A sample text widget
Etiam pulvinar consectetur dolor sed malesuada. Ut convallis
euismod dolor nec pretium. Nunc ut tristique massa.
Nam sodales mi vitae dolor ullamcorper et vulputate enim accumsan.
Morbi orci magna, tincidunt vitae molestie nec, molestie at mi. Nulla nulla lorem,
suscipit in posuere in, interdum non magna.
|
TO THE MOON: Here’s a fun article on new looks at lunar settlement, including that by the private sector and the prospects for future business: Building a Better Moonbase.
Sure, I’d like to see us go to Mars first, but there are a lot of good reasons to go to the Moon first instead, and this article touches on several of them. Chief among those reasons, for me, is the fact that economic activity on the Moon will be easier to bootstrap because of the proximity to Earth. This proximity makes the travel time and communications lag much shorter than for Mars, and “predictable” in the sense of varying little over the course of an orbit. There’s no need to wait two years for a good launch window, or wonder whether your time-critical video mail will get to its recipient in a few minutes or a few tens of minutes. Of course, the short travel time (two days versus five months if your timing is lucky) is also important for logistics, particularly in case of emergencies due to unexpected shortages, medical crises, equipment failures or the like. So, in the short term, lunar settlement has its advantages over Mars.
On the other hand — to rehash arguments made by many others — Mars is a better long-term target for settlement precisely because of its lack of proximity to Earth. While a settlement on the Moon may eventually develop a level of self-sufficiency comparable to any given country on Earth — exploiting its comparative advantages as a member of the “interglobal” economy, importing and exporting goods and services — it will never have to become self-sufficient to any great degree and so will always be dependent on the home planet. The economics of transport will ensure that a Martian settlement will have no choice but to develop a very high degree of self-sufficiency. In a sense, if Mars is the new “Wild West”, the Moon will at best be analogous to Britain — dramatically different from the Old World, yet close to and integrated with it. It’s in this independence (in the political and social spheres as well as economic) that the real allure of Mars lies.
TODAY’S THEMIS IMAGE: Terra Sirenum
This image is from a region called Terra Sirenum in Mars’ southern hemisphere. This region was named in 1958 for the Sea of the Sirens from Greek Mythology. This is not a sea, however, but a relatively dusty, high albedo region of Mars. There are numerous dust devil tracks that are apparent in the center- left of the image. The dust devils act like vacuum cleaners and lift dust off of the surface leaving a less dusty and relatively lower albedo surface behind. Dust devils are very common on Mars and are thought to be the primary mechanism for constantly lifting the dust into the atmosphere. Dust is constantly present in the Martian atmosphere in greater abundances than typically seen on Earth. The Martian dust is one of the main factors that affect the present Martian climate and clearly displays the relationship between Mars’ geology and atmosphere.
TODAY’S THEMIS IMAGE: a bit of cowhide in Tempe Terra:
This image is from a region of Mars called Tempe Terra, which is located between the topographically high Tharsis Region and Acidalia Planitia, a large low albedo region of in the Martian northern hemisphere. This image displays a number of interesting features. There are several channels that run through the image. It is unclear if there was once lava or water running through these channels. Much of the terrain in the image appears dissected and eroded. There are a number of circular features that resemble the remnants of older craters that were mostly eroded away. The variety of the conditions of the craters indicates that this surface has been modified over a long time period. There is also a fine texture to many surfaces. This texture could also be possibly volcanic or related to ground ice.
BLUE SKY IN SPACE: A interesting bit of daydreaming on new technology, from The SpaceDaily
WIRELESS CAMERA GOES ANYWHERE: Or something like that…The Shuttlecam is set to ride on the next flight, giving live (not tape delayed) video looking down from the intertank between the ET and Orbiter.
I question Engelauf’s assertion that it’s “just for the cool video” — it was my understanding that it is partly that, and partly to observe debris impingement on the windward surface of the Orbiter during ascent.
The Delta videos are interesting to watch. This ought to be worlds better (just knock on wood that there won’t be another 51L).
McKnight’s latest Spacefaring Web revisits the Cheng Ho story, with emphasis on the parallels McKnight sees with today’s space programs.
While I usually find myself agreeing with McKnight, here I have to take exception to this article. He seems to be suggesting that the war on terror will — barring extreme efforts to the contrary — end up with an American empire, a tyrannical national-security state concerned only with maintaining the status quo and, therefore, poised to thwart any initiatives towards exploration or innovation.
He does acknowledge that history doesn’t mechanically repeat itself, but yet his arguments are based on the opposite — that the U.S., in pursuing this war, will do exactly what China did in the early 15th Century…even to the point of “smash(ing) the drydocks” of emerging private ventures. This is highly unlikely, since the military is increasingly dependent on space assets for its day-to-day operations, and is not going to destroy the “ships” and “shipyards” a la the Chinese example (particularly in the middle of a war). And while he is spot on with the “what the mandarins giveth, the mandarins taketh away” observation re:military funding of space efforts, it seems a stretch to say that NASA or DoD scaling back on new, wartime commitments to space technology development would be equivalent to the U.S. pulling out of space altogether.
In general, the tone seems to be one of handwringing — unusual for his essays, which are typically more positive. On the other hand, his prescription at the end of the article — more public outreach to demonstrate both the tangible and intangible benefits of space exploration — is always a good idea.
AT LAST: John Carter McKnight’s “Spacefaring Web” essays are now available and archived at the Space Frontier Foundation website.
AFTER 2010: Exploring Mars Beyond 2010 is a look at the (perhaps imperiled?) Mars sample return mission.
SIETZEN EDITORIAL: Frank Sietzen looks at the Space Age at 45: Spacelift Sputnik +45 = A New Strategic Framework for Space
If we’re going to have a national space program, it needs a clear and consistent goal, a clear rationale for the public to support it, and demonstrable benefits to U.S. industry. Partnering for its own sake is a bad idea, as it weakens the domestic aerospace industry, and commercialization and the divestiture from launch vehicle operations should be pursued aggressively but with interim support from government to get private ventures off the ground.
It’s all been said before, but the article is a good condensation of these proposals.
STARTUP SUCCESS: Another small step forward for private space ventures: Armadillo Aerospace’s prototype lander made its first manned flight.
|
|