< >
< > [... Speaking of paranoid, polarized earth people...
< > Some interestingly weird & wacky data which
< > references the late, great "Robert A. Monroe," et al...
< >
http://tinyurl.com/297u48
G E T I N O N T H E G R O U N D F L O O R !
"The basic goals in Deuterium Helium-3 fusion
are to use either a tokamak or inertial
electrostatic confinement to control the fusion of
D and He-3 to produce an energetically efficient
and minimally radioactive fusion reaction as a
source of electricity..."
http://tinyurl.com/2wuot7
$$$$$$$$$
Russia, U.S. race to the moon
http://tinyurl.com/2fu2et
MOSCOW. May 2. KAZINFORM -
The United States and Russia appear to be in
a new race to the moon, and an isotope under
the lunar surface may be the prize.
Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported that
Russia claims its efforts to cooperate with the
U.S. National Air and Space Administration's
efforts to explore the moon have been rejected.
"We are ready to cooperate, but for some
reason the United States has announced
that it will carry out the program itself,"
Anatoly Perminov, the head of Russia's
Federal Space Agency Roscosmos told
the Telegraph. "Strange as it is, the United
States is short of experts to implement
the program."
NASA has announced it plans to build an
international base on the moon and staff it
by 2024. The Russian rocket manufacturer
Energia said it would build a moon base
by 2015, the report said.
<
http://www.energia.ru/english/>
Russian officials have said the lunar program
is aimed at the industrial extraction of helium-3,
an isotope fuel for nuclear fusion that some
believe could replace fossil fuels,
Kazinform cites UPI.
The Telegraph said there is suspicion in
Moscow that Washington wants to
monopolize the moon's helium-3 supply.
http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=151044
http://www.energia.ru/english/
http://tinyurl.com/2fu2et
China's first lunar probe to complete four tasks
http://english.people.com.cn/200703/29/eng20070329_362180.html
"Chang'e 1", China's first lunar probe, is scheduled
to be launched during the second half of this year.
It will carry six sets of scientific equipment such as
a 3D, CCD camera and laser altimeter. Using this
equipment, it will complete four major tasks, said
Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of China's moon
exploration program. It will be the first time such
equipment has been used in China, some of
which has only just been developed, said Ouyang.
According to Ouyang in a report carried by
Beijing Daily, the lunar probe has four major
scientific and engineering missions.
Chang'e 1's first mission is to obtain 3D images
of the lunar surface. The probe will carry a
3D CCD camera and a laser altimeter.
The laser altimeter will measure the altitude at
every point on the moon's surface (including at
points within the dark tunnels at the South and
North Poles). By combining these
measurements with the high-precision
CCD images, scientists will be able to put
together a complete and accurate 3D
topographical map of the moon.
Its second task is to analyze the distribution of
14 useful elements and materials below the
lunar surface. Chang'e 1 will use a
gamma/x-ray spectrometer to detect the
distribution of 14 elements on the moon.
Scientists will obtain data about what
resources are available on the moon
and select a site for a permanent lunar base.
The third job of the lunar probe is to assess
the thickness of the lunar soil and reserves
of helium-3 resources. Chang'e 1 will be the
world's first lunar exploration satellite equipped
with a remote microwave sensing device.
This microwave detector can measure the
intensity of objects' microwave radiation and
recognize objects buried deep underground.
Helium-3 is an extremely rare resource that
has been proposed as a substitute for oil.
The fourth task is to explore the space
environment 400,000 kilometers away from
the moon, obtain data about solar winds,
and study the impact of solar activity on the
space environment between the earth and
the moon. Chang'e 1 is equipped with a
high-energy solar particle detector and a
low-energy ion detector and will collect data
about the space environment within a radius
of 400,000 kilometers. This critical data will
be of great value when scientists begin
developing the next-generation of deep-space
exploration technology.
http://english.people.com.cn/200703/29/eng20070329_362180.html
Space Science Nations race to tap moon resources
BY TATSURO HOSHINA
www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200704200093.html
Humans are about to journey again to the moon,
the only celestial body outside Earth that has
seen human footsteps. Japan, the United States,
China and India plan to send probes to orbit the
moon by 2008. They share the common mission
of surveying the moon's resources.
The missions are not only possible precursors to
building a lunar base, they may also signal the
beginning of a race to tap resources on the moon
with the potential to be huge sources of energy.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
plans to launch satellites to orbit the moon in a
project called Selene, after the moon goddess
in Greek mythology who rides a chariot pulled
by a pair of horses through the sky. The agency
explains that the Selene moon observation project
is one of the largest and most accurate to probe
the moon since the Apollo program run by
the United States.
The main satellite will be launched this summer
from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima
Prefecture and will attain a moon orbit at an
altitude of 100 kilometers. The satellite weighs
about 3 tons and is equivalent in size to a minibus.
It is the largest vehicle among probes to be
launched by the four countries by the end of 2008,
and its development costs have reached
about 55 billion yen.
The satellite will contain 14 kinds of observation
devices to thoroughly survey the moon's surface,
and scan beneath it, over the course of a year.
"The Apollo project was a mission in which the
main focus was how to safely send people to
the surface of the moon as seen from Earth,"
said Shinichi Sobue, head of the JAXA Selene
project development team. "Moon science is
full of unknown territory."
In addition to the distribution of elements and
geographical formations, Selene will study the
gravitational field to examine underground
structures and the distribution of iron and other
heavy metals in detail. These data will not only
be used to examine the yet unknown origin of
the moon, but will also provide clues to find
out what sorts of resources valuable to humans
are buried there, and in what quantities.
Japan plans to establish a moon base in
the near future, and in 2004, U.S. President
George W. Bush announced the resumption
of manned expeditions to the moon.
The concept appears to have gained traction
after a 1998 observation mission by the
Lunar Prospector spacecraft from the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
of the United States estimated that 6 billion tons
of ice is trapped at the moon's two poles.
Water is essential to human life, and it would
cost several tens of trillions of dollars just to
transport that much water to the moon.
In other words, a resource valued far over
several tens of trillions of dollars may be
there for the taking, and its existence must
be confirmed before anything else is done.
Materials to construct lunar bases could
eventually be procured locally by processing
natural resources found on the moon.
Hiroshi Kanamori of the space and robot system
group at construction firm Shimizu Corp.'s
Institute of Technology explains that cement
can be made with lunar sand called regolith,
and iron and titanium can be extracted
simultaneously in a reduction process using
an oxide mineral called ilmenite to make oxygen.
Such construction-technology ideas have
already been established, and "NASA would
be able to build a base by 2030 where people
can live for years," Kanamori said.
Even if people wanted to leap further into
deep space, unless we first learn to make
the most of lunar resources, such an
ambition would be out of our depth.
While Japanese and Indian probes will
be devoted to observation and the United
States considers the construction of a lunar
base as a step toward a manned expedition
to Mars, China openly says that its lunar
expedition goal is to boost national prestige
as well as to gain access to the resources.
China successfully launched and retrieved the
manned spaceship Shenzhou 5 in 2003, and
by the end of this year the country plans to
launch a lunar probe called the Chang'e 1,
named after a legendary Chinese goddess
who flew to the moon.
As part of the Chang'e program, a Chang'e 2
probe is planned to include a lunar rover that
will land on the moon, and a Chang'e 3 vehicle
will bring soil samples from the moon's surface
back to Earth. China has ambitious plans to
send astronauts in manned spacecraft to land
on the moon by 2025 at the latest.
An official at the Chinese Academy of Sciences
excitedly talked about helium-3 on the moon
that can be used for nuclear fusion.
The researcher said that the moon can be
a source of storing resources for Earth.
The rare isotope helium-3 makes up only
one-millionth of all the helium on Earth and
it is produced by the nuclear fusion that fires
the Sun. It is believed to travel on
"solar wind"--a flow of particles released from
the sun's corona--that reaches the moon and
is absorbed in sand on its surface because
it has no atmosphere.
Helium-3 can be retrieved if sand is heat-treated,
and if it can be collected from all over the moon,
it is believed that it could potentially supply
energy equivalent to the world's consumption
for several thousands of years. China is
suspected to be drawing up a grand resource
development plan that will attempt to "import"
helium-3 from the moon for nuclear-fusion
power generation.
However, to execute such a plan, there are
mountains of challenges ahead.
According to professor Yuichi Ogawa, director
at the University of Tokyo High Temperature
Plasma Center, nuclear fusion using helium-3
and deuterium would achieve an ideal
"advanced nuclear fusion" with dramatically
reduced radioactive materials compared to
nuclear fusion reactions using deuterium and
tritium that are currently being studied as
cutting-edge technology.
However, a reaction is not easy to attain
without achieving high temperatures of
over 1 billion degrees, so Ogawa explains
that the road is long before attaining
practical applications.
"Nuclear fusion using helium-3 from the
lunar surface was proposed in the 1980s
in the United States, as if stressing the
accomplishments of the Apollo program,"
Ogawa said. "While it is worthwhile in terms
of academic studies at this point, it is still
at the stage of basic research."
When looking closely at China's proposed
program, one can discern a hint of
propaganda in which Beijing is dangling
"practical benefits" to convince its public
about the need for a hasty aerospace
exploration program competing with the
United States.
FACT FILE: Who owns the moon?
International conventions govern the basic
principles for surveying the moon and the planets.
One of them is the Moon Treaty, which stipulates
the moon and its natural resources are the
common heritage of all mankind and denies
ownership by any country, organization or
individual, and outlaws military uses.
However, since the treaty came into effect in
1984, almost no countries involved in space
exploration, including Japan, have ratified it.
The provisions have been mostly in name
only. (IHT/Asahi: April 20,2007)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200704200093.html
***********************************************************
"At the dawn of the space age, Mars
was considered to have an atmosphere
about a tenth the density of Earth's,
water ice polar caps that waxed and
waned with the seasons, and an annual
'wave of darkening' that was often
interpreted as growing plant life."
Malin Space Science Systems April 1995
http://www.msss.com/http/ps/life/life.html
http://www.msss.com/biographies/malin/index.html
$$$$$$$$$
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks
as Evidence of Fluid Alteration on Mars
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/gallery/press/cover_image.html
$$$$$$$$$
Ice Patches Found on Mars
Eyed for Next Mission
By "Ker Than"
<
http://www.livescience.com/blogs/author/kerthan>
Staff Writer -- posted: 02 May 2007
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070502_mars_ice.html
A robotic lander might have to work
harder to dig for ice on some parts
of Mars than others. New findings
show underground ice depth can
vary significantly on the Red Planet,
being right at the surface in one spot
but several feet down nearby.
"We find the top layer of soil has a
huge effect on the water ice in the
ground," said study author Joshua
Bandfield of Arizona State University.
<
https://sec.was.asu.edu/directory/person/51416>
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/express_water_040123.html
The research, detailed in the May 3
issue of the journal Nature, has
implications for NASA's Phoenix mission,
designed to drill down to sample
the Martian ice.
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/060404_phoenix_tech.html
Follow the dust
Bandfield found the nature of the
Martian topsoil determined how deep
the ice was below it. Areas with many
rocks at the surface "pump a lot of heat
into the ground and increase the depth
where you'll find stable ice,"
Bandfield explained.
In contrast, dusty areas tend to
insulate ice, allowing it to climb
closer to the surface.
"These two surface materials-rock
and dust-vary widely across the
ground, giving underground ice a
patchy distribution," Bandfield said.
It was previously thought that Martian
water ice <
http://tinyurl.com/2lvvof>
was located at average depths of
about 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters),
but Bandfield's new study shows it can
be found as close as 2 inches
(5 centimeters) from the surface.
Where to land
Bandfield used computer models to
analyze infrared images of water ice
taken with the Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS)
<
http://themis.asu.edu/>
on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/mars_odyssey_sr.html
The THEMIS images have about
5,000 times higher resolution than
those taken by another Mars Odyssey
instrument, the Gamma Ray
Spectrometer (GRS). Whereas the
smallest object GRS could resolve
was 300 miles (500 km) wide, THEMIS
could spot details the size of a football field.
The patchy underground ice distribution
means care should be taken when picking
a landing spot for Phoenix, a NASA lander
now set to launch later this year on a
mission to sample Martian ground ice
directly and learn more about the water
history of Mars.
Phoenix "may find ground ice is
shallower and much easier to reach
in some spots than in others,"
Bandfield said.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070502_mars_ice.html
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
This map <
http://tinyurl.com/2lvvof>
shows how deep deep you would have
to dig to find water ice on Mars. It is
shown in false colors and was made
using THEMIS <
http://themis.asu.edu/>
temperature measurements.
Blue shows where ice would be
5 centimeters (2 inches) deep, while
red shows an ice depth of more than
18 centimeters (7 inches). The region
lies at 67.5 degrees north and 132 degrees
east, and the scale bar is 6.2 miles long.
Click on the image to download a 1.7MB version.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University
http://tinyurl.com/2lvvof
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070502_mars_ice.html
$$$$$$$$$
The Phoenix Mars Mission
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/
Scheduled for launch in August 2007,
the Phoenix Mars Mission is the first
in NASA's Scout Program.
Phoenix is designed to study
the history of water and
habitability potential in the
Martian arctic's ice-rich soil.
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mission.php
