WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE OF DANIEL
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — The moon is sprinkled with historical hardware hurled from Earth that signifies the pioneering steps taken over decades in robotic and human exploration of Earth's celestial next-door neighbor. But numbers of spacefaring nations, including commercial enterprises, are readying their respective assaults on the moon. That fact has sparked growing concern about safeguarding lunar heritage sites, keeping them free of future "Kilroy was here" graffiti-like abuses. This issue was aired at the NASA Lunar Science Conference staged here July 20-23 by the new NASA Lunar Science Institute situated at the space agency's Ames Research Center. Wipe out "The Apollo sites are, in fact, historic. They are treasures that need to be preserved," said noted author and authority on space exploration Andrew Chaikin. His books include the acclaimed "A Man on the Moon" (Viking, 1994), the impetus for the Tom Hanks HBO television miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon. "We need to think very, very carefully about how we are going to revisit those sites and not destroy the record of the first human explorations of another world," Chaikin said. "But having said that ... not every footprint on every Apollo site need be preserved." Chaikin pointed out that there's likely to be very interesting science to be gained from visiting Apollo landing spots, given safe approaches to those locales. "We need to figure out which of the footprints you don't want to wipe out. That powdery surface is unlike any historical site on the Earth ... and the footprints could be wiped out at a moment's notice with our first revisits," he said. Bonus prize money Preserving exploration heritage in the era of private ventures to the moon was flagged by Philip Stooke, associate professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Stooke said that commercial lunar efforts — such as the Google Lunar X Prize — have the potential to interact with artifacts from the first era of lunar exploration. The Google Lunar X Prize is a $30 million competition for the first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon, travel some 1,640 feet (500 meters) and transmit video, images and data back to the Earth. Bonus prize money can be won by taking on other mission tasks, including the imaging of human-made artifacts, such as Apollo hardware. That being the case, Stooke has posed: What rules or guidelines exist, or might be involved in the future, to mediate this interaction? He suggested that guidelines are needed to treat old sites with respect without placing undue restrictions on future activities. What about other early artifacts such as the former Soviet Union's Luna 9 — the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data to Earth — or that nation's automated Lunakhod rovers? Similarly, what about old NASA Surveyor robot landers that were plopped down on the moon? Opinions range from complete protection to complete lack of regulation, Stooke observed. Untouchable real estate But the Apollo 11's Eagle landing zone in the Sea of Tranquility back in July 1969, Stooke commented, should be regarded as an untouchable piece of real estate. "It shouldn't be trampled over and scavenged by private sector rovers," Stooke told SPACE.com. "Don't mess it up with little rovers doing wheelies over the footprints ... or backing up a rover and hitting the flag by mistake." However, other Apollo landing sites might be treated differently, Stooke suggested. Six Apollo lunar landers touched down on the moon between 1969 through 1972. These two-person vessels enabled moonwalkers — often tagged the "dusty dozen" — to carry out work on the lunar terrain from Apollo 11's modest 2.5 hours to Apollo 17's campaign of forays that added up to over 22 hours. It turns out that the Apollo 17 lunar lander — Challenger — was documented pre-launch with samples taken from various items that would be emplaced on the lunar surface during the moonwalking mission. The intent was, perhaps sometime in the future, these materials might be returned to Earth for comparative appraisal with non-flight to the moon items. Crash and trash Those unique samples kept here on Earth are still in a storage box at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, explained Wendell Mendell, chief of the Office for Lunar and Planetary Exploration in the Constellation Systems Program Office. "It raises the question as to whether the Apollo 17 site then has historical importance ... or whether it has practical importance, assuming we get back there," Mendell told SPACE.com. Taking a look at how some of those deployed assets on the Apollo 17 mission withstood exposure to the lunar and space environment, he added, would help designers figure out hardware designs intended for much longer stints on the harsh moon. Mendell emphasized that the concern that someone is going to go crash into and trash an Apollo site is overblown. "Nobody has that kind of disregard of the importance of the first explorations on the moon," he said. Margaret Race is a principal investigator for the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif. An ecologist, she is a leading expert on the importance of planetary protection. Race noted that the issue of protection of special regions, wilderness areas, set asides and pristine sites on the moon is gaining scientific attention, most recently at the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Scientific Assembly held July 13-20 in Montreal, Canada. "There's plenty of debate out there as to how it should be implemented," Race reported. Playing nice: ethics and legality One of the teams now vying for the Google X Prize is led by Bob Richards, Chief Executive Officer of Odyssey Moon Ltd. He said that there are two dimensions to the question of lunar heritage site preservation: ethics and legality. "I grew up a country boy where showing respect for private property was simply the right thing to do. Additionally, by international space treaty, anything on the moon belongs to the people who put it there. Odyssey Moon is about the responsible development of the moon and in the absence of any laws covering our activities ... we will do what's ethically right," Richards told SPACE.com. Odyssey Moon will respect the property of others, Richards continued, and will not risk disturbing it without permission to do so. "We will also expect the same respect and protection for any commercial private property we place on the moon." Sites like Apollo 11 are monuments to our history as a species that should be preserved and honored, Richards said. "However, there are also important reasons why going back to a lunar heritage site has value for scientific, educational or cultural reasons. For instance, knowing the amount of radiation degradation or dust effects on hardware is important for future exploration and settlement," he said. Not every single footprint or scrap of metal on the lunar surface is hallowed ground, Richards explained, but much of it is. "It's a question of showing common sense and always asking permission to visit or disturb something that's not yours. Odyssey Moon hopes to help establish the legal and regulatory precedents for everyone playing nice and developing the moon for the benefit of all humanity," he concluded. Posted at: 01:10 AM | Permalink  |  |  del.icio.us
NEW JUPITER-SIZED PLANET FOUND IN ALIEN WORLDJuly 24, 2008
Scientists have discovered a new Jupiter-sized planet orbiting around a distant sun-like star. This planet takes 9.2 days to orbit its star, the longest period for any transiting exoplanet ever found. The planet, called CoRoT-Exo-4b, was discovered by the European Space Agency's CoRoT space telescope, which was designed to search for extrasolar planets by looking for transits, or tiny dips in the light output from a star when a planet passes in front of it. By tracking the time between transits, a team of scientists led by the French space agency CNES measured how long the planet takes to revolve around its star, and found that it is the same period of time its star, which is slightly larger than our sun, takes to rotate 360 degrees. They were able to derive the star's period of rotation by monitoring dark spots on its surface that rotated in and out of view. "We don't know if CoRoT-Exo-4b and its star have always been rotating in sync since their formation about 1 billion years ago, or if the star became synchronized later," said University of Exeter researcher Suzanne Aigrain. The researchers said the finding is surprising because the planet is thought to be too low in mass and too distant from its star to have a strong enough gravitational pull to influence its rotation. This is the first transiting exoplanet found with such a peculiar combination of mass and period of rotation. The scientists say they hope CoRoT, which launched in December 2006, will help them discover the special circumstances of the planet's formation and evolution. "CoRoT will no doubt find many more transiting planets, and by systematically measuring their host stars' rotation periods we will gain valuable insight into how stars interact with their planets," Aigrain said. The research team presented the CoRoT-Exo-4b findings today at the Cool Stars 15 meeting at St Andrews University in Scotland. Posted at: 01:03 AM | Permalink | | del.icio.us
ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITIES GET RICH WHILE AFRICA STARVESJuly 23, 2008EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY......DON'T IT! UNFORTUNATELY IN HOLLYWOOD THEIR PICTURES ARE MAKE-BELIEVE..... CLICK ON WEBPAGE BELOW TO VIEW REAL LIFE STARVATION IN AFRICA....THEN SCROLL DOWN TO SEE HOW MANY MULTI-MILLIONAIRES THERE ARE IN THE LAND OF MAKE-BELIEVE! FROM THE BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7522000/7522795.stm
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fuckJuly 23, 2008NEW SPACECRAFT SHOWNJuly 22, 2008
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U.S.A. LANDS ON OUR MOONJuly 20, 2008 ON THIS DAY IN 1969: U.S.A. AND APOLLO 11 LAND ON EARTH'S MOON PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S CHALLENGE IN 1961 TO "LAND A MAN ON THE MOON AND RETURN HIM SAFELY TO THE EARTH" IS FULLFILLED IN 8 YEARS..... NASA AND THE APOLLO PROGRAM LAND 5 MORE TIMES AND 12 AMERICAN ASTRONAUTS LIVE, WALK, AND RIDE A LUNAR ROVER ON THE MOON BETWEEN 1969 and 1972.... ...BUT WHERE IS J.F.K.'S NAME ON THE PLAQUES LEFT ON THE MOON BY APOLLOS 11, 12, 14, 15, 16,AND APOLLO 17.... UNFORTUNATELY RICHARD M. NIXON'S NAME IS LEFT ON THE MOON.... LET'S GET BACK THERE AND BUILD A MEMORIAL FOR JFK AND RFK and JFK Jr. FROM NASA.GOV Apollo: Expandng Our Knowledge of the Solar System ************************************ EARTH RISE FROM THE MOON 
APOLLO 11 BLASTS OFF FOR THE MOON
CLICK ON THE WEBPAGES BELOW FOR MORE INFO ABOUT PRESIDENT KENNEDY"S LEGACY AND APOLLO PICTURES AND SOUNDS FROM NASA.GOV http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo11/index1.html http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jk35.html
"FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION" APOLLO 17....MANKIND'S LAST MISSION TO LIVE ON THE MOON...DRIVES ON THE SURFACE OF THE MOON WITH THE LUNAR ROVER TO SURVEY AND COLLECT MOONROCK BROUGHT BACK TO EARTH IN 1972
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J.F.K. JUNIOR (JOHN JOHN) DIES IN PLANE CRASH?July 18, 2008
The Kennedys "Some men see things as they are and say 'why?' Robert Francis Kennedy u WHO KILLED THE KENNEDY'S:
CLICK ON THE WEBPAGE BELOW http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3179462717908405974
JOHN JOHN
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APOLLO 11 LIFTS OFF FOR MOON...CHINA AWAITS NEW SPACE RACEJuly 16, 2008
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LIVE AID: A CRY FOR HELP OR A CURE FOR HUNGER?July 13, 2008
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A NEW STAGE TO RETURN TO THE MOONJuly 12, 2008Image of the Day GalleryFROM NASA.GOV HOMEPAGE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I think the main roadmap is the agreement between the European and Russian space agencies. That is their Plan A 
Moon's interior 'did hold water' | |||||
US scientists have found evidence that water was held in the Moon's interior, challenging some elements of the theory of how Earth's satellite formed. The Moon is thought to have been created in a violent collision between Earth and another planet-sized object. Scientists thought the heat from this impact had vaporised all the water. But a new study in Nature magazine shows water was delivered to the lunar surface from the interior in volcanic eruptions three billion years ago. This suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence. The discovery came from lunar volcanic glasses, pebble-like beads collected and returned to Earth by the US Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In the decades since, scientists have sought to determine the nature of a class of chemical elements known as volatiles in the multicoloured glasses. In particular, they searched the glasses for signs of water - but the evidence has remained elusive. This was consistent with a general consensus that the Moon was dry. The team, from Brown University, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and Case Western Reserve University, used secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) technology to detect extremely minute quantities of water in glasses and minerals. "We developed a way to detect as little as five parts per million of water," said Erik Hauri, from the Carnegie Institution in Washington DC. "We were really surprised to find a whole lot more in these tiny glass beads, up to 46 parts per million." Lost to space The team then confirmed through a series of tests that hydrogen had been present all along, and the samples had not been infused by hydrogen-rich solar winds or tainted by other volatiles. "This confirms that water comes from deep within the mantle of the Moon," said lead author Alberto Saal, assistant professor of geological sciences at Brown University. "It has nothing to do with secondary processes, such as contamination or solar wind."
The researchers believe the water was contained in magma which erupted via "fire fountains" on to the lunar surface more than three billion years ago. About 95% of this water vapour was lost during the volcanic activity. "Since the Moon was thought to be perfectly dehydrated, this is a giant leap from previous estimates," said co-author Erik Hauri, from the Carnegie Institution. "It suggests the intriguing possibility that the Moon's interior might have had as much water as the Earth's upper mantle. But even more intriguing: If the Moon's volcanoes released 95% of their water, where did all that water go?" Since the Moon's gravity is too feeble to retain an atmosphere, the researchers speculate that some of the water vapour from the eruptions was probably forced into space. But some may also have drifted towards the cold poles of the Moon where ice may persist in permanently shadowed craters. Ancient rocks The research also might yield additional insight into how long water had been on Earth. "It suggests that water was present within the Earth before the giant collision that formed the Moon," Dr Saal explained. "That points to two possibilities: Water either was not completely vaporised in that collision or it was added a short time - less than 100 million years - afterward by volatiles introduced from the outside, such as with meteorites." The glasses analysed in the study colour the lunar soil green or orange. While most glasses collected on the Moon were produced by melting of rocks during meteorite impacts, these lack the typical characteristics of so-called impact glasses. In addition, their ages are similar to those of surrounding basaltic rocks, linking them to the Moon's geological evolution. Verifying that water is at the Moon's poles is one goal of Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, due to launch later this year. It is the primary objective of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCross) scheduled for launch in 2009. | |||||
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SPACE SHUTTLE FLEET NEEDS TO COMPLETE ISS
July 8, 2008
 | Space Shuttle: The Final Missions?? By SPACE.com Staff WITH A NEW ADMINISTRATION IN THE WHITEHOUSE IN JANUARY 2009.....WILL NASA LOOK BEYOND BUSH AND CONTINUE TO DEVELOPE A NEW MOONROCKET? THE SPACE SHUTTLE MUST CONTINUE TO EXPAND THE NEW FRONTIER.....WE MUST NOT MOTHBALL THE FLEET UNTIL THE NEW CONSTILATION IS READY TO BE TESTED AND PROJECT LUNA LEADS US BACK TO THE MOON......BEFORE 2020 |
"FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION"
The space shuttle fleet's final 10 missions, as outlined by NASA in July 2008:
Oct. 8, 2008 — Atlantis (STS-125) heads to the Hubble Space Telescope to perform service operations.
Nov. 10, 2008 — Endeavour (STS-126/ULF-2) will supply the space station and service the rotary joints that support the station's solar arrays.
Feb. 12, 2009 — Discovery (STS-119/15A) will kick off a five-flight 2009 by delivering the final pair of U.S. solar arrays to the space station.
May 15, 2009 — Endeavour (STS-127/2JA) will set sail with the final permanent components for the Japanese Kibo Laboratory on the space station.
July 30, 2009 — Atlantis (STS-128/17A) will launch carrying science and storage racks to the space station.
Oct. 15, 2009 — Discovery (STS-129/ULF-3) will place spare components outside the space station.
Dec. 10, 2009 — Endeavour (STS-130/20A) will close 2009 by delivering the final connecting node, Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station that provides a 360-degree view around the station.
Feb. 11, 2010 — Atlantis (STS-131/19A) begins the first flight in 2010, carrying a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with science racks for the laboratories of the station.
April 8, 2010 — Discovery (STS-132/ULF-4) will carry an integrated cargo carrier to deliver maintenance and assembly hardware, including spare parts for space station systems.
May 31, 2010 — Endeavour (STS-133/ULF-5) will carry critical spare components that will be placed on the outside of the station.
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THE "EAGLE" HAS LANDED ON THE MOON AND ON OUR EARTH
July 6, 2008
The Nation's Symbol
An adult bald eagle rests near a pond at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Natural fishermen, bald eagles live near large bodies of open water such as lakes, marshes, seacoasts and rivers, where fish are plentiful, as are tall trees for nesting and roosting. While the eagles feed primarily on fish, they also eat small animals and occasional carrion.
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NASA SPACECRAFT COLLECTS ICE WATER SAMPLE FROM MARS
July 5, 2008
 | Phoenix Scrapes Up Water Ice Samples By Andrea Thompson Senior Writer posted: 01 July 2008 03:10 pm ET |
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scraped up some icy soil to analyze in its instruments, NASA announced on Tuesday.
On Saturday, the lander's 33rd Martian day, or sol, on the red planet, Phoenix enlarged the "Snow White" trench in the so-called Wonderland area. Two days earlier, the spacecraft dug down to the hard icy layer beneath the subsurface dirt with its robotic arm.
It then used the rasp on the scoop at the end of the arm to make 50 scrapes in the ice and then heaped the scrapings into little piles each with about two to four teaspoonfuls of ice. The scraping created a grid in the icy layer about 0.08 inches (2 millimeters) deep.
On Sunday, mission scientists used the craft's Surface Stereo Imager to view the scrapings and agreed that they were ideal representatives of the boundary between dirt and ice.
Mission controllers commanded the spacecraft to scoop up some of the scrapings for analysis in the lander's instruments. Phoenix will first sprinkle some of the material into the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), which bakes surface samples and analyzes their composition. TEGA is especially sensitive to the signature of water and can determine the melting point of ice.
By analyzing these samples from the Martian surface, scientists hope to determine whether the water ice near the planet's north pole may once of have been liquid, possibly creating a habitable zone for Martian microbial life.
- Video: Sounds From Phoenix Mars Lander's Descent
- Video: NASA's Phoenix: Rising to the Red Planet
- New Images: Phoenix on Mars!
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WHEN AMERICA LEFT THE EARTH FOR THE MOON
July 5, 2008
DISCOVER THE OFFICIAL NASA VIDEO FROM PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S 1961 CHALLENGE TO SEND A MAN TO THE MOON AND RETURN HIM SAFELY TO THE EARTH BY 1970.
THIS LINK CONTAINS NASA VIDEO AND ACTUAL PICTURES FROM SPACE.COM AND NASA.GOV
WATCH AS APOLLO ASTRONAUTS LEAVE PLANET EARTH ORBIT FOR A 3 DAY RIDE TO THE MOON ABOARD THE MIGHTY SATURN 5 ROCKET AND THE SPACE STATION BEGINNINGS IN 1981- 2008......AS WE CONTINUE TO FLOAT AROUND THE EARTH MORE THEN A MILLION MILES EACH TIME AND HAVEN'T BROKEN FREE OF EARTH'S GRAVITY SINCE 1972.......36 YEARS AGO
click on link below
HEY KIDS AND CHILDREN OF ALL AGES........CHECKOUT THIS WEBPAGE OF OUR ASTRONAUTS AND COSMONAUTS ON OUR PLANET AND OUR MOON (LUNA) .......ALSO EXPLORE THE INNER AND OUTER PLANETS IN OUR MILKLY WAY AS WE PREPARE ONCE AGAIN TO REACH OUT TO THAT NEW FRONTIER AND TRAVEL BACK TO THE MOON IN 3 DAYS AND ONTO MARS IN 6 MONTHS.....
YES......THIS IS MANKINDS GREATEST ADVENTURE WITH THE WORLD AS OUR STAGE AND HEROES MADE OF THE RIGHT STUFF AND NOT GREED AND MONEY AS AN INSPIRATION THAT OFTEN LEADS TO FAILURE......FOR IN THE AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAM "'FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION"
President Kennedy's bold challenge set the nation on a journey unlike any before in human history--a journey to land on the moon.
http://science.discovery.com/convergence/space-week/photo/photo.html
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!
July 4, 2008
ON THIS HISTORIC DAY IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA....
REPRESENTATIVES OF 13 AMERICAN COLONIES MET IN PHILADELPHIA TO DECLARE THEIR INDEPENDENCE FROM THE BRITISH MONARCHY AS THOMAS JEFFERSON DRAFTED A "DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE" WHICH WAS RATIFIED BY ALL 13 "STATES" IN THIS UNION WE NOW CALL......"THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"
LET US NOT FORGET THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR LIBERTY:...IN THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE, AND EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL MANKIND....
AMERICAN SOLDIERS FOUGHT BRAVELY TO ENSURE THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION IN THE FOLLOWING CONFLICTS OR 'WARS' THROUGHOUT HISTORY...
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
THE CIVIL WAR
WWI
WW2
KOREA
VIETNAM
THE GULF WAR
THOSE WHO ARE FIGHTING A CONFLICT IN IRAQ FOR ENDURING FREEDOM
LET US NEVER FORGET PEARL HARBOR AND THE 3000 SOULS LOST IN THE TERRORIST ATTACK ON 9/11/01
EMOTIONAL CRY
Why others must die....
Where is His compassion and love?.....Is there a God in the heavens above?....
What must we do to get us by?....
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NASA SPACE SHUTTLE SCHEDULE
July 3, 2008
Nasa reveals shuttle dates | |||
The US space agency (Nasa) has fixed the dates of its last shuttle flights. FROM THE BBC: The final orbiter to launch before the whole fleet goes into retirement will be Endeavour on 31 May, 2010???????????? It will be carrying critical spare parts for the International Space Station (ISS) including communications equipment and shielding panels. By the time the shuttle fleet is stood down, Nasa hopes to have demonstrated the replacement technology with a test flight of its Ares launch vehicle. The trial mission, called Ares I-X, will be unmanned and will check out the key components needed to loft the new Orion crew carrier which is expected eventually to take astronauts back to the Moon. The dates of the remaining shuttle flights are provisional and could change. As has been the case throughout the orbiters' history, a technical hitch or unfavourable weather conditions can always push back a flight by several days. The next shuttle mission on 8 October this year will go to the Hubble Space Telescope to give it one last service. The outstanding orbiter flights are then dedicated to finishing construction of the ISS, and stocking the platform with critical auxiliary components.
The last big structural items that need to be lofted include the fourth, starboard "backbone" segment and the fourth set of solar arrays. These are scheduled to fly on Discovery on 12 February next year. The last major European-built component to go up on a shuttle - on Endeavour on 10 December, 2009 - will be the Cupola window. This observation module was constructed by Alenia Spazio (now incorporated into Thales Alenia Space) in Turin and is currently stored in the Space Station Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. The 1.8-tonne Cupola will act like a control tower for the ISS. Its trapezoidal windows will give astronauts a panoramic view of the platform. They will enter it to observe exterior operations, using controls in the module to guide the robotic arm system as it makes repairs or moves around supplies. "Astronauts are going to love it and they are going to spend every available minute they possibly can in there, just because the view will be so spectacular," explained Jim Flemming from Boeing (the aerospace company did the early concept work on Cupola).
"It will also provide really good photography of the Earth. The glass is good enough for that. The astronauts take a lot of pictures and for the public at large, that's a fantastic benefit," he told the BBC when we visited the Processing Facility in February. With the shuttle retired, the ISS will rely on the European ATV, Japanese HTV and Russian Progress craft for logistics. Nasa is backing commercial operators to take up at least some missionsin the future. Before the US returns to the ISS with Orion, it is expected the station will have been visited by the Falcon/Dragon launch system now in development with SpaceX. The Californian company claims its totally reusable system will dramatically reduce the cost of low-Earth orbit operations. Remaining missions in 2008 8 October - Atlantis: A mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. 10 November - Endeavour: ISS re-supply, and servicing of rotary joints that allow the big solar arrays to track the Sun. Missions in 2009 12 February - Discovery: Final pair of solar arrays to be installed on the starboard end of the station's backbone. 15 May - Endeavour: Delivery of third and final component of the Japanese Kibo Laboratory. 30 July - Atlantis: Largely a logistics mission but it will include spacewalks to install equipment on Europe's Columbus lab. 15 October - Discovery: The flight will take up two spare gyroscopes that are needed to maintain station stability. 10 December - Endeavour: Delivery of the final connecting node, Node 3, together with the European-built Cupola window. Missions in 2010 11 February - Atlantis: Another logistics mission to make sure the station is fully stocked with supplies. 8 April - Discovery: The flight will see the installation of a Russian Mini Research Module to be attached at the rear of the ISS. 31 May - Endeavour: The last flight. The 15-day mission will be the 35th orbiter flight to the station. | |||
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PLANET MERCURY IS SHRINKING/ LIVE 8 REMEMBERED
July 2, 2008
Smallest planet shrinks in size(SCHROLL DOWN FOR LIVE 8 POEM) FROM BBC DAILY NEWS WEBPAGE
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The smallest planet in the Solar System has become even smaller, studies by the Messenger spacecraft have shown. Data from a flyby of Mercury in January 2008 show the planet has contracted by more than one mile (1.5km) in diameter over its history. Scientists believe the shrinkage is due to the planet's core slowly cooling. Studies published in the journal Science show the same process also powers the planet's magnetic field, a topic long debated by scientists. "Cooling of the planet's core not only fuelled the magnetic dynamo, it also led to contraction of the entire planet," said Principal Investigator Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, US. "And the data from the flyby indicate that the total contraction is at least one-third greater than we previously thought." Active youth The Messenger (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft passed within 200km (125 miles) of Mercury earlier this year. It was the first time the planet had been viewed up close since Mariner 10's third and final fly-by in March 1975.
The flyby was one of three to be made by the craft as it prepares to enter into orbit around the Solar System's smallest planet in 2011. Just days after the pass, scientists revealed that they had found evidence of volcanic activity on the planet, previously hinted at by Mariner 10. Further analysis of areas such as the Caloris basin, one of the Solar System's largest and youngest impact basins, found volcanic vents and evidence of "pyroclastic" debris blown from the volcano as it erupted. Other areas contained circular structures with wrinkled edges, similar to structures seen on the Moon and Mars. Scientists believe these are impact craters that have been filled with massive quantities of lava, possibly 2.7km (1.3miles) deep. "That's a lot of lava," said Dr James Head of Brown University. "It shows the planet was really active in its early history." Researchers believe the peak of activity could have been three to four billion years ago. Core effects Sensors, such as the Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS), onboard the craft also revealed details of the planet's atmospheric composition. FIPS recorded silicon, sodium and even water ions around Mercury. Ions are electrically charged atomic particles. The scientists believe these were blasted from the surface of the planet by the solar wind, a stream of charged particles which buffets the Solar System. Mercury's proximity to the Sun means it feels the full force of this wind, blasting atoms into space. Many of these are then trapped by the planet's magnetic field. "The Mercury magnetosphere is full of many ionic species, both atomic and molecular," said Dr Thomas Zurbuchen of the University of Michigan. This magnetosphere is created by the planet's core, which accounts for 60% of the planet's mass. As well as influencing the space around the planet, the core has had an immense influence on surface features. "The dominant tectonic landforms on Mercury, including areas imaged for the first time by Messenger, are features called lobate scarps, huge cliffs that mark the tops of crustal faults that formed during the contraction of the surrounding area," explained Dr Solomon. "They tell us how important the cooling core has been to the evolution of the surface." $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ON THIS DAY: 2005 
TO TAKE A STAND- LIVE 8- 2005
And so the time has come again to sing, dance and play But will we remember the cause and will it stay? As they take the stage all around the world to help with the fight Let's all remember what's wrong and right For coming together for just one day... That's ok.... But we must continue to remember the cause and give what we can For we all must learn to take a stand Against poverty and hardship in every nation and every land And that means every woman and every man So let us rejoice in the music that was sung at Live 8 all day But when we wake up the day after and remember the cause Let us not pause But continue to help our fellow man And continue the fight to take a stand July 3, 2005
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIANA.....THE STARS SPELL OUT YOUR NAME
July 1, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIANA...QUEEN OF PEOPLE"S HEARTS!!!! 36 and COUNTING.....
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 | Rides on Soyuz Spacecraft are Rocky, But Not Risky By Todd Halvorson and Yuri Karash FLORIDA TODAY posted: 30 June 2008 12:17 pm ET |
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The crew of the International Space Station will get a go-ahead next week to perform spacewalking inspections as part of a probe into back-to-back ballistic re-entries by Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Two veteran cosmonauts, meanwhile, say the type of steep trajectories flown by consecutive Soyuz crews are safe-but-rocky rides back to Earth.
"Imagine you drive a luxury car with fine shock absorbers, not feeling the road at all," said Pavel Vinogradov, who served on Russia's Mir space station and commanded an expedition to the new outpost.
"And then suddenly, one of the shock absorbers breaks and you start feeling all the dents and unevenness of the road," he said. "It doesn't mean that your life is in danger. You can still safely drive the car."
A Russian commission aims to pinpoint the cause of the re-entry difficulties. In October and in April, Soyuz crew capsules did not separate cleanly from attached propulsion modules prior to re-entering the atmosphere on the way to landing in Kazakhstan.
That type of failure could cause a Soyuz to plunge with its hatch, rather than its heat shield, facing forward – a lethal situation with re-entry temperatures up to 3,000 degrees.
"Probably the thing that concerns us the most is that the instrumentation and propulsion section did not separate correctly from the spacecraft," NASA space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier said.
Similar trouble almost incinerated a Soyuz during a January 1969 re-entry with cosmonaut Boris Volynov onboard.
NASA is concerned because the Soyuz will be the only spacecraft capable of flying to and from the station after the 2010 retirement of its shuttle fleet. The spacecraft also double as emergency lifeboats at the outpost.
A ballistic re-entry is one in which the spacecraft relies solely on atmospheric drag to slow the vehicle. The U.S. and the former Soviet Union relied on the mode for early human spaceflight. Yuri Gagarin and others flying Vostok spacecraft made ballistic re-entries. So did John Glenn and the rest of the Mercury astronauts. Gemini, Apollo and Soyuz capsules were designed to use aerodynamic lift for more gradual descents that reduce high gravitational forces on crews.
The ballistic mode serves as a backup for the Soyuz. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev says the capability shows the Soyuz design is sound and robust.
Krikalev, who logged 803 days in space and holds the world record for most time tallied in orbit, said it guarantees that Soyuz will land intact.
That's not to say the ride won't be sensational.
The Expedition 16 crew encountered forces eight times normal gravity during a ballistic re-entry on April 19. That's almost triple the 3 G's astronauts experience on shuttles.
The trajectory increased the rate of deceleration and pressed American astronaut Peggy Whitson and her crewmates into custom-molded seats, crushing their lungs, making it hard to breathe.
"I saw 8.2 G's on the meter and it was pretty, pretty dramatic," Whitson said. She called it "an interesting ride."
Soyuz spacecraft comprise three sections.
An orbital module at the front end is equipped with rendezvous and docking systems. A central capsule is known as the descent module; crews strap into its seats for launch and landing.
The back of the spacecraft is an instrumentation and propulsion module. Its contents include steering thrusters and guidance systems.
Investigators think explosive bolts failed to separate the crew capsules and the propulsion modules on the last two missions.
The Soyuz is designed so aerodynamic forces will break the modules apart in any case. But engineers still fear a hatch-first re-entry.
Cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko will venture outside the station July 10 to inspect the bolts on the Soyuz now moored at the outpost.
Gerstenmaier said investigators are making good progress.
"I've made one trip to Russia to go understand how they are progressing with the analysis. They were very open with me. They showed me all the data. They showed me the drawings," he said.
"I saw the physical hardware. I went through a detailed discussion of their engineering processes; they are the same as ours."
Bottom line: "It's not easy flying in space."
Yuri Karash contributed to this report from Moscow.
Published under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2001 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.
Madonna Denied Blast-Off in '08
(TOO BAD....SHE CHOSE A "HARD CANDY"...WET AND STICKY TOUR INSTEAD)
by Natalie Finn
Sep 13, 2006, 5:15 PM PT
It looks as if the Material Girl isn't going to be leaving this material world anytime soon.
"It would be a serious event, considering the TV coverage and the fact that it will coincide with [presidential] elections in the United States and Russia," Mitrofanov, who proposed that an official inquiry be sent to the Russian Federal Space Agency, told the information service RIA Novosti.
Space agency spokesman Igor Panarin explained that there were no seats available on the Soyuz spacecraft until 2009.
"Taking into account her good physical preparedness and financial capabilities, the dream of [Madonna] Louise Ciccone on a space flight could be realized in 2009," Panarin said, using most of the "Like a Virgin" singer's full name--but not all, perhaps acknowledging the objections some of his countrymen have to her onstage biblical imagery. ("The pop star calling herself Madonna is abusing the Cross," Valentin Lebedev, head of the Union of Orthodox Citizens, said during a protest in central
So maybe there will be some vogue-ing at zero gravity at a later date. (And maybe Lance Bass will be able to pony up enough cash by then.)
The first female space tourist, Iranian-American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari, reportedly paid $20 million for the privilege to leave Earth Sept. 18. Three other individuals are said to have paid similar prices for a 10-day jaunt above-and-beyond the globe.
Madonna, who's well on her way to having the highest grossing tour ever for a female music artist, hasn't really needed to leave the planet to have out of this world success, however.
She performed in front of approximately 50,000 fans Tuesday night at
According to authorities, a total of 23 people--some intoxicated--were detained and only seven of them had been trying to protest the shenanigans going on inside the stadium. More than 7,000 police officers were on duty throughout the evening, including 45 dog handlers and 600 riot cops.
This was Madonna's first concert in
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WITH LOVE
ALWAYS,
DANIEL "WINGSAND" REED
aka. ROMEOICON
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