What's next?

I'm feeling really good about NASA progressing with manned space flight.  When the last shuttle landed in 2011 I was worried that would be it and we would never really return---that the Orion/Constellation systems would be cancelled because of budget cuts, etc.  I hope we can also get away from a focus on "missions" and shift to the concept of continuous development.

Okay, so here's the plan.  The Russians are pulling their modules from the international space station to start their own station again (they really are planning this; I'm not making it up).  The ISS is the most expensive machine ever built and can still be a resource.  Instead of letting the US modules burn up after orbital decay Boeing can do a series of refueling mission and burns to boost the orbit and eventually arrive either in lunar orbit or at L2 (where the Gaia spacecraft is currently, L2 is shielded by Earth from solar radiation) to begin constructing a docking and resupply station to support longer manned missions.  A series of Lockheed Martin and Boeing missions can begin assembling a manned ship for a mars mission.  The first mission will not attempt a mars surface landing, instead it will (much cheaper and safely) go to Phobos which has low gravity and orbits mars at an altitude of only 6,000 miles (and may have water).  From here the astronauts can drop a series of rovers around mars on some real geography (the Olympus Mons volcano, the Valles Marineris canyon, and ice cap poles come to mind) as well as map and study Phobos.  They can control the rovers in near real time without the time delay of control from Earth and maybe even fly some drones in the atmosphere!  Then on the way back do a (cheaper and faster) gravity assist to adjust back to Earths orbit with a Venus flyby---two planetary manned missions for the price of one!  The next step would then obviously be a manned mission to establish a long term base on, what was originally considered a planet, Ceres (which will be the jackpot in terms of resources, orbital positions, and gravity wells) to support further missions from Ceres to the rest of the solar system. 

Orion performed perfectly!

Here is a link to the official orion blog: https://blogs.nasa.gov/orion/ 

It sounds like the liftoff, orbit, travel through the Van Allen belts, and reentry all went without a hitch!  NASA is reporting no significant issues and a "text book" test flight.

Reentry was at 20,000 mph with an 8g deacceleration.  If I have the position right it is now about 2,000 miles east of us in the Pacific.  

Okay, so lets get some people on board and start doing some laps around the moon and back!

Short public memory

I am constantly surprised at how short the collective public memory is.  Soon after being obviously disappointed when loosing the 2000 Olympics hosting bid in 1993 China made the news by conducting additional surprise nuclear tests---no one seemed to wonder if there was any connection.  On 9/11 2001 so many people thought the terrorist attacks was something completely new and forgot that the New York world trade center had already been attacked by terrorists in 1993.  Now people seem to be thinking the threat of Ebola cases in the US is something completely new.  If you haven't already I highly recommend that you read "The Hot Zone" (1994 by Richard Preston). 

Orion reboot

We set our alarms and got up last night at 2am to see the orion test launch.  It was frustrating to see them repeatedly start the countdown and then stop it.  However, it was exciting to hear them go through the "go for launch" sound off of the various departments up to the T-minus 4:00 countdown.  The last I read they are attempting again tomorrow; so we will be up again at 2am to see. 

Tip of the iceburg.

Here is a video by NASA about some new predictions of the West Antarctic ice sheet.


One of the things not mentioned is the gravity effects. The ice sheet is truly massive and affects Earths surface gravity in the region. The sea water level rises as it approaches the sheet because of the attraction of gravity. The effect of the ice melting and spreading out as liquid water is magnified because the sea water that is already there will also spread and raise sea levels.

And here is an impressive video from Greenland. I recommend watching it full screen.

Police not in court, what is going on?

I have been very out of touch with a lot of the news going on on the mainland.  I've been catching up and I have to wonder what decade the rest of the country is in.  If someone attacks another person on the street, doesn't do anything when they are obviously not all right (doesn't call for medical attention, etc.), and the person then dies---there is going to be some time in court, someone is probably going to jail, at least temporarily, and the matter will be thoroughly investigated ... right? ... apparently unless you are a police officer.  Then nothing really happens and it is ignored by the courts.  Do I really have to say this is crazy?  Shouldn't police be held to the same standard as normal people?  In fact, shouldn't they be held to a higher standard?  They are supposed to be trained to protect people, and are trained in and entrusted with lethal force; it's not a time to lower your standards and look the other way---I feel silly even saying this because it should be obvious, but apparently it isn't.  The job of the courts is to make decisions and satisfy people so they don't take the law into their own hands and carry out revenge and vigilante justice.  By ignoring these events the judicial system is playing a very dangerous game.