ASTEROID
EXPLORATION GETS IDEAS PUMPING
NASA has received over 400 proposals
from private companies, international organizations, and non-profit groups.
This was in response to a call for suggestions on an asteroid retrieval
mission. About a third of the proposals
were tied directly to NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge. The rest dealt with
components of the mission.
This mission has also sparked debate
in congress as to whether NASA should focus on a manned asteroid exploration,
or if they should look more at a moon oriented goal.
The article itself is short, but not
bad. Basically an update article. But I don’t see why the two are exclusive. We
should be doing both right now. There is
no reason not to have a moon base already in operation in my opinion. The
advantages of having such a base could be the focus of more than one book on
the subject I am sure. Research alone would advance as well, especially in the
areas of space and travel. And if anything did go bad at least they are close
enough that it is feasible to rescue them. And basing on the moon would also
make a magnetic launch system something that could be looked at as well,
instead of using fuel to launch from the moon with.
WATCH
3D PRINTED ROCKET PARTS TEST FIRE
NASA
is gaining more confidence in the printed technology as the engine parts that
were developed using 3D printing have gone through another rounds of tests without
a problem. The two injectors were made with both printed and traditionally created
parts, and survived temperatures of around 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit and extreme
pressures. The tests just done follow the recent tests done at the Glenn
Research Center here in Ohio.
As
i mentioned before here, the process is cheaper and faster, and this week I
actually have a price comparison listed in the article to show that. The injectors that are constructed using the
standard method cost around 10,000 dollars each. They also each take 6 months
to build one. The printed version however took only a few weeks to make, and
only cost 5,000 dollars. I have listed numerous reasons times why I think this
technology is the next wave of production. I also think it will be in space as
well soon in order to make parts, even if temporary emergency parts only. See,
another reason for a permanent moon base or station, which I am coming to next.
WILL
WHERE THE ISS BE IN 2020
The
ISS has been undergoing a serious engineering and risk analysis assessment.
This is to gauge whether it will be operable through 2020.
Brad
Cothran, Boeing’s vehicle director for ISS had this to say on the subject. “The
good news is, so far, we haven’t found any showstoppers. Our plan has been to
get back to the ISS program and clear the station to get to 2020. After we get
to that point, we’ll enter what we call our phase three, and we’re going to
clear the ISS for 2028 and beyond.”
It
does turn out however that the solar arrays are degrading faster than they
originally thought they would. They are degrading between 1-2% per year instead
of the max of 1% year per rate as what was calculated. It is still a mystery as
to why this is happening, but one thought is that the proton and neutron
environment is more severe than originally thought.
Memory
devices that aren’t powered are also becoming a problem, as they only hold
their memory for an average of around ten years.
There
are many other things as well, and too numerous to list it all here.
This article shows my reasoning also
for a massive space station. We need to get with his and start doing things
that are meant to last, period. Anything we build to use in space should be
built to last for much longer than what we have been doing. A massive station,
big enough to hold one or two shuttles in, and a moon base, and things would
happen to help the entire world then. And if I start listing here, I won’t be
done till next week, so I’ll shut up my rant on this for now. Check it out though;
it’s a pretty good article about some of the things they are learning there
over the years.
PROTECTION
OF THE APOLLO SITES
A
bill introduced to congress has started controversy, for some unknown reason. I’m
going to try and be nice about this here. Apollo Lunar Landing Sites National
Historical Park would be on the moon. This has come up due to the new
commercial space flight situations that are going to be arising soon, and as other
countries are now advancing their capabilities as well. This means that anyone
could actually be landing on the moon soon.
Okay,
I’m done with the article here. I’ll put the link at the end of course for
anyone else that wants to get irritated quickly by this even being a bloody
issue. What the smeg is wrong with those people, (I use the term uselessly).
This should not be an issue, or even a discussion. If they don’t, people like
me (but ones that actually have money), will have that stuff in their houses
one day. As soon as I saw the title of that article, I knew where it was
headed, and for those old enough, images of “SALVAGE 1” I am sure jumped in
your heads.
I
admit it. If I could get my hands on that stuff, you bet I would. Talk about a
center piece for a science or a sci-fi collection. Hell, any collection for
that matter. And it should be a historic site. What the smeg else are you going
to call it. We were there. We did it. We made it to the bloody moon because it
was there. And we had to leave our own world, and cross a gulf of vacuum and
radiation to get there. IT’S A FREAKING HISTORICAL SITE, PERIOD.
I’m
just going to say it. Anyone opposing this should just be slapped.
In
the end, it would be listed with United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization as a World
Heritage Site. As it should be. Why anyone would be against this is beyond me.
And I actually managed to be nice about this here, and didn’t say a word that I
would like to say about certain people. I am quite sure you all know my feelings
on this as it is anyway.
Now
on to the sci-fi part of this week’s rundown. I dropped the ball this week on
this front, that’s for sure. Basically, building a kitchen, and found a new
anime that I will discuss here instead of the regular rundown of movie stuff. A
quick look through things though didn’t show anything that was really new or
that wouldn’t be common knowledge to all of us out here already. I am watching
this on HULU. It’s not HULU Plus, so it is available for anyone to watch that
has an internet connection.
FAIRY
TAIL
Yeah, that is Tail, not Tale. It is
the name of a guild of magic users that hire themselves out to do jobs for
people. There are actually many magical guilds on the continent. Fairy Tail
however is a bit of a different type of guild. For one thing, they’re all
freaking insane. The whole guild is nuts. All of them.
The magic is based on the separatist
style lean in anime, as each person that uses it and studies it focuses on a certain
aspect, like ice, fire, card magic, ring magic, etc.
If you like anime like slayers, that
is kind of out there in terms of characters and story lines, this is a good
one. Gray, a powerful ice wizard of creation magic has this habit of taking his
clothes off. Anywhere, at any time, and doesn’t even realize he is doing it.
That gets explained in the series believe it or not. It isn’t a truly bloody
violence, but things do get blown to smeg now and then. Which is one of the council’s
problems with the Fairy Tail Guild. A lot of them kind of over do things.
There
are plenty of battles, and plenty of character history as you learn about them
as you go along. And you get to see them become stronger as they band together
and move ahead.
This is also a Manga, which I have
never seen. But I love the anime version. And you also get to see what they
learn about secrets, as they move through their daily lives of taking jobs, and
hanging out at the guild. It is really a great story so far, and having seen
only half of the 48 available on HULU, I have to recommend it. There are more
but they are on DVD. Which is fine because I plan on buying the series as it is
released here anyway. It is a total of around 175 episodes or so I believe.
But check this out. It’s a fun
anime, filled with great stories, lots of action, and mystery. I definitely
recommend it for anyone that is a character follower like me. There are plenty
in this one to keep you up for hours watching it. The first link is to the
character listings on the Fairy Tail WIKI site. The second is to the main page
for the show on HULU. There are 48 dubbed episodes, and 72 subtitled. Enjoy all.
Well, see you all next week folks. I’ll
try and keep up a bit more with the things this week as Paul is down for a
short time as you all have read I am sure. See you all next week folks. And let’s
all wish Paul a speedy recovery and getting himself back out here where he
belongs.
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