Well, well. It looks like the Moon bombing went well as NASA just released a whole lot of data supporting the initial findings that there’s water on the Moon. Read NASA’s take and view a whole lot of line graphs I don’t understand at NASA.gov. Next up, moonQuest DSV.
Just a few minutes ago at 7:13:19 AM EDT, NASA crashed a probe into the Moon at 5,600 MPH with the hope of finding water. BOOM!
NASA broadcasted the entire thing live on its TV station and online, but if you missed our previous post and just learned about the event, you probably didn’t catch it. However, the NASA geeks are currently analyzing the LCROSS data and will hopefully announces their findings at the 10 AM EDT scheduled press event. In the mean time, go tell your wackjob neighbor that the Moon is still in the same ol’ spot and there isn’t a conspiracy to mess with the tides. Crazies. Gotta love ‘em.
That was quick. NASA just released some data last week recorded by the LRO that indicated water might be present and suddenly an Indian probe actually found some. India’s first Moon probe , Chandrayaan-1, is equipped with sensors to detect the electromagnetic signature of water. Furthermore, these sensors cannot penetrate very deep and the data indicates that the water is actually on ore near the Moon’s surface. How exciting. NASA is expected to release more data later today at a press conference so be sure to check back for more info.
The LRO has already provided us with a lot of fascinating high-res photos of the Moon’s surface. But photos are just the start.
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.
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.
Eventually man will go back to the Moon and will need a way to travel in style. Goodyear and NASA has just unveiled the tire that will help with that. The Apollo astronauts used basic lunar rovers to explore a small part of the Moon’s surface, but the current NASA plan is to sightsee a whole lot more. Because of the added distance, the original wire-type tire used in the 70’s will not work. The new tire developed by Goodyear is designed to hold much more weight and withstand the abuse of a multi-thousand kilometer journey.
Click through to see the tire in action.
This game is probably a lot more complex than your standard claw game, but it doesn’t look it. I’m sure it uses some fancy pants calibration and high-tech wizardry. Hell, it probably has more computing power than the actual Lunar Lander did way back in 1969. But you know what, as long as it entertains our kids while teaching them a bit of history, it doesn’t matter. It’s a hell of a lot better than winning some random stuffed animal.
Slate.com did a wonderful job creating this video that clearly demonstrates how the TV media would cover the Moon landing if it happened today. You know the routen. First they would cut to a panel of “experts” and then cut to live cams. And of course, there would be reaction from Twitter. The only thing left out is Glenn Beck crying.
What a great way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing by owning an $800 pen. The Fisher Space pen is of course legendary for it’s ability to write in space, but this one packs a little something special. The top of the pen features a bit of thermal insulation used on the Columbia Command Module that’s engraved with a picture of the Moon landing. That’s eff’n cool, but I don’t know if it’s $800 cool. If you think so, you better hurry up ’cause there is only going to be 1,000 available.
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.
It was exactly 40 years ago today that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first walked on the Moon. We’ve gathered a collection of videos and new reports that tell the story as well today as they did those years ago. Enjoy. Read More
There has been a good deal of focus on the Moon lately. First, the LRO sent back high-res photos of the surface, which was followed by the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the release of restored video footage from the Moon. Then the LRO produced the first photos of the equipment left behind from the Apollo missions and Walter Cronkite, the trusted voice who informed America about the events, passed away.
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. Read More
Lowry Digital in Burbank has been restoring old Apollo footage for a while now and NASA just released a small sample of the work. Now, the restoration doesn’t do wonders to the 40 year old stock, but it’s at least better than nothing. Maybe now we can make out that damn coke can more clearly as it bounces across the “Moon surface.” (kidding) More footage will be released this fall.
Click through for two more clips.
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.
The first pics the LRO sent back are after the jump.
Great success! North Korea has successfully launched a satellite into a near earth orbit and it is now circling the earth at about 1 mile below sea level. That’s right: North Korea’s Taepodong-2, the much-feared long-range missile that had even the Obama camp worried, broke up over Japan at about 11:37am and then fell into the water at 11:48am on Sunday. The launch is described as a complete success in North Korean reports although American military command believes it to be a failure. Nonetheless, the ability to push a rocket even close to U.S. soil is obviously disconcerting. The NYT writes:
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.
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.
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.
I’m all in favor of far-reaching, ambitious projects like the colonization of Mars and stuff, but covering the Moon with mirrors to increase the chances of aliens seeing us? I’m more than a little skeptical. Aside from the very idea being totally insane, it’s a ridiculous notion that it would help aliens find us. Any alien race that has the power to contact or visit us almost certainly has the power to find us without us flashing prime numbers at them via the Moon.
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.
