NASA's Got Cool Stuff In Store

By seamus -
It seems that with Obama's re-election, NASA have found some reassurance that their plans (which were secret so far in case Romney gets elected) will continue to get a presidential thumbs up.

The "secret" plans in question involve going back to the moon, building a permanent base on the far side, parking cool spacecraft in the L2 point and testing out a new heavy duty rocket, with more exciting stuff yet to be announced.

Well... this is fucking cool!

John Logsdon, chief space policy expert:
“NASA has been evolving its thinking, and its latest charts have inserted a new element of cislunar/lunar gateway/Earth-moon L2 sort of stuff into the plan ”


The L2 lagrangian point is a an orbital location around the moon where the Earth's and Moon's gravitational pulls cancel each other out, so spacecraft and space stations can sort of chill there almost indefinitely without having to actively maintain an orbit. The plan is to eventually set up a manned, permanent base on the far side of the Moon that would serve as a jumping-off point for future interplanetary explorations (yes, and that include's NASA's plan to land on Mars in the 2030's). The plans include the development of a massive new launch rocket to deliver more ponderous payloads into space and help speed up future exploration.



NASA deputy chief Lori Graver:

"We just recently delivered a comprehensive report to Congress outlining our destinations which makes clear that SLS will go way beyond low-Earth orbit to explore the expansive space around the Earth-moon system, near-Earth asteroids, the moon, and ultimately, Mars. Let me say that again: We’re going back to the moon, attempting a first-ever mission to send humans to an asteroid and actively developing a plan to take Americans to Mars.”
Astronauts can chill in lunar orbit and more actively direct exploration rovers
So far the big focus is putting a spacecraft in the L2 point and experimenting with remote control as well the challenges of supporting human life in deep space.

"Let me say that again: We're going back to the moon, attempting a first-ever mission to send humans to an asteroid and actively developing a plan to take Americans to Mars," Garver added.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Amazing Fig Wasp Makes You Ponder Life

By seamus -
Image
Hey there! Whenever you've had a tasty fig or two, have you ever paused to ponder on big issues like mortality, the cycle of life and - what the heck are those crunchy  bits inside the fig? The tiny hole at teh bottom of the fruit is  called an ostiole - remember that. What is the connection between figs, wasps and the more philosophical questions about life, death and purpose? It's all in the very peculiar and amazing symbiotic relationship between the fig tree and the fig wasp. When you think of wasps, you're thinking of the black and yellow striped nuisance and pesky cousin of the more benign and lovable bee. In fact, if you were to take a look at the fig wasp, you'd have a hard time telling them apart from a mosquito with the naked eye - not to mention that the males of the species have an odd, wingless worm like appearance. But the destinies of this fascinating insect and the fig tree are intertwined: fig wasps ensure that new fig plants se
Read more

World's Fattest Woman Plans To Get Fatter

By seamus -
Image
I’ve always thought that humanity as a species has reached its apex in the food chain of the planet due to evolution. Objectie natural selection and the challenges our species faced along the eons has shaped its body and pshychology. Evolution gave us our brains, and it was our most succesful tool. We have our civilization now, as our darwinian reward. Yet in may ways, we’ve broken free from the chains of natural selection and are now a sufficiently powerful element on our plan to dictate our own evolution. Now – why the introduction? Well, it’s people like Susanne Eman  that make me realize just how badly evolution (more importantly, natural selection) can be mocked and toppled by our civilization. You see, morbid obesity isn’t a survival trait. Yet we have Susanne here, an 32 yeard old American woman that weighs in at 340 kilos and is proud of it. „ . Deep down I had always known I wanted to be fat, but I thought I was alone in this feeling. ” Says Susanne on her official w
Read more

Little Big Questions - Why Is The Earth Round?

By seamus -
Image
We're smart people. We live in a world where information is literally at our fingertips, and pretty much any answer can be found online, yet how much do we educated people know about facts and phenomenons we take for granted? Source: Wikipedia Sure, nobody's asking you to know everything - with Google, after all, you don't have to. Yet there are some things we do take for granted. Imagine you were alone in the middle of a green field - no internet, no help - and a curious child asks you a simple question: why is the Earth round ? What would you say? These little questions in life that have big implications - this is what this series is about. I've asked a few friends to answer a simple question: Why is the Earth Round? Here are some of their answers: And here are some of their (and other) answers, quoted: Andrei said: "The Earth is round because it's on an elliptical path around the Sun. Moreover, it is not completely round, it
Read more