Sorry Thomas, but that nylon flag has gone long time ago.
Too much UV-Radiation…

Oh, and making it viewable with other Browsers than IE.
I will not install an ActiveX plugin to my Firefox 2.x that was made for Firefox 1.x, just to see proprietary movie formats, risking to mess up my system.

The only thing that would convince the MHB’s is to send them there in person.

Preferably without a space suit

If NASA made more clips like these I’d be happy to show them in my class!

Thanks, Phil, for bringing it to our attention.

A handful of these trailers, playing in movie theaters before some crappy SciFi epic, would go a long way toward showing the public that going back to the Moon is such an amazing and awe-inspiring thing to do.

Couldn’t hurt to remind them it would be cheaper, safer, and more useful than invading Iraq.

Nice. Informative. Pleasant to watch. Dull. All the passion of episode 12 of “Bureaucrats in Space”.

The new video that the BA found does have the oh-so-needed passion. I watched version 1.0 in real-time in 1969, and saw the excitement drain away too quickly over the intervening years. The YouTube version raised goosebumps. The 42 meg QuickTime made me weep.

And: sound in space?!
better think of these details before faking it again

Well, of course they are going to fake it again. If it was impossible once, it’s impossible now. And think of how much better the SFX are going to be! I’m sure they’re building the top-secret sound stage out in the Arizona desert even as we speak.

The only thing that would convince the MHB’s is to send them there in person.

- Jack

Who should we contact to put pressure in the right place? NASA could use a public relations coup d’état, and this would be it!

… the idea of putting inspirational clips like this before various sci-fi or science related movies is even better.

I hope someone with the right lever in their hand is reading this blog.

Actually, the lunar regolith is mostly oxygen and silicates by weight. Aluminum and titanium are present in elevated levels, but ‘majority’ is being a bit generous. But that’s a minor point.

I actually mostly agree with you. The moon does present a nice source of raw materials, and an almost perfect platform for a large-scale observatory, but both of these are long-term investments, which NASA is not planning to undertake.

It’s going to take a very long time, and a large amount of money to make mining lunar ore competitive with terrestrial sources, and an observatory is something that would require a permanent support staff. Both of which are long-term goals that aren’t likely to be accomplished in the next decade.

As for a base from which to launch new missions, that is an unnecessary and complicating step. As I said above, thanks to Mars’s atmosphere, it’s actually cheaper to send something from Earth to Mars then it is from Earth to lunar orbit. Once we are actually able to build ships on the moon, that will change, but that is not likely to be a reality anytime soon. A mission to Mars needs to be kept safe and simple. Adding in the moon just adds more unnecessary variables to the equation.

What I am talking about is the present. Right now, NASA seems to be planning a repeat of the Apollo program. Several lunar landers, but no really permanent base. I’m arguing that as long as this is the plan; why not go to Mars instead of the moon? Even the ‘flags and footprints’ missions like Apollo brought incredible returns in science. Imagine what we would get from a similar venture on Mars.

I think that mining operations and large observatories are worthy long term goals for the moon. But RIGHT NOW I think that it makes sense to focus most of our effort on Mars.

Really? I thought it was mostly basalts. Or are you referring to the metals making up basalt molecules. That would be a heck of a refining job although, as you pointed out, you have unfiltered sunlight 24/28 in most places and continuous at the poles (if you put the mirrors high enough).

- Jack

Die NASA zeigt gerade, wie man Wissenschaft fesselnd unters Volk bringen kann: [..]
Sorry, it’s German …

Off Topic:
Pro YouTube: It’s embeddable and the user doesn’t need a player that can handle .mov files. I like Phils solution: embedded YouTube plus link to High-res. In fact I liked it so much, that I have copied it (manual Trackback).

Where’s the love for Ares V, though? Tha big motherlauncher’s my favourite part of the project, in a lot of ways. 130 tons to orbit! Hell yeah!

The associate director of NIAC showed another awesome one to some SWE-Boston members two weeks ago (while telling us that NIAC may be cut! So unfair!), but I haven’t found it yet anywhere online… I did find this one, though, about a bunch of NIAC projects.
http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/space/niac/

Yes. YES. YES! I’m pumped! When do we go? Do I have time to charge my PSP?

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