First Conclusive Signature For Lunar Uranium

Larry Klaes passed to fpspace and I, this information and link.

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/First_Conclusive_Signature_For_Lunar_Uranium_999.html
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First Conclusive Signature For Lunar Uranium

In addition to uranium, the Kaguya GRS data also is showing clear signatures for thorium, potassium, oxygen, magnesium, silicon, calcium, titanium and iron. Reedy and his colleagues are using measurements from the Kaguya lunar orbiter's GRS to construct high-quality maps of as many chemical elements as possible. Kaguya was launched in September 2007 and crashed into the Moon at the end of its mission on June 10 of this year.

Tucson AZ (SPX) Jun 30, 2009

Robert C. Reedy, a senior scientist at the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute, is mapping the Moon's surface elements using data gathered by an advanced gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) that rode aboard the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft.

The data promise to show chemical elements on the Moon that have never been identified before, and Reedy and the Kaguya GRS team already have found uranium signatures in the data, an element not seen in previous Moon-mapping efforts.

The uranium results were recently announced in papers presented at the 40th Lunar and Planetary Conference and at the Proceedings of the International Workshop Advances in Cosmic Ray Science. The lead authors on those papers are Prof. Naoyuki Yamashita and Prof. Nobuyuki Hasebe respectively. Both are from Japan's Waseda University.

Full article here:

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/First_Conclusive_Signature_For_Lunar_Uranium_999.html

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As did SpaceWarper this link.

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Uranium on Luna:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=28605
First Conclusive Signature for Lunar Uranium

PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Monday, June 29, 2009
Source: Planetary Science Institute

Robert C. Reedy, a senior scientist at the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute, is mapping the Moon's
surface elements using data gathered by an advanced gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) that rode aboard the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft
.
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Planetary Science Institute
http://www.psi.edu/

Press Releases
http://www.psi.edu/press/

If not enough Helium 3 for fission reactors, maybe ordinary old Uranium to fuel reactors we already have.
- LRK -


Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
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NASA, Japan Release Most Complete Topographic Map of Earth

A combined effort and a great product.
Good example of what could take place on the Moon.
- LRK -

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http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jun/HQ_09-150_ASTER_Topographic_Map.html
RELEASE : 09-150
NASA, Japan Release Most Complete Topographic Map of Earth

WASHINGTON -- NASA and Japan released a new digital topographic map of Earth Monday that covers more of our planet than ever before. The map was produced with detailed measurements from NASA's Terra spacecraft.

The new global digital elevation model of Earth was created from nearly 1.3 million individual stereo-pair images collected by the Japanese Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER, instrument aboard Terra. NASA and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, known as METI, developed the data set. It is available online to users everywhere at no cost.

"This is the most complete, consistent global digital elevation data yet made available to the world," said Woody Turner, ASTER program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This unique global set of data will serve users and researchers from a wide array of disciplines that need elevation and terrain information."
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I hope we see something like this for the Moon.

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
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LRO Becomes Luney Oriented

Lead the runner, throw the ball, hope it is caught.
Lead the Moon in its orbit, slow a bit upon nearing, hope the Moon's gravitational pull will whip you around in an elliptical orbit and not fling you out around the Sun.

Too slow, maybe not there. There and slowing too much and maybe plow into the Moon. Off on your target and just go whizzing by.

Not all that easy when it was done with pencil and paper and a slip stick. Easier with computer programs that help with the math. (saves on erasers)

Still you tend to hold your breath for a few days. Then there will be the orbit adjustments to circularize and ensure you are in the orbit you expected. Now do all the instruments work?

We did it with Lunar Prospector and now LRO is there to join those that have already arrived for this new season of exploration and hopefully cooperation.
See LUNAR PROSPECTOR MISSION DESIGN AND TRAJECTORY SUPPORT.
AAS98-323 (387kb PDF file)
http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/project/pdf/AAS98-323.pdf
- LRK -

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http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=364119282
LRO Becomes Luney Oriented
June 29, 2009
Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, confirmed the spacecraft's lunar orbit insertion at 6:27 a.m. EDT last Tuesday. During transit to the moon, engineers performed a mid-course correction to get the spacecraft in the proper position to reach its lunar destination. Since the moon is always moving, the spacecraft shot for a target point ahead of the moon. When close to the moon, LRO used its rocket motor to slow down until the gravity of the moon caught the spacecraft in lunar orbit. A series of four engine burns over the next four days placed the satellite into its commissioning phase orbit. During the commissioning phase, each of its seven instruments will be checked out and brought online. The commissioning phase will end approximately 60 days after launch, when LRO will use its engines to transition to its primary mission orbit. For its primary mission, LRO will orbit above the moon at about 31 miles, or 50 kilometers, for one year. The spacecraft's instruments will help scientists compile high resolution, three-dimensional maps of the lunar surface and also survey it at many spectral wavelengths. The satellite will explore the moon's deepest craters, examining permanently sunlit and shadowed regions, and provide understanding of the effects of lunar radiation on humans. LRO will return more data about the moon than any previous mission.
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and from NASA. - LRK -

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http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/
June 29 - A series of activities have been completed which have put LRO in lunar nadir pointing mode. The solar array is now tracking the sun and the spacecraft is flying with the +Z axis (instrument bore sight direction) looking down at the lunar surface. Now we can begin performing the High Gain Antenna and Gyro calibrations.

LRO initiated LOI-5 which was a 230.8 second burn (36 m/s) on Saturday. This placed LRO in a 31x199km 90.2 degree inclination polar orbit. The rocket burns initiated by controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have helped the moon capture LRO into orbit, which arrived after a five-day journey.

LRO begins its primary mission of mapping the lunar surface to find future landing sites and searching for resources that would make possible a permanent human presence on the moon.
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and - want to know where LRO is?
http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/whereislro/

If you see something of interest with LRO, let me know.

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
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The lost NASA tapes: Restoring lunar images after 40 years in the vault

Jeff Marraccini, Director, Computer Systems, Altair Engineering, Inc. http://www.altair.com/ sent me the below link and it brought back memories of NASA Ames and my getting coffee and a bagel at McDonald's on my walk into Ames. Now no Navy Exchange and McDonalds' is McMoon's.

We are coming up on 40 years since we first landed men on the Moon and it is a good reminder that we need to preserve the data from missions past for those who come later and might want to look at the old data in the light of new technology.

I am guilty of watching old 1 inch magnetic tapes from the Pioneer Venus missions being thrown out because they were contaminated by sewer backups in the basement of the building I worked in. Who would want to watch TV interviews of what was found on Venus?

Take a look at the link below. It is an interesting article. Hope you have the time to read.
- LRK -

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The lost NASA tapes: Restoring lunar images after 40 years in the vault
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9134771
A Mac Pro and 40-year-old tape drives are helping restore the original Lunar Orbiter tapes
By Lamont Wood June 29, 2009 12:01 AM ET
Computerworld - Liquid nitrogen, vegetable steamers, Macintosh workstations and old, refrigerator-size tape drives. These are just some of the tools a new breed of Space Age archeologists is using to sift through the digital debris from the early days of NASA, mining the information in ways unimaginable when it was first gathered four decades ago.

At stake is data that could show Earth's risk of an asteroid strike, shed light on global warming and -- perhaps -- even satisfy those who think the moon landings were a hoax.

The most visible of the archeologists is arguably Dennis Wingo, head of Skycorp Inc., a small aerospace engineering firm in Huntsville, Ala. He's the driving force behind the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project, operating out of a decommissioned McDonald's (since dubbed McMoon's) at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. The project's goal is to recover and enhance as many of the original lunar landing images as possible.

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If you like to follow folks on Twitter, ApolloPlus40 is posting twitter as if it was happening back leading up to the Apollo 11 mission.
http://twitter.com/ApolloPlus40
Name ApolloPlus40
Location The Moon
Web http://blogs.nature.com/news/blog/events/apolloplus40/
Bio Nature News twitters the Apollo 11 moon mission as it happened -- 40 years on


Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
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Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands as viewed from the ISS

On the ISS one can look down as well as up.
Sometimes being in the right place at the right time, you catch a view of what is happening here on Earth.

Just when you thought you were the center of attraction, mother Earth clears her throat and puts you in your place.
Be good now.
- LRK -

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http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=38985
Earth Observatory

Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands

A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station allowed the astronauts this striking view of Sarychev Volcano (Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan) in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009. Sarychev Peak is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain, and it is located on the northwestern end of Matua Island. Prior to June 12, the last explosive eruption occurred in 1989, with eruptions in 1986, 1976, 1954, and 1946 also producing lava flows. Ash from the multi-day eruption has been detected 2,407 kilometers east-southeast and 926 kilometers west-northwest of the volcano, and commercial airline flights are being diverted away from the region to minimize the danger of engine failures from ash intake.

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or

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1195215/Stunning-pictures-hole-clouds-astronauts-witness-volcano-eruption-International-Space-Station.html
Stunning pictures of the volcano that blew a hole in the sky as astronauts witness eruption from International Space Station

By Eddie Wrenn
Last updated at 7:46 PM on 25th June 2009
Framed by a circle of clouds, this is a stunning illustration of Nature's powerful force.
A plume of smoke, ash and steam soars five miles into the sky from an erupting volcano.
The extraordinary image was captured by the crew of the International Space Station 220 miles above a remote Russian island in the North Pacific.
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Thanks for looking up with me. [or down in this case, from the ISS]

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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LRO Enters Orbit Around the Moon

http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/

While I was away watching a grandson get married, we went to the Moon. :-)

After all these years of waiting, it happens.
- LRK -

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http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/

LRO Enters Orbit Around the Moon
June 23 - After a successful insertion rocket burn on the morning of June
23, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's orbit was established shortly before
6:30 a.m. EDT.

Rocket burns initiated by controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Md., have helped the moon capture LRO, which arrived after a
five-day journey.

Now LRO begins its primary mission of mapping the lunar surface to find
future landing sites and searching for resources that would make possible a
permanent human presence on the moon.

Over the next several days, LRO's instruments will be turned on and its
final orbit around the moon will be reached.
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and along for the ride is LCROSS
- LRK -

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http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/

On Tuesday, June 23,
LCROSS executed a swingby of the Moon.

LCROSS reached periselene, its closest approach, at 10:30:33 UT, with the
spacecraft passing 1,988 miles (3200 km) from the Moon. The flyby resulted
in a gravity assist from the Moon which put LCROSS into its cruise Lunar
Gravity Assist Lunar Return Orbit (LGALRO).

The swingby also provided mission scientists with an opportunity for
instrument calibration and the return of images from the far side of the
Moon.
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How long had we waited for the Japanese mission SELENE to go to the Moon and
it too has now finished.
http://www.kaguya.jaxa.jp/en/communication/KAGUYA_Lunar_Impact_e.htm

I guess you don't dare blink or events will pass you by.

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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NASA SETS LUNAR SPACECRAFT LAUNCH COVERAGE EVENTS

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http://tinyurl.com/oosy4b

NASA SETS LUNAR SPACECRAFT LAUNCH COVERAGE EVENTS

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, spacecraft are set to launch together to the moon aboard an Atlas V rocket on June 17. Three launch opportunities from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., are at 3:51 p.m., 4:01 p.m. and 4:11 p.m. EDT. NASA Television's coverage of the launch will begin at 1 p.m. EDT.

If the launch is postponed 24 hours, the launch times on June 18 are 5:12 p.m., 5:22 p.m. and 5:32 p.m.
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Counting Down.
- LRK -

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html
LRO Team Gets Visit from Apollo 17's Jack Schmitt

Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt visited NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., on June 3 for an interview with Fox News as part of an upcoming feature commemorating this July's 40th anniversary of the first moon landing.

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Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update ==============================================================