Tech | June 15, 2009 | 19 comments

From the Moon to Mars

source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=space-geology-from-the-moon-to-mars

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DeliaTheArtist
"Forty years ago this month the lunar surface reverberated with life for the first time. Forty years from now will Mars, too, come alive? President Barack Obama has affirmed the broad goals for human spaceflight that his predecessor put forward in 2004: retire the shuttle in 2010, develop a replacement line of rockets (named Ares), return to the moon by 2020, and go to Mars, perhaps in the mid-2030s [see “To the Moon and Beyond,” by Charles Dingell, William A. Johns and Julie Kramer White; Scientific American, October 2007]. The program is known as Constellation.

Mountains higher than the walls of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado towered above the long, narrow valley of Taurus-Littrow. A brilliant sun, brighter than any sun experienced on Earth, illuminated the cratered valley floor and steep mountain slopes, starkly contrasted against a blacker-than-black sky. My crewmate Gene Cernan and I explored this nearly four-billion-year-old valley, as well as the slightly younger volcanic lava rocks and ash partially filling it, for three days in 1972—concluding the Apollo program. It was the first and, so far, only time a geologist has ever done hands-on study of another world. Now the U.S., the European Union, Russia and other international partners are contemplating sending astronauts to Mars to do fieldwork there, probably beginning within the first third of this century. What will be new and what will be familiar to the first geologist to step before a red Martian sunrise?

For each new body that people explore, we must build on our experience exploring the last place we have been—as geologists have done on Earth for more than two centuries. We must continually ask what may be similar and what may be different. How will Martian geology, accessibility, exploration strategy and optimal crew composition compare with the experience of Apollo?

On Mars, scientists expect influences that combine those affecting Earth and the moon, because the Red Planet is intermediate in size. Indeed, our growing geologic knowledge about Mars already confirms this blend of processes. Since the first photographs provided by orbital cameras and the Viking landers, we have known that geologic features on Mars resulted from combinations of internal and external influences."

Much more at link!

So cool to think about the inevitable day that people will explore Mars! Ponder the future!
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19 comments // From the Moon to Mars

  • Sam_the_Wizer
    • 0
      Sam_the_Wizer  

    • I think the Apollo conspiracy theory is a theory developed by the goverment to keep conspiracy theorists distracted from the real conspiracies about which they should be theorizing.

    • 2 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
    • 0
      DeliaTheArtist  

    • No, I don't wish to debate this with you. A buncha youtube videos and conspiracy theories about solar flares are not very convincing. If I were to argue this all we would be doing is trading internet "sources" back and forth. I've done it before and I'm not really interested in doing it again.

      This argument has been going on for ages and there is plenty of evidence to show that the moon landing was real. You could google it and find it yourself, but you probably won't. I don't really care. Thanks for flooding this thread with BS.

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  
    • DeliaTheArtist:

      So, since you cannot properly debate it, you'll make a generalization that has no meat to it. I supply information, sources to back up my claims. You supply nothing.

      No problem.

      I didn't expect anything more than that from you. It's all you've had so far, and it's obvious you have nothing more.

      So you keep making your sweeping generalizations about myself and the issue, and remain ignorant.

      And I'll laugh at how you still believe in Fairy Tales like the Apollo missions,and how you are another butt of NASA's 30 billion dollar joke.

      Congratulations!

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  

    • Pay particular attention at the 1:44 mark of the video, when Alan Bean declares he didn't think they went far enough out to encounter the Van Allen Radiation Belts.

      Ludicrous!

      You'll also hear Neil Armstrong state he was never able to see any stars from the lunar surface. And then hear Michael Collins say he couldn't remember seeing any (stars).

      Again, completely ludicrous!!!

      Bean admits they lunar legs wouldn't hold the LEM up on Earth! BUT THEY TRUSTED THEM TO HOLD IT UP ON THE MOON?

      The Apollo Illusion just keeps getting more and more crazy the more you look into it!

      Ten years now, and instead of finding facts/proof that they were real, all I find is lies, and insane comments by the astronauts revealing the fraud!

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  
    • Image

    • CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA officials decided Saturday to delay the launch of space shuttle Atlantis by 24 hours to give engineers more time to determine whether one of the most powerful lightning strikes ever at a Kennedy Space Center launch pad caused any problems.

      The launch, planned for Sunday, now will not happen until at least Monday. It was the first time a lightning strike at the launch pad had caused a shuttle launch delay.

      The lightning Friday did not hit the shuttle — it struck a wire attached to a tower used to protect the spacecraft from such strikes at the launch pad — but it created a lightning field around the vehicle, NASA managers said.

      There was no indication that any system was damaged, but if repairs were needed they would likely take days, not weeks, said Leroy Cain, launch integration manager.

      "We know just enough to know that we don't know enough to be able to press on into a launch situation," Cain said.

      Speaking of Apollo 12 by the way, check this out...
      http://www.solarviews.com/eng/apo12.htm

      "Achieving the Pinpoint Landing
      On landing day, November 19, 1969, Pete Conrad and Al Bean were in fine spirits. At launch from Earth, they'd had a scare when lightning struck the ascending Saturn V and tripped virtually all the circuit breakers in the Command Module. It was a heart-stopping experience for people on the ground; but the crew stayed calm, the Saturn V kept them going toward orbit, and, in a matter of minutes, they had everything back on line. There was no permanent damage; and the flight to the Moon and the preparations for the descent were otherwise unremarkable. As pitchover approached, Conrad strained forward against his harness, trying to get a view of the horizon. He'd caught glimpses of the Moon's central highlands as he and Bean swooped down, feet first, toward the Ocean of Storms, and as they got closer, he couldn't wait to find his target."

      This particlar bit should make you scratch your head and ask WTF?

      "At launch from Earth, they'd had a scare when lightning struck the ascending Saturn V and tripped virtually all the circuit breakers in the Command Module."

      So, after being struck by lightening, they went ahead and kept going, instead of scrubbing the mission, and getting the three astronauts back to Earth.

      So, an actual lightening strike of the Saturn V wasn't enough to scrub the mission, but a lightening strike that didn't even hit the Shuttle caused a delay in the mission.

      Where is the critical thinking minds of CURRENT for christ sake?

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  
    • Image

    • Apollo 14

      Lunar landing February 5, 1971 09:18:11 UTC
      Fra Mauro
      3°38′43.08″S 17°28′16.90″W / 3.6453°S 17.4713611°W / -3.6453; -17.4713611
      (based on the IAU
      Mean Earth Polar Axis coordinate system)

      Comprehensive Flare Index "Major" Flares -- Helen Dodson-Prince

      Begin HHMM H-a McMath Profile
      YYMMDD ID# UT Lat Long Imp Plage abcde Index

      710205 71009 0524-0558 -09 -13 SN 11145 00010 1
      710205 71009 0533-0553 03 43 SN 11137 00010 1
      710205 71010 1424-1448 10 75 SN 11140 00030 3
      710205 71011 2221-2320 -09 -02 2N 11145 12232 10

      Two of these MAJOR solar flares occured while they were 'supposedly' orbiting, two while they were 'supposedly' on the lunar surface.

      NASA mentions nothing of these in the Apollo reports.

      Come on Delia? Anyone? Wish to debate the MAJOR SOLAR FLARE lies NASA and it's weak, impotent propagandist Jay Windley spout in defense of the HOAXED Lunar landings?

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  
    • Image

    • August 2, 1972 - The Space Age Storm - Solar astronomers reported that Active Region 331 had produced three powerful flares during a span of 15 hours. The intensity of these flares, classified as 'X2' were near the limits of the scale used to classify solar flare X-ray power. The next day, the Pioneer 9 spacecraft detected a shock wave from the first of these flares at 11:24 UT accompanied by a sudden change in the solar wind speed from 350 to 585 km/sec. Space weather forecasters at the Space Environment Services Center in Boulder Colorado issued an alert that predicted a major storm would arrive at the earth between August 4. They were not disappointed. Armed with vastly improved technology and scientific ideas, they were able to realize William Ellis's 1882 dream of predicting a solar storm. At 4:00 UT, aurora were seen simultaneously from Illinois to Colorado and the events of this storm were widely reported in major international newspapers. At 22:30 UT AT&T reported a voltage surge of 60 volts on their coaxial telephone cable between Chicago and Nebraska. Another 30 minute shutdown of phone service on Bell's cable link between Plano, Illinois and Cascade, Iowa was also attributed to the storm. Both the Canadian Overseas Telecommunications Corporation and Canadian National Telecommunications reported that the current surges in their lines had damaged components in their system ranging from noise filters to 'carbon blocks' Taxi drivers received orders from distant cities and were forced to turn down lucrative transcontinental fares! Paul Linger of the Denver Zoo said that the disruption of the Earth's magnetic field by the storms would disorient pigeons who depend upon the field for their sense of direction.

      From the NGDC:
      http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/ftpsolarflares.html

      Comprehensive Flare Index "Major" Flares -- Helen Dodson-Prince

      Begin HHMM H-a McMath Profile
      YYMMDD ID# UT Lat Long Imp Plage abcde Index

      720802 72075 0316-0451 13 -35 1B 11976 32322 12

      720802 72075 0505-0800 14 -34 SN 11976 32322 12

      720802 72076 1838-1859 14 -26 1B 11976 21200 5?

      720802 72077 1958-2355 13 -27 2B 11976 22333 13

      For those not aware of the date Apollo 12 'supposedly' landed on the moon, it was November 19, 1969 at 06:54:35 UTC

      691119 69101 0458-0615 14 -33 2N 10432 12321 9
      691119 69102 0659-0728 07 -29 1B 10432 01302 6
      691119 69103 1852-1942 13 -25 1B 10432 31121 8

      The preceding MAJOR SOLAR flares occured while they were 'supposedly" orbiting, and on the lunar surface, both within their ALUMINUM LEM, and outside of it. According to space physicists, these major solar flares should have killed them. And while NASA admits to just ONE of them, they reported that they didn't even record an increase in the radiation levels.

      Right NASA!!!

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  
    • Image

    • "British scientists are planning to see whether a Star Trek-style deflector shield could be built to protect astronauts from radiation.
      They argue that magnetic shields could be deployed around spacecraft and on the surfaces of planets to deflect harmful energetic particles.

      Several countries' space agencies have announced their intentions to resume human exploration of the Solar System.

      Scientists hope to mimic the magnetic field which protects the Earth.

      Details have been presented at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Preston, UK.

      There are a variety of risks facing future space explorers, not least of which is the cancer-causing radiation from cosmic rays and solar flares that astronauts will encounter when they venture beyond the Earth's protective magnetic envelope, or magnetosphere.

      The Earth's magnetosphere deflects many of the energetic particles from space; others are largely absorbed by the atmosphere.

      Between 1968 and 1973, the Apollo astronauts were only in space for about 10 days at a time.

      They were simply lucky not to have been in space during a major eruption on the Sun that would have flooded their spacecraft with deadly radiation."

      (LUCKY? NO MAJOR ERUPTION? http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/ftpsolarflares.html

      Click on one of the following two links at the very bottom of the page...

      Listing of CFI sorted by date -- 1955-1980
      Listing of CFI sorted by cfi importance -- 1955-1980)

      The rest of the story...

      "Crew members on the International Space Station can retreat to a thick-walled room during times of increased solar radiation."

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  

    • This video uses comparitive evidence from actual Shuttle launches, to Apollo Saturn V and the Freedom 7 launch. What it proves is the lack of anything resembling realistic voices, or visual evidence (in the case of Freedom 7) during launch.

      That's right, even Alan Shephards mission was a complete hoax. NASA has a lot of splaining to do!

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  
    • Image

    • "Are you guys all crazy? Myth Busters, NatGeo, Discovery channel etc disprove all of this conspiracy bull constantly! I guess people will believe whatever they want to."

      I love this response from you about this video Delia.

      Not one iota of scientific-based arguments to refute Jan Lundberg's (Group Manager Space Projects Hasselblad 1966-1975) statement claiming that the A11-40-5903 photo shows Aldrin standing in what appears to be a spotlight.

      NOT ONE!

      Guess you just like to quote propaganda pieces aired to keep the public in the dark about NASA's nasty little Apollo LIE/FRAUD!

    • 2 years ago
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  

    • the 1st mars-earth mission was billions of years ago in an asteroid storm that helped earth and mars exchange rocks with and without life

      So a better Q than the chicken & the egg

      did OUR life start on Mars or earth?

      I assure you in this universe 2 planets next to each other can't evolve a separate LIFE.

    • 2 years ago
  • neonbunny
    • 0
      neonbunny  

    • Last term my astrophysics prof. assured the class that everyone on the first mars mission was going to die LOL. People will still line up to go though.

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  
    • neonbunny:

      Yo Neon, I would love to hear what your astrophysics prof has to say about Apollo, space radiation (Gamma Ray Bursts, Solar flares, solar wind, lunar surface secondary neutron radiation, and how well honey-combed aluminum serves as a shield.

      It would make quite an interesting conversation!

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  

    • It didn't die down UrbanGypsy.....It never happened.

      Space physicists know by the REALITY of the space environment within and beyond our magnetosphere, that the Apollo missions were faked.

      The best excuse they can give for why the Apollo astronauts could have survived deep space radiation was that they were LUCKY!

      Lucky my ass!

    • 2 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  
    • S3th:

      I have tons of evidence to back it up. And since when have you ever heard scientists backing up their scientific theories with claims such as LUCK?

      Please enlighten me on that one!

    • 2 years ago
  • S3th
    • 0
      S3th  
    • S3th:

      First you should check out moron Jay Windleys Moon Base Clavius site where he claims that no major solar flares occured during Apollo missions.

      You see all these so called space radiation scientists/space physicists all claim that the Apollo astronauts were LUCKY their missions did not coincide with a major solar flare. That, they claim would have KILLED them.

      Now, if you wish to review the evidence that proves that major solar flares did indeed occur during Apollo missions, you can check them, by DATE, and/or significance at the following address...

      http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/ftpsolarflares.html

      Click on one of the following two links at the very bottom of the page...

      Listing of CFI sorted by date -- 1955-1980
      Listing of CFI sorted by cfi importance -- 1955-1980

      I have a ton of videos outing the Apollo missions, from the very launch of the Saturn V's to the Lunar module, radiation in space, motions on the FAKE lunar surface showing evidence of invisible forces (wires) being used breaking known LAWS of MOTION.

      You can also watch videos explaining how the silence about viewing/photographing stars in space, alongside of NEIL ARMSTRONG's own denial of being able to see stars from the lunar surface. You can also view proof that NASA edited photos, such as the infamous shot of ALDRIN to minimize the spotlight, and fall off effect which outed APOLLO back in '69.

      But, if you don't wish to do the necessary research involved to see the HOAX for yourself, you can go to sleep, and keep dreaming about the Apollo Fairy Tale, and reassure yourself that your government, or it's agencies would never conspire, or LIE TO YOU!

    • 2 years ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  

    • It hard to think that considering how far we went in the 1960s that the pace of space exploration has died down so much!

      Look at science fiction stories from the 1950s and 1960s and you'll see that they predicted that we would be far more along the line of Space exploration by 2009. If they came today they would be kind of surprised we haven't really gone much farther into space.

    • 2 years ago
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      we are taking a timeout for endless Waring ASA we done with that we will get back to expanding our minds, no point in expanding minds when we are blowing up expanded minds already,no?

    • 2 years ago
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