Thoughts On Recent Events

Just a few days ago a mission to the Moon was completed. This mission sent a vehicle to crash into one of the southern craters on the Moon. Specifically, the LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) spacecraft sent it's spent rocket and then itself, on a collision course to the Lunar surface, with hopes of kicking up first the Lunar topsoil and then the Lunar bedrock. This ejecta would then be measured by spectrometers to determine if there really is some underground water ice on the Moon.
Many people decried this as being a waste of money, as is usual when people do not understand science or scientific endeavors. They rail against spending money on something such as this when there are "poor" and "sick" who need the money. This is a misguided pity.
The LCROSS mission is one of the cheapest missions ever undertaken by NASA. The total cost of the mission was 79 million dollars, most of that cost being getting the LCROSS satellite itself into outer space. 79 million dollars may sound like a ton of money, but it is less than 50 cents from every single taxpayer in the USA. Taken that way, it is not a big expense.
This country is currently spending billions (BILLIONS!) a month to fight a war in Afghanistan and to occupy the country of Iran. The benefits from the LCROSS mission could conceivably allow for the development of a Lunar colony. The benefits from the war and the occupation seem to be very vague, such things as "freedom" and "security for America's interests" (i.e. MONEY).
Where is the rage in that? The money being used for these military actions could easily prop up a brand new health care system in the USA, one which would allow for a public option, so that regular people are not enslaved to the multinational insurance companies whose main goal is to make a buck, not to ensure their clients are receiving quality health care.
No one cries about that, instead, the aim their vitriol at NASA. Morons.

APOLLO 11 launch 40th Anniversary

On this day 40 years ago, Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, and Buzz Aldrin set off from the launch pad in Cape Canaveral Florida on a two day trip to the Moon.

These three men, two former Navy test pilots and one Air Force combat pilot, would orbit the Earth one and a half times before igniting their propulsion rockets, sending them on a course to intercept the Moon. On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on a celestial body other than Earth. For two days, Mike Collins circled the Moon, alone, losing radio contact with Earth and the astronauts on the Moon every time he passed "behind" the Moon for 27 minutes at a time.
Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong touched down on the Lunar surface inside the Lunar Module, code-named Eagle. Below is a photograph of Buzz Aldrin and the Lunar Lander, taken by Neil Armstrong.

It is hard to believe that it has been 40 years since humanity first touched another celestial body. -FUPPETS- hopes we go back and beyond, for it is in exploration that humanity achieves it's greatest successes.

Here, for your pleasure, is NASA footage of the Apollo 11 launch. Enjoy and think about what a momentous occasion it was. It was the greatest moment in human history.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin Speaks at the MFAH This Friday

-FUPPETS- has long admired the men and women who have travelled away from Earth's gravity well and outside of the tenuous atmosphere that humans require to live. The few humans who have travelled to the Moon, and the even fewer number that actually touched down on that desolate ball of rock, are some of the greatest heroes that humanity has ever known. Their exploration ignited the world, and showed what humans are truly capable of. To think they did this without a single microprocessor aboard their vehicles or suits is astounding. They did everything with transistors!
This Friday, July 10 2009, one of those men, Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., will be speaking at The Museum of Fine Arts - Houston. Buzz Aldrin has co-authored a book recounting,

America´s historic initial moon landing — from takeoff to splashdown — and the two decades of Aldrin´s profound personal struggle that followed. - ( MFAH )

The book is titled MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION: The Long Journey Home from the Moon. The cover appears below.

-FUPPETS- is highly excited and anticipates a mind-blowing evening. Houston's own Ernie Manouse will be leading the conversation. The event is open to the public, is FREE, and doors open at 6:00 PM. Seating and admission is first come, first serve. The talk begins at 7:00 PM. For more information, contact the Museum of Fine Arts - Houston at 713-639-7360.

This iconic image of Buzz Aldrin was taken by Neil Armstrong, who can be seen in Aldrin's visor's reflection. Click the image to enlarge.

Here are a couple of recent interviews with Buzz Aldrin, the second human to ever touch the Lunar surface.

Moon Walker Buzz Aldrin: Time to Settle on Mars Approaching the 40th anniversary of his historic walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin talks about the state of space exploration and his new memoir, "Magnificent Desolation." - ( Wall Street Journal )

The Man on the Moon: Questions for Buzz Aldrin - ( The New York Times )

(Below is an image of astronaut Aldrin's footprint on the Lunar surface, taken by him on July 20, 1969)

Japan's KAGUYA Spacecraft smashes into Moon (on purpose)

The video above is an astounding motion picture taken by Japan's Kaguya Spacecraft, as it neared it's destination, a crash-landing inside a crater on the Moon's Northern Pole.
The Kaguya Spacecraft was launched on September 14, 2007 and it's main orbiter circled the moon for a year and 8 months, taking high-definition images of the Moon's topography. The plan for the end of the mission was to have it collide on purpose into a lunar crater, and to try and study the impact and whatever may be thrown out of the crater. The primary hope was to discover large amounts of subsurface ice.
The Kaguya craft was ordered to degrade it's orbit in February, and on June 10 it crash-landed on the Moon.

Officially named the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), the spacecraft was given the nickname Kaguya after the princess in the Japanese folklore story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. - ( APOD )

The video is amazing and -FUPPETS- is ridiculously overjoyed to have seen it.
In April of this year, Kaguya captured a most-beautiful Earthrise over the horizon of the Moon.

Supreme ass-kickery.

Chinese Lunar Probe Hits Moon

After mapping the Moon's surface for the past 16 months, the Chinese lunar satellite Chang'e 1 has been deliberately crashed onto the Moon's surface in what scientists are calling a controlled collision. Chang'e 1's mission was to map the entire surface of the Moon.

The Chinese government has announced plans to put a module into orbit and to have one of their space capsules dock with this module, called Tiangong-1, in preparations for a fully manned space station. In 2003 China became the third nation to put a manned vehicle into orbit around the Earth. They expect to launch the module sometime in 2010, and have tentative plans for a Moon mission in 2020. Amazing stuff.

Chandrayaan-1 Rocks The Moon

Chandrayaan-1, the first Lunar spacecraft created and sent by India, has started to send back data from it's Moon Mineralogy Mapper. This is an example of the highly detailed images that are being sent to Earth.

The composite image consists of a subset of Moon Mineralogy Mapper data for the Orientale region. The image strip on the left is a color composite of data from 28 separate wavelengths of light reflected from the moon. The blue to red tones reveal changes in rock and mineral composition, and the green color is an indication of the abundance of iron-bearing minerals such as pyroxene. The image strip on the right is from a single wavelength of light that contains thermal emission, providing a new level of detail on the form and structure of the region's surface.
The Moon Mineralogy Mapper provides scientists their first opportunity to examine lunar mineralogy at high spatial and spectral resolution.

It is these types of missions that will be truly valuable as we attempt to colonize the Moon. With prior knowledge of the mineral content of these Lunar sites, we can better determine where to mine for the minerals that will be needed to construct and maintain any Lunar habitat. The sooner we do this preliminary work the sooner we can all head out to the MOON!

Largest Moon Of The Year, TONIGHT!

Tonight's Full Moon comes super-sized. The Moon reaches it's full phase just a few hours shy of the Moon's perigee, the point in the Moon's elliptical orbit where it comes the closest to the Earth. Because of this, the Full Moon we witness tonight will, visibly, be the largest Full Moon of the 2008 year. At it's apogee, the Moon is far smaller in the night sky. Here is a comparison.

Keep an eye on the sky as you head out tonight to pummel your brains into delirious stupor, and enjoy the beauty.

The Moon Dances With Venus

Earlier, -FUPPETS- brought you word of a beautiful celestial grouping in the evening and early night skies.
In some parts of the world this grouping was even more dramatic, with the "dark side" of the Moon occluding the Evening Star, Venus, for a short period of time as both celestial bodies travelled through our Solar System.

In the above image, brought to us by NASA's Astronomy Picture of The Day and captured in Australia, one can see all the details. This is a composite image which is the only way to capture the faint details as well as the "dark side" of the Moon lit up by "earthshine," which is the light reflected off of the earth from the Sun, bounced off of the Moon, and reflected back to Earth.
Venus is super-bright and about to cross behind the circle of the Moon. In the inset image, from France, you can see Venus as it re-appears after crossing behind the Moon (from Earth's vantage point). In the top, right corner of the image you can see Jupiter and if you look closely, you can also see pin-points of light which are some of the Jovian Moons. Amazing!

Stellar Omens Fuel TEXANS Victory

In a very rare and beautiful display, the planets Venus and Jupiter have sidled up to the crescent Moon, in a pattern that will not repeat until the year 2052. It was a beautiful sight as the sun went down last night and should be so for the coming week. Take the time to go outside and look, for it is a rare and gorgeous thing to see.
It is a rare thing for Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon to be within two degrees of each other. They are so close in the sky that you could put your thumb out and cover all three stellar bodies.

This was taken to mean great tidings for the Houston Texans who played last night in their first ever Monday Night Football appearance. It was a glorious victory over the rival Jacksonville Jaguars.

India is Heading to The Moon!

On Tuesday, the first Indian mission to the Moon, the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, finished it's 5 ever-expanding loops around the earth and fired it's rocket thrusters for a 2.5 minute burn, taking it directly into the path towards Lunar orbit. The image below shows the various orbits the spacecraft took. (Click to enlarge)

Chandrayaan-1 is now on it's way to a rendezvous with the Moon, which it will reach on November the 8th. Once it does that, the engine will be run again to slow it down and achieve what scientists call "lunar orbit insertion." Once this happens the Moon's gravity will slow the spacecraft down and keep it in an elliptical orbit. Several tricky maneuvers will slow it down further until it settles into a circular orbit, 100 kilometers above the surface of the Moon.
The spacecraft is being monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at the Indian Space Research Organisation’s ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore, India. This is the ISRO's first spacecraft to travel away from Earth orbit.
-FUPPETS- wants to see the entire world, or at least those nations wealthy and educated enough to do so, involved in the exploration of space and the development of better equipment to achieve these goals.

Neil Armstrong Donates Personal Papers

Neil Armstrong, test pilot, astronaut, hero, all around curmudgeonly bad-ass motherfucker, has announced his plans to donate his personal papers to his alma mater, Purdue University. These personal papers will serve to "seed" what will become Purdue's comprehensive flight-themed collection.

-FUPPETS- has always held this man in the highest esteem, as well as all the other test-pilots chosen to serve as the U.S.A.'s first astronauts. The first man on the Moon was also the only one packing a camera, a Hasselbladt camera mounted directly onto Mr. Armstrong's space-suit's chest-piece. Because of this there are plenty of shots of "Buzz" Aldrin on the Moon but only a few still images of Mr. Armstrong.

In the image above a tiny Neil Armstrong can be seen in the middle of "Buzz" Aldrin's visor, reflected as he takes a picture of Mr. Aldrin. the following image is a careful close-up of Mr. Aldrin's visor.

In what is the most famous shot in television's short but illustrious history, Neil Armstrong has just stepped on the moon, after uttering his timeless words, "one small step for man...one giant leap for mankind."