The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter also has more instruments aboard and one of them, the Diviner Lunar Radiometer developed and operated by the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is sending back some wild info about the Moon’s surface temperature.

The contraption works by measuring the infrared radiation’s intensity that’s emitted by the lunar surface. The hotter the surface, the great the emitted infrared radiation’s intensity. The map generated by Diviner will likely be used to help plan future manned Moon missions – whenever the hell that might be. But even still some of the info sent back is still of scientific value.

Apparently some spots on the lunar surface are always in a shadow and can nearly reach absolute zero. It’s thought that these spots can hold frozen water and might be some of the coldest spots in the galaxy including Pluto. These cold traps as they are called have been theorized about for nearly 50 years so you can imagine geek-types getting excited about the possible confirmation.

The unit will take about six months to complete its survey. The instrument was first turned activated on July 5 though, so it’s about 50% done.

Hopefully John Hodgman was correct in calling Obama the first nerd president. If not, humans might not reach the Moon anytime soon because we all know a jock wouldn’t fund a science project. The current target is 2020 and the development is already underway of the vehicles needed to get people there. But there is one small issue: Money. NASA needs lots of money.

NASA had $3 billion cut from its budget back in February, but according to a committee setup by Obama, that’s just a drop in the bucket. In order to keep NASA on the current timetable, the agency is going to need $50 billion more added to its budget. But this is Washington we’re talking about and they want solutions, not begging – unless you’re Wall Street. The committee is going to present alternatives including new vehicles and different space targets.

So as it stands today, manned missions to the Moon seems like a pipe dream. Everyone knows our country is broke.

Fundamentally both the old and new tire are similar. Both utilize a wire mesh surface that can hold up very well in extreme temperatures unlike rubber. But the first generation used a weave of wires, where the new one is made up from springs hand-woven together. This new design allows for nearly all the energy expelled on the tire to be reclaimed, which dramatically cuts down on heat. Plus the springs are durable and and redundant if damaged, as there are 800 of them within each tire.

The Goodyear and NASA team had to go back reconstruct the Apollo tires with help from the original designers as most of the documentations was reportably destroyed thanks to the Cold War mentality. But once the old tires were remade, the team set out to design the next generation. Unlike the older ones, these new tires can sport a snazzy five-star rim because each wheel doesn’t have an electric engine within each wheel.

NASA was so impressed with the new tires that the agency took it as a show and tell item to the recent “Day on the Hill” event in Washington. Who knows, maybe someday Goodyear will find a way to incorporate the design into tires that can be used here on Earth.

AutoEvolution & NASA

Oh, and the photos of the pen are locked down by a bulletproof copywrite to SpacePen.com so what you’re looking at is not the actual pen. SpacePen.com apparently doesn’t want anyone using this thing called the “Internet.” But I love you all and thought I would post the neat pen despite the dick move.

This is the very first photo that shows an astronaut’s face while on the Moon as their faces are hidden behind a visor in every other picture. This one is actually a single frame from a video that was being shot from the Lunar Lander and has been converted from film to high-def by Spacecraft Films for Andrew Chailkin’s new book, Voices from the Moon.

As it turns out, Neil Armstrong was the one generally with the camera and most of the photos from the Apollo 11 missions are of Buzz, the second man on the Moon. It’s a good thing that this newly released image will probably go down in history as one of the top, iconic images from that first mission.

The LA Times is keeping the buzz alive with a fantastic article about the construction of the Saturn V rocket that shot the astronauts to the Moon.

“What set us apart was our ability to build a very big rocket to get us to the moon,” said Roger Launius, the Smithsonian Institution’s space historian, reflecting on the U.S.’ race with the then-Soviet Union to reach the moon first. “The Russians were never able to do that.”

If you think about it, that’s about as accurate as it gets. Our engineers who were backed by a massive budget, out-developed the Soviets with the Saturn V rocket. Well done, boys. Well done.

As soon as the new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter sent back the first high-res photos of the moon a few days ago, I was eager to see the Apollo landing sites. It’s not that I didn’t believe that man walked on the moon 40 years ago, but rather out of simple nerd curiosity. Well, NASA made good on its promise and just released images showing the landing sites of Apollo 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17. I just wish that the pics could show a bit more. These are still impressive though considering the LRO is around 30 miles up and the descent stage module’s deck is only 12 feet in diameter. And yes, we know that these could have been photoshopped by a 10 year old, conspiracy nut. Move along.

Click through for two more clips.

[via Boing Boing Gadgets]

NASA is gearing up for a trip back to the moon and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is one of the first steps. This satellite will orbit the moon at only 50 km and send back high resolution, 3D  images of the lunar surface to map out potential landing sites . And yes, it will be able to get clear photos of the Apollo gear left behind, which will no doubt send conspiracy idiots scrambling for more excuses.

NASA,

“Our first images were taken along the moon’s terminator — the dividing line between day and night — making us initially unsure of how they would turn out,” said LROC Principal Investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe. “Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated, suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface. In reality, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts safely explored in 1972. While these are magnificent in their own right, the main message is that LROC is nearly ready to begin its mission.”

Click for larger versions.

North Korea’s public portrayal of the event as a complete success was similar in its celebratory tone to the happy note it struck in 1998 after having failed to loft a satellite into orbit.

A general rule of engineering is that failures reveal more than successes. If so, North Korea — which has now test-fired three long-range rockets, each time unsuccessfully — is learning a lot about limitations.

This experience is fairly consistent over in North Korea – a great deal of posturing followed by an engineering failure. However, experts believe that continued launches will eventually prove fruitful and the next Taepodong-2 may break the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of the moon, provided, as this Onion article suggests, they bring the moon to Pyongyang.

Kim Jong Il Announces Plan To Bring Moon To North Korea

Buy your own North Korean missile launcher here.

Picture courtesy of NASA and TKK

The Japanese government said Friday the nation should do everything it can to send a robot to the moon by 2020 followed by a human astronaut 10 years later in order to explore the moon’s natural resources. Japan, a country famously poor in natural resources, has a space development strategy task force in place that’s ready to execute the plans and is headed by the Prime Minister.

The task force says by 2030, the robot and the astronaut should collaborate in exploring the possibility of developing natural resources on the moon. Last year, India managed to launch its first moon probe, and China celebrated the first spacewalk of a Chinese astronaut so Japan is risking to lose ground in the Asian space race.

At the moment, Japan is represented through a presence aboard the International Space Station (ISS). If the government says yes to the plans, Japan would become the fourth country that sends a human being into space on a rocket (following Russia, the US and China).

Some strange science news for you now. You know how you can “buy” stars, even though such purchases aren’t recognized by any legitimate scientific organization? Well, Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abromovich—he’s a tremendously wealthy Russian, for those of who don’t know who he is—just did one better.

He bought [Spanish] his girlfriend 100 acres of land on the moon.

Yes, the Russian billionaire “bought” the land, which is located between 20-24°S latitude and 30-34°W longitude up there, in order to make it up to his soon-to-be wife, Daria Zhukova. Apparently their crazy wedding had o be toned done because of the credit crisis, which has affected Abramovich’s fortune.

The land, in case you’re looking to symbolically buy some moon property, was purchased from The Lunar Embassy.

Some good ol’ fashioned science news for you this dreary morning. Congrats are due to India, which launched its first moon mission a few hours ago. It’s an unmanned flight, so don’t expect to see video of Indian astronauts playing golf or cricket up there or anything. There will, however, be an Indian flag placed up there by the unmanned rover-dealie.

The Chandrayaan-1 (literally, lunar-craft 1), which launched from the country’s southeast, will be tooling about for two years, primarily modeling the surface of the moon. Maybe India can sell the data to Google, giving us Google Moon?

There’s speculation as to why India even bothered with the launch. One thing I’ve read on numerous sites is that, finally, India wants to flex some muscle, both of the scientific variety and of the regular “we’re an important country, respect us” sense.

It’s a neat video, if nothing else. Now we wait for Pakistan to freak out.

The secondary benefit of collecting solar energy and beaming it back to Earth is kind of weak too. First, the amount of energy created would be relatively small. Second, have you seen how much dust there is on the moon? And how many meteoroids hit the sucker? The solar array would be down before you could charge up your cell phone.

On the Moon, readers, scientists like this have their pants pulled down and they are spanked with moon rocks.