Monday, March 15, 2010

RRJ#5 Tons of Water Ice Found on the Moon's North Pole.

¤ Reference

Malik, T. (2010, March 1). Tons of Water Ice Found on the Moon’s North Pole. Yahoo News (Space&Astronomy). Retrieved on March 3, 2010. From
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/2010030/sc_space/tonsofwatericefoundonthemoonsnorthpole


¤ Summary

NASA announced on Monday that a NASA radar instrument found evidence of more than 600million metric tons of water ice at the lunar north pole. Even though it was not to find another supply of lunar water ice, it might be a good resource such as Oxygen for breath and fuel for rocket. Jason Crusan, program executive for the Mini-RF program for NASA’s space operations in Washington D.C., said “After analyzing the data, our science team determined a strong indication of water ice, a finding which will give future missions a new target to further explore and exploit.” Last September, NASA found evidence of water ice at the south pole of the moon. In October, NASA found water vapor in the moon’s debris cloud. NASA had a plan, the Constellation program, to send astronauts to moon. But they had a problem that last month; President Barack Obama told NASA to cancel this program. So, NASA should use commercial spacecraft when astronauts go to the moon and return to the earth. Charles Bolden said “Mars is expected to be the ultimate destination for astronauts. But the moon is still a good interim target.

¤ Reaction

NASA discovered evidence of water ice at the North Pole. Water is very important for living things; especially humans cannot live without water. People want to find aliens who live on another planet in the Universe and useful resources that can use in the earth. For these reasons, people make many stories about alien or space. Anyway, if some planets have water, the possibility of existence of a living thing and of resources that humans need is high. So, I believe NASA or other astronomers should continue to study the moon. Before, I thought humans already defeated the moon, because the first launching to the moon was in 1969. But people still don’t know exactly about the moon and of course other planets. Actually I don’t know exactly why President Barack Obama canceled the Constellation program that had the program of studying the moon. But NASA or other astronomers should continue to study the moon, because the moon is the closest planet from the earth. So, going to the moon and studying the moon are easier than other planets. And the moon has potential of development.

Monday, March 1, 2010

RRJ#4, From the Clash of White Dwarfs, the Birth of a supernova

¤ Reference

Overbye, D. (2010, February 22). From the Clash of White Dwarfs, the Birth of a Supernova. The New York Times (Space&Cosmos). Retrieved on February 24, 2010. From http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/science/space/23star.html?ref=space

¤ Summary

Astronomers have been searching for a star which exploded a special way for the last 20 years. When the number of white dwarfs grows up, they set off a thermonuclear cataclysm that is bright enough to show across the universe and that makes uniform from one supernova to the next supernova. A decade ago, astronomers found that dark energy was quickly expanding in the universe. But astronomers did not agree about how the white dwarfs gain their weight and explode. Marat Gilfanov and Akos Bogdan, of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, said that supernovas are mostly produced by crash. They showed the source of important exploding, but they stil don’t know exactly. Mario Livio, a theorist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, said “The main results so far will remain unchanged.” The new results and the idea would not influence the measurements of dark energy. But “if we find a connection to where nature does it one way versus the other, we could use that information. And we are getting close to that point now,” Adam Riess, Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute and a first-rate dark energy hunter, said.

¤ Reaction

The universe has a lot of stars which sometime explode and crash. People don’t know how many stars are in the universe; people don’t even know where the end of the universe is. When a white dwarf explodes, it makes a lot of energy. So this light can shine across the universe. The universe has unlimited potentiality to find our need. Marat Gilfanov and Akos Bogdan said they didn’t know exactly what they were. That is interesting to me, because I believe they have studied this for a long time and they might be experts in studying the universe. But they don’t know exactly what is going on. I’m also interested in a planet’s moving; it sometimes has a cycle and sometimes not, because a planet’s size is various; some planets are small but some planets are really big. They are moving, whatever their size and whatever their speed fast or slow. So, I’m curious about what the source of a planet’s moving is and about how the star is born or dies. Astronomers don’t yet know exactly about a star’s explosion in cosmology. But Adam Riess has a positive prospect in discovering explosion of a star.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

RRJ#3, Hubble Images Show Pluto Changing Color

¤ Reference

The Associated Press (2010, February 4). Hubble Images Show Pluto Changing Color. The New York Times (Space&Cosmos). Retrieved on February 15, 2010. From
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/04/science/AP-US-SCI-Pluto.html?_r=1&ref=space


¤ Summary

Pluto’s color is changing to red. Astronomers who study planet’s colors are surprised. When people who don’t study planets see this picture, they might say it’s a yellow-orange color, but astronomers say it is 20 percent more red than before. These pictures show us that ice frozen nitrogen on Pluto is changing. Astronomer Marc Buie of the southwest Research Institute in Boulder said, “It’s a little bit of a surprise to see these changes happening so big and so fast.” Pluto didn’t change its color from 1954 to 2002. Buie can explain the red color on the planet, but he doesn’t explain why changing color is recently so fast. The planet has a lot of methane, which tends to make the planet red or dark. These pictures were taken in 2002 and studied why it changes so fast, but they didn’t find why. At the same time, the picture of the Pluto’s moon was also taken but it didn’t change. Thus it’s not an instrument mistake. The reason of difficulty of studying Pluto is that Pluto cycles the sun every 248 years. So, even astronomers don’t know what is going on when the planet is in the farthest position from the sun.

¤ Reaction

The situation in Pluto is really interesting to me, because nobody exactly know what happened in Pluto. Pluto is in the solar system and the farthest planet in solar system. Pluto has about -382 Fahrenheit spot. After Apollo went to the moon in 1968, the industry of the Universe has been developing. Many people including me think we know many things about the Universe and have defeated some part of solar system, because many movies show us a spacecraft and an alien. But the real world is not like that. The moon is the nearest planet to the earth. Also, going to the moon is not easy. I think the Universe has many mysteries and potentialities. We may find new resources that we need, but we can’t find them on the earth. Therefore, people should invest more in the Universe. I also worry about the life span of the planet. I heard every planet has a life time. Nobody knows why Pluto’s color is changing fast. If Pluto’s life time is almost at the end, and if it is just the beginning to the end of another planet’s life, this is a serious problem. Thus I believe we need more attention to the Universe, especially the solar system.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

RRJ#2, Billions For NASA, With a push to find new ways into space

¤ Reference

Chang K. (February 1, 2010). Billions For NASA, with a push to find new ways into space. The New York Times (Space&Cosmos). Retrieved on February 2, 2010. From http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/science/space/02nasa.html?ref=space

¤ Summary

President Obama proposed his plan for NASA on Monday. As people expected, Mr. Obama canclled the Ares I rocket, which has been developed for four years, and Orion, the crew capsule, that is the only developed traveling spacecraft capable of orbit of low earth. Some members of Congress consider about the president’s decision. Mr. Obama will spend 18 billion over five years for techologies such as station fuel in orbit and new spacecraft engines. 6 billion of the budget will be spent on transport astronauts to International Space Station from other commercial companies. Mr. Obama’s new space plan will be a big event if it succeeds. But canceling the Ares I is risky, because NASA will have a big problem if commercial companies don’t want to deliver a spacecraft. Also NASA did not say about the safety of commercial companies’ rockets. Another problem is that the decade of knowledge within NASA’s operation spacecraft will be lost and commercial companies knew about this. Dr. Logsdon, the former director of the Space Policy Intitute at George Washington University, said « It is a somewhat risky proposition, but we’ve been kind of stuck using the technologies we’ve developed in the 50’s and 60’s. »

¤ Reaction

President Obama’s decision was a little different than I thought. I think he likes change, because it is a difficult decision to cancel studying the Ares I, that has been developed for four years. NASA is a very important agency in the development of space, not only for Americans, but for every country which likes to develop space in the world. Someone said that Ares I, is not failed it is “a nonstarter”. I don’t know exactly about studying space and cosmos, but I think space is a mystery in many parts. Nobody has been to places like Mars, Jupiter or beyond the solar system. Spacecraft is really complicated and the environment of the Universe is totally different from that of the earth. So developing space is not easy and requires a long time and much study. Four years study is not short time. I’m sure that President Obama also knew these facts and made his decision. So, I hope his decision is correct and a new way to develop space will be succeeded.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

RRJ#1 NASA to Review Human Spaceflight

¤ Reference

Chang K. (2010, January, 26). NASA to Review Human Spaceflight. The New York Times (Space&Cosmos). Retrieved January 28, 2010 From http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/science/space/27nasa.html?ref=space

¤ Summary

The NASA is preparing to evaluate the human spaceflight program that requires a lot of money. President Obama will announce his space plan with his 2011 budget request on Monday. The Wall Street Journal said that the Obama administration decided to begin rivalry for commercial companies. The administration official said that Obama will an reveal increasing budget, now 18.7 billion, of NASA less than 1 billion. The Obama administration mentioned the Augustine panel which had the program that could not do with current financial levels. But NASA could do human spaceflight program and expand the period of the International Space Station more than four years if the budget is increased 3 billion a year. John M. Logsdon, the Space Policy Institute director at George Washington University, said that he can’t say whether a viable space program is enough or not until he sees the result.

¤ Reaction

Investing money in developing space is necessary, because resources on the earth are getting depleted. However the universe is unlimited and has incredible potential. Nobody knows where the end of the universe is or where the start of the universe is and what they have. But developing space needs a lot of money even 18 billion dollars isn’t enough to do the human spaceflight program. President Obama will reveal his space plan with budget of NASA. I don’t know how much he gives to NASA for this program. Also I don’t really know about politics of the USA, but I hope that Obama gives enough money to NASA for developing space.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Hi~

Welcome!

this is Eun Su Choi.

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