Tag Archives | Moon

The Forgotten Anti-Moon-Landing Movement

By on September 19, 2012 in News 39

Many look back on the Apollo 11 lunar landing as a crowning achievement of humanity and pinnacle of a time when America was able to unite and accomplish great things. But the Atlantic points out that there was widespread public discontent over the propagandistic aspects and vast expense spent on the moon mission while the most basic problems of life on Earth went unaddressed:

We’ve told ourselves a convenient story about the moon landing and national unity, but there’s almost no evidence that our astronauts united even America, let alone the world. Polls both by USA Today and Gallup have shown support for the moon landing has increased the farther we’ve gotten away from it. 77 percent of people in 1989 thought the moon landing was worth it; only 47 percent felt that way in 1979.

Many black papers questioned the use of American funds for space research at a time when many African Americans were struggling at the margins of the working class.

… Read the rest

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Private U.S. Company Plans ‘Space Elevator’ to the Moon

By on September 1, 2012 in News 3

Picture: Pat Rawling, NASA (PD)

With the recent passing of Neil Armstrong forty-three years after (supposedly) stepping foot on the moon; coupled with NASA’s successful venture to Mars by the Curiosity Rover, the question of why we haven’t begun to colonize our closest celestial neighbor has been raised. A simple, cost effective method of transporting people and equipment to the lunar surface, away from the Earth’s gravity would lead to untold possibilities in research and further space exploration.

One company, the U.S. based LiftPort Group is seeking to create such a method. They have created a Kickstarter account in an attempt to crowd-source a tether which would reach 55,000km above the moon’s surface. Of course, any vehicle would first have to leave the Earth’s atmosphere and rendezvous with the tether, but it would certainly make lunar travel a far less expensive and troublesome process. From LiftPort Group’s official website:

Once the Lunar Elevator is fully functioning, astronauts and equipment will be able to soft-land cargo on the Lunar surface.

… Read the rest

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A Hotel On The Moon?

By on July 14, 2012 in News 2

If there’s going to be a hotel on the Moon, does it have to be a Hilton? From BBC Future:

It is more than half a century since the idea of a Hilton hotel on the Moon was first mooted . Ever since, the plan has resurfaced periodically, making Matt Novak wonder if we are now any closer or whether there was ever a plan at all.

In 1958 the Boulevard Room at the swanky Conrad Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago offered delicious steaks, a lavish stage show, and a curious peek at the future.

At the front of the grand hall was what was billed as the “largest hotel ice rink in the country”, on which troops of tutu-wearing girls danced for the crowds of diners. It was here, in the summer heat of August that black-tie wearing customers were given the first teaser of a legend that survives to this day: Hilton Hotels was going to the Moon.

… Read the rest

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The Last Soviet Moon Lander Discovered Water on the Moon in 1976

By on May 31, 2012 in News 0

Moon Landing MapCold War politics. Via the Technology Review’s Physics arXiv Blog:

The last Soviet mission to the moon, Luna-24, returned to Earth with water-rich rocks from beneath the lunar surface. But the West ignored the result.

The possibility of water on the moon has excited scientists and science fiction fans for decades. If we ever decide to maintain a human presence on the moon, clear evidence of water will be an important factor in the decision.

In recent years, that evidence has begun to mount. The data comes from several sources. First there was the pioneering Clementine mission in 1994, America’s first return to the moon in twenty years. Clementine looked for water by bouncing radio waves off the surface—the returns giving a strong indication that water ice must lie beneath the surface…

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Russia Wants To Build A Permanent Moon Base

By on May 27, 2012 in News 4

RoscosmosReports Aviation Week:

Mankind’s next objective in space exploration should be the establishment of a permanent international base on the Moon, in the “professional opinion” of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, instead of the near-Earth object (NEO) visit that is the stated goal of U.S. space policy.

Vladimir Popovkin, the Roscosmos head, told the Global Exploration Conference in Washington May 22 that the next big international exploration effort should build on the past 40-plus years of lunar exploration, and not repeat the sortie missions of the Apollo era.

“It’s a new Moon,” Popovkin said of his agency’s concept during a panel appearance with other space agency chiefs. A long-term permanent base could take advantage of the water-ice at the lunar poles, continue exploring the lunar surface, and prepare for the next leap into the Solar System, he says.

The concept, which is roughly the same one NASA pursued under President George W.

… Read the rest

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Annular Solar Eclipse Brings Ring Of Fire (May 20, 2012)

By on May 18, 2012 in News 8
Photo: sancho panza (CC)

Photo: sancho panza (CC)

This Sunday brings the first annular solar eclipse visible in the western United States in almost 18 years. Mike Wall reports for Space.com:

Skywatchers in East Asia and the western United States should circle Sunday (May 20) on their calendars. That’s when a solar eclipse will block out most of the sun, leaving a spectacular “ring of fire” shining in the sky for observers located along the eclipse’s path.

The event is what’s known as an annular solar eclipse — from the Latin “annulus,” meaning “little ring” — and its full glory should be visible from much of Asia, the Pacific region and some of western North America, weather permitting. At its peak, the eclipse will block about 94 percent of the sun’s light.

Other parts of the United States and Canada will still see a partial solar eclipse, without being treated to the ring of fire effect, though the East Coast will miss the event since the sun will have set before it begins.

… Read the rest

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There’s Something Strange On The Moon

By on May 15, 2012 in News 58
Photo: Oliver Stein (CC)

Photo: Oliver Stein (CC)

[disinfo ed.'s note: Jay Weidner, described by Wired as an “authority on the hermetic and alchemical traditions” and “erudite conspiracy hunter,” will be interviewing former NASA consultant Richard Hoagland for Gaiam TV Wednesday, May 16th at 7 p.m. EST. Here he describes his feelings about Hoagland's work.]

I have to tell you from the beginning that I am somewhat prejudiced about the subject of Dark Mission: The Secret History of NASA, the bestselling book by Richard C. Hoagland and Michael Bara. My own investigation of the high strangeness that exists on the lunar surface began in 1992 and dovetails with Hoagland’s search for answers.

In the mid-sixties, before the Apollo missions, NASA compiled a report of astronomers from the past who had witnessed anomalous activity on the surface of the moon through their telescopes. Titled R-277 and found here, each page of this report is filled with weirdness.… Read the rest

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Newt Gingrich Is Right About Having A Permanent Moon Base

By on February 7, 2012 in News 15

Earth To MoonYes, “Gingrich” and “right” in the same sentence is very strange: Saturday Night Live managed to successfully mock this derided idea in a recent well received sketch (which I thought was reminiscent of that show’s style from the ’70s). Here is a differing perspective presented by Robert T. Gonzalez on io9.com:

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has promised us a permanent Moon base by 2020. Many people have been calling Newt’s vow a publicity stunt, while others have chimed in by attacking the idea of a lunar base in and of itself, with assertions like “real scientists know [a Moon base] is fantasy.” We won’t speak to Newt’s political maneuverings, but we’re sure as hell not going to sit idly by while people bash the feasibility or scientific potential of a lunar settlement. In fact, we’ve got 185 reasons we should set a course straight away …

An Off-World Energy Source: We spoke to astrophysicist Michael Shara — curator of the astrophysics department at the American Museum of Natural History — about the scientific potential of a permanent Moon base, and one of the first things to come up was lunar resource utilization.

… Read the rest

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Gingrich’s Path To Statehood For A Space Colony

By on January 27, 2012 in News 29

moo_img001Wondering if the Constitution still applies when gravity does not? Newt Gingrich believes so. Buzzfeed dug up Newt’s 1981 bill laying out rules of governance for a future 20,000-person U.S. colony on the moon or Mars. At the moment he’s being bashed from all sides for this, but I think it’s fantastic:

Yesterday Newt Gingrich revealed his “weirdest idea ever” — to provide a path to statehood for a hypothetical lunar colony.

With the help of the skilled research librarians in the Library of Congress Law Library, BuzzFeed tracked down the bill, which Gingrich called the “Northwest Ordinance for Space,” or formally the “National Space and Aeronautics Policy Act of 1981.”

“The Congress declares that the United States is committed to the expansion of free people and free institutions into space,” the bill stated, calling for an array of near earth and solar space travel vehicles to be completed by 2010.

… Read the rest

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