Lunar Development

Michael Griffin-The Bravest Man on Earth

An article by Traci Watson in  USA TODAY stated

The space shuttle and International Space Station — nearly the whole of the U.S. manned space program for the past three decades — were mistakes, NASA chief Michael Griffin said Tuesday.

Finally someone in power in the Aerospace community willing to admit turning away from the Moon was a major error. And it was the NASA Administrator no less. This man has guts. This is what we needed to change NASA culture to go forward without the blinders which make safe operation impossible.  This admission is getting down to bed rock honesty and breaking the denial that has plagued NASA for decades. Also see Florida Today and .

Thank you and Congratulations Dr. Griffin.

Keith Cowing on  NASAWATCH

Mike Griffin speaks for the President. The reactions take one (or more) of three directions: Griffin is unable to articulate his ideas clearly; there is a serious disconnect between stated White House policy and its implementation; or the White House no longer (and perhaps never did) care about space.

First, being a head of an agency doesn't mean you speak for the President.   There are very few people who do that. An agency head saying that a mistake was made decades ago by the previous management of that agency bears absolutely no bearing on the President or his policies.  In fact the Presidents Policy has been to reverse the error for the last 18 Months.  Second, Griffin articulated his ideas very clearly.  Third, I see no disconnect at all with the White House.  Forth, NASA is only 1% of the Federal Budget, NASA should be well run enough  and be able to form appropriate goals and implement them well enough that the president doesn't have to care, except when he is taking credit for their successes.

I talked to Dr. Griffin last night at the Women in Aerospace (WIA) awards reception before this story came out , I wish I had known about it so I could have thanked him personally for his courage. We talked about NASA's Lunar planning,,  he said they are working on the plan for the lunar surface now, he thought energy was among the justifications for going to the Moon. I suggested that Mid January would be a prime time to push the lunar energy justification in the Media as that is when the sky high heating bills will hit, estimated to be 250% of last years. I also suggested that NASA should establish a strong community of groups interested in using the Moon so that it is less likely that the return to the Moon will be victim of the next election.   

Magnificent Desolation - Truly Magnificent

Tom Hanks new IMAX movie is stunning. This is just what the country needs as we are turning back to the Moon.

Thank you, Tom for contributing so much by bringing the history of the greatest human accomplishment to life with Apollo 13, From Earth to the Moon and now with Magnificent Desolation.

Report on opening with pictures.

The Moon in Art, Culture and Events

August -  Darkside- A play about a fiction Apollo 18 where the LM rocket engine fails to ignite

September 23  - Magnificent Desolation Opened: a new IMAX Movie by Tom Hanks

September 24 - John Young's 75th Birthday- Happy Birthday- Live Long and Prosper

October 3 - Annular solar eclipse Visible from Africa

October 4 - Moon occults Mercury

October 17 - Partial Lunar Eclipse

October 20 - 35th anniversery of the Launch of the USSR's Zond 8  which flew by the Moon

October 22 Octogon Moon Rise Event in Ohio - Poster

March 29, 2006  Solar Eclipse can be seen Turkey, Georgia and Russia

Regolith Excavtor Contest

NASA Centennial Challanges prize competition  has a new challange worth $250,000 to theteam that can build an autononomously operated excavtor which can deliver the most regolith to a collector within 30 minutes in a head to head competiton to be held in late 2006 or 2007.

MoonToday.net

Space.com

Exploration Systems Arichtechture Study (ESAS)

The results are in on NASA's current planning for How We'll get back to the Moon, the next step toward making President Bush's Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) a reality.

I like that it has up to 6 flight s a year and can land 4 people at at time on the Moon. I like that Dr. Griffen talks about all the science that can be done on the Moon.  While there are few details on what exactly we will do on the Moon at least we haven't been limited by small ideas.

I do have some concerns.

1. Two launches required per lunar Mission - I believe this will be more dangerous than single launch missions do to the pressure to launch so as not to waste the equipment from the first launch. Also 2 launches have twice the failure rate as one launch.

2. The launch system is shuttle derived- The shuttle is not safe, this new system uses the same hard ware and maintains the same culture.   The hardware and culture which has cost us 14 lives.

3. Polar  site for base- The light conditions seem to make this a less than idea spot to put a base.

4. Crew Excursion vehicle reuseable 10 times- is this worth making it reusable, is it worth the required inspections?

5. Methane fueled lunar lander- this is great for Mars but how good is it for long term use of lunar derived fuels? how hard would it be to switch to something which could be lunar derived after this system has been thoroughly tested for Mars.

Lunar Events: September & October 2005

To Moon and beyond

15-16 September Bremen, Germany

Sunday, September 18^th is the Moon Festival a time for reading poetry, watchingt he Moon and having family reunions among the Chinese People.

The NASA roll out of Exploration Systems Architecture Study Results on Monday, September 19 at11 a.m.at NASA HQ

Moonbases USA October 11-12 Wshington, DC

Space Resources Round Table VII: The LEAG conference on Lunar Exploration October 25-28 in League, Texas (near Houson)

Is God Trying to Destroy the Shuttle?

Ophelia is headed to Kennedy Space Center. Maybe God is suggesting that it is time to stop flying the Shuttle.

Will Katrina destroy ISS too?

Katrina was a very  powerful but nobody expected its destruction could reach all the way to Low Earth Orbit. The External Tank Factory for the shuttle is in New Orleans. While initial reports were optimistic the continuing deterioration of the situation in New Orleans looks bad for the external tank plant. The reports of looters and fires sound even worse.The satellite photo looks like the area is flooded. (compare to the Google Map, looking at the area to the east of I-510).

The work force is scattered, their homes destroyed, along with the entire infrastructure of New Orleans.  NASA is talking about a delay of the next shuttle launch until May.  I think that is very optimistic.  They may be able to move workers to Florida to modify the tanks they have.

Another year delay in the station would make completion by deadline impossible. If the Michoud plant is badly damaged how much are we willing to pay to fix it?  This cost should be considered when looking at the cost of the Shuttle Derived Heavy Lift Vehicle since, if the major repair of the facility will not help ISS construction, it should be considered part of the the new launcher. Which may eliminate any cost advantage over, starting from scratch with a Boeing built Saturn 5 derived launch vehicle.