September 25, 2008
NASA Chief hits a home-run. . .
I imagine that being the administrator of NASA is one of the toughest jobs in government). I also think that Michael Griffin has done an admirable job considering the rapidly changing environment that NASA finds itself in today.
I've quoted Griffin before, and I'm going to do it again.
"The single overarching goal of human space flight is the human settlement of the solar system, and eventually beyond. I can think of no lesser purpose sufficient to justify the difficulty of the enterprise, and no greater purpose is possible."
Click here for the interview with AFP. (via BB)
Did you know that NASA was 50???
NASA - One of the best sites on the internet.
--Jason
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July 5, 2008
Real Universe vs. Star Trek
Here's an image of an "object" in our universe taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (NASA-IOTD):
And here's an image of an object in the Star Trek "universe":
That's just damn creepy.
--Jason
Hat-tip: Lileks
PS - Ok, you twisted my arm, the Hubble image is of a shockwave from a super-nova.
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January 29, 2007
Today's Grab a Cup of Coffee - NASA Director Griffen's Speech
This is worth reading, on a number of levels. The quote below is pulled from the speech NASA Director Michael Griffin's speech accepting the Quasar award on Jan. 17.
"Let's think for a moment about national security. What is the value to the United States of being involved in enterprises which lift up human hearts everywhere when we do them? What is the value to the United States of being engaged in such projects, doing the kinds of things that other people want to do with us, as partners? What is the value to the United States of being a leader in such efforts, in projects in which every nation capable of doing so wants to take part? I would submit that the highest possible form of national security, well above having better guns and bombs than everyone else, well above being so strong that no one wants to fight with us, is the security which comes from being a nation which does the kinds of things that make others want to work with us to do them. What security could we ever ask that would be better than that, and what give more of it to us than the space program? "
--Jason
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May 19, 2006
Let's get ready to rumble. . .
The Space Shuttle Discovery is currently making it's way out to Lauch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle makes the four mile journey from the Vechicle Assembly Building to the Pad at the snail's pace of less than one mile per hour. An similar journey has already been made by the STS-121 Payload Canister already where it will await the shuttle's arrival before it is loaded aboard.
Payload canister on it's way to Launchpad 39B.
Click here for high res image.
Nasa TV is currently streaming video of Discovery's journey to the pad. Click here to view.
Shuttle Mission STS-121 will launch a 7 member crew into orbit with Mission Commander Col. Steve Lindsay, USAF taking his second trip as commander (Lindsay has also been Mission Pilot on STS-87 and STS-95). STS-121 will be piloted by Navy Cmdr. Mark Kellly in his second shuttle mission. Other crew members on STS-121 include Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Thomas Reiter (representing the European Space Agency and who will remain aboard the International Space Station).
The primary mission tasks for STS-121 include testing a number of new safety measures integrated into the shuttle system after the failure of Columbia upon re-entry including redesigned components of the external rocket boosters and main fuel tank which shed insulating foam leading to the destruction of Columbia. Additional tasks include delivering a Leonardo logisitics module to the ISS which will carry equipment and supplies to the station, and two scheduled spacewalks with the possibility of a third.
The first of the two scheduled spacewalks will test a 50 ft. extension of the robotic arm system and it's suitability for a work platform, the spacewalk will also work to repair or replace a cable cutter unit which was damaged and is necessary for future space station construction.
The second spacewalk will continue the tasks of the first and reattach a cable on the stations exterior which was inadvertantly cut on a previous mission. This second spacewalk will also deliver and install spare parts for the International Space Stations thermal contol system so that they will be available if needed in the future.
A third spacewalk may be carried out if time permits which would be centered around in-space repair techniques for possible damaged carbon-fiber panels or heat shield elements. Should inspection with the new Orbital Boom Sensor System, OBSS (which looks for damaged elements of the heat shield) detect a problem, we can expect a restructuring of mission tasks to make this third spacewalk a priority over the two scheduled.
I'm sure I'll be posting more about STS-121 and the Shuttle Program in general over the coming weeks, as we get closer to launch which will occur sometime after July 1, 2006. (Exact dates for the launch window have yet to be announced.)
Images courtesy of NASA and you can visit the STS-121 mission website here.
--Jason
--Jason
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March 9, 2006
Meet Enceladus. . .
I would like to introduce you all to Enceladus, a small icy moon of Saturn and, apart from the Sun, one of the "brightest" objects in our solar system (Enceladus has an albedo of >0.9, in contrast the Earth has an albedo of about 0.3.)
Enceladus is making news today because NASA's Cassini spacecraft is making it's closest approach yet to Saturn's satellite, and Cassini has made some remarkable discoveries in the small (approx. 500 km across) moon. Volcanic forces are present on Enceladus, forces which are warming the interior of the small moon and in turn warming the liquid under the sheet of ice which encapsulates the moon. Further, all the evidence indicates that this liquid is actually water. That's right kiddies, liquid water, not ice, not liquid methane, not liquid sulphur, but actual liquid water is believed to have been found and confirmed, not just theorized, on another body in our very own solar system.
Astronomically speaking, this is the equivalent of man's discovery of fire. This is the big one, a discovery that may forever change how we look at the night sky and a discovery which brings the possibility of life exterestrial life out of the realm of science fiction and closer to the realm of science fact.
Since it's discovery by Herschel in 1789, it was tought that Enceladus was just another rocky, icy orb out in the "middle part" of our solar system. Enceladus was too small for radioactive decay to heat the little planet's core and it was though to be just another rock with an icy crust.
Enter Dione, another of Saturn's moons and one which is locked in resonance with Enceladus. Dione's close proximity to Enceladus has caused perturbations in it's partners orbit and gravitational forces have been tugging away at the moons inards and in turn producing heat, heat which causes volcanism, volcanism which keeps the subsurface sea of Enceladus warm enough to keep liquid water stable.
This is truely a remarkable event, and I'll be updating more today as this story develops.
--Jason
UPDATE: The story of Enceladus has all the earmarks of a great detective thriller. Late last year, scientists began to notice that Enceladus was geologically active. As mentioned above, this was curious because of Enceladus' small size, but it was the interference of Dione which turned out to be the culprit.
Next we find that there's fresh snow on Encelaus' surface, as the liquid beneath the ice caps escapes as vapor only to be frozen solid in the cold of space and fall back onto the tiny world. When scientists turned their attention to this bizarre little world, more and more startling discoveries awaited.
The Saturn system was awash in Oxygen molecules, a very strange occurance to find so far out into the solar system. Turns out, Enceladus was outgassing water vapor which breaks down into, of course, hydrogen (very common out in the ether) and oxygen (very unusual to find out in the inky black). Following the oxygen back to it's source led to the discovery of liquid water on Enceladus.
Images: Enceladus via Voyager - "false-color" enhance image from Cassini
Solarviews.com page on Enceladus.
NASA's Cassini-Huygens page on Enceladus.
In Janurary 2002, Enceladus hit the APOD with the headline "Ski Enceladus".
-JC
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March 1, 2006
A 33 minute "mystery" explosion. . .
Ok, I'll be the first to admit that space is big, I mean really really big, so mind boggling BIG. . . . OK OK, I know, Douglas Adams admitted it first, and probably someone before him, but I'm just saying here that "space is big".
Being that space is so big, there's alot, and by alot, I almost all, that we DON'T know about space and what's out there in the inky black.
So it's no surprise that there are "mysteries" out there that Earthly science can't explain, but this little tid bit made me sit up and take a minute to say. . . "Uh oh, this can't be good."
Now you can dismiss this as paranoia, or whatever, but I'll be frank. The first thing I thought about when I read this article was that some civilization 440 million light years from us decided that they REALLY REALLY REALLY had had enough with those guys over there on the other side of their planet and decided to nuke them into oblivion. This resulted in a counterstrike by the other guys which effectively obliterated the civilization.
What did it for me was the time, 33 minutes. Just about the amount of warning you get when you fire a ballistic missile from one hemisphere of the planet at the opposite hemisphere. So one side popped off, the other side saw it coming, and they popped off, the result???? 33 minutes of gamma rays bursting out into the universe.
I'm comforted in a way. Comforted by the thought that there's one less civiliation out there ahead of us looking for other civilizations (like ours) to enslave. I, for one, DO NOT welcome any new Intergalactic Imperial Overlords, thank you.
In another way I'm deeply disturbed. If in fact, this was an alien civilization blowing itself away 440 million years ago, that means that 440 million years ago, there was a civilization out there playing with nuclear weapons. That definately doesn't make me feel good on any level. It only means we're WAY BEHIND in the galactic arms race and for every civilization out there blowing itself away, there's probably one, two, ten or 600 million that figured out that there were little green blue orbs (like ours) out there pumping out reruns of I Love Lucy and the phrase "Lucy! I'm home!" in their language actually means "Hey you, come kick our ass!" The thought of Andy Griffith being a beacon for little green men with nasty dispositions has kept me up at night more than once.
Yes, my dear readers, when I look up in the night sky I don't see pretty stars and friendly constellations, I see big interplanetary battle cruisers manned by really pissed off aliens from some star like 51 Pegasi looking for semi-intelligent bipedal ape-like creatures to enslave.
Ok Ok, I'm half kidding, but I'm also half serious. I'm in no way shape or form under the impression that we're alone out there in the inky black. I'm actually quite certain that we're not alone. I'm also not one of those that subscribes to a theory that any intelligent alien civilization would be friendly to us. In fact, I think that the odds are much better that they'd just want our rock and we'd just be cockroaches to them until we master some form of faster than light travel and can build our own interstellar battle cruisers. Until then, I feel comfortable embracing my fear of aliens coming to waste us.
That's why I'm smiling just a little bit at the thought of some alien civilization blowing itself to smithereens. It just means the odds of us making it went up just a tiny bit. Of course then I think about the insects that survived nuclear armageddon on that rock 440 million light years ago/away and I wonder how far along the Army is in developing the Starship Trooper's Powered Armor.
--Jason
**Comments for this entry are now closed. If you'd like to add something, please email me.**
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October 11, 2005
B15A - Another Update
One of the other "things" on this blog is the "Saga of B15A". B15A is an iceberg, once the largest iceberg on Earth, and B15A had an attitude problem, specifically an attitude problem with Penguins. You see, when B15A broke off the Antarctic Ice Shelf, the currents took it to the Ross Sea, where it blocked in the "fast ice" (ice that formed each Antarctic winter and broke up and floated out to sea each Antarctic summer). The "fast ice" remained trapped in the Ross Sea and caused problems for the Penquin rookery nearby, the Penguins had to walk an extra 20km to reach open water and a source of food, and they had to do this on two inch legs.
Additional difficulties were caused by the berg with regard to the resupply of McMurdo Research Station, the berg and trapped "fast ice" prevented the traditional resupply vessels from reaching the isolated base and the small community there. A broken down icebreaker added to the problem, but where there's a will there's a way, and the U.S. and Russia sent additional icebreakers to clear a path to the base.
B15A has been biding it's time in darkness over the Antarctic winter, but now the sun is shining again and MODIS has a great image showing the berg and it's position relative to the Ross Sea.
Click for larger image
If you look in the top center of the image, you'll see a flat rectangular piece of ice within a larger field, that's B15A. You can see that the berg has moved away from the Ross Sea and shouldn't be causing a problem for the Penguins or McMurdo this year. The "fast ice" should break up and move out to sea as normal, and with a little luck, B15A will also move out to sea where it will eventually melt and raise the levels of the worlds oceans by a miniscule fraction of an inch.
So there's an update on B15A for you iceberg fans, and in case you're wondering why I keep coming back to B15A here and here and here and here and here and here, it's simply because the search phrase "B15A" has brought more visitors to this blog than any other single google search term. Which ain't saying a whole lot, but you gotta play to your audience, ya know.
--Jason
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August 8, 2005
Round and round she goes. . .
Here is the NASA mission report announcing that Discovery will stay in orbit another day due to unpredictable cloud cover. Boy do they have this stuff planned out in detail:
Preparations are now focused on the first opportunity to land Tuesday which would begin with an engine firing by Discovery at 3:01 a.m. CDT and lead to a touchdown at KSC at 4:07 a.m. CDT. The additional landing opportunities include: a 4:33 a.m. Shuttle engine firing leading to a 5:39 a.m. landing at White Sands; a 4:37 a.m. engine firing leading to a 5:43 a.m. touchdown at KSC; a 6:06 a.m. engine firing leading to 7:12 a.m. touchdown at Edwards; a 6:09 a.m. engine firing leading to a 7:13 a.m. landing at White Sands; and a 7:44 a.m. engine firing leading to a 8:47 a.m. landing at Edwards.
But HEY, that's what they do.
--Jason
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August 7, 2005
Catching up. . .
I haven't blogged much about the Space Shuttle other than the launch, links to Mission Reports and my thoughts on what to do if the shuttle was damaged. I'm waiting until Discovery lands before I comment any more on the mission.
However, if you're looking for the all the mission reports, they are HERE, and I promise to write an extended post about the shuttle mission and space exploration in general after Discovery returns safely. The shuttle is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:45 (EDT).
--Jason
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Things that make me feel small. . .
At 6'4" I rarely feel "small", but when I see things pictures like this, it puts it all in perspective:
Clicking on the picture will open
high resolution image in new window.
From Astronomy Picture of the Day:
Explanation: Stars are battling gas and dust in the Lagoon Nebula but the photographers are winning. Also known as M8, this photogenic nebula is visible even without binoculars towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The energetic processes of star formation create not only the colors but the chaos. The red-glowing gas results from high-energy starlight striking interstellar hydrogen gas. The dark dust filaments that lace M8 were created in the atmospheres of cool giant stars and in the debris from supernovae explosions. This spectacular portion of the Lagoon Nebula was created in scientifically-assigned colors from light emitted in very specific colors by hydrogen, silicon, and oxygen. The light from M8 we see today left about 5000 years ago. Light takes about 50 years to cross this section of M8.
I highly recommend making APOD part of your daily internet surfing.
--Jason
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August 5, 2005
I love NASA propaganda. . .
Because it's so damn inspiring. Remember kiddies, propaganda is not always BAD!!!!
Click play to watch the video, then if you're interested, check out:
--Jason
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August 4, 2005
Catching up. . .
The MSM has done a good job of covering the Discovery's mission, but the mission reports give a few more details.
--Jason
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July 30, 2005
Discovery Mission Updates
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July 29, 2005
Water on Mars????
The ESA announced the discovery of a "disk of ice" within an impact crater on the surface of Mars. The discovery was made by the Polar Express spacecraft and scientists have ruled out that the disk is frozen CO2. The long awaited discovery redefines the possibility of life, past or present, on our red neighbor. [Official ESA article with images]
--Jason
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July 28, 2005
Discovery Watch
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Discovery Mission Reports 3 and 4
More news from the mission, including a report on the inspection of the heat shield tiles and the upcoming rendezvous with the ISS.
--Jason
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July 27, 2005
Shuttles Grounded
The Discovery appears to be fine, but the fleet has been grounded.
More to come...
UPDATE: NASA officials announced that after reviewing images from the launch, that "significant" amounts of insulating foam did break free, and while no damage to the orbiter is evident, for safety regions, the fleet is grounded.
This is a huge setback, but not insurmountable. Hopefully this will prompt a rapid development program for the CEV, or prompt a retasking of the shuttle's role in space operations.
UPDATE 2: Full story from SpaceDaily.com
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Discovery Mission Report - First Full Day in Space
VIA NASA -- Mission Report #1 is HERE
Wednesday, July 27, 2005 – 12 a.m. CDT
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
07.27.05
STATUS REPORT: STS-114-02
STS-114 MCC Status Report #02
The crew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery has awakened to its first full day in space. Today it will focus on thermal protection system inspections, preparing for docking to the International Space Station and getting spacesuits ready for three spacewalks.
Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jim Kelly and Mission Specialists Soichi Noguchi, Steve Robinson, Andy Thomas, Wendy Lawrence and Charlie Camarda received a wakeup call at 11:39 p.m. CDT. The song played for the crew was music from the movie "Groundhog Day," which was for the entire crew to commemorate its first day out of quarantine.
For most of the day, Thomas, Camarda and Kelly will work together on Discovery’s aft flight deck to inspect key components of the orbiter's heat shield. For the majority of the inspections the new Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) laser-scanner will be used. The Shuttle's robotic Canadarm will be used to maneuver the 50-foot boom extension after checkout of the system is completed.
In its debut performance, the boom will be used to methodically inspect the leading edges of Discovery's wings and the orbiter's nose cap to insure that they did not incur any damage during launch. The Laser Dynamic Range Imager (LDRI) on the boom will provide two-and three-dimensional imagery. The data will be downlinked to the ground for engineering evaluation.
After those surveys are complete the boom will be placed back on the starboard sill of the payload bay. The Shuttle robotic arm and its cameras will then be used to survey Discovery's crew cabin. Additionally, using handheld digital cameras the crew will photograph tiles on the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) pods and the orbiter’s tail.
During Tuesday’s ascent to orbit, the enhanced imaging capability gave flight controllers and mission managers views of the Shuttle Orbiter never seen before. With this heightened ability, engineers were able to see two so-called "debris events." A camera mounted on the external tank caught what appeared to be a small fragment of tile coming from Discovery's underside on or near the nose gear doors. A later image about the time of Solid Rocket Booster separation showed an unidentified piece departing from the tank and exiting away, apparently not striking the orbiter. The crew was notified of these observations and told that imaging experts would be analyzing the pictures.
Mission managers will review the information gathered yesterday and today, including imaging and sensor data, to help determine the health of Discovery’s thermal protection system over the next four days before it is cleared for landing later in the flight. Data from the new wing leading edge sensors was downlinked overnight to Mission Control for assessment.
Flight Day Four has time reserved for additional surveys, if required, using the OBSS, either to complete parts of the survey that time would not allow today, or to supplement the survey with “stop-and-stare” scans of sites of potential interest.
Meanwhile, on the middeck, spacewalkers Noguchi and Robinson, assisted by Lawrence, will check out the airlock, spacesuits and tools they will begin using on Saturday. They will also prepare Shuttle systems for docking to the Space Station.
Today Collins will fire Discovery’s thrusters twice to refine its approach to the Station. At about midnight, Discovery was trailing the Station by 6,516 statute miles. The two are scheduled to link up at 6:18 a.m. CDT Thursday.
Today the Space Station crew, Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer John Phillips will prepare the complex for Discovery’s arrival. They will configure the digital cameras they will use during Discovery’s approach, gathering additional imagery of the Shuttle’s heat shield. They also will pressurize the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA 2) that Discovery will dock to Thursday.
The next STS-114 mission status report will be issued Wednesday evening, or earlier, if events warrant.
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Shuttle Decisions. . .
Yesterday's launch of the Shuttle Discovery was the most heavily monitored launch yet. The Columbia tragedy confirmed yet again that Space Exploration is a dangerous task, and every launch has the potential for disaster.
Hundreds of cameras were trained on every inch of the orbiter, external fuel tanks and solid rocket boosters that make up the launch vechicle, and as with the Columbia, pieces of the components that make up the launch system flaked off under the rigors of launch.
It's yet to be discovered whether the pieces that fell off did any damage to the Discovery. NASA is currently analyzing the film of the launch and preparing to implement inspection, evaluation and if necessary, repair procedures they have been practicing for months.
The orbiter will be scrutinized by spy satellites which have been retasked to examine the heat shield of tiles that protect the orbiter upon re-entry, and a new 50-foot extension to the Canadian robot arm will be called into service to take pictures of the entire surface of the shuttle. Spacewalks will follow for further close up inspection if anomolies are detected and patches may be applied if warranted.
The Shuttle Atlantis is also being prepped for launch if it becomes apparent that the Shuttle Astronauts and ISS crew cannot repair the Discovery to engineers standards, the Atlantis could serve as a taxi for the Discovery astronauts, or may ferry additional replacement parts to the ISS for outfitting on the Discovery.
All of this leads one to serveral alternate scenarios that may dramatically effect the way NASA operates in the low earth orbit that is the realm of the ISS and Shuttle orbiters.
There's no need at this point to begin calling for a grounding of the Shuttle fleet again, there are other options that may actually improve the safety of the entire orbiter fleet, reduce the cost of accessing Earth orbit and also expand our overall presence in space.
The shuttle was designed to ferry cargo and Astronauts into low Earth orbit. The technology in the Shuttle is quite old, regardless if it is in fact the cutting edge of space exploration, it is on it's way out. The shuttle is due to be replaced by the Crew Exploration Vechicle being developed by NASA and private entities are designing new craft that are promising to open up small scale access to space. The newest generations of heavy lift rockets like the Delta and Progress are more efficient lifting engines for cargo and new systems like DART will make connecting with the ISS and Shuttle in orbit much easier.
Now is the time to consider a radical change in the way we manage traffic to and from orbit and operate in space. Perhaps it's time we considered keeping an orbiter docked with the ISS and rotate it out once another is ready to take it's place. This would open up all sorts of possibilities. Most directly, having a tugboat in permanent orbit could prove very handy for satellite retrieval and resupply in orbit. Wayward satellites, or those in need of changing out film canisters or power supplies or even major repairs, could be captured with the shuttle, brought to the ISS and parked while repair, replenishment or adjustment was made by Astronauts. After repairs are made, the orbiter could then insert the satellites back into orbit. We've practiced captures and retrievals before with great success, saving the taxpayers significant amounts of money and adding to the lifespan of decaying satellites. Currently, many of our satellites have limited lifespans that are the result of consumables on board rather than simply the life of the powersupply, replenishing these satellites may be much more efficient than sending up new ones.
Beginning to more effecively manage our assets in space is a great step forward for NASA, it also provides valuable experience for construction techniques and maintenance protocols while in orbit. This is a step we need to take and this may be just the unplanned event that turns from handicap to windfall quickly.
Such a redesign of the Shuttle's role in orbital operations would need to be accompanied by a ramping up of the construction timeline of the ISS. Keeping an orbiter at the ISS would require also stationing a crew on board to pilot the shuttle and act as mechanics and spacewalkers during operations. New habitation modules would need to be sent up sooner than currently planned, but using lower cost rockets to send up the modules could provide the extra budgetary dollars to fund a more rapid timeline.
The change in role would also be a much needed shot in the arm to our partners in the ISS and space exploration in general. While the ISS and shuttle's missions are being redefined, Russia, the ESA and even the Brazilians could step up to the plate and offer access through their respective rocket fleets, increasing their footprint in orbit and pumping dollars into national space programs for continued development.
The move would spur development in the private entities that are beginning to eplore the possibilites offered by developing spaceplanes and new rocket designs promising to reduce the cost and frequency of access. The day could be just around the corner where private carriers begin ferrying crew members into orbit to rendezvous with the shuttle that could then transport personnel to the ISS or other destinations. We don't want to make the shuttle a bus, but option may be too good to resist in the short term.
There would be new problems to overcome, for sure. Fuel for the orbiter itself would be among the first issues. The three main engines of the orbiter would probably not have to be fueled, but the "retro" rockets that the orbiter uses to move about while in orbit would certainly have to be replenished. Mechanisms for recharging fuel cells would have to be developed, and resupply of the shuttles consumables would need to be handled by unmanned resupply missions.
There may also be issues with keeping the orbiter in space for extended periods. The extreme conditions may produce unknown effects on it's systems over time. Hopefully this would could be offset by mothballing certain systems and the development of a program of maintence for the orbiters while they are parked in orbit.
All in all, this is just idle speculation, most probably, the Discovery is just fine and will be able to return as scheduled safely to Earth. However, NASA has planned for the shuttle to remain parked while options with the Atlantis are explored; I'm just suggesting we take it one step further and plan on leaving it orbit to increase our ability to manage our assets in space, move the scope and scale of habitable space forward and incorporate our favorite little space tug into our plans to return to the Moon and venture beyond.
If there's anything that space exploration has shown is the tremendous ability of our NASA engineers and Astronauts to make the most out of the situation and adapt to safety and operational concerns when they arise. Setbacks in our program of manned and unmanned space flight will continue to occur, no matter how much money we pour into new designs and how much time we spend planning for every possible scenario. Pushing the envelope is a dangerous task, it's important to not allow the envelope to push back. We must turn every disappointment into a learning experience and develop every possibility to move our program forward.
The American space program is a source of national pride, but it's more than that, it's the inevitable future of our species to one day live among the stars. Space exploration and development promises a source of unlimited energy and an almost inexhaustable supply of mineral resources. Mars and the Moon are waiting for us, and it's time we begin to make expansion of footprint in space a priority.
Developing the CEV and other vechicles should remain a priority given the aging condition of the shuttles, and I don't recommend we divert resources from these programs to re-task the shuttle. The opportunity is there to re-think the shuttles role, and it's possible that in this case we can take what many consider to be a lemon and make lemonade.
--Jason
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July 26, 2005
Up, up and away
Slighty more than two years after the tragedy of Space Shuttle Columbia, the Shuttle Discovery is now in orbit.
Today's launch follows on the heels of the House passing a bill supporting the President's policy of a return to the Moon and NASA's mission to expand exploration and scientific discovery missions. This is the first NASA specific bill to come out of the House in five years.
While much of this shuttle mission is dedicated to testing new safety measures and procedures, it's larger goal is to return a "spirit of discovery" to America. Once again, our ability to look beyond the problems of life on this terrestrial sphere and reach out for something more rises to the fore.
You can keep track of mission reports for STS-114, and here's the link for NASA TV.
The Shuttle Atlantis is already being prepped for a launch next month. We've got alot of catching up to do.
--Jason
In case you missed it, here's a video of the launch.
I'll put more links to video and images here as I come across them.
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:53 PM
Take Two. . .
Despite not determining the cause for a fuel sensor malfunction that scrubbed last weeks launch, NASA is set to fly again. The malfunctioning sensor was one of 4 redundant sensors and even if the sensor malfunctions again, the launch will not be scrubbed unless other more serious problems arise.
Godspeed to some of America's best and bravest.
Official NASA countdown clock (served by NASA)
NOTE: The countdown may seem "off" but it's not. There are mandatory pre-determined "HOLDS" where the clock is stopped for checks, tests, etc.
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July 20, 2005
Raving Penquins and icebergs. . . .
One of the bigger traffic drivers here, is the iceberg B-15A. I've written about it here, here, here, here, and here. I'm not sure though, if people are interested in the iceberg, or the chance that I may post more penquin pictures.
So? In order to satisfy both camps, here's an updated picture of B-15A (enhanced thermal image, dark equals really damn freaking cold, light equals just plain cold):
You can see B-15A, which looks like an aircraft carrier deck, has moved up and away from the Ross Sea. Currents may bring the iceberg back down to block the sea again this Antarctic summer, but it looks like the danger to the penguins (which was overblown in the first place) has passed.
You can tell the penquin in THIS VIDEO is excited about B-15A's departure. I never knew Penquins were ravers????
--Jason
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July 13, 2005
Launch Scrubbed!
DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!
Horrible news. NASA has scrubbed todays launch and the Shuttle's return to Space.
A fuel problem of some sort. (Back up fuel flow sensor failed pre-launch test)
To troubleshoot, they'll have to drain the external fuel tank. In theory they could be up tomorrow, but to drain and refill the tank is a BIG DEAL, quite dangerous and takes quite a bit of time.
Theres a five minute window for launch tomorrow, then again on Friday and Saturday.
--Jason
UPDATE: Apparently it's two fuel sensors that failed.
Link to the Virtural Launch Control Center.
Doesn't look like the shuttle will be able to go again until Monday.
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
3:51 PM, Wednesday July 13, 2005
Is the scheduled launch time for the Shuttle Discovery. Be sure to watch the shuttle's Return to Space.
Official NASA countdown clock (served by NASA)
NOTE: The countdown may seem "off" but it's not. There are mandatory pre-determined "HOLDS" where the clock is stopped for checks, tests, etc.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 1:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 10, 2005
Shuttle set to fly. . .
Hurricane Dennis has actually made weather conditions for next weeks launch of the Space Shuttle better. The calm air moving in after the hurricane passes almost ensures that we'll return the Shuttle to space.
A lot of new tools and techniques will be tested on this mission to service the Internation Space Station(ISS) including a Canadian extention to the robotic arm which doubles it's reach and allows a millimeter by millimeter examination of the shuttles heat shield. Shuttle astronauts will also be able to repair almost any damage found or in the even that they cannot, plans are in place for the shuttle to remain docked at the ISS until another shuttle or a progress capsule can be launched to bring the crew back safely.
All this bodes well for U.S. space exploration programs and the completion of the ISS. So to all the astronauts preparing at Kennedy, I wish them a heartfelt, Godspeed!
For more info, check out this SpaceDaily.com article.
--Jason
UPDATE: The coundown has started.
Posted by JasonColeman at 10:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 4, 2005
Reach out and touch. . .a comet
Phenonmenal success for the Deep Impact crew. From our little blue-green marble, we designed a craft that could reach across the Solar System and hit a comet at combined speeds of millions of miles per hour.
The MSM has done a good job of following this one, so I'm just going to point people at NASA's Deep Impact Project Site it's got write-ups, pictures and animations for ya.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 11:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 2, 2005
Another response. . .
This time, I'm responding to the comment by William on this response to Half Sigma, and his related blog entry ---
I agree that the Shuttle needs to be replaced, and the current administration is racing toward that goal faster than anyone since Kennedy.
NASA has been quietly squirreling money away (legally) for a return to the moon (and permanent base) since the Reagan administration. NASA Administrator Griffin and Tom Delay recently announced in Houston that we now have sufficient financial reserves to make the return. It's very important to note that this time we don't have to invent the computer or the fuel cell or a rocket program from scratch. We have experience living and working in space and many of the hazzards of occupying space have been overcome.
Realize that we still haven't lost anyone actually IN space.
The first lift of the Space Elevator is scheduled for 2018, not that far off. The SE will replace rocket insertions for all manner of missions, greatly reducing the need for a rocket powered tugboat.
The moon was a "katie bar the door" race into the unknown. Much money and brain power was used trying to accomodate all the unknowns of travel to the moon. Today we know that landers won't sink up to their antennae, and we understand the needs of humans in low gravity environments for long periods of time.
Just like Columbus striking out for the new world, the unknown, the first moon missions were ones of discovery. Probes, if you will. We knew that we had much to learn about the process and ourselves before we could make a sustained "go" of it.
The ISS has gone a long way to teaching us how to live and work in space. Spacelab and Mir were testbeds, the ISS is the prototype and now were at the stage that we can turn the ISS into the working model.
Yes the ISS looks like the old Mir and Skylab projects on steroids, but realize that the design is COMPLETELY modular. ISS-1 will be completely replaced in the coming decade with new modules built by our partners (who are significantly behind us in motivation and technology), who we are "dragging up" along with us.
The political necessity of our partners ensures a long term interest in the program and hopefully can prosper into a new "higher order" of cooperation and communication.
It seems as though most supporters of the space program complaints stem because we're not moving as fast as people would like. I agree. I think we should take more risks and run faster, but politically that's impractical when each setback is met with calls to scrap whole portions of the space program for political gain. Imagine if each time a British ship sank, the Admiralty ordered all it's ships back to port for an investigation. Then called for a new frigate design and numerous safety evaluations (we'd still all be in Europe weaving textiles by hand and using horse drawn plows for farming).
Politics (particularly the Clinton administration which was downright scared of NASA except as a feelgood program) has kept the program down, but this administration has taken off the shackles and is running NASA at a higher clip than ever before (even moreso than the Apollo program).
Private and Public partnerships are developing finally, we're going back to the moon, back to Mars, and exploring farther out and in more detail than ever before. The political and financial capital being spent on NASA now, won't mature until the early part of the next decade, but when it's realized, it will still be too little for those in the know, and too much for those who don't understand the necessity of it for mankind. The reality will be a balance between the two camps.
If you take some time to look through NASA current mission profiles and the big picture,Moon, Mars and Beyond you'll see that there's direction to NASA, it's no longer scraping the financial crumbs thrown at it to piece together a continued presence in space. Our presence is now expanding, with each piece of the ISS, with each probe to Mars and with each deep space exploratory mission. All of this is coming together to give us the tools and knowledge necessary to plant a flag out there in the vacuum of space and stay. Expanding the human footprint is our one true calling in the universe. It's the calling mankind to answer the questions the vastness of space offeres. It's our destiny and obligation to strike out into the unknown, see what's there and learn to live in it and use it for our ends.
The Space program promises economic viability for more people than any other initiative of mankind. Abundant, clean, cheap energy is there waiting for us just above our atmosphere, precious resources are waiting to be plucked from the asteroids between our nearest neighbor and us. A new world awaits us on Mars, one which we already have the ability to mold in our image, promising an outlet for our burgeoning population. New discoveries in space promise to make us live longer, and healthier than ever before, and the promise of Space's rewards may well give humanity a common reference and goal so that one day we may put our petty differences behind us in a unified human voyage of discovery.
Finally, I agree that the shuttle is not too sexy anymore. It'd be nice to replace it. The ISS needs to be bigger and modernized, we need to be on the moon and we need to have human Martian explorers on their way within a decade or two. I disagree that it's going too slow however, I posit that in comparison with the development of the Americas, it's moving forward at a breakneck speed given the obstacles and distances involved. We've become accustomed to the Sci-Fi view of space where we should be jumping off the planet with ease, and overcoming difficulties within the scope of an hour with commercial breaks. The realities are far different. We're entering into a hostile environment. We've just begun to understand the dynamics of low-earth permanent settlement, and just beginning to leap out to high Earth orbit again.
If you really want it to go forward faster, write your Congressmen and Senators, drop a line to the White House. Point out that Space Exploration and Exploitation makes America money, increases American morale and makes us look better on the world stage. Point out also that we NEED to do this in the spirit of exploration that led to the very creation of America, her democracy and her place as leader of world community. Point out that we need the Space program for the sake of solving many of the worlds most difficult problem, namely energy production.
People write their leaders everyday because they want a bigger Social Security check, they hate the war in Iraq, they despise the vitriol of American politics, they are concerned about education or complain about corruption. Very few people write to support NASA, and we all know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so if you really want NASA to move forward, Start Squeaking! Let your elected representatives know that you understand the value of the space program to America, the world and mankind. Explain that "you get it" that the Space program strengthens the economy and provides for a better quality of life, and point out that around the globe, people look at our spaceshots with sense of awe and faith in mankind, and by tranferrence, America.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 11:20 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 1, 2005
A response. . .
Via trackback, Half Sigma disagrees with me about the value of the Space Shuttle returning to space. I wanted to offer a proper response.
The big disagreement is "why we need to get off this rock" and everything else stems out of that.
There's alot wrong with our little blue marble when you look at it over time. Look far enough out and you come to the biggie. One day the Sun will expand to encompass the Earth. Life on Earth will end long before that, and if we're gonna be around as humans, we're gonna have to be someplace other than this particular rock orbiting this particular star.
It doesn't get any simpler than that. One day the Sun will destroy this planet and all life on it.
YES, YES, I know that's a LONG LONG LONG ways away, but it's a fact. One that we "as a species" have to deal with. I'm doubting that we'll find a way to stop our Sun from cooking us, so the other alternative is to leave.
Long before that happens though, there are just as real and dangerous threats to the survival of our species right here on Earth. Not the least of which is us; the little human jackasses that roam the planet. We like to devise new and better ways of blowing ourselves up. It'd make sense to realize that nuclear holocaust is just the tip of the iceberg of the threat we'll become to ourselves if left unchecked. Neutron bombs will be as primitive as a flint spear one day.
Beyond blowing ourselves up, we may or may not be turning up the heat on this planet and regardless, in just under 1500 years or so I believe we are scheduled for another Ice Age anyway.
All the while we're breeding quite fast. We're growing some pretty nasty bugs in our planetary biologic soup, many of which like to kill humans.
So that's why I want off. I'm speaking for the species here, that getting off the rock is a pretty important task that we've gotta undertake folks.
We know we can probably get to Mars with people within a couple of decades, we know there are other rocky planets out there in the galaxy. We know that if we establish a working permanent platform in space we can solve alot of problems down here on Earth (fossil fuels and global warming for starters).
All of this is why we have to get the shuttle going again. I'm not saying that the shuttle shouldn't be replaced. I'm all for that!!!! 200%, but we've got modules for the ISS down here that need to get up there. Modules that fit in the shuttle.
We've got to get the James Webb Telescope up to replace the Hubble, that's set up for the shuttle. The shuttle isn't sexy anymore, and it's not supposed to be. What the shuttle was supposed to be was a low-orbit crewboat, a role it's only now beginning to see.
We've got an International Space Station to service, we've got projects on the books that we shouldn't scrap because our rocket ship isn't sexy enough. In two decades we won't need rocketships at all, we'll have construction of the Space Elevator begin sometime next decade and then it's only a few decades after that before we're terraforming mars and have a permanent moon colony.
Think of it as ensuring the viability of the species for the long term. Think of it as a getting a short term lifeboat colony to avoid ecological disaster or war. I don't care which you choose, they're the best reasons to keep moving forward. Get off the rock, and it doesn't matter how sexy the rocketships are.
Beyond all that though, the Space Program is a great economic driver for the planet. Yep, I did just say that. Because it's true. Satellite techonology now effects every person on the planet via communication, plastics developed for the space program are in millions of products of all shapes and sizes, new drugs are being created and new hybrid crops are being developed.
Every dollar that the United States has spent on the space program has come back over and over, just the taxes on telecom in the U.S. has paid the entire space program bill. Thousands of other industries have been created, creating thousands of jobs (jobs that pay taxes and provide an economic stimulus themself).
In Short, the Space Program is a money MAKER for the United States.
So I say move forward with all current plans for space exploration, lets get the ISS caught up, let's put up the Webb, get moving on the Space Elevator, get a permanent base on the Moon, develop microwave power transmission (solving the world's engery crisis), get moving on Mars, and look at ways to mine the Asteroid belt.
It may very well take us decades to reach the nearest star, but every journey begins with that first step, and we also know that exploration has generally turned out to be profitable throughout history for the nations that practiced it.
Honestly, I can't think of a reason for us not to be clamoring over ourselves to get off this rock.
Half Sigma says that nothing will be as grand as Kennedy's quest for the moon, and he's right. Never again will Orville or Wilbur's flight be duplicated either, nor Newton's apple, nor any child's first step.
The Moon wasn't a monument to our achievement, it was the first step to realizing our potential as a species. To reach out and fill the vast voids and experience the discoveries that lay before us in this galaxy and the galaxies beyond.
--Jason
PS I may fill this post up with cool links tomorrow. Check back.
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:35 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 30, 2005
Get back in the game . . .
Transterrestrial Musings points us to a media roundup on the recent NASA safety panel findings.
LOOK! Space travel is dangerous. We little humans have developed to live on this little blue green marble, third planet from the sun. For us to up and decide to leave this rock is a huge step and totally alien to our previous experiences on the planet (ok, small pun noticed, but not intended). Strapping humans to rockets and accelerating them to speeds faster than a rifle bullet, exposing them to the vacuum of space, and then dropping the back through the atmosphere in a firery descent, then finally fly amost a quarter of the way around the world as the worlds biggest glider. THAT'S A CRAZY DANGEROUS STUNT. It's a battle against physics.
The FACT that people have and will continue to DIE exploring space is something that we have to come to grips with. The Astronauts KNOW that they are "strapped to a rocket with over 30,000 moving parts all made by the lowest bidder". They understand that thousands of systems, checklists, and safeguards must be followed to the letter and missing any one of them may wind up in a dramatic snuffing. The Astronauts also understand that no space vechicle system is 100% safe.
A close family member of mine called her former NASA boss when the Challenger blew up. She figured that since he was a prominent figure in the development of the shuttle program, he'd have an idea. As one would expect, he was quite busy in the chaos, but he took her call.
"It was the O-rings."
That was his comment just hours after the Challenger disaster. The thing is folks, and the media needs to realize this. We know where ALOT of the weaknesses in the Space Program are. We know that a joint in a solid rocket booster is a potential point of failure. We know that if a enough heat-shield tiles fall off the shuttle it'll burn up in re-entry. We also know that 10's of thousands of other major and minor systems coud fail along the way and create disaster.
We'll never make space exploration 100% safe. In fact, for some time now IT WILL BE VERY DAMN DANGEROUS. More people will DIE in very dramatic fashion as we continue to figure out how to get off this rock. There's a concept called "acceptable risk" and every day we use it consciously and un-consciously. We decide to accpet the risk of an auto-accident when we drive to the store, we accept risks bungee jumping, playing golf, knitting a sweater.
The calls for NASA to be "safer" are a little overdone. A "safe" program wouldn't be a useful one. We can have an eye to "safety" and work for a safe return of every explorer, but we've also got to take risks. That's an inherent part of exploration. We're travelling into the great unknown, facing new, seen and unforseen dangers. This is a necessary evil of exploration.
People need to accept this, because we need to get off this rock for a number of reasons, too many for this post, and these pioneers know how dangerous it is, and they analyze the acceptable risks. The media needs to back off and let us move forward, get the shuttles flying again (even if we lose another one in a few years), and keep our space program moving forward.
It's been too long since we've seen a video of intrepid American asronauts pushing the envelope of manned exploration of the heavens. For me, the site of the shuttle roaring off the pad is an affirmation that humans as a species are moving forward. I can't wait to feel that way again.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 22, 2005
Cosmos 1 Update
Check the Cosmos 1 Mission Blog for more info, but here it is in a nutshell. The Russians confirmed that their launch vehicle shut down early. They've had 3 low level signals from the craft, but no hard data telemetry. Space Command hasn't found it yet.
My conclusion given the available info - The spacecraft is in a very low level Earth orbit that is probably not very stable. If they can find the little spacecraft buzzing around the planet, they'll be able to track it and lock in on any signals it's transmitting. If they can establish communication, they may still be able to deploy the sails and even pull it up into a higher stable orbit. Unfortunately, once they deploy the sails, atmospheric drag could catch the spacecraft and destroy it. It all depends on exactly how low or high (depending on your perspective) the orbit actually is.
I'm rooting for the little machine, but I have to admit it doesn't look to good. All and all though, even if the mission is a failure, it's still a step forward for civilian space exploration. You have to fall off a bike once or twice to get good at riding one, ya know.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 1:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
So this is what we know. . . .
along with what we don't know. Apparently it's looking like the Russian launch vechicle may have inserted the Cosmos 1 spacecraft into a lower, more eliptical obrit. This would mean that A) the craft is going faster than planned, and B) that the eliptical orbit means that "finding" the little bugger is gonna be hard. Remember, SPACE, even just that region right around our little blue marble is VERY BIG.
It does seem that they've gotten more signals and that the craft has made one orbit at least. Now we just have to wait and see as Russian ground stations, Planetary Society mission control and U.S. Strategic Command look for, and hopefully, can find the little bugger.
Keep checking the Cosmos 1 Mission Blog for updated info.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 1:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 21, 2005
Launch!!!!
The Russian Navy has confirmed that Cosmos 1 lifed off at 3:46 PM eastern time. So far they haven't confirmed any more details other than to say, everything seems to be going fine.
Don't know what I'm talking about? Click here!
Further updates will be in this thread.
UPDATE: The Planetary Society Cosmos 1 blog is up at the moment, it's been up and down all day as the MSM picks up the story. Right now they are waiting for acquisition of signal at Panska Ves (a ground station).
UPDATE: Looks like the spacecraft was lost between the final burn and orbital insertion. They got a little more data over Kamchatka, but nothing since then. Spacecomm can't see it, so it's probably not where it should be. They're still looking for it, and sending commands for it to "talk". Check out the blog for more.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 3:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sailing Away . . .
Later today, sometime around 3:45 PM Eastern, The Planetary Society will launch Cosmos 1. The spacecraft will be launched form a Russian submarine and hopefully climb to an altitude of about 500 miles. Once there, it will deploy 8 solar sails. These sails will begin harnessing the solar wind and if all goes well, the craft will be able to change orbit using only the motive forces provided by photons streaming out of the sun. The spacecraft will literally ride on winds of light.
Click to enlarge.
It's an ambitious undertaking, especially for a private foundation comprised almost entirely of individuals with a strong enthusiasm for space exploration. If the mission is a success it will pave the way for private and corporate space exploration and hopefully light another fire under the governmental space exploration agencies to work on solar sail exploration projects.
It's all very exciting and I'd made a bigger post about how solar sail spacecraft could reach some truely impressive speeds and bridge the distances between the stars in decades rather than centuries, but I opened to many windows getting supporting links, so that will have to come later. Maybe when I finally get around to finishing the big Space Elevator post.
I'll probably update on this more after the successful launch, keep your fingers crossed, OK!
--Jason
PS - Here are some guidelines if you want to see the spacecraft yourself.
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 20, 2005
Mars Pics
A couple of images for ya here. First we have an image from the Mars Express orbiter of the Coprates Chasma, a major trough running through Valles Marineris canyon system. The picture has a resolution of approximately 49 meters per pixel. It makes a great desktop.
Click image to enlarge.
The second is a picture from one of our rovers, the Spirit. It's amazing to just sit and stare at. At least to me it is.
Click image to enlarge.
Oh yeah, before you conspiracy theorist get going, YES, those are tire tracks. Remember, I said it's from one of our rovers.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Glad these are going bye bye. . .
Russia has decided that it's time to take the BZHRK trains off the tracks. The 36 BZHRK trains were one of Russia's most feared weapons platforms during the Cold War. Each train consisted of a command post, and up to 5 nuclear tipped SS-24 ICBM's. The trains kept on the move constantly during the Cold War, each was capable of traversing 1000 miles over 24 hours.
These moving missile silos were very difficult for American and NATO intelligence analysts to track. The rail cars housing the weapons were very difficult to disguinish from standard rail cars and they were frequently "lost" in railyards and during bad weather. In the 1990's the U.S. struck a deal to keep the trains stationary.
The Russians say that the systems are no longer guaranteed reliable, and I supposed that's as good a reason as any for getting rid of them. Regardless, I'm happy that these are being retired. The world just became a slighty safer place.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 10:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
If Vonage goes public . . . .
I'm buying their stock. Here's Why! Plus they have that catchy jingle. Do, Dooo, Do, Do, Do -- You know the one!
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 10:00 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Geek Stuff and a Paranoid Rant about Aliens coming to kill us all.
I usually have a computer running 24/7 that performs a whole load of automated tasks for me. It runs spiders, manages downloads, keeps offline copies of certain websites and collects program updates. I've also run SETI@Home for years on it. Normally I don't pay much attention to this computer, but when I decided to check up on it today, I noticed there have been some major changes to the SETI@Home service and I haven't been helping the SETI Project for the last couple of weeks. Ooops.
After a quick download, I'm proud to announce that I've got it back up and running. Also, that the new SETI@Home service, powered by BIONIC is a great improvement over the old set-up.
I like that BIONIC can shift programs from SETI programs to other NASA distributed computing projects without having to require the user to make adjustments. I've tagged onto other NASA distributed projects before and I like that I can now set-up my account to automatically make the switch when needed.
Ok, this is gonna turn into a space rant from here on out, so to spare some readers that would be totally lost by it, you'll have to continue to the extended entry.
Ok, time to "Space Rant" a bit.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is a tiny, tiny portion of the NASA budget, I've never checked the actual figures, but I'd imagine that if you account for all the computing cycles donated by individuals and private donations, that SETI probably gets more cash from the private sector than it does from the government. I can't really complain about that too much. SETI is the proverbial needle in the haystack and given the choice I'd rather see new dollars go into exploration and research programs.
I am pretty realistic about the SETI project and don't "expect" anything to develop from it in my lifetime. That doesn't mean it won't happen tomorrow though. It' a scary thought to think that tomorrow we might catch an ET's "I Love Lucy", or black and white test signal.
When I talk to people about SETI, they usually imagine that the "first contact" will be like some science fiction movie where we are actually in two way communication with some benevolent superior life form. It's unlikely that's what we'll see. More than likely, the first things will be more of a "first discovery" nature. Some of our first powerful radio and television transmissions would be quite confusing to an outside observer. Variety shows, news broadcasts and music would all paint a strange and distorted picture of our world. We'd likewise discover something similar upon "first discovery".
From what I understand, our best chance to discover an exterrestrial intelligence is to be looking and listening in just the right spot at just the right time. The spot, of course, is where the developing ET society is was located in the universe at the the time that it was technologically advanced enough to have discovered the radio but not so technologically advance that it's using mostly digital broadcasts and has a ring of communication satellites around it. So roughly, compared to Earth time, we're looking at a 75 to 100 year window.
If we observe the alien planets location too early, they aren't pumping out anything to detect, and if we come along too late, we lose the opportunity for discovery as recognizable signals become lost in a haze of overlapping broadcasts turning into a sea of white noise. There's also the problem of an alien intelligence migrating to a communications protocol that we simply haven't fathomed yet.
So lets ponder a bit. Suppose we're looking at the right place at the right time? What might we find? We could get really lucky and find ourselves staring at an alien version of Alex Trebec playing Jeopardy with a panel of tentacled blue squishy things. This would be ideal!!! We'd be able to learn the language both written and spoken and learn about their history, culture and trivia, that's all probably a little much to ask though.
We'll probably get a snapshot pretty similar to what we've cranked out. We'll see news that we cannot understand, entertainment that baffles us and images presenting the extremes of whatever society we get to observe. We'll probably get to eavesdrop on a war or two and alot of toally incomprehensible audio and data. Then we'll hit a wall.
This first discovery will be very frustrating because we'll have no context to put the data in. Once discovery is made, we're only moving forward from that point, and only one day at a time. That's kinda hard to wrap your brain around, but I'll try to clarify. Once we discover the source, we're only able to watch and listen from that point forward. Every day we'll get more and more data which will certainly keep everyone interested, but then we have to tackle the problem of "where are they now" and more importantly "what are they doing".
The most probable scenario is that we'll catch some ET's that are hundreds, if not thousands, of light years away from us. We'll also be catching them at a period of time when they are remarkably like us technologically. We'll be catching them as they migrate into their information age. They will probably be mastering some sort of powered flight, fighting about energy and resources, and in the infant stages of leaping off their rock. Remember though, that they'd be hundreds, if not thousands of years ahead of us though.
So now I get to my reasons for using the SETI@Home service. I look at it as our only "Early Warning System" for a War of the Worlds type scenario. I most certainly do not believe that our first interaction with any sort of ET's will be a pleasant one AT ALL. In fact, I'd suspect that if a bunch of ET's were to roll up on us tomorrow, that'd either kill us right off the bat because of the threat we represent or that we'd wind up shooting at them in some way, and then they'd kill us.
I'm not joining the tin foil brigade here, I'm just saying that if an alien society were advanced enough to pay us a visit, they'd probably be pretty damn scared of us. Not because we'd be an actually threat, but more the "virus-like" quality we'd represent. If someone handed us warp-drives and rayguns today, we'd be pretty dangerous.
So I'm promoting the SETI@Home project so that we may get a jump on these bastards; before they find us and kill us all. If we can catch up to them by eavesdropping on their past, we may be able to drive our efforts to get off the rock along quicker, enhancing our ability to survive when the human-virus does get discovered. Eventually we may be able to sneak up on them and kick their ass first.
I'm sure you're shaking your head right now. Make no mistake though, once we get off this rock it'll be no picnic. Interactions with other biological systems will not be pretty. War will be the outcome of more of these meetings than peace. We'll get beat down by more technological systems and we'll be beating down those below us on the ladder.
Now I know that this flies in the face of tradional science ficion lore about who altruistic we'll be in the future and how as societies advance they get less and less warlike. I totally disagree though. When we do get out there in big spaceships that have some independence (which is inevitable), it'll be the wild west all over. I can imagine that some alien societies might be peaceful and it could wind up as a "Ok, I'm over here, and you're over there. Let's keep it that way" scenario. In those situations we might even be able to trade a bit and do some technology transfers. I'm not thinking we'll be too interested in getting too close to them, nor they us. After all there will be viruses and disease to worry about, quite serious concerns actually. We really couldn't trust them, nor they us when it comes to sharing resources or anything for that matter. We'd be looking out for humans first and they'd be looking out for whatever they are first.
Then we'll probably run into quite a few hotheads, the shoot first, ask later types. I'm pretty sure that out there in the universe there will be quite a few Hitler types that acutally succeed in their warped world view creating societies that are 100% confident that they are the #1 life form on the block and are ruthless about keeping in that way. There will probably be interactions with alien societies that have been burned by trans species peace deals before. These alien cultures may have decided long ago that bipeds are evil and they may just vaporize us on sight.
I don't think it's a question of "if" there are ET's out there, I believe it's a question of "when" we'll meet them, and at in what stage of our and their technological development do we meet. Finding someone now, through a program like SETI will scare the living bejezzus outta me, because that means we're way behind in the game, could we catch up to a society that's thousands of years ahead of us? Have they seen us yet? Are they coming to kick our ass?
So there you have it, what I'm sure is an almost incomprehensible rant about blue squishy aliens that are going to kill us all one day. You can take it for what it's worth, but this is my blog and I just felt like "going off for a bit".
Oh yeah, for the protection of mankind, go to the new SETI@Home page, create an account, download the software and let your puter turn an eye to the sky and make us all a little safer . . . maybe.
--Jason
PS In all seriousness tho' please check out the SETI sites and think about helping out with their distributed computing project. It helps the program along, doesn't really cost you or them anything and we're a small step forward to the future.
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack