NASA seems to be pleased with the recent Congressional vote.
Will have to wait and see what the President does with the approved compromise bill and where NASA goes from here.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------
NASA ADMINISTRATOR THANKS CONGRESS FOR 2010 AUTHORIZATION ACT SUPPORT
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-238_Bolden_Auth_Statement.html
Sep. 29, 2010
David Weaver
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
david.s.weaver@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 10-238
NASA ADMINISTRATOR THANKS CONGRESS FOR 2010 AUTHORIZATION ACT SUPPORT
WASHINGTON -- The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden regarding Wednesday's action by the House of Representatives on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010.
"We thank the Congress for their thoughtful deliberations about NASA's future over the past months. Both the House and the Senate provided insight, ideas and direction that were truly exemplary of the democratic process. It is clear that our space program inspires passion and dedication across party lines, and for that we are truly thankful.
"This important vote today in the House of Representatives on a comprehensive NASA authorization charts a vital new future for the course of human space exploration. We are grateful that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 received strong support in the House after its clearance in the Senate, and can now be sent on to the President for his signature.
snip
-------------------------------------
At least two are happy.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------
Wed, 29 September, 2010
Garver, Bolden Urge Passage of NASA Authorization
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/100929-garver-bolden-nasa-authorization.html
WASHINGTON — After months of bipartisan wrangling on Capitol Hill over the future of NASA’s manned spaceflight program, the agency’s top two officials urged support for the Senate version of a three-year NASA authorization bill headed for a vote in the U.S. House this evening, even as a group of House lawmakers voiced strong opposition to the measure.
“We truly, truly believe that the time has come for us to have some clarifying direction,” NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said during a House aerospace caucus luncheon here Sept. 29, asserting the Senate measure, S. 3729, incorporates “the very best parts of the administration’s proposals,” including a top-line spending authorization of $19 billion in 2011, a call to increase funding for aeronautics and science, extending the international space station through at least 2020 and a sustained program of exploration beyond low Earth orbit. “We encourage all of you to support a bold and vibrant future for NASA by supporting the authorization bill.”
snip
-------------------------------------
FYI - LRK -
-------------------------------------
Bill Summary & Status
111th Congress (2009 - 2010)
S.3729
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:S3729:/
S.3729
Title: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010
Sponsor: Sen Rockefeller, John D., IV [WV] (introduced 8/5/2010)
Cosponsors (None)
Related Bills: H.R.5781
Latest Major Action: 9/29/2010 Passed/agreed to in House. Status: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 304 - 118 (Roll no. 561).
Senate Reports: 111-278
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp111:FLD010:@1%28sr278%29
Committee Reports 111th Congress
(2009-2010) Senate Report 111-278
Table of Contents
Beginning
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
BACKGROUND AND NEEDS
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
ESTIMATED COSTS
REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT
NUMBER OF PERSONS COVERED
ECONOMIC IMPACT
PRIVACY
PAPERWORK
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
TITLE I--AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS
TITLE II--POLICY, GOALS, AND OBJECTIVES FOR HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT AND EXPLORATION
TITLE III--EXPANSION OF HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT BEYOND THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION AND LOW-EARTH ORBIT
TITLE IV--DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF COMMERCIAL CREW AND CARGO
TRANSPORTATION CAPABILITIES
TITLE V--CONTINUATION, SUPPORT, AND EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
TITLE VI--SPACE SHUTTLE RETIREMENT AND TRANSITION
TITLE VII--EARTH SCIENCE
TITLE VIII--SPACE SCIENCE
TITLE IX--AERONAUTICS AND SPACE TECHOLOGY
TITLE X--EDUCATION
TITLE XI--RESCOPING AND REVITALIZING INSTITUTIONAL CAPABILITIES
TITLE XII--OTHER MATTERS
VOTES IN COMMITTEE
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
snip
-------------------------------------
More filler - pro - con -
- LRK -
-------------------------------------
NASA’s Senate Bill passes after dramatic debate and vote in Congress
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2010/09/nasas-senate-bill-passes-dramatic-debate-vote-congress/
September 30th, 2010 by Chris Bergin
Following a marathon day of debates and the extended wait for a recorded vote, the Senate Bill (S. 3729) has been passed by lawmakers by a ratio of 3 to 1. Modifying the heavily criticised path laid out by President Obama, Congress passed the bill which will allow for the ultimate transition towards commercial access to Low Earth Orbit, in tandem with NASA’s re-focused goals on exploration via a new HLV (Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle).
Senate “Compromise” Bill:
The bill – to authorize the programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for fiscal years 2011 through 2013 – provides $58 billion for NASA over that three year period. It was passed by a vote of 304 yeas, versus 118 nays, with 10 non voters.
Once the bill came up for debate late in the day on Wednesday, a string of lawmakers outlined their support for S. 3729, citing the need to protect the workforce from further widescale cuts, through to the more dramatic claims that President Obama was aiming to destroy manned space flight via his FY2011 budget proposal.
Only one voice was heard in opposition, when Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords took a large amount of the debating time to cite her strong opposition to passing the bill – which was expected following her previous stance, and continued calls to reject all bills which threatened to cancel the Constellation Program.
“This is a bad bill, this will do damage to NASA and should be voted down,” noted Rep. Giffords, before moving into a tirade against the content of the bill, claiming the provision for a HLV was for a vehicle that was designed by Senators, not NASA engineers.
snip
-------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
NASA'S Lunar Spacecraft Completes Exploration Mission Phase
Until we send humans or robots to the lunar surface, this will have to do. Hopefully we will have students that will use the data to devise new missions.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
NASA'S Lunar Spacecraft Completes Exploration Mission Phase
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-223_LRO_Success.html
Sep. 15, 2010
Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1979
michael.j.braukus@nasa.gov
Nancy Neal Jones
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0039
nancy.n.jones@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 10-223
NASA'S LUNAR SPACECRAFT COMPLETES EXPLORATION MISSION PHASE
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, will complete the exploration phase of its mission on Sept. 16, after a number of successes that transformed our understanding of Earth's nearest neighbor.
LRO completed a one-year exploration mission in a polar orbit approximately 31 miles above the moon's surface. It produced a comprehensive map of the lunar surface in unprecedented detail; searched for resources and safe landing sites for potential future missions to the moon; and measured lunar temperatures and radiation levels.
The mission is turning its attention from exploration objectives to scientific research, as program management moves from NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate to the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington.
"LRO has been an outstanding success. The spacecraft has performed brilliantly," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. "LRO's science and engineering teams achieved all of the mission's objectives, and the incredible data LRO gathered will provide discoveries about the moon for years to come."
The LRO team will continue to send data gathered during the last year to the Planetary Data System, which archives and distributes scientific information from NASA planetary missions, astronomical observations and laboratory measurements.
By the time LRO achieves full mission success in March, and its data is processed and released to the scientific community, it will have sent more information to the Planetary Data System than all other previous planetary missions combined. During its new phase of discovery, LRO will continue to map the moon for two to four more years.
"The official start of LRO's science phase should write a new and intriguing chapter in lunar research," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. "This mission is one more asset added to NASA's vast science portfolio."
The spacecraft launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying a suite of seven instruments on June 18, 2009. LRO formally began its detailed survey of the moon in September 2009.
Results from the mission include: new observations of the Apollo landing sites; indications that permanently shadowed and nearby regions may harbor water and hydrogen; observations that large areas in the permanently shadowed regions are colder than Pluto; detailed information about lunar terrain; and the first evidence of a globally distributed population of thrust faults that indicates the moon has recently contracted and may still be shrinking.
LRO also took high resolution pictures of the Lunokhod 1 rover that had been lost for almost 40 years. The rover, which carries a retroreflector, was located to within approximately 150 feet. The accurate position data enabled researchers on Earth to bounce laser signals off the retroreflector for the first time ever. The retroreflector is providing important new information about the position and motion of the moon.
LRO also supported the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite impact, a companion mission sent to determine if the moon's poles harbor water ice, by helping to select a promising impact site. LRO observed both the expanding plume that arose after the impact and the evolving temperature at the site.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., built and manages LRO for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. The Institute for Space Research in Moscow provides the neutron detector aboard the spacecraft. For more information about LRO, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/lro
-end-
-------------------------------------------
It is easy to forget how close the Moon is to Earth.
It is easy to forget how close the Moon is to Earth.
It is easy to forget how close the Moon is to Earth.
Don't you think we should go there and do this and that?
It is easy to forget how close the Moon is to Earth.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20100916_earth.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/482574main_20100916_1b.jpg
As LRO orbits the Moon every two hours sending down a stream of science data, it is easy to forget how close the Moon is to the Earth. The average distance between the two heavenly bodies is just 384,399 km (238,854 miles). Check your airline frequent flyer totals, perhaps you have already flown the distance to the Moon and back on a single airline! Contrast the current image with the NAC view taken last June, which revealed much of central Asia.
The Moon is a spectacular sight in the nighttime sky. Now imagine the Earth from the Moon, four times larger, a delicate blue, and it does not rise nor set. To astronauts, the Earth is a constant companion, at least on the nearside. Of course, on the farside you can never see the Earth.
snip
-------------------------------------------
Let us send something intelligent to the Moon.
If not me, then something that can see for me.
Something that will help others see what some politicians fail to see.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://tinyurl.com/2ax2hdz
As seen at http://www.kurzweilai.net/
New supercomputer on a chip ‘sees’ well enough to drive a car someday September 16, 2010 by Amara D. Angelica
Eugenio Culurciello of Yale’s School of Engineering & Applied Science has developed a supercomputer based on the ventral pathway of the mammalian visual system. Dubbed NeuFlow, the system mimicks the visual system’s neural network to quickly interpret the world around it. The system uses complex vision algorithms developed by Yann LeCun at New York University to run large neural networks for synthetic vision applications. One idea — the one Culurciello and LeCun are focusing on — is a system that would allow cars to drive themselves. In order to be able to recognize the various objects encountered on the road—such as other cars, people, stoplights, sidewalks, and the road itself—NeuFlow processes tens of megapixel images in real time.
snip
http://www.kurzweilai.net/
-------------------------------------------
Maybe someone would like to print me up a 3D igloo made from regolith cement.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html?pagewanted=1&tntemail0=y&_r=4&emc=tnt
3-D Printing Spurs a Manufacturing Revolution
By ASHLEE VANCE
Published: September 13, 2010
---------
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html?_r=3&pagewanted=2&tntemail0=y&emc=tnt
snip
But Contour Crafting, based in Los Angeles, has pushed 3-D printing technology to its limits.
----
http://www.contourcrafting.org/
Html version http://craft.usc.edu/CC/modem.html
Shockwave http://craft.usc.edu/CC/Welcome_files/contourcrafting.html
*Requires broadband connection and the Shockwave media player - which it would seem I don't have installed. LRK
----
Based on research done by Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis, an engineering professor at the University of Southern California, Contour Crafting has created a giant 3-D printing device for building houses. The start-up company is seeking money to commercialize a machine capable of building an entire house in one go using a machine that fits on the back of a tractor-trailer.
The 3-D printing wave has caught the attention of some of the world’s biggest technology companies. Hewlett-Packard, the largest paper-printer maker, has started reselling 3-D printing machines made by Stratasys. And Google uses the CADspan software from LGM to help people using its SketchUp design software turn their creations into 3-D printable objects.
snip
---------
-------------------------------------------
Just think how hard it would be to work in the vacuum of the Moon, and just think how much fun it would be to figure out how to do so. :-)
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
NASA'S Lunar Spacecraft Completes Exploration Mission Phase
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-223_LRO_Success.html
Sep. 15, 2010
Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1979
michael.j.braukus@nasa.gov
Nancy Neal Jones
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0039
nancy.n.jones@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 10-223
NASA'S LUNAR SPACECRAFT COMPLETES EXPLORATION MISSION PHASE
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, will complete the exploration phase of its mission on Sept. 16, after a number of successes that transformed our understanding of Earth's nearest neighbor.
LRO completed a one-year exploration mission in a polar orbit approximately 31 miles above the moon's surface. It produced a comprehensive map of the lunar surface in unprecedented detail; searched for resources and safe landing sites for potential future missions to the moon; and measured lunar temperatures and radiation levels.
The mission is turning its attention from exploration objectives to scientific research, as program management moves from NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate to the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington.
"LRO has been an outstanding success. The spacecraft has performed brilliantly," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. "LRO's science and engineering teams achieved all of the mission's objectives, and the incredible data LRO gathered will provide discoveries about the moon for years to come."
The LRO team will continue to send data gathered during the last year to the Planetary Data System, which archives and distributes scientific information from NASA planetary missions, astronomical observations and laboratory measurements.
By the time LRO achieves full mission success in March, and its data is processed and released to the scientific community, it will have sent more information to the Planetary Data System than all other previous planetary missions combined. During its new phase of discovery, LRO will continue to map the moon for two to four more years.
"The official start of LRO's science phase should write a new and intriguing chapter in lunar research," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. "This mission is one more asset added to NASA's vast science portfolio."
The spacecraft launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying a suite of seven instruments on June 18, 2009. LRO formally began its detailed survey of the moon in September 2009.
Results from the mission include: new observations of the Apollo landing sites; indications that permanently shadowed and nearby regions may harbor water and hydrogen; observations that large areas in the permanently shadowed regions are colder than Pluto; detailed information about lunar terrain; and the first evidence of a globally distributed population of thrust faults that indicates the moon has recently contracted and may still be shrinking.
LRO also took high resolution pictures of the Lunokhod 1 rover that had been lost for almost 40 years. The rover, which carries a retroreflector, was located to within approximately 150 feet. The accurate position data enabled researchers on Earth to bounce laser signals off the retroreflector for the first time ever. The retroreflector is providing important new information about the position and motion of the moon.
LRO also supported the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite impact, a companion mission sent to determine if the moon's poles harbor water ice, by helping to select a promising impact site. LRO observed both the expanding plume that arose after the impact and the evolving temperature at the site.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., built and manages LRO for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. The Institute for Space Research in Moscow provides the neutron detector aboard the spacecraft. For more information about LRO, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/lro
-end-
-------------------------------------------
It is easy to forget how close the Moon is to Earth.
It is easy to forget how close the Moon is to Earth.
It is easy to forget how close the Moon is to Earth.
Don't you think we should go there and do this and that?
It is easy to forget how close the Moon is to Earth.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20100916_earth.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/482574main_20100916_1b.jpg
As LRO orbits the Moon every two hours sending down a stream of science data, it is easy to forget how close the Moon is to the Earth. The average distance between the two heavenly bodies is just 384,399 km (238,854 miles). Check your airline frequent flyer totals, perhaps you have already flown the distance to the Moon and back on a single airline! Contrast the current image with the NAC view taken last June, which revealed much of central Asia.
The Moon is a spectacular sight in the nighttime sky. Now imagine the Earth from the Moon, four times larger, a delicate blue, and it does not rise nor set. To astronauts, the Earth is a constant companion, at least on the nearside. Of course, on the farside you can never see the Earth.
snip
-------------------------------------------
Let us send something intelligent to the Moon.
If not me, then something that can see for me.
Something that will help others see what some politicians fail to see.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://tinyurl.com/2ax2hdz
As seen at http://www.kurzweilai.net/
New supercomputer on a chip ‘sees’ well enough to drive a car someday September 16, 2010 by Amara D. Angelica
Eugenio Culurciello of Yale’s School of Engineering & Applied Science has developed a supercomputer based on the ventral pathway of the mammalian visual system. Dubbed NeuFlow, the system mimicks the visual system’s neural network to quickly interpret the world around it. The system uses complex vision algorithms developed by Yann LeCun at New York University to run large neural networks for synthetic vision applications. One idea — the one Culurciello and LeCun are focusing on — is a system that would allow cars to drive themselves. In order to be able to recognize the various objects encountered on the road—such as other cars, people, stoplights, sidewalks, and the road itself—NeuFlow processes tens of megapixel images in real time.
snip
http://www.kurzweilai.net/
-------------------------------------------
Maybe someone would like to print me up a 3D igloo made from regolith cement.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html?pagewanted=1&tntemail0=y&_r=4&emc=tnt
3-D Printing Spurs a Manufacturing Revolution
By ASHLEE VANCE
Published: September 13, 2010
---------
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html?_r=3&pagewanted=2&tntemail0=y&emc=tnt
snip
But Contour Crafting, based in Los Angeles, has pushed 3-D printing technology to its limits.
----
http://www.contourcrafting.org/
Html version http://craft.usc.edu/CC/modem.html
Shockwave http://craft.usc.edu/CC/Welcome_files/contourcrafting.html
*Requires broadband connection and the Shockwave media player - which it would seem I don't have installed. LRK
----
Based on research done by Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis, an engineering professor at the University of Southern California, Contour Crafting has created a giant 3-D printing device for building houses. The start-up company is seeking money to commercialize a machine capable of building an entire house in one go using a machine that fits on the back of a tractor-trailer.
The 3-D printing wave has caught the attention of some of the world’s biggest technology companies. Hewlett-Packard, the largest paper-printer maker, has started reselling 3-D printing machines made by Stratasys. And Google uses the CADspan software from LGM to help people using its SketchUp design software turn their creations into 3-D printable objects.
snip
---------
-------------------------------------------
Just think how hard it would be to work in the vacuum of the Moon, and just think how much fun it would be to figure out how to do so. :-)
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
NASA SCIENTISTS TALK ABOUT ASTEROIDS PASSING NEAR EARTH WEDNESDAY
Discover Sunday, see it Wednesday, not much of a lead time.
Glad they aren't so big.
Glad they aren't on a collision course.
- LRK -
==============================
Sep. 07, 2010
Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-128
NASA SCIENTISTS TALK ABOUT ASTEROIDS PASSING NEAR EARTH WEDNESDAY
WASHINGTON -- Two asteroids will pass within the moon's distance from Earth on Wednesday, Sept. 8. NASA scientists will be available for satellite interviews Tuesday, Sept. 7, and Wednesday morning to discuss these near- Earth objects.
The Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Ariz., discovered both objects on Sunday, Sept. 5. The Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., reviewed the observations and determined the preliminary orbits. The center's personnel concluded both objects would pass within the distance of the moon to Earth, approximately 240,000 miles. The asteroids should be visible with moderate-sized amateur telescopes.
Neither asteroid will hit Earth. Asteroid 2010 RX30 is estimated to be approximately 32 to 65 feet in size and will pass within approximately 154,000 miles of Earth at 5:51 a.m. EDT Wednesday. The second object, 2010 RF12, estimated to be 20 to 46 feet in size, will pass within approximately 49,000 miles at 5:12 p.m. EDT.
NASA scientists are available for interviews about the asteroids via NASA Television, Skype or telephone. TV producers can call 818-393-5467 to schedule afternoon interviews and 202-358-1726 to schedule morning interviews. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
-end-
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
hqnews-subscribe@
To remove your address from the list, send a message to:
hqnews-unsubscribe@
==============================
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.
==============================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================
Glad they aren't so big.
Glad they aren't on a collision course.
- LRK -
==============================
Sep. 07, 2010
Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-128
NASA SCIENTISTS TALK ABOUT ASTEROIDS PASSING NEAR EARTH WEDNESDAY
WASHINGTON -- Two asteroids will pass within the moon's distance from Earth on Wednesday, Sept. 8. NASA scientists will be available for satellite interviews Tuesday, Sept. 7, and Wednesday morning to discuss these near- Earth objects.
The Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Ariz., discovered both objects on Sunday, Sept. 5. The Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., reviewed the observations and determined the preliminary orbits. The center's personnel concluded both objects would pass within the distance of the moon to Earth, approximately 240,000 miles. The asteroids should be visible with moderate-sized amateur telescopes.
Neither asteroid will hit Earth. Asteroid 2010 RX30 is estimated to be approximately 32 to 65 feet in size and will pass within approximately 154,000 miles of Earth at 5:51 a.m. EDT Wednesday. The second object, 2010 RF12, estimated to be 20 to 46 feet in size, will pass within approximately 49,000 miles at 5:12 p.m. EDT.
NASA scientists are available for interviews about the asteroids via NASA Television, Skype or telephone. TV producers can call 818-393-5467 to schedule afternoon interviews and 202-358-1726 to schedule morning interviews. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
-end-
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
hqnews-subscribe@
To remove your address from the list, send a message to:
hqnews-unsubscribe@
==============================
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.
==============================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================
Saturday, September 4, 2010
To The Moon - well send in the Avatar - the robots - the game simulation
Since we don't seem to be in any hurry to send humans back to the Moon for real, I have been spending my time in my own dreams of human like robots that can think and are intelligent.
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
- LRK -
-----------------------------------------
http://www.amazon.com/
Artificial Life: An Overview [Hardcover]
Christopher G. Langton (Editor)
Product Description
Artificial life, a field that seeks to increase the role of synthesis in the study of biological phenomena, has great potential, both for unlocking the secrets of life and for raising a host of disturbing issues -- scientific and technical as well as philosophical and ethical. This book brings together a series of overview articles that appeared in the first three issues of the groundbreaking journal Artificial Life, along with a new introduction by Christopher Langton, Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Life, founder of the discipline, and Director of the Artificial Life Program at the Santa Fe Institute.
snip
------------------------------
You may have watched the movie AVATAR (2009) and wondered what it would be like to be able to put yourself into an immersion chamber and experience what a synthetic life form would experience. Could we do the same for sending a NON Human to the Moon, since sending Human Humans seems to be questionable?
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.fandango.com/
Avatar (2009)
Opened December 18, 2009 | Runtime:2 hr. 30 min.
AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, AVATAR, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.
snip
------------------------------
It looks like we will have to rely on satellite lunar orbiters to show us the Moon and hopefully at least some rovers on the lunar surface to begin to let us know more about our nearest neighbor in space. Sending real live, thinking intelligent explorers there seems to be a long way off and I don't have that much time to wait. I hope our Congress makes up its mind soon as to how we will proceed. In the mean time I guess we will be at the mercy of simulations.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.moonbasealphagame.
Do you have what it takes ...
In ‘Moonbase Alpha’, players will step into the role of an exploration team member and will be immersed in a futuristic 3D lunar settlement. Their mission is to restore critical systems and oxygen flow after a nearby meteor strike cripples a solar array and life support equipment. Available resources include an interactive command center, a lunar rover, mobile robotic repair units and a fully stocked equipment shed.
This 'First Person Explorer' serious game includes both a single player capability and LAN or internet multiplayer gameplay for up to six active players on a team. Selectable maps will be available for specific player numbers (e.g., 2 player map, 4 player map, etc.). Each of these maps is represented and tracked individually within the game’s leader boards.
snip
------------------------------
http://store.steampowered.com/
http://www.gamingbits.com/
A Popular Mechanics review of the program is not too supportive.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.popularmechanics.
Why NASA's New Video Game Completely Misses the Point
August 3, 2010 3:30 PM
There is a scene in last year's first-person shooter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, that puts you in the pressurized boots of an astronaut. While hitched to the outside of the International Space Station, you're asked by mission control to provide visual confirmation of an ICBM arcing through low Earth orbit. The sequence ends as abruptly as it begins, with the station blown to pieces, and you, the astronaut, sent tumbling into space. It's a bizarre and thrilling minute of doomed gameplay.
If only NASA's own astronaut simulator, Moonbase Alpha, was so brutish and short. Distributed for free online (via the Steam network) and developed in partnership with America's Army, the PC game is set on a lunar outpost in 2025. After a meteor strike disables the expedition's life-support systems, one or more players set out with tools, robots and rovers to get oxygen flowing again. It's a race against the clock—25 minutes, to be precise.
It's also excruciatingly boring, not to mention ill-timed. This past April, after hearing the recommendations of an independent panel on the future of human spaceflight, the Obama administration pulled the plug on a new manned mission to the moon. "We've been there before. Buzz has been there before," President Obama said during a speech on April 15 at the John F. Kennedy Center in Florida, referring to Buzz Aldrin, who attended the event. "There's a lot more of space to explore, and a lot more to learn when we do."
What Obama didn't mention was that Aldrin was one of the most vocal critics of NASA's return trip to the moon, advising instead a robot-only lunar presence for the United States, while concentrating on manned expeditions to Mars and its moons. Even those experts in favor of a lunar outpost saw it as little more than a logistical necessity—a place to mine for fuel and launch missions into deep space.
snip
------------------------------
http://www.thespacereview.com/
For you who would prefer to go to Mars, well we have a lot of data on Mars now and you can explore on your own.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://beamartian.jpl.nasa.
NASA Be A Martian - Welcome
Age of Virtual Exploration & the Human-Robotic Partnership
I want to be a Martian Citizen. > Account Set Up I just want to look around. > Anonymous Tourist Visa I am a Martian Citizen.
This site was created under a Memorandum of Understanding between NASA/JPL-Caltech and Microsoft.
Artificial Life: An Overview [Hardcover]
Christopher G. Langton (Editor)
Product Description
Artificial life, a field that seeks to increase the role of synthesis in the study of biological phenomena, has great potential, both for unlocking the secrets of life and for raising a host of disturbing issues -- scientific and technical as well as philosophical and ethical. This book brings together a series of overview articles that appeared in the first three issues of the groundbreaking journal Artificial Life, along with a new introduction by Christopher Langton, Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Life, founder of the discipline, and Director of the Artificial Life Program at the Santa Fe Institute.
snip
------------------------------
You may have watched the movie AVATAR (2009) and wondered what it would be like to be able to put yourself into an immersion chamber and experience what a synthetic life form would experience. Could we do the same for sending a NON Human to the Moon, since sending Human Humans seems to be questionable?
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.fandango.com/
Avatar (2009)
Opened December 18, 2009 | Runtime:2 hr. 30 min.
AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, AVATAR, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.
snip
------------------------------
It looks like we will have to rely on satellite lunar orbiters to show us the Moon and hopefully at least some rovers on the lunar surface to begin to let us know more about our nearest neighbor in space. Sending real live, thinking intelligent explorers there seems to be a long way off and I don't have that much time to wait. I hope our Congress makes up its mind soon as to how we will proceed. In the mean time I guess we will be at the mercy of simulations.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.moonbasealphagame.
Do you have what it takes ...
In ‘Moonbase Alpha’, players will step into the role of an exploration team member and will be immersed in a futuristic 3D lunar settlement. Their mission is to restore critical systems and oxygen flow after a nearby meteor strike cripples a solar array and life support equipment. Available resources include an interactive command center, a lunar rover, mobile robotic repair units and a fully stocked equipment shed.
This 'First Person Explorer' serious game includes both a single player capability and LAN or internet multiplayer gameplay for up to six active players on a team. Selectable maps will be available for specific player numbers (e.g., 2 player map, 4 player map, etc.). Each of these maps is represented and tracked individually within the game’s leader boards.
snip
------------------------------
http://store.steampowered.com/
http://www.gamingbits.com/
A Popular Mechanics review of the program is not too supportive.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.popularmechanics.
Why NASA's New Video Game Completely Misses the Point
August 3, 2010 3:30 PM
There is a scene in last year's first-person shooter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, that puts you in the pressurized boots of an astronaut. While hitched to the outside of the International Space Station, you're asked by mission control to provide visual confirmation of an ICBM arcing through low Earth orbit. The sequence ends as abruptly as it begins, with the station blown to pieces, and you, the astronaut, sent tumbling into space. It's a bizarre and thrilling minute of doomed gameplay.
If only NASA's own astronaut simulator, Moonbase Alpha, was so brutish and short. Distributed for free online (via the Steam network) and developed in partnership with America's Army, the PC game is set on a lunar outpost in 2025. After a meteor strike disables the expedition's life-support systems, one or more players set out with tools, robots and rovers to get oxygen flowing again. It's a race against the clock—25 minutes, to be precise.
It's also excruciatingly boring, not to mention ill-timed. This past April, after hearing the recommendations of an independent panel on the future of human spaceflight, the Obama administration pulled the plug on a new manned mission to the moon. "We've been there before. Buzz has been there before," President Obama said during a speech on April 15 at the John F. Kennedy Center in Florida, referring to Buzz Aldrin, who attended the event. "There's a lot more of space to explore, and a lot more to learn when we do."
What Obama didn't mention was that Aldrin was one of the most vocal critics of NASA's return trip to the moon, advising instead a robot-only lunar presence for the United States, while concentrating on manned expeditions to Mars and its moons. Even those experts in favor of a lunar outpost saw it as little more than a logistical necessity—a place to mine for fuel and launch missions into deep space.
snip
------------------------------
http://www.thespacereview.com/
For you who would prefer to go to Mars, well we have a lot of data on Mars now and you can explore on your own.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://beamartian.jpl.nasa.
NASA Be A Martian - Welcome
Age of Virtual Exploration & the Human-Robotic Partnership
I want to be a Martian Citizen. > Account Set Up I just want to look around. > Anonymous Tourist Visa I am a Martian Citizen.
This site was created under a Memorandum of Understanding between NASA/JPL-Caltech and Microsoft.
snip
------------------------------
OK, forgive me, but I am going back to my reading and day dreaming.
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.
===========================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================
------------------------------
OK, forgive me, but I am going back to my reading and day dreaming.
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.
===========================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================
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