Lunar Spacecraft
Lunar landers and rovers
Two Views of The Vision
Last week, the Augustine Commission held another public meeting in Washington DC and Dr. John Marburger testified. For those just joining our story in progress, Marburger was President Bush’s Science Advisor and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House between...
August 11, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Next Step or No Step
The Moon versus Mars controversy has reared its ugly head yet again. For the newcomers, this is the perennial “debate” among space buffs about what the next destination in space should be. I do not mean to suggest that all possibilities are encompassed by these two options; it just seems that mos...
August 03, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Can You Legally Own a Piece of the Moon?
Mr. Ian Sheffield of Edinburgh Scotland is miffed. He claims to have not one, but two dust samples of the Moon—one from the Apollo 11 mission and another from the Apollo 15 mission. He explains that he bought these lunar samples “from a dealer” about 3 years ago. The article does not indicate how ...
July 24, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Space Program vs. Space Commerce
“Your job is not to envision the future, but to enable it.” – Antoine de St. ExuperyOriginally, I had not planned to write anything for the blog today; the web is already inundated with retrospective-, perspective-, nostalgia-laden, crying-in-my-beer pieces on today’s 40th anniversary of the Apollo...
July 16, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Would More Money Improve NASA?
How much should we spend on America’s space program? Does NASA’s budget need an infusion of billions of dollars? The way these questions are answered gives some indication of why one believes we have a space program, what it should be doing and whether money is the key needed to unlock the barrie...
July 08, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
First, Nail Down the Mission
The new Augustine Commission met for the first time last week (June 17). The one-day agenda was filled with presentations on rocket-building, including reviews of NASA’s current efforts along those lines, followed by briefings on a number of possible alternatives. Suddenly, the space blogosphere ...
June 25, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Lunar Resources (Part 2): Changing our approach to spaceflight
Last time, I outlined some of the basic principles of lunar resource utilization. The Moon is our nearest source of material resources in space and learning how to extract what we need from the Moon is a key skill in our expansion into the Solar System.All this is very well and good, but how do we...
June 05, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Can we be “resourceful” on the Moon? (Part 1)
While the resources of space have the potential to revolutionize spaceflight—giving us a much wider range of activities than are now possible, including habitation of other planetary bodies—discussions on various internet forums show that there is a lot of confusion and lack of knowledge about spac...
May 30, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
What the Augustine Committee Didn’t Know in 1990
A newly formed commission led by Norman Augustine will review NASA’s human spaceflight program with the aim of determining if we are on the “right track.” This is familiar territory for Augustine, who led the 1990 Advisory Committee on the Future of the US Space Program. Now, 19 years later, it m...
May 15, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Return to the Moon: Outpost or sorties?
Recently, the acting Administrator of NASA testified before Congress on his agency’s implementation of our National Space Policy, previously known as the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). In the question and answer period, he made a rather startling statement to the effect NASA was still trying ...
May 05, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
The Deadly Dust of the Moon
Lunar dust sticks to everything! It’s electrically charged! It causes silicosis – astronauts on the Moon will get “black lung” disease, just like coal miners on Earth! It’s so abrasive that under its obnoxious influence, moving parts slowly grind to a halt! We can’t possibly cope with it! So m...
April 24, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
moon vs. Moon: A Study in Arrant Pedantry
When you write, do you capitalize the word “Moon?” And by this, I mean Earth’s Moon, Luna, the natural satellite of our home planet. Well, believe it or not, some of the longest, most vociferous, and yes – the dumbest – arguments I’ve ever had were over this issue.In the preface of my book, The O...
April 02, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Mini-SAR nears completion of its first mapping cycle
The Mini-SAR imaging radar aboard the Indian Chandryaan-1 spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon has been sending back some amazing images for the last couple of months. We are nearing the end of our first radar mapping season (which occurs when the sun illumination conditions on the Moon are unfa...
March 29, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Of Science and Cathedral-Building
The Daily Planet, my new companion blog here at Air & Space magazine, highlights a speech recently given by my good friend Dr. Neil Tyson at the Space Foundation breakfast. Noted is Neil’s oft-mentioned concept that historically, three drivers are responsible for societies or nations undertaki...
March 15, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Human spaceflight: What Value to Science? (Pt. 2)
The discussion at Space Politics got me thinking about the scientific value of human spaceflight. Although there are many reasons for humans to go into space, I also believe that humans bring unique and non-duplicative skills to scientific exploration as well.Last time, I discussed how the capabil...
March 01, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Human spaceflight: What Value to Science? (Pt. 1)
There is a brief but vociferous debate about the value of human spaceflight over at Space Politics, under a discussion of the new NASA proposed budget. An often expressed opinion is that in general, humans contribute little to the scientific exploration of space. Indeed, my scientific colleagues ...
February 28, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Another Strategic Plan Misfires
There seems to be no end of new “strategic plans” designed to “save” our nation’s space program from the purgatory of mediocrity. The latest entry into the strategic planning sweepstakes comes from the Baker Institute at Rice University. Originally, I had planned to say nothing about this report,...
February 20, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
The Strange Story of Lunar Magnetism
We’ve known since the beginning of the space age that the Moon has no global magnetic field. Before we returned samples from the Moon, this was thought to be well understood – compared to Earth, the Moon is a small body (1% the mass) and it rotates very slowly (almost 30 times slower). The large ...
February 08, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
What Apollo was …. and wasn’t
Miles O’Brien, late of CNN, recently wrote a column reflecting on the accomplishment of the Apollo program and the space program since then. He believes that Apollo was a great leap forward in space, a capability and step from which we then walked away. O’Brien asks why the country has turned its...
January 25, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Radar mapping the Moon
The first images obtained by the Mini-SAR radar instrument aboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, currently orbiting the Moon, were released yesterday. Although the spacecraft arrived last November, we are only now getting ready to map the poles of the Moon. The data released are test images...
January 17, 2009 |
By Paul D. Spudis
