XCOR LYNX : $95,000 per Suborbital Flight

RocketShip Tours and XCOR Aerospace have made a competitive offer to give you a ride into sub-orbital space (62 miles) for a period of several minutes as the full 30 minute trip takes off from the Virgin Galactic Spaceport or another runway system in Mojave, California, like a normal plane would, and lands the same way. The design of the XCOR Lynx implies this maneuvering capabililty with the descent-tuned shape of the nose. For a $95,000 per flight cost, the team will bring down the cost of luxury/adventure travel for their system, offering competition from mainly Virgin Galactic and the Spaceship Two concept (double craft - mothership and progenic craft with single rocket motor) with their price tag of $200,000 per ticket for a similar experience - however, Richard Branson must be noted as pioneering this vision into a reality as he has already accepted many pre-paid in full tickets to those of the world with the will, the wallet and the way in front of them to travel inside of new technology to bring new senses to the brain experience.

We at the USRC are proud to announce that during the production of the XCOR Lynx the team was listening to a special album dedicated to space travel and the alliances necessary to do it successfully. This album is from The Crypticon and titled : The Space Lounge Syndicate "Live from the Omega Station 2017" and is a concept about a complete mission from Earth to a hotel-like space station where the music is coming from the lounge on board... Space Lounge Music.
http://cd.baby.com/cd/slsyndicate
As the owner of The Crypticon, this blog is a part of connecting to the space world and through sound & reason at least 10 copies of this album were sold to the HQ of XCOR.
We would like to thank the CEO, Mr. Jeff Greason for commanding his team towards success and completing milestones on the long journey to safe certification and passenger trust, which is the most important element of running a private space firm. He is pictured below with retired U.S. Airforce Col. Rick Searfoss.
Thank you XCOR for your support and we hope that the Omega Station reality can one day come to fruition with an XCOR docking bay ready to go. This is the USRC way - Allegiance Through All.
The other part of the alliance involves a travel entrepreneur who introduced hundreds of thousands of Americans to European travel in the 1960's. Jules Klar, founder of Phoenix, AZ-based RocketShip Tours, has announced that his company will immediately begin selling these rides to the edge of space for $95,000 per flight aboard the XCOR Lynx.
"Years ago, my dream was to introduce the world to new travel opportunities at prices that were consistent with a unique experience," said Klar. "In 1961 I created $5-A-Day Tours in partnership with Arthur Frommer that enabled thousands of Americans to see Europe at affordable prices." After moving to Arizona, Klar created Great American Travel, a high-end boutique operation specializing in luxury cruises and tours. "We've helped thousands of sophisticated adventurous travelers visit exotic destinations all over the world including Antarctica, where they developed a deeper appreciation for its beautiful, pristine and fragile environment. Today, I am very proud to announce this partnership with XCOR Aerospace to offer participants an out of this world experience - a front row seat to the edge of Space."
"The natural evolution of human exploration knows no bounds. RocketShip Tours and XCOR have come together to usher in the private sector's role in space exploration. There is no doubt that a new era of pioneering space enthusiasts is emerging. In fact, prior to signing this agreement with RocketShip Tours, XCOR had already taken paid reservations for approximately 20 flights," said Klar.
XCOR Chief Test Pilot and three-time Space Shuttle Pilot and Commander, Rick Searfoss said the Lynx will carry people or payloads to the edges of space up to four times a day. Seated next to him in the co-pilot seat, participants will undoubtedly experience the thrill of a lifetime. The awe- inspiring view of the curvature of Earth, the thin blue mantle of the atmosphere below, and inky blackness of space above will provide participants with unforgettable memories beyond description.
XCOR officials discussed the technology used on the two-seat, fully reusable launch vehicle that takes off like an airplane, and lands the same way, while Chris Gilman of Orbital Outfitters, a NASA spacesuit contractor, demonstrated the spacesuit technology that will be worn by those flying in the Lynx. Gilman, winner of an Academy Award for special effects, said the suit is both lighter and safer than older NASA spacesuits.
Klar said he was inspired by the revolutionary Lynx suborbital vehicle because it offers participants a unique and intimately personal experience. "You're sitting in a cockpit in the co-pilot's seat beside your astronaut pilot, with a panoramic view of the stars above and Earth below. It is the ride of your life!"
"I am going to fly aboard the Lynx because I want to experience space from a front row seat," said Danish investment banker Per Wimmer, who will take the first commercial flight aboard the Lynx. Wimmer, based in London, has already earned a reputation as a pioneering adventurer. He recently made the first tandem skydive over Mt. Everest, and maintains a website, www.wimmerspace.com. Wimmer, who uses his adventures to promote various charities, says, "My goal is to place the Dannebrog, the Danish flag, on the Moon one day. Flying to the edge of space aboard the Lynx will make me the first Dane to experience suborbital space flight and takes me one step closer to my ultimate goal."

Klar said his company is enlisting innovative and progressive travel professionals to sell seats on the Lynx. "Those who are interested in a suborbital space flight can visit our website, www.rocketshiptours.com, and choose a Space Tourism Specialist who is trained and certified by RocketShip Tours."
The total cost of the Lynx flight experience is $95,000. A deposit of $20,000 begins the process of assigning the participant to the qualification program. Klar said one does not have to be an athlete to fly aboard the Lynx, but the procedure will include a medical questionnaire and a screening performed by qualified aeronautic physicians. Instruction regarding life support systems, flight physiology, and other aspects of the Lynx suborbital flight will also be provided. "We want to ensure the experience is as safe as possible and that people are adequately trained and prepared."

"Since this is a suborbital launch, training will require familiarization with the spacesuit and what will be experienced while sitting in the cockpit." Klar said. "We will provide deluxe accommodations for all those who share in 'The Right Stuff' experience we offer and become part of this historic stage in the evolution of human space flight."
"After the flight is concluded, participants will receive an HD DVD recording of their flight experience as well as other mementos," Klar said.
XCOR COO Andrew Nelson noted that RocketShip Tours' announcement marks an important milestone in space exploration efforts. "American entrepreneurs are succeeding - we are bringing down the cost of space flight and making it affordable," said Nelson. "What is most astonishing is that competition has already reduced prices before a single vehicle has flown. What a fabulous holiday gift this is going to make for many people who thought they had everything.""I've had a long career in travel, and I have found that we are not offering a destination, so much as we are offering an experience that appeals to the pioneering spirit inside all of us," said Klar. "This type of adventure is truly transcendent because it widens our horizons, and teaches us not only about the world we live in, but something about ourselves as well. I believe that the view from space aboard the Lynx will undoubtedly be positively life-changing in ways we can only dream of."

RocketShip Tours, Inc. is the General Sales Agent for XCOR Aerospace and exclusive global provider of participant services for the Lynx suborbital vehicle. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, RocketShip Tours was founded by Jules H. Klar, an innovative travel entrepreneur.
XCOR Aerospace is a California corporation located in Mojave, California. The company is in the business of developing and producing safe, reliable and reusable rocket-powered vehicles and propulsion systems that enable affordable access to space.

Some original source material/all photos: XCOR Aerospace

New NASA CHARIOT ROVER Concept

Welcome to future of space-trucking... The Chariot. A multi-independent wheel system with standing platform and a larger size to accomodate additional passengers or instrument bays.

The Chariot is a working prototype of what may very well be the future of NASA lunar rovers. It has six double wheels, each with independent steering, and the pedestal the driver stands on can rotate a full 360°. That way the pilot can navigate the Chariot in any direction, and in a sense the vehicle really has no front or rear.

The improved rover is part of NASA's efforts to bolster its space assets as the organization plans to have an outpost on the Moon by 2020.
With it's open design - this new platform type of chassis will allow unobstructed egress from the vehicle during missions.
The design would potentially allow for differnet pods to be loaded on to it for specific missions like rock collecting or specialized machinery placement and use.

The Chariot is a concept truck with no doors, no windows and no seats, and each of its six wheels has independent steering. As an added bonus, it comes in gold. "This rover concept changed the whole paradigm," said Diane Hope, a program element manager at NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program. "It's not something I would have expected."


The pilot's perch, containing both the driver and the steering wheel, can rotate a full 360 degrees, making the Chariot a car with no permanent front or rear. "The Apollo astronauts couldn't back up at all because they couldn't see where they were going in reverse," said Johnson Space Center roboticist Rob Ambrose.

We at the USRC say "Great! But where will my logo go?" - They should make an advertising billboard fin, call it a solar generator and get over that part already.
The Moon - brought to you by NASA, JPL, Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and The Crypticon. Because the logo says so.

INDIA TO THE MOON!

Congratulations to the entire country of India and all your people in the world that bear allegiance to you - for you are now the 6th country ever to make a mission to the moon. To date, only the U.S. Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China have sent missions to the moon. Chandrayaan-1 culminates in years of your scientific endeavours and preliminary test to finally - and successfully - land a usable machine on the moon.

Chandrayaan means "moon craft" in ancient Sanskrit.


The two-year mission seeks high-resolution imaging of the moon's surface, especially the permanently shadowed polar regions, according to the Indian Space Research Organization. It will also search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical breakdown of certain lunar rocks, the group said.
The Chandrayaan-1 is carrying payloads from the United States, European Union countries Germany, Britain, Sweden and Bulgaria, and India plans to share the data from the mission with other programs, including NASA.

Most recently India's fellow Asian nations, China and Japan, put lunar orbiters in place. Japan launched the Kaguya orbiter in October 2007, followed by China's launch of the Chang'e mission a few weeks later.

BANGALORE: “Just as we had promised, we have given India the moon,” said G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, after the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) onboard Chandrayaan-1 successfully ejected and landed on the lunar surface on Friday night. With the tricolour painted on its sides the probe marked India’s presence on the moon and put India in the elite club.

Surrounded by scores of space scientists and with the former President and pre-eminent scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam by his side, a visibly jubilant Mr. Nair told presspersons gathered at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC): “It was during Jawaharlal Nehru’s time that the nucleus for a space programme started. It is befitting that on children’s day, celebrated in his honour, that India should plant its flag on the lunar surface,” he said.

The MIP, one of Chandrayaan’s most important scientific payloads, and one of undeniable geopolitical importance, had piggy-backed on the lunar craft for nearly 400,000 km, detaching itself successfully from the mother-craft at 8.06 p.m. India has now become the fourth country to have its national flag on the moon.

After a 25-minute flight MIP impacted the moon’s surface at a speed of 1.6 km per second, landing on its target near the Shackleton crater on the south pole of the moon.

This is a picture of the indian launch vehicle history:

ASE : Association of Space Explorers

We here at the USRC are proud to announce an official alliance with the ASE (Associaction of Space Explorers).

ASTEROIDS - COMETS - METEORS - BEWARE!

The watchful eye into the night sky is expanding as the reality behind earth-bound spaceform debris makes literal light in the sky.
Maybe you recently saw the footage of the Canadian meteor event this past October 2008 where for a brief moment the entire area was lit like daylight. Well relativity is the hindsight we are using now to protect Earth from disasters.

Between 500 and 1,000 massive asteroids cross the Earth's path regularly and any one of them could cause a global catastrophe with space experts urging quick preventive measures.
Some 6,000 cosmic objects circulating around the planet are currently known to experts in the field, the ASE told a press conference at the UN headquarters in Vienna, where it presented its report "Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response."

And of these, up to 1,000 had a diameter of 93 miles or more, meaning they could cause major damage to the Earth's surface, prompting fires, tsunamis and ensuing disasters like famine, disease, radiation poisoning, increased violence and a state of survival that may induce an increased level of violence and social unrest.
This could be a path to an apocalyptic future - waters may rise and decimate coastline cities.

These are just a few of the reasons the ASE has been created and currently the organization includes some 320 members from 34 countries, all of whom have already been in space.

A research, information-sharing and defence network was thus urgently needed to coordinate a global response to the problem, under the leadership of the UN, it said.
Although it should be possible to predict a collision up to 15 years before it occurs, the technology needed to divert an incoming asteroid has yet to be developed and this will require international cooperation, they said.
The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is due to examine the report.

We at the USRC say it is time to create a vast array of outer limit satellites that use radar imaging to ping all objects in the known sub-verse surrounding our solar system.
This could also be used to monitor incoming actual spacecraft from other civilizations as well as monitor flying man-made space debris and potential space anomalies like random generational wormholes and omni-holes.

SUCCESS for SpaceX!!!

Congratulations to all at the SpaceX Corporation in El Segundo, California and your counterparts in the Kwajalein Atoll.

About nine and a half minutes after launch, the second stage engine shuts down, and the Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth.


Flight 4 Launch Update

Post Launch Statement:

Wow, this is a great day for SpaceX and the culmination of an enormous amount of work by a great team. The data shows we achieved a super precise orbit insertion — middle of the bullseye — and then went on to coast and restart the second stage, which was icing on the cake.

I will have a more complete post launch statement tomorrow, as right now I'm in a bit of a daze and need to go celebrate :)

--Elon-


[back from celebrating...]

While Falcon 1 was the world's first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to reach orbit, I would like to acknowledge and express appreciation for the role of DARPA, the Air Force and the ORS Office of the Department of Defense. They played an important role as early "beta" customers of Falcon 1. There are many individuals in those organizations, as well as in NASA, NRL, FAA, USAKA/RTS, other departments of the US government and the private sector to whom we owe gratitude for their support and advice. You didn't have to help, but you did, often at risk of career and credibility, so you have my deepest thanks.

The next flight of Falcon 1 is tentatively scheduled for March next year and will carry a Malaysian primary satellite, as well as US government secondary satellites, to near equatorial orbit. Flight 6 will probably be a Defense Department satellite in the summer and Flight 7 a commercial satellite mission in the fall. In 2010, I expect the launch cadence for Falcon 1 to step up to a mission every two to three months.

--Elon--




A week spent reviewing data has confirmed that the flight went really well, including the coast and restart. The mood here at SpaceX is just ecstatic! This is the culmination of six years of hard work by a very talented team. It is also a great relief for me, who led the overall design of the rocket (not a role I expected to have when starting the company). I felt a little sheepish receiving the AIAA award for the most outstanding contribution to the field of space transportation two weeks before this flight.

Orbit was achieved with the first burn terminating at 330.5 km altitude and 8.99 degree inclination. The goal for initial insertion was a 330 km altitude and a 9.0 degree inclination, so this was right on target! Accuracy far exceeded our expectations, particularly given that this was the first time Falcon 1 reached orbit.

The primary purpose of the second burn was to test the restart capability and then burn as long as possible. The upper stage coasted for 43.5 minutes and then burned for 6.8 seconds, which is 4 seconds longer than needed to circularize. Most of the burn was actually done sideways to avoid creating a highly elliptical orbit, hence a change in inclination to 9.3 degrees. The final orbit was confirmed by US Space Command.

Japan to build the long theorized Space Elevator

Breaking through the atmosphere with high-tech high-strength cables and flinging cargo into space using the rotational force force of the earth and a space-based docking station counterweight, the finest scientific minds of Japan are devoting themselves to cracking the greatest sci-fi vision of all: the space elevator. Man has so far conquered space by inefficiently blasting himself and sattelite cargo out of the atmosphere but the 21st century should bring a more leisurely ride, and cheaper cargo transfer to the final frontier.

For chemists, physicists, material scientists, astronauts and dreamers across the globe, the space elevator represents the most tantalising of concepts: cables stronger and lighter than any fibre yet woven, tethered to the ground and disappearing beyond the atmosphere to a satellite docking station in geosynchronous orbit above Earth.

Up and down the 22,000 mile-long (36,000km) cables — or flat ribbons — will run the elevator carriages, themselves requiring huge breakthroughs in engineering to which the biggest Japanese companies and universities have turned their collective attention.
In the carriages, the scientists behind the idea told The Times, could be any number of cargoes. A space elevator could carry people, huge solar-powered generators or even casks of radioactive waste. The point is that breaking free of Earth's gravity will no longer require so much energy — perhaps 100 times less than launching the space shuttle.

“Just like travelling abroad, anyone will be able to ride the elevator into space,” Shuichi Ono, chairman of the Japan Space Elevator Association, said.



The vision has inspired scientists around the world and government organisations including Nasa. Several competing space elevator projects are gathering pace as various groups vie to build practical carriages, tethers and the hundreds of other parts required to carry out the plan. There are prizes offered by space elevator-related scientific organisations for breakthroughs and competitions for the best and fastest design of carriage.

First envisioned by the celebrated master of science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke, in his 1979 work The Fountains of Paradise, the concept has all the best qualities of great science fiction: it is bold, it is a leap of imagination and it would change life as we know it.
Unlike the warp drives in Star Trek, or H.G. Wells's The Time Machine, the idea of the space elevator does not mess with the laws of science; it just presents a series of very, very complex engineering problems.
Japan is increasingly confident that its sprawling academic and industrial base can solve those issues, and has even put the astonishingly low price tag of a trillion yen (£5 billion) on building the elevator. Japan is renowned as a global leader in the precision engineering and high-quality material production without which the idea could never be possible.
The biggest obstacle lies in the cables. To extend the elevator to a stationary satellite from the Earth's surface would require twice that length of cable to reach a counterweight, ensuring that the cable maintains its tension.
The cable must be exceptionally light, staggeringly strong and able to withstand all projectiles thrown at it inside and outside the atmosphere. The answer, according to the groups working on designs, will lie in carbon nanotubes - microscopic particles that can be formed into fibres and whose mass production is now a focus of Japan's big textile companies.


(lasers are theroized to be of use in engaging a space platform and launching cargo pods)

According to Yoshio Aoki, a professor of precision machinery engineering at Nihon University and a director of the Japan Space Elevator Association, the cable would need to be about four times stronger than what is currently the strongest carbon nanotube fibre, or about 180 times stronger than steel. Pioneering work on carbon nanotubes in Cambridge has produced a strength improvement of about 100 times over the last five years.
Equally, there is the issue of powering the carriages as they climb into space. “We are thinking of using the technology employed in our bullet trains,” Professor Aoki said. “Carbon nanotubes are good conductors of electricity, so we are thinking of having a second cable to provide power all along the route.”

Japan is hosting an international conference in November to draw up a timetable for the machine.



FIRSTBORN
“Riding silently into the sky, soon she was 100km high, higher even than the old pioneering rocket planes, the X15s, used to reach. The sky was already all but black above her, with a twinkling of stars right at the zenith, the point to which the ribbon, gold-bright in the sunlight, pointed like an arrow. Looking up that way she could see no sign of structures further up the ribbon, no sign of the counterweight. Nothing but the shining beads of more spiders clambering up this thread to the sky. She suspected she still had not grasped the scale of the elevator, not remotely.”

From Firstborn by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
Publisher: Del Ray

New European/Russian Manned Space Vehicle

Russian firm RKK Energia has spent two years designing the vehicle.

The first official image of a Russian-European manned spacecraft has been unveiled.
It is designed to replace the Soyuz vehicle currently in use by Russia and will allow Europe to participate directly in crew transportation.
The reusable ship was conceived to carry four people towards the Moon, rivalling the US Ares/Orion system.
Unlike previous crewed vehicles, it will use thrusters to make a soft landing when it returns to Earth.
Russian aerospace writer and graphic designer Anatoly Zak has produced artist's renderings of the new craft based on a design released by Russian manufacturer RKK Energia at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK last week.

I think the main roadmap is the agreement between the European and Russian space agencies. That is their Plan A
Anatoly Zak
In some respects, the capsule resembles America's next-generation spacecraft Orion. The 18-to-20-tonne Russian-European vehicle is designed to carry six crew into low-Earth orbit and four on missions to lunar orbit.
One of the most unusual features about the capsule appear to be the thrusters and landing gear on its underside. Mr Zak said it would use these engines to soften its landing on Earth after the fiery re-entry through our atmosphere.
The European Space Agency (Esa) has been talking to its Russian counterpart Roscosmos about collaborating on the Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS) since 2006.
Launcher decision
"If Esa and the Russian Space Agency reach agreement, Europe will supply the service module of that co-operative spacecraft," Mr Zak told BBC News.
This service module will use technology - such as the propulsion systems - developed for Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), an unmanned freighter recently sent to re-supply the International Space Station (ISS).
Russia may provide the launcher for the new manned spacecraft. This might be an entirely new vehicle, or a modification of an existing rocket.

Thrusters would cushion the spacecraft's landing:

Mr Zak said Russia was insisting in its negotiations with Europe that all future manned projects be based in Vostochny, the new cosmodrome being developed in Russia's eastern Amur region. The Russian government wants to host its first manned launch from that site in 2018.
At the moment, all manned Soyuz launches take place from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Alternatively, the space agencies could opt to "man-rate" Europe's Ariane 5 launcher, which lifts off from Kourou in French Guiana. This would allow the rocket to carry humans into space.
This would involve making major modifications to Kourou spaceport, including the development of infrastructure to support a crew escape system in the event of an emergency.
It is quite possible that both launch sites would play a role in any collaborative programme, which would necessitate the lofting of cargo as well as human crew.
However, if this collaboration falls apart, Europe has another option for direct manned access to space.
Other option
In May this year, European aerospace company EADS Astrium unveiled its own model of a crewed space vehicle, described as an "evolution" of the ATV, which was built by a consortium of European companies led by Astrium.
It would combine what is essentially the avionics and propulsion end of the ATV with a crew compartment taking the place of the current cargo section.

EADS Astrium has proposed a manned version of the ATV

Berlin unveils 'crewed spaceship'
Mr Zak commented: "I think the main roadmap is the agreement between the European and Russian space agencies. That is their Plan A. Their Plan B is the initiative made by EADS Astrium in Bremen."
But if the agencies want a manned craft capable of reaching the Moon, they will need to develop new, more powerful rockets than those on the drawing board today.
"This is an open question, there are no decisions on how to proceed," said Mr Zak.
The CSTS is also sometimes referred to as the Advanced Crew Transportation System (ACTS). Esa and Roscosmos started talks on the project after some Esa member states rejected further involvement in the development of another manned spacecraft called Kliper.
The proposals will go before a crucial meeting of space ministers from European member states in November this year.



ORIGINAL ARTICLE HYPERJACK:
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

SPACE-X : A Mission Protocol Update Log

WE ALL AWAIT THE LATEST EFFORT FROM THE SPACE-X TEAM THAT ELON MUSK IS COMMANDING. FAILURES SHOULD NOT HINDER THIS MACHINE AS IT MERELY SHOWS THE TRUE NATURE OF ACCOMPLISHING SUCH A TASK. AS I PERSONALLY WANT TO SEE THE FALCON 9 A COMPLETE SUCCESS, I BELIEVE A GOOGLE PARTNERSHIP WOULD BE AN EXCELLENT DECISION IN LIEU OF THE GOOGLE $20 MIILION DOLLAR X-PRIZE TO LAND A ROVER ON THE MOON. THE GREATEST PART OF THE ELON MUSK VISION IS A LOWER COST TO LAUNCH MAKING THIS AN ACCEPTABLE OPTION SINCE A PAYLOAD COULD BE DELIVERED FOR UNDER $10 MILLION. IF GOOGLE SPONSORED THE SPACE-X LOW COST PER LAUNCH CONCEPT WITH OFFERING CONTESTANTS A FREE RIDE TO ORBIT THEN THEY GET MORE LAUNCH CAPABILITY AND RESEARCH ACCESS AS WELL AS MAKING THIS DIFFICULT LAUNCH TASK A NON-OPTION SINCE A ROVER WOULD NOT REQUIRE THE WHOLE RE-ENGINEERING OF THE ROCKET SCIENCE PART - AS WELL AS REMOVING THE INITIAL IMMENSE COST OF LAUNCHING A PAYLOAD TODAY (even the Space-X cost would be enormous for a fledgling group of student and corporate Spacecraft and Rover designers).
IT WOULD BE A FEASIBLE OPTION FOR ME AND MY FRIENDS TO START A ROVER CONCEPT BUT THE LAUNCH STAGE CAPITAL WOULD BE REALLY HARD TO ACQUIRE.
SO LET THIS BE A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TO GOOGLE AND SPACE-X : MAKE A PERMANENT PARTNERSHIP SO WE CAN SEE RESULTS SOONER THAN LATER! WE ARE ALL GETTING OLDER AND OUR SPACE DREAMS SHOULD BE HAPPENING AT A MORE RAPID PACE. LIKE I SAID EARLIER - ACCIDENTS HAPPEN AND WE RECOVER AND LEARN HOW TO ENGINEER AROUND THE PROBLEMS AT HAND. LOOK AT APOLLO 1, CHALLENGER & COLUMBIA - A START-UP IS GUARANTEED TO HAVE FAILURES AS WELL! IT IS A SIMPLE EQUATION BUT WE ALL WORK THROUGH IT AND SUPPORT YOU GUYS UP THERE IN EL SEGUNDO AND WITH YOUR NEW LAUNCH PAD. CONGRATULATIONS AND SHOW US SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF SO WE CAN MAKE A SWEET SATELLITE OR ROVER FOR YOU TO HURL INTO THE REALM OF DARK ENERGY AND BEYOND!
(This has been a preliminary message brought to you by Admiral Arkillian of the USRC and CPT.SLS Federation)

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Dragon Engineering Unit – Aluminum isogrid pressure vessel, heat shield support structure at bottom, Space Station common berthing adapter ring at top, and carbon fiber nose cap at right.

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SpaceX: Why Else Would We Put Windows On A Cargo Vehicle?
By Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides May 16, 2008  
All eyes are on SpaceX as they get closer to their end of June test flight of the Falcon 1 rocket. But they are tracking no technical issues as they prep for launch from the Pacific island of Kwajalein. The first two test flights have not achieved orbit, although the second made it high enough to get into space, just not fast enough due to fuel sloshing issues.
The third flight has fixes for those issues and will also debut the new Merlin 1C reusable engine, an upgrade from the Merlin 1A engine used for the previous flights.
This test will have one of three military payloads that the government will select two weeks before the flight to test how fast they can prep and integrate a time sensitive payload. It will also include a Malaysian payload adapter experiment, two nanosats from Cornell, and two CubeSats (typically student engineering design projects).
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is also claiming that the follow up vehicle, Falcon 9 will be able to take crew to the Space Station by 2011, if NASA chooses to fund COTS-D this summer. SpaceX, which already holds a COTS contract for taking cargo to the International Space Station says it will only be an incremental jump to carrying crew, an intentionally small increment.
"You don't really need windows for cargo," Musk added. The Dragon also is also already outfitted with life support systems to support biological cargo such as lab mice. What would really need to be added to upgrade from cargo to crew is a crew escape system.
Musk also added that he should have never said that if they have a third failure he will have to reconsider staying in the space business.
In a worst-case scenario, SpaceX could still weather several more failures even if it didn't sign up any new customers, he said. As long as its customers don't abandon it, "SpaceX will never give up," he said. "I will never give up. Never."

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Launch Pad Demolition Clears Way for SpaceX Rockets
By Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides May 01, 2008  
On Monday NASA Kennedy Space Center demolished Space Launch Complex 40, the launch tower of the now-retired Titan IV. The Titan IV lifted some of the heaviest payloads into space, mostly top-secret missions for the military, but also the Cassini mission that is still sending back data from Saturn and its moons.
The demolition of the now obsolete launch complex will make room for the new Falcon 9 launch pad being built there by private company SpaceX. SpaceX plans to launch their Falcon 9 heavy lift vehicle from Kennedy under their contract with NASA to provide Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) to the International Space Station. The first Falcon 9 is expected to arrive at Kennedy by the end of the year for final assembly.
NASA also recently announced that they have awarded SpaceX an additional contract through 2012 that allows SpaceX to compete for any of NASA's other space launches in support of science, space operations or exploration missions. This is also a huge win for SpaceX and the Falcon 9.

The demolition is expected to be self funded as the pieces are hauled off and sold for scrap metal. Much of the pad complex will still be usable by SpaceX. The concrete deck and flame duct, the water deluge system, the site's electrical system, the lightning towers and the instrumentation bay beneath the pad will all be reused.
"It is one of only a few heavy-lift pads at the Cape," said SpaceX VP of Launch Tim Buzza. "SpaceX is very fortunate to have been granted use of Complex 40. We will put it to good use."
Orbital, the other private company funded under the COTS program, is expected to announce soon whether they will launch from Kennedy Space Center or Wallops Island in Virginia.
Now all eyes turn to June when SpaceX plans their third launch of the Falcon 1. Although the last launch was a "successful" test in that they were able to get all of the data they were looking for, the industry is anxious to see SpaceX successfully deliver its first satellite into orbit.

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SpaceX Breaks Ground on Commercial Space Launch Site
By John Borland November 02, 2007  
Space startup Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, got out the shovels yesterday for a ground-breaking ceremony at Cape Canaveral, where the company is working with the state of Florida to update old launch facilities for the new space age.
The new facility, to be called Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, will be the site of SpaceX's launch of its Falcon 9 vehicle, with missions beginning in late 2008. Assuming all goes well, which remains a big assumption.
The company, whose last rocket test was partially successful, but didn't quite make orbit, still has to prove it has the technological chops to deliver on its promise of cheap, reliable space transportation. However, it is farther along than most of its competitors, having consistently met design and funding milestones as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, through which it is receiving some federal funding. 

According to the company's Web site, it's planning a first few test launches from the Cape Canaveral facility beginning in the last quarter of next year, followed by the launch of a commercial satellite for Canadian company MDA Federal.

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SpaceX Passes NASA Review of Their Plans to Dock with Space Station
By Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides December 19, 2007  
SpaceX just passed the Systems Requirement Review of its docking demonstration flight for the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) Program. SpaceX is planning three demonstration flights of its cargo vehicle, Dragon. The first launch will take the Dragon capsule to orbit for five hours (possibly fall 2008), the second flight will take it to orbit for five days and the third flight will have Dragon fly empty to the International Space Station (ISS) and dock to it safely.

“Because we connect to the ISS on this mission, NASA applied significant additional scrutiny to ensure the safety of the station and its crew,” said Max Vozoff, SpaceX Mission Manager. The team answered all the concerns NASA had and continued its record of meeting all the COTS program milestones.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX said, "The Falcon 9 / Dragon system will ensure that there is no gap in US space transportation capabilities following retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2010." A big claim, especially in light of Rep. Weldon's (R-Fl) concerns expressed earlier this week about a gap.

Currently the NASA ISS program uses only government vehicles to get to the International Space Station. After the Space Shuttle retires in 2010, there is an expected four or five year gap before the new Ares I rocket will be flying.
The goal of the NASA COTS program is to stimulate the development of commercial spaceflight services, such as ISS resupply, and then to take advantage of these new capabilities. SpaceX's COTS contract is worth $278 million, small potatoes compared with the billions needed to develop the Ares I and the Orion capsule that rides on top of it (SpaceX's Dragon will ride atop its Falcon 9 vehicle). Still there are no guarantees Falcon 9 and Dragon will work. The Falcon I rocket has yet to deliver a payload to orbit.
However, if SpaceX fails to deliver or meet a milestone, NASA can stop paying them. It is a low cost/low risk gamble, and if it works, it will be well worth it.
SpaceX CEO and PayPal founder Elon Musk had this to say about their first review of the docking flight a few months ago:
To date, no other group has passed the Hazard of Collision report the first time through, or completed the overall review in such a short time. The fact that we passed in under a week speaks well of our team’s capabilities.
Although their current COTS contract calls only for the three cargo demonstration flights, the Dragon capsule is also designed to hold seven crew and many systems are common between the crew and cargo versions of the capsule.  SpaceX does intend to fly people, maybe even as soon as 2011. When asked if SpaceX would fly NASA astronauts on the Dragon, Musk replied, "Demo flights can't use NASA astronauts, so we will use SpaceX employees that volunteer for the job."
Now we just have to wait for Spring 2008 when SpaceX is expected to launch the Falcon I again. If that rocket can achieve orbit, then the next decade may see a whole lot more spacecraft flying overhead.

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SpaceX Completes Merlin Qualification, Slips Falcon 9 Launch
By Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides February 28, 2008  
SpaceX's updated Merlin 1C rocket engine (it's now regeneratively cooled instead of ablatively cooled like the Merlin 1A used on Falcon 1's first two launch attempts) has just passed its qualification testing in McGregor, Texas. After a final "marathon run" of four full mission scenarios run in one day, the engine now has 27 minutes of operating time, enough to power ten complete space flights. The engine will now go into full-scale production mode, clearing the way for the Falcon 1 launch scheduled for Spring 2008.
Testing will continue on the Merlin 1C to qualify it for the higher performance and thrust levels required for the Falcon 9 vehicle. The Falcon 9, originally scheduled for its maiden flight at the end of this year, will now launch second quarter 2009. This also pushes out the first demonstration of cargo transfer to the International Space Station, as part of NASA COTS program, to Spring 2010.
(And yes, the Falcon is named after the Millennium Falcon.)
The Falcon 1 uses one Merlin 1C engine for its first stage, while the Falcon 9 uses nine of them for its first stage, and one for its second stage.

When asked why the Falcon 9 launch was slipping six months, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said:
I can't honestly point to any one thing. It is an array of things. Structural qualification, software and hardware testing, we have to complete it all for Dragon and for the Falcon 9, and prove it to the NASA folks.
Still, if SpaceX can demonstrate safe cargo transfer to the International Space Station with their Dragon capsule by the time the Space Shuttle is retired near the end of 2010, they will be in a good position to win the competitively awarded re-supply contracts of the International Space Station that is part of Phase 2 of the NASA COTS program.
With Orbital now is the COTS competition with them however, we will have to see who will get to ISS first, the Cygnus or the Dragon...

CURRENT MOON PHASE MODULE

CURRENT MOON

MOON PHASE

HABITABLE CAVES ON MARS FOUND?

Images of the discovered holes, dubbed "Seven Sisters." Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/USGS
One of the three images in this set covers the same patch of Martian ground, centered on a possible cave skylight informally called "Annie," which has a diameter about double the length of a football field. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/USGS

NASA Orbiter Finds Possible Cave Skylights on Mars!
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has discovered entrances to seven possible caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano. The find is fueling interest in potential underground habitats and sparking searches for caverns elsewhere on the Red Planet.
Very dark, nearly circular features ranging in diameter from about 100 to 250 meters (328 to 820 feet) puzzled researchers who found them in images taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor orbiters. Using Mars Odyssey's infrared camera to check the daytime and nighttime temperatures of the circles, scientists concluded that they could be windows into underground spaces.
Evidence that the holes may be openings to cavernous spaces comes from the temperature differences detected from infrared images taken in the afternoon and in the pre-dawn morning. From day to night, temperatures of the holes change only about one-third as much as the change in temperature of surrounding ground surface.
"They are cooler than the surrounding surface in the day and warmer at night," said Glen Cushing of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Team and of Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Ariz. "Their thermal behavior is not as steady as large caves on Earth that often maintain a fairly constant temperature, but it is consistent with these being deep holes in the ground."
A report of the discovery of the possible cave skylights by Cushing and his co-authors was published online recently by the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
"Whether these are just deep vertical shafts or openings into spacious caverns, they are entries to the subsurface of Mars," said co-author Tim Titus of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff. "Somewhere on Mars, caves might provide a protected niche for past or current life, or shelter for humans in the future."
The discovered holes, dubbed "Seven Sisters," are at some of the highest altitudes on the planet, on a volcano named Arsia Mons near Mars' tallest mountain.
"These are at such extreme altitude, they are poor candidates either for use as human habitation or for having microbial life," Cushing said. "Even if life has ever existed on Mars, it may not have migrated to this height."
The new report proposes that the deep holes on Arsia Mons probably formed as underground stresses around the volcano caused spreading and faults that opened spaces beneath the surface. Some of the holes are in line with strings of bowl-shaped pits where surface material has apparently collapsed to fill the gap created by a linear fault.
The observations have prompted researchers using Mars Odyssey and NASA's newer Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to examine the Seven Sisters. The goal is to find other openings to underground spaces at lower elevations that are more accessible to future missions to Mars.
"The key to finding these was looking for temperature anomalies at night -- warm spots," said Phil Christensen of Arizona State University, Tempe, principal investigator for the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. That instrument produced both visible-light and infrared images researchers used for examining the possible caves.
"No other instrument at Mars could give the thermal information crucial to this research," said the project scientist for Mars Odyssey, Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "This is a great example of the exciting discoveries Odyssey continues to make." Mars Odyssey reached Mars in 2001, years before any of the other spacecraft currently examining the planet. Its predecessor, Mars Global Surveyor, ended its mission last year.
Mars Odyssey is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The orbiter's Thermal Emission Imaging System was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing, Santa Barbara, Calif., and is operated by Arizona State University. For additional information about Mars Odyssey and the new findings, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/odyssey.

WANT TO REPRESENT THE UNIVERSE AS AN AMBASSADOR?

Wanted: Ambassadors to the Stars!

NASA's Solar System Ambassadors program is looking for volunteer space enthusiasts to join us in sharing the wonders of space exploration with the public.
Ambassadors come from all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The program is one of the longest-running NASA volunteer outreach projects. It includes volunteers from various career fields and occupations, including teachers, computer software writers, students, firefighters and soldiers.
Each ambassador receives online training from JPL, and educational materials supplied by various space missions, such as Dawn, which is poised to become the first spacecraft to orbit two different celestial bodies after leaving Earth. Dawn is scheduled to launch later this month.

"Volunteers Bringing the Solar System to the Public"

The Solar System Ambassadors Program is a public outreach program designed to work with motivated volunteers across the nation. These volunteers communicate the excitement of JPL's space exploration missions and information about recent discoveries to people in their local communities.
There are now 494 Ambassadors in 50 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico bringing the excitement of space to the public. Ambassadors are space enthusiasts from various walks of life who are interested in providing greater service and inspiration to the community at large.
The Solar System Ambassadors Program builds on and expands the outstanding efforts undertaken by the Galileo mission since 1997. Because of the success of the original Galileo Ambassadors program, JPL missions exploring Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Asteroids, Comets, Earth, the Sun and the Universe now come together to expand the program's scope to the Solar System and beyond.
The Solar System Ambassadors Program is sponsored by the JET PROPULSION LABORATORY in Pasadena, CA, an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a lead research and development center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Ambassadors furnish short biographical statements for the purpose of detailing their areas of interest and expertise. Following the biography is a list of past events conducted by the Ambassador to further aid in decision making. Inquiries about an Ambassador's availability should be made by sending an email directly to the individual.

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SSA PROGRAM : PRESS RELEASE

ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY...
Become an Ambassador to your community!
Highly motivated individuals will be given the opportunity to represent JPL as Solar System Ambassadors to the public for a one-year, renewable term beginning January 1, 2008. Applications for the program will be accepted from September 1 through September 30, 2007. Click title link above for more information from JPL direct.
Of course since time is running out you can always apply for the next term after studying the parameters of becoming an official AMBASSADOR OF MAN FOR THE UNIVERSE!

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GOOGLE & X-PRIZE FOUNDATION TO OFFER $30 MILLION TO FIRST FIRM ON THE MOON!

GOOGLE BACKS PRIVATE MOON LANDING!

More cash will be given for snaps of old equipment left on the Moon
Search giant Google is offering a $30m prize pot to private firms that land a robot rover on the Moon.
The competition to send a robot craft to the Moon is being run with the X-Prize Foundation.
To claim the cash, any craft reaching the lunar surface must perform a series of tasks such as shoot video and roam for specific distances.
Firms interested in trying for the prize have until the end of 2012 to mount their Moonshot.

In a statement announcing the competition, Google and the X-Prize Foundation said it had been created in a bid to stimulate research into low-cost robotic exploration of space.
The top prize of $20m will be given to the private firm that soft lands a rover on the Moon which then completes a series of objectives.
These include roaming the lunar surface for at least 500m and gathering a specific set of images, video and data.
A prize of $5m will be given to the second firm that manages to reach the Moon with a rover that roams the surface and shoots some pictures.
Google said it would give bonuses of $5m if the rovers complete other objectives such as travelling further on the Moon, taking pictures of Apollo hardware, finding water-ice and surviving the freezing lunar night.
Rovers taking part must be fitted with high-definition video and still cameras.


"We are confident that teams from around the world will help develop new robotic and virtual presence technology, which will dramatically reduce the cost of space exploration," said Dr Peter Diamandis, chairman of the X-Prize Foundation in a statement.
The prize will be on offer until 2012. After that a smaller sum of $15m will be offered and, if the cash goes unclaimed, the competition will end in 2014.

The rocket plane SpaceShipOne claimed the Ansari X-Prize
Sending a robot rover to the Moon is a formidable task - involving far greater hurdles than the first X-Prize competition. Indeed, sending any sort of craft to the Moon would normally require the funding support of national or international space agencies.
The prize is the third offered and administered by the X-Prize Foundation.
The first was run to encourage private space travel. The $10m (£4.9m) Ansari-sponsored prize was won in October 2005 when the SpaceShipOne rocket plane climbed to an altitude of 100km twice inside seven days.
In October 2006, the X-Prize Foundation created the $10m Archon X-Prize for Genomics, which will be given to the first private research group to sequence 100 human genomes in 10 days.


THE CLASSIC APOLLO MANNED ROVER:


THESE RUSSIAN LUNOKHOD ROVERS WERE ACTUALLY THE FIRST MANMADE MACHINES TO ROAM THE MOON!
The spacecraft which carried Lunokhod 1 was named Luna 17. Lunokhod was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world.The spacecraft soft-landed on the Moon in the Sea of Rains on November 17 1970 at 03:47 UTC. The lander had dual ramps from which the payload, Lunokhod 1, could descend to the lunar surface. At 06:28 UT the rover moved onto the moon's surface.



A photo from Lunokhod 1 showing the Luna 17 lander.

THE OMEGA STATION : A CRYPTICON DESIGNED SPACEBASE INSTITUTION

THIS IS OUR CUSTOM DESIGNED VISION OF A USRC/UN SANCTIONED PRIVATE SPACEBASE FACILITY. MERGING THE PRIVATE SECTORS WITH THE GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS, UNDER NASA GUIDELINES TO FUSE THE MESS OF COMPANIES INTO ONE SYSTEM. A SPACEPORT TO OTHER DESTINATIONS - THE MOON AND OTHER PLANETS - THIS IS A DOCK FOR REFUELING AND SCIENTIFIC STUDY AS WELL AS PRIVATE TOURIST AND RESEARCH HABITATS IN THE BIGELOW SECTIONS.
A SPACE CASINO AND ENTERTAINMENT SECTION IS THE MAIN FOCUS OF SPACE COMMUNAL INTERACTION. THIS IS A TEST OF OUR WILL TO COLONIZE IN SMALL HUMAN BATCHES - FAR AND AWAY FROM EARTH. AS A RESULT, EARTH CLIMATE SIMULATION ROOMS, V.R. SIMULATORS AND SENSORY EXCITERS WILL BE ENGINEERED INTO THE STRUCTURE.
SOOTHING SOUNDTRACKS WILL PERMEATE TO PSYCHOLOGICALLY ENHANCE MORALE AND KEEP THE MIND POSITIVE.
SOUNDWAVE TECHNOLOGY IS A LARGE PART OF OUR RESEARCH BUDGET.

DESIGNED BY ALAN KARALIAN AND RYAN GREEN IN 2007.

JAPANESE 'KAGUYA' LUNAR PROBE LAUNCHES

Japan's lunar "princess" shoots for the moon.
By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan launched its first lunar probe on Friday, nicknamed Kaguya after a fairy-tale princess, in the latest move in a new race with China, India and the United States to explore the moon.
The rocket carrying the three-metric ton orbiter took off into blue skies, leaving a huge trail of vapor over the tiny island of Tanegashima, about 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, at 10:31 a.m. (9:31 p.m. EDT) as it headed out over the Pacific Ocean.
The long-delayed lunar explorer separated from the rocket in skies near Chile about 45 minutes after lift off. It is to orbit the Earth twice and then travel 380,000 km (237,500 miles) to the moon.
"Kaguya separated from the rocket smoothly," the space agency's launch commentator said in a live broadcast of the launch on the Japanese space agency's Web site (www.jaxa.jp).
"Now the satellites are flying on their own. This is the first step and I am really impressed," said Tatsuaki Okada, a scientist involved in the project.
Japanese scientists say the 55 billion yen ($479 million) Selenological and Engineering Explorer, or SELENE, is the world's most technically complex mission to the moon since the U.S. Apollo program decades ago.
"If we succeed in this program, we will be able to prove that Japan has the technology," Okada said.
The mission consists of a main orbiter and two baby satellites equipped with 14 observation instruments designed to examine surface terrain, gravity and other features for clues on the origin and evolution of the moon.
The rocket itself was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said it hopes to send astronauts to the moon by 2025, although Japan has not yet attempted manned space flight.
SELENE also carries a high-definition television camera to shoot the Earth "rising" from the Moon's horizon, footage of which will be sent back to Earth. SELENE will orbit the moon for about a year until it runs out of fuel.
The launch is about four years behind schedule due to rocket failures and technical glitches.
China plans to launch a lunar orbiter called Chang'e One in the second half of this year to take 3D images, and it aims to land an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010.
India is planning its first unmanned mission to orbit the moon in 2008, powered by a locally built rocket. It is also discussing sending a person to the moon by 2020.
The United States plans to launch a lunar orbiter next year.
Japan's space program was in tatters in the late 1990s after two unsuccessful launches of a previous rocket, the H-2.
Disaster followed in 2003 when Japan had to destroy an H-2A rocket carrying two spy satellites minutes after launch as it veered off course.
($1=114.78 yen)

A RUSSIAN MOON BY 2025

Russia to send manned mission to the Moon by 2025.


MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russia plans to send cosmonauts to the Moon by 2025 and establish a permanent manned base there in 2027-2032, the head of the space agency said Friday.

Anatoly Perminov said that in accordance with Russia's space program through 2040, a manned flight to Mars will be carried out after 2035.
He said that toward the end of this year, Russia will have 103 satellites in orbit, up from the current 95.
There are plans for a new space center in the country, but a site has not yet been selected, he said. Russia currently launches all manned flights from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. Perminov said previously that construction of a new launch facility would only begin after a new type of spacecraft was built.
A major source of revenue for the agency in recent years has been space tourist flights from Baikonur to the International Space Station (ISS), with tickets currently priced at around $30 million. Russia has put five wealthy foreign tourists into space since 2001.
Perminov said the first Russian space tourist, who will fly to the ISS in 2009, is a businessman and politician.
"He asked me not to disclose his name yet. I can only say that he is a serious young Russian businessman and politician. He is currently undergoing medical tests."
The agency chief said that in 2016-25, after the ISS is put out of operation, Russia plans to deploy a platform in a low-earth orbit to assemble spacecraft.
The United States has said the station should be scrapped in 2015, while Russia has proposed using the Russian segment until 2020.
Perminov said: "The ISS will be transformed into a laboratory complex where research will be conducted."

GLASSIFICATION OF THE MOONS SURFACE

- THE LOCALIZED GLASSIFICATION OF THE MOON'S SURFACE-
(ARK theory 2007)

In order to avoid the dirty, hazardous and powdery regolith that covers the surface of the moon, a mission must be made first to send up giant land-surface melting rods (electrodes - already used on earth to glassify toxic dirt sites 20 feet deep).
Then sections of Moon - an acre at a time - are rigged with these rods, which take several weeks to melt the entire local surface into a glass slab that holds all the toxic, dusty and caustic elements in. After cooling we can have flat landing surfaces that are clean and solid. Human spacesuits won't get dirty, craft parts and sensitive scientific instruments can be placed in these areas free of dust - and the lack of a lunar wind would create zones of regolith-free habitable acreage. The human colonists will be safer and the surface will be easier to work on. Permanent anchors can be fused into the heated glass to hold future Private or Governmental (Bigelow/NASA/Virgin Galactic/Space-X) project habitat modules.

Piece by piece a permanent colony can be created on top of this glassified surface. It makes a lot of sense to eliminate the main problem with moon habitation - the dusty regolith - aside from avoiding meteor impacts. Engineering missions around this solid homebase is the only way to ensure a stable foundation on such an inhospitable terrain.
Another benefit to heat-melting the Moon's surface is that useful oxygen can be extracted from it during this process.
Meteorites already generate enough heat to melt dust particles. This melting and freezing welds particles together into glassy fragments. An indicator of what can be replicated, and similar to the result of a nuclear blast in a dessert - the glassification of earth - but long term heating is used instead to reliably create customized safe work surfaces.
The idea is to replicate nature on a massive scale and use it for infrastructure while eliminating the localized threat of toxic particulate matter.
Toxic-to-human elements radon-222 and polonium-210 have already been detected in lunar orbit. On several Apollo missions, enhanced levels of radon-222 and polonium-210 emissions were observed as part of the regolith.

Glassification of the surface of the moon, like making glass on Earth, is an existing technology that eliminates the greatest hurdles to man operating on the moon. Robots can come and go (permanently), but stability of a communal human nature requires thinking about their lives 100 to 200 years down the road. We can't make mistakes now!

DARPA grant anyone? Let's do this.


- A fully original and custom theory by Alan Karalian 2007.
CONTACT FOR VENTILATION: logixlab@yahoo.com

BIGELOW AEROSPACE SUCCESS WITH GENESIS 2

GENESIS 2 RENDER

PLANNED BIGELOW MODULES


Genesis II Calls Home, Says It’s Doing Fine.
Bigelow Aerospace Confirms Space Module has Successfully Expanded and Functioning Well.

Las Vegas, NV 06/28/07 – Bigelow Aerospace has established contact with its second pathfinder spacecraft, Genesis II. Launched earlier Thursday from Yasny, Russia, Mission Control in North Las Vegas, Nev., made first contact at 2:20 p.m. PDT.
Initial data suggests sufficient voltage powering up Genesis II’s batteries as well as expected air pressure. While the actual confirmation of solar panel deployment and spacecraft expansion are expected later, the data suggests that deployment and expansion have been successful.
Before contact, successful communication was considered a long shot on Genesis II’s first pass over the ground station in Fairfax, Va. Elevation for the pass was considered low for a successful contact.
“We don’t even talk to Genesis I that low,” Program Manager Eric Haakonstad said.
To the surprise of those gathered in Mission Control and shouts of “We got it” echoing through the room, contact was established and Genesis II immediately began sending data back to Earth on its condition.
After a quick celebration of cheers and hugs, the Bigelow Aerospace Mission Control staff immediately began the work of processing the data being returned from Genesis II.
Genesis II is the second experimental pathfinder spacecraft designed to test and confirm systems for future manned commercial space modules planned by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace The privately-funded space station module was launched atop a Dnepr rocket at 8:02 a.m. PDT from the ISC Kosmotras Yasny Cosmodrome, located in the Orenburg region of Russia, and was inserted into orbit at 8:16 a.m. PDT at an inclination of 64 degrees.

In addition to the initial communications pass, there will be further passes over the Virginia ground station on Thursday, as well as communication windows with Bigelow Aerospace ground stations in Las Vegas, Hawaii and Alaska. Communications for much of the first day will be devoted to the determination of spacecraft status and health, with the first images from Genesis II’s 22 interior and exterior cameras to arrive in the coming days.
Among those images will be items and pictures sent up by paying participants in the Bigelow Aerospace “Fly your Stuff” program. The general public got a chance last fall to purchase slots to fly their pictures and memorabilia into space. Bigelow Aerospace hopes to photograph the photos and items in orbit and display them on this site.
In the coming weeks, BA also hopes to activate the first-ever Space Bingo game aboard Genesis II as a fun activity for the public.
The new spacecraft follows Genesis I, which was launched from Yasny on July 12, 2006, and continues to successfully return data and images from Earth orbit. Genesis II is identical in size and appearance to Genesis I – approximately 15 feet (4.4 meters) in length and 6.2 feet (1.9 meters) in diameter at launch, expanding to 2.54 meters (eight feet) in diameter after expansion in orbit.
Inside is where the differences can be seen, as Genesis II includes include a suite of additional sensors and avionics that didn’t fly on Genesis I. Moreover, while Genesis I contained 13 video cameras, Genesis II will nearly double that figure to 22 cameras located on both the inside and outside of the spacecraft.
Like other BA spacecraft, Genesis II employs a unique architecture with an expandable outer surface that was wrapped around a central core at launch and expanded through air inflation in orbit. The skin is made of several layers that include proprietary impact-resistant materials.

Testing on the ground has shown that the expandable shells of a Bigelow module are much more resistant to space debris than the modules on the International Space Station.

Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert T. Bigelow was on site in Yasny to witness the launch with other BA employees, while other BA personnel were gathered at Mission Control in North Las Vegas.
Bigelow Aerospace Program Manager Eric Haakonstad says with the experience of Genesis I, they were better primed for the launch of Genesis II. “With Genesis I, it was our first rodeo. We didn’t know exactly what to expect,” Haakonstad says. “This time, we were able to perform rehearsals and were more prepared for the launch phase.”
That said, a brief communications difficulty in Russia increased nerves in Mission Control, as there was a delay in confirming Genesis II’s separation from the Dnepr rocket. “Any deviation from nominal magnifies the anxiety. When it came in four minutes later, it was a big relief,” Haakonstad says.
Bigelow Aerospace has received just the initial data from Genesis II, and expects more extensive data and imagery in the coming days. BA will provide updates and images from Genesis II on this site.

SPACE JUNK DUMP : ATMOSPHERE BURN

Space station crew prepare to dump space junk.

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Two crewmen aboard the International Space Station on Thursday prepared for a spacewalk during which more than 1,600 pounds (726 kg) of obsolete gear will be tossed overboard and left to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
Space station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Clay Anderson were due to begin a 6-1/2-hour spacewalk on Monday to make room and prepare equipment for the arrival of new research modules built by Europe and Japan.
Their tasks include jettisoning a refrigerator-sized device containing ammonia that was part of the station's first cooling system. NASA upgraded the station's power and cooling systems and no longer needs the 1,400-pound (635-kg) tank.
NASA managers initially had planned to return the ammonia tank to Earth on a space shuttle. But with only 14 flights remaining to the outpost before the U.S. shuttle fleet is retired in three years, there was no room for the carrier rack needed to transport the device in the shuttle's cargo bay.
NASA said ditching the tank was the best option available even though the agency dislikes creating more space junk.
"We agonized over this for a very long time before we came to this decision," said deputy space station program manager Kirk Shireman.
Anderson also will release a 212-pound (96-kg) camera stand that is taking up needed space on a storage platform. NASA's immediate concern is that the jettisoned objects do not fly back into the station's orbit.

CRASH AND BURN

The discarded equipment is expected to remain in space for at least 300 days before friction from crashing into atmospheric particles drags them into the atmosphere.
The camera stand is expected to burn up completely, but chunks of the ammonia tank as heavy as 39 pounds (17.5 kg) could survive re-entry and fall to Earth.
NASA said that while the debris is most likely to land in an ocean, there is about a 1 in 5,000 chance it will hit a populated area.
The agency said tracking radars will follow the objects until they are about two hours away from atmospheric re-entry. Warnings would be issued if the debris seems likely to pose a threat.
Also on Thursday, the shuttle Endeavour astronauts dressed in their bright-orange pressurized flight suits and climbed aboard the spaceship for a countdown dress rehearsal ahead of their planned August 7 liftoff.
NASA managers plan to meet next week to confirm the launch date.
Endeavour's crew, which includes teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, plans to spend seven to 10 days at the space station installing a new structural beam, replacing a steering gyroscope and delivering cargo.

SEARCHING FOR NON-CARBON LIFEFORMS

A HYPOTHETICAL SILICON BASED LIFEFORM

Scientists call for wider search for alien life.
By Carl Zimmer, International Herald Tribune

NEW YORK: A panel of scientists convened by America's leading scientific advisory group says the hunt for extraterrestrial life should be greatly expanded to include what they call "weird life": organisms that lack DNA or other molecules found in life as we know it.
"The committee's investigation makes clear that life is possible in forms different from those on Earth," the scientists conclude in their report, "The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems," published by the National Research Council.
Other experts hailed the report as an important rethinking of the search for life. "It's going to help us a lot to make sure we go exploring with our eyes wide open," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars exploration program.
Starfish, sequoias, salamanders and the rest of Earth's residents may seem very diverse, but they are surprisingly similar on the molecular scale. All species that scientists have studied need liquid water to survive, for example. Further, they all rely on DNA to carry genetic information, and they all use that information to build proteins from the same set of building blocks, known as amino acids.
NASA has long looked to life on Earth to guide its search for life on other worlds. Planets and moons that have hints of liquid water have been ranked high on the list of potential sites for life-detection missions.
But there is good reason to suspect that other kinds of chemistry could support life as well, the authors of the new report argue. Weird life could differ from life as we know it in small or big ways.
For example, while DNA uses phosphorus in its backbone, it might be possible to build a backbone out of arsenic instead. And life might exist in liquids other than water, perhaps ammonia or methane.

The report, which is posted on the Web site of the National Academies, www.nationalacademies.org, even explores the possibility of life based on silicon, not carbon, though Meyer, who had no role in the work, thinks that astrobiologists should limit their search to carbon-based life forms.
"When we look in the universe," he said, "the only compounds we see with more than six atoms are all carbon chemistry. So there's a hint that looking for carbon chemistry may be a better bet. There we have some idea of what to look for."

The report calls for NASA and the National Science Foundation both to support research into weird life. Chemists need to investigate "the chemical possibilities for what forms life might take," said one member of the committee, Steven Benner, a distinguished fellow at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, in Gainesville, Florida.
Scientists should also search Earth for weird life, the authors maintain. "There's much about Earth life we don't understand," said the panel's chairman, John Baross of the University of Washington.
Benner said there was "good evidence that the life we know on Earth was preceded by a weird form of life." Early Earth life may have been based on RNA, a single-stranded form of DNA. Although DNA-based life may have out-competed earlier forms on the surface of the planet, RNA life may still exist in refuges. One potential hiding place is deep below the ocean floor.
"It's an incredibly primordial world down there," Baross said.
"If you're going to look for remnants of an RNA world, those are the environments you want to go to."
To find weird life, however, scientists will have to build new kinds of detectors. "There's no question that the surveys of life on the planet we've done so far would have missed it," Benner said.
The scientists also said the possibility of weird life should prompt NASA to reorder its future missions. They singled out Saturn's moon Titan as particularly promising.

SEARCHING FOR OTHER LIFE