The Flight Deck for August 2002, Issue 111
From the Bridge:
Time has finally slowed to a snail's pace, but then again, in this
kind of heat, everything seems to S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N. The "dog days of
summer" have arrived. But August is shaping up to be a busy month
for both the Halsey and the Fleet at Large.
First up, the Halsey congratulates her First Officer, FCAPT Alice
Doty, on the marriage of her daughter this month. It's almost here
Alice, hang in there!
Second, hope everyone who came to Inconjunction enjoyed themselves
half as much as I did. And any rumors you may hear about my
activities on Friday night at the Devival are to be disregarded.
That was not me and no one can prove that it was me! Ahem. Our
honorary Captain and guest Jack Stauffer asked me to pass along his
thanks for a fine time. Also, congratulations to the USS Adventure
for their wonderful suite and successful recruiting drive.
The time has come for the Halsey to launch a drive of her own. FADM
Paul Sundstrom has kicked it off; please welcome aboard science CDT
Larry Douglas and welcome back CMDR Judi Davidson. Judi will also be
serving as our Chief Operations Officer. I'm working on several new
recruits and challenge all of you to do the same! Also, don't forget
to re-up when your renewal time rolls around. Not sure when that
is? Ask! I'm also trying to drum up some ideas for community
involvement. Do you have an idea? Don't hesitate to pass it along!
Third, August 2nd marks the release of the Mel Gibson movie "Signs." Much
interest in a movie away mission has been voiced to me, so I am tenatively
scheduling an away mission to "Signs" on Sunday, August 3rd, at the
Showplace 16 on the south side at the showing closest to 1 pm. If this
doesn't work for some of you, let me know and we'll work something out.
Fourth, August 10th is the next scheduled Halsey meeting as part
of the Starbase 06 picnic at Eagle Creek Park Marina. The gathering
will start at noon with food around 1. Everyone is requested to
bring a covered dish, munchies, and/or drinks. There will be a hat
passed to help pay for the meat. We won't have a raffle this month,
but we are already accumulating items for next time.
Fifth, August 16-18 marks Conglomeration down in my neck of the
woods, in Clarksville, Indiana. A Starfleet Command general meeting
will be held on Saturday, August 17 starting at 4:00 p.m. to 4:55
p.m. in the Shakespeare Room. I hope to see many of you down there.
I think I've hit all of the bases for this month....and
you have your orders in hand gang.......let's get to it!
CAPT Cathy Dailey
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Upcoming Events:
August 3rd--"Signs" away mission (stay tuned)
August 10th--Starbase 06 Picnic, Eagle Creek Park, 12pm
August 16-18th--Conglomeration in Clarksville, IN
(SFC meeting on the 17th)
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Beamdown Coordinates:
Eagle Creek Park Marina, 12 noon
Eagle Creek Park is on the northwest side of Indianapolis, just west
of the 56th Street Exit on I-465 and the 71st Street Exit on I-65.
Enter through 56th Street Entrance and follow signs to the Marina.
Hope to see you there!
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Birthdays & Anniversaries
August 4th--ADM Russell Simson
August 12th--ADM Roseann Packer
August 24th--LT Jess Eby
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From the "Better Late Than Never" Desk:
Europeans Prepare for First Mission to the Moon
By Heather Sparks
We've visited it in person. We've studied it with robots in orbit. We've
even crashed into it on purpose to try and kick up something interesting.
Yet our nearest celestial neighbor the Moon still holds mysteries.
Exactly how the Moon evolved, and thus how the Earth came to be, is
not fully understood. And scientist suspect -- but are not certain --
that the Moon harbors water ice at its south pole, something that
could determine whether colonies are ever established there.
In response to the dearth of data, several upcoming missions are
being planned. The first spacecraft to visit the Moon after a
four-year-drought will be SMART-1, the European Space Agency's
maiden voyage to Earth's only natural satellite.
The robotic craft is slated for launch in April 2003.
The six-month orbital mission -- SMART-1 won't land on the Moon
-- is touted as a technology test bed for an electric propulsion
mechanism and for the viability of miniature instrumentation in
space. But SMART-1 will also tote a scientific payload keener than
most any other used before at the Moon, helping to gain insight into
its composition and the evolution of the Earth-Moon system. The
craft's findings could help pave the way for a human return to
the lunar surface and exploration further into space.
Much of what's known about the Moon's composition comes
from the 841.5 pounds (381.7 kilograms) of lunar samples
scooped up during six Apollo missions.
But a truly representative sampling of the Moon is missing.
All but two collections were made from or near the lunar maria
landing sites on the Moon's near side, close to the equator.
Yet the collections were revolutionary. Astronaut Harrison "Jack"
Schmitt on the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 collected a variety of
lunar rock and soil with the help a special gripping rake.
"Apollo 17 was a very good mission, but it was limited and
time consuming," says Giuseppe Racca, SMART-1's project manager.
On the other hand, "The infrared instrument on SMART-1 is like
sending a bunch of astronauts all over the Moon."
SMART-1's Infrared Spectrometer (SIR) will map the entire lunar
surface at a spatial resolution that project manager Andrea Marini
compares to a small chocolate box, in 266 varying infrared
wavelengths. The orbiting Clementine mission in the mid-1990s, by
comparison, could only resolve features larger than a football field
and distinguished just seven different colors in the infrared range.
SIR's infrared map will allow scientists to distinguish between
subtypes of lunar minerals made from different geologic processes.
So-called feldspar minerals form at lower temperatures than pyroxenes
and olivines, for example. Thus the instrument will reveal what kind
of geologic processes have occurred on the Moon, and how long the
Moon has been the mostly dead orb it is now.
The leading theory for the Moon's formation holds that it was made
from a giant impact, when a Mars-sized object slammed into the nascent
Earth, melting and ejecting a huge amount of molten rock into the sky.
Yet the specifics of the impact and the processes the Moon and Earth
went through after the first 24 hours of chaos are mostly speculative.
For instance, it's known that after the Moon assembled itself,
it melted again as it evolved. But it's unknown how long that
process lasted, and how much of it melted, said Paul Spudis, a
scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
SMART-1's Demonstration of a Compact Imaging X-ray Spectrometer
instrument, or D-CIXS, will reveal more about the formation
process by make the first global map of the relative abundance
of surface elements, especially aluminum, iron, and magnesium.
Spudis explained that if the surface contains a lot more
magnesium than iron, then melting of the Moon must have been
slight. But if magnesium and iron are more equally represented,
then the Moon's secondary melting may have lasted for a long time.
Clementine's contributions to science were significant, especially its
discovery of hydrogen types that indicated there might be water ice at
the Moon's south pole. In the late 1990s, Lunar Prospector helped
confirmed this finding. But some doubts remain, and no spacecraft have
been to the Moon since Lunar Prospector was crashed into the surface
on purpose in 1999, ending the project in a dramatic long shot that
failed to kick up useful chemical signs to view from Earth, as hoped.
Scientists had long speculated whether or not frozen water
existed on the Moon. If it's there, it was likely because comets
had brought it there. But researchers figured that the combination
of the Sun's energy and the lack of gravity would have evaporated
the water, except at the dark polar regions. High mountains veil
the Moon's south pole. Very little sunlight reaches beyond those
peaks, setting up a possible natural ice chest but also making
observations of the low-lying areas nearly impossible.
An instrument called a neutron spectrometer would be
needed to verify if the hydrogen found there is actually
bound in water molecules; hydrogen can exist in other forms.
SMART-1 is not carrying a neutron spectrometer, but it is
carrying an asteroid-Moon Imager Experiment, or AMIE, which
will make the first detailed study of the region in the visible
light spectrum at varying angles. The images will rely on the tiny
amount of light that is bounced around the peaks of the mountains.
"AMIE will be seeing if there are the right morphological
conditions for water to be held there," Racca said.
The resulting maps will be important for another reason. Spudis and his
colleague Ben Busse have found an area at the south pole that may just
be in permanent sunlight. "The place would be valuable real estate.
We'd want to go there because it would be great for solar power...
and close to water. It's possible that it's kind of like an oasis."
Other researchers have suggested these peaks
would be the perfect spot to locate a Moon base.
SMART-1 will test pint-sized tools and a new propulsion system that could
later be used on more ambitious flights to Mercury and beyond. Yet
SMART-1 could produce some valuable science along the way. Clementine,
too, wasa technology test bed and orbited the Moon for only 71 days.
"We have a long way to go before there is a possibility of colonizing and
exploration of the Moon," said Marini. "But a first step is exploring
with our small instruments and high tech to get a better understanding
of the Moon's southern pole and whether or not there is water there."
Editor's Note: SMART-1 was originally slated for launch in 2002,
but the date was pushed back to allow more development time for
the craft's clever propulsion system. Return tomorrow to learn
more about this in our Tech Wednesday feature presentation.
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From the "Will the Puns Never Cease!" Desk:
Pop Quiz: The Metric System
Q: Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter:
A: Eskimo Pi
Q: 2000 pounds of Chinese soup:
A: Won ton
Q: 1 millionth of a mouthwash:
A: 1 microscope
Q: Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement:
A: 1 bananosecond.
Q: Weight an evangelist carries with God:
A: 1 billigram
Q: Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour:
A: Knot-furlong
Q: 365.25 days of drinking low-calorie beer because it's less filling:
A: 1 lite year
Q: 16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone:
A: 1 Rod Serling
Q: Half of a large intestine:
A: 1 semicolon
Q: 1000 aches:
A: 1 kilohurtz
Q: Basic unit of laryngitis:
A: 1 hoarsepower
Q: Shortest distance between two jokes:
A: A straight line.
Q: 453.6 graham crackers:
A: 1 pound cake
Q: 1 million microphones:
A: 1 megaphone
Q: 1 million bicycles:
A: 2 megacycles
Q: 2000 mockingbirds:
A: Two kilomockingbirds
Q: 10 cards:
A: 1 decacards
Q: 1 kilogram of falling figs:
A: 1 Fig Newton
Q: 1 millionth of a fish:
A: 1 microfiche
Q: 1 trillion pins:
A: 1 terrapin
Q: 10 rations:
A: 1 decoration
Q: 100 rations:
A: 1 C-ration
Q: 3 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University
Hospital:
A: 1 I.V. League
Q: 1000 cubic centimeters of wet socks:
A: 1 literhosen
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end transmission
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