From larry.kellogg at gmail.com Wed Jun 4 21:59:22 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:59:22 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] Fly me to the Moon - Land where? - Use what Map? Message-ID: <4847487A.3020700@gmail.com> Fly me to the Moon - Land where? - Use what Map? Ron Wells asked me if I knew of any documents that described the "Lunar Ellipsoid" Not knowing what that was sent me on a search with Google and my, my, just where you are on the Moon might depend on what you use for your reference as to the shape of the Moon and what mapping system you have agreed to abide by. It will really help to be on the same map when we decide to touch down and set up a lunar base camp. It is also nice to know how high the mountain is that you come over while trying to set down in some valley. Not so much fun to strike your landing gear on a mountain peak while looking over your shoulder - LRK -. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be going to the Moon and taking a lot of pictures and measurements. For those to be interpreted here back on Earth one needs to be talking about the same coordinate system. Just where do you paste your picture on that lunar globe? - LRK - Maybe you would like to be on the same page as well. - LRK - ------------------------------------------------------------ http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/library/451-SCI-000958.pdf (11 page, 301 KB, PDF) A Standardized Lunar Coordinate System for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO Project White Paper Version 4 2008 May 14 1.0 PURPOSE The purpose of this White Paper is to provide a summary on the planned Lunar Coordinate System that will be used for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission for operational targeting, interdisciplinary science, and communication among future and ongoing US and international lunar missions. The same system will be used for all LRO data products archived in the Planetary Data System (PDS). snip ------------------------------------------------------------ If you find a LOT of water, just where would your shore line be? :-) http://www.vttoth.com/probes/moon.html Well, maybe not that much water. Some more in depth PDF document references 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 ============================================================== http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?lunar_doc Lunar Constants and Models - http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/dat/lunar_cmd_2005_jpl_d32296.pdf Title: Lunar Constants and Models Document Author: Ralph B. Roncoli Date: September 23, 2005 Reference: JPL Technical Document D-32296 Summary: The primary purpose of this document is to provide a single source for the constants and models to be used in the trajectory and navigation design of missions whose objective is to orbit or land on the Moon. A secondary objective is to provide the mission analyst with some basic background information about the Moon, its orbit, and the previous missions that have explored the Moon. As a result, this document contains more information than the typical constants and models document. Some of the data are required for mission studies while other data are simply provided for "educational purposes". This document provides only brief descriptions of the constants and models. The user should consult the references if more detailed information is desired. Format: PDF Link: download here http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/dat/lunar_cmd_2005_jpl_d32296.pdf (82 page, 24.3 MB) snip ============================================================== http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/library/02b-Lunar_Crd_Sys-Archinal.pdf (58 page, 5.5 MB) Lunar Coordinate Systems, Frames and Geodetic Products Brent A. Archinal U.S. Geological SurveyFlagstaff, AZ Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Science Working Group Meeting University of Hawaii Manoa Campus 2006 November 28-30 I. Systems and Frames * Coordinate Systems and Frames * Conventions, historical and current * Dataset Registration II. Past and Present Frames/Products *Horizontal Reference Frames and Products *Vertical Reference Frames and Products III. Future Control and Products * Pre (end of) LRO Frames/Products * Post LRO Frames/Products?Recommendations & Discussion snip ============================================================== Care to look at more references? - LRK - Is the Moon really round, or round enough for talking about? Take a look at Maria Zuber's publications page: http://www-geodyn.mit.edu/mtzpub.html and maybe this one there: http://www-geodyn.mit.edu/hood&zuber.pdf (14 page, 4.4 MB) Hood, L., and M.T. Zuber, Recent refinements in geophysical constraints on lunar origin and evolution, Origin of the Earth and Moon, ed. R. Canup and K. Righter, in press, Univ. of Ariz. Press, Tucson, 2000. snip The following quote is from the paper by Hood & Zuber: --------------------------------------- The best current representation of the shape of the Moon is shown in Fig. 1a. The field is Goddard Lunar Topography Model-2 (GLTM-2), a 72nd degree and order spherical harmonic expansion of lunar radii derived from the ~73,000 valid Clementine lidar range measurements. The GLTM-2 model has an absolute vertical accuracy of ~100 m and a spatial resolution of 2.5? (76 km at the equator). The model shows that the Moon can be represented as a sphere with maximum positive and negative deviations of ~8 km, both occurring on the farside, in the areas of the Korolev and South Pole-Aitken Basins. --------------------------------------- ============================================================== http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/pds.html SPICE The Planetary Science Division's Ancillary Information System The Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) provides NASA planetary flight projects and NASA funded professional planetary researchers an information system named "SPICE" to assist scientists in planning and interpreting scientific observations from space-borne instruments. SPICE is also widely used in engineering tasks associated with planetary missions. SPICE is focused on solar system geometry. The SPICE system includes a large suite of software, mostly in the form of subroutines, that customers incorporate in their own application programs to read SPICE files and to compute derived observation geometry, such as altitude, lattitude/longitude, and lighting angles. SPICE data and software may be used within many popular computing environments. The software is offered in FORTRAN, C, IDL? and MATLAB? NAIF serves as the "Navigation Node" of NASA's Planetary Data System, archiving and providing the science community access to SPICE data from NASA missions. 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 Jun 14 19:00:38 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:00:38 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] NASA AWARDS CONTRACT FOR CONSTELLATION SPACESUIT FOR THE MOON Message-ID: <48544D95.2020106@gmail.com> NASA AWARDS CONTRACT FOR CONSTELLATION SPACESUIT FOR THE MOON http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jun/HQ_C08037_Constellation_Spacesuit.html This will be a change of contractor for spacesuits and is going to be a very important item to make lunar EVAs a You may want to take a look at some earlier space suits. success.http://www.astronautix.com/craftfam/spasuits.htm Space Suit Evolution - From Custom Tailored To Off-The-Rack http://history.nasa.gov/spacesuits.pdf Now we have other nations working to put humans in space. It will be interesting to see what they use for space suits and which ones stand up the riggers of working on the Moon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_suit STS-124 went to the ISS, installed the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and has returned. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html The activities were covered on NASA TV and I failed to remind you all. I hope you had a chance to watch. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ The next mission is STS-125 to go service the Hubble Telescope. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/hst_sm4/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 ============================================================== http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html June 14, 2008 Michael Curie Headquarters, Washington 202-358-4715 michael.curie at nasa.gov Candrea Thomas Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 321-867-2468 candrea.k.thomas at nasa.gov RELEASE: 08-150 NASA'S SHUTTLE DISCOVERY GLIDES HOME AFTER SUCCESSFUL MISSION CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Discovery and its crew landed at 11:15 a.m. EDT Saturday, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., completing a 14-day journey of more than 5.7 million miles in space. The STS-124 mission was the second of three flights to launch components to the International Space Station to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. Discovery delivered Kibo's tour bus-sized Japanese Pressurized Module, or JPM, which is the station's largest module. The mission included three spacewalks to install and outfit the JPM and activate its robotic arm system. The lab's logistics module, which was delivered and installed in a temporary location in March, was attached to its permanent position on top of the JPM. Mark Kelly commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Ken Ham, Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum, Greg Chamitoff, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. Chamitoff remained aboard the space station, replacing Expedition 17 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, who returned to Earth on Discovery after nearly three months on the station. Chamitoff will return on shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission, targeted for launch November 10. STS-124 was the 123rd space shuttle flight, the 35th flight for shuttle Discovery and the 26th flight of a shuttle to the station. With Discovery and its crew safely home, the stage is set for the launch of STS-125 on October 8. Atlantis' mission will return the space shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope for one last visit before the shuttle fleet retires in 2010. Over 12 days and five spacewalks, Atlantis' crew will make repairs and upgrades to the telescope, preparing it for at least another five years of research. For more about the STS-124 mission and the upcoming STS-125 mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle -end- snip ============================================================== http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jun/HQ_C08037_Constellation_Spacesuit.html June 12, 2008 Stephanie Schierholz/Grey Hautaluoma Headquarters, Washington 202-358-4997/0668 stephanie.schierholz at nasa.gov, grey.hautaluoma-1 at nasa.gov Lynnette Madison/Josh Byerly Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 lynnette.b.madison at nasa.gov, bill.j.byerly at nasa.gov CONTRACT RELEASE: C08-037 NASA AWARDS CONTRACT FOR CONSTELLATION SPACESUIT FOR THE MOON WASHINGTON -- NASA has awarded a contract to Oceaneering International Inc. of Houston, for the design, development and production of a new spacesuit system. The spacesuit will protect astronauts during Constellation Program voyages to the International Space Station and, by 2020, the surface of the moon. The subcontractors to Oceaneering are Air-Lock Inc. of Milford, Conn., David Clark Co. of Worcester, Mass., Cimarron Software Services Inc. of Houston, Harris Corporation of Palm Bay, Fla., Honeywell International Inc. of Glendale, Ariz., Paragon Space Development Corp. of Tucson, Ariz., and United Space Alliance of Houston. "The award of the spacesuit contract completes the spaceflight hardware requirements for the Constellation Program's first human flight in 2015," said Jeff Hanley, Constellation program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Contracts for the Orion crew capsule and the Ares I rocket were awarded during the past two years. The cost-plus-award-fee spacesuit contract includes a basic performance period from June 2008 to September 2014 that has a value of $183.8 million. During the performance period, Oceaneering and its subcontractors will conduct design, development, test, and evaluation work culminating in the manufacture, assembly, and first flight of the suit components needed for astronauts aboard the Orion crew exploration vehicle. The basic contract also includes initial work on the suit design needed for the lunar surface. "I am excited about the new partnership between NASA and Oceaneering," said Glenn Lutz, project manager for the spacesuit system at Johnson. "Now it is time for our spacesuit team to begin the journey together that ultimately will put new sets of boot prints on the moon." Suits and support systems will be needed for as many as four astronauts on moon voyages and as many as six space station travelers. For short trips to the moon, the suit design will support a week's worth of moon walks. The system also must be designed to support a significant number of moon walks during potential six-month lunar outpost expeditions. In addition, the spacesuit and support systems will provide contingency spacewalk capability and protection against the launch and landing environment, such as spacecraft cabin leaks. Two contract options may be awarded in the future as part of this contract. Option 1 covers completion of design, development, test and evaluation for the moon surface suit components. Option 1 would begin in October 2010 and run through September 2018, under a cost-plus-award fee structure with a total value of $302.1 million. Option 2 provides for the Orion suit production, processing and sustaining engineering under a cost-plus-award fee or a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract structure with a maximum value of $260 million depending on hardware requirements. Option 2 would begin at the end of the basic performance period in October 2014, and would continue through September 2018. Images and animation of the new designs, as well as more information about NASA's Constellation Program, are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/constellation To view a feature on the evolution of spacesuits, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/spacesuit_gallery -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 Thu Jun 26 18:44:59 2008 From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com (Larry Kellogg) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:44:59 -0700 Subject: [lunar-update] What to do if no lunar-update posts - hmmm Watch some TED Talks Message-ID: <9bb827dc0806261544v3a5112e2s49f9b6823f3c52cc@mail.gmail.com> What to do if no lunar-update posts - hmmm Watch some TED Talks It is Summer Time and time flies. Grandchildren came back yesterday from visiting their biological father and their mom comes for a visit from Iraq tonight. She has 18 days off and then back to Iraq. I have had some conversations with folks off-line but have been remiss in passing along what is happening in space. We are on Mars with the Phoenix Mission and I am sure you have been watching their progress. http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/ The shuttle has been to the ISS and back and there have been great videos at NASA TV. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html http://www.nasa.gov/missions/Current_Missions_Collection_archive_1.html There are a lot of other things going on, like don't drive as much because of the rising price of fuel for the cars. - LRK - -------------------------------------------------------------- http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/01/news/international/usgas_price/index.htm U.S. gas: So cheap it hurts Relatively low taxes have kept pump prices far below most other developed nations, which some say is precisely why the current runup is so painful. snip -------------------------------------------------------------- TV ads for who should be our new president are popping up everywhere. Too bad we can't spend some of that ad money on more worthwhile endeavors. - LRK - -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Media_economy_57/Where_the_smart_money_is_this_election.asp Where the smart money is this election Flush with media dollars, Obama stretched Clinton By Diego Vasquez Jun 17, 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------- If I haven't bothered you with enough noise and you have the time, maybe gather some inspiration from watching some of the TED Talks again. At least take a look at a quick summary of 10 of the talks and then check out the information below. - LRK - --------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ted.com/talks/top10 Announcing the Top 10 TEDTalks With 50 million views since we started posting video two years ago, TEDTalks have become a powerful cultural force. To celebrate this milestone, we're releasing a never-before-seen list: the Top 10 TEDTalks of all time, as of June 2008. With speakers like neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor and global health expert Hans Rosling, the list proves one of the compelling ideas behind TEDTalks: that an unknown speaker with a powerful idea can reach -- and move -- a global audience through the power of quality web video. Links to all 10 talks are found below the video window -- or browse through our Top 10 TEDTalks Theme. Even if you've seen them all, the highlights video below is darn fun. 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 ============================================================== Dear TEDizens, We passed an important milestone this week at TED, and wanted to share it with you: 50 million TED talks have now been viewed worldwide, nearly half of them outside the U.S. To keep pace with demand, we're now releasing a new talk every weekday. (Today, be sure to watch Boston Philharmonic conductor Benjamin Zander, who was a huge hit at this year's TED conference). To celebrate two years and 50 million TED talks, we're releasing for the first time the list of the Top 10 TED talks (below). These are the talks that have proven most popular over time, and -- interestingly -- they mainly feature speakers who were little-known before their talk was released. (The most popular talk, viewed 2 1/2 million times and counting, features neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor, who observed her own stroke while it was happening.) Watch the Top 10 Talks highlights video >> http://www.ted.com/talks/top10 Top 10 TEDTalks of all time 1. Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html 2. Jeff Han's touchscreen foreshadows the iPhone and more http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_touchscreen.html 3. David Gallo shows underwater astonishments http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/david_gallo_shows_underwater_astonishments.html 4. Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos Photosynth http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/blaise_aguera_y_arcas_demos_photosynth.html 5. Arthur Benjamin does "mathemagic" http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/arthur_benjamin_does_mathemagic.html 6. Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html 7. Hans Rosling shows the best stats you've ever seen http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html 8. Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html 9. Al Gore on averting a climate crisis http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/al_gore_on_averting_climate_crisis.html 10. Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html Even -- or especially -- if you've seen all these talks, the highlights video is well worth a watch. And if you're outraged that your personal favorite isn't yet the most popular, drop us a note. Perhaps it will make our upcoming round up of "Hidden Gems" ... Thank you for helping us spread ideas! Chris Anderson TED Curator June Cohen Executive Producer, TED Media 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. ==============================================================