Moon Base - Moon Outpost - or will it be just a tent under the stars?

Administrations change, rumors fly, money is tight, budget for next year not yet published, who knows which way the wind blows?
- LRK -

The International Space Station was going to be big, it was going to be small, it almost didn't happen at all.
Now we have been told we are going back to the Moon and those on the ground are beating each other with their favorite proposal.
Or they are saying my proposal, not yours, I didn't even want to go there, go here.
- LRK -

I hope someone will go to the Moon, dig into some regolith, and open up a Real Estate Office.
[Or go up and see if they can claim the lunar plot they already bought.]
[ http://www.lunarlandowner.com/lunar_city_project.htm ]
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17052-nasa-may-abandon-plans-for-moon-base.html
NASA may abandon plans for moon base
* 18:33 29 April 2009 by David Shiga
NASA will probably not build an outpost on the moon as originally planned, the agency's acting administrator, Chris Scolese, told lawmakers on Wednesday. His comments also hinted that the agency is open to putting more emphasis on human missions to destinations like Mars or a near-Earth asteroid.

NASA has been working towards returning astronauts to the moon by 2020 and building a permanent base there. But some space analysts and advocacy groups like the Planetary Society have urged the agency to cancel plans for a permanent moon base, carry out shorter moon missions instead, and focus on getting astronauts to Mars.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Chris Scolese Written Statement
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/338546main_NASA_Testimony.pdf

- Chris Scolese Oral Statement
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/338547main_Oral_Statement.pdf

There was a time when no one could beat the 4 minute mile, but then the record was broken and now others have too.
No one had done a quad spin in ice skating but now it is expected.

I hope we show that a private commercial firm can go to the Moon.
Maybe if the government only has enough money for a pup tent, the ground will at least be prepared.
Send in the tourist, make a Disney movie, hold the Olympics on the Moon, turn a profit.

If any of you have already purchased your lunar lot with a view, demand access rights.
When does the next shuttle flight leave 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
==============================================================

2009 NASA/NSS Student Space Settlement Design contest results

http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/Contest/Results/2009/index.html

While I worked at NASA Ames Research Center I met Al Globus and had the pleasure of helping judge submissions for the NASA/NSS Student Space Settlement Design contest. It was always a thrill to see the creativity expressed in the submissions.

Some of the high school submissions looked like PhD thesis submissions and even the ones from 4th grade students were often beautiful.

There were submissions from around the world and the winners we would host and give a tour of NASA Ames.
Check out the web site. These students may well be our next engineers or passengers to a city in space. :-)
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/Contest/Results/2009/index.html
2009 NASA/NSS Student Space Settlement Design contest results

Statistics

This year we received 294 submissions from 808 students sponsored by 93 teachers. Entries came from Bulgaria, Canada, China, Dubai, UAE, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Romania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uruguay. U.S. entries were received from 8 states: California, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York and Utah.

Note: All certificates will be sent out by 5/12/2009.

Important: All contestants, their families, and teachers are invited to attend the International Space Development Conference (ISDC - http://www.isdc2009.org/). If you are a contestant and plan to attend ISDC, please contact nss-students@comcast.net to determine if you will give an oral presentation of poster.

Winners

Grand Prize

The Grand Prize winning submissions for 2009 went to Eric Yam, Pooja Bhattacharga and Swastika Bhattacharga.
Eric is a student of Ms. Gillian Evans at Northern Secondary School in Toronto Canada. His project was named *ASTEN*.

Pooja Bhattacharga and Swastika Bhattacharga were instructed by Ms. Gishree Nanda of St. Xavier's High School in Orissa India. *Orissa Design Inspired Systemsand Aerovehicles * was the title of their submission.

Note: for the rest of the prizes there were individual, team (consisting of 2-6 students) and large group awards for two groups: 6-9^th grade and 10-12^th grade. Team names are listed by submission.

Student Art Gallery

First Prize

* /Extraterrestrial Residence City, /Sayantan Bhattacharya, Mary
Immaculate School, West Bengal, India. 6-9 Individual.
* /Space Settlement, /Chaitra M. Kumbargoudar, Karnataka, India.
10-12 Individual.
* /Gusto Smawaat, / Islamabad, Pakistan. 10-12 Team.
* /E-NeXt, /Jay Sanjay Patrikar, Shantanu Milaind Manke and Madhur
Sameer Bhalkar, Somalwar High School, Maharashtra, India . 6-9 Team .
* /EDENEST, /Apeejay School, Jalandhar, India. 6-9 Large Group. (tie)
* /MEGA, /Courtland Jr. SR. High School, Cortland, New York. 6-9
Large Group. (tie)
* /TOMIS, /Colegiul National "Mircea cel Batran", Constanta,
Romania. 10-12 Large Group.
* /DIVYA-Constanta Omega, /Colegiul National "Mircea cel Batran",
Constanta, Romania. Life Science.
* /UDAAN ART GALLERY, /Ryan International School, New Delhi, India.
6-9 Artistic Merit.
* /Space Settlements in Color, / Student Ching, School of
Creativity, Hong Kong, China. 6-9 Artistic Merit.
* /Space Settlements in Color, /Student Sing, School of Creativity,
Hong Kong, China. 10-12 Artistic Merit. (tie)
* /Abhivyakti, /Ryan International School, New Delhi, India. 10-12
Artistic Merit. (tie)
* /MERC, /Little Flowers Public Sr. Sec. School, Delhi, India.
Literary Merit.

snip
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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
==============================================================

Some Space Related Reasons to Look Up

I get wound up in activities here and am reminded by you folks to look up. :-)

Maurizio sent me a note with some interesting links, see below.
Its focus is on "Planetary Science".
TinyUrl for - http://tinyurl.com/cwvkso

Geoff sent me info from Space.com on "Moon Dust May Be Worse Than Apollo Missions Found."
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090421-st-moon-dust-sunangle.html

If you subscribe to NASA Science News you probably got this bit about NASA's SPoRT program.
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://science.nasa.gov/
NASA Puts the Right Stuff in the Right Hands
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/22apr_severeweather.htm?list965414
-------------------------------------------------------------

If you have the band width there was also links to some NASA Podcasts.
- LRK -

View the latest updates on NASA's Ares rockets and their role in America's journey to the moon on the America's Rockets podcast, in either HD or for mobile devices .

The ARES web site will also have the information available and you could view with QuickTime or subscribe there to Podcast: America's Rockets.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/index.html
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
This Ares Quarterly Progress Report, originally released to the public Mar 4th, 2009, includes progress updates on:
-Ares I Wind Tunnel testing
-Casting of the first stage Demonstration Motor 1
-First stage and Ares I-X avionics manufacturing
-Roll Control System Thruster Testing
-Ares I-X Roll Control Hardware Assembly and Shipment
-Workhorse Gas Generator Testing
-Test Stand A-3 Construction Progress

For a closed-captioned version of the video, please visit us on the Web at
http://www.nasa.gov/ares.
-------------------------------------------------------------

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

PILOT OF FINAL SHUTTLE MISSION TO HUBBLE SET FOR SATELLITE INTERVIEWS

----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/apr/HQ_M09-060.html
MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-060

PILOT OF FINAL SHUTTLE MISSION TO HUBBLE SET FOR SATELLITE INTERVIEWS

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Gregory C. Johnson, a native of Seattle, will be available for live interviews via satellite from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, April 21. Johnson will make his first trip into space as the pilot of space shuttle Atlantis during STS-125, the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch is targeted for May 12 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

snip
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We are finally getting going up to service the Hubble Telescope for the last time.
Later we should launch the Webb telescope.
- LRK -

----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr142009/snt20090413129971.asp
Time to bid adieu to Hubble
The Guardian
The Hubble telescope has expanded our vision of the universe. Soon its replacement will unleash a torrent of new discoveries, writes Inayat Bunglawala
----------------------------------------------------------

Hope there will be money for both.
- LRK -

----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2013. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.
----------------------------------------------------------

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

Lunar Base Construction Robots - Will they be intelligent?

Folks have been thinking about this for some time.
How close to the science fiction stories do you think they will get?
- LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spacedaily.com/spacenet/text/lunar-b.html
Japan Space Net
Talk About Lunar Base Getting Serious

Once simply the fodder for science-fiction stories, building a base on the moon is now being looked at in earnest by Japan.

Tokyo -- December 19,1996 -- Recently some 170 of the world's top space scientists, engineers and mission specialists attending the Second International Lunar Workshop in Kyoto, debating not only an extensive scientific re-exploration of the lunar landscape, but the setting up of a permanent manned presence within thirty years.

Speaker after speaker talked of the scientific and technical benefits to be accrued from exploring the moon. Some pointed to the huge tasks ahead developing critical technology needed even to get there again. But while the problem of raising finance was conveniently skipped during the five day confab, one topic dominated discussions; how to build a lunar base.

snip
---------------------------------------------------------

Nine years later, still a topic of interest.
- LRK -
___________________________________________
http://www.pcworld.com/article/121442/japan_dreams_of_robot_moon_base_in_2025.html
Japan Dreams of Robot Moon Base in 2025
Advanced humanoid robots could take over mining, telescope-building chores for humans.
Paul Kallender, IDG News Service
Jun 20, 2005 1:00 am

TOKYO -- Japan wants to help build a lunar base and populate it with advanced versions of today's humanoid robots by around 2025, according to the head of the nation's space agency.

The idea is more than a pipe-dream; it is part of a 20-year plan, called JAXA Vision 2025, that was drawn up by Keiji Tachikawa, a former president of Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo, who is now president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA).

As part of the plan, Japan would use advanced robotic technologies to help build the moon base, while redeveloped versions of today's humanoid robots, such as Honda Motor's Asimo and Sony's Qrio, could work in the moon's inhospitable environment in place of astronauts, he said in a recent interview.

Japan's lunar robots would do work such as building telescopes and prospecting and mining for minerals, Tachikawa said.
"I see a big role for Japan's robotics technologies on the moon," he said. "Japanese robots will be one of our big contributions. If there is work where robots can replace humans, they will."

U.S. Also Interested
Tachikawa's plan follows a January 2004 decision by U.S. President George W. Bush that the U.S., with the assistance of partners including Japan, should build a lunar base by about 2020 and use it as a staging point for the human exploration of Mars.
The plan has struck a chord in Japan, which has long harbored dreams of building such a base

snip
---------------------------------------------------------

and now four years later again, robots to go to the Moon.
What kind of robots would colonize the Moon?
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article6032128.ece
From The Times
April 4, 2009
One step for a robot, a giant leap for tin-mankind
Leo Lewis in Tokyo
The cutting-edge models can lumber around a room without falling over. A few can play the trumpet or serve tea. The truly sophisticated ones can just about manage the washing-up.
But by 2020, Japan predicts, humanoid robots will be ready to colonise the Moon. Other metallic brethren of these mechanical pioneers, said scientists in Tokyo, will be engaged in the bigger, more prosaic mission of cleaning Earth’s orbit of junk.
---------------------------------------------------------

If we think that a robot might be intelligent, what would that mean?
When you hear the word "Robot" what image does that bring up:
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------
http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/groups/intelligent-robotics/
Intelligent Robotics

The NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) is dedicated to enabling humans and robots to explore and learn about extreme environments, remote locations, and uncharted worlds. IRG conducts applied research in a wide range of areas with an emphasis on robotics systems science and field testing. IRG's expertise includes applied computer vision (navigation, 3D surface modeling, automated science support), human-robot interaction, mobile manipulation, interactive 3D visualization, and robot software architecture.

IRG maintains and operates a variety of robot hardware, including fifteen "Personal Exploration Rovers" (low-cost, educational mobile robots), the K9 planetary rover (based on a JPL FIDO chassis), four K10 planetary rovers, and dexterous manipulators (Amtec Schunk arms and Barrett grippers). IRG's research facilities include the Marscape (3,000 sq. meter outdoor rover test facility and Mars surface analog) and the Moonscape (250 sq. meter indoor rover test facility with high-precision optical tracking).

We firmly believe that collaboration is an essential part of modern research, which improves quality and speeds technology transfer. Thus, we are presently working on joint projects with partners from academia, government, and industry.

snip
---------------------------------------------------------

or do you just want to get some job done and a colony of robots much like an ant colony would be enough?
- LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.journal.univagora.ro/download/pdf/261.pdf
Int. J. of Computers, Communications & Control, ISSN 1841-9836, E-ISSN 1841-9844
Vol. III (2008), Suppl. issue: Proceedings of ICCCC 2008, pp. 92-107
Colony of robots: New Challenge
Workshop invited key lecture
Gastón Lefranc

Abstract: The evolution on Robotics has in a cross way of application. For one side is the applications to manufacturing, other one is application to medicine, another one in space exploration and it is starting home applications. It is very popular to have contest of robots for students, motivating very well to student, supported by universities, achieving good image
for the institutions.
One way for mobile robots is Nomad, a nice application for having new knowledge in the space, but the inversion it is very expense and complex. If it has problem or fail, all the work will stop. Instead of that, if you use a community of robots, working like a society of insect, it is possible to have simpler mobile robots to have specific tasks, less expensive, more reliable to reach the same aims.
In this presentation is focusing in colony of robots. This implies to merge several disciplines based on models of communities, to have control of a society of robots working together in a
collaborative and cooperative way in non structured environments.

Keywords: Multi-robots, Colony of robots, Multiagents Systems

snip
---------------------------------------------------------

If you think your robot should be intelligent, would you mean that it should have the ability to acquire and use knowledge?

And by knowledge, you mean that it should be able to organize information?
Would you want it to be able to communicate, that is transfer its knowledge?
Should it have intuition, that is built in knowledge.

How would it acquire knowledge?
Have feelings, that is experience sensory input.
Should it have perception, the ability to transform sensations into knowledge?

What about being able to reason, applying logic to thinking.
Oh, should it be able to think, analyze what it imagined.
Aaah, have imagination, that is be able to visualize, model and devise simulations.

And lets be scarry, should it be aware, that is have knowledge of the world (Moon) situation.
Should it show emotion, that is have value judgment, evaluation of good and bad.
Lastly, throw in some consciousness, the ability to include self in the world model.

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.james-albus.org/interest.htm
snip
A PowerPoint presentation of the potential impact of intelligent machines on science, economics, military strength, and human well being can be found here:
http://www.james-albus.org/Engineering%20of%20Mind3.ppt [116 KB, 22 slides - LRK -]
snip
---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.amazon.com/Engineering-Mind-Introduction-Science-Intelligent/dp/0471438545
Engineering of Mind: An Introduction to the Science of Intelligent Systems (Hardcover)
Presenting a reference model architecture for the design of intelligent systems Engineering of Mind presents the foundations for a computational theory of intelligence. It discusses the main streams of investigation that will eventually converge in a scientific theory of mind and proposes an avenue of research that might best lead to the development of truly intelligent systems.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------

Will be interesting to see just what kind of robots go to the Moon.
- LRK -

What kind of robot would you like to have helping you colonize the Moon?

Thanks for looking up with me.

More at http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/

Japan aims for walking robot on the moon by 2020

-----------------------------------------------------
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioijx5DLWQ4vTbjJmhNgHsNszNhwD97AVVSG0
By JAY ALABASTER – 1 day ago
TOKYO (AP) — Japan hopes to have a two-legged robot walk on the moon by around 2020, with a joint mission involving astronauts and robots to follow, according to a plan laid out Friday by a government group.

Specifics of the plan, including what new technologies will be required and the size of the project's budget, are to be decided within the next two years, according to Japan's Strategic Headquarters for Space Development, a Cabinet-level working group.
snip
-----------------------------------------------------

Bob in Texas mentioned the above link and these also.
- LRK -

___________________________________________
http://i.gizmodo.com/5197523/japan-pledges-to-land-humanoid-robot-on-moon-by-2020
Japan Pledges To Land Humanoid Robot On Moon By 2020
By Wilson Rothman, 7:00 PM on Fri Apr 3 2009, 8,440 views
In an otherwise vague announcement, Japan's Strategic Headquarters for Space Development said that it would put a two-legged humanoid robot on the moon by 2020.
This is to be part of a bigger space plan, whose details will be decided in the next couple of years. It's no surprise that Japan is eager to put robots on the moon (they're eager to put robots anywhere), and it's also no surprise that they wish to follow up the robots-only mission with a manned mission, using robot helpers.
___________________________________________

___________________________________________
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article6032128.ece
From The Times
April 4, 2009
One step for a robot, a giant leap for tin-mankind
Leo Lewis in Tokyo
The cutting-edge models can lumber around a room without falling over. A few can play the trumpet or serve tea. The truly sophisticated ones can just about manage the washing-up.
But by 2020, Japan predicts, humanoid robots will be ready to colonise the Moon. Other metallic brethren of these mechanical pioneers, said scientists in Tokyo, will be engaged in the bigger, more prosaic mission of cleaning Earth’s orbit of junk.
___________________________________________

___________________________________________
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/03/japan_proposes_two_legged_robot_on_moon_by_2020/
Japan talks lunar 'bots as commies go hot
Time to stretch those servos
By Austin Modine • Get more from this author
Posted in Rise of the Machines, 3rd April 2009 18:16 GMT
As North Korea preps a ballistic missile launch over Japan, the Japanese are grandstanding back with promises of robots walking on the moon by 2020.
___________________________________________

We have mentioned that it would be nice to have some robots to help set up a lunar base camp.
We have also mentioned that the lunar regolith is not going to be kind to mechanical devices.
It will be interesting to see how well a robot will handle all of the grit.
- LRK -

I have been reading the writings of James S. Albus and I know we have a number of robotic machines being used in industry.
http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/documents/library/isd_pub.html
http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/personnel/albus/


We have seen cars run on their own across the desert.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/october12/stanleyfinish-100905.html
Will someone make an automatic railroad track installer for the Moon?
http://www.distant-galaxy.com/maelstrom2/DigiMatte/ACC_M2LunarRailMountains.html

I wonder what the response from the USA will be?
Are we really going to do more than just spend a couple of days on a mountain?
Who or what is going to install power lines?

What will be the next robot toy or transformer you buy at the store?
One of an astronaut robot and its adventures on the Moon?
Will you be able to buy a lunar base camp kit?

Hope we see more books about living on the Moon.
Enjoyed watching the TV series Space: 1999.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072564/

Who is writing about the Moon Base Alpha now?

Any movies being developed showing how we will live on the Moon?
http://www.distant-galaxy.com/maelstrom2/MaelstromII.html

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

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

NASA Joins "Around the World in 80 Telescopes"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/apr/HQ_09-076_Telescopes_webcast.html
snip
NASA Joins "Around the World in 80 Telescopes"

WASHINGTON -- A collection of NASA missions will be involved in a live event April 3 that will allow the public to get an inside look at how these missions are run. "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" is a 24-hour webcast that is part of the "100 Hours of Astronomy" event for the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

During the webcast, viewers will be able to visit some of the most advanced telescopes on and off the planet. For NASA's space-based missions, the webcast will be broadcast from control centers throughout the United States. To view the webcast, visit: http://100hoursofastronomy.org/webcast

As part of the webcast, each mission will release a never-before-seen image from the telescope or observatory. The new images can be found on the websites listed below. Please note these times correspond to the beginning of each mission's segment on the live webcast and when each new image will be available.
snip
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http://twitter.com/telescopecast

Thanks for looking up with me.

More at BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/

Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
==============================================================

Lunar Dust & Mt. Redoubt

-------------------------------------------------------
http://spaceweather.com
April 1, 2009
snip
*NEW VERB: *There's a new verb in Alaska: "to ash." It's like "to snow," only grayer and more sulfurous. Residents downwind of Mt. Redoubt are using it like this: "We don't run our ski lifts when *it ashes* because it damages the electric motors," says Michelle Cosper of the Alyeska Resort near Girdwood. It's been ashing a lot lately as Mt. Redoubt has erupted more than 19 times since March 22nd. "The ash has created a moonscape with all the highlights of gray," she says.

The resemblance to moondust is more than superficial. Consider the following: Volcanic ash is gray, abrasive, can be dangerous to breathe and easily electrified. Moondust is gray, abrasive, can be dangerous to breathe and easily electrified . Indeed, Alaskans are getting a taste of life on the Moon.
snip
-------------------------------------------------------

Michael Murphy sent me the link to the above SpaceWeather article on the problems with volcanic ash from the latest eruption of Mt. Redoubt in Alaska.
His comment on the article.
- LRK -
------------
snip
I find the comparison to the composition of moondust to be quite interesting. Maybe this (and other similar situations) would be an opportunity to test hardware and try out possible decontamination (dust removal) processes that would be essential in a Lunar Habitat.
Michael W. Murphy
snip
------------

Would be nice to take advantage of these natural happenings as we consider how to live on the Moon.
At present NASA needs Fake Moondust.
- LRK -

http://www.space.com/news/0701032_technovelgy_moondust.html
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/28dec_truefake.htm?list955127

The folks at the airport are trying to be creative.
- LRK -

-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.adn.com/volcano/story/740777.html
Airport opens, residents clean up ash
By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com
Published: March 29th, 2009 03:17 PM
Last Modified: March 30th, 2009 12:30 PM

The day after Redoubt volcano spewed ash across Anchorage and much of Southcentral Alaska, the city began to clean up the soggy gray mess. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport reopened Sunday afternoon, though many flights were still canceled or delayed. Hundreds of passengers anticipate being stranded for days in hubs like Seattle and Minneapolis.

Drivers lined up at car washes to blast off the scratchy gunk. Worried pet owners flooded the phones at an emergency vet clinic. And everyone watched for any signs of another explosion from Redoubt.

snip

The ash is mainly fine bits of abrasive volcanic glass that can damage lungs, vehicles or electronics equipment. But the ash fall on Anchorage, Nikiski and elsewhere in Southcentral Alaska on Saturday was considered minor.

snip

*Slide show:* Airport crew uses new technique to get ash off runways

http://twitter.com/alaska_avo
-------------------------------------------------------

More at BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
==============================================================