Ventures Is Going To The Moon! ------------------------------------------ CubSat community web site. http://cubesat.calpoly.edu/ If you would like to be on their CubSat e-mail list you can sign up at: http://atl.calpoly.edu/mailman/listinfo/cubesat [Note: you will then be able to view past posts to the CubeSat list and view the subscriber list. - LRK -] It looks like there will be a America In space Technical Symposium - 50 Years of United States Space Exploration coming up February 1st and 2nd, 2008. - LRK - ------------------------------------------ http://usspace50.com/ America In Space Technical Symposium 50 Years of United States Space Exploration February 1st and 2nd, 2008 Davidson Center, US Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama ------------------------------------------ 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.kennedyspacecenter.com/visitKSC/astronautEncounter/index.asp ASTRONAUT ENCOUNTER Fewer than 500 men and women ? of the Earth?s six billion people ? have ever flown in space. But each day at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests get the rare opportunity to meet a real-life member of NASA?s Astronaut Corps. Snip http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/upcomingEvents.asp UPCOMING EVENTS Get the latest on upcoming events at Kennedy Space Center. Sign up today to receive launch and event information for the dates of your trip. Just submit your information, and you'll receive free email updates for what's going on during the time of your visit. January 2008 1/11 - 2/13/2008 : Shuttle Atlantis? ISS 1E February 2008 2/14 : Shuttle Endeavour * ISS 1J/A Snip ============================================================== http://www.spaceref.com/ http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=26519 *NASA EPOXI Mission Earth Flyby Imagery: Lunar Calibration: HRI VIS Results* *STATUS REPORT* *Date Released:* Monday, December 31, 2007 Source: University of Maryland http://epoxi.umd.edu/4gallery/moon_cal.shtml Caption: This white-light image of the Moon was taken by the NASA EPOXI mission as part of the Earth-Moon Flyby calibration of the instruments. The image was taken by the High Resolution Instrument (HRI) visual imaging camera at 22:00 UT on 29 Dec 2007, when the spacecraft was at about three times the Earth's distance from the Moon. To compensate for the defocus of the HRI telescope, the calibrated image was post-processed using 20 iterations of a modified Lucy-Richardson deconvolution procedure that includes wavelet noise dampening. The overly bright limb of the moon is the most noticeable artifact of the deconvolution. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD/GSFC Snip http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=26520 *NASA EPOXI Mission Earth Flyby Imagery: Lunar Calibration: HRI IR Results* *STATUS REPORT* *Date Released:* Monday, December 31, 2007 Source: University of Maryland Snip For the first time, either on the ground or in space, we now have uniform data at all wavelengths covering over 90% of the IR detector. We also made measurements which will allow us to cross-calibrate our instruments with telescopic data and, in the very near future, with a wealth of lunar measurements from new orbiting spacecraft. These data will significantly improve the science from EPOCh observations of Earth and the DIXI flyby of comet Hartley 2, as well as from Deep Impact's prime mission to comet Tempel 1. The EPOXI lunar calibration was very successful and nearly three years after launch it sure is nice to get new data from an old friend! Snip ============================================================== http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm Happy New Year from the Cassini-Huygens Project Team The members of the Cassini-Huygens Project Team wish you a very happy and prosperous 2008. It will be our pleasure and privilege to share the results of this most exciting mission with you throughout the coming year. 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 Jan 9 12:50:12 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:50:12 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Odds of Mars, asteriod collision decrease to 2.5% or was that 4% or --- Message-ID: <47850954.2050801@gmail.com> Odds of Mars, asteriod collision decrease to 2.5% or was that 4% or --- When I was a lad, long, long ago, I would go to the movies on Saturday. Before my serial thriller of Buck Rogers, would be a Newsreel and two cartoons. Only a slight delay in what was happening and slanted towards what I should know. (or someone thought I should know) -------------------------------------- 1956 NEWS REEL ATOMIC SUBMARINE & FIRST AMERICAN SATELITE... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSFV0RYCnVo -------------------------------------- Now I ask Google to watch out for items and get a daily update of what is being posted. One has to consider the source of the information and use some common sense in believing what you read. Still, an asteroid might hit Mars, or not. It might miss by a little or a lot. Never mind, it missed us. We know that because there are no new holes in the ground and we are still here. Maybe we need more grad students looking through the archives. Maybe we need a way to look towards the Sun and feel the force being disturbed by some large iron-nickel object. Do you have room in your back 40 acres for an antenna farm? Now would everyone just feed their data into the Internet Near Earth Warning Collection node and let the artificial neural net digest the signals and predict when it is your time to be vaporized. http://stormwise.com/vlfpre.htm http://www.friendsofcrc.ca/Articles/EarlyRadioResearch.html http://www.altair.org/natradio.html http://www.sussex.ac.uk/space-science/papers.html - LRK - -------------------------------------- http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/ NEAR EARTH OBJECT NEWS Mars Impact Probability Increases to 4 Percent (Near Earth Object Program Office - December 28, 2007) Astronomers Monitor Asteroid to Pass Near Mars (NASA - December 21, 2007) Recently Discovered Asteroid Could Hit Mars in January (2007 WD5) (Near Earth Object Program Office - December 21, 2007) Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Shows That Breaking Up Is Not So Hard To Do (Near Earth Object Program Office - April 24, 2006) Hayabusa's Contributions Toward Understanding the Earth's Neighborhood (Near Earth Object Program - August 11, 2005) Snip -------------------------------------- Ummm, things change, the world around us is dynamic. We bob along like a cork in a great sea. Add a magnetized needle and watch how the magnetic fields around us change. Add an antenna and tell someone where you are. [maybe that was a cell phone] 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://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/09/content_7393150.htm BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The up-and-down odds of an asteroid striking Mars this month are down again as astronomers continue to refine its course toward the Red Planet. The asteroid, named 2007 WD5, is now expected to miss Mars by about 18,641 miles (30,000 km), according a Tuesday report by NASA's Near Earth-Object (NEO) program office. Snip ============================================================== http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080108-mars-asteroid-update.html Asteroid's Chances of Smacking Mars Dip By Tariq Malik Staff Writer posted: 08 January 2008 6:44 pm ET The chances of an asteroid smacking into Mars this month are slipping away as astronomers continue to refine its course toward the red planet. The space rock, an asteroid called 2007 WD5, is now expected to miss Mars by about 18,641 miles (30,000 km), according a Tuesday report by NASA's Near Earth-Object (NEO) program office. Snip ============================================================== http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/171121.html Alaska researcher changes asteroid orbit Posted : Wed, 09 Jan 2008 04:04:24 GMT Author : Science News Editor Category : Science (Technology) ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan. 8 An astrophysicist at the University of Alaska uncovered the information that narrowed the odds of an asteroid hitting Mars. Andrew Puckett, who is doing post-doctoral research in Anchorage, found archival NASA data while using the Christmas break as a working vacation, the Anchorage Daily News reported. After he supplied the information to NASA, agency scientists increased the possibility of "Asteroid 2007 WD5" striking Mars from one in 75 to one in 28. Puckett said he knew the data would change the asteroid's projected orbit. Snip ============================================================== http://geology.com/articles/mars-impact-asteroid.shtml Asteroid 2007 WD5 on a Collision Path with Mars Astronomers estimate that it has about 1 chance in 25 of hitting Mars! On November 20th, 2007, astronomers with the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey discovered a new near-Earth asteroid. This object, designated Asteroid 2007 WD5, is worthy of concern. Based upon its magnitude it was estimated to be about 50 meters (164 feet) across. It is traveling at about 28,000 miles per hour. At the time of its discovery, it had already passed within 7.5 million kilometers (5 million miles) of earth. That close approach occurred on November 1, 2007. It streaked past Earth undetected. snip Refining the Asteroid's Orbit As the asteroid zipped off towards Mars, astronomers on Earth were carefully searching their space image archives. They were looking for pre-discovery images of Asteroid 207 WD5. They were in luck. Andy Puckett, a recent Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (now at the University of Alaska at Anchorage), found an image taken on November 8, 2007 - about two weeks prior to its discovery - that showed Asteroid 2007 WD5 as a faint dot of light. This image allowed astronomers to accurately determine the position of the asteroid in space at a specific instant in time. This new data enabled them to refine the path of the asteroid's orbit. A 4% Chance of Hitting Mars! This new data allowed astronomers to determine that Asteroid 2007 WD5 has about one chance in 25 of hitting Mars! Snip ============================================================== http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/258025.html UAA researcher gives Mars bad news COLLISION: Astrophysicist raises odds of asteroid strike. By GEORGE BRYSON gbryson at adn.com | gbryson at adn.com Published: January 8th, 2008 12:12 AM Last Modified: January 8th, 2008 12:38 AM The odds are it will miss. Still, there's a huge asteroid -- a massive rock about 160 feet long -- hurtling toward Mars. Two weeks ago, NASA scientists said the chances it would collide with the Red Planet were 1 in 75. Now they say it's 1 in 28, and astronomers and physicists are beginning to take notice. As they do, the scientists can credit Andrew Puckett, a 30-year-old astrophysicist conducting post-doctoral research at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Working on his own during Christmas break, Puckett discovered archival data that allowed NASA to refine its forecast on what's now being called "Asteroid 2007 WD5." Snip ============================================================== http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22562747/ Good news for Mars! Asteroid risk fades Experts reduce chances of Jan. 30 collision to 2.5 percent By Tariq Malik updated 5:24 p.m. PT, Tues., Jan. 8, 2008 The chances of an asteroid smacking into Mars this month are slipping away as astronomers continue to refine its course toward the Red Planet. The space rock, an asteroid called 2007 WD5, is now expected to miss Mars by about 18,641 miles (30,000 kilometers), according a Tuesday report by NASA's Near Earth Object (NEO) program office. Scientists now estimate the space rock's odds of walloping Mars on Jan. 30 at 2.5 percent, about a 1-in-40 chance, after a series of observations taken by astronomers using Spain's 11.5-foot (3.5-meter) Calar Alto Observatory. The new analysis lowered the asteroid's odds of a Martian impact from a 3.6 percent chance released last week. 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 Thu Jan 10 16:58:17 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:58:17 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Fly by of Mercury - LRO undergoing critical tests - KAGUYA (SELENE) Observations with Lasar Altimeter Message-ID: <478694F9.7080607@gmail.com> Fly by of Mercury - LRO undergoing critical tests - KAGUYA (SELENE) Observations with Lasar Altimeter Is looking good. See more below. 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 ============================================================== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *** JAXA MAIL SERVICE *** Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ---------------------------------------------------------------------- KAGUYA (SELENE) Observations with Laser Altimeter (LALT) and Lunar Radar Sounder (LRS) Sounder Mode January 10, 2008 (JST) Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) carried out observations using two onboard sensors of the lunar explorer KAGUYA -- the Laser Altimeter (LALT) and sounder mode (*) of the Lunar Radar Sounder (LRS). Through analysis of the LALT data taken from November 26 (Japan Standard Time, all the following dates and times are JST), 2007, we confirmed that the lunar topography can be deduced as planned. The LALT is expected to obtain a global and precise topographic data set of the Moon, including the polar regions with a latitude higher than 75 degrees that have never been explored by previous satellites. This data set, in combination with the high-spatial-resolution stereoscopic observation data to be taken with the Terrain Camera (TC), will compose the first complete, precise, and high-spatial-resolution topographic map of the Moon. The LRS sounder mode was tested on November 20 and 21, 2007, over the eastern Mare Imbrium, and the performance of this mode was verified. The data obtained in this experiment visualized largely horizontal subsurface stratification, which probably consists of alternating beds of lava, volcanic ashe and ejecta blankets. The existence of such a strata has been expected for decades based chiefly on surface geology. By means of global scanning, the LRS will provide us with a massive amount of information on the subsurface geology of the Moon down to a few kilometers from the surface. Faults and folds, identified from the discontinuity or disturbance of subsurface stratification, are important clues to understand not only regional tectonics but also the evolution of the Moon, including global thermal history. * The LRS has two observation modes - a sounder mode for subsurface sounding and a natural radio observation mode for observations of natural plasma waves and natural radio waves. Laser Altimeter (LALT) http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2008/01/20080110_kaguya_e.html#lalt Figure 1 The topography of the Mare Orientale (19.4S, 92.8W) deduced from LALT data. http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2008/01/20080110_kaguya_e.html#pict01 Lunar Radar Sounder (LRS) - Sounder Mode http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2008/01/20080110_kaguya_e.html#lrs Figure 2 Simulated radar echoes. http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2008/01/20080110_kaguya_e.html#pict02 Figure 3 Observed radar echoes taken with the LRS near the Poisson crater (30.4S, 10.6E) on November 20, 2007, in a 20 second period from 18:22:50 to 18:23:10. http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2008/01/20080110_kaguya_e.html#pict03 Figure 4 The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image and strata identification of the northeastern part of the Mare Imbrium near the Kirch crater (39.2N, 5.6W, 11 km dia.) retrieved from the LRS sounder mode observation data on November 21, 2007, from 22:13 to 22:15. http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2008/01/20080110_kaguya_e.html#pict04 This page URL: http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2008/01/20080110_kaguya_e.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Publisher : Public Affairs Department Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Marunouchi Kitaguchi Building, 1-6-5, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8260 Japan TEL:+81-3-6266-6400 JAXA WEB SITE : http://www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html About This Mail Service : To change registered e-mail address, or to cancel this service, please access to http://www.jaxa.jp/pr/mail/index_e.html Snip ============================================================== ------------------------------------------------------- ** NEW SOCIAL NETWORKING MICROBLOGGING FROM SPACEREF ** ------------------------------------------------------- Using Twitter (twitter.com) a free social networking microblogging service you can now follow your favourite SpaceRef site or topic. Here's the addresses: SpaceRef: https://twitter.com/spaceref On Orbit: https://twitter.com/OnOrbit NASA Watch: https://twitter.com/NASAWatch Space Shuttle and Space Station https://twitter.com/shuttlestation Space Commerce https://twitter.com/spacecommerce Astrobiology https://twitter.com/astrobiology Space Education: https://twitter.com/spaceed Mars Today: https://twitter.com/marstoday Moon Today: https://twitter.com/moontoday Earth Today: https://twitter.com/earthtoday SpaceRef/On Orbit and NASA Watch Editors: Keith Cowing: https://twitter.com/KeithCowing Marc Boucher: https://twitter.com/marckboucher THE DAY IN SPACE __________________ In today's space news from SpaceRef: -- MESSENGER Team Receives First Optical Navigation Images of Mercury http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=24457 -- MESSENGER Set for Historic Mercury Flyby http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=24464 "On January 9, 2008, the MESSENGER spacecraft snapped one of its first images of Mercury at a distance of about 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from the planet. The image was acquired with the Narrow Angle Camera, one half of MESSENGER's Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) instrument." Snip ============================================================== Jan. 10, 2008 Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov Paulette Campbell Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. 240-228-6792 paulette.campbell at jhuapl.edu RELEASE: 08-003 NASA SPACECRAFT TO MAKE HISTORIC FLYBY OF MERCURY LAUREL, Md. - On Monday, Jan. 14, a pioneering NASA spacecraft will be the first to visit Mercury in almost 33 years when it soars over the planet to explore and snap close-up images of never-before-seen terrain. These findings could open new theories and answer old questions in the study of the solar system. The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft, called MESSENGER, is the first mission sent to orbit the planet closest to our sun. Before that orbit begins in 2011, the probe will make three flights past the small planet, skimming as close as 124 miles above Mercury's cratered, rocky surface. MESSENGER's cameras and other sophisticated, high-technology instruments will collect more than 1,200 images and make other observations during this approach, encounter and departure. It will make the first up-close measurements since Mariner 10 spacecraft's third and final flyby on March 16, 1975. When Mariner 10 flew by Mercury in the mid-1970s, it surveyed only one hemisphere. "This is raw scientific exploration and the suspense is building by the day," said Alan Stern, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. "What will MESSENGER see? Monday will tell the tale." This encounter will provide a critical gravity assist needed to keep the spacecraft on track for its March 2011 orbit insertion, beginning an unprecedented yearlong study of Mercury. The flyby also will gather essential data for mission planning. "During this flyby we will begin to image the hemisphere that has never been seen by a spacecraft and Mercury at resolutions better than those acquired by Mariner 10," said Sean C. Solomon, MESSENGER principal investigator, Carnegie Institution of Washington. "Images will be in a number of different color filters so that we can start to get an idea of the composition of the surface." One site of great interest is the Caloris basin, an impact crater about 800 miles in diameter, which is one of the largest impact basins in the solar system. "Caloris is huge, about a quarter of the diameter of Mercury, with rings of mountains within it that are up to two miles high," said Louise Prockter, the instrument scientist for the Mercury Dual Imaging System at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel. "Mariner 10 saw a little less than half of the basin. During this first flyby, we will image the other side." MESSENGER's instruments will provide the first spacecraft measurements of the mineralogical and chemical composition of Mercury's surface. It also will study the global magnetic field and improve our knowledge of the gravity field from the Mariner 10 flyby. The long-wavelength components of the gravity field provide key information about the planet's internal structure, particularly the size of Mercury's core. The flyby will provide an opportunity to examine Mercury's environment in unique ways, not possible once the spacecraft begins orbiting the planet. The flyby also will map Mercury's tenuous atmosphere with ultraviolet observations and document the energetic particle and plasma of Mercury's magnetosphere. In addition, the flyby trajectory will enable unique particle and plasma measurements of the magnetic tail that sweeps behind Mercury. Launched Aug. 3, 2004, MESSENGER is slightly more than halfway through its 4.9-billion mile journey. It already has flown past Earth once and Venus twice. The spacecraft will use the pull of Mercury's gravity during this month's pass and others in October 2008 and September 2009 to guide it progressively closer to the planet's orbit. Insertion will be accomplished with a fourth Mercury encounter in 2011. The MESSENGER project is the seventh in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, scientifically focused space missions. The Applied Physics Laboratory designed, built and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA. For more information about MESSENGER, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/messenger Snip ============================================================== Jan. 10, 2008 Beth Dickey/Stephanie Schierholz Headquarters, Washington 202-358-2087/4997 beth.dickey-1 at nasa.gov, stephanie.schierholz at nasa.gov Nancy Neal Jones Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-0039 nancy.n.jones at nasa.gov RELEASE: 08-004 NASA'S NEXT MOON MISSION SPACECRAFT UNDERGOING CRITICAL TESTS GREENBELT, Md. - NASA's next mission to Earth's closest astronomical body is in the midst of integration and testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, known as LRO, will spend at least a year mapping the surface of the moon. Data from the orbiter will help NASA select safe landing sites for astronauts, identify lunar resources and study how the moon's environment will affect humans. Engineers at Goddard are building the orbiter and rigorously testing spacecraft components to ready them for the harsh environment of space. After a component or entire subsystem is qualified, it is integrated into the LRO spacecraft. The core suite of avionics for the orbiter is assembled and undergoing system tests. "This is a major milestone for the mission," said Craig Tooley, LRO project manager at Goddard. "Our team has been working nearly around the clock to get us to this point. Reaching this milestone keeps us on the path to sending LRO to the moon later this year." Various components of the avionics and mechanical subsystem are in the process of going through their qualification program. Six instruments and one technology demonstration aboard the spacecraft will provide important data to enable a safe and productive human return to the moon. The six instruments are scheduled to arrive at Goddard in the coming months for integration. The spacecraft will ship to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., in August in preparation for launch. The orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite will launch aboard an Atlas V rocket in late 2008. The trip to the moon will take approximately four days. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter initially will enter an elliptical orbit, also called the commissioning orbit. Once moved into its final orbit, a circular polar orbit approximately 31 miles above the moon, the spacecraft's instruments will map the lunar surface. For more information about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit: http://lro.gsfc.nasa.gov For more information about NASA's exploration program to the moon and beyond, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration -end- 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 Sat Jan 12 19:19:43 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:19:43 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Looks like no big splash at Mars for 2007 WD5 Message-ID: <4789591F.3070406@gmail.com> Well it looks like no big splash at Mars for 2007 WD5. Bob and Jim mentioned the latest update and here is the link. --------- "2007 WD5 Mars Collision Effectively Ruled Out - Impact Odds now 1 in 10,000" http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news156.html --------- I was hoping for a hit to wake up the news media. Maybe one of the rovers will see it pass by and give us a first hand report. Keep your eyes open for around January 30 and let me know if something happens. - 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 ============================================================== http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news156.html 2007 WD5 Mars Collision Effectively Ruled Out - Impact Odds now 1 in 10,000 Steve Chesley, Paul Chodas and Don Yeomans NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office January 9, 2008 Since our last update, we have received numerous tracking measurements of asteroid 2007 WD5 from four different observatories. These new data have led to a significant reduction in the position uncertainties during the asteroid's close approach to Mars on Jan. 30, 2008. As a result, the impact probability has dropped dramatically, to approximately 0.01% or 1 in 10,000 odds, effectively ruling out the possible collision with Mars. Our best estimate now is that 2007 WD5 will pass about 26,000 km from the planet's center (about 7 Mars radii from the surface) at around 12:00 UTC (4:00 am PST) on Jan. 30th. With 99.7% confidence, the pass should be no closer than 4000 km from the surface. Snip ============================================================== http://www.space-frontier.org/Projects/TheWatch/ Will Mankind Go the Way of the Dinosaurs? Fact, Not Science Fiction: You have a greater chance of dying as the result of an asteroid impact than in a jetliner crash. A quarter-mile-wide asteroid slamming into our planet would cause more destruction than a hundred hydrogen bombs. The latest research reveals that, sooner or later, a catastrophic terrestrial impact is inevitable. The Watch believes in the importance of finding these Near Earth Objects (NEOs) before they find us. Snip ============================================================== http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/pha.html Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid's potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth. Specifically, all asteroids with an Earth Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) of 0.05 AU or less and an absolute magnitude (H) of 22.0 or less are considered PHAs. In other words, asteroids that can't get any closer to the Earth (i.e. MOID) than 0.05 AU (roughly 7,480,000 km or 4,650,000 mi) or are smaller than about 150 m (500 ft) in diameter (i.e. H = 22.0 with assumed albedo of 13%) are not considered PHAs. There are currently 918 known PHAs. This ``potential'' to make close Earth approaches does not mean a PHA will impact the Earth. It only means there is a possibility for such a threat. By monitoring these PHAs and updating their orbits as new observations become available, we can better predict the close-approach statistics and thus their Earth-impact threat. To learn more about the Earth impact threat, visit the NASA Ames Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards site. http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/ Snip ============================================================== http://www.arm.ac.uk/impact-hazard/ Impact Hazard NEO Armagh Observatory Risks Comparable to NEOs NEO Deflection Technology NEO's: Origin, Collision Rate and Actuarial Risk The Increasing Rate of Discovery of Asteroids Objects Currently within 0.3AU of the Earth Today's Map of the Inner Solar System Comet and Asteroid Collision Probabilities The Threat of Asteroidal and Cometary Impacts Extreme albedo comets and the impact hazard (PDF Format) Earth in the Cosmic Shooting Gallery (PDF Format) The 1930 Brazilian Impact Asteroid Impact Animations Snip and more - LRK - http://star.arm.ac.uk/home.html The Armagh Observatory is a modern astronomical research institute with a rich heritage. Founded in 1790 by Archbishop Richard Robinson, the Observatory is one of the UK and Ireland's leading scientific research establishments. Around 25 astronomers are actively studying Stellar Astrophysics, the Sun, Solar System astronomy, and the Earth's climate. 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 Jan 15 13:45:20 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:45:20 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Sea Launch has successfully completed the Thuraya-3 mission Message-ID: <478CFF40.6080903@gmail.com> Sea Launch has successfully completed the Thuraya-3 mission http://www.sea-launch.com/current_launch.htm#schedule Sea Launch carried live coverage of the Thuraya-3 mission via satellite, as well as streaming video on its website. I missed letting you know about it but you can watch the archive videos here and see our other available archived launch videos as well. - LRK - -------------------------------------------------------------- Payload - Thuraya-3 http://www.sea-launch.com/current_launch.htm#schedule Boeing built the Thuraya satellites - the first in the GEM series of spacecraft - to provide a range of cellular-like voice and data services over a large geographic region. The innovative contract, signed just over 10 years ago, included the manufacture of three high-power geosynchronous satellites as well as integration with a ground segment and user handsets. The Thuraya ground segment includes terrestrial gateways plus a collocated network operations center and satellite control facility in the United Arab Emirates. The Primary Gateway in Sharjah, UAE, serves the entire coverage area and Thuraya plans to establish additional national gateways at other locations as necessary. Snip -------------------------------------------------------------- Larry Klaes posted a bit about Bussard's WB-7 prototype being activated, which I copied. http://advancednano.blogspot.com/2008/01/bussards-inertial-electrostatic.html Also some clips from NASA News. -------------------------------------------------------------- NASA UNVEILS COSMIC IMAGES BOOK IN BRAILLE FOR BLIND READERS [If you know of someone that blind or has a vision problem you might check it out for them. - LRK - --- BALTIMORE - At a Tuesday ceremony at the National Federation of the Blind, NASA unveiled a new book that brings majestic images taken by its Great Observatories to the fingertips of the blind. --- ] and NASA ANNOUNCES STUDY PROPOSAL ON DESIGN OF HUMAN LUNAR LANDER -------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ============================================================== Launch Update sent as a courtesy from AGI. - LRK - Their source is http://www.sea-launch.com/current_launch.htm#schedule -------------------------------------------------------------- Launch: 2008 January 15, 1149 UTC Site: Sea Launch PLatform (mobile) Launcher: Zenit 3 SL International Designator: 2008-001A SSC - 3204 Name - THURAYA-3 Owner - UAE "Sea Launch has successfully completed the Thuraya-3 mission. A Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket lifted off from the Odyssey Launch Platform at 3:49 am PST. All phases of the flight profile performed as expected. The mission ended with spacecraft separation from the Block DM upper stage, placing the Thuraya-3 communications satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. A ground station at Fillmore, California, USA, acquired the spacecraft signal shortly after spacecraft separation. All systems are operating nominally. Sea Launch's Zenit-3SL rocket resumes operations with this flight, carrying the Boeing-built Thuraya-3 mobile communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Once operational, this satellite will expand Thuraya's network coverage to include all key markets of the Asia Pacific region." *Source:* Sea Launch, "Current Launch" AGI's Launch Notification e-mails will help you stay current with all new spacecraft launches. E-mails are sent after every launch and include key spacecraft information such as: the date, time, launch site, launcher, international number, name, and owner. Get more information on thousands of satellites and other vehicles by viewing STK models, animations, and our encyclopedic "Spacecraft Digest" database at /www.agi.com/resources/ . Snip ============================================================== Larry Klaes posted this memo. - LRK - -------------------------------------------------------------- Bussard's inertial electrostatic confinement fusion WB-7 prototype activated EMC2 Fusion has built an upgraded model of Bussard's last experimental plasma containment device, which was known as WB-6. "We got first plasma yesterday," Nebel said - but he and his colleagues in Santa Fe, N.M., still have a long way to get the WB-7 experiment up to the power levels Bussard was working with. This work is very important because we could have commercial fusion in as little as 5 years if the work is successful. Success would also transform space travel (40 to 1000 times cheaper to get into space). Full article here: http://advancednano.blogspot.com/2008/01/bussards-inertial-electrostatic.html See this attached article - The World's Simplest Fusion Reactor and How to Make it Work http://www.fusor.net/newbie/files/Ligon-QED-IE.pdf ============================================================== NASA News e-mail has this information. - LRK - http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jan/HQ_08007_Braille_Book.html -------------------------------------------------------------- Jan. 15, 2008 Grey Hautaluoma Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0668 grey.hautaluoma-1 at nasa.gov Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore 410-338-4514 villard at stsci.edu Chris Danielsen National Federation of the Blind, Baltimore 410-659-9314 ext. 2330 cdanielsen at nfb.org RELEASE: 08-007 NASA UNVEILS COSMIC IMAGES BOOK IN BRAILLE FOR BLIND READERS BALTIMORE - At a Tuesday ceremony at the National Federation of the Blind, NASA unveiled a new book that brings majestic images taken by its Great Observatories to the fingertips of the blind. "Touch the Invisible Sky" is a 60-page book with color images of nebulae, stars, galaxies and some of the telescopes that captured the original pictures. Each image is embossed with lines, bumps and other textures. These raised patterns translate colors, shapes and other intricate details of the cosmic objects, allowing visually impaired people to experience them. Braille and large-print descriptions accompany each of the book's 28 photographs, making the book's design accessible to readers of all visual abilities. The book contains spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope and powerful ground-based telescopes. The celestial objects are presented as they appear through visible-light telescopes and different spectral regions invisible to the naked eye, from radio to infrared, visible, ultraviolet and X-ray light. The book introduces the concept of light and the spectrum and explains how the different observatories complement each others' findings. Readers take a cosmic journey beginning with images of the sun, and travel out into the galaxy to visit relics of exploding and dying stars, as well as the Whirlpool galaxy and colliding Antennae galaxies. "Touch the Invisible Sky" was written by astronomy educator and accessibility specialist Noreen Grice of You Can Do Astronomy LLC and the Museum of Science, Boston, with authors Simon Steel, an astronomer with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., and Doris Daou, an astronomer at NASA Headquarters, Washington. "About 10 million visually impaired people live in the United States," Grice said. "I hope this book will be a unique resource for people who are sighted or blind to better understand the part of the universe that is invisible to all of us." The book will be available to the public through a wide variety of sources, including NASA libraries, the National Federation of the Blind, Library of Congress repositories, schools for the blind, libraries, museums, science centers and Ozone Publishing. "We wanted to show that the beauty and complexity of the universe goes far beyond what we can see with our eyes!" Daou said. "The study of the universe is a detective story, a cosmic 'CSI,' where clues to the inner workings of the universe are revealed by the amazing technology of modern telescopes," Steel said. "This book invites everyone to join in the quest to unlock the secrets of the cosmos." "One of the greatest challenges faced by blind students who are interested in scientific study is that certain kinds of information are not available to them in a non-visual form," said Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. "Books like this one are an invaluable resource because they allow the blind access to information that is normally presented through visual observation and media. Given access to this information, blind students can study and compete in scientific fields as well as their sighted peers." The prototype for this book was funded by an education grant from the Chandra mission and production was a collaborative effort by the NASA space science missions, which provide the images, and other agency sources. For more information on NASA's Great Observatories, visit: http://www.nasa.gov -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe at mediaservices.nasa.gov Snip ============================================================== Also from NASA News. - LRK - http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jan/HQ_08008_Altair.html -------------------------------------------------------------- Jan. 15, 2008 Beth Dickey/Stephanie Schierholz Headquarters, Washington 202-358-2087/4997 beth.dickey-1 at nasa.gov, stephanie.schierholz at nasa.gov Lynnette Madison Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 lynnette.b.madison at nasa.gov RELEASE: 08-008 NASA ANNOUNCES STUDY PROPOSAL ON DESIGN OF HUMAN LUNAR LANDER WASHINGTON -- NASA's Constellation Program has released a broad agency announcement for study proposals to evaluate human landing craft concepts for exploring the moon. The Altair spacecraft will deliver four astronauts to the lunar surface late in the next decade. NASA plans to establish an outpost on the moon through a sustainable and affordable series of lunar missions beginning no later than 2020. "By soliciting ideas and suggestions from industry and the science community, NASA hopes to foster a collaborative environment during this early design effort," said Jeff Hanley, the Constellation Program manager. "Such collaboration will support the development of a safe, reliable and technologically sound vehicle for our crews." NASA is seeking responses in two primary areas before the release of a prime contract for lunar lander design, development, test and evaluation. Those areas include an evaluation of NASA's current developmental concept and innovative safety improvements, and recommendations for industry-government partnerships. This broad agency announcement will be open to industry for 30 days from the issue date of Jan. 11. NASA expects to award study contracts in the first quarter of 2008. A total of $1.5 million is available for awards. The maximum individual award amount is $350,000. The contract performance period is six months. The Constellation Program, based at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, manages the Altair Project for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Constellation is developing a new space transportation system that is designed to travel beyond low Earth orbit. The Constellation fleet includes the Orion crew exploration vehicle, the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles and Altair human lunar lander. For more information about NASA's Constellation Program on the Internet, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/constellation For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov -end- 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 Jan 18 16:43:08 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:43:08 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-013 MEDIA BRIEFING ON NASA'S EARTH SCIENCE PROGRAM: 21 MISSIONS WORTH Message-ID: <47911D6C.1070705@gmail.com> MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-013 MEDIA BRIEFING ON NASA'S EARTH SCIENCE PROGRAM: 21 MISSIONS WORTH http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jan/HQ_M08013_earth_science.html -------------------------------------- WASHINGTON - NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Jan. 24, at 12:30 p.m. EST, to discuss the agency's Earth science program and preview major activities planned for 2008, including the launch of two new Earth-observing missions and a weather satellite. The briefing will take place in the NASA Headquarters' James E. Webb Auditorium, 300 E Street, S.W., Washington. The briefing will be carried live on NASA Television. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, NASA continues to advance the frontiers of scientific discovery about Earth, its climate and its future. NASA's multidisciplinary Earth science program contains a broad-based portfolio of cutting-edge science and technology, from new remote-sensing instruments in orbit to basic research delving into the intricate workings of our home planet. Snip -------------------------------------- NASA TV http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html You may be interested in seeing what the press have to ask and NASA reply about the upcoming Earth science programs. Tune in to the above. You might also be interested in the Science at NASA site. http://science.hq.nasa.gov/ And maybe some links from the Ames Earth Science Project Office. http://www.espo.nasa.gov/ Or NASA's Earth Observing System. http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/ And links at Goddard Space Flight Center for the Earth Science Project Div code 420 http://eos.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Nice having a number of eyes checking out what is going on with our Blue Marble. Appreciate your eyes looking out and up as well. 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.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jan/HQ_M08013_earth_science.html Jan. 18, 2008 Dwayne Brown/Steve Cole Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726/0918 dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov, stephen.e.cole at nasa.gov MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-013 MEDIA BRIEFING ON NASA'S EARTH SCIENCE PROGRAM: 21 MISSIONS WORTH WASHINGTON - NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Jan. 24, at 12:30 p.m. EST, to discuss the agency's Earth science program and preview major activities planned for 2008, including the launch of two new Earth-observing missions and a weather satellite. The briefing will take place in the NASA Headquarters' James E. Webb Auditorium, 300 E Street, S.W., Washington. The briefing will be carried live on NASA Television. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, NASA continues to advance the frontiers of scientific discovery about Earth, its climate and its future. NASA's multidisciplinary Earth science program contains a broad-based portfolio of cutting-edge science and technology, from new remote-sensing instruments in orbit to basic research delving into the intricate workings of our home planet. Panelists are: - Administrator Michael Griffin, NASA Headquarters, Washington - Alan Stern, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Headquarters - Michael Freilich, director, Earth Science Division, Headquarters - Randy Friedl, deputy chief scientist, Earth Science Division, Headquarters Media may ask questions from participating NASA locations. Reporters also may participate by phone. Reporters wanting to participate by phone must call Grey Hautaluoma on 202-358-0668 by 10 a.m. Jan. 24. The briefing will be streamed live on NASA's Web site at: http://www.nasa.gov -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe at mediaservices.nasa.gov 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 Sat Jan 19 12:10:17 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 09:10:17 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Mercury fly-by a success Message-ID: <47922EF9.1090504@gmail.com> Mercury fly-by a success. http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ Thanks to your eyes out there, I am reminded that we had a most news worthy event taking place at planet Mercury. MESSENGER made a successful fly-by. - LRK - ---------------------------------------------- http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/index.html As NASA?s MESSENGER neared Mercury on January 14, 2008, the spacecraft took this image of the planet?s full crescent. The image shows portions of Mercury previously seen by Mariner 10, but when Mariner 10 flew by the planet at each of its encounters, the sun was nearly overhead. For this MESSENGER flyby, in contrast, the sun is shining obliquely on regions near the day/night boundary (called the terminator) on the right-hand side of the crescent, revealing the surface topography. This image illustrates how MESSENGER, during its future flybys and subsequent orbital mission, will teach scientists much about the portion of Mercury already imaged by Mariner 10. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington ---------------------------------------------- MESSENGER images of Mercury http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/multimedia/index.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 ============================================================== Did you catch this about the Mercury fly-by? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=508772&in_page_id=1965 Bob MacBird Conroe, Texas Snip ============================================================== http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205801036 Merury fly-b a success R. Colin Johnson EE Times (01/16/2008 11:49 AM EST) PORTLAND, Ore. ? The U.S. Messenger spacecraft has flown its first successful fly-by of the planet Mercury. Messenger, which stands for Mercury Surface Space-Environment Geochemistry and Ranging, will perform the most detailed survey of the closest planet to the Sun. Already having flown by Venus, which is between Earth and Mercury, the spacecraft is now training its instruments on the final destination--orbit around Mercury in 2011, just in time to observing the effects of the peak sunspot season. Snip ============================================================== http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ MESSENGER MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging January 18, 2008 *MESSENGER?s Mercury Flyby Science Data Now Safely on Earth* A day after its successful flyby of Mercury, the MESSENGER spacecraft turned toward Earth on Tuesday and began downloading the 500 megabytes of data that had been stored on the solid-state recorder during the encounter. All of those data, including 1,213 images from the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) cameras, have now been received by the Science Operations Center at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. [more ] http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/status_report_01_18_08.html Snip ============================================================== http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_10 Mariner 10 was a robotic space probe launched on November 3, 1973 to fly by the planets Mercury and Venus. It was launched approximately 2 years after Mariner 9 and was the last spacecraft in the Mariner program (Mariner 11 and 12 were redesignated Voyager 1 and Voyager 2). The mission objectives were to measure Mercury's environment, atmosphere, surface, and body characteristics and to make similar investigations of Venus. Secondary objectives were to perform experiments in the interplanetary medium and to obtain experience with a dual-planet gravity-assist mission. 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 Jan 28 14:28:14 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:28:14 -0800 Subject: [lunar-update] Challenger STS 51-L Accident - January 28 1986 Message-ID: <479E2CCE.4010704@gmail.com> Challenger STS 51-L Accident http://history.nasa.gov/sts51l.html Time marches on and one day blurs into the next. Still, one may reflect on the past and then look forward into the future. We lost the Apollo-1 crew on January 27, 1967 and we lost the Challenger crew on January 28, 1986, one minute and 13 seconds into the flight. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-51L.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster The Apollo missions went on and took us to the Moon, and now an International Space Station almost complete. Will watch and see what the future brings. If you are in the USA then make your desires known by voting in the Presidential Primaries. http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/election_2008/ - 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 ============================================================== http://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/ Apollo-1 (204) Pad 34-A (7) Saturn-1B AS-204 (4) CSM-x () Apollo Pad Fire Crew Virgil "Gus" Ivan Grissom, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF Edward Higgins White, II, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF Roger Bruce Chaffee, Lieutenant Commander, USN Backup Crew Walter M. "Wally" Schirra, Jr., Captain, USN Donn F. Eisele, Colonel, USAF Walter Cunningham, Colonel, USMC (Reserves) On January 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Apollo program when a flash fire occurred in command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, the AS-204 mission. Three astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, a veteran of Mercury and Gemini missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the astronaut who had performed the first United States extravehicular activity during the Gemini program; and Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut preparing for his first space flight, died in this tragic accident. Snip ============================================================== http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/ Snip # Jan 28 - Express AM-33 Proton M-Briz M Launch # Jan 28 -New[Jan 23] Comet P/2008 A2 (LINEAR) Closest Approach To Earth (1.129 AU) # Jan 28 - Asteroid 143 Adria Occults HIP 47779 (6.7 Magnitude Star) # Jan 28 - Asteroid 17898 Scottsheppard Closest Approach To Earth (1.271 AU) # Jan 28 - Asteroid 13926 Berners-Lee Closest Approach To Earth (1.781 AU) # Jan 28 - Lecture: Beyond Our Solar System: In Search of Extrasolar Planets, New York, New York # Jan 28 - New[Jan 24] Cosmology Seminar: The Morphology of Clusters of Galaxies - Prospects for Cosmological Constraints, Stanford, California # Jan 28-29 - Meeting: Cosmology Meets Condensed Matter, London, United Kingdom # Jan 28-Feb 01 - Meeting: Magnetic Fields in the Universe II - from Laboratory and Stars to the Primordial Universe, Cozumel, Mexico # Jan 29 - Comet C/2007 S2 (Lemmon) Closest Approach To Earth (4.710 AU) # Jan 29 - Updated[Jan 23] Asteroid 2007 TU24 Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU) # Jan 29 - Asteroid 79896 Billhaley Closest Approach To Earth (1.383 AU) # Jan 29-31 - Workshop: Science with the New Hubble Space Telescope after Servicing Mission 4, Bologna, Italy # Jan 30 - Theos Dnepr 1 Launch # Jan 30 - Asteroid 2007 WD5 Near-Mars Flyby # Jan 30 - Asteroid 2347 Vinata Occults HIP 14893 (5.8 Magnitude Star) # Jan 30 - 140th Anniversary (1868), Pultusk Meteorite Shower in Poland # Jan 30-Feb 01 - Annual NuSTAR Meeting, Darmstadt, Germany # Jan 31 -Hot[Jan 23] 50th Anniversary (1958), Explorer 1 Launch (1st US Satellite) # Jan 31 - Asteroid 3329 Golay Occults HIP 45058 (6.0 Magnitude Star) # Jan 31 - Asteroid 2710 Veverka Closest Approach To Earth (1.223 AU) # Jan 31- Feb 02 - 14th Annual Space Exploration Educators Conference, Houston, Texas Snip ============================================================== Space Weather News for Jan. 28, 2008 http://spaceweather.com ASTEROID FLYBY: Asteroid 2007 TU24 is flying past Earth this week at a distance of only 334,000 miles (1.4 lunar distances). NASA radars tracking the asteroid confirm that there is no danger of a collision, but it will be close enough for amateur astronomers to photograph through mid-sized backyard telescopes. At closest approach on Jan. 29th, the asteroid will glide through the constellations Andromeda and Cassiopeia glowing like a 10th magnitude star. Visit http://spaceweather.com for celestial coordinates and a low-resolution radar image of the approaching rock. HALO BONUS: A photographer in Finland has captured the long-sought "Kern arc", a rare sun halo created by triangular ice crystals. Experts are calling it the "halo photo of the decade" and it is featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com. 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. ==============================================================