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Japan Scrapping Moon Mission
jonerik writes to mention the AP is reporting that Japan may be scrapping their upcoming moon mission. The original plan was for the "Lunar-A" probe to implant two seismic sensors on the moon, however, the project took so long that the delivery probe has fallen victim to neglect and would take too much money to repair. From the article: "The mission would have been Japan's first to the surface of the moon, and was originally scheduled for lift off in 1995. [...] JAXA's space development committee recommended canceling the Lunar-A project on Monday, and a final decision will be made later in the month, [Satoko] Kanazawa said."
They realized that the on-going battle between the Japanese Security Services and Godzilla was diminishing their funds too quickly to afford the moon mission. There are plans for a Mothra powered earth orbit rentery rocket, but the spacesuit for a 400' wingspan moth is also too costly. Ultraman is unable to go more than 14.7km up, due to his 70's early technology.
Son't they know it's easier to just fake a moon mission?
> Currently, only the United States, Russia and the European Union have landed probes on the moon.
Nor did ESA. SMART-1 crashed into the Moon, that's not called landing.
...that even the Japanese can fail to make delivery deadlines and have productivity problems.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
if you are laying this rocket up to be unused for more than six months:
1) Park in a well aired garage
2) Jack up the body and put chocks under the suspension points
3) Fill all cylinders with a good quality mineral oil
4) Unplug and remove the battery
5) Be prepared to replace perished rubber components such as tyres or suspension bushes if unused for more that one year
What bit do you think the Japanese left out?
Next time they won't keep the probe in the U-Pack-It long term storage garages in Kobe.
Or at least put a tarp over it or something.
After the super successful launch of the PS3 why doesn't the Japanese space agency just contract the job out to Sony!
Crash landing implies some degree of survival is intended and feasible. The ESA probe SMART-1 intentionally bought it at 4,500 miles per hour. I reckon the probe would sustain more than a few bruises.
.. I have to call it a crashing or better yet a slamming.
Probe survival was not the intention of the ESA's deliberate action of crashing the probe into the moon (so they can examine the plume for stuff etc.), therefore I can't call it a crash landing
Hmm I hate arguing over semantics, cause it's silly. Hopefully this is my only one for this year.
It sure would be nice to take those seismos and plant them on Mars. We know so little of the Martian interior, yet we know that there is a degree of activity, and have recently become very interested in the cratering rate, current vulcanism, and springs.
..
If the mass budget were to allow one to hitch a ride with Phoenix, and the other with MSL, or if the Japanese could be persuaded to revamp it for Mars and a heavier booster. .
Japan will now scrap the mission but finish development of the penetrator probes and offer the technology to other space programs, including Russia's, Kanazawa said.
Only in Japan...
Does anyone else find it strange that with all the public support moon missions received in the past, that nobody has gone to the moon in so long? The guy who wrote the book that Oliver Stone's JFK was largely based on had some ideas about this... Only book I've ever read like this that used appropriate qualifiers and didn't just present evidence that argued for UFO's (i.e. he presented information which made it clear that many witnesses were lying or unreliable. That still left a whole lot of reliable ones though!)
In Other News, The Canadian Government has announced its plans for a similar mission to take place, which is going to be called "Lunar-eh"
Film at 11.
A Japanese Mars probe, originally timed to arrive with that of the NSA rovers and ESA Beagle limps through space. It ran out of fuel.
The Hayabusa asteroid probe probably landed on one and got a sample, failed on its return earth, schedued this summer. Bad computer programs and running out fuel is blamed.
Academic research in Japan is mostly on a shoestring budget, and I guess this is a result. I hope they keep on trying.
Read the book or rent the movie. Talks alot about this. Many people, including many scientists and historians, don't believe the US ever went to the moon. It really was a piece of propaganda during a very communist-paranoid time in our history.
Non-Technical Proof Of The Moon Landings by Arthur Paliden © 2006 In 1969 the Americans first landed men on the moon. Now some people have made names for themselves by saying that this and subsequent landings never happened. Their position is that NASA faked them in order to save face and fool the public. To prove their point they rely on explanations of the reported events using dubious science and lay explanations that any first year science major would and does, laugh at. However, they always miss or purposely avoid the the one piece of irrefutable proof that it did in fact happen. That is that the Soviet government never refuted the American claims and they were in a unique position to do so. For even after the Americans landed on the moon the Soviets still continued to send orbiters, landers and rovers to the moon. http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_planetar y_lunar.html
Now if they wanted to get the goods on the Americans all they had to do was to land, photograph or explore with a rover the American landing sights. Just imagine the embarrassment not to mention the the damage to American credibility, at the height of the cold war no less, that such information would generate. Records even show that they never landed or even explored the areas that that American landings happened. So they did not even go and look to make sure because they knew it really happened.
The next question then is even if they did know they were faked why did they never use the information. They did not use it to pressure the Americans to stop bombing North Vietnam and Cambodia where Soviet military advisers were being killed as a result. They did not use it to pressure the United States to stop sending military advisers to and providing Stinger missiles to the Afghan fighters during the Soviet occupation. They did not use it to stop the Star Wars program of the Regan administration.
In fact they did not even use it to turn the West's attention away from the Soviet Union during the Soviet Coup of 1991 when members of the Soviet government briefly deposed Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and attempted to take control of the country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_coup_attempt_o f_1991
Which every body knew was the last death throws of the Soviet empire. If they did not use the information then to turn the attention of the American, and world public, inward to their own governments lies and thus corruption and force it to ignore the events in the Soviet Union in order to deal with a damaging domestic and international issue. Then the proof of faked moon landings does not and never did, exist.
One final thought. After the fall of the Soviet Union the Russian economy tanked. People were selling all kinds of stuff owed by the crumbling state, ships, weapons, artworks and knowledge but nobody ever approached any Western news agency or tabloid to sell them this information. And to say that one would buy it but not publish is foolish. The seller could just keep peddling it until some on did and then it would be old news and worthless until then it would still be worth something.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
The Japanese probably figured they ought to spend the money on more pressing terrestrial concerns.
GMD
watch this
"The original plan was for the "Lunar-A" probe to implant two seismic sensors on the moon"
who cares about moonquakes when they are super affected by earthquakes and the giant waves they cause. I say put the moon sensors in the ocean floor instead. Maybe that's what they'll do
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
What, repeating vintage 1969 American technology is beyond the reach of 2007 Japan, even though what it has to do to land a person on the Moon is now proven, and the equipment has 30 years of further development?
Or are they just feigning incompetence to get America to do the (literal) heavy lifting, and put Japanese space exploitation teams and gear up there?
I know I would, if I could.
--
make install -not war
Kamogawa Asumi would be sad.
What, repeating vintage 1969 American technology is beyond the reach of 2007 Japan, even though what it has to do to land a person on the Moon is now proven, and the equipment has 30 years of further development?
It's not the tech, it's the human factor. Today, the Apollo landings would be considered too risky, too hazardous for the crew. Back then we would mourn the loss, but essentially say the astronauts volunteered and they knew the risks. Especially given their military and test pilot backgrounds. Today there would be too many political opportunists and lawyers trying to exploit the tragedy, and planners are thus paralyzed by fear, or at best overly cautious.
I was so looking forward to Crazy Hibachi when tourists went to the moon... mmmmmm moon sushi.