Saturday, July 31, 2021
Jack's Plan To Put Humans On The Surface Of Mars By 2033
My most
admired Andrew L. Chaiklan "threw down the gauntlet to me" last night
during the Planetary Radio podcast. He described sending humans to Mars as
"The Mount Everest of space exploration." He pointed out that a
broken toilet on the spacecraft could be a fatal event for the astronauts on
board. (He had a good point there.) He did not see humans on Mars before the
2050s.
I do not have an engineering or
scientific degree. I am not an ex-astronaut. I don't have a NASA pedigree.
Explore Mars, Inc., The Mars Society, or the National Space Society would never
invite me to be a guest speaker or panel member. I have been studying the idea
of a manned mission to Mars since I saw the film Flight to Mars at the King
Center Drive-In theater in 1954.
In
simple language, here is how we get it done by 2033 as follows:
1) Leaving
astronauts in "a tin can" for 6 months as they fly to Mars is totally
unrealistic. We need to cut the travel time down to 30-45 days. This can be
done with nuclear-type engines. This is not some new technology that we need to
invent. We had a nuclear engine that could power a spacecraft ready to go in
1969. For some unknown reason, President Nixon canceled the program.
2) There is
an old saying in engineering KISS (Keep it simple stupid.) Things that are a
matter of life and death for astronauts like toilets, water filtration and
recycling systems, food preparation systems, life support systems, etc. need to
be as simple as possible. They need to be easy to fix.
3) Dennis
Tito is a man who earned my respect. He made a lot of money as an investment
manager. He paid the Russians a fortune to give him a ride to the International
Space Station. He conceived a daring plan to send two humans on a flight around
Mars. He specified that the two crew members would be a highly compatible
domestic partnership. For the first flight, it was going to be a man and a
woman. Later flights could have gay couples. It was a brilliant idea! Such
people would get along together well. They would give each other love, warmth,
and sexual pleasure. I would add that the candidates for these places on the
spacecraft need to have the most rigorous medical examination including DNA
tests. We could not afford a medical emergency en route to or on the surface of
Mars. I would specify that one crew member should be an MD with surgical
skills.
4)
Conventional wisdom says that we land astronauts on Mars. They return to earth.
I advocate for a one-way trip. The people landing there would become colonists.
They would start a new life on Mars and have children there.
Some readers like Elena have a firm belief
that we have too many problems here on earth. We should not be spending money
sending humans to Mars. People from the space advocacy organizations will
calmly and correctly point out that expenditures for space exploration are less
than 1% of the US budget.
I have an even better answer. An Oakland
author named Mary Roach wrote a brilliant little book a few years ago called
Packing for Mars. Here is the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packing_for_Mars
She put her heart and soul into the
project. She went to Russia and trained to be a cosmonaut. She spent time doing
training for the International Space Station at Johnson Spaceflight Center. She
ended the book talking about how cold, dangerous, and unforgiving space was. I
sensed that she was going to end the book advocating against the human
exploration of Mars. She surprised me with the following final words that I
will paraphrase now as follows:
"If we don't send humans to Mars, they
won't spend the money on social programs. What in the heck, let's go ahead and
do it!"
I will leave you to reflect on that!
Thursday, July 29, 2021
Sunday, July 25, 2021
Saturday, July 24, 2021
Friday, July 23, 2021
Space Pups-Good News About Radiation In Spoace!
Space Pups
One of the many issues about deep-space travel is the problem of space radiation but a new study on mice sperm suggests it’s not really a concern, Science News reported.
Japanese researchers found that freeze-dried mouse sperm remained viable after living nearly six years aboard the International Space Station.
The team freeze-dried the reproductive cells of 12 mice to allow them to be stored at room temperature. They later sent the sperm to the space station, while also keeping a control batch on Earth.
After they returned to Earth, scientists rehydrated them and injected them into fresh mouse eggs. The newly born “space pups” turned out to be very healthy and had no genetic differences with their Earth-bound siblings.
Previously, scientists worried that chronic exposure to space radiation would cause cancer and other diseases in astronauts. They also feared it could mutate astronauts’ DNA, mutations that could be passed to their offspring.
However, the research team also reported that the space pups had children and grandchildren of their own, and each one was healthy.
The findings offer evidence that deep-space travelers could safely have children, but there are a few caveats.
The ISS is partially shielded from radiation thanks to the Earth’s magnetic field. Moreover, space radiation partially damages DNA by destroying the water molecules in cells.
Water is non-existent in freeze-dried sperm cells, which could make them resistant to radiation.
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Sir Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos-A Tale Of Two Astronauts
Yesterday on
the 52nd anniversary of the first human landing on the moon, Jeff Bezos and
three other citizen astronauts took a suborbital trip into space. This came ten
days after Sir Richard Branson and three other citizen astronauts ventured into
suborbital space. This month has been a history-making month for human space
exploration.
Sir Richard Branson is a true showman. He
turned his triumph into a fun party and some real entertainment for the
millions of people watching. Jeff Bezos' triumph was more subdued. Everything
worked perfectly. It seemed that engineers were "running the show."
Let us do a quick comparison of Sir
Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos. Sir Richard comes across as warm, friendly, and
approachable. I have not had the honor of meeting him in person. Some months
ago, he was gracious enough to send me his autographed picture. It showed him
hanging out the pilot's window of his space plane. (When Virgin Galactic shares
slumped, I told Elena not to worry. I assured her that the autograph would keep
going up in value.) Jeff Bezos comes across as very arrogant and distant.
Sir Richard has been married to the same
woman for 45 years. There are no public scandals concerning Sir Richard and
other women. Jeff Bezos is divorced. He has had some scandals with other women.
Sir Richard appears to be a model
employer. There are no public scandals about him exploiting employees or
treating them unfairly. Jeff Bezos has a huge file of employee complaints. This
all led to a major New York Times expose some months ago.
Sir Richard honestly and fairly pays taxes
in several countries, Jeff Bezos prides himself on avoiding taxes everywhere.
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Sunday, July 18, 2021
Friday, July 16, 2021
Blue Origin Foundation Awards $20 Million In Grants
Blue Origin's foundation, Club for the Future, selects 19 space-based charities to each receive a $1 million grant
Today, Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, announced 19 non-profit charitable organizations will each be offered a $1 million grant to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space. The funds are made possible by the recent auction for the first paid seat on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
Each of the organizations selected have demonstrated a commitment to promote the future of living and working in space to inspire the next generation to explore space careers. They enhance Club for the Future’s ability to reach students, teachers, and communities, and to engage them in the excitement and adventure of innovation and space exploration.
“Our recent auction for the first seat on New Shepard resulted in a donation of $28 million to our non-profit foundation, Club for the Future,” said Bob Smith, Blue Origin CEO. “This donation is enabling Club for the Future to rapidly expand its reach by partnering with 19 organizations to develop and inspire the next generation of space professionals. Our generation will build the road to space and these efforts will ensure the next generation is ready to go even further.”
The 19 organizations include:
- AstraFemina is a collective of prominent leaders, including astronauts, academic professionals, and industry innovators, who have made a significant difference in the world by choosing diverse careers in STEM fields. Its mission is simple but powerful – to serve as role models to reinforce the message to today’s girls and young women that anything is possible and help bridge the gap between believing and achieving.
- The AIAA Foundation, which is connected to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), inspires and supports the next generation of aerospace professionals. From classroom to career, the AIAA Foundation enables innovative K-12 and university programming, including STEM classroom grants, scholarships, conferences, and hands-on competitions.
- The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) provides merit-based scholarships for college students majoring in STEM programs at more than 44 partner universities. Founded by the Mercury astronauts, ASF selects more than 50 Astronaut Scholars each year. They also provide programs focused on career development skills and virtual family activities to inspire K-12 students to positively change and innovate our future.
- The Brooke Owens Fellowship offers paid internships and mentorship for exceptional undergrad women and gender minorities in aerospace. Its spin-off, the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, provides extraordinary Black students with their first work experience in the aerospace industry, personalized mentorship and a cohort of similarly driven and talented young Black people pursuing aerospace careers.
- Challenger Center, created by the families of Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L crew, serves more than 250,000 K-12 students each year with experiential, hands-on education programs. The 40 Challenger Learning Centers deliver in-classroom and virtual simulation-based programs to bring STEM subjects to life. Students role-play real world STEM careers and cultivate teamwork, problem-solving, and communication skills.
- Higher Orbits delivers an experiential learning lab for secondary school students across the United States. It focuses on the multi-faceted worlds of space exploration, research and spaceflight in order to launch the next generation our world desires. The organization facilitates activities from the novice to advanced level, drawing from the Science Futures by Design curriculum at Higher Orbits, to promote STEAM and prepare students for academic and career success.
- International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is the leading space advocacy body, including all leading space agencies, numerous companies, research institutions, universities, societies, associations, institutes and museums worldwide. It’s Emerging Space Leaders Grant Program (ESL), enables students and young professionals to participate in the International Astronautical Congress, the United Nations/IAF Workshop and Space Generations Congress.
- The National Space Society (NSS) is dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization that provides a citizen’s voice on space exploration, development, and settlement. Its mission is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity.
- SciArt Exchange uses a science-integrated-with-art approach to help change the world through science and technology education, collaboration and innovation. It supports, prepares and convenes people of all ages, backgrounds and affiliations to discuss, and potentially solve, space, science, and technology challenges by offering multi-disciplinary art contests, events, training, consulting, and community services.
- Space Camp, located at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, provides a one-of-a-kind experience for campers of all ages from every state and more than 70 countries. Its curriculum teaches STEM principles, emphasizing leadership, teamwork, fun and creativity. Program instruction is aligned to national science and math standards and framed with an immersive experience amidst a backdrop of humankind’s greatest technological achievements in space hardware.
- Space Center Houston is dedicated to inspiring all generations through the wonders of space exploration. It is a leading science and space exploration learning center, the Official Visitor Center of NASA Johnson Space Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate and Certified Autism Center. Space Center Houston empowers teachers and students with access to immersive learning experiences where they solve real-world challenges of human space exploration.
- The Space For Art Foundation works with children in hospitals and refugee centers around the world on its mission to unite a planetary community of children through the wonder of space exploration and the healing power of art. Through large-scale space-themed art projects, the Foundation aims to highlight the connection between personal and planetary health and raise awareness of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth.
- Space For Humanity is building a foundation for an inclusive future in space by organizing the planet’s first Sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, where leaders from any walk of life can apply for an opportunity to go to space. Through its citizen spaceflight program, leadership training, and collaborative efforts to educate the public, Space for Humanity is setting the stage to create a better world, both here on Earth and throughout the cosmos.
- Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), in support of the United Nations Program on Space Applications, is a global non-governmental organization and network which aims to focus on pragmatic space policy advice to policy makers based on the interests of students and young professionals interested in space from around the world. The SGAC network of members, volunteers and alumni has 16,000 members from more than 165 countries.
- Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is an international student-led organization whose purpose is to promote space exploration and development through educational and engineering projects. SEDS is fostering the development of future leaders and contributors in the expanding space industry through individual chapters, enabling students to be connected and create networks with each other.
- Teachers in Space is an organization which stimulates student interest in STEM by providing teachers with extraordinary space science experiences and industry connections. As a facilitator of personal and hands-on professional development workshops for STEM teachers, it sparks a transfer of passion that prepares and encourages students to pursue further education and careers in the emerging space industry.
- The Mars Society is an international organization devoted to furthering the exploration and settlement of Mars by both public and private means. Its activities include broad public outreach to spread its vision, STEM programs, student engineering design and Mars rover competitions, conferences, publications, and scientific projects including Mars Analog Research Stations to learn how we might best live, work, and explore on the Red Planet.
- The Planetary Society has inspired millions of people to explore other worlds and seek other life. Led by CEO Bill Nye and powered by space enthusiasts around the globe, the Society works to advance space science and exploration through education, innovation, advocacy, and global collaboration. Its mission is to empower the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration.
- The Space Frontier Foundation is an organization comprised of a diverse, multinational array of space activists, scientists, engineers, media, political professionals, entrepreneurs, and passionate citizens focused on unleashing the power of free enterprise and leading a united humanity permanently into the Solar System. Through conferences, speakers, policy papers, awards and prizes, they are actively advancing the cause of “New Space.”
Club for the Future will use the remaining funds from the auction to continue its work on its space-focused curriculum and Postcards to Space program. For more information about Club for the Future, visit ClubforFuture.org.
Blue Origin’s First Human Flight will take place on July 20. For more details about the mission and how to watch the launch live, follow @BlueOrigin on Twitter or sign up for updates at BlueOrigin.com.
-Gradatim Ferociter
Thursday, July 15, 2021
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Elon Musk Has Booked A Seat To Fly To Space On Virgin Galactic
https://www.space.com/elon-musk-will-fly-on-virgin-galactic
Monday, July 12, 2021
Europa-Fascinating New Aspects Pointing To ife
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/surface-of-jupiters-moon-europa-churned-by-small-impacts?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nasajpl&utm_content=daily20210712-1
Sunday, July 11, 2021
Saturday, July 10, 2021
A Great Podcast On Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon
https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/0702-2021-spe-sarah-scoles-pentagon-ufo-report
Friday, July 9, 2021
Thursday, July 8, 2021
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Monday, July 5, 2021
Sunday, July 4, 2021
Saturday, July 3, 2021
Friday, July 2, 2021
Thursday, July 1, 2021
First You See It Then You Don't..Methane On Mars
First You See It, Then You Don’t: Scientists Closer to Explaining Mars Methane Mystery
Why do some science instruments detect the gas on the Red Planet while others don’t?
Reports of methane detections at Mars have captivated scientists and non-scientists alike. On Earth, a significant amount of methane is produced by microbes that help most livestock digest plants. This digestion process ends with livestock exhaling or burping the gas into the air.
While there are no cattle, sheep, or goats on Mars, finding methane there is exciting because it may imply that microbes were, or are, living on the Red Planet. Methane could have nothing to do with microbes or any other biology, however; geological processes that involve the interaction of rocks, water, and heat can also produce it.
Before identifying the sources of methane on Mars, scientists must settle a question that’s been gnawing at them: Why do some instruments detect the gas while others don’t? NASA’s Curiosity rover, for instance, has repeatedly detected methane right above the surface of Gale Crater. But ESA’s (the European Space Agency) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter hasn’t detected any methane higher in the Martian atmosphere.
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“When the Trace Gas Orbiter came on board in 2016, I was fully expecting the orbiter team to report that there’s a small amount of methane everywhere on Mars,” said Chris Webster, lead of the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) instrument in the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) chemistry lab aboard the Curiosity rover.
The TLS has measured less than one-half part per billion in volume of methane on average in Gale Crater. That’s equivalent to about a pinch of salt diluted in an Olympic-size swimming pool. These measurements have been punctuated by baffling spikes of up to 20 parts per billion in volume.
“But when the European team announced that it saw no methane, I was definitely shocked,” said Webster, who’s based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
The European orbiter was designed to be the gold standard for measuring methane and other gases over the whole planet. At the same time, Curiosity’s TLS is so precise, it will be used for early warning fire detection on the International Space Station and for tracking oxygen levels in astronaut suits. It’s also been licensed for use at power plants, on oil pipelines, and in fighter aircraft, where pilots can monitor the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in their face masks.
Still, Webster and the SAM team were jolted by the European orbiter findings and immediately set out to scrutinize the TLS measurements on Mars.
Some experts suggested that the rover itself was releasing the gas. “So we looked at correlations with the pointing of the rover, the ground, the crushing of rocks, the wheel degradation – you name it,” Webster said. “I cannot overstate the effort the team has put into looking at every little detail to make sure those measurements are correct, and they are.”
Webster and his team reported their results today in the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal.
As the SAM team worked to confirm its methane detections, another member of Curiosity’s science team, planetary scientist John E. Moores from York University in Toronto, published an intriguing prediction in 2019. “I took what some of my colleagues are calling a very Canadian view of this, in the sense that I asked the question: ‘What if Curiosity and the Trace Gas Orbiter are both right?’” Moores said.
Moores, as well as other Curiosity team members studying wind patterns in Gale Crater, hypothesized that the discrepancy between methane measurements comes down to the time of day they’re taken. Because it needs a lot of power, TLS operates mostly at night when no other Curiosity instruments are working. The Martian atmosphere is calm at night, Moores noted, so the methane seeping from the ground builds up near the surface where Curiosity can detect it.
The Trace Gas Orbiter, on the other hand, requires sunlight to pinpoint methane about 3 miles, or 5 kilometers, above the surface. “Any atmosphere near a planet’s surface goes through a cycle during the day,” Moores said. Heat from the Sun churns the atmosphere as warm air rises and cool air sinks. Thus, the methane that is confined near the surface at night is mixed into the broader atmosphere during the day, which dilutes it to undetectable levels. “So I realized no instrument, especially an orbiting one, would see anything,” Moores said.
Immediately, the Curiosity team decided to test Moores’ prediction by collecting the first high-precision daytime measurements. TLS measured methane consecutively over the course of one Martian day, bracketing one nighttime measurement with two daytime ones. With each experiment, SAM sucked in Martian air for two hours, continuously removing the carbon dioxide, which makes up 95% of the planet’s atmosphere. This left a concentrated sample of methane that TLS could easily measure by passing an infrared laser beam through it many times, one that’s tuned to use a precise wavelength of light that is absorbed by methane.
“John predicted that methane should effectively go down to zero during the day, and our two daytime measurements confirmed that,” said Paul Mahaffy, the principal investigator of SAM, who’s based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. TLS’ nighttime measurement fit neatly within the average the team had already established. “So that’s one way of putting to bed this big discrepancy,” Mahaffy said.
While this study suggests that methane concentrations rise and fall throughout the day at the surface of Gale Crater, scientists have yet to solve the global methane puzzle at Mars. Methane is a stable molecule that is expected to last on Mars for about 300 years before getting torn apart by solar radiation. If methane is constantly seeping from all similar craters, which scientists suspect is likely given that Gale doesn’t seem to be geologically unique, enough of it should have accumulated in the atmosphere for the Trace Gas Orbiter to detect. Scientists suspect that something is destroying methane in less than 300 years.
Experiments are underway to test whether very low-level electric discharges induced by dust in the Martian atmosphere could destroy methane, or whether abundant oxygen at the Martian surface quickly destroys methane before it can reach the upper atmosphere.
“We need to determine whether there’s a faster destruction mechanism than normal to fully reconcile the data sets from the rover and the orbiter,” Webster said.
News Media Contact
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
Written by Lonnie Shekhtman
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
2021-130