To the Moon!

Grok Headline matches for To the Moon!

Where in Washington, D.C. is Sun Myung
Moon?: Moon: Work with congressmen to
"discard" democracy

Where in Washington, D.C. is Sun Myung
Moon?: Moon: Work with congressmen to
"discard" democracy 03/30/2005 07:38 AM
Sun Myung Moon wants congressmen to "discard" democracy 3/30 .. it's time to end American democracy

iapprovethismessiah.com/2005/03/moon-work-with-congressmen -to-discard.html
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"Where in Washington, D.C. is Sun Myung
Moon?: Moon: Work with..."

"Where in Washington, D.C. is Sun Myung
Moon?: Moon: Work with..." 03/30/2005 09:20 PM

Fly Us to the Moon -- All of Us

Fly Us to the Moon -- All of Us 01/16/2004 11:26 AM
President Bush wants to establish a permanent lunar outpost as part of a revitalized space program. Well and good. But don't turn the moon into an extension of Fortress America. Welcome the world, or deep-six the plan. Opinion by Tony Long.

The Man and the Moon

The Man and the Moon 05/04/2004 10:32 PM
I'm Congressman Danny K. Davis, and I approved this crowning of the messiah. [more inside]

If they can put a man on the Moon....

If they can put a man on the Moon.... 03/17/2005 03:23 AM

Two talks at MIT this week have been thought-provoking in similar ways.  The first was by a physics professor, Frank Wilczek, who recently won the Nobel Prize for his work on the Strong Force, which holds together quarks to form atomic nuclei.  Wilczek showed some impressive drawings from the latest European particle accelerators in which subatomic particles are smashed together until the quarks start flying out.  (This lecture is available at http://web.mit.edu/nobel-lec tures/.)  John Grotzinger, a geology professor, gave a talk about his experience with the Mars Rovers, which found evidence for flowing water on Mars in sedimentary rocks.  The Rovers communicate with an orbiter and can also communicate directly with stations on Earth.  In Grotzinger's more than one year with the project they've never had a communications problem.

So... if human minds can get together to make ever-better particle accelerators, why can't anyone build a reliable inexpensive nuclear power reactor?  And if the Mars Rovers can call Pasadena, how come nobody with a T-Mobile phone can make a call from most spots on the MIT campus or along Memorial Drive?

In the 1970s people would ask questions of the form "If they can put a man on the Moon, why can't they do X?"  What would be the modern equivalent?  The one great human achievement of our current decade that can be compared to the lack of accomplishment in most bureaucracies?

fly me to the moon...

fly me to the moon... 01/16/2004 11:27 AM

Finally the long-rumored announcement from the Bush administration happened yesterday, and the New York Times has both an article and analysis (more coverage from CNN, the Washington Post 1, 2, 3, and space.com). At first I was excited, since as I've expresse d before I wholeheartedly support spaceflight. True spacefaring abilities is be among the short list of things mankind should strive to achieve in this century. (Along with tending to some...err... tiny problems we still seem to have when taking care of our home planet).

The plan is (apparently) to phase out what's left of the Shuttle fleet (STS, or Space Transportation System). There are three Shuttles left: Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. (an early model of the orbiter, the Enterprise, only performed tests flights). Additionally, NASA space science programs will be downsized, including cancellation of further servicing to the Hubble Space Telescope. The STS phase-out would be complete by 2010 (which would also be the "date of completion" of the International Space Station), and the new transportation vehicle would be ready by 2014.

And herein lies the first problem with this plan. Are we seriously saying that the US will stay out of space for four years? I find this very hard to believe, considering that the Chinese are certain to have made some progress by then on their own goal of landing on the moon. (And let's not forget Russia...).

After the new launch, a lunar base would be established, "at most" by 2020, and subsequently used as additional research, development and launch platform for launching a manned Mission to Mars.

This "schedule" seems to me slow, and with many of its targets are so far off that (as the NYTimes analysis makes clear), easy to derail. Not to mention that the announcement provided basically no new funding for the program ($1 billion, plus the money that would come from phasing out the STS fleet).

A big factor in this seems to be "safety". For example, the NY Times analysis mentions that the shuttles have been "prone to catastrophic failure". This statement appears to imply that other space vehicles have not been prone to catastrophic failure. Mmm. Let me see. The Shuttle has flown over a hundred missions (STS-107 was the last flight of the ill-fated Columbia) with exactly two catastrophic failures. In contrast, the Apollo program flew less than 15 manned missions (with a few more unmanned) and it had two massive failures, the first in Apollo 1 (which killed the crew during a test) and the second with Apollo 13, which barely made it back to earth. The number of Soviet failures at the same time is difficult to know with a high degree of confidence, but no one thinks that it was a walk in the park. The Soviet Union, after all, never managed to put a man on the moon, and Soviet technology, though constantly a bit behind the times, was never that bad.

This reminds me of one of Steve Buscemi's lines in Armageddon: "You know, Harry, we're sitting on 4 million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon, and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?"

Setting aside the nuclear weapon for the moment (Flying to Mars and beyond may well involve some sort of nuclear- or even antimatter-powered spacecraft), this is one of those "funny 'cause it's true" jokes.

What I'm saying is: I don't get it. Can't they get astronauts to fly? What's the problem? If they can't find anyone, sign me up! But of course, they can get astronauts to fly. They would, under whatever circumstances and whatever risks. But of course this whole obsession with safety is something that has been growing and growing in the Western world, with the US "leading the way" but with Europe particularly in the same boat. Apparently, people are just not supposed to die anymore.

And what about the technology? Does it really take more than 10 years to create a new moon crew transport vehicle? Of course not. Our science and technology has advanced by leaps and bounds since the 70s, particularly computer technology which is crucial to this whole endeavor. As the Washington Post notes:

Bush has outlined a tortoise-like pace, dictated by severe budget constraints, that allows a full decade just to develop a vehicle that would, once again, deliver people to the moon -- something Apollo engineers accomplished, starting from scratch, in about eight years.

The problem is not technology, it's political will, and funding. In fact, this new project is a mirror of something that was proposed ten years ago, which went nowhere, as one of the articles from the NYT describes:

In 1989, in a speech honoring the 20th anniversary of the initial lunar landing, the first President Bush proposed that the nation establish a base on the Moon and send an expedition to Mars to begin "the permanent settlement of space." He set the Mars goal for 2019 but the effort soon fizzled when the cost estimates hit $400 billion.

In today's western culture (but it's really happening all over the world) with our instant-satisfaction, one-click-shopping, celebrity-obsessed and 24-hour-of-irrelevant-news media, it's hard to think that popular support will keep steady over the course of the 15-25 years required for this project.

I must say, though, without cynicism, that I hope I'm wrong. I really, really hope that the US can stick with it. It's the one country that has the knowhow and the resources (and, at times, the spirit) necessary to pull it off. And for all the criticisms, it has maintained a continuing space program, to its credit. Does anyone think that the International Space Station would be anything but a blueprint by now if it wasn't for the time, money, and energy (however misdirected) that the US has spent on it?

And, by the way, why does the US have to do this by itself? The Chinese are moving forward, but if they keep at it there will be questions as to how much international aid they need, as this article from the economist notes. And, where's Japan, where's Russia? More importantly, where's the EU? There's been lots of talk about the potential world power the EU can become. But instead of talking about worthy goals, like using the European Space Agency for a daring multinational space exploration program, we keep discussing agricultural subsidies and whether one country has more votes than the other. It's not of course that those are not important issues, but there is zero attention, money, or "political capital" put forward for anything other than those things. I mean, Germany, France, the UK, and all the other great countries. Come on! Europe has to stop running scared from its past of internicine warfare and truly look forward to the future. The US can't be left alone holding the bag with this.

I suddenly think of part of a Sagan quote I posted sometime ago:

Spaceflight, therefore, is subversive. If they are fortunate enough to find themselves in Earth orbit, most people, after a little meditation, have similar thoughts. The nations that had insituted spaceflight had done so largely for nationalistic reasons; it was a small irony that almost everyone who entered space received a starting glimpse of a transnational perspective, of the Earth as one world.

We are not that far away. We can only hope that we, as a society, can for once look just a little beyond our noses and truly make it happen.

To the moon

To the moon 01/16/2004 11:04 AM

Bush Outlines Plan for 2015 Moon Landing is the first thing that President Bush has proposed that I'm actually in agreement with (well that's not true, I supported his State of the Union proposal to send millions to Africa for AIDS, but last I heard, that money still hasn't been sent). I've always been sad that we haven't returned to the moon since December 1972 -- nearly my whole life! And the thought of renewed exploration of the moon and then Mars thrills me, maybe I can even go! But, I can't help but wonder a) where the money will come from for all this and b) how the heck Bush can actually think he's for smaller government when, according to the Cato Institute, "based on his first three budgets, President Bush is the biggest spending president in decades."

And of course, with Americans carrying record amounts of consumer debt, 17 percent of American children living in poverty, and millions of Americans going without health insurance, returning to the moon doesn't seem like the highest priority.

Meanwhile, on Mars, Sprit's rolled off its landing platform and is ready to begin its roving exploration of the Martian surface. Woo hoo!

The man on the moon

The man on the moon 06/02/2004 02:27 AM
Moon Walk 1835 -- Was Neil Armstrong Really The First Man on The Moon? The Europeans did not arrive in American till nearly the end of six thousand years; this time was necessary for them to carry their navigation to such perfection, so as to cross the ocean. The people of the moon know already, perhaps, how to make little flights in the air, and at this time may be exercising themselves. When they shall be more able, we may see them.

To the Moon 1.0

To the Moon 1.0 02/17/2004 11:51 PM
Icons of man’s journey to the Moon.

Dreams of the Moon

Dreams of the Moon 01/04/2004 04:37 PM

Once in a Blue Moon

Once in a Blue Moon 07/09/2004 10:05 AM

The phrase refers to the second Full Moon occurring within a calendar month and it's happening on 31 JUL. Its rarity is about every 2 1/2 years, i.e. once in 30 occasions. Get the 411 on this crumbly Bleu Cheese source at [NASA]

Helium-3 on the Moon

Helium-3 on the Moon 01/22/2004 02:12 AM
The real reason we're going back to the Moon? "Researchers and space enthusiasts see helium 3 as the perfect fuel source: extremely potent, nonpolluting, with virtually no radioactive by-product. Proponents claim it’s the fuel of the 21st century. The trouble is, hardly any of it is found on Earth. But there is plenty of it on the moon."

A moon under water

A moon under water 01/22/2004 03:01 AM
I've had the Amazing Travelling Mucus Bug these past three days, going from runny eyes to runny nose to icky throat to nasty chunk-upping cough. I only mention it because you need context - and to remark on the wackiness...

Moon, Mars and Beyond

Moon, Mars and Beyond 06/18/2004 05:06 AM
Moon, Mars and Beyond
http://www.moontomars.org/

The President's Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond. This site gives the latest reports, data and current information on the President's Commission "Moon, Mars and Beyond". This has been added to Astronomy Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog.

Blue Moon

Blue Moon 07/08/2004 02:10 AM
“The month of July 2004 has two full moons, which means one of them is a Blue Moon. But will it really be blue? Believe it or not, scientists say blue-colored moons are real.” I found the links about Krakatoa particularly fascinating…

Moon is Noah's Ark

Moon is Noah's Ark 09/09/2004 12:03 AM
The Moon should become a DNA Noah's Ark for repopulating the Earth in case of catastrophe, suggests the chief scientist Bernard H. Foing of the ESA's Research and Scientific Support Department. A more earthly frozen ark is already under construction.

Blue Moon 2.7

Blue Moon 2.7 12/25/2003 03:15 AM
Blue Moon solitaire for Unix.

That mystifying moon

That mystifying moon 07/06/2004 01:54 AM
USA Today Jul 6 2004 6:06AM GMT

Moon not to blame

Moon not to blame 05/27/2004 03:23 AM
USA Today May 27 2004 6:48AM GMT

To the Moon and on to Mars

To the Moon and on to Mars 01/18/2004 07:05 AM
I have been watching to see how public opinion would fall in President Bush's plan to return to the Moon...

To the Moon, Alice?

To the Moon, Alice? 12/04/2003 12:12 AM
Rumors are flying about the scope and direction of future NASA projects. Will we be heading back to the moon, or will we be stuck in near-Earth space?

Blue Moon 2.9

Blue Moon 2.9 01/11/2004 04:50 PM
Blue Moon solitaire for Unix.

When the moon comes calling...

When the moon comes calling... 01/06/2004 04:32 AM
... this nutcase gets out in the snow with his brand-new SLR digital camera and his nightrobe!Taken at 300mm/f10/1/500s/100ISO (and, yes, I did have to adjust the colour levels in Photoshop, and the image has been cropped off of a...

What a Little Moon Dust Can Do

What a Little Moon Dust Can Do 04/04/2005 06:08 AM
On Earth, dust is annoying. On the moon, it's downright dangerous. Future explorers will have to handle it very carefully if they plan to set up a lunar base. Amit Asaravala reports from Sunnyvale, California.

Soyuz To The Moon?

Soyuz To The Moon? 08/02/2004 10:50 PM

Wi-Fi Shoots for the Moon

Wi-Fi Shoots for the Moon 12/10/2003 03:07 PM
NASA has tested Wi-Fi gear from Tropos for potential use on the moon or planets: NASA used the Tropos gear in Arizona in a simulated area of an interplanetary exploration mission, connecting a base camp with a mobile computer. NASA wants to be able to connect various pieces of gear including laptops embedded in space suits, vehicles, cameras and microphones....

Moon missions projected

Moon missions projected 05/20/2004 02:16 PM
USA Today May 20 2004 6:49PM GMT

Geology of Earth's Moon

Geology of Earth's Moon 09/05/2004 07:59 AM
Geology of Earth's Moon

1) Lunar Seismology
http://mahi.ucsd.edu/rb ulow/lunars.html

2) Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)Planned Missions
http://home .cwru.edu/~sjr16/advanced/near_isas.html

3) PDS Map-A-Planet
http://pdsmaps.wr.usgs.gov/PDS/public/explorer/html/moonpick.htm

4) Volcanism on the Moon
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/planet_volcano/lunar/Overv iew.html

5) Moon Rocks through the Microscope: A Web Gallery of Images
http://www.cas.usf .edu/~jryan/moonrocks.html

6) Science Channel video clips
http://media.science.discovery.com/convergence/planets/video/ video.html

7) Understanding the Moon
htt p://www.nasm.si.edu/research/ceps/research/moon/moon.cfm

8) Historical Lunar Data Archive
http://a strogeology.usgs.gov/Projects/LunarConsortium/

First, researchers at the University of California, San Diego discuss the importance of studying earthquakes on the moon, also known as moonquakes, and the Apollo Lunar Seismic Experiment (1). Users can discover the problems scientists must deal with when collecting the moon's seismic data. The students at Case Western Reserve University created the second website to address three missions the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) has planned between now and 2010, including a mission to the moon (2). Visitors can learn about the Lunar-A probe that will be used to photograph the surface of the moon, "monitor moonquakes, measure temperature, and study the internal structure." Next, the Planetary Data Service (PDS) at the USGS offers users four datasets that they can use to create an image of a chosen area of the moon (3). Each dataset can be viewed as a basic clickable map; a clickable map where users can specify size, resolution, and projection; or an advanced version where visitors can select areas by center latitude and longitude. The fourth site, produced by Robert Wickman at the University of North Dakota, presents a map of the volcanoes on the moon and compares their characteristics with those on earth (4). Students can learn how the gravitational forces on the Moon affect the lava flows. Next, Professor Jeff Ryan at the University of South Florida at Tampa supplies fantastic images and descriptive text of the lunar rocks obtained by the Apollo missions (5). Visitors can find links to images of meteorites, terrestrial rocks, and Apollo landings as well. At the Science Channel website, students and educators can find a video clip discussing the geologic studies on the moon along with videos about planets (6). Users can learn about how studying moon rocks help scientists better understand the formation of the earth. Next, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum presents its research of "lunar topography, cratering and impacts basins, tectonics, lava flows, and regolith properties" (7). Visitors can find summaries of the characteristics of the moon and the main findings since the 1950s. Lastly, the USGS Astrogeology Research Program provides archived lunar images and data collected between 1965 and 1992 by Apollo, Lunar Orbiter, Galileo, and Zond 8 missions (8). While the data is a little old, students and educators can still find valuable materials about the moon's topography, chemical composition, and geology. [From The NSDL Scout Report for the Physical Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Mine The Moon For Helium-3

Mine The Moon For Helium-3 01/22/2004 02:10 AM
Slashdot Jan 22 2004 2:52AM GMT

Operation Moon Bounce

Operation Moon Bounce 07/25/2004 02:30 AM

Moon rocks on Earth

Moon rocks on Earth 07/29/2004 08:41 PM

Direct and Related Links for 'Moon rocks on Earth'

MSNBC reports that a rock from the moon dating back some 340,000 years ago was found right here on our very own little chunk of real estate called Earth. A rare find to be sure, this is still not the first time a moon rock has been found on our own planet. Roughly 30 moon rocks have been found on Earth since 1979, with about 20 lunar impacts causing them to head our way in…

Russian Rovers on the Moon

Russian Rovers on the Moon 02/10/2004 06:48 PM

MSNBC - Moon Rocks

MSNBC - Moon Rocks 07/13/2004 08:23 AM
MSNBC - Moon Rocks .. harpie

msnbc.msn.com/id/5406042/site/newsweek
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The Gadflyer: Moon Over Washington

The Gadflyer: Moon Over Washington 06/14/2004 05:08 AM
Congressmen Declare Rev. Moon the Messiah .. excellent profile

gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=131
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Saturn Moon Up Close

Saturn Moon Up Close 06/14/2004 05:16 AM
Wired News Jun 14 2004 9:55AM GMT

That's no moon, it's a space station

That's no moon, it's a space station 05/13/2004 09:18 AM
IS S-Jupiter Transit tonight. Notable space station flyover tonight for you skywatching East Coasters: the ISS will pass quite close to Jupiter, and some of you lucky ones [coordinates|map] will even see the station briefly eclipse the planet. (Side note: Remember those days when everyone was using its radio call sign &quo t;Alpha?" Now the media just say "space station." Sigh.) East Coast, 9:30pm, I'll be outside, looking up.

Cassini set for moon encounter

Cassini set for moon encounter 06/11/2004 11:12 AM
The Cassini space probe is about to make a flyby of Saturn's mysterious moon Phoebe.

Hail to the Moon king

Hail to the Moon king 06/21/2004 07:35 AM
The deeply weird coronation of Rev. Sun Myung Moon in a Senate office building -- crown, robes, the works -- is no longer one of Washington's best-kept secrets.

Where in Washington, D.C. is Rev. Sun
Myung Moon?

Where in Washington, D.C. is Rev. Sun
Myung Moon? 06/23/2004 08:20 PM
BoingBoing reader Adam Rakunas says:

So, last March, a bunch of Congresscritters and religious leaders held a little ceremony in the Dirksen Senate Office Building for Sun Myung Moon, head of the Unification Church, owner of the Washington Times, and an all-around peach of a guy with a messianic complex like you wouldn't believe. During said ceremony, Moon and his wife are wrapped in ermine robes and crowned by an Illinois Congressman. The video appeared on the Church's site, some blogs found it, it got yanked, and now John Gorenfeld, whose site tracks Moon, has the video and has cranked out a BitTorrent of it. They can take away our press, but they can't take away our Torrents!

Link to your tax dollars at work heralding Rev. Moon's "declaration of God's fatherland and the era of the peace kingdom, the realiziation of God-centered families, and true peace."
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To the Moon!

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