Tag Archives: Inner Solar System

Moon "Diviner" finds useful minerals

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Diviner. Illustration: NASA/UCLA

Good news for Moon setters: Scientists seeking mineral wealth on the Moon have struck upon minerals that can be used to make nuke fuel and fertilizer.

Among the mineral wealth detected by NASA’s Moon recon orbiter vessel, Diviner, is the element thorium, which might be used to power nuclear energy plants on the Moon.

More from a recent announcement:

Most impressively, in several locations around the Moon, Diviner has detected the presence of highly silicic minerals such as quartz, potassium-rich, and sodium-rich feldspar – minerals that are only ever found in association with highly evolved lithologies (rocks that have undergone extensive magmatic processing).

via New Types Of Rock Found On Moon By Researchers At Stony Brook University And NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Secret Sun sees a new symbol in ISS

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Christopher Knowles (The Secret Sun), taking his typically sweeping, epic view of the symbols being hurled at us, notes that the otherwise ugly International Space Station resembles the cross of Lorraine, the alchemical symbol to which some have attributed the religious meaning, “As above, so below.”

From Knowles’ blog:

But it’s all good. Very clever, actually- keep the malcontents busy with celebrity gossip while the real action goes on under our noses – or over our heads. For instance, we all know about ISiS- the International Space Station- but did you know it was shaped like the Cross of Lorraine?

via The Secret Sun.

What's up with the Moon?

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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.


Stupid animatronic trick of the day

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Photo: CC/Toni Lucatorto

Photo: CC/Toni Lucatorto

Japan is talking-up yet another bipedal robot (at least officials are not describing this one as a potential sexual partner, yet), to help humans settle-in on the moon, in about ten years.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan hopes to have a two-legged robot walk on the moon by around 2020, with a joint mission involving astronauts and robots to follow, according to a plan laid out Friday by a government group.

Specifics of the plan, including what new technologies will be required and the size of the project’s budget, are to be decided within the next two years, according to Japan’s Strategic Headquarters for Space Development, a Cabinet-level working group.

via The Associated Press: Japan aims for walking robot on the moon by 2020.

Most stargazers are geezers

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I’m getting drawn-in to this website, for the Astronomical Research Institute, a reportedly one-man outfit help to discover and track asteroids that might be headed for earth.

There are over 1,000 of these “potentially hazardous asteroids,” according to ARI’s Killer Asteroid Project.

It’s a fun site to explore (link at the end of this post). I stumbled across this passage, which blew my mind a bit, and got me thinking about NASA’s true mission: tossing-up sats and weapons around Earth, not to explore space, but to monitor us.

The reason, I believe, that boys and girls are not interested in space (as measured by Sky and Telescope subscriptions), is that nobody else is, either (save for a few aging, amateur astronomers).

Since the late 1970′s interest in astronomy among people under the age of 30 has decreased dramatically. According to the Astronomical League, in 1979, over 34% of all subscribers to Sky and Telescope magazine were individuals under the age of 30. Today less than 4% of subscribers come from this same age group. High school students now comprise less than 0.005% the total subscriptions to this publication!

via Astronomical Research Institute astronomy awards.

Mars pole has best water

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Mars water might be the new Perrier. Photo: CC/Burns!

Perhaps NASA can bottle the stuff, and bring it back to Earth, for sale to elite consumers.

Planum Boreum, Mar’s north polar cap contains water ice “of a very high degree of purity,” according to an international study. Using radar data from the SHARAD (SHAllow RADar) instrument on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), French researchers say the data point to 95 percent purity in the polar ice cap. The north polar cap is a dome of layered, icy materials, similar to the large ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica, consisting of layered deposits, with mostly ice and a small amount of dust. Combined, the north and south polar ice caps are believed to hold the equivalent of two to three million cubic kilometers (0.47-0.72 million cu. miles) of ice, making it roughly 100 times more than the total volume of North America’s Great Lakes, which is 22,684 cu. kms (5,439 miles).

via Lots of Pure Water Ice at Mars North Pole | Universe Today.

Moon rocks good for building

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CC/Brian Yap

Moon homes might look like this. Photo: CC/Brian Yap

brick

The VTech Moon brick.

Where can I sign-up for my “igloo on the Moon” getaway? — mb

Dwellings in colonies on the moon one day may be built with new, highly durable bricks developed by students from the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. via Lunar Rock-Like Material May Someday House Moon Colonies.

Eye-to-eye with "eye" of Venus

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Venus: another planet with a vortex scientists can’t explain

The European Space Agency reports that Venus’s south pole (the yellow dot in the image, below) has “an enormous structure with a central part that looks like the eye of a hurricane, (which) morphs and changes shape within a matter of days, leaving scientists puzzled.”

One ESA scientist says the vortex is the result of gases swirling down to the planet’s surface, “similar to what you might see in your bathtub once you have pulled out the plug .”

ESA Portal – The puzzling eye of a hurricane on Venus

The puzzling eye of a hurricane on Venus

13 March 2008
Venus Express has constantly been observing the south pole of Venus and has found it to be surprisingly fickle. An enormous structure with a central part that looks like the eye of a hurricane, morphs and changes shape within a matter of days, leaving scientists puzzled.

Mars: home to one brave nudist

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Is this a thick-skinned, sunbathing Martian?
Nerds poring over each pixel taken by the NASA Mars Explorer Spirit recently struck paydirt: Some of them see an alien chilling out along an outcropping, perhaps lost in its alien thoughts.

But here’s the best part: Dude, it’s a she, and she’s naked.

Life on Mars? Amazing photos from Nasa probe reveal image of mystery figure on Red Planet
A few of the UK papers covered this mars rover picture today of what looks like a small statue, pasted the story from the Daily Mail below.

Interesting but not conclusive for me barring a peek at the close- up NASA maybe has hidden away somewhere.

What I found more curious was this ‘V’ cut rock located in the vicinity of the red circle, no straight lines in nature?

Also: A correspondent to Jeff Rense also notes the presence of an unusual object nearby (see image, below), which looks like the cap to my backyard fire pit.