About the Internet

When I was growing up we had always had radio, then we got a BW TV and we watched the building of Disney Land in southern California. When I got out of the Navy in 1983 a lot of folks had pagers where they could leave a call back number.  I had sold computers on week ends, with new ones popping up while we waited for Osborne 1 to get a larger floppy drive. It used CP/M 2.2 operating system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1

I went to work at NASA Ames Research Center and was exposed to MS-DOS 1.0.  If you wanted to do graphics you could write code that put your bits in the portion of memory that would be scanned for use on the monitor.  Not the most fun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS

As time went on I got a chance to write code for a MAC Quadra 950 to display some Pioneer 10 spacecraft telemetry data containing information about the health of the spacecraft.  One day the IT folks plugged an adapter into the serial port and connected me to the ARCLAN our local area network and suddenly I had a portal into the networking world.  http://qos.internet2.edu/qbone/meetings/rtpQIG/vishyrtp.pdf

Today you can have a cup of coffee and connect to the Internet with WiFi on your laptop or use your smart cellphone to connect to the web through your mobile service provider.
http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/wireless-internet
Even better if your phone also has WiFi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/technology/personaltech/29smart.html

The Internet now is a place to find information and to connect with friends using social network sites.  Where will all of this lead to? Maybe a bit of information on the history of the Internet would be useful to see where we have come from.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
- LRK -

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http://www.isoc.org/internet/
About the Internet

Histories of the Internet
ISOC has gathered links and resources on a range of important Internet topics. Please explore this collection of background material.

All about the History of the Internet. Articles from various organisations and personalities. Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history

Guide to Internet Law
The Internet Society provides this guide as a public service for all interested parties. The guide offers links to many useful legal research sites on the Internet, along with brief descriptions. Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/law

Market Research/Statistics
Statistics, surveys, and Market research regarding the Internet. Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/stats

Infrastructure
Descriptions of the Internet's infrastructure. How is the Internet organised? What are the bodies involved at different levels? Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/infrastructure

Internet Code of Conduct
Guidelines on conduct and use of the Internet. Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/conduct

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A long list of links, some noted here.
- LRK -

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Histories of the Internet
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/

The following links offer a broad range of perspectives on the history of the Internet. The Internet Society cannot guarantee the historical or technical accuracy of all of the material presented, but we hope these resources will give you plenty of starting points for further research.

IUKNOF Internet History Project
http://www.uknof.org.uk/history.html
   The early days of the Internet in the United Kingdom. As a modest first step, individuals who played key roles in the creation and growth of the Internet in the UK are being invited to give presentations at UKNOF meetings.

Imagining the Internet: A History and Forecast
http://www.imaginingtheinternet.org/
   A diverse collection of resources by Elon University and Pew Internet Project including concise historical information, current Internet governance discussions, and predictions about the future of the Internet.

A Concise Guide to the Major Internet Bodies
http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v6i5_simoneli.html
   By Alex Simonelis

Who is Who in the Internet World (WiWiW.org)
http://wiwiw.org/
   A perpetual archive devoted to Internet pioneers worldwide.

Internet History and Growth (PPT: 1MB)
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/2002_0918_Internet_History_and_Growth.ppt
   Presentation by William Slater III - Chicago Chapter of the Internet Society

A Brief History of the Internet
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml
   by those who made the history, including Barry M. Leiner, Vinton G. Cerf, David D. Clark, Robert E. Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Daniel C. Lynch, Jon Postel, Lawrence G. Roberts, Stephen Wolff.

[Note:  Many more links. - LRK -]
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A lot of information here even if it does say "A Brief History of the Internet."
- LRK -

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A Brief History of the Internet
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml

Barry M. Leiner, Vinton G. Cerf, David D. Clark,
Robert E. Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Daniel C. Lynch,
Jon Postel, Larry G. Roberts, Stephen Wolff

   * Introduction
   * Origins of the Internet
   * The Initial Internetting
   * ConceptsProving the Ideas
   * Transition to Widespread Infrastructure
   * The Role of Documentation
   * Formation of the Broad Community
   * Commercialization of the Technology
   * History of the Future
   * Footnotes
   * Timeline
   * References
   * Authors

Introduction

The Internet has revolutionized the computer and communications world like nothing before. The invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer set the stage for this unprecedented integration of capabilities. The Internet is at once a world-wide broadcasting capability, a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic location.

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If the above is too much to digest, maybe a look at Wikipedia would suffice.
- LRK -

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History of the Internet - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

Before the wide spread of internetworking (802.1) that led to the Internet, most communication networks were limited by their nature to only allow communications within the stations on the local network and the prevalent computer networking method was based on the central mainframe computer  model. Several research programs began to explore and articulate principles of networking between physically separate networks, leading to the development of the packet switching model of digital networking. These research efforts included those of the laboratories of Donald Davies (NPL), Paul Baran (RAND Corporation), and Leonard Kleinrock at MIT and at UCLA. The research led to the development of several packet-switched networking solutions in the late 1960s and 1970s, including ARPANET and the X.25 protocols. Additionally, public access and hobbyist networking systems grew in popularity, including unix-to-unix copy (UUCP) and FidoNet. They were however still disjointed separate networks, served only by limited gateways  between networks. This led to the application of packet switching to develop a protocol for internetworking, where multiple different networks could be joined together into a super-framework of networks. By defining a simple common network system, the Internet Protocol Suite, the concept of the network could be separated from its physical implementation. This spread of internetworking began to form into the idea of a global network that would be called the Internet, based on standardized protocols officially implemented in 1982. Adoption and interconnection occurred quickly across the advanced telecommunication networks of the western world, and then began to penetrate into the rest of the world as it became the de-facto international standard for the global network. However, the disparity of growth between advanced nations and the third-world countries led to a digital divide that is still a concern today.

Following commercialization and introduction of privately run Internet service providers in the 1980s, and the Internet's expansion for popular use in the 1990s, the Internet has had a drastic impact on culture and commerce. This includes the rise of near instantcommunication by electronic mail (e-mail), text based  discussion forums, and the World Wide Web. Investor speculation in new markets provided by these innovations would also lead to the inflation and subsequent collapse of the Dot-com bubble. But despite this, the Internet continues to grow, driven by commerce, greater amounts of online information and knowledge and social networking known as Web 2.0.

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In communicating about this subject with John, he mentioned that Robert Sawyer has written some science fiction about what the Internet might develop into.
WWW:wake, WWW:watch, WWW:wonder

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The World Wide Web wakes up
http://www.sfwriter.com/index.htm

   "Lately, I've been inspired by ideas from Robert J. Sawyer."
   —Artificial-intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky

   * WWW: Wake: Hugo finalist! • Aurora winner! • Starred Publishers Weekly review!
     http://www.sfwriter.com/exw1.htm

   * WWW: Watch: Canadian bestseller! • "This is science fiction at its best." —Analog
     http://www.sfwriter.com/exw2.htm

   * WWW: Wonder: The concluding volume — coming soon!
     http://sfwriter.com/blog/?p=2367

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Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
 =============================================

WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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Star Wars Meets UPS as Robonaut Packed for Space

Pack your bags, we are going to the ISS and don't leave Robonaut  2 behind.
- LRK -

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Star Wars Meets UPS as Robonaut Packed for Space
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/behindscenes/robonautpacking.html

Getting into space isn't necessarily easy for astronauts, and it's not much easier for a robotic astronaut, either.

Cocooned inside an aluminum frame and foam blocks cut out to its shape, Robonaut 2, or R2, is heading to the International Space Station inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module in space shuttle Discovery's payload bay as part of the STS-133 mission.

Once in place inside the station, R2, with its humanlike hands and arms and stereo vision, is expected to perform some of the repetitive or more mundane functions inside the orbiting laboratory to free astronauts for more complicated tasks and experiments. It could one day also go along on spacewalks.

Making sure the first humanoid robot to head into space still works when it gets there has been the focus of workers at NASA's Kennedy and Johnson space centers. Engineers and technicians with decades of experience among them packing for space have spent the last few months devising a plan to secure the 330-pound machine against the fierce vibrations and intense gravity forces during launch.

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Trip should take place in November on STS-133.  Hopefully there will be some follow up as to how R2 helps the astronauts.
- LRK -

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Space Shuttle Mission: STS-133
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
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Launch Preps Move Ahead for Mission to International Space Station

Image
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/153212main_robonautlindsey430x.jpg

Image above: STS-133 Commander Steve Lindsey talks about Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot built to assist astronauts on the International Space Station. R2, as the machine is known, is going to fly aboard Discovery during the STS-133 mission. He will remain on the station after Discovery returns to Earth. Photo credit: NASA
› Larger image http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/180842main_robonautlindsey.jpg

During space shuttle Discovery's final spaceflight, the STS-133 crew members will take important spare parts to the International Space Station along with the Express Logistics Carrier-4. Discovery is being readied for flight inside Kennedy's Orbiter Processing Facility-3 while its solid rocket boosters are stacked inside the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building. STS-133 is slated to launch Nov. 1.

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Read up on the history behind R2, JSC, DARPA, GM..
- LRK -

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R2 Latest Update
Project M History and Driving Philosophy
http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/default.asp

Project M was conceived last fall in the Engineering Directorate at the Johnson Space Center. There were several things swirling in the environment at the time. One was a simple management desire to coordinate the technology efforts going on across the Directorate. We were already doing significant work advancing  LOX/LCH4 propulsion systems -work funded at multiple centers by the Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP). We were already leading the development of the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology Project (ALHAT), also funded by ETDP. We also had this magnificent machine we had built with General Motors, Robonaut 2 (R2), funded primarily by GM. Coordinating those and other disparate efforts and focusing them toward a project with tangible milestones seemed sensible in order to leverage the greatest return from those investments.
Continue Reading
http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/future/HistoryandPhilosophy/#continued

Background

The idea of using dexterous, human-like robots capable of using their hands to do intricate work is not new to the aerospace industry. The original Robonaut, a humanoid robot designed for space travel, was built by the software, robotics and simulation division at Johnson in a collaborative effort with the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency 10 years ago. During the past decade, NASA gained significant expertise in building robotic technologies for space applications. These capabilities will help NASA launch a bold new era of space exploration.

The first generation Robonaut was designed by the Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Johnson Space Center in a collaborative effort with DARPA. The Robonaut project seeks to develop and demonstrate a robotic system that can function as an EVA astronaut equivalent. Robonaut jumps generations ahead by eliminating the robotic scars (e.g., special robotic grapples and targets) and specialized robotic tools of traditional on-orbit robotics. However, it still keeps the human operator in the control loop through its telepresence control system. Robonaut is designed to be used for "EVA" tasks, i.e., those which were not specifically designed for robots.

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Now here is a thought.
- LRK -

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Why the U.S. government terminated the CEO and shareholders of GM.
Aug 5, 2010
http://nbgazette.com/index.php?entry=entry100805-203847

Meet Robonaut 2 – or R2 for short – the humanoid robot designed jointly between GM and NASA through a Space Act Agreement at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Faster and more dexterous than any other humanoid robot, Robonaut 2 can work side-by-side with humans in a work environment –thanks to “leading edge control, sensor and vision technologies” — and could eventually be used to assist astronauts with dangerous missions. R2 is a state of the art highly dexterous anthropomorphic robot.

Advanced technology spans the entire R2 system and includes: optimized overlapping dual arm dexterous workspace, series elastic joint technology, extended finger and thumb travel, miniaturized 6-axis load cells, redundant force sensing, ultra-high speed joint controllers, extreme neck travel, and high resolution camera and IR systems. The dexterity of R2 allows it to use the same tools that astronauts currently use and removes the need for specialized tools just for robots.

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Project M was conceived last fall in the Engineering Directorate at the Johnson Space Center. Robonaut 2 (R2), has been funded primarily by GM using government bailout money. NASA and General Motors are working together to accelerate development of the next generation of robots and related technologies.

Why do they need to accelerate development? Why now?

GM went into bankruptcy because they made and still make cars and trucks nobody wants. The U.S. government didn’t force GM into bankruptcy to take it over and continue to make over priced gas guzzling vehicles. The U.S. government bought GM for its cutting edge Ai (Artificial intelligence) technology. GM is now being used as a front to finance new stealth military AI technology. On the government financial books it will state GM bailout funding but the funding is actually to build a new army. An army of Ai soldiers. NASA and now the U.S. owned GM have teamed up to make perhaps the most frightening thing imaginable.

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Maybe I should go watch the movie "I Robot" again. :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343818/

I guess you can check in on what Robonaut 2 has to say, oops, no voice, how about text.
- LRK -

http://twitter.com/AstroRobonaut
AstroRobonaut

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NASA's Robonaut 2 To Tweet From Space
http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1898797/nasas_robonaut_2_to_tweet_from_space/index.html
Posted on: Saturday, 31 July 2010, 07:35 CDT

Download full size image
NASA's Robonaut 2 To Tweet From Space

Posted on: Saturday, 31 July 2010, 07:35 CDT

NASA's Robonaut 2 has no voice but is ready to tell you its story -- in 140 characters or less. The prototype robot will travel to space this fall to give NASA a deeper understanding of human-robotic interaction.

Called R2, the robot has started sending updates about its upcoming mission from its new Twitter account, @AstroRobonaut. With the help of its supporting team, R2 will document its preparations for launch and, eventually, its work aboard the International Space Station.

"Hello World! My name is Robonaut 2 -- R2 for short," R2 and the team tweeted this week. "Follow my adventures here as I prepare for space!"

Follow R2's updates on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/AstroRobonaut

The public will get the first chance to interview the robot when R2 and its team answer questions submitted via Twitter at 10 a.m. on Aug. 4. Twitter followers can submit their questions to R2 in real time by including the hashtag #4R2 in their questions tweeted to @AstroRobonaut.

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 Red planet Intro & AMEE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d37JWwzcTR4

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/

=============================================

WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

=============================================

NASA Invites Media to Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Arrival

Interesting instrument to launch on the last scheduled space shuttle.
- LRK -

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http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_M10-111_AMS_Event.html
MEDIA ADVISORY : M10-111

NASA Invites Media to Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Arrival

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA will host a media event at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Aug. 26, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the arrival of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). The state-of-the-art device to further our understanding of the universe will launch to the International Space Station during the last scheduled space shuttle flight next year.

The AMS will arrive for processing at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility at 11 a.m. aboard an Air Force C-5 aircraft. The instrument, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is a particle physics detector constructed, tested and operated by an international team representing 16 countries.

During the media event, reporters will have an opportunity to speak with AMS' principal investigator, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Samuel Ting of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Mark Sistilli, NASA's program manager for AMS. Other members of the international AMS team, flight processing project managers, DOE staff and European Space Agency officials, whose facilities were used in testing the experiment, also will be available for interviews.

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The AMS instrument has a lot of international interest and participation.
- LRK -

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/AMS-02.html
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer - 02 (AMS-02)     07.23.10

Brief Summary

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer - 02 (AMS-02) seeks to understand fundamental issues on the origin and structure of the universe.
Principal Investigator

# Spokesperson: Samuel Ting, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
# Deputy Spokesperson: Roberto Battiston, Prof., INFN and University of Perugia, Italy

Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

# Qiuliang Wang, Prof., Academia Sinica, Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEE), Beijing, China 

# He-Sheng Chen, Prof., Academia Sinica, Institute of High Energy Physics, Beijing, China
# Qinghao Ye, Prof., Jiao Tong University, Department of Physics, Shanghai, China
# Lin Cheng, Prof., Shandong University, Tsinan, China
# Junzhou Luo, Prof., Southeast University, Nanjing, China
# Zhenhui He, Prof., Sun Yat-Sen University, School of Physics and Engineering, Guangzhou, China
# Dong-Chul Son, Prof., Ewha Women's University, Seoul, Korea
# Shih-Chang Lee, Prof., Academia Sinica, Institute of Physics, Taipei, Taiwan
# Yuan-Hann Chang, Prof., National Central University (NCU), Taipei, Taiwan
# Ari Mujunen, Prof., Helsinki University of Technology, Metsähovi Radio Observatory, Kylmala, Finland
# Timo Eronen, Prof., University of Turku, Space Research Laboratory, Turku, Finland
# Silvie Rosier, Ph.D., Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de
Physique des Particules (IN2P3), Laboratoire d'Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique des Particules (LAPP), Annecy-Le-Vieux, France
# Laurent Derome, Prof., Universite Joseph Fourier (Grenoble 1), Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC), Grenoble, France
# Agnieszka Jacholkowski, Prof., Université Montpellier II, Laboratoire de Physique Theorique & Astroparticules (LPTA), Montpellier, France
# Stefan Schael, Prof., Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH), I. Physikalisches Institut (B), Aachen, Germany
# Wim De Boer, Prof., Karlsruhe Institut fur Technologie (KIT), Universität Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany
# Andrea Contin, Prof., Sezione INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
# Guido Castellini, Istituto di Ricerca sulle Onde Elettromagnetiche, IROE, CNR, Firenze, Italy
# Pier-Giorgio Rancoita, Ph.D., Sezione INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
# Bruna Bertucci, Prof., Sezione INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy
# Marco Incagli, Ph.D., Sezione INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
# Bruno Borgia, Prof., Sezione INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi di Roma 'La Sapienza', Roma, Italy
# Piersimone Marrocchesi, Prof., Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italy
# Johannes Van Es, Ph.D., Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium (NLR), Emmeloord, Netherlands
# Fernando Barao, Prof., Laboratorio de Instrumentacao e Fisica Experimental de Particulas (LIP), Lisbon, Portugal
# Ramon Garcia Lopez, Prof., Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), La Laguna, Spain
# Martin Pohl, Prof., Departement de Physique, Université de Genève, Geneve, Switzerland
# Manuel Aguilar-Benitez, Prof., Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales y Tecnologicas (CIEMAT), Madrid, Spain
# Andre Rubbia, Prof., Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich (ETHZ), Zurich, Switzerland
# Eun Suk Seo, Prof., University of Maryland, Institute for Physical Science and Technology (IPST), College Park, MD
# Jack Sandweiss, Prof., Yale University, Physics Department, New Haven, CT
# Arturo Menchaca-Rocha, Prof., Universidad Nacional Autonoma (UNAM), Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Mexico City, Mexico

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Description

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector constructed, tested and operated by an international team composed of 60 institutes from 16 countries and organized under United States Department of Energy (DOE) sponsorship. The AMS-02 will use the unique environment of space to advance knowledge of the universe and lead to the understanding of the universe's origin by searching for antimatter, dark matter and measuring cosmic rays.

Experimental evidence indicates that our Galaxy is made of matter; however, there are more than 100 hundred million galaxies in the universe and the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe requires equal amounts of matter and antimatter. Theories that explain this apparent asymmetry violate other measurements. Whether or not there is significant antimatter is one of the fundamental questions of the origin and nature of the universe. Any observations of an antihelium nucleus would provide evidence for the existence of antimatter. In 1999, AMS-01 established a new upper limit of 10-6 for the antihelium/helium flux ratio in the universe. AMS-02 will search with a sensitivity of 10-9, an improvement of three orders of magnitude, sufficient to reach the edge of the expanding universe and resolve the issue definitively.

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[Note: much more information about instrument and participants at the link above.  - LRK -]
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More info on AMS 02

- LRK -
 

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http://ams.cern.ch/
AMS 02

 An experiment to search in space for dark matter, missing matter & antimatter on the international space station.  Manifested on shuttle flight UF 4.1 to the ISS ("Interim Assy Seq Rev F")

-----------------
http://www.ams02.org/
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector designed to operate as an external module on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for antimatter, dark matter while performing precision measurements of cosmic rays composition and flux. The AMS-02 observations will help answering fundamental questions, such as "What makes up the universe's invisible mass?" or "What did happen to the primordial antimatter?"

WELCOME!
April 9th, 2010

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Team welcomes you to the new AMS-02 website.   We are an international group of scientists, from 16 countries and 3 continents, working together since 15 years at one of the most complex scientific instruments ever built to be operated in space. One hundred years after the discovery of Victor Hess of an energetic radiation coming from the depth of space, the “cosmic rays”, AMS-02 will study its composition with an accuracy never obtained before, close to 1 part in 10 billions and up to an energy equivalent to thousands of times the mass of the proton. Operating on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than 10 years, starting in 2010, the goals of this experiment are to search for ultra rare or new types of matter, to extend by orders of magnitude the sensitivity to the existence of nuclear antimatter as well to understand the origin of dark matter, the dominating but mysterious form of matter in our universe.
(read more http://www.ams02.org/2010/04/welcome/)

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Hmmm, ..... AMS0-02 is a state-of-the-art experiment pursuing ambitious scientific goals. However, it is also the unique story of 15 years of effort of more than 600 scientists and engineers, from senior professors to undergraduate students, coming from 56 institutes from 16 nations distributed on 3 continents. ....

I wonder what you could do if you had that kind of dedication to setting up an observatory on our lunar neighbor?  Just wondering, I really don't think we have been there and done that!!!
- LRK -

One more hmmmm.  Like a number of missions, there have been delays in being launched and changes in configuration.  One really has to be dedicated to a cause to bring about a positive result when you are in a real world situation.  The ability to adapt and hold to a future vision is something that the human spirit is good at.  Take a look at the Wikipedia link and you will see what I am talking about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Magnetic_Spectrometer

"Make it so"
http://www.archaeology.org/0101/newsbriefs/cleopatra.html
;-)


Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/

=============================================

WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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The Apollo Model: Stronger than Obama - Something to think about

The comments about the Constellation program just being another Apollo on Steroids, and Been There, Done That, did not set well with some including yours truly.  I had seen the mission as a step for us to settle the Moon and to develop its resources.  I was not thinking about just placing a flag and saying what a good boy am I.  I wasn't thinking in terms of placing a flag on top of the highest mountain, or setting a record of the deepest dive in the ocean, I really felt we needed to show we could live off world or prove to ourselves that planet Earth was going to be the only place we could call home, for eternity.

Obviously not all think that way.  Changing the course of action for a large massive body is not easy and putting a new face on NASA isn't either.  The below article has some ideas that might be of interest.
- LRK -

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http://www.hudson-ny.org/1443/nasa-apollo-obama
The Apollo Model: Stronger than Obama
by Taylor Dinerman
August 2, 2010 at 5:00 am

Perhaps the primary goal of the Obama administration's 2011 budget NASA proposal was to kill, once and for all, the Apollo Moon mission model that has determined the way the US space agency operates for nearly the last 60 years.

The so-called compromise proposal that unanimously passed the Senate Commerce Committee on July 15th gutted most of the Obama proposal. The House version does even more damage to the administration's  proposal.  While the Bush era Constellation program would seem to be dead, at least in name, its substance has survived for at least another year. There is a lesson here, not only for those who would reform NASA, but also for those who want to reform any reasonably sized government agency.

The first lesson is: Do not ignore Congress. NASA as it exists is the product of decades of Congressional action. Reformers may believe that they know what the agency needs, but without Congressional support, they have no hope of making a difference; all they can achieve is to demoralize and confuse their workforce.

Second, do not think that a study committee can substitute for in-house policy development. The Augustine Committee included some of the best minds in the US space industry, but it must, in the end, be regarded as a failure. Its conclusions seem to have been based on arbitrary budget assumptions. To many in Congress and elsewhere, its report was pre-cooked and was largely designed to undo the progress made by Mike Griffin towards a return to the Moon.

NASA's relationship with the Moon is the key to understanding its institutional bias. This is not simply due to nostalgia for the glory days of Apollo, but is based on an understanding of the strategic "geography" of the solar system. Our planet's satellite, thanks to its position and its small size, makes it an ideal base from which to explore the solar system, and, if necessary, to dominate the Earth. It has been described as a "Gibraltar Point" possession, which entails control over access to and from the surface of the Earth to the rest of our celestial neighborhood. Neither the US nor anyone else has plans, at present, to build military bases on the Moon, but that may change. A US civilian base on the Moon would be a strong deterrent to such a development.

These facts have long been built into the DNA of US space policy. Abandoning the Constellation Moon plan aroused in the Congress, and in parts of the US space industry, a fear that we were giving up that deterrent in favor of a vague, unfocused set of promises that could later be discarded at little or no political cost. The "Compromise" plans that have come out of the House and Senate are by no means satisfactory, but they give NASA a solid foundation on which to develop a future plan to return to the Moon if a future President or Congress wanted to make that commitment.

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Jeff Foust writes about Griffin’s critique of NASA’s new direction at the Thirteenth Annual International Mars Society Convention in Dayton,  Ohio.  I have a included a few biased snips.  You should probably read the whole article to get the full picture.
- LRK -

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http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1678/1
Griffin’s critique of NASA’s new direction
by Jeff Foust
Monday, August 9, 2010

Former NASA administrators are not generally known for being outspoken about space policy after their tenures running the agency. They tend to go on to other pursuits, often outside of space entirely, rarely holding forth on NASA in any public capacity. Sean O’Keefe focused his attention first on running a university, LSU, and more recently as an aerospace executive, emphasizing the “aero” more than the “space”. His predecessor, Dan Goldin, was NASA administrator for nearly a decade but virtually dropped out of sight afterwards, beyond the odd situation in late 2003 when he was selected to become president of Boston University only to have his contract bought out immediately before he was to take office.

Mike Griffin, however, is not content to remain quiet during this period of upheaval in space policy. The administrator who oversaw the formation and initial development of the Constellation architecture—most notably the Ares 1 rocket and Orion capsule—is clearly not happy to see the White House and even Congress willing to dismantle part or all it in favor of a new approach to human space exploration. Speaking Friday at the Thirteenth Annual International Mars Society Convention in Dayton, Ohio, Griffin made perhaps his strongest criticism yet of the administration’s plans, as well as described what he thinks a space program should do.

snip

Griffin also suggested that the plan didn’t put much thought into the decision to defer a human return to the Moon in favor of a mission to a near Earth asteroid by 2025. The made that choice, he suggested, “apparently without realizing that the delta-V to get to almost all asteroids is higher than the delta-V to get to Mars” with similarly long travel times and limited launch windows. “In a number of ways reaching asteroids can be harder than reaching Mars.”

He was skeptical of the plan’s emphasis on “gamechanging” technologies to enable human space exploration. “Any time I develop a new technology I potentially change someone’s game,” he said. “Without a plan, I don’t know what game, I don’t know if it’s the game I ought to be changing, or if it’s a high-value game or a low-value game, but I’m going to change something, so it’s pretty easy to promise that I’ll do gamechanging technologies.”

snip

Griffin summarized his opinion of the White House plan for NASA in a single sentence: “We’re not going anywhere and we’re going to spend a lot of money doing it.” He referred to a 2007 essay he wrote for Aviation Week  where he concluded that the agency actually received more inflation-adjusted funding in its last 15 years than it did in its first 15. “The US space program has not accomplished as much in its last 15 years as in its first 15 years, given more money,” he said. “So, if you like that, you’ll really like the next decade, in which we do almost nothing and spend just as much.”

snip

Griffin had more specific concerns about relying on commercial providers without any sort of government backup vehicle. One is the worry about the loss of access to space should a commercial provider have an accident. “How does the provider stay in business?” he asked, if the damages created by the accident exceed the value of the company. He also noted that if only a single commercial crew provider emerges, it could charge NASA exorbitant rates since the agency would have nowhere else to turn. “How do we protect ourselves from monopoly pricing?”

One solution he had to those concerns was to continue development of a government human spaceflight system, one that would be a backup if a commercial provider had an accident—or never entered service at all—of and also protect against monopoly pricing if there’s only one provider. “If there’s a government capability, then we’re okay,” he said.

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And what is NASA's 2010 budget, something iike $18.6 billion and for 2011 $19 billion.  We are excited about where $6 billion is to be re-distributed.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/344612main_Agency_Summary_Final_updates_5_6_09_R2.pdf
http://news.softpedia.com/news/NASA-Gets-19-Billion-Budget-for-2011-148905.shtml
By Tudor Vieru, Science Editor
July 24th, 2010, 07:24 GMT

 Forget all of that and come back from recess to vote on $26 billion to save jobs.
- LRK -

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http://thehill.com/homenews/house/112647-house-may-cut-recess-short-to-move-26b-state-aid-package
Pelosi calls on House to return next week to move $26B state aid package
By Russell Berman, Alexander Bolton, and Julian Pecquet - 08/04/10 08:44 PM ET

Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw lawmakers’ summer plans into chaos Wednesday, announcing the House will interrupt its six-week recess and return to Washington next week to act on Medicaid and education funding for states.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the news via Twitter, saying, “I will be calling the House back into session early next week to save teachers’ jobs and help seniors & children.”

Pelosi made the decision in consultation with congressional leaders following the Senate’s morning vote to move forward on the $26.1 billion aid package. The Senate is expected to pass the bill Thursday.

A K Street lobbyist said the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) pushed Pelosi to call back the House for the vote. States would have to lay off thousands of teachers if Congress doesn’t approve the money by the end of August.

Schools have laid off teachers in significant numbers throughout the year. Senate Democrats fear a delay in state aid could lead to additional firings.

“With an indication the funds are coming, we hope that states and school districts can plan accordingly,” said a Democratic aide.  Pelosi seemed to acknowledge the importance of the education money in her tweet when she wrote the return was “to save teachers’ jobs.”

The House will hold its vote on the package Tuesday.

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Space may be the place, then again, the money is controlled by those here on Earth.
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
 

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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ISS Repair Space Walk: A Glimpse Into the Station's Future

This is sooooh cool, or not if you happen to be on the ISS.  Still, I think it is great that the astronauts are going to have to be more prepared to react to the unscheduled happenings caused by breakdowns.  I know, you think that is cruel of me to think good of accidents, but if you want to go to Mars you will have to be able to take care of yourselves.  No one is going to send up a shuttle with specially trained fix it personnel, you will have to improvise and fix the problem yourself.
Read James Oberg's post and see if you don't agree.
- LRK -

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ISS Repair Space Walk: A Glimpse Into the Station's Future
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/space-flight/iss-repair-space-walk-a-glimpse-into-the-stations-future

NASA is changing the way it handles hardware problems
By James Oberg  /  August 2010

6 August 2010—The dramatic emergency-repair space walks assigned to astronauts Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson aboard the International Space Station (ISS) tomorrow signify much more than the repair itself. The astronauts are the first to employ an entirely new mode of spacecraft maintenance. Previous approaches to keeping the 380-metric-ton orbital outpost functional are being retired, along with the United States’ space shuttle fleet. Astronauts should expect this new emergency-repair scenario for the remainder of the station’s lifetime, which could be decades.

From now on, urgent repairs will be performed entirely by broadly trained space-station crews, not by specialized teams on brief shuttle visits as was previously done. These crews will use stocks of spare parts left inside and outside the station by the final visiting shuttles. These resources are being sent up based on a careful analysis of the ”mean time between failure” (MTBF) of the spacecraft’s components, which are designed to last for years in space.
snip

The usual preparation period for a Big 14 task is two weeks. But because of a fortunate coincidence (good luck is also known to occur in space), a space walk was already on the schedule, so many of the required preparations have already been done. This allowed the two weeks to be squeezed down to about seven days. That put some pressure on workers at mission control and the crew. But in the tradition of the Apollo 13 crisis, astronauts and ground controllers have responded. And, after this first time, they will have to do so again and again in the years ahead.

About the Author

James Oberg worked as an aerospace engineer at NASA for 22 years. He switched to journalism in the late 1990s and now makes his living reporting on space for such outlets as Popular Science, NBC News, and of course, IEEE Spectrum. He interviewed Wesley T. Huntress, author of NASA’s new manned spaceflight plan, for IEEE Spectrum Online in April 2010.

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Pumps break down and you may have backups in place.  We had something like that where I worked at NASA Ames, sewer sump pumps to pump the building sewer up to the city sewage system.  There was a prime and a backup (which was broken) and when the prime failed we had sewage backup and out into the basement.   Backups are only as good as what is working when you need it.  Best to keep and eye on both  the prime system and the backup.  :-)
Read more about the problem on the ISS.
- LRK-

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38521707/ns/technology_and_science-space/
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/nasa-emergency-space-station-spacewalk-100802.html
NASA scrambling to plan vital space station repairs
U.S. astronauts set for two spacewalks to fix cooling system

 By Tariq Malik
updated 8/2/2010 10:01:52 PM ET
This story was updated at Aug. 3 at 8:28 a.m. ET.

NASA engineers are working round-the-clock to firm up plans to send astronauts on two emergency spacewalks outside the International Space Station to repair a serious cooling system failure.

The move comes after the weekend breakdown of a pump on the right side of the space station that pushes liquid ammonia through one of two cooling system loops that keep the outpost from overheating.

The malfunction occurred late Saturday and forced astronauts on the station to shut down many systems and leave others just one glitch away from failure. The first spacewalk is set for Friday.

Currently, the space station's condition is stable, with its second cooling system loop working well, and its crew is in no danger, NASA officials have stressed. But the space agency wants to fix the problem soon so the station crew can resume science experiments and other work that have been postponed until the pump can be replaced.

"Folks are working hot and heavy to get everything ready," said space station flight director Courtenay McMillan.

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Well it looks like there will soon be a handyman going to the ISS who doesn't have to pre-breath oxygen before going out on a spacewalk.
- LRK -

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http://singularityhub.com/2010/07/27/dextre-robot-on-space-station-almost-ready-for-duty/
Dextre Robot On Space Station Almost Ready For Duty
July 27th, 2010 by Aaron Saenz

“The most sophisticated robot every built…is a handyman.” —Canadian Space Agency

After more than two years, the International Space Station is very close to bringing its Dextre robot  completely online. Built by Canada, Dextre is a large white robot with two highly articulated arms, and is meant to assist with repairs aboard the station, reducing the need for astronauts to take EVAs  (space-walks).  It’s a prime example of how robots can take over tasks that are too dangerous for humans, especially in extremely harsh environments like space. Despite Dextre’s potential, however, it has faced a series of setbacks since it first arrived at the ISS. Which means it’s also a prime example of how robotics has yet to meet our increasingly high expectations.

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STS-133 mission prepares for launch to the ISS on Nov 1.
Hope they have a cool reception.
- LRK -

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Technicians to Focus on Discovery's Heat Shield
Fri, 06 Aug 2010 07:19:49 AM PDT

This weekend, technicians will continue processing work on space shuttle Discovery's tiled heat shield as it undergoes launch preparations in Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Recent leak checks on the crew module were completed successfully with no issues arising, and work on the orbiter's S-band antenna and front nose gear were finished. The STS-133 astronauts are spending Friday simulating their roles during the rendezvous phase of the mission, when Discovery will be steered to the International Space Station.

During space shuttle Discovery's final spaceflight, the STS-133 crew members will take important spare parts to the International Space Station along with the Express Logistics Carrier-4. Discovery is being readied for flight inside Kennedy's Orbiter Processing Facility-3 while its solid rocket boosters are stacked inside the  nearby Vehicle Assembly Building. STS-133 is slated to launch Nov. 1.

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Well to live in space we will have to learn how to be self reliant.  That may go for some folks down on Earth as well.  Keep up the good technology transfer programs.
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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Mars Rover 'Curiosity' Grows Up, Rolls for the First Time

Mom had her 100th birthday on 7/22/10 and about that time the Mars Mission Laboratory rover, Curiosity was getting itself together to take its first steps.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1026
- LRK -

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http://news.discovery.com/space/mars-rover-curiosity-grows-up-rolls-for-the-first-time.html
Mars Rover 'Curiosity' Grows Up, Rolls for the First Time
Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Mon Jul 26, 2010 04:43 AM ET

Last week, the next Mars rover -- set to be launched to the Red Planet in 2011 -- grew by 1 meter when NASA technicians and engineers attached the Remote Sensing Mast to the robot's roof. The mast carries three sets of cameras, allowing the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) to 'see' the Martian landscape, helping it navigate, take photographs and carry out experiments.

snip

The car-sized MSL, called 'Curiosity,' now stands at an impressive 2 meters tall, easily dwarfing the current Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity and Spirit.

Construction of the rover has advanced very quickly over the last few days, and on July 23 engineers commanded Curiosity to take its first, slow steps. Housed inside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and attached to computers via a thick set of umbilical-like cables, a live webcast watched the robot gingerly roll around.

Watch the video of Curiosity successfully reverse for the fist time across the clean room mats:
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It takes a lot longer to birth a rover than it does a human and a bit more expensive.  Back in 2003 there was a gleam in the eye of the scientists who would send another rover to Mars, with expectations of launching in 2009.  Sometimes your best laid plans just have to get put off while you contemplate another delivery date, say November of 2011.  This will be okay as your previous rovers have done very well and managed to survive a lot longer than expected.
http://www.physorg.com/news199716405.html
- LRK -

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http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/6576/1/03-0392.pdf
Rover Technology Development and Infusion for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory Mission
Richard Volpe and Stephen Peters

Abstract
After the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Mission, NASA plans to send a larger, longer life Mobile Science Laboratory (MSL) in 2009. This rover is planned to last 500 days, travel ten kilometers, and demonstrate autonomous capabilities that reduce the number of communication cycles now needed to achieve successful completion of activities on the surface.

Specifically, there are three categories of activity now being addressed by technology development efforts in The Mars Technology Program (MTP): long range traverse, instrument placement, and autonomous science data processing. These technologies are being developed by competitively selected teams of researchers both in and out of NASA. A multi-stage technology integration and validation process brings these distributed elements into a common software environment for rover testing and validation. Based on this validation, some software elements are being identified for incorporation in MSL mission software.

MSL flight and ground software is based on the Mission Data System (MDS) architecture under development at The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Califomia Institute of Technology. MDS provides a system engineering methodology and a software architecture based on identifying the states of the system, and how these states are estimated and controlled.  The mission will include significant mission operations automation in the form of mission activity expansion, planning, scheduling, and constraint and flight rule checking within an integrated environment. The mission will also include significant autonomy for onboard anomaly detection, analysis, and response, including limited replanning.

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A nice power point presentation of expectations back in 2003.
You might like to see how that compares with where we are today.
- LRK -

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[PPT]
Mars Science Laboratory Mission Project Science Integration Group ...

File Format: Microsoft Powerpoint -  

Mars Science Laboratory Mission Project Science Integration Group (PSIG) Final Report. June 6, 2003. PSIG-2. MSL Project Science Integration Group ...
mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports/PSIG_Final_Full_Report4.ppt

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A plain text run down on what will be on board "Curiosity" can be seen at this WikipediA link.
- LRK -

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), known as Curiosity,[2][3] is a NASA rover scheduled to be launched in November 2011[4] and would perform the first-ever precision landing on Mars. It is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet's habitability. It will also analyze samples scooped up from the soil and drilled powders from rocks.[5]

The MSL rover will be over five times as heavy as and carry over ten times the weight of scientific instruments as the Spirit or Opportunity rovers.[6] The United States, Canada, Germany, France, Russia and Spain will provide the instruments on board. The MSL rover will be launched by an Atlas V 541 rocket and will be expected to operate for at least 1 Martian year (668 Martian sols/686 Earth days) as it explores with greater range than any previous Mars rover.

Mars Science Laboratory is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of Mars, and is a project managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The total cost of the MSL project is about $2.3 billion USD.[7]

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If you can handle YouTube presentations this one should be of interest.
Nice picture of "Curiosity" as well and the text is worth reading.
- LRK -

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http://jalopnik.com/5474088/curiosity-nasas-epic-new-mars-rover
Curiosity: NASA's Epic New Mars Rover

Mars rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" were successful beyond NASA's wildest dreams. Now they're building a new, nuclear-powered Mini Cooper-sized rover to be lowered onto Mars by a hovering drop ship in 2013. Meet "Curiosity," the new Mars Science Laboratory.

snip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqqBy7C8gyU&feature=player_embedded

If we can love cars on Earth, we sure as heck can love them when they're shot across the cosmos to land on another planet to do some pretty astounding science. Take a couple minutes to watch the above animation and it becomes abundantly clear NASA is aiming for a whole different level of robotic exploration with its next rover program.  The Mars Science Laboratory program was originally started back in 2003 with an estimated price tag of $1.62B, since then it's undergone delays while new technologies were invented to support the ambitious plans and suffered a major setback when over 1,000 parts were manufactured from substandard titanium. The current estimated costs for the program is right around $2.4B, pocket change.

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Sixteen images on CNET with captions.
- LRK -

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http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10003324.html?tag=mncol
Mars rover Curiosity to seek answers (images)
May 21, 2010 12:16 PM PDT

NASA got a great deal of mileage out of the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which have lasted far longer than the 90 days originally expected of them when they landed in January 2004. Just this week, in fact, NASA said that Opportunity has surpassed the longevity record of 6 years, 116 days for operation on Mars, surpassing the Viking 1 lander. Spirit, meanwhile, may be done for. Bogged down in loose Martian soil, it may not have been able to position itself to get a good recharge from its solar panels.

Back on Earth, NASA is working on the next generation of Mars rover, named Curiosity, a bigger model that the space agency this week said it hopes to launch between November 25 and December 18, 2011, with a landing on Mars to occur between August 6 and August 20, 2012.

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Flash interactive for those who like to be dazzled.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

And for the more scientific orientation
MSL Science Corner
http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/

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http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=16
News

MSL Science Corner Updated! - 07.09.2010

The Mars Science Laboratory mission is scheduled to launch in late 2011. The contents of the MSL Science Corner, including descriptions of the instruments, sampling hardware, and operations, have been updated to reflect changes that have occurred during the development of the hardware and planning for the 2011 opportunity. At present, the entire flight system is undergoing assembly and testing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

All Status Reports
http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/AllStatusReports/index.cfm

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So another year and some months to wait.

Go to school, get a PhD, join a mission and spend the rest of your career working to make it happen.
Want to move a mountain?  One stone at a time will do it, providing you have a life time to spend picking up stones.

 As I mentioned at the beginning, mom is 100 years young.  She has seen a lot of changes. If you live as long maybe you will see "Curiosity" land on Mars, or even something similar land on the Moon. I guess a rover needs to look into those holes that have been reported since humans have already been there, although they haven't done that.
 http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/184-Marius-Hills-Pit-Lava-Tube-Skylight.html
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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