Saturn

I took this modest photo of Saturn in the summer of 1996 from Boston. It's not bad considering I was using an old 6" refractor with sluggish tracking and an ancient camera. Thankfully, Saturn gives up it's major detail with even the most limited magnification. The rings are easily visible as the protrusions on either side of the disk. While you could never claim to see the Cassini division (a gap in the rings) in this photo, you can still get a sense of the delicate structure of the rings. This image is probably along the lines of what Galileo saw through his early telescope in 1610. He described Saturn's "ears", which were of course the rings.

Shuttle update

All is well with STS-121, the second shuttle flight since the loss of Columbia. The shuttle has been docked with the International Space Station for several days now and the astronauts have transferred new equipment onto the station and have performed a series of spacewalks and re-entry safety checks on the shuttle orbiter itself. NASA has officially green lighted a return to Earth on monday, as planned. However, the orbiter will be examined again before re-entry for any damage inflicted by micrometeoroids or space junk (tiny man-made debris orbiting Earth and not so tiny decommissioned satellites). Obviously the astronauts would sense any impact with something as large as a satellite, but the small stuff is very worrisome because it can create nearly undetectable damage to the orbiter. However, it would appear that the shuttle is in perfect health for a monday return to Earth.

To see some unbelievable video of the separation of a solid rocket booster from the shuttle during launch, head to the NASA homepage. The video is 12 minutes long, but stick with it, the separation is fantastic and the subsequent descent of the SRB back to Earth and finally into the ocean is a unique look into the operational lifetime of a shuttle launch component.

China moon

We learned last week that China intends to put a man on the moon in 2024. I posted a few months back about American intentions for sending men back to the moon by 2018. Assuming all schedules hold, we will easily beat China to the moon. Of course, this isn't a race, at least not like the one we were in with the Soviet Union in the 1960s.

The Chinese space program has a fairly long history and had various points of contact with the Soviet space program. While Chinese launch vehicles and crew capsules are largely homegrown, the Chinese space program is rooted in the communist camaraderie of China and the former Soviet Union. So, what can we expect from China? The Soviets never put a man on the moon, but they came closer than most of the American public realizes. If not for the death of their foremost rocket engineer, Sergei Korolev, in 1966, the Soviets might have beaten us. Imagine how the American space program might have fared if Wernher von Braun had died in 1966. The Soviet space program also managed to kill a few hundred engineers, launch site mechanics, and a few cosmonauts during the push for the moon with catastrophic rocket failures that were covered up for decades. China of course subscribes to state secrecy and has a recent history of success at all costs. Thankfully the 24 hour news cycle and availability of satellite reconnaissance should blunt any attempts at hiding launch failures and any associated loss of life. Regardless, the Chinese space program is robust and if their recent economic aspirations offer any clue, their space program is being pursued with equal or greater vigor.

China and the United States have wary relations, but at the moment there is no reason for either nation to feel threatened by the other. I hope that relationship holds for the foreseeable future such that our mutual efforts to reach the moon can be accomplished in each nation's own time. Mankind's first exploration of the moon was largely driven by political posturing and ideological conflict. I would like to think that in the 50 years that will pass between the last time we were on the moon and the next, we can all go there simply because we want to.

the battle

The article below was featured in National Geographic in May 2006.


When Science and Politics Clash

by Joel Achenbach

Last fall, many people asked a simple question: Did global warming cause Hurricane Katrina?

Here's a complicated answer: Global warming hasn't caused any specific storm. There is no evidence that it has changed the number of hurricanes. But there is new data showing that, as seas have warmed in recent decades, tropical cyclones, such as hurricanes, have become more intense. So no, but yes.

But before anyone fires off an angry email , we need to remember that global warming is both a scientific and political topic, and science and politics don't mix well. Science deals with tentative conclusions, and politics in absolutes. Science is invariably an enterprise built on uncertainty, and people who make policy decisions see uncertainty as a reason to do nothing at all (or to demand more studies).

Journalist Bill McKibben, writing recently in the New York Review of Books, laments the "overhedged" scientific reports about global warming and argues that journalists in general have "proved unequal to the task of separating scientific consensus from minor or trivial dissent." In almost any debate that incorporates science, they tend to give equal time to both sides of every argument (which is like giving five minutes to those who say the Earth is round and five to those who say it's flat). It happens with the whole issue of global warming. Almost all scientists are persuaded that human activity is altering climate in a perceptible way. But there's always a maverick voice demanding airtime and ink.

Now consider hurricanes again. In the fall of 2004, after four hurricanes had struck Florida, Kerry Emanuel, an MIT climatologist, said that there was no evidence that hurricanes were either more numerous or more intense. But there was evidence-buried in unexamined data. Emanuel found it himself over the next year. "I hadn't looked at the data carefully enough," Emanuel says. "We believed that if there was a global warming signal, it wouldn't be detectable yet in the data."

In August 2005, just before Katrina, Emanuel published a paper showing that since the 1970s there has been a marked increase in the intensity and duration of tropical storms, including North Atlantic hurricanes. Then in September, right after Katrina, a different group of scientists published similar findings.

Theories are always being tested. This is just how science works. All the more reason for citizens to become as scientifically literate as possible-to figure out where the center of gravity is in any given debate. Because at some point, a scientific civilization has to take action, uncertainties notwithstanding.

"At what point in the evolution of uncertainty does one choose to act?", Emanuel asks. Good question. How about now.

Boston moon

I took the picture on the left in August 1996 from the rooftop observatory at Boston University. I got into astrophotography late in my undergraduate studies and thankfully had great teachers in the observatory curator and a fellow student. This photo was taken the old fashioned way, with chemical film that actually had to be developed. I used an old shutter camera mounted on an even older refractor telescope with a 6.5 inch primary lens (see the telescope above). Most photography of the moon requires only a 1/35 second exposure, the same as typical everyday photography. There are some great lunar features captured in this photo that are worth pointing out. The well defined crater at the top right with the central peak is Crater Theophilus, about 60 miles across. The central peak was formed when the lunar crust, punched in by the impactor, "rebounded". Theophilus has taken a bite out of Crater Cyrillus, just to the left. The crater down and to the left of Cyrillus is Catharina, which has two smaller craters inside it. The relatively smooth area to the right of the 3 main craters is Mare Nectaris, a large impact region that filled with magma following a violent impact. The mare regions are some of the youngest regions on the moon (a couple billion years old) and this is why they show fewer craters. Notice Crater Fracastorius just beneath Nectaris that is filled with mare material. The mare poured over the crater rim and filled it in. I could go on for pages describing things in this image, but I'll stop here. Whenever I get a telescope I fully intend to get back into astrophotography, and I particularly look forward to using digital cameras.

summer solstice

Summer solstice 2006 occurred at 12:26 UTC time today, June 21. To an observer at the intersection of the Prime Meridian and the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees north latitude) the sun was directly overhead at 12:26 local time. Every other location along the Tropic of Cancer will find the sun directly over head at their local noon. Regardless, today is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Summer is officially here.

STS-121

The second space shuttle flight since the loss of Columbia is scheduled for July 1. Shuttle missions have been delayed nearly a year to allow for design changes to the shuttle's external fuel tank insulation system. Falling foam debris from the external fuel tank damaged the Columbia orbiter and resulted in the breakup of the vehicle during re-entry in 2003. Following initial design changes, foam debris was still a persistent problem during the first launch of the shuttle since Columbia in July 2005. Additional design changes bring us up to date, with the launch of shuttle Discovery on mission STS-121 July 1. During this mission, the shuttle will dock with the International Space Station and test some of the new safety measures that have been put in place since the Columbia accident. For one, the exterior of the shuttle will be inspected for launch damage using a new laser detection system shortly before re-entry.

From left to right are Michael Fossum, Thomas Reiter, Mark Kelley, Steven Lindsey, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, and Piers Sellers.

Hawking on space

The most visible physicist in the world has voiced his opinion on the future of mankind. Stephen Hawking, the British astrophysicist who made a name for himself with theoretical studies of black holes and the nature of space and time, believes that mankind's long term survival will require travel to space and other worlds. As has become somewhat customary in these days of terrorism and global warming, Hawking is concerned about the present state of man on Earth and our future here. He argues that the human race is more and more likely to annihilate itself or be annihilated by natural disasters. As a result, we must strike out into space to ensure our survival. I think Professor Hawking is being a little pessimistic about our future here on Earth, but I am certainly happy to hear one of mankind's intellectual elite casting a vote for furthering space exploration.

the Flammarion woodcut

The above woodcut was commissioned sometime in the 1870s by Camille Flammarion, a French astronomer. The image first appeared in a Flammarion publication in 1888 and through some historical confusion was eventually mistaken as an image of Medieval origin, depicting the flat Earth and heaven. In all likelihood, the intent was to show man's emerging knowledge of celestial mechanics.

Antikythera Mechanism

The following article is not greatly informative, after all we really don't know what the Antikythera Mechanism really did, but it is interesting and reminds us to appreciate the considerable astronomical understanding of ancient peoples.





Ancient Astronomy Artifact Bears Hidden Text

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

June 8, 2006— A shoebox-sized bronze device scooped out of a Roman-era shipwreck at the dawn of the 20th century has baffled scientists for years. Now a British researcher has stunningly established it as the world's oldest surviving astronomy computer.

A team of Greek and British scientists probing the secrets of the artifact, known as the Antikythera Mechanism, has managed to decipher ancient Greek inscriptions unseen for over 2,000 years, members of the project say.

"Part of the text on the machine, over 1,000 characters, had already been deciphered, but we have succeeded in doubling this total," said physician Yiannis Bitsakis.

Bitsakis is part of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from universities in Athens, Salonika and Cardiff, the Athens National Archaeological Museum and the Hewlett-Packard company.

"We have now deciphered 95 percent of the text," he told AFP.

Scooped out of a Roman shipwreck in 1900 by sponge divers near the southern Greek island of Antikythera, and kept at the Athens National Archaeological Museum, the Mechanism contains over 30 bronze wheels and dials, and is covered in astronomical inscriptions.

Probably once operated by crank, it survives in three main pieces and some smaller fragments.

"(The device) could calculate the position of certain stars, at least the Sun and Moon, and perhaps predict astronomical phenomena," said astrophysicist Xenophon Moussas of Athens University.

"It was probably rare, if not unique," he added.

The rarity of the Antikythera Mechanism precluded its removal from the museum, so an eight-ton "body scanner" had to be assembled onsite for the privately-funded project, which used three-dimensional tomography to expose the unseen inscriptions.

The first appraisal of the artifact's purpose was put forward in the 1960s by British science historian Derek Price, but the latest discovery raises more questions.

"It is a puzzle concerning astronomical and mathematical knowledge in antiquity," said Moussas. "The Mechanism could actually rewrite certain chapters in this area."

"The challenge is to place this device into a scientific context, as it comes almost out of nowhere... and flies in the face of established theory that considers the ancient Greeks were lacking in applied technical knowledge," added Bitsakis, also of Athens University.

The researchers are also looking at the broader remains of the Roman ship for clues to the Mechanism's origin.

One theory is that the device was created in an academy founded by the ancient Stoic philosopher Poseidonios on the Greek island of Rhodes.

The writings of first century AD Roman orator and philosopher Cicero, himself a former student of Poseidonios, cite a device with similarities to the Mechanism.

"Like Alexandria, Rhodes was a great centre of astronomy at the time," said Moussas. "The boat where the device was discovered could have been part of a convoy to Rome, bearing treasure looted from the island for the purpose of a triumph parade staged by Julius Caesar."

The new findings are to be discussed at an international congress scheduled to be held in Athens in November.

the next space telescope

Have a look at the James Webb Space Telescope, JWST for short. This is the telescope that is going to replace the Hubble Space Telescope in a few short years. Hubble isn't done yet, and if NASA manages to find enough money for one more shuttle servicing mission before the fleet is retired, Hubble should last us another 3 or 4 years. Of course, that is provided the aging components hold out (Hubble has been orbiting the Earth for 16 years). If component failure doesn't finish Hubble, a decaying orbit eventually will. The Earth's atmosphere slowly drags Hubble into a steadily lower orbit with each passing year. Without shuttle servicing to bump the orbit higher, the telescope will eventually burn up in the atmosphere. The JWST is the next generation space telescope that will carry on where Hubble leaves off. As you might expect, the JWST will be a substantially more advanced telescope than Hubble. JWST will boast a primary mirror about 6 times the size of the mirror on Hubble. The mirror itself is a honeycomb design made of light weight beryllium hexagons as opposed to the single mirror of Hubble. Unlike Hubble, JWST will be looking so deep into space that it is no longer advantageous to work in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The light from such vast distances has lost energy such that the photons now reside in the infrared portion of the spectrum. As a result, JWST will be particularly sensitive to infrared wavelengths. The telescope will orbit beyond the moon in a special gravitational "well" formed from the interaction of the sun, moon, and Earth that will allow it to collect images continuously. Finally, JWST will have a sunshade the size of a tennis court that will protect the sensitive detectors from the sun and assist in cooling the detectors as well. You might wonder how a mirror 6 times the size of Hubble and a sunshade the size of a tennis court can possibly be launched from Earth? JWST will effectively construct itself upon reaching orbit, aligning the hexagonal mirror components and unfurling the sunshade. Truly amazing stuff. JWST is currently slated for a 2013 launch. In case you are wondering who James Webb is, he was the second administrator of NASA and in many ways his stewardship ensured the success of the Apollo program.

golf update

On April 14 I posted about the possibility of a Russian cosmonaut on the International Space Station hitting a golf ball during a space walk. I came out against such a stunt because I don't want to see space activities completely undermined for corporate advertising opportunities. The space walk during which the golf ball was to be hit is happening later tonight. However, as I expected, the golf ball stunt has been scratched from the space walk and postponed to a later date. We don't know why, but my guess is that the schedule of actual mission activities has eaten up the entire 6 hours allotted for the space walk. However, we learned this week that NASA was close to approving the golf ball hit from a safety standpoint but perhaps lingering concerns led to the postponement. Regardless, I'm happy to hear that the repair of an oxygen system, the replacement of a camera, and the retrieval of a contamination monitoring system were given higher priority than a golf ball.

wintering Spirit

The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, roving the surface of Mars for two and a half years, has recently begun an 8 month "wintering" over. Further from the sun than Earth, Mars takes about two terrestrial years to complete a revolution around the sun. As a result, seasons on Mars last about twice as long as on Earth. The Spirit rover, located in the Martian southern hemisphere, finds itself in a tough spot during the Martian winter. As the sun drops lower and lower in the sky, it becomes harder and harder for the solar panels on the rover to produce enough electricity for lengthy operations. At the height of the Martian winter, Spirit is able to perform science operations for about 1 hour each day. In preparation for the Martian winter, the MER team attempts to position Spirit on a north facing slope to maximize the amount of sunlight striking the solar panels. This time around that task proved difficult for a number of reasons. The most significant is that one of Spirit's 6 wheels has stopped functioning. Dragging a dead wheel and low on power, the rover then encountered soft terrain that proved impassable. The original wintering location had to be scrapped in favor of a spot that was easier to reach. Thankfully, Spirit made it to the new location and is parked there now. Spirit will remain in this location for the next 7 months until the sun climbs high enough in the sky to fully power the rover again. Seven months is a long time to sit in one place, but the long hiatus will provide an excellent opportunity to perform long duration studies of the Martian atmosphere and climate at Spirit's location. Already at 8 times it's expected lifetime on the Martian surface, Spirit continues to function despite inevitable deterioration. Here's hoping it survives the long, cold winter.

Non Sequitur

Many thanks to Wiley for bringing the plight of the natural sciences teacher to light back in 1996.

Griffith Observatory reopening

Observatory Reopens in Fall

By John M. Broder

LOS ANGELES, May 10 — The Griffith Observatory, the backdrop for dozens of movies, a favored make-out spot for generations of teenagers and, not to be overlooked, a substantial educational and scientific institution, will reopen this fall after a four-year foundation-to-dome renovation.

While many visitors take the winding drive through Griffith Park to the observatory chiefly for the panorama of the vast city from the promontory where it sits, the observatory also serves as a gateway to the cosmos for at least some of its two million annual visitors.

When it reopens, it will have one of the world's most advanced planetariums and dozens of new astronomy exhibits, as well as the 12-inch telescope and an instrument for tracking the sun that were installed when the observatory first opened in 1935.

The concrete, brass and copper exterior, an amalgam of Art Deco, Beaux-Arts, Greek and Egyptian themes, has been restored to the original 1930's design of Russell W. Porter, an architect and amateur astronomer.

Except for the Hollywood sign just to its west, the observatory is perhaps the city's most recognizable landmark, visible for miles.

Edwin C. Krupp, the scientific director of the observatory since 1974, said the Griffith was the most-visited public observatory in the world, designed to turn the tourists who wandered up to take in the view of the city into observers of the universe.

"It is a familiar icon of Los Angeles," Dr. Krupp said as he led a tour of the unfinished exhibit spaces this week. "It is, in fact, the hood ornament of Los Angeles."

The 4,100-acre Griffith Park, one of the largest urban parks in the nation, was a bequest of Col. Griffith J. Griffith, an eccentric early Los Angeles land buccaneer who was struck by a pang of public-spiritedness before his death in 1919. He financed the construction of the observatory and the nearby Greek Theater and left enough money to assure that admission to the observatory would always be free.

The observatory originally cost $400,000 to build and equip. The renovation will cost $93 million, including $67 million in public money. While the exterior looks basically the same as the original, nearly 40,000 square feet of exhibit and office space has been added by excavating under the front lawn and the west terrace.

The new exhibits include a highly detailed composite photograph of a slice of space that is 150 feet wide and 20 feet high. A million galaxies and a half-million stars are visible in the photograph.

The heart of the observatory remains the 300-seat planetarium, newly equipped with a $7 million Zeiss Mark IX Universarium, the world's most advanced star projector.
But the Griffith is probably better known for its role in films than for its educational mission. The observatory has appeared in scores of movies, including Arnold Schwarzenegger's original "Terminator" and Disney's "Rocketeer," as well as a 1995 episode of "Star Trek: Voyager." Just west of the observatory is a bust of James Dean, noting the building's co-starring role in the knife-fight scene in "Rebel Without a Cause."

"We've been in so many movies we ought to have a star on Hollywood Boulevard," Dr. Krupp said.

Before the observatory shut down in early 2002 for the renovation, Dr. Krupp recalled, he asked visitors what they would miss most about the place. The view, they answered.

Magnificent Desolation

We saw the IMAX 3-D film Magnificent Desolation this past weekend at the California ScienCenter. The film is a Tom Hanks project and is part of his extended quest to keep space exploration and the Apollo legacy in the public consciousness. The name of the film refers to Buzz Aldrin's description of the surface of the moon at the Sea of Tranquility during the Apollo 11 lunar landing. About 40 minutes long, the film offers spectacular recreations of Apollo moon walks that try to make you feel like you are there. The film also goes into some of the history of the Apollo program. The 3-D effects were truly exceptional. I haven't seen a 3-D feature in years and I did not realize the technology had made such a great leap forward. The days of disorienting red and blue crossed frames have been replaced with true color and the results are eye popping. The images leap from the screen and produce an immediate "reach out and touch it" compulsion from your brain.

In addition to detailing some of the serious aspects of space travel to the moon, including a hypothetical recreation of how a moon walk emergency might have played out, the film also reaches out to children in an attempt to inspire. The film begins with an amusing segment of children being asked questions about America's lunar exploration program. Few of them know the name of the first man to walk on the moon. I wouldn't expect most young children to know that, but it shows that our collective memory of Apollo has faded considerably. The segment ends with a bright eyed 7 year old girl proclaiming that she intends to walk on the moon someday. I certainly hope she gets the chance.

Magnificent Desolation ends with a very moving tribute to the astronauts of the Apollo program and Tom Hanks musing that perhaps the next person to walk on the moon is watching the film right now. The theater we were in was probably only 1/3 full, but the important part was that there were many children, and even more importantly, there were parents who were willing to bring their children to see the film.

I highly recommend catching Magnificent Desolation on an IMAX screen, but I imagine it will be just as much fun if they release it on DVD.

stunning

The photo here was taken on March 16 by the imaging camera onboard the Cassini spacecraft, presently in orbit around Saturn. Even though the spacecraft is 1.3 million miles from the planet, giant Saturn still fills the view. Before I point out particulars, this image has to first be appreciated for the staggering beauty it captures. The coloring shown here is approximately what the human eye would see. The almost imperceptible changes in color across Saturn reveal the complicated chemistry at work in the clouds. The famous rings of Saturn are seen edge-on, cutting through the middle portion of the image. Intricate shadows of the rings are cast across the northern hemisphere. Notice that the sunlit portion of Saturn is at an angle to our view in the image. Like the Earth, Saturn has a rotational tilt that produces seasons. In this image we can see that Saturn's northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun. The tilt allows the rings to shadow the northern hemisphere and may produce the noticeable "bluing" of the clouds in the northern hemisphere. Think of it as a cold "wintering" effect. The hairline detail of the ring shadows easily shows us how complicated yet finely tuned the rings are. Countless particles ranging in size from that of smoke to a small car have a particular place in this ring system. Finally, the very intriguing moon Enceladus can be seen skirting the ring plane on the right of the image. Cassini has found that Enceladus has an abundance of water that is actively involved in surface processes there. This makes Enceladus an important target in our understanding of the role water plays in the origin of life. Click on the image, and enjoy.

space station golf

We learned this week that NASA and the Russian Space Agency may allow a Russian cosmonaut on the International Space Station to hit a golf ball from the station. The idea originates with a Canadian golf club manufacturer that is clearly looking for some out of this world product placement. The company paid the Russian Space Agency for the stunt and the necessary equipment has already been brought to the station. The RSA has already approved the activity from a safety standpoint and NASA is currently performing an independent safety review. Of course, hitting a golf ball in space has precedent. Alan Shepard famously hit a golf ball on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 (picture). The Canadian company wishes to commemorate that lunar swing with the space station one this summer. I imagine they are more interested in the advertising though. Consider some pros and cons.

• Any money flowing into space endeavors is good. Budget problems in the United States and Russia have forced funding for some space activities into corporate hands (significant space shuttle servicing is now performed by a private aerospace company). Corporate funding could someday form a significant percentage of overall space exploration spending.

• The stunt is a very visible physics demonstration that the public can make sense of from their own experience. Such demonstrations are a vital component of turning the general public (especially children) on to science.

• A stunt like this does nothing to help the public perception that the International Space Station is an orbiting tin can that eats up taxpayer dollars and returns no science of value to the public.

• Corporate money for space activities quickly leads to the exploitation of said activities for product advertisement.

The Russian Space Agency has already allowed a Pizza Hut logo on one of their rockets. Logos are generally harmless, but when corporate money dictates that an astronaut spend precious time in orbit hitting a golf ball, it conflicts with why the government asks taxpayers to fund space exploration in the first place. The public wants to know that their taxes are funding research in space that could potentially change their lives for the better. If the government is going to claim it is using our tax dollars to explore space for the betterment of mankind, then it cannot allow distractions, even if those distractions contribute to the bottom line. All that aside, I think the ultimate problem with this stunt is safety. The government does not allow American soldiers to promote soft drinks in the middle of combat. The circumstances are different, but space is an extremely dangerous place and hitting a golf ball is an unnecessary safety risk. I would rather see corporate funding additions to the space program disappear than see astronauts put in harm's way for a 5 second piece of promotional video on the nightly news.

So, I think you can see where I stand on this topic. As long as our space exploration activities are under the umbrella of government funding, corporate publicity stunts that involve serious risk should not be permitted. Go ahead and float a can of Coke through the crew cabin in zero g, but don't have an astronaut on the exterior of the space station swinging a golf club that could potentially damage the station itself and jeopardize the lives of the crew.

man in space

Today marks 45 years since the Soviet Union put the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin. Many people younger than about 50 may not realize that the Soviets were the leaders in space firsts starting in the late 50's. Among their successes were the first satellite to orbit the Earth (1957), the first man in space (1961), the first woman in space (1963), and the first controlled landing of a spacecraft on the moon (1966). American counterparts to these achievements usually followed shortly after the Soviet accomplishments, establishing another front in the Cold War. The "victories" of the Soviet Union in space milestones played a major part in President Kennedy announcing plans in 1961 to put an American on the moon before 1970. We did so, and remain the only nation to put men on the moon. You can thank your enemy for making you stronger. The achievements that the American space program enjoys today are a direct result of our early response to Soviet successes in space.

back to the moon

After 34 years, the United States finally has plans to return to the moon. I was not alive the last time a man walked on the moon, but I certainly hope to be the next time. The Bush administration announced a real paradigm shift in our country's space exploration goals a few years back. Robotic exploration of the solar system was to be scaled back in favor of manned missions to the moon and eventually, Mars. My field of study in graduate school, magnetospheric physics, was directly affected by this decision. As I was finishing my studies, funding for certain programs in magnetospheric physics began to dry up in favor of moon and Mars initiatives. While I am bothered by this because it could damage important research efforts into how the universe works, I also believe it is imperative that we push our manned explorations of space beyond near-Earth activities.

Our return to the moon will leverage off the Apollo and space shuttle programs, drawing on some of the best design elements of those two systems. The Crew Exploration Vehicle, or CEV, looks a lot like the Apollo spacecraft that carried men to the moon over 30 years ago. The command module is cone shaped, the service module is cylindrical, the lunar module is spidery (see picture). It's not Star Trek, but the Apollo spacecraft design was forged under immense time and political pressures that resulted in an incredibly robust and reliable spacecraft. It just makes sense to build off that heritage, especially while some of the engineers who made it happen are still alive. One major difference between the Apollo spacecraft and the CEV is size. The Apollo spacecraft could support 3 men for about a week, with the lunar module supporting 2 men for the lunar landing (usually no more than 2 days). The CEV will be much larger, supporting a crew of 4 for upwards of 2 weeks with a lunar module capable of carrying the entire crew to the lunar surface and housing them for up to a week on the surface.

As for shuttle design elements, the CEV will be launched using solid rocket boosters much like those used to launch the space shuttle. In addition, the CEV will be launched in two stages. One launch will put the lunar module and a "departure" rocket stage into Earth orbit. The second launch will carry the astronauts in the command and service module. The astronauts would then dock with the lunar module and the departure rocket already in Earth orbit. The departure stage provides the propulsion that sends the spacecraft off to the moon. The two-phase launch eliminates the need for a single immense launch rocket like the Saturn V, the Apollo launch vehicle.

The space shuttle era is over. With the loss of two crews and two orbiters, the American public has lost confidence in shuttle safety. It's a shame, because despite being the most complex transportation system ever devised, the shuttles performed and still maintain a respectable safety record. They've simply been overextended. The shuttle program is currently slated for retirement in 2010, at which time CEV activities will ramp up for a lunar landing in 2018. For me, it can't come soon enough. While it won't be the first time we land on the moon, it will be the first time I get to watch it happen live, with all the uncertainty that entails. I also look forward to the first female steps on the moon.

It saddens me that in all likelihood only a few of the men who visited the moon between 1968 and 1972 will be alive when the next lunar landing occurs. They are all in their 70's these days, and in another 12 years we can expect to lose many of them. I think it's important that we strive to make that 2018 target in the hopes that a few of these men will be around to usher us into the next era of moon exploration. The continuity will soften the disappointing fact that we retreated from the moon in 1972 and almost forgot how to go back in the 30 years since. The moon is waiting, it's time to get to work.