Blogs / Bad Astronomy

Last week, I wrote about NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, and how he may be replaced when Obama takes office. Given that he was a Bush appointee, I imagine he must be thinking he’s on his way out as NASA’s top banana. That may explain why he made a public statement aimed at Obama about NASA’s future.

Basically, he said that the incoming Administration needs to stick with going back to the Moon, and that backing down from such an endeavor would be a mistake. After commenting that he would be honored to continue on with NASA if asked, he said:

“Two successive Congresses - one Republican and one Democrat - have strongly endorsed the path NASA is on. I think it’s the right path,” Griffin said.

“For 35 years since the Nixon administration, we’ve been on the wrong path. It took the loss of (space shuttle) Columbia and (the accident investigation) report to highlight the strategic issues to get us on the right path,” he said.

“We’re there. I personally will not be party to taking us off that path. Someone else may wish to, but I do not.”

That’s a pretty strong statement, and makes clear his thoughts (refreshing from someone in charge of a government agency). I happen to agree with him; going back to the Moon is what NASA should focus on, as long as the science is not sacrificed.

The caveat here is the economy. If we lapse into a depression, then NASA may be the first on the chopping block. But I hope that’s not the case; NASA employs many thousands of people, and letting them go would be a huge mistake, both economically and for the future of the nation.

Also, the rockets that take us to the Moon will be capable of vastly larger payloads than we can currently loft, making solar system and deep space science easier. Look at what the Cassini Saturn probe is doing, and then imagine launching much larger probes with far more capabilities than we have now… going back to the Moon can benefit all of space exploration and science if done properly.

Personally, I think Griffin will be replaced, and I don’t have a clue who might be the person to take over. But I do hope they listen carefully to what Griffin has to say. Some of what Griffin has done in the past needs to be forgotten (or maybe even apologized for), but on other topics he’s right on the money.

First things first: The Shuttle is scheduled to liftoff for the Space Station at 19:55 EST today (00:55 GMT). As I write this, the Endeavour’s crew is getting strapped in and readied to go. You can watch the launch online at NASA TV. They have a camera on the command deck! Awesome.

Update: Launch was right on time, and looks good so far. There was an issue with a door not being latched in the White Room, the retractable room where the techs batten down the Shuttle’s hatch before launch. That was not on the Orbiter itself, so it posed no danger. I suspect they’ll need a new White Room, though. Can’t wait to see the pictures of it!

Second, the Indian Moon probe Chandrayaan-1 is now orbiting the Moon! It dropped a small impactor which has reportedly smacked into the south pole crater Shackleton. I haven’t seen any images or data online yet, but check Emily’s blog; she is usually pretty quick on such things.

Update: a couple of images are now online at ISRO, but they are unlabeled– i have no idea how far up they were taken, what the scale is, nothing. But they’re cool!

I will probably talk about these events during my Second Life interview tonight at 21:00 Eastern (US) time (02:00 GMT)

The 78th Carnival of Space is up at Simostronomy. Head on over there for a diverse collection of astronomical blogginess.

The Indian Space Research Organization reports that their Chandrayaan-1 Moon probe has entered what’s called a Lunar Transfer Orbit (or LTO), a path that will take it to the Moon.

It has been orbiting the Earth since its launch on October 22. Technically, it still is orbiting the Earth, but this new LTO is a highly elliptical path that takes the probe very close to the Moon. On November 8, Chardrayaan-1 will fire its thrusters again, and that will slow it enough to achieve lunar orbit. From there, it will settle down into a much lower, more circular orbit, and then the fun begins as it maps our nearest neighbor in space. I’m really looking forward to the images and science it will return!

Oops! I almost forgot: The latest Carnival of Space is up at Tomorrow is Here. Funny, I figured tomorrow never comes.

The Indian lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 is slowly making its way to the Moon; it’ll be another week before it gets there. In the meantime, the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) has been testing the cameras by taking images of the Earth. The picture shown here (click to embiggen) is very cool. It shows the southern coast of Australia, and I think it’s south-up, despite the map they show [Update: Emily figured this out: the image has been flipped horizontally due to operator error!]. You can clearly see water above the land mass, and I think that’s the ocean south of Australia. The resolution is nice.

That picture was taken on October 29 when the probe was 70,000 km above the surface of the Earth; nearly twice as high as weather satellites. Obviously, when it arrives at the Moon and drops into its 100 km orbit, the images it gets will be fantastic!

It looks like the country of India is on its way to the Moon! The rocket carrying the Chandrayaan-1 Moon probe launched successfully yesterday (or today, depending on what side of the dateline you’re one). The package is currently orbiting the Earth, and will soon do a burn that will send it to the Moon. Around November 8 it should reach the Moon and settle into its mapping orbit 100 km above the lunar surface.

Once there, its 11 instruments (two from NASA, and five built in India, with the rest built by ESA and Bulgaria) will scan the Moon, making stereoscopic terrain maps, doing mineralogical studies, and — most coolly — dropping a 29 kilogram probe (complete with a video camera and a flag of India) that will impact the surface.

Congrats to the Indian Space Research Organisation for their successful launch, and I hope the rest of the mission goes as well!