NASA Unveils Futuristic Z-2 Spacesuit: Mars-Tough Duds that Glow (Photos)

NASA Unveils Futuristic Z-2 Spacesuit: Mars-Tough Duds that Glow (Photos)

Water on Mars Afterall!

I was unable to post this when the news broke on the 26th of this month, but I am finally getting around too it now.  The Mars rover named Curiosity has discovered water locked into the soil of the red planet.

Each cubic foot of Martin soil has about two pints of liquid water, usually bound to other minerals reports the article in The Guardian news report by Alok Jha.

For more information, copy and paste the url for this article listed below in the Ref section.


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Ref.
1. The Guardian.  "Nasa's Curiosity rover finds water in Martian soil" September 26, 2013. ( http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/26/nasa-curiosity-rover-mars-soil-water ).

Company plans to launch people to Mars in 2022 - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

Company plans to launch people to Mars in 2022 - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

Life on Venus?

There was a recent review of photographs from the Russian Venus-13 probe that landed on the planet Venus in 1982.

One scientist, Leonid Ksanfomaliti, of the Space Research Institute of Russia's Academy of Sciences; published an article in the Solar System Research magazine recently.

In this article that the Times of India posted online, Ksanfomaliti states that there were several objects that quote, "emerge, fluctuate and disappear."  Those objects being such things which resembled a "disk", a "black flap", and a "scorpion".

There have been no data proving the existence of life on the planet Venus.  Ground temperatures reach up to 464 degrees Celsius.

Quoting Ksanfomaliti, "What if we forget about the current theories about the non-existence of life on Venus, let's boldly suggest that the objects' morphological features would allow us to say that they are living." end quote.

Is this a precusor for Russia to send more probes back to Venus?  To this blogger, Russia seems to have better luck sending probes to Venus than they do to Mars.



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Ref.
1. Times of India. "Life spotted on Venus: Russian scientist" by . January 21, 2012. ( http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-21/science/30650231_1_venus-mission-russian-scientist-landing ).
2. (  http://en.ria.ru/science/20120120/170865269.html ).

Earth Similarity Index Released

A new paper has been released in the journal Astrobiology about how habitable nearby worlds would be. There are actually two indexes. First one is called: Earth Similarity Index (ESI) and the second one is the Planetary Habitability Index (PHI).

The most habitable alien worlds discovered so far that could harbour extraterrestrial life. Worlds such as Saturn's moon Titan and the exoplanet Gliese 581-g which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.

Co-author Dr. Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University said the following: "The first question is whether Earth-like conditions can be found on other worlds, since we know empirically that those conditions could harbour life. The second question is whether conditions exist on exoplanets that suggest the possibility of other forms of life, whether known to us or not."

The ESI rating comes from several factors such as size, density, and distance from the parent star. The PHI looks at different set of factors like if the world has a rocky or frozen surface, has an atmosphere or a magnetic field. PHI also takes into account chemistry such as if organic compounds are present. And if liquid solvents are available for vital chemical reactions.

Earth Similarity Index (ESI)

Earth - 1.00

Gliese 581g - 0.89

Gliese 581d - 0.74

Gliese 581c - 0.70

Mercury - 0.60Mars - 0.70

HD 69830 d - 0.60

55 Cnc c - 0.56

Moon - 0.56

Gliese 581e - 0.53

The Gliese 581 system has been well studied by astronomers and comprises four or five planets orbiting a red dwarf star. Gliese 581g, Gliese 581d, and Gliese 581c come is first, second, and third, place on the ESI after Earth.

The next exo-planet on the list is HD 69830d. This is a Neptune-size world located in the constellation Puppis because it lies in what is known as the "Goldilocks Zone." This is a area around a parent star where surface temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for life.

Planetary Habitability Index (PHI)

Titan - 0.64

Mars - 0.59

Europa - 0.49

Gliese 581g - 0.45

Gliese 581d - 0.43

Gliese 581c - 0.41

Jupiter - 0.37

Saturn - 0.37

Venus - 0.37

Enceladus - 0.35

The PHI produced different results with Saturn's moon Titan scoring at the top with a 0.64 followed by Mars (0.59) and Jupiter's moon Europa (0.47) for its subsurface water ocean that is thought to be heated by tidal flexing.

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Ref.

1. BBC. "Most liveable alien worlds ranked" by ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15863549 ).

2. Liebertonline. Astrobiology > A Two-Tiered Approach to Assessing the Habitability of Exoplanets. ( http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2010.0592 ).

Viking Did Find Evidence of Organic Material 30 Years Ago!

NASA re-examine the Viking 1 & 2 Lander science findings recently. Scientists conducted a new experiment on Mars-like soil and discovered that Viking did indeed discover organic material 30 years ago.

Prompted by a August 2008 discovery of some powerful oxygen-busting compounds called perchlorates at the landing site of the Mars Phoenix probe landing site.

Quote: Scientists repeated a key Viking experiment using perchlorate-enhanced soil from Chile's Atacama Desert, which is considered one of the driest and most Mars-like places on Earth, and found telltale fingerprints of combusted organics -- the same chemicals Viking scientists dismissed as contaminants from Earth.

"Contrary to 30 years of perceived wisdom, Viking did detect organic materials on Mars," planetary scientist Christopher McKay, with NASA's Ames Research Center in California, told Discovery News. "It's like a 30-year-old cold case suddenly solved with new facts." End quote.

For more information, please read the article. Link below.

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Ref.

1. Discovery.com. "VIKING FOUND ORGANICS ON MARS, EXPERIMENT CONFIRMS" by Irene Klotz. January 4, 2011. (http://news.discovery.com/space/viking-mars-organics-experiment.html).

Forty-One Years Ago...

Forty-One Years Ago...

Forty-one years ago humans took their first step on another world and our universe changed. I was NINE years old when this took place. I am FIFTY years old today as I write this blog. And I feel like we have not done a damn thing since.

There was the space truck (i.e the Space Shuttle). Then EVENTUALLY, there was a orbital space station for the space truck to go too. Along the way, we lost two of those dump trucks and on the last one, I lost a former Air Force ROTC classmate who was the commander of that ill-fated mission. I remember I was in a light sleep that morning when I heard the sonic booms and I thought, "Uh oh. Some poor SOB out of Clovis (New Mexico) is going to get their ass chewed out when they return to base.

Forty-One years have passed...and I feel like we still haven't done a damn thing but spin our wheels so to speak. One study after another study. Just enough for the politicians to get through another election cycle and NASA not to do anything really important as far as Manned Space Flight goes.

I fear now that I will not live long enough to see Man land on Mars. I really, really hate that feeling. I really hope that I am wrong on that.

Forty-One Years Ago...

Buzz's Plan

The following appeared on the Coast to Coast Am website..

Aldrin's Space Vision

May 31, 2010

Howard Bloom and Jason Louv share this graphic (click on to view larger) & description which outlines Buzz Aldrin's Unified Space Vision (recently discussed on our Space Roundtable Show):

America's future is in the skies. So is the future of all mankind. Here, says Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, is where we will make humanity multi-planetary. Step one is to develop a private sector space taxi that can take humans to the International Space Station and bring them back – inexpensively. Step two is a permanent exploration vehicle that stays in space, a vehicle we can use to shuttle back and forth from moon orbit to earth orbit, or that we can use to reach the resources of the sky – the trillions of dollars worth of platinum, lithium, gallium and more in asteroids, or in the massive flying snowballs of potential rocket fuel called comets.

Step three is to develop a heavy lift vehicle that can get large amounts of cargo into space for a lower cost than the $14,000/lb we've spent in the past. Step four is to lead an international effort with China, India, Russia, Japan and Europe to develop the raw materials for steel, glass, microchips, tourism and energy on the moon.

Step five, use our deep space exploration vehicle for a new first for the human race – landing on asteroids and comets. Step six, we build a habitat on Mars' moon Phobos. A base from which we can explore and build on the Martian surface. And finally, we create man's first presence on Mars. All of Buzz Aldrin’s Unified Space Vision is doable within the president's new space program. The goal? Take the resource load off of earth. Bring space to life by bringing life to space. On behalf of the entire human race.

I am starting to have serious doubts about our country and if we have what it takes to stick with a program - any program now that deals with manned spaceflight. Buzz Aldrin's plan sounds great - but do the American people now have what it takes to FORCE their politicians to follow their will or not? Maybe that answer can be discovered in November, 2010!

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Ref. Coast to Coast Am website. May 31, 2010.

Asteroid 24 Themis may have frost on it.

Asteroid 24 Themis, a 100 mile wide lone rock between Mars and Jupiter in the asteroid belt. But even more important, scientist found organic molecules in the scattered lightwaves bounching off the asteroid.

Hydrogen and oxygen and bits of water are locked in clay has been the theory up until 24 Themis appears to have proven right.

For more details, please the artilces from any of the links presented below.

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REf, BBC April 29, 2010 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10090128.stm).

Comcast, April 29, 2010. by Seth Borenstein (http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20100428/US.SCI.Icy.Asteroid/).

Phobos is Ancient Spaceship in Orbit of Mars.

Phobos is an ancient spaceship in orbit around the planet Mars. Basically this is what some scientists and even former astronaut Buzz Aldrin appear to be say. In fact, Buzz takes any opening he can get to push the need for a trip to Phobos.

From Richard C. Hoagland's Enterprise Mission, the latest theory about Mars's moon Phobos being a hollow out asteroid due to two separate observations from two different government spacecraft.

Its impression that is why President Obama kinda reverse himself and says that the US will still go out into the solar system, but in baby steps.

Image of Phobos is from his website. And please read both parts of this story on the Enterprise Mission website.

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Ref. "For the World is Hollow.. And I have Touched the Sky" parts 1 & 2 (http://www.enterprisemission.com/Phobos.html) & (http://www.enterprisemission.com/Phobos2.html).

Obama & Congress to Work on a Mars Plan NASA Chief Says

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden-a former shuttle craft commander, spared with senators concerning the agency's fiscal 2011 budget. Congress is pushing for specific missions and deadlines. They (the Obama administration) has drawn opposition for plans to scrap the Moon return and Mars mission for long-range goals.

So far, about all we got out of the administration is an expansion of robotic exploration of Mars.

I want to quote two sections from Seth Borenstein's article that was posted on comcast.net: And while the new NASA plan includes extra money — $6 billion over five years — for private spaceships and developing new rocket technology, NASA shouldn't be just about spending, the senators said. It should be about John F. Kennedy-like vision.

"Resources without vision is a waste of time and money," Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said, calling the Obama space plan a "radical change of vision and approach." He vowed to fight the plan "with every ounce of energy I have."

And former chief astronaut Robert "Hoot" Gibson said the new plan "has no clear path, no destination, no milestones and no program focus."

And this quote: That is why he said the new NASA plan invests in developing in-orbit fuel depots, inflatable spaceship parts, new types of propulsion and other technology.

Bolden would not even guess when NASA would try to send astronauts to Mars, but said the technology NASA is studying could cut the trip to the Red Planet from three months to a matter of days if it works.

"We're oh-so-close, but we've got to invest in that technology," Bolden testified. end quote of article.

New technology huh? Anti-matter? That's going to take longer to develop I afraid than conventional means of travelling back to the Moon and to Mars.

Maybe Bolden is hanging his space helment on VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket). I would if I was him. It would make for a quicker trip to Mars to go with that engine technology. In October 2008, the VX-200 prototype achieved ful power using Argon as propellant in the Ad Astra's Houston laboratory.

VASIMR video at full power in 2009.

But, just what are you going to hang the VASIMR onto? Now this is where Orion as a test vehicle makes sense to me.

Or, another off-the-wall idea I had was to convert one of the space shuttles into a deep space exploration craft. Basically, you cut the wings off since the vehicle will never again return to the surface of Earth. Instead, it will be "home ported" at the International Space Station. This new craft will be launched in the normal space shuttle fashion and dock with the ISS. Replacement (fully fueled) fuel tanks will be launched up to the ISS and mated to the shuttle where the wings used to be, whenever it needed for a mission. The payload bay will contain the docking adaptor, airlock, and the pressurized mission module. The flight deck would be gutted and all the avionics developed for Orion will now be installed in this new exploration craft.

Now THAT type of craft I envision would benefit from the VASIMR technology.

UPDATE: February 26, 2010- Blue Origin, the outfit that Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos created announced on Space.com additional information on their New Shepard, a Vertical Take-Off and Landing rocket. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35603622/ns/technology_and_science-space/).

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Ref. Business Week. February 24, 2010. "Obama Will Work With Congress on Mars Plan, NASA Chief Says" by Jeff Bliss.(http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-24/obama

-will-work-with-congress-on-mars-plan-nasa-chief-says.html).

comcast.net, February 25, 2010. by Seth Borenstein (AP).

(http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20100224/US.SCI.NASA.Hearing/).

NASA website, anti-matter (http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/antimatter_spaceship.html).

VASIMR (http://spacefellowship.com/news/art7153/plasma-rocket-engine-vasimr-vx-200-first-stage-achieves-full-power-rating.html).

Private Sector Space Dreams

The American bureaucracy of which NASA is a part of, has by force of congressional decree and presidential inattention except in election years, become affraid to take any bold moves in manned spaceflight.

They talk a good game, the public takes it hook, line, and sinker, and nothing really ever becomes of it. The shuttle was just suppose to be a part of a shuttle-station program. Towards the end of its career, it finally did that job. But in the beginning, it was nothing more than a glorified dump truck.

And it was paid for by the American taxpayer.

Back in the 1990s, there was a chance to replace the shuttle with a newer spacecraft. The VentureStar from Lochkeed Martin or the DC-X vertical take-off/landing, single-stage to orbit spacecraft. The DC-X was a sub-scale, flight tested piece of hardware. The VentureStar was a computer animation only. Guess which one the Clinton Administration went with? That's right: VentureStar.

Then Columbia broke up on reentry.

President Bush proposed shutting down the shuttle program and replacing it with the Apollo on steroids program known as Constellation. Now President Obama will cancel even that and hope that the private sector will take over.

Well, I (slightly) agree with President Obama that it would be better for the private sector to come into its own as far as transporting folks up into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). But, the government should have kept the Constellation Program going.

I remember in a Air Force ROTC classroom in my college days, my instructor was describing the problem faced by FDR in the Pacific War. He had General MacArthur promoting a campaign that would go through the Philippines. Admiral Nimitz wanted to go straight across the Pacific to the China coast cutting the Japanese supply line in two.

President Roosvelt decided that it would be in the best interest of the war effort to go with BOTH strategys.

I submit to the reader that the same thing could have been applied to the Constellation Program. I'm on record opposing the idea of Super-Apollo, but NO American manned spaceflight program is even worse to think about.

So where this this lead us to? Private Space Industry.

In fact, I think it is going to be up to men like Bigelow and Rutan to get American civilians back up into space (without government aid). And more important, get them to the surface of the moon and back to Earth on a regular flight schedule.

Eventually, a lunar base will be built. And maybe then, NASA will get funding from Congress to lease a base on the moon.

So, are there enough deep pockets in the worldwide civilian sector to make it possible for the non-government space program to make it to the moon and Mars ? And do it before the Chinese gets there.

Check out the article "Moon dreams" from The Economist website(February 18, 2010) for the article that inspired me to write this posting.

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Ref. The Economist, February 18, 2010, "Private-sector space flight. Moon dreams" (http://www.economist.com/science-technology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15543675).

Water Found on Both Moon and Mars

September 23, 2009. NASA announches that there are small amounts of water on the surface of the moon. For years, scientists thought that previous spacecraft might have had slight contamination from Earth and had sent back misleading indications that they had found water on the moon. It has long been suspected that there might be frozen ice in deep craters where sunlight never gets to them at the poles.

Planetary geologist Carle Pieters of Brown University said the following, "Widespread water has been detected on the surafce of the moon. What we're detecting is completely unexpected. The moon continues to surprise us."

Recent observations by several spacecraft such as the Indian Chandrayaan-1 satellite, NASA's Cassini, and NASA's Deep Impact probe have forced the world's scientists to reconsider what they know about the lunar surface. All three of these spacecraft detected the spectral signature of water (the wavelengths of light that it reflects) all across the lunar surface. The signal was strongest at the lunar poles. Signal strength also depended on the local lunar day.

"The entire surafce of the moon will be hydrated durning at least part of the lunar day." So says Jessica Sunshine, University of Maryland and the deputy principal investigator for NASA's Deep Impact extended mission and the co-investigator for the Moon Mineralogy Mapper(M3) which is carried by the Indian satellite Chandrayaan-1.

What form the water takes on the lunar surface is nto clear yet although several theories are now being developed. It is seeping from underground (and or former lunar underground ruins according to Richard C. Hoagland-guest Science Advisor to the Coast to Coast Am radio program).

And the findings keep coming in-the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the LCROSS impactor are set to explore the lunar south pole craters looking for water ice. The fluctuating signals seen throughout the day could indicate that the water is migrating across the surface toward colder, higher latitudes and eventually the poles.

Pieters are putting forth the theory that "If the water molecules are as mobile as we think they are - even a fraction of them - they provide a mechanism for getting water to those permanently shadowed craters."

There is similar migration seen on Jupiter's moon Ganymeded and on Saturn's moon Iapetus.

As for Mars, the news was just as good. NASA reports that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted ice at five new Martain craters, likely kicked up by meteor impacts. Megan Kennedy of the Malin Space Science Systems of San Diego said, "We now know we can use new impact sites as probes to look for ice in the shallow subsurface."

"This ice is a relic of a more humid climate from perhaps just several thousand years ago." Shane Byrne of the University of Arizona added.

The robot exploreres on ars have found ice on the surface before. Planetary scientists have seen what might be the shores of a giant river and seas on Mars. Louis Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society said the following, "This is a real water resource."

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REF. Reuters.com. Chris Wilson, September 24, 2009. (http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2436167620090924)

Space.com. September 24, 2009. Andrea Thompson (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090924-moon-water-reaction.html).

One-Way Ticket to Mars Idea

This is a must read article by anyone who is interested in Mars and someday going there. I'm no scientist, but I sure can help out with building a colony there.

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Ref. "A One-Way Ticket to Mars" by Lawrence M. Krauss. Aug. 31, 2009. Op-Ed New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/opinion/01krauss.html?_r=2)

One Year and One Month in the Blogosphere

WOW-

I cannot believe that I overlooked my one year anniversary in the blogosphere!

My first blog - Aerospace, Technology, Paranormal and UFOs news was created on July 26, 2008.

So this posting is actually the 1 year, and a few days shy of its 1 month anniversary for this blog. Just goes to show you that live and time moves on and one is caught up in the day-to-day struggles of living in what passes for the 21st century now.

We STILL have not sent anyone BACK to the moon nor landed humans on the planet Mars yet. Due to the recent findings of the President's commission on returning humans to the moon and the answer we got back that at current budget levels - we'll never get anyone back to the moon by 2028 even let alone 2020. This is the primary reason that I posted the "Gone" Barack Obama countdown clock widget on my blogs. Plus the fact that the political party in the United States that were (formerly) known as the Democrat Party - have taken the path of self-destruction by trying to force this country to move into the Socialist camp. Maybe I ought to say Socialist Labor Camp.

As for my personal life - still "officially" homeless. Working full time and cannot even afford a so-call cheap apartment in a city like Lubbock, Texas. If I ever get into a apartment - I'm more scare of not being able to ever have enough money saved up to get back into my own house again. I will become a permanent member of the wage-slave class. Like I'm not apart of it already - but play along with me for now ok?

I still plan on getting a repo mobile home if I can just get a bank to back me up. I don't want to keep spending my money to make other people rich. I want a house back on my own land again. A place that I can stay home all day. Sleep in late on my days off. To be able to watch a DVD whenever I damn well wish too. To have a fenced in yard to once again have a dog as a pet. It is amazing the simple pleasures one misses when they are gone.

As it is now, on my days off. I have to make plans to visit several bookstores or restaurants that have wi-fi capability to let me go online. Or visit friends to use their shower. As it is now, that is actually using up more cash than having my own place to stay in.

A real vicious Catch-22. Which is part of the reason that I totally forgot about the one year anniversary of this blog.

I now return you to your regulary running blog.

Thank you!

P.S. After I posted the above article, I thought about checking on how much money I have earned with google so far since this blog (and the others) were created. For the past year, the combine total of all three blogs have genereated the following amount... $5.69. And I will not get paid until I reach the $100.00 dollar mark. At this rate, I'll be 65 years old by the time I get that first check. Just a FYI.

Life On Mars-2009! And Airbus 320 Ditches in the Hudson River

The photograph that I nabbed off of the Drudge Report reflects this posting to a T.

NASA released the news about methane gas emissions (with either a geological or biological source). NASA Scientist Michael Mumma of the Goddard Space Flight Center said, “This raises the probability substantially that life was there or still survives at the present. We think the probability is much higher now based on this evidence.”

It is thought that the organisms that produce the gas emissions – is as large as some of those seen on Earth. What happens on Earth can happen on Mars as well. The hardy organisms still survive on the Red Planet, living underground without sunlight and using hydrogen from water for energy. Methane produced by water action on hot, carbon bearing rocks, such as in volcanic regions on Earth (this is the alternative explanation).

This implies that there is Martian microbes alive today. The methane gas is found in the same region as clouds of water vapor – the vital element needed to support life. The experts think that the methane is being emitted as a waste product by organisms called methanogens living in water beneath underground ice. They would have to still be alive today since the methane gas would have been lost from the Martian atmosphere. Methane is a by product of biology. For methane to be in Mars' atmosphere, there has to be a replenishable source.

John Murray is a member of the Mars Express European space probe team – believes the Martain microbes maybe in a form of suspended animation and could even be revived. When a reporter asked Michael Mumma if this really was life, he replied that he was “forbidden” from speaking further on that aspect of the story. Implying there will soon be additional details released on this matter.

While I consider the news about Life on Mars to be more important, another aviation event took place today. That being the US Airways Airbus 320, Flight 1549, ditching into the Hudson River after getting hit by a flock of birds. Two bird strikes (I.e. One engine knocked out due to a bird strike, and since the A320 has two engine, it suffered a two bird strike). All 155 passengers and crew survived the ditching and were rescued by the Coast Guard and other boats and ferries in the river.

Veteran pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, a 29-year verteran of US Airways and a former USAF fighter pilot who flew F-4s, was the right guy at the right place at the right time. Captain Sullenberger is also the president of Safety Reliability Methods. A California safety consulting firm.

New York Governor David Paterson said at a news conference, “We have a heroic pilot who saved himself and 154 other passengers. We've had a Miracle on 34th Street and now I believe we've had a miracle on the Hudson.”

According to the FAA, there were 79,972 incidents of bird strikes from 1990-2007. Of that nubmer, 9,087 caused damage to aircraft.

One of the passengers reported that he heard a explosion two to three minutes into the flight, looked out the left side window to see the port engine on fire.

A Interesting Two Week in Aerospace News
by shanksow

Mars Moon Phobos More of a Pile of Rubble-from Space.com article by Clara Moskowitz posted on October 16, 2008. (www.space.com/scienceastronomy/081016-mars-moon-rubble.html).

The largest of Mars two moons might be more of a collection of rubble than a single body. Quoting Pascal Rosenblatt of the Royal Observatory of Belgium who is a member of the Mars Express Radio Science team. The mass and volume information allowed researchers to reckon Phobos' density, and the scientists found that the moon is not solid, but probably filled with giant caverns. Researchers call this kind of body, which is basically a clump of rocks held together by gravity, a rubble pile.

The density of Phobos is 1.85 grams per cubic centimeter (0.067 pounds per cubic inch) – is lower than the density of Martian surface rocks. Their density is anywhere between 2.7 to 3.3 grams per cubic centimeter (0.098 to 0.119 pounds per cubic inch). Its (Phobos) density is more like that of the asteroids and its sister moon Deimos. In other words, its doubtful that the two moons were formed out of Mars itself.

There will be a Russian mission launched in 2009 to check out Phobos specifically; its called Phobos-Grunt mission.


V-22 Osprey Doing Well is Iraq Operations-from comcast.net news (www.comcast.net/articles/news-world/20081020/ML.Iraq.Bats.from.Hell/)

After twenty plus years of development, the V-22 Osprey is operational and the Marines that are flying the machine call it a “Bat out of Hell.” It doesn't carry the same firepower as the old CH-46 Sea-Knight helicopters, but that is offset by the Osprey's higher speed. The one major complaint appears to be that there is no firepower fixed up forward, the aircraft carries a machine gun that is fired from out of the rear of the tilt-rotor.

Other critics of the V-22 cite the soaring costs of the aircraft - $100 million per unit when you factor in the research and development costs. The Osprey has been flying in Iraq since September 2007. With the Osprey, new tactics have been developed to maximize the positives of the machine. Come in high to avoid ground fire, the drop into the landing zone. The Ospreys currently operate out of Asad air base.

If the tilt-rotor is hit in one of its engines, the other can still power the other rotor for auto-rotation to land safely if needed.

WATER FOUND ON MARS!

WATER FOUND ON MARS!

It was announched yesterday (July 31, 2008) that the Phoenix Lander on the planet Mars had indeed discovered water when the sample was tested in one of the lander's mini ovens.

Great news for those of us who support the idea of colonization of outer space and of the moon and Mars. I will add additional details to this posting over the weekend as time permits.