Reaching for the moon

Barry Saunders, Raleigh News & Observer

You know 'em. So do I -- seemingly rational people walking upright who think rasslin' is real but the moon landing was fake.

Even if the Apollo moon mission wasn't fake, they ask, what good came out of it?

"Most people would say Tang," Richard Dell said, referring to the allegedly orange-flavored powdered drink a generation of us grew up believing had hydrated the first astronauts.

Dell is kidding, of course. As program manager for the Advanced Vehicle Research Center, he is part of a group of volunteers trying to land a robot on the moon in an international competition to win $30 million.

"I'm talking to you on a cell phone using lithium batteries," he said, citing one byproduct of lunar exploration.

He and his father, Richard Dell Sr., cited the fuel cells that run hybrid cars, as well as laptop computers, invisible braces and GPS systems. Even Velcro -- which appeared too late for those of us who, until an embarrassingly late age, had trouble tying our shoes -- emerged from the space program: Invented in 1941, Velcro reportedly became popular after astronauts began using it to fasten their suits.

The Dells are part of TeamSTELLAR (Space Technology for Exploration, Lunar Landing and Roving, www.teamstellar.org). The first team to build a robot that lands on the moon by December 2012, travels 500 meters over the lunar surface and sends images and data back to Earth wins Google's loot.

Aside from any technological discoveries that may emerge from future lunar exploration, the younger Dell said, "It's amazing how we've tapped into the imagination of young people. A number of retired NASA graybeards have contacted us, but most are in their 20s. ... Literally hundreds of people have sent in resumes."

They'll need literally hundreds "by the time this over," said Alan Rich, space systems integration engineer for TeamSTELLAR. "We have to have people with different areas of expertise," areas that don't always overlap.

What's harder? Raising the robot or raising the astronomical amount of moolah it'll take to get that baby off the ground?

"Money, money, money," Dell said.

Thus, he said, Team STELLAR is seeking "grass-roots donations" and corporate contributions.

Yikes. Isn't there a danger in seeking money from corporations for what seems like such a scientific, even altruism-driven endeavor? What if, in exchange for a sizable donation, a company wants the robot to plant a flag on the moon saying "When visiting Earth, Eat at Sal's"?

"Oh, goodness," Dell said. "That's not the danger; that's the benefit. Imagine having FedEx say they delivered the first package to the moon?"

Dell Sr., co-director of the project, said: "We have tremendous technology. The state already has a significant presence in the aerospace industry. NASA is watching this closely, because as we look to the future, they'll likely want to do a lot of outsourcing" when planning manned moon stations.

Winning, he said, "would be a great benefit to N.C. State University." That's where an open house for TeamSTELLAR will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Building 2 on Centennial Campus.

Here's a question: If the astronauts really did take Tang to the moon, why didn't they leave it? Blecccchhh.

Dad and son share fascination with moon

Dan Conradt, Austin Herald-American

The garage door creaked open just as the evening sky reached that purple point that comes between dusk and dark.

I struggled under its weight and bulk as I carried the telescope to the end of the driveway. I removed the lens cover and slid an eyepiece into the opening, and Steven said "Let me find it."

I moved aside and he pressed his eye to the lens, nudging the telescope back and forth, up and down until he stepped back and proclaimed "Perfect!"

He was right. The moon was four days past "new" and hung in the sky in the kind of a narrow crescent you see in cartoons, minus the smile and the night cap.

The telescope revealed craters and plains that the naked eye could only hint at, and the fascination started all over again..

I was 11 years old when Neil Armstrong took his "giant leap for mankind" on a summer day in 1969.
I spent most of that day listening to a staticky broadcast on a pocket-sized transistor radio as history was made. I was pretty sure there were no little green men waiting to greet them, but I wasn't so sure that Armstrong and Aldrin wouldn't sink into the powdery surface of the moon, or return to Earth with an incurable lunar plague.

But they took much more than "one small step for man" on that day -- they took the first step into the final frontier.

For an 11 year old, that's the stuff of dreams.

We've always had a fascination with the moon -- perhaps because it seems so accessible. And it has assumed a prominent place in our folklore and pop culture.

As kids, we're told that the moon is made of green cheese, and we wait each month for the full moon that will bring the return of "The Man In The Moon".

The owl and the pussycat danced by the light of the moon, and when things go "bump" in the night we blame the moon for giving us werewolves.

When we're in love we're "over the moon", and "Moon River" makes us nostalgic.

I've been fascinated by the moon since I was a kid, and now my son Steven has been bitten by the same bug. As a toddler, dozens of his days ended as I rocked him to sleep while reading "Good Night Moon." As a 3-year-old he could recite the nursery rhyme about the cow that jumped over the moon.

Now that he's 7, we've set aside the notions of green cheese, werewolves and jumping cows, but the sight of the moon inching over the horizon never gets old.

As the moon slowly slid behind the roof of the house, we carried the telescope back into the garage, then Steven brushed his teeth and crawled into bed. He pulled the bedspread up around his chin ... a bedspread covered with glow-in-the-dark stars and moons.

I sat on the edge of the bed and we were quiet for a few minutes, then he asked "Dad, do you think I could go to the moon someday?"

I smiled in the dark and thought about a little boy whose life is fueled by curiosity and imagination.

"I think you can do anything you put your mind to", I told him. "The sky's the limit."

I got up to leave the room just as a moonbeam peaked through the window. "Good night, dad."
"Good night, Steven."

Good night, moon.

Dan Conradt, lives in Austin with his wife, Carla Johnson, and their son.

The Race for the Moon: Asia’s Space Race

Adam C. Castillo, Asia Contributor
The Diplomatic Courier
For the better part of the last half-century Japan has reigned supreme as the preeminent regional power in Asia. Its world-class economy—the world’s second largest in terms of GDP—sustained miraculous growth with little interruption from the 1960’s to the present day, resulting in a trajectory of development unequaled during that period. Japan has thus managed to achieve a unique level of global power based solely on its economic prowess, technological innovation, and ability to adapt to changing markets. With no usable military to speak of, Japan’s influence is effectively demonstrated in terms yen, which to this point has been significant enough to cement them firmly as a top tier international actor. Yet, Japan’s influence has been challenged as of late. With the emergence of other Asian economies, most notably those of China and India, many have suggested Japan to be losing a grip on its stronghold of regional power.

In the midst of this power jockeying a new challenge seems to arise. The past has shown us that space exploration provides a measurable indicator of earthly influence. The United States outpacing the Soviet Union in the Cold War’s space race left a vacuum, so to speak, in man’s celestial ambition. As the sole world power and with no competitive motivation NASA’s programs seemed to lose global validity.

The vacuum is now quickly being filled by nations that are coming of age developmentally and recognize this void as an opportunity to demonstrate their maturation. Russia, India, China, and South Korea, all burgeoning economic forces, have thrown their proverbial hats into this generation’s race for space.

Read more HERE.

Mankind's secrets kept in lunar ark

Maurice Chittenden

The SUNDAY TIMES

IF civilisation is wiped out on Earth, salvation may come from space. Plans are being drawn up for a “Doomsday ark” on the moon containing the essentials of life and civilisation, to be activated in the event of earth being devastated by a giant asteroid or nuclear war.

Construction of a lunar information bank, discussed at a conference in Strasbourg last month, would provide survivors on Earth with a remote-access toolkit to rebuild the human race.

A basic version of the ark would contain hard discs holding information such as DNA sequences and instructions for metal smelting or planting crops. It would be buried in a vault just under the lunar surface and transmitters would send the data to heavily protected receivers on earth. If no receivers survived, the ark would continue transmitting the information until new ones could be built.

The vault could later be extended to include natural material including microbes, animal embryos and plant seeds and even cultural relics such as surplus items from museum stores.

As a first step to discovering whether living organisms could survive, European Space Agency scientists are hoping to experiment with growing tulips on the moon within the next decade.

According to Bernard Foing, chief scientist at the agency’s research department, the first flowers - tulips or arabidopsis, a plant widely used in research - could be grown in 2012 or 2015.

“Eventually, it will be necessary to have a kind of Noah’s ark there, a diversity of species from the biosphere,” said Foing.

Tulips are ideal because they can be frozen, transported long distances and grown with little nourishment. Combined with algae, an enclosed artificial atmosphere and chemically enhanced lunar soil, they could form the basis of an ecosystem.

The first experiments would be carried out in transparent biospheres containing a mix of gases to mimic the earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide given off by the decomposing plants would be mopped up by the algae, which would generate oxygen through photosynthesis.

The databank would initially be run by robots and linked to earth by radio transmissions. Scientists hope to put a manned station on the moon before the end of the century.

The databank would need to be buried under rock to protect it from the extreme temperatures, radiation and vacuum on the moon. It would be run partly on solar power. The scientists envisage placing the first experimental databank on the moon no later than 2020 and it could have a lifespan of 30 years. The full archive would be launched by 2035.

The information would be held in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish and would be linked by transmitter to 4,000 “Earth repositories” that would provide shelter, food, a water supply for survivors.

Nasa sees light

A Nasa satellite has detected radiation emitted trillionths of a second after the big bang, the closest humans have got to directly observing the explosion that created the universe, writes Jonathan Leake.

The pattern of radiation - at 13.7 billion years, the oldest light detected - shows how the universe expanded. The results give scientists the most detailed timeline on the evolution of the universe.

Original article with Comments