Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Case for Two Asteroids and a Planet



Donald F. Robertson has been writing about space for some time and said he had posted a recent article about the suggestion we go to an asteroid with humans.
Here is the link and I will list some others as well.
- LRK -

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By Donald F. Robertson
Wed, 31 August, 2011


There are three realistic options for our next exploratory destination in space: a return to the Moon to establish a permanent presence; the current plan to visit a near-Earth asteroid; and what early space engineer S. Fred Singer calls “PhD missions.” These are trips to the martian moons Phobos and Deimos without immediately trying to land on Mars — an idea that has not been seriously considered in recent years.

Our next major project in space should be a return to our nearby and newly intriguing Moon — this time to stay. We know how to get there and visit. Now we need learn to live and work for extended periods on an airless surface dominated by regolith, while still relatively close to home and the potential for support and rescue. We can study our nearest neighbor in depth, not least to understand our star system’s history of major impacts. We should begin to use lunar resources, like oxygen and probable heavy metals from the cores of large asteroids that have struck the Moon, to support activities in low Earth orbit. Doing so would establish regular transportation routes to a single location with regular launch windows, and the earliest beginnings of inner solar system trade and commerce.

If we decline to take this logical incremental step, the martian moons make a better destination than a near-Earth asteroid.

snip
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Some earlier posts to Space Review when there was a discussion about going back to the Moon.
- LRK -

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Chasing The Military Dollar
by Donald F. Robertson

Returning to Earth's Moon: Is There Room For Commerce?
by Donald F. Robertson

From Point A to B before C
by Donald F. Robertson

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If you go to his website there are a number of links to articles written before 2010 which means we might well have been thinking we might really go back to the Moon to stay and develop its resources.  If you are looking for things to consider about our possible use of space, check them out.
- LRK -

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Space Exploration: a reality check
This article originally appeared in Space News
© 2006 by Donald F. Robertson

A Scientific Justification for Human Lunar Exploration
This article originally appeared in Meme Therapy.
© 2006 by Donald F. Robertson.

MARS TRAINWRECK
This article originally appeared in slightly different form in Space News
© 2002 by Donald F. Robertson.

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Recently we have seen more images of the Apollo landing sites from the instruments on the LRO
- LRK -

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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera
Skimming The Moon

Low periapsis Narrow Angle Camera image of the Apollo 17 Landing Site

[Thanks LRO - LRK -]
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That said, you can find more about the Apollo landings in a number of books.
Hope you have this one.
- LRK -

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‘Man must explore’ Dave Scott

Exploring the Moon - The Apollo Expeditions is a story of one of the great adventures of our time. David Harland concentrates on the final three lunar landings (Apollos 15, 16 and 17); each of which spent three days on the Moon and used the famous 'lunar rover' to get around. He focuses on the exploration carried out by the Apollo astronauts whilst on the lunar surface and combines the words of the astronauts themselves with the photographs they took. It is a lunar travelogue, a minute-by-minute account of what the astronauts did, said and felt, enhanced by their subsequent reflections.

Also at Amazon.com
snip
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Call it what you will, practice for an asteroid mission because someone said go to an asteroid.
You wouldn't want to practice to go back to the Moon. No, no, no!
- LRK -

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NASA PRACTICING ASTEROID MISSION IN ARIZONA DESERT


Analysis by Irene Klotz 
Tue Aug 30, 2011 03:46 PM ET


A team of about 150 engineers, scientists, astronauts, researchers and students started work this week on the first of several deep-space mission scenarios, part of an annual NASA field expedition called Desert Research and Technology Studies, or Desert RATS.
Staged from Black Point Lava Flow in the northern Arizona desert, the project is an opportunity to flesh-out plans, test equipment and practice techniques for a variety of proposed human space exploration missions. This year's campaign includes four asteroid mission scenarios, reflecting NASA's shift from lunar exploration to a planned asteroid visit, targeted for the mid-2020s.
NASA's Mission Control Center is participating in this year's simulation, along with Europe's Space Research and Technology Center in Norway. A communications time lag, which simulates what astronauts and ground controllers would experience during an actual mission at an asteroid, is part of the exercise.
"Fifty seconds does not sound like much, but it's crazy-long to have a conversation," Jeff Stone, the NASA mission operations director who leads a 12-person team in Houston, said in an article in last week's Aviation Week and Space Technology. "It takes a whole different mindset."
snip
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I wonder what is wrong with a ~2.7 second signal to the Moon and back.  - LRK -




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

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Thursday, September 1, 2011

Destination: Moon or Asteroid? | The Once and Future Moon


Destination: Moon or Asteroid? | The Once and Future Moon

Paul Spudis has an interesting blog with interesting links within and some interesting comments about.
You can read and I won't even have to mention the "M" word.
- LRK -

This from his Facebook post.
Maybe you are already following him.
- LRK -

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P. Spudis: However, detailed consideration indicates that NEOs are not the best choice as our next destination in space. In this post and two additional ones to come, I will consider some of the operational, scientific and resource utilization issues that arise in planning NEO missions and exploration activities and compare them to the lunar alternative.
Part I:  Operational Considerations
The current controversy over the direction of our national space program has many dimensions but most  of the discourse has focused on the means (government vs. commercial launch vehicles) not the ends (destinations and activities).  Near-Earth objects (NEO, i.e., asteroids) became the next destination for human exploration as an alternative to the Moon when the Augustine committee advocated a “flexible path” in their 2009 report.  The reason for going to an asteroid instead of the Moon was that it costs too much money to develop a lunar lander whereas asteroids, having extremely low surface gravity, don’t require one.  The administration embraced and supported this change in direction and since then, the agency has been studying possible NEO missions and how to conduct them. 
snip
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Part II here with Part III still to be written.
- LRK -

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P. Spudis: Of course, science being unpredictable, some major surprise that could revolutionize our knowledge may await us on some distant asteroid. But such surprises doubtless await us in many places throughout the Solar System and the best way to assure ourselves that we will eventually find them is to develop the capability to go anywhere in space at any time.
Part II:  Scientific Considerations
In my last post, I examined some of the operational considerations associated with a human mission to a near Earth asteroid and how it contrasted with the simpler, easier operations of lunar return.  Here, I want to consider what we might do at this destination by focusing on the scientific activities and possible return we could expect from such a mission.  Some of the operational constraints mentioned in the previous post will impact the scientific return we expect from a human NEO mission. 
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As noted at the Smithsonian Air & Space blogs.
- LRK -

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See, no stuttering about why we should go back to the M. mo.. moo... moon - oh well you get my point. 
Having spent some 20 years supporting NASA with off and on stuttering about further Lunar exploration I had hoped we would not have to hold a finger to our mouth with a shhhhh as the expression, if developing the resources of our nearest neighbor in space was the topic.

I guess you folks will have to take it upon yourself to change that.  
Maybe just a nudge, nudge to your neighbor and an extended arm pointing to a Harvest Moon will help.

Then maybe a whisper, "I wonder what it would be like to be up there looking back at us here on Earth?"

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[And as NASA once said. - LRK -]

Why Go to the Moon?
National Aeronautics & Space Administration

 At the core of NASA’s future in space exploration is a return to the moon, where we will build technologies. Living and working on the moon will provide opportunities for research and technology development that will prepare humans for further human exploration to Mars and beyond.  

snip

Exploration Preparation
Lunar exploration provides opportunities 
to test new technologies, experience 
living on extraterrestrial surfaces and learn 
ways to use resources found in space – all 
with the goal of safely preparing crews 
for missions to Mars and beyond. 
snip
[Nice poster. Get it now before it is removed and history rewritten. - LRK -]
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And if you have a lot of paper, print this out. (Circa 2006)

And someone said, "Been there, ........."]  !!!

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

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