Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Gravity B Probe - MISSION UPDATE April 26, 2011

Check the web links for information on Gravity B Probe.
- LRK -

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http://einstein.stanford.edu/
Final GP-B Experimental Results to be announced in a press and media event at NASA Headquarters.

NASA Headquarters Auditorium
300 E. Street SW
Washington, DC 20546-0001
Date: Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Time: 1:00-2:00 pm EDT

For more details, see our Mission Status Update...
Snip
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Results from September 2009; Both geodetic & frame-dragging results are clearly visible in the data.
The geodetic and frame-dragging
measurements and the Schiff Equation
for calculating these relativity effects.

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http://einstein.stanford.edu/highlights/status1.html

Press and Media Event at NASA Headquarters

After 34 years of research and development, 10 years of flight preparation, a 1.5 year flight mission and 5 years of data analysis, our GP-B team has arrrived at the final experimental results for this landmark test of Einstein’s 1916 general theory of relativity

Snip

NASA TV and Webcast Coverage

This GP-B press and media event will be carried live on NASA TV, and on the NASA TV website at:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Final Results to be Posted on this Web Page

Following the NASA press and media event next Wednesday, we will post a summary of the final results on this web page, including a link to a results summary paper recently accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters.
As they say on the radio, stay tuned....

Snip
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Some background information from Wikipedia.
- LRK -

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Probe_B
[Some info outdated but the media event should bring you up to date. - LRK -]
Gravity Probe B (GP-B) is a satellite-based mission which launched on 20 April 2004 on a Delta II rocket.[3] The spaceflight phase lasted until 2005;[4] its aim is to measure spacetime curvature near Earth, and thereby the stress-energy tensor (which is related to the distribution and the motion of matter in space) in and near Earth. This will provide a test of general relativity, gravitomagnetism and related models. The principal investigator is Francis Everitt.

Initial results confirmed the expected geodetic effect to an accuracy of about 1%. The expected frame-dragging effect was similar in magnitude to the current noise level (the noise being dominated by initially unmodeled effects). Work is continuing to model and account for these sources of unintended signal, thus permitting extraction of the frame-dragging signal if it exists at the expected level. By August 2008 the uncertainty in the frame-dragging signal had been reduced to 15%,[5] and the December 2008 NASA report indicated that the geodetic effect was confirmed to better than 0.5%.[6]

Snip
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Take note of the amount of time invested in this mission.
I must admit I haven't followed much since I left Ames.
Thanks to Fred for waking me up.
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

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

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

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

NASA Invites Public to Journey Toward Interstellar Space

Received a note from William which I will pass on to you all.
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Mr. Kellogg: Looking forward to this update Thursday morning at Nasa Headquarters. 

Bill

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-124b
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A snip from the link.
- LRK -

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http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-124b
NASA Invites Public to Journey Toward Interstellar Space

April 26, 2011
NASA will hold a special NASA Science Update at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) on Thursday, April 28, to discuss the unprecedented journey of NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft to the edge of our solar system.

The event will be held at NASA Headquarters in Washington and will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed at http://www.nasa.gov . In addition, the event will be carried live on Ustream, with a live chat box available, at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

After 33 years in space, the spacecraft are still operating and returning data from about 16 billion kilometers (10 billion miles) away from our sun. The Voyagers also carry a collection of images and sounds from Earth as a message to possible life elsewhere in the galaxy.

snip
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More URLs with the same information.
- LRK -

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http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/apr/HQ_M11-084_Voyager_Update.html
MEDIA ADVISORY : M11-084
NASA Invites Public To Take A Journey Toward Interstellar Space

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a special Science Update at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 28, to discuss the unprecedented journey of NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft to the edge of our solar system.

The event will be held in NASA headquarters' Webb auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed at: http://www.nasa.gov  

snip
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OK, tell them what your are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them.  :-)
- LRK -

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20110426.html
NASA Invites Public to Journey Toward Interstellar Space
NASA will hold a special NASA Science Update at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) on Thursday, April 28, to discuss the unprecedented journey of NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft to the edge of our solar system.

The event will be held at NASA Headquarters in Washington and will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed at http://www.nasa.gov . In addition, the event will be carried live on Ustream, with a live chat box available, at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

After 33 years in space, the spacecraft are still operating and returning data from about 16 billion kilometers (10 billion miles) away from our sun. The Voyagers also carry a collection of images and sounds from Earth as a message to possible life elsewhere in the galaxy.

The participants are:
-- Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist and professor of physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
-- Ann Druyan, creative director, Voyager Interstellar Message Project; Carl Sagan's co-author and widow
-- Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
-- Merav Opher, Voyager guest investigator and assistant professor of astronomy, Boston University

For more information about the Voyager mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/voyager .
For NASA TV streaming video and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .
Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jia-rui.c.cook@jpl.nasa.gov ------------------------------------------

And to think the Voyager mission almost got terminated for lack of funding.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2005/04/27/voyager-saved-for-now/

And now down here we can forget about listening for aliens.
- LRK -

http://www.tecca.com/news/2011/04/26/seti-allen-array-shut-down/
The search for alien life takes a hit as Earth's ears are powered down

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

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

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

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

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Celebrating a star: 50 years since Gagarin’s spaceflight

Fifty years ago, on April 12, 1961, Yury Gagarin blasted off, orbited Earth and made history, becoming the first man in space.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20052927-52.html

Fifty years goes by quickly and I failed to take note of the event even though I had seen a number of articles remembering the occasion.
- LRK -

It took a note from New Zealand to bring me out of my day to day trance of routine life events.
I should think that a number of you may well have participated if a more reflective way with a Yuri Day event.
- LRK -
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http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/13/cosmonauts-day-in-mo.html

Greetings from the Moscow airport. I've been in Russia for the past few days, accompanying space journalist Miles O'Brien and crew, who are here working on a space-related documentary project. Last night, April 12, 2011, we attended a gala state celebration inside the Kremlin walls honoring the 50th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin: the first human to escape the bounds of earth into space. President Dmitry Medvedev opened the evening with a speech about the importance of Russia's space program. Under his leadership, Russia has increased its space budget and is planning to build a new cosmodrome in Russia, cheaper and closer for Russia than the current facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. During the Soviet era, Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union; now, Russia must lease the Baikonur facility at 115 million dollars a year. "Russia must preserve its preeminence in space," Medvedev said. "We were the first to fly in space and have had a great number of achievements and must not lose our advantage."
snip
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Maybe you participated in one of these many Yuri Night parties.
- LRK -

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http://yurisnight.net/
"Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it!"
Yuri Gagarin, 1st person in space Learn more about Yuri Gagarin»

The Big Day: Yuri’s Night Celebrates 50 Years of Human Spaceflight

12 04 2011
This post is your one-stop shop for everything you need to know about today’s Yuri’s Night’s goings-on. Read on for all the details:
Today is the biggest day in the history of celebrating space exploration.
On April 12, 2011, the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first human spaceflight and the 30th anniversary of the launch of the [...]
Read On

snip
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Geoff passed me these next two links.
Enjoy. - LRK -

Watch the video as well. - LRK -
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http://rt.com/news/gagarin-space-anniversary-history/
Celebrating a star: 50 years since Gagarin’s spaceflight
Published: 12 April, 2011, 08:27
A monumental feat is being celebrated across the globe. Fifty years ago, on April 12, 1961, Yury Gagarin blasted off, orbited Earth and made history, becoming the first man in space.
­Before that day mankind could hardly imagine we would one day be able to stare down at our planet from above.

Baikonur cosmodrome witnessed the first-ever successful manned space flight. It was there that 50 years ago cosmonaut Yury Gagarin boarded his Vostok-1 capsule and was launched into space.

“I had the honor of taking the Vostok, a great spacecraft, to space first. I was very happy to have that honor. It was only the beginning”, said Gagarin a short while after the memorable flight.

But there was another man for whom April 12th was also the day his name shot to fame – another Yury Gagarin.

“My parents didn't know where I was serving. They only knew I had graduated from a pilots' academy and that the facility I was working at was top secret. When they heard that Yury Gagarin had been sent into space, they assumed it was me! Journalists came to our house to interview my parents but they knew nothing. I think they could have had a heart attack”, recollects Yury.

The two Yurys met in 1963. The lucky namesake ended up face to face with the cosmonaut and introduced himself. “Gagarin asked me what month I was born. I said, "March," and it seemed to me like he was going to collapse. I even stretched out my hands to hold him up. It turned out he was born in March as well!”
snip
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Interesting video about Yury Gagarin's orbit in space in 1961 and his death in an airplane flight in 1968.
There is a nice ad in the middle of the clip.  Don't stop, enjoy the ad and see the rest of the clip that follows.
- LRK -

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http://rt.com/programs/documentary/yury-gagarin-cosmonaut-catastrophe/
Yury Gagarin: two flights

The first man in outer space was the Soviet Union’s very own Yury Gagarin! On April 12, 1961 he managed a successful flight, which lasted for 108 minutes. Gagarin and his famous charming smile became the symbol of the Soviet Union. But unfortunately on March 27, 1968 the star of Gagarin disappeared from the sky… Find out more details on RT.

snip
[See video story. - LRK -]
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Wikipedia article for Yuri Gagarin.
- LRK -

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (Russian: Ю́рий Алексе́евич Гага́рин,[1] Russian pronunciation: [ˈjurʲɪj ɐlʲɪˈksʲeɪvʲɪtɕ ɡɐˈɡarʲɪn]; 9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human being to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.
Gagarin became an international celebrity, and was awarded many medals and honours, including Hero of the Soviet Union, the nation's highest honour. Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight, but he served as backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission (which ended in a fatal crash). Gagarin later became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow, which was later named after him. Gagarin died in 1968 when a MiG 15 training jet he was piloting crashed.
snip
On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, he and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died in a MiG-15UTI crash near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and the ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square. Gagarin was survived by his wife Valentina, and daughters Galya and Lena.
snip
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So now what?  Fifty years in space, and where do we go now?
- LRK -

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http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/04/are-we-disappointed-with-space-exploration/237136/
Are We Disappointed With Space Exploration?
By Ross Andersen
Apr 12 2011, 2:56 PM ET
Fifty years ago today Yuri Gagarin spent just under two hours in space; a short jaunt by most standards, but one likely to earn him a lasting entry in the historical record. Hailed as a hero by half the world while the other half watched in shock, Gagarin's flight was a triumph on par with the Manhattan Project. As a feat of techno-nationalism, however, it didn't stick. In just thirty days the trick had been repeated, and before the decade was up, Gagarin was dead of a freak jet crash, and an American flag stood on the moon. Today there is reason to fear that the project of sending men into space may follow the same trajectory of its first hero.

After three decades of firing men and women into orbit, NASA is due to launch its final shuttle mission on June 28 of this year. The phasing out of the Space Shuttle is part of a larger move away from manned spaceflight. The reasons for this are manifold. First, space travel is dangerous; the story of Yuri Gagarin is not the only Icarus fable of the space age. In 1970 America watched as near disaster befell Apollo 13 on the dark side of the moon. In the years since she has seen two of her shuttles explode in the sky, one carrying a young schoolteacher. Manned trips to Mars and beyond promise to be perilous, expensive, or both. In light of these hazards astrophysicists tell us that robotic probes are our best bet for exploring the cosmos. Besides, it is urged, we have giant telescopes to see beyond where our electronic emissaries may venture. Lurking underneath these considerations is a still more troubling question: Have we been disappointed by space exploration?

snip
[Suggest you read the whole article and think about where we are and where we want to be.  - LRK -]
There are other signs that the cosmos have diminished as a source of inspiration in our culture. In popular films space is a menace to humanity; a rich source of alien invasions and asteroid projectiles. The ghosts of Asimov and Sagan, both great evangelists of starstruck wonder, are on the wane. Several able explainers of physics have arisen in their wake, but none have distinguished themselves as romantics of space. Artists, the locus of creative energy in our communities, now cluster tightly in cities where blaring lights drown out the stars. Worse still, while our enchantment with futuristic technologies like the spaceship has flourished, new inventions have arisen to compete for it. Today the gadget is king, and the gadget works the exact opposite magic of the rocket; it zooms the world toward you. Our era's techno-obsessions are directed inward. Prophets promise us a singularity; a rapturous eternal future for the mind, ushered in by earthbound technologies. Life expansion, cognitive enhancement, artificial intelligence, the uploading of the mind; these are the sexy new frontiers of the 21st century. When compared with the swaggering transhumanist, the stiff in the spacesuit is bound to look a little passé. If you ask the average tycoon whether he'd rather live for five hundred years or commit five generations to visiting Alpha Centauri, the response is likely to be laughter.
And too bad, for if these fifty years are to be but a brief whimsy in the story of our species, then history should judge us cruelly; man in the first fresh days of modernity, chased by a great war into the firmament before scurrying back to the muck. To send one of our own out amongst the stars, to pour the great expanse of space through the fleshy colander of our animal consciousness: these are essential tasks in the human pursuit of meaning. Like many astronauts after him, Yuri Gagarin described the experience of looking back at the Earth in terms verging on the mystical. The view from space uniformly dilates the souls of engineers; they emerge from their ships transformed into poets. Indeed, Gagarin riffed in detailed reverie about the contrast between our violet blue oceans and coal black space, all before ending on a telling note of melancholy:
"I could have gone on flying through space forever."
That may well be his elegy. Will it be ours?
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/04/are-we-disappointed-with-space-exploration/237136/
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Hmmmm, back to my trance with all my techno gadgets since I don't see me getting to look back from the coal black space.
In my dreams will have to do.
- LRK -

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

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

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Up, Up and Away --- Could it be possible?

SpaceX held a news conference, which I missed, but can be viewed on the Internet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtoADdSry6g&feature=player_embedded

Elon Musk talked about the plans to launch the Falcon-9 Heavy from Vandenburg some time in 2013.
He talks a good talk, I hope he can walk, the walk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTwRxtmQ9IY&feature=player_embedded
Animation of the world's most powerful rocket from SpaceX
- LRK -

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http://www.spacex.com/falcon_heavy.php
Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket, represents SpaceX’s entry into the heavy lift launch vehicle category. With the ability to carry satellites or interplanetary spacecraft weighing over 53 metric tons (117,000 lb) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Falcon Heavy can lift nearly twice the payload of the next closest vehicle, the US Space Shuttle, and more than twice the payload of the Delta IV Heavy.
snip

Falcon Heavy’s first stage will be made up of three nine-engine cores, which are used as the first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. It will be powered by SpaceX’s upgraded Merlin engines currently being tested at the SpaceX rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. SpaceX has already designed the Falcon 9 first stage to support the additional loads of this configuration, and with common structures and engines for both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, development and operation of the Falcon Heavy will be highly cost-effective.

snip
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Musk was asked if the Falcon Heavy could go to the Moon and he thought it could do a loop around the Moon.

Actually landing on the Moon takes more equipment besides a booster.

Could it be possible?  Nah, we have been there and done that, someone said. :-(
- LRK -

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http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20110405

WASHINGTON – Today, Elon Musk, CEO and chief rocket designer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) unveiled the dramatic final specifications and launch date for the Falcon Heavy, the world's largest rocket.

“Falcon Heavy will carry more payload to orbit or escape velocity than any vehicle in history, apart from the Saturn V moon rocket, which was decommissioned after the Apollo program. This opens a new world of capability for both government and commercial space missions,” Musk told a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

“Falcon Heavy will arrive at our Vandenberg, California, launch complex by the end of next year, with liftoff to follow soon thereafter. First launch from our Cape Canaveral launch complex is planned for late 2013 or 2014.”

Musk added that with the ability to carry satellites or interplanetary spacecraft weighing over 53 metric tons or 117,000 pounds to orbit, Falcon Heavy will have more than twice the performance of the Delta IV Heavy, the next most powerful vehicle, which is operated by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture.

53 metric tons is more than the maximum take-off weight of a fully-loaded Boeing 737-200 with 136 passengers. In other words, Falcon Heavy can deliver the equivalent of an entire commercial airplane full of passengers, crew, luggage and fuel all the way to orbit.
snip
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It will be interesting to see how the first launch goes with all those engines working together.
- LRK -

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http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/04/spacex-falcon-heavy-tag-team-share-20-launches-year/
SpaceX: Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9 tag team set to share 20 launches a year

April 5th, 2011 by Chris Bergin
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) head Elon Musk revealed their latest launch vehicle on Tuesday, the Falcon Heavy. Effectively three Falcon 9 core stages strapped together, the new vehicle – set to debut as soon as 2013 – will be the most powerful US rocket to have launched since the Saturn V was built for the Apollo Program, eventually sharing a 20 missions per year manifest with the Falcon 9.

snip
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Now who will carry Morpheus to the Moon?
- LRK -

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110330/sc_ac/8178425_nasa_engineers_work_on_project_morpheus_to_build_a_lunar_lander
NASA Engineers Work on Project Morpheus to Build a Lunar Lander
Mark Whittington Wed Mar 30, 6:14 pm ET

According to a story in Fox News, a group of engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center, acting pretty much on their own, with almost no funding, have created a test article of a lunar lander. They intend to test the vehicle on May 4.

It is called Project Morpheus, an outgrowth of a previous endeavor, Project M, which was designed to land a humanoid robot on the lunar surface. Morpheus is more focused, concentrating on two new technologies.

The first technology consists of a group of sensors that would detect hazards on the lunar surface and automatically adjust the landing trajectory to avoid them. During the descent of the lunar module of the flight of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong was obliged to fly the space craft manually to avoid landing in a bolder strewn field.

The second technology is an engine that burns methane. Methane can be created from the water that recent space probes have found trapped in craters at the lunar poles. This ability to refuel is important to sustain a lunar settlement since space craft landing on the Moon would not have to carry the fuel needed for takeoff from the lunar surface.

The story of Project Morpheus, and Project M before it, shows NASA at its finest, innovation on an almost nonexistent budget to create technology that would be of great use for future space missions. It has its inspiration, without a doubt, in the entrepreneurial efforts of nascent commercial space companies. Indeed, the Morpheus lander is a super sized version of a landing craft developed by Armadillo Aerospace during Project M.
snip
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Fox News says EXCLUSIVE and it seems to be just that.
Not finding much from others except for copies of below.
- LRK -

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http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/29/project-morpheus-lunar-lander-apollo/
EXCLUSIVE: Will Morpheus Be the First Vehicle on the Moon Since Apollo?
By Loren Grush

Published March 29, 2011
FoxNews.com
Nearly 40 years after Americans last set foot on the moon, a determined band of NASA engineers, undeterred by massive budget cuts and red tape, may have paved the way for a long awaited return to the lunar surface

snip
The heart of the NASA engineers' project is a fully functioning lunar lander, which they hope could replicate the stunning achievements of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and the other heroes that made up the Apollo missions. That program made the United States the first and only nation to put men on the surface of the moon, and ended with Gene Cernan's footsteps in 1972 with Apollo 17.
It’s the first time in years that NASA has designed and constructed a space flight vehicle, Matt Ondler, project manager for Morpheus, told FoxNews.com.
 
snip
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Well keep the ideas coming.  Maybe some Angel Investor will see a profit motive and follow through.
Somehow it seems like we are feeding a flock of pigeons with a few pieces of pop corn.
Or throw a few coins to the crowd of kids and watch them run and fight over who gets the most.

I would like to see a business plan for lunar development.

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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