By Klaus Rosmanitz
In 1961 President John F. Kennedy spoke to the American people and promised that the United States would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. America's goal was to show the world that it had the best technology and was the most powerful nation. On July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 landed on the moon and astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first human to put a foot on the lunar surface.
Before the Apollo project began NASA's Mercury and Gemini programs put astronauts into an orbit around the Earth. But Project Apollo was a very difficult and different mission. NASA needed a powerful rocket that could escape the Earth's gravity and travel all the way to the moon. After Kennedy's speech, NASA started work on such a rocket. The Saturn V booster was finished in 1967. It was the greatest rocket ever built.
The Apollo spacecraft was made up of three parts. The command module was main part. It was where the astronauts lived during the trip to the moon. It had all the instruments and computers that were needed for such a mission and it was the only part of the spacecraft that returned to Earth.
The service module had its own rockets. They were used to slow down the Apollo spacecraft when it entered the moon's orbit. Without these rockets the spacecraft would be too fast and fly right past the moon.
The third part of the Apollo spacecraft was the lunar module. It was rather small and had legs that looked like a spider's. When the astronauts got into the moon's orbit they separated the lunar module and flew it down to the moon's surface. The landing craft had two parts: the lower part was used for slowing it down so that it could land gently, the upper part would let the astronauts return to the command module.
In 1967 a tragic accident almost ended the Apollo project. A fire broke out in the Apollo 1 spacecraft during a test on the ground. All three astronauts were killed.
After more testing and some unmanned flights Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to fly to the moon. It entered lunar orbit, flew around the dark side of the moon and back to Earth again. After two more Apollo missions NASA was ready for a moon landing.
On July 16, 1969 Apollo 11 took off from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Aboard the spacecraft were 3 astronauts: Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins. Three days later they entered the moon's orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin got into the lunar module; Collins was left behind in the command module.
On July 20, 1969 the "Eagle", as the lunar module was called, touched down softly in a lowland called Sea of Tranquility. A television camera that was attached to the side of the spacecraft sent live pictures back to Earth where millions of people were watching. After checking Eagle to see if everything was all right, Armstrong lowered a ladder and stepped down on the moon's surface. It was "one small step for man, but one giant leap for mankind."
The astronauts spent about two and a half hours on the lunar surface. They put up the American flag, collected rocks and set up instruments. After lifting off from the surface of the moon they flew back to the command module and successfully joined Michael Collins. On July 24, 1969 Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. The first American moon mission was a success.
In the years that followed there were five more lunar landings. But not all Apollo flights were successful. Apollo 13 almost ended in disaster. During its journey to the moon one of the two oxygen tanks exploded. They were vital for breathing and for the power systems of the command module. The three astronauts had to get into the lunar module, which had its own power and oxygen, but the LM was planned only for two astronauts, not three. All unnecessary systems had to be turned off so that it could save as much power as possible. Although Apollo 13 didn't land on the moon NASA managed to bring the three astronauts back to Earth safely.
On Apollo 15 the astronauts took a battery-powered car with them. The lunar rover traveled a distance of over 27 km on the lunar surface.
Although Project Apollo cost the Americans a lot of money it demonstrated the technological power of the USA. One of its aims was also to show the western world's superiority in the Cold War. The data that the Apollo missions brought back to Earth gave scientists much information on how the moon and the solar system developed.
More articles in easy, understandable English with vocabulary list at http://www.english-online.at
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Klaus_Rosmanitz
Saturday, November 13, 2010
NASA Kelper Mission Launch - Sister Earth Planet Search
By James Hewson
The Kepler Mission is explicitly intended to appraise our area of the Milky Way solar system to unearth hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets and additionally to determine the scope of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that may have such planets. The mission is distinctive from earlier ways of looking for planets because it will watch for the "transit" signature of planets. The scientific objective of the Kepler Mission is to examine the framework and variety of planetary systems, with a specific pre- eminence on the identification of Earth-size planets. The mission will also include the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer "WISE", which will chart the galaxy in long wavelengths, watching for star creating areas and remote high-red shift galaxies.
The NASA Astrobiology Institute was founded in 1998 to bring about combined research and development in astrobiology. The Exobiology Branch of NASA administers analysis in Exobiology attempting to increase our comprehension of the source, development, and apportionment of existence in the universe. The NASA Origins program assignment is to comprehend and defend our home planet, to research the Universe and hunt for life, and also to motivate our subsequent generation of voyagers.
Kepler's photometer, which is a tool that gauges the brightness of light, will function like a mammoth camcorder with a 37 inch width lens, operating through space. Kepler would then be a logical conduit to the next comprehensive hunt for habitable planets and existences, the so called "Terrestrial Planet Finder". A planet imaging operation intended for a 2010 launch which will benefit from data Kepler can supply about the likeliest positions in the solar system to find Earth-sized planets. Meanwhile the Kepler mission will study about 100,000 stars in an area of sky on the bearing of the constellation Cygnus for around 4 years, making brightness computations every 15 minutes, in the expectation of detecting the elusive transits. The spacecraft will be pointed towards Earth once a month to download its science information to NASA's Deep Space Network, a mass of antennas encircling the globe that aid planetary and astronomical operations.
The transit approach will be used by Kepler to discover these extrasolar terrestrial planets, which is a means by which studies the diversity of brightness of a specific star when a large entity, such as a planet passes in front of the star. Transits take place when planets in their orbits encircling their guardian stars cross the line of vision among us or in this case, the cameras located within the spacecraft and the star. Each transit will cause the star to darken faintly in luminosity. An intermittent drop in light strength may conclude the company of an concealed planet moving across the front of the star hindering some degree of light output. The Keck telescopes are a division of NASA's Origins project, which also contains the TPF and the SIM operations. Each of the telescopes have a reflector with a width of about 10 meters. When merged the telescopes will be capable of working as a single telescope with a width of hundreds of meters. The observatory will be efficient at taking images 100 times more comprehensive than the Hubble Space Telescope.
The Kelper mission will study the extended solar locality to discover and distinguish hundreds of terrestrial and bigger planets in or near the 'habitable zone', characterized by scientists as the distance from a star where liquid water can subsist on a planet's surface. Exclusively in the last few years have the technologies required to conduct a quest for small rugged, or earthly, planets with high accuracy reached maturity. In 10 years astronomers have discovered around 150 extrasolar planets, and the proportion is speeding up each year. Currently, observatories such as the Keck telescopes, which are ground based mechanisms, and the Spitzer telescope which was constructed in the expanse of Space itself, will assist astronomers in their hunt for extrasolar planets.
The Kepler mission is attractive in its straightforwardness in the understanding that it will study a broad area of sky for an extended period. The mission is fuelling growing exhilaration between space scientists following the discovery of more than three hundred planets orbiting additional stars in the past Fifteen years. The program is anticipated to uncover fifty to sixty extrasolar planets with a equivalent distance from their guardian stars as the World is from the Sun.
The Kepler Mission, which was originally scheduled for a March 5th launch, will now be launched on Friday, March 6, from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA have stated that the Kepler Mission will have two launch windows that day, from 10:49 - 10:52 pm and 11:13 - 11:16 pm EST. Delta II rocket will be the launch vehicle of the Kepler Mission.
UK Area 51 is a website dedicated to unexplained events and emerging sciences concerning a wide variety of topics. Our aim is to provide rich, diverse and stimulating articles around the issues that face mankind now and in the future. Please visit our main site for many more intriguing articles at UK Area 51.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Hewson
The Kepler Mission is explicitly intended to appraise our area of the Milky Way solar system to unearth hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets and additionally to determine the scope of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that may have such planets. The mission is distinctive from earlier ways of looking for planets because it will watch for the "transit" signature of planets. The scientific objective of the Kepler Mission is to examine the framework and variety of planetary systems, with a specific pre- eminence on the identification of Earth-size planets. The mission will also include the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer "WISE", which will chart the galaxy in long wavelengths, watching for star creating areas and remote high-red shift galaxies.
The NASA Astrobiology Institute was founded in 1998 to bring about combined research and development in astrobiology. The Exobiology Branch of NASA administers analysis in Exobiology attempting to increase our comprehension of the source, development, and apportionment of existence in the universe. The NASA Origins program assignment is to comprehend and defend our home planet, to research the Universe and hunt for life, and also to motivate our subsequent generation of voyagers.
Kepler's photometer, which is a tool that gauges the brightness of light, will function like a mammoth camcorder with a 37 inch width lens, operating through space. Kepler would then be a logical conduit to the next comprehensive hunt for habitable planets and existences, the so called "Terrestrial Planet Finder". A planet imaging operation intended for a 2010 launch which will benefit from data Kepler can supply about the likeliest positions in the solar system to find Earth-sized planets. Meanwhile the Kepler mission will study about 100,000 stars in an area of sky on the bearing of the constellation Cygnus for around 4 years, making brightness computations every 15 minutes, in the expectation of detecting the elusive transits. The spacecraft will be pointed towards Earth once a month to download its science information to NASA's Deep Space Network, a mass of antennas encircling the globe that aid planetary and astronomical operations.
The transit approach will be used by Kepler to discover these extrasolar terrestrial planets, which is a means by which studies the diversity of brightness of a specific star when a large entity, such as a planet passes in front of the star. Transits take place when planets in their orbits encircling their guardian stars cross the line of vision among us or in this case, the cameras located within the spacecraft and the star. Each transit will cause the star to darken faintly in luminosity. An intermittent drop in light strength may conclude the company of an concealed planet moving across the front of the star hindering some degree of light output. The Keck telescopes are a division of NASA's Origins project, which also contains the TPF and the SIM operations. Each of the telescopes have a reflector with a width of about 10 meters. When merged the telescopes will be capable of working as a single telescope with a width of hundreds of meters. The observatory will be efficient at taking images 100 times more comprehensive than the Hubble Space Telescope.
The Kelper mission will study the extended solar locality to discover and distinguish hundreds of terrestrial and bigger planets in or near the 'habitable zone', characterized by scientists as the distance from a star where liquid water can subsist on a planet's surface. Exclusively in the last few years have the technologies required to conduct a quest for small rugged, or earthly, planets with high accuracy reached maturity. In 10 years astronomers have discovered around 150 extrasolar planets, and the proportion is speeding up each year. Currently, observatories such as the Keck telescopes, which are ground based mechanisms, and the Spitzer telescope which was constructed in the expanse of Space itself, will assist astronomers in their hunt for extrasolar planets.
The Kepler mission is attractive in its straightforwardness in the understanding that it will study a broad area of sky for an extended period. The mission is fuelling growing exhilaration between space scientists following the discovery of more than three hundred planets orbiting additional stars in the past Fifteen years. The program is anticipated to uncover fifty to sixty extrasolar planets with a equivalent distance from their guardian stars as the World is from the Sun.
The Kepler Mission, which was originally scheduled for a March 5th launch, will now be launched on Friday, March 6, from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA have stated that the Kepler Mission will have two launch windows that day, from 10:49 - 10:52 pm and 11:13 - 11:16 pm EST. Delta II rocket will be the launch vehicle of the Kepler Mission.
UK Area 51 is a website dedicated to unexplained events and emerging sciences concerning a wide variety of topics. Our aim is to provide rich, diverse and stimulating articles around the issues that face mankind now and in the future. Please visit our main site for many more intriguing articles at UK Area 51.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Hewson
Sunday, October 10, 2010
25 Facts on Nasa
25 Facts on Nasa
By Jay B.
Here are some key facts about NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration):
1. NASA was established on July 29, 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Act.
2. The 2009 budget for NASA is $17.6 billion dollars.
3. With it's motto as "For the Benefit of All", NASA was influenced by the space race, with the launch of the Soviet space program's first human-made satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957.
4. The Apollo program, which was a spaceflight program from 1961-1975, was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them back safely to Earth. Apollo 1 tragically ended when all the astronauts on board were killed due to the fire in the command module during an experimental simulation. Apollo 11, on July 20, 1969, landed the first men on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
5. The six missions of the Apollo program returned almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples with experiments including meteoroids, heat flow, seismic, lunar ranging, soil mechanics, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.
6. The Skylab was the first space station that the United States had launched into orbit. From 1973 to 1979, this 75 tonne station was in Earth's orbit. It's purpose was to study gravitational anomalies in other solar systems, but was curtailed due to lack of funding and interest. The station was visited by crew three times in 1973 and 1974.
7. The Apollo-Soyuz was the first joint flight of the U.S. and Soviet space programs. This took place in July 1975.
8. The major focus of NASA in the late 1970s and 1980s was the Space Shuttle.
9. The United States and Russia are the two biggest partners in the largest space station ever built, the International Space Station. It was been difficult for NASA to justify the ISS because it costs over $100 billion dollars.
10. The 1990s was a difficult time for NASA, facing shrinking annual budgets due to Congressional belt-tightening in Washington D.C. NASA's ninth administrator, Daniel Goldin, in response, pioneered the "faster, better, cheaper" approach that enabled NASA to cut costs while still delivering a variety of aerospace programs.
11. As of December 2006, NASA has made 116 successful launches.
12. The current space policy of the United States is "execute a sustained and affordable human and robotic program of space exploration and develop, acquire, and use civil space systems to advance fundamental scientific knowledge of our Earth system, solar system, and universe."
13. Ongoing investigations of NASA include in-depth surveys of Mars and Saturn and studies of the Earth and the Sun.
14. One NASA spacecraft is presently en route to Mercury and Pluto.
15. NASA's itinerary covers over half of the solar system, with missions to Jupiter in the planning stages.
16. In 2011, an improved and larger planetary rover, Mars Science Laboratory, is slated to launch.
17. The New Horizons mission to Pluto was launched in 2006 and will fly to Pluto in 2015. The probe received a gravity assist from Jupiter in February 2007, which examined Jupiter's inner moons.
18. The MAVEN spacecraft is on the horizon of NASA's plans and is part of the Mars Scout Program to study the atmosphere of Mars.
19. The Vision for Space Exploration is the United States space policy that was announced on January 14, 2004, by United States President George W. Bush that in 2018, mankind will return to the moon and set up outposts as a testbed and a potential resource for future missions.
20. In 2010, the Space Shuttle will retire and be replaced by Orion by 2015, which is capable of both docking with the International Space Station and leave the Earth's orbit.
21. On September 28, 2007, NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin stated that NASA aims to put a man on Mars by 2037, and in 2057, "We should be celebrating 20 years of man on Mars."
22. NASA announced on December 4, 2006 that it was planning on building a permanent moon base.
23. NASA's headquarters is located in Washington, D.C.
24. The Administrator of NASA is the highest-ranking official and serves as the senior space science adviser to the President of the United States.
25. NASA remains to be the only space agency to have launched space missions to the outer solar system beyond the asteroid belt.
Copyright © 2008-2009 Paranormalknowledge.com
Paranormalknowledge.com - The Knowledge To Understand The Secrets Of Life
Paranormalknowledge.com is the fastest growing paranormal information website on the Internet today. With over a thousand articles and more coming every day, Paranormalknowledge.com is willing to be your number one source for information related to the paranormal.
http://www.paranormalknowledge.com/ (Articles)
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jay_B.
By Jay B.
Here are some key facts about NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration):
1. NASA was established on July 29, 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Act.
2. The 2009 budget for NASA is $17.6 billion dollars.
3. With it's motto as "For the Benefit of All", NASA was influenced by the space race, with the launch of the Soviet space program's first human-made satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957.
4. The Apollo program, which was a spaceflight program from 1961-1975, was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them back safely to Earth. Apollo 1 tragically ended when all the astronauts on board were killed due to the fire in the command module during an experimental simulation. Apollo 11, on July 20, 1969, landed the first men on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
5. The six missions of the Apollo program returned almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples with experiments including meteoroids, heat flow, seismic, lunar ranging, soil mechanics, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.
6. The Skylab was the first space station that the United States had launched into orbit. From 1973 to 1979, this 75 tonne station was in Earth's orbit. It's purpose was to study gravitational anomalies in other solar systems, but was curtailed due to lack of funding and interest. The station was visited by crew three times in 1973 and 1974.
7. The Apollo-Soyuz was the first joint flight of the U.S. and Soviet space programs. This took place in July 1975.
8. The major focus of NASA in the late 1970s and 1980s was the Space Shuttle.
9. The United States and Russia are the two biggest partners in the largest space station ever built, the International Space Station. It was been difficult for NASA to justify the ISS because it costs over $100 billion dollars.
10. The 1990s was a difficult time for NASA, facing shrinking annual budgets due to Congressional belt-tightening in Washington D.C. NASA's ninth administrator, Daniel Goldin, in response, pioneered the "faster, better, cheaper" approach that enabled NASA to cut costs while still delivering a variety of aerospace programs.
11. As of December 2006, NASA has made 116 successful launches.
12. The current space policy of the United States is "execute a sustained and affordable human and robotic program of space exploration and develop, acquire, and use civil space systems to advance fundamental scientific knowledge of our Earth system, solar system, and universe."
13. Ongoing investigations of NASA include in-depth surveys of Mars and Saturn and studies of the Earth and the Sun.
14. One NASA spacecraft is presently en route to Mercury and Pluto.
15. NASA's itinerary covers over half of the solar system, with missions to Jupiter in the planning stages.
16. In 2011, an improved and larger planetary rover, Mars Science Laboratory, is slated to launch.
17. The New Horizons mission to Pluto was launched in 2006 and will fly to Pluto in 2015. The probe received a gravity assist from Jupiter in February 2007, which examined Jupiter's inner moons.
18. The MAVEN spacecraft is on the horizon of NASA's plans and is part of the Mars Scout Program to study the atmosphere of Mars.
19. The Vision for Space Exploration is the United States space policy that was announced on January 14, 2004, by United States President George W. Bush that in 2018, mankind will return to the moon and set up outposts as a testbed and a potential resource for future missions.
20. In 2010, the Space Shuttle will retire and be replaced by Orion by 2015, which is capable of both docking with the International Space Station and leave the Earth's orbit.
21. On September 28, 2007, NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin stated that NASA aims to put a man on Mars by 2037, and in 2057, "We should be celebrating 20 years of man on Mars."
22. NASA announced on December 4, 2006 that it was planning on building a permanent moon base.
23. NASA's headquarters is located in Washington, D.C.
24. The Administrator of NASA is the highest-ranking official and serves as the senior space science adviser to the President of the United States.
25. NASA remains to be the only space agency to have launched space missions to the outer solar system beyond the asteroid belt.
Copyright © 2008-2009 Paranormalknowledge.com
Paranormalknowledge.com - The Knowledge To Understand The Secrets Of Life
Paranormalknowledge.com is the fastest growing paranormal information website on the Internet today. With over a thousand articles and more coming every day, Paranormalknowledge.com is willing to be your number one source for information related to the paranormal.
http://www.paranormalknowledge.com/ (Articles)
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jay_B.
Robots - The Future For NASA?
By Doug Wetzel
Impossible. That's what the 2009 Augustine committee reported about prospects for NASA's human exploration of space, at least for the next seven years. NASA's budget issues remain at the top of the list holding humans from space but the same future may not hold true for its robots.
Two recent robot adventurers, rovers Spirit and Opportunity, lend credence to the idea that NASA's future may rapidly become reliant on robots to carry out missions in space. The Mars exploring rovers cost the agency more than $400 million apiece but have returned nearly six years of insightful data and imagery from the red planet's surface.
Contrast this against the charge for merely launching human passengers into orbit via space shuttle, at roughly $450 million per launch, and the fiscal benefits become quickly apparent. Not to mention, space shuttles such as Endeavour cost the agency almost $1.7 billion to manufacture alone.
NASA's Space Faring Robots of the Past
The Mars rovers aren't the first robots to plumb the mysteries of space for NASA. In fact, robots have investigated and visited more locations in our solar system than any human--oftentimes to locales an astronaut couldn't survive.
In 1973 the robotic space probe Mariner 10 traveled to the inner system planets of Mercury and Venus while its younger sister, Mariner 9, made the trip to Mars more than thirty years before Spirit and Opportunity. Alongside, Pioneer Venus 2 ejected robotic probes which dared an actual foot landing on the surface of Venus, a vacation spot bragging temperatures well over 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
One of those probes managed to survive the risky descent and dutifully report back for 45 minutes inside roasting temperatures and atmospheric pressure that no sane human would tempt. Clearly robots can take an exploratory role that would be too costly and too dangerous for a person.
While we have managed to put footprints and flags on our nearby Moon, robots have traveled to virtually all of the planets and even some of their moons. Of course, robots have visited our rocky celestial partner as well, among them include various NASA Pioneer spacecraft and an array of Soviet Luna spacecraft. Most of these robotic Moon explorers have taken a role as simple orbiters but a few have impacted the surface to pick through rocks and wander the barren surface.
NASA Robots on Earth
Many ideas and projects for robots at NASA have inevitably filtered down to worthy applications on Earth. After all, it is sometimes expensive or dangerous for a human to travel and visit locations on our own space rock.
One example is the Altus II, a robotic airplane developed by NASA. Originally designed as a scientific aircraft, in 2001 NASA presented the craft as a tool for fighting fires.
Human pilots have often risked their lives piloting aircraft in an attempt to survey and monitor deadly, often vast, wildfires. Because the Altus II can fly for such long duration--at one time the craft held a 26-hour record for single-flight endurance--it can continually co-operate with both ground based firefighters and off-planet satellites to photograph and monitor fires below.
In the future, NASA is likely to entertain ideas for using this sort of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) in a role exploring and monitoring the surface of alien worlds, carrying out automated scientific experiments at high-altitude, and coordinating with other robots on the ground and in space alike.
A Future for NASA Robots
Sure to be the envy of every earth-bound grasshopper, the Jollbot is wiry, robotic contraption that may take a leap for NASA's future exploration of space.
Robots that physically walk on some sort of leg or roll around on a set of wheels can easily be thwarted by unpredictable terrain. The Jollbot takes a different tack by literally forming a ball to roll across obstacles. If things get too tough, or if there are simply better places to explore, the Jollbot can hop its way to a distant new location or hurdle over a small patch of difficult ground before continuing its mission.
Such a robot could provide a far cheaper and far more efficient answer than previous attempts made by NASA at exploring other planets and moons. It also means that NASA could send many more of these robotic explorers than usual opening up the possibility of mapping and traversing entire landscapes in short periods of time, both on our home planet and anywhere in space we can afford to send them.
A much more human like robot is also being developed by NASA and DARPA--the Robonaut. Featuring an upper torso, human styled hands and arms, and even a head straight out of your favorite science fiction movie, the Robonaut has been proposed as the ideal space janitor and maintenance man.
Capable of being mounted in ways we humans might find offensive, the Robonaut could find itself perched on the end of a long, robotic arm for spacewalks intended to repair and maintain equipment such as found on the International Space Station or orbiting satellites. Partnered with humans, a Robonaut could make these spacewalks safer and easier, if not less time-consuming and costly.
Yet, the Robonaut isn't by any means limited to jaunts in space. One lucky Robonaut has been mounted on a Segway HT, the hip, two-wheeled electric scooter that has periodically foiled human riders such as George Bush.
It is certainly possible that NASA could find even more inventive ways to mount a Robonaut, on Earth, in space, and into the distant future. Whatever the case, it is apparent that robots form an effective cast and crew for NASA's future exploration of our planet and our universe.
Additional information and sources for this article include:
Augustine Plans Committee, Review of U.S. Human Space Flight (PDF)
Lee Billings, America's Space Agency Faces Uncertain Future, Seed Magazine
NASA, Space Shuttle FAQ, Robonaut Shows Sensitive Side
Marshall Brain, How the Mars Exploration Rovers Work, HowStuffWorks.com
Staff & Wire Reports, NASA Offers Robot Plane as Firefighter, Space.com
University of Bath, Researcher Designs Robot that Jumps like a Grasshopper
Wikipedia, General Atomics ALTUS, Venus, Space Exploration
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Doug_Wetzel
Impossible. That's what the 2009 Augustine committee reported about prospects for NASA's human exploration of space, at least for the next seven years. NASA's budget issues remain at the top of the list holding humans from space but the same future may not hold true for its robots.
Two recent robot adventurers, rovers Spirit and Opportunity, lend credence to the idea that NASA's future may rapidly become reliant on robots to carry out missions in space. The Mars exploring rovers cost the agency more than $400 million apiece but have returned nearly six years of insightful data and imagery from the red planet's surface.
Contrast this against the charge for merely launching human passengers into orbit via space shuttle, at roughly $450 million per launch, and the fiscal benefits become quickly apparent. Not to mention, space shuttles such as Endeavour cost the agency almost $1.7 billion to manufacture alone.
NASA's Space Faring Robots of the Past
The Mars rovers aren't the first robots to plumb the mysteries of space for NASA. In fact, robots have investigated and visited more locations in our solar system than any human--oftentimes to locales an astronaut couldn't survive.
In 1973 the robotic space probe Mariner 10 traveled to the inner system planets of Mercury and Venus while its younger sister, Mariner 9, made the trip to Mars more than thirty years before Spirit and Opportunity. Alongside, Pioneer Venus 2 ejected robotic probes which dared an actual foot landing on the surface of Venus, a vacation spot bragging temperatures well over 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
One of those probes managed to survive the risky descent and dutifully report back for 45 minutes inside roasting temperatures and atmospheric pressure that no sane human would tempt. Clearly robots can take an exploratory role that would be too costly and too dangerous for a person.
While we have managed to put footprints and flags on our nearby Moon, robots have traveled to virtually all of the planets and even some of their moons. Of course, robots have visited our rocky celestial partner as well, among them include various NASA Pioneer spacecraft and an array of Soviet Luna spacecraft. Most of these robotic Moon explorers have taken a role as simple orbiters but a few have impacted the surface to pick through rocks and wander the barren surface.
NASA Robots on Earth
Many ideas and projects for robots at NASA have inevitably filtered down to worthy applications on Earth. After all, it is sometimes expensive or dangerous for a human to travel and visit locations on our own space rock.
One example is the Altus II, a robotic airplane developed by NASA. Originally designed as a scientific aircraft, in 2001 NASA presented the craft as a tool for fighting fires.
Human pilots have often risked their lives piloting aircraft in an attempt to survey and monitor deadly, often vast, wildfires. Because the Altus II can fly for such long duration--at one time the craft held a 26-hour record for single-flight endurance--it can continually co-operate with both ground based firefighters and off-planet satellites to photograph and monitor fires below.
In the future, NASA is likely to entertain ideas for using this sort of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) in a role exploring and monitoring the surface of alien worlds, carrying out automated scientific experiments at high-altitude, and coordinating with other robots on the ground and in space alike.
A Future for NASA Robots
Sure to be the envy of every earth-bound grasshopper, the Jollbot is wiry, robotic contraption that may take a leap for NASA's future exploration of space.
Robots that physically walk on some sort of leg or roll around on a set of wheels can easily be thwarted by unpredictable terrain. The Jollbot takes a different tack by literally forming a ball to roll across obstacles. If things get too tough, or if there are simply better places to explore, the Jollbot can hop its way to a distant new location or hurdle over a small patch of difficult ground before continuing its mission.
Such a robot could provide a far cheaper and far more efficient answer than previous attempts made by NASA at exploring other planets and moons. It also means that NASA could send many more of these robotic explorers than usual opening up the possibility of mapping and traversing entire landscapes in short periods of time, both on our home planet and anywhere in space we can afford to send them.
A much more human like robot is also being developed by NASA and DARPA--the Robonaut. Featuring an upper torso, human styled hands and arms, and even a head straight out of your favorite science fiction movie, the Robonaut has been proposed as the ideal space janitor and maintenance man.
Capable of being mounted in ways we humans might find offensive, the Robonaut could find itself perched on the end of a long, robotic arm for spacewalks intended to repair and maintain equipment such as found on the International Space Station or orbiting satellites. Partnered with humans, a Robonaut could make these spacewalks safer and easier, if not less time-consuming and costly.
Yet, the Robonaut isn't by any means limited to jaunts in space. One lucky Robonaut has been mounted on a Segway HT, the hip, two-wheeled electric scooter that has periodically foiled human riders such as George Bush.
It is certainly possible that NASA could find even more inventive ways to mount a Robonaut, on Earth, in space, and into the distant future. Whatever the case, it is apparent that robots form an effective cast and crew for NASA's future exploration of our planet and our universe.
Additional information and sources for this article include:
Augustine Plans Committee, Review of U.S. Human Space Flight (PDF)
Lee Billings, America's Space Agency Faces Uncertain Future, Seed Magazine
NASA, Space Shuttle FAQ, Robonaut Shows Sensitive Side
Marshall Brain, How the Mars Exploration Rovers Work, HowStuffWorks.com
Staff & Wire Reports, NASA Offers Robot Plane as Firefighter, Space.com
University of Bath, Researcher Designs Robot that Jumps like a Grasshopper
Wikipedia, General Atomics ALTUS, Venus, Space Exploration
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Doug_Wetzel
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