This Should Amuse John Lear
Posted: 09-18-2005 10:08 PM
Posted 9/18/2005 9:32 PM Updated 9/18/2005 9:39 PM
NASA to detail plans for trip to moon
By Traci Watson, USA TODAY
BAR T BAR RANCH, Ariz. — An aluminum buggy bristling with cameras and computers jolts across a rocky plain, kicking up clouds of red dust. Two passengers, clad in bulky spacesuits, steer the vehicle with a joystick.
Despite all its high-tech gear, the buggy covers less than 100 yards before halting unexpectedly. "This is base camp. I have no data," a voice says over the radio. Communication links have failed, stalling the vehicle's progress.
Luckily for the two men in spacesuits, the glitch takes place not on Mars but in the desert of northern Arizona. It's the first extensive tryout of a new rover loaded with features that could one day be used on the moon and Mars.
NASA will announce detailed plans Monday for sending humans back to the moon and eventually to Mars, an itinerary President Bush proposed in 2004. No human has trod the lunar surface since 1972. Humans have never visited Mars.
Three congressional sources who were briefed Friday on NASA's plans say the space agency wants to send a crew of four to the moon in 2018 for a one-week stay. The plan also calls for astronauts to return to the moon in a pod similar to the Apollo capsule. The pod and other equipment for a moon mission would blast off on top of rockets made from the same engines and boosters used by the space shuttle.
The plan focuses on the moon and has almost nothing to say about Mars, the sources said. The sources declined to be identified because they are not authorized to discuss the plan before its release Monday. NASA spokesmen could not be reached for comment.
None of the plan's technology exists in final form yet, and the whole package would cost billions of dollars to develop.
One key lawmaker expressed doubts Friday about the proposal's viability. "This plan is coming out at a time when the nation is facing significant budgetary challenges," said Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn, minority chair of the House Science Committee. "Getting agreement to move forward on it is going to be heavy lifting."
NASA chief Michael Griffin has long insisted that there is no other way forward for the agency. So despite the hurdles, NASA has begun research to allow astronauts to make extended sojourns to other worlds:
• Scientists at the Colorado School of Mines are using $15 million from NASA to study how to cope with the thick, abrasive dust that covers the lunar surface. Problems with dust led NASA to cut the final Apollo mission short by a day.
• The Hubble Space Telescope has been scrutinizing the surface of the moon for sites where humans might land or even camp. Results may be announced in a few weeks.
• NASA is also funding research on methods to help astronauts cope with the stress of long space missions. The research was on hold until Bush's announcement, when "suddenly people realized if we're going to go to the moon and Mars, we have to look at the psychological issues," says researcher Nick Kanas of the University of California, San Francisco.
"We've identified the risks for lunar and Mars missions, long-duration (and) short-duration," says astronaut Carl Walz, who heads NASA's research on some technology needed on the moon and Mars. "We're looking hard at what we need to do (for) exploration."
NASA's new focus on exploring Earth's solar-system neighbors is expensive. The space shuttles will have to be retired in 2010 to help pay for the new spacecraft, and research aboard the International Space Station will be slashed.
Griffin said this month that he wants to cut the staff at NASA's Washington headquarters by about 600 people and promised cuts in the rest of the agency, too.
"We are entering a development phase," he said. "It will not be possible ... to cover all the folks who would like to remain with NASA."
Even some of the studies underway to prepare for moon and Mars missions could be canceled once NASA makes the changes called for in Monday's plan.
Still, NASA isn't likely to cancel such research entirely. Though Americans have walked on the moon before, more study could help make the return trip a lot safer, says Ronald Turner, a physicist at the ANSER, a non--profit research institute. Two main risks:
•Dust. During the Apollo missions, lunar dust jammed the joints of equipment, ate through seals and infiltrated the astronauts' lander. Breathing enough of it can cause what one Apollo astronaut called "lunar dust hay fever" and even lung disease.
•Radiation. Astronauts exploring the moon's surface could be zapped by solar or galactic radiation, which can cause symptoms ranging from headache to death. NASA knows how to build space habitats that protect against radiation, but scientists still can't predict exactly when astronauts need to take shelter from such rays.
"You have to be aware that there are some unknown unknowns out there," Turner says. But "a few well-defined robotic missions (to the moon) will give us most of the answers that we need."
In the deserts of Arizona, NASA engineers are busy figuring out how to make a smart space buggy. First, they solve the communication problem, which is traced to overloaded computer networks.
They also show that their prototype can obey voice commands — such as "Follow me" — as well as simple hand signals and instructions transmitted from a computer at a distant base camp. That means an astronaut who was sick, or simply worn out by a hard day of lunar exploration, could get home on the rover without having to negotiate the terrain.
Astronaut Michael Gernhardt is paying special attention to the two spacesuits being tested. Earlier in the day, technicians had to spend precious time cleaning dust out of the suits' seals — an undesirable chore for equipment that might be used on hundreds of forays.
"There's a huge difference between having a paper study ... and coming out and making it work," Gernhardt says. "We're learning all kinds of things by doing. That's the real benefit of this."
NASA to detail plans for trip to moon
By Traci Watson, USA TODAY
BAR T BAR RANCH, Ariz. — An aluminum buggy bristling with cameras and computers jolts across a rocky plain, kicking up clouds of red dust. Two passengers, clad in bulky spacesuits, steer the vehicle with a joystick.
Despite all its high-tech gear, the buggy covers less than 100 yards before halting unexpectedly. "This is base camp. I have no data," a voice says over the radio. Communication links have failed, stalling the vehicle's progress.
Luckily for the two men in spacesuits, the glitch takes place not on Mars but in the desert of northern Arizona. It's the first extensive tryout of a new rover loaded with features that could one day be used on the moon and Mars.
NASA will announce detailed plans Monday for sending humans back to the moon and eventually to Mars, an itinerary President Bush proposed in 2004. No human has trod the lunar surface since 1972. Humans have never visited Mars.
Three congressional sources who were briefed Friday on NASA's plans say the space agency wants to send a crew of four to the moon in 2018 for a one-week stay. The plan also calls for astronauts to return to the moon in a pod similar to the Apollo capsule. The pod and other equipment for a moon mission would blast off on top of rockets made from the same engines and boosters used by the space shuttle.
The plan focuses on the moon and has almost nothing to say about Mars, the sources said. The sources declined to be identified because they are not authorized to discuss the plan before its release Monday. NASA spokesmen could not be reached for comment.
None of the plan's technology exists in final form yet, and the whole package would cost billions of dollars to develop.
One key lawmaker expressed doubts Friday about the proposal's viability. "This plan is coming out at a time when the nation is facing significant budgetary challenges," said Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn, minority chair of the House Science Committee. "Getting agreement to move forward on it is going to be heavy lifting."
NASA chief Michael Griffin has long insisted that there is no other way forward for the agency. So despite the hurdles, NASA has begun research to allow astronauts to make extended sojourns to other worlds:
• Scientists at the Colorado School of Mines are using $15 million from NASA to study how to cope with the thick, abrasive dust that covers the lunar surface. Problems with dust led NASA to cut the final Apollo mission short by a day.
• The Hubble Space Telescope has been scrutinizing the surface of the moon for sites where humans might land or even camp. Results may be announced in a few weeks.
• NASA is also funding research on methods to help astronauts cope with the stress of long space missions. The research was on hold until Bush's announcement, when "suddenly people realized if we're going to go to the moon and Mars, we have to look at the psychological issues," says researcher Nick Kanas of the University of California, San Francisco.
"We've identified the risks for lunar and Mars missions, long-duration (and) short-duration," says astronaut Carl Walz, who heads NASA's research on some technology needed on the moon and Mars. "We're looking hard at what we need to do (for) exploration."
NASA's new focus on exploring Earth's solar-system neighbors is expensive. The space shuttles will have to be retired in 2010 to help pay for the new spacecraft, and research aboard the International Space Station will be slashed.
Griffin said this month that he wants to cut the staff at NASA's Washington headquarters by about 600 people and promised cuts in the rest of the agency, too.
"We are entering a development phase," he said. "It will not be possible ... to cover all the folks who would like to remain with NASA."
Even some of the studies underway to prepare for moon and Mars missions could be canceled once NASA makes the changes called for in Monday's plan.
Still, NASA isn't likely to cancel such research entirely. Though Americans have walked on the moon before, more study could help make the return trip a lot safer, says Ronald Turner, a physicist at the ANSER, a non--profit research institute. Two main risks:
•Dust. During the Apollo missions, lunar dust jammed the joints of equipment, ate through seals and infiltrated the astronauts' lander. Breathing enough of it can cause what one Apollo astronaut called "lunar dust hay fever" and even lung disease.
•Radiation. Astronauts exploring the moon's surface could be zapped by solar or galactic radiation, which can cause symptoms ranging from headache to death. NASA knows how to build space habitats that protect against radiation, but scientists still can't predict exactly when astronauts need to take shelter from such rays.
"You have to be aware that there are some unknown unknowns out there," Turner says. But "a few well-defined robotic missions (to the moon) will give us most of the answers that we need."
In the deserts of Arizona, NASA engineers are busy figuring out how to make a smart space buggy. First, they solve the communication problem, which is traced to overloaded computer networks.
They also show that their prototype can obey voice commands — such as "Follow me" — as well as simple hand signals and instructions transmitted from a computer at a distant base camp. That means an astronaut who was sick, or simply worn out by a hard day of lunar exploration, could get home on the rover without having to negotiate the terrain.
Astronaut Michael Gernhardt is paying special attention to the two spacesuits being tested. Earlier in the day, technicians had to spend precious time cleaning dust out of the suits' seals — an undesirable chore for equipment that might be used on hundreds of forays.
"There's a huge difference between having a paper study ... and coming out and making it work," Gernhardt says. "We're learning all kinds of things by doing. That's the real benefit of this."