Russian Moonrace Surplus Sale?

Hat Tip to Doug Messier at Parabolic Arc

Russia Today is not the most credible source for well-researched news. For more than a year, for example, someone has been promoting the Russian news site with news that the late Cold War Space Shuttle knock-off Buran was going to "save NASA." Because the actual Buran, which unsuccessfully flew a single unmanned orbit around the world before the fall of the Communist government, is now a scrapped piece of playground equipment.

Nevertheless, now RT is reporting The Russians are in discussion with Americans on a joint venture to revive the NK-33 engine, which was developed for the Soviet manned lunar program.

Roscosmos to unveil new spacecraft plans

Roscosmos is expected to name the ship's primary developer, which has competed to win government money for the project. The new spacecraft should become operational towards the end of the next decade, and will replace the esteemed Soyuz capsule, the three-seat craft that has carried Russian cosmonauts into orbit for some forty years.

Although Roscosmos has not publicly disclosed details about the upcoming announcement, it has quietly released its requirements for a future manned transport system to the nation’s space industry.

As a result, some hints about the ship's likely design and its possible missions have been revealed. For instance, the new spacecraft, currently known only by the acronym PPTS, for Prospective Piloted Transport System, would be capable of reaching low-Earth orbit or entering orbit around the Moon.

In disclosing the technical specifications for the proposed spacecraft, Russia has also given a glimpse of its future space program.

The Earth-orbiting version of the spacecraft would weigh 12 ton, carry a crew of six in addition to 500kg of cargo. Its lunar version would weigh 16.5 tons, have four seats and be able to deliver and return 100 kg of cargo. The unmanned cargo version of the spacecraft would be required to carry 2,000kg or more into orbit around the Earth, and return at least 500kg back to the surface.

Roscosmos has reserved the option of a reusable crew module, on the assumption that a cone-shaped capsule could fly as many as 10 missions during its 15-year lifespan.

Although the most capable version of the ship seeks to support lunar missions, "intermediate" configurations aim to complete a variety of other tasks. For instance, Roscosmos wants the future developer to assess the possibility of sending the spacecraft into high-inclination orbits extending towards the poles, a place typically occupied only by Earth-observation and spy satellites.

When in Earth's orbit, the requirements call for the new ship to be able to fly 30-day-long autonomous missions. It must also be able to stay no less than a year in space when docked at the International Space Station, or to a possible future Russian space station.

Russia officially aims for manned moon missions

For only the second time since the disintegration of the Soviet Union the Russian Federation is preparing to choose a new booster design, a heavy lift designed to carry 25 tons into Earth orbit and man-rated to ferry cosmonauts to Earth's Moon.

The only true heavy-lift boosters presently in operation are ESA's high-performiance Ariane V and the Space Shuttle, now only eight missions away from a scheduled retirement in late 2010.

According to a report from the Anatoly Zak, science reporter for BBC News, "Russian space officials say the yet-to-be-named rocket should carry its first manned spacecraft in 2018.

In 2008, Roscosmos finally started quietly soliciting proposals from the industry to develop a brand-new rocket which could support lunar expeditions. All major Russian space firms reportedly vied for the government contract to build the vehicle.

While Roscosmos had never publicised details of the bidding process, a number of Russian space officials hinted that they were close to choosing a winner at the beginning of 2009.

On 14 March, Alexander Chulkov, head of the rocket and launch facilities directorate at Roscosmos, told BBC News that the agency would pick a winner by March 25.

"We have a bidding procedure, under which we made a request for proposals and now will be reviewing those proposals to determine a prime developer, based on the most interesting project from the cost-effectiveness point of view," Mr Chulkov said.

Read the BBC Report HERE.

Venture capital dries up for high-tech

(UPI) -- High-tech entrepreneurs in the United States and elsewhere are finding that investors have turned off the venture-capital spigot, analysts said.

"This is the first time since the Internet bubble burst that Internet companies are facing serious challenges," Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource, told the Los Angeles Times.

New Web sites and other startups are finding that they must become viable within months.

"It's more cutthroat now," said Adeo Ressi, of thefunded.com, a site that tracks venture firms. "If you don't show hockey-stick growth, you don't make it in this market."

The downturn is likely to affect Los Angeles, a center for advertising and entertainment startups. Edgeio, BrightSpot, TripUp and FireBrand are all recent casualties, the newspaper said.

Modern Art Still in Museum on Moon Surface

Stash of Art Treasures, including doodle by Andy Warhol, in leg of Apollo 12 Lunar Module Descent Stage still rumored to be true

(Only one way to find out)

Popular Fidelity

A small sector of conspiracy theorists speculate that man has never set foot on the moon. If that is out of their realm of belief, I’m guessing those naysayers and doubters certainly won’t buy the fact that there’s a mini modern art museum on the moon.

Another amazing fact about these tiny masterpieces is that they traveled into space without the official permission of NASA.

It seems, in 1969 during preparations for Apollo 12, an unnamed NASA engineer helped artist Forrest “Frosty” Myers with his plan to spread art into space. The engineer attached a very small iridium-plated ceramic wafer measuring just 3/4″ x 1/2″ x 1/40″ and including miniaturized reproductions of the artworks to a hatch on the leg of the Intrepid landing module while it was at Bell Laboratories. The Intrepid was left behind on the moon when the astronauts returned to Earth.

The artists whose works were included on the chip were no slouches. In addition to Myers, the other five creative minds who contributed doodles were Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, David Novros, Claes Oldenburg, and John Chamberlain.

That’s right, there is a work by Warhol on the moon. No, it’s not another version of the ubiquitous Campbell’s soup can, but there are two different descriptions of Warhol’s lunar contribution. In a story in the New York Times in 1969 when Myers revealed his distribution of space art, the Warhol work was called “a calligraphic squiggle made up of the initials of his signature.” Others just say it looks like a penis, but that might have been too harsh a description to be printed for public consumption in 1969.

The Times story didn’t hit the stands until two days after Apollo 12 had left the moon, insuring that the space doodles would remain on the moon.

The chip wasn’t the only “art” on the moon’s surface on that historic trip in 1969. It seems some cheeky back-up crew members for the mission snuck some Playboy pictures into the astronauts’ checklists. Those nudes made a return trip to Earth.

Image: Film Year