To the moon, Alice...
Dec. 5th, 2006 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dracodraconis(points for anyone who catches the reference to the subject line)
The US has anounced that it will somehow, after repeatedly cutting funding to NASA, go to the moon by 2024. They appear to plan on accomplishing this by inviting other countries to join in, something Canada immediately did. Not only is it, a trip, but a lunar base, probably on the moon's south pole where sunlight is available for most of a lunar year. They hope that a moon base (called Alpha, perhaps?) will be a stepping stone to a manned mission to Mars.
Speaking of Mars, several ideas have been floated to attempt to make the dead planet livable. For example, one idea that is being examined it to place giant mirrors in orbit to fucus sunlight on one region. Meanwhile, India plans to join the international crowd around the Red Planet with an unmanned mission of its own by 2013.
Meanwhile, we're just learning that a space elevator, even if it were technically feasible, could be hazardous to your health. Seems there's this thing called the Van Allen belt that acts as a buffer against high energy particles. So far, nothing surprising, except that it is a little known fact that the charged particles it traps form a layer of charged particles that could themselves be deadly to anyone passing through it, say, on a space elevator. Pass through it quickly and you're ok, but increase the exposure time and you could have serious health problems.
The Russians and Chinese are also planning to head to the moon. In fact, Russian scientists envision using a series of space elevators (pictured here) to payloads from lower to higher Earth orbit, thus allowing materials to be moved fster and cheaper... they think. NASA, is interested, probably because it's as likely as any other plan to get someone back to the moon.
See Also: http://www.discover.com/issues/jul-04/cover/?page=2
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_Will_Develop_Space_Elevators_Part_2_999.html
The US has anounced that it will somehow, after repeatedly cutting funding to NASA, go to the moon by 2024. They appear to plan on accomplishing this by inviting other countries to join in, something Canada immediately did. Not only is it, a trip, but a lunar base, probably on the moon's south pole where sunlight is available for most of a lunar year. They hope that a moon base (called Alpha, perhaps?) will be a stepping stone to a manned mission to Mars.
Speaking of Mars, several ideas have been floated to attempt to make the dead planet livable. For example, one idea that is being examined it to place giant mirrors in orbit to fucus sunlight on one region. Meanwhile, India plans to join the international crowd around the Red Planet with an unmanned mission of its own by 2013.
Meanwhile, we're just learning that a space elevator, even if it were technically feasible, could be hazardous to your health. Seems there's this thing called the Van Allen belt that acts as a buffer against high energy particles. So far, nothing surprising, except that it is a little known fact that the charged particles it traps form a layer of charged particles that could themselves be deadly to anyone passing through it, say, on a space elevator. Pass through it quickly and you're ok, but increase the exposure time and you could have serious health problems.
The Russians and Chinese are also planning to head to the moon. In fact, Russian scientists envision using a series of space elevators (pictured here) to payloads from lower to higher Earth orbit, thus allowing materials to be moved fster and cheaper... they think. NASA, is interested, probably because it's as likely as any other plan to get someone back to the moon.See Also: http://www.discover.com/issues/jul-04/cover/?page=2
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_Will_Develop_Space_Elevators_Part_2_999.html
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-06 02:46 am (UTC)hugs
mb
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Date: 2006-12-06 07:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-07 02:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-07 12:30 pm (UTC)The Russian elevator, on the other hand, operates completely in space and it designed for heavy payloads. It can also be constructed using today's technology. Monday is the problem there, so once again it may never see the light of day. Meanwhile, spacecraft can be used to move people almost exclusively.