Category Archives: Space tourism

What's up with the Moon?

Posted on by
Reply

The

There’s a definite synchromystical, Moon “thing” going on, at the moment…

President Obama might not let us go to the Moon, but in Düsseldorf, you can see the largest sculpture of Earth’s sole satellite, as part of a new solar system exhibit (from a pres release I received today):

Düsseldorf, Germany – The inside of a 380-foot tall obsolete gas holder, the Gasometer in Oberhausen, is the space for a new exhibit called “Out Of This World – Wonders of The Solar System.” It includes the largest moon sculpture in the world — an 82-foot wide replica of the moon hanging in a cathedral-like space under the holder’s 328-foot roof, as well as replicas of the sun and its planets in a space 223 feet wide. The exhibit explores scientific, cultural and artistic perspectives on the creation and death of our solar system in the vast dimensions of the cosmos.

I’d be the first to say, of the Moon, “been there, done that.” But that was before a team led by Brown University professor Carle Pieters confirmed the presence of H20 up there.

And then there is Richard C. Hoagland’s idea of combing the Moon for ancient ruins.

Source: Sternstunden: RUHR.2010.


Moon landing? Don't believe your lying eyes

Posted on by
Reply

Space blogger to moon landing skeptics: Trust “scientists, engineers (and) the government.”

(Looks to good to be true. Photo: NASA)

Universe Today hopes this NASA image from the Apollo 11 mission (above) is so undeniably realistic-looking, few people will again dare to insist the U.S.’s moon landings were hoaxed. (Link, excerpt, below.)

Many conspiracists would be happy to see the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter prove them wrong. They just doubt it will.

Still Mythbusting | Universe Today
After last night’s “Mythbusters” show about the Apollo Moon Landing Hoax Myth, I’m cautiously hopeful that at least some people who believe(d) in this myth had their eyes opened and minds changed. Alas, there will always be folks out there who for some reason are set on not believing scientists, engineers or the government and won’t subscribe to any type of proof, be it scientific or television-ific. Perhaps the upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission will be able to take hi-resolution images of one of the Apollo sites.

Robots not good enough, say would-be Martians

Posted on by
Reply

A reluctant U.S. Congress might change its mind about sending humans to Mars, if Phoenix discovers organic matter, Planetary Society and Mars Society members hope (see believe).

In its NASA funding legislation, the Democrat-controlled body is seeking to bar any funds that might be spent on manned Mars missions. The Mars Society, meanwhile (which I joined for a year, because I had to have that membership card), is acknowledging this week its failure to capture the imaginations of many Americans. The organization plans to lobby Congress to support manned missions.

Will the Mars Phoenix Mission Clear the Way for Manned Missions? If organic compounds are present on Mars, they’re more likely to have been preserved in ice, which is why NASA targeted the Phoenix mission for the planet’s high northern plains, where they predicted about six inches of soft red soil should cover the ice so the digger shouldn’t have to probe too deeply.

2012: NASA sees start of "new solar cycle"

Posted on by
2

A bumpy ride ahead for sats and power grids. (Image: NASA)

NASA today published a forecast for a “big and intense” new solar cycle in 2011 or 2012, which its suggests will wreak havoc on satellite GPS and telecommunications, power grids and air traffic.

NASA says the next solar cycle, Solar Cycle 24, “could make itself felt as never before.”

We are now at the end of Solar Cycle 23 (see graphic, and excerpts, below), according to the U.S. space agency.

\

clipped from science.nasa.gov
Is a New Solar Cycle
Beginning
It may not look like much, but “this patch of magnetism could be a sign of the next solar cycle,” says solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Having Sex without Gravity

Posted on by
1


Time for a quickie? Space shuttle astronauts in 1996 explored sexual positions in Zero-G.

Astronauts are experimenting with sexual positions in space, this report (link and excerpt, below) suggests.

– Mark Baard

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk
US and Russian astronauts have had sex in space for separate research programmes on how human beings might survive years in orbit, according to a book published yesterday.
Pierre Kohler, a respected French scientific writer, says in The Final Mission: Mir, The Human Adventure that the subject is taboo both at Nasa and at mission control in Moscow, but that cosmic couplings have taken place.
“The issue of sex in space is a serious one,” he says. “The experiments carried out so far relate to missions planned for married couples on the future International Space Station, the successor to Mir. Scientists need to know how far sexual relations are possible without gravity.”
He cites a confidential Nasa report on a space shuttle mission in 1996. A project codenamed STS-XX was to explore sexual positions possible in a weightless atmosphere.
…four positions were found possible without “mechanical assistance”…
…six needed a special elastic belt and inflatable tunnel, like an open-ended sleeping bag…