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NASA Begins Work on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
soldeed writes "Space.com is reporting the beginning of construction on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Which is scheduled for launch in late fall of 2008. It will orbit the moon at fifty kilometers and image the entire surface at high resolution. A far Ultraviolet instrument will enable it to see into areas permanently in shadow and see if there is indeed ice there. LRO will count craters and image American and Soviet landing sites."
Like I'm going to buy that. If they could fake the whole dog and pony show in the 60's do they really think we're so guallible as to beleive they can't doctor a few images? Like NASA doesn't have photoshop.
On a more serious note, when I read these amazing stories I can't help think of Hamlet:
What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me;
Here we are performing these amazing feats of technology while down on the ground we are firebombing each other, mincing words about what is and isn't torture, and rioting in the street over a few line drawings. Part of me thinks we should focus our resources on problems here where our feet touch the ground, but another part thinks that we have tried that long enough and hopes that maybe by demonstrating how admirable our faculties really are we may move beyond our differences and inspire some solidarity.
Ultimately, where there is ice, there is water. And with water, life is sustainable. Earth has a unique situation in thatwe have plenty of water, but based on present propulsion methods, it is terribly expensive to get it off the Earth. The Moon on the other hand may afford us a resource more accessably in lifting terms. Ultimately the Moon is just a small step in further space exploration.
Louis Friedman said "Carl Sagan remarked, many years ago, that the Moon could end up a detour, rather than a stepping stone, to Mars. How lunar missions would lead to a Mars landing must be closely examined. The essential requirement is to keep the focus on sending humans to Mars -- investigating conditions of life and habitability on that planet."
This desire to exlore mars is reliant on our mastering reaching and taming the moon.
If we don't fight for ourselves no one will.
And it can be seen as a preperation for colonization. They're imaging the moon's surface in greater detail and in another part of the spectrum. This will be a big help in determining where to site colonies.
I already curb my dog, thank you.
It will orbit the moon at fifty kilometers and image the entire surface at high resolution.
I see a business opportunity for Google coming up!
(and am waiting for the The Register's Black Helicopters Report about it)
bash$
Reconaissance is " An examination of a region as to its general natural features, preparatory to a more particular survey for the purposes of triangulation, or of determining the location of a public work." (The Collaborative International Dictionary of English / kdict).
Military reconaissance (what you're thinking of) is doing a similar thing in a military context. :-)
Obviously, you've spent too much time in the military, and not enough time in an engineering department.
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
There isn't any air to do any "blowing".....
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First Falcon-1 to orbit, then Falcon-9. Then I can die a happy man.
They wrote a book about this. It was called 1984. It sucked.
From the same article,
Griffin and other NASA officials announced the cuts on Monday during a press briefing on US president George Bush's 2007 budget request to Congress. In the proposed budget, NASA would receive $16.8 billion in 2007, an increase of 3.2% over the amount Congress appropriated for the agency for 2006. So Bush increased the NASA budget? I think you forgot to mention that.
I agree completely...
One should consider the society generating these ideas:
In this context, it doesn't surprise me that many people enthusiastically envisioned the actual construction and operation of space-colonies, fed by a constant stream of supplies from Earth.
BTW, yes I'm American ( for many, many, many generations ). I like my country. I just wish some aspects of our culture would change a little...