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.

NASA Renegades and the Jupiter Direct System

Been hearing about this fable NASA Engineers underground for awhile now. Renegades who have come up with a better design system for the space shuttle replacement than the establishment's Aries series of rockets. Currently referred to as the Jupiter 120 or the follow-on Jupiter 232 (Jupiter Direct). In fact, the Jupiter 232 would have more “throw” weight that the planned Aries V rocket. And all this with using more of the shuttle hardware and current generation of Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) used in the shuttle program. And if given financial approval by spring of 2009, the first Jupiter could be ready for launch by 2013. Thus – there would only be a three year gab in U.S. Manned spaceflight operations instead of the currently planned five year gap. After reading the article in the latest Popular Mechanics (February 2009), I visited the website and joined up there to get more information.

Then again, the “Jupiter” project is the latest version ever since the space shuttle first flew of various launch vehicles that could launch heavier payloads than the shuttle could. EELV anybody?

So, now we have the Orion/Aries system and it seems like everybody except the bureaucrats in the NASA headquarters have complaints about the design of the Aries. Instead of using a regular Solid Rocket Booster(SRB), they added another fifth segment to create the Aries I, or as it was referred to on the website, “The Stick.” Instead of re-using the main engines off the shuttle, the J-2X would have to be developed and man-rated for the second stage booster.

The argument that I am seeing is that we should go with the Jupiter Direct over the Aries system and I am all for that. But knowing that the fix is in Washington D.C., that is not going to happen. They got their blinders on and logic is not going to change their minds.

So, what else is new with Washington?

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Ref. Popular Mechanics cover story “NASA & Its Discontents” by David Noland, February 2009. cover story. Pages 50-57. (image with this post comes from Popular Mechanics website).
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/ website & forum.

Morristown, New Jersey, UFO(January 05, 2009)

Morristown, New Jersey had some aerial visitors on January 5, 2009. Strange red blinking lights in the nightime sky between 8:30 and 9:00pm.

The strange lights were reported by the Hurley family in Whippany and they photograph the event and then contacted WCBSTV.com. Eleven-year-old Kristin was the first one in the family to spot the group of three lights at first. Then two more were spotted. They were flying low to the horizon and were spotted through the trees. Mr. Paul Hurley, who is a pilot and works at the Morristown Airport stated that what they saw were not airplanes. “I've been in aviation for 20 years and never seen anythings like it.” he told the CBS reporter. Mr. Hurley contacted the Morristown Airport control tower and was told that they had also been spotted by them, but that the lights had not interfered with normal flight operations. Between the airport officials and Morristown Police, they chalked it up to some sort of prank like flares attached to helium ballons.

But the five red lights were first spotted over Cedar Knolls and then as they closed in on Madison/Morris Township border, the rear half of the formation slowly faded out. The leading element, or front three also then faded out of sight.

The Hurleys were not the only ones to have spotted the lights. Several other people also had the same idea of contacting the WCBSTV.com website.

UPDATE (April 3, 2009):  IT was all a hoax.  You can read about it here ( http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/labnotes/archive/2009/04/01/the-great-ufo-hoax-of-2009.aspx)

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Ref. News article by John Slattery. ( http://wcbstv.com/local/strange.lights.ufo.2.901376.html )

The Typealyzer Blog Software

I discovered this over on Lt. Nixon Rants blog ( http://ltnixonrants.blogspot.com/2009/01/typealyzer-makes-blogging-even-more.html ) and tried it out. Basically, if you want to discover who the person is who is creating the blog that you are reading, just type (or better yet, copy and paste) the url into the Typealyzer and find out. Its in Beta testing right now or so I assume by looking at the main page (I'm going to post the results of this on both of my blogs).

My first blog, the http://aerospacedreams.blogspot.com means that I am (by the Typealyzer anyway) as a: ISTP – The Mechanics. This is a independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attunded to the demands of the moment and are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

As for my second blog, the http://flash255bunker.blogspot.com means that I am (by the Typealyzer anyway) as a: ESTP – The Doers. The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking, and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Give it a try and have some fun with it. Here is the link for it ( http://www.typealyzer.com/ ).

Classic UFO Drawing I Did

Here is a classic UFO drawing I did recently. If you want to use it, be sure to give me the credit for it as well as a link back to my blog here as well.

Obama: Pentagon and NASA To Work Ever Closer

In a article posted to Bloomberg.com (on January 02, 2009) and later on Drudge Report.com (where I found out about it); President-elect Barack Obama wants the Pentagon and NASA to work together to speed up a mission to the moon to counter what many preceive to be a new space race - between China and the United States of America. As a part of this effort to boost coperation between the two govermental agencies, the Obama team is promising to revive the National Aeronautics and Space Council which was in effect back in the First Space race era (basically from 1958 to 1973). The photograph above is of China's first space walk last year.

The Obama transition team is looking into a collaboraton between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)because the rockets used my the military are cheaper and more readly availiable than the space agency's planned Orion/Aries launch system. The later isn't expected to fly until around 2015 - five years after the shuttles are to be ground according to the rules that the President George W. Bush administration set into place.

One doesn't have to be in the Defense Department nor a Pentagon planner to be concerned over China's space ambitions. DoD is more concern over the fact of China's anti-satellite warfare capablitiy than if they land on the moon. But the technology to get to the moon such as in-orbit rendevous and docking, have our DoD sleeping less these nights.

The Pentagon's space budget is several times larger than the NASA budget. In the article, it was quoted as being about $22 billion for fiscal year 2008. That money, the Obama team sees, can be tapped in order to get the Orion/Aries moving quicker to flight status. And the Pentagon is actually in support of combining launch vehicles. NASA hasn't spoken with the Pentagon over man rating the Delta IV and or the Atlas V rockets built by United Launch Alliance (a joint venture of Boeing and Bethesda, which is a Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp.). The Delta IV and the Atlas V are designed for launching satellites.

One would think that it would not take too much time to man rate the newest generation of the Atlas booster. The Delta series has never launched a human occuplied space capsule. It would take longer to man rate it than the Atlas V.

As it current stands, China will be able to get their people to the moon before we can get back there. China space agency currently plans on testing a auto-docking system in 2010.

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Ref. article "Obama Moves to Counter China with Pentagon-NASA Link Part 1."by Demian McLean ( http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOvrNO0OJ41g&refer=worldwide )

Happy New Year 2009!

Just wanted to get off to a great new start for 2009.