2 minute 40 second video of the Moon's history. According to the most popular theory, the Moon was created when a Mars-sized planet struck the Earth. The impactor was vaporised, and Earth's mantle was blown off into Space. The pieces of mantle were large enough to coalesce in Earth orbit until they formed the Moon. The Giant Impactor theory became popular after Apollo Moon samples were found to resemble parts of Earth's mantle.
The Moon first coalesced less 1/4 its present distance from Earth. Since that time 4.5 billion years ago the Moon has been slowly drifting away. This is interpreted as tidal forces transferring angular momentum from Earth's rotation to the Moon. Apollo's Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment measured this distance increasing at 3.82 cm/yr, anomalously high. If the Moon were today gaining angular momentum at that rate, it would have been in the same place as Earth only 1.5 billion years ago.
If the speed of light were slowly decreasing, time for light to return from the Moon would increase each year, making the Moon appear to recede faster as seen by LLRE. Change in the speed of light, predicted by the simple expression GM=tc^3, precisely accounts for the lunar anomaly. This is striking evidence that the speed of light is slowing today.
Saturday night the Aero theatre in Santa Monica was host to a sold-out screening, the restored Melies TRIP TO THE MOON in colour! It was accompanied by the documentary THE EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGE about Melies' 1902 film and it's recent restoration. After a decayed colour print was discovered, it took 10 years tp painstakingly restore it. Interest in George Melies has increased with Martin Scorcese's HUGO. Reaching the Moon has been an ever-present fantasy of humans, achieved only briefly in 1969-71. The Moon is a universal goal--what sort of fools would deny it?
On July 20, 1969 humanity established a base on the Moon. Achieving that goal accelerated human science, from smaller microprocessors to evidence for a changing speed of light. Thousands were inspired to study math and science. Not by coincidence, human achievement flowered in the time of the Moon landings. Tranqulity Base was soon evacuated, but could be established again. A permanent base on the Moon is simply a matter of will.
Continuing the election story, a gauntlet has been laid. Tuesday in Florida, candidate Newt Gingrich vowed to start a base on the Moon by the end of his second term, the year 2021. Plans for the Moon have been seduced and abandoned for the past 40 years. Is a Moon settlement in that time frame possible? The Moon is achievable by more than one path.
The Orion Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle is being developed by Lockheed Martin. Officially Orion's mission is crew return from low Earth orbit. A first unmanned flight has been scheduled for early 2014 atop a Delta IV booster. That flight will go to an altitude of 8000 km, exposing Orion to the radiation environment of deep Space. The reentry will be at speeds approaching that of lunar return. In today's difficult budget environment Lockheed engineers are designing Orion to go beyond.
The Space Launch System is being designed at Marshall Space Flight Center. SLS will initially be based on Shuttle-derived hardware--an 8.3 meter diameter first stage, RS-25 engines, and 5-segment solid rocket boosters. The big booster will have an initial payload to orbit of 70 metric tons. The first flight of SLS is scheduled for 2017, carrying an unmanned Orion toward the Moon.
Presently the year 2021 is envisioned with a crewed flight of Orion boosted atop SLS. The destination has not been chosen, but it could easily be an Apollo 8-type flight around the Moon. Other destinations will be possible, such as a Lagrange point or an asteroid.
If plans are started early enough, following flights could carry a Lunar Surface Module. Lunar landings would require 2 SLS launches, one for Orion and a second launch for the Lunar Module. If the lunar module is ready, the landing could occur as early as 2022. This seems early, but Apollo 11 followed Apollo 8 by only 7 months. This landing, the first step in a lunar base, would occur within a few months of Mr. Newt's goal.
Gingrich also spoke about prizes for private Space companies, akin to the Orteig Prize won by Charles Lindbergh. The SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster will be capable of placing 53 tons in low Earth orbit. Their Dragon capsule has an escape system that is also adaptable to planetary landings. With modifications Dragon could land a crew on the Moon. With the right incentive, perhaps SpaceX could reach the Moon faster and cheaper than NASA.
A lunar landing could also occur with international partners. The head of Russia's Roskosmos recently spoke about cooperating with Americans on the Moon. The Space Station was originally a West-only project, then nearly abandoned by the Clinton administration before being reimagined as a partnership with Russia. Perhaps international partners could contribute a Lunar Module to dock with Orion.
There are numerous paths to a lunar base. Orion and SLS could be combined with a new Lunar Module. The SpaceX Faldon Heavy and Dragon might be capable of a lunar landing. International partners could be involved. Any of these combinations could land the first elements of a lunar base by 2021. All that is required, all that has been required for 40 years, is the will. Perhaps another President will set a goal of lunar settlement.
This tree in Monterey, California was grown from a seed carried by Apollo 14. Stuart Roosa carried the tiny seed as he orbited the Moon in the Command Module. After being raised at a nursery in Placerville, the seedling was planted here in 1976. The little seed has grown very quickly! Redwoods are the tallest living things on Earth, with the tallest known specimen reaching 114 meters.
The person by the tree had the honour of doing experiments with Lunar Sample 14003,96. This was a contingency sample brought back by Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell from the surface. Shepard later turned the sample handle into the famous golf club. Apollo 14 was also one of the missions bringing a Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment. Data from LLRE is direct evidence that the speed of light is slowing down. From small seeds grow great trees.
The Lunar Science Forum at NASA Ames finished this week. According to press releases, the new plan is for humans to reach an Near Earth Object by 2025. However the technology needed, such as heavy lift boosters and a crew capsule, is struggling for funding. The challenges of taking a crew millions of miles from Earth are daunting. Studies have found that the NEO's we can reach by 2025 are mostly small, with diameters of 20-40 meters. The public may not be excited about spending billions to reach such small objects. Researchers can point to little science on an NEO that can not be accomplished with unmanned spacecraft. Some doubt if there is a goal at all.
Fortunately NASA has discovered this Near Earth Object only 384,400 kilometers away. It is large enough to support multiple missions. It is known to contain water and other resources that astronauts could exploit. The possible benefits to science would be enormous, from geology to astronomy. As one example, a radio telescope on the far side of this object would be shielded from the electromagnetic noise of Earth. Possibly after looking at more distant NEO's, the US will consider going here first.
As readers of this blog know, the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment (LLRE) has found evidence that light is slowing down as we speak. A simple expression GM=tc^3 predicts that this object 384,400 kilometers away will appear to recede an additional 0.935 cm/yr. Data from LLRE, when compared with other experiments, verifies the prediction more precisley that Mercury's precession. Science has so far overlooked the evidence, even though it stares us in the face each night.
42 years ago today Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon! Today I'm at NASA Ames in California for the Lunar Science Forum and other meetings. The main question, as it has been for decades, is when will humans return to the Moon?
Hilo is on the wet side of the Big Island, a place of frequent rain. Trade winds from the Northeast are interrupted by mountainous Mauna Kea and Kilauea, dumping their precipitation here. We are surrounded by gardens and waterfalls. Thanks to abundant water, this side of the Big Island is a garden of life.
A new study of Apollo 17 samples indicates that the Moon contains 100 times more water than previously thought. This finding builds upon previous studies that have found ever more water. The researchers had to complete months of paperwork to use priceless Apollo samples, a process which this scientist has also experienced. The authors of this new study see the need for more samples to expand upon their findings. Up until a short time ago we had a plan to return by the early 2020's. Scientists and engineers still hope that humans will return again walk on the Moon.
Whoops! As we see in this 20-second video, the Morpheus lander test on May 3 didn't go very well. In this tethered test, Morpheus appears to veer out of control. The test on May 4, Innovation Day, went better. Meanwhile launch of STS-134, once scheduled for April 19, has been delayed until at least May 16 due to problems with the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU).
Thank heaven for satellites. Details are still coming in, but Osama Bin Laden's hideout appears to have been this structure in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It's located at 34.187663 North, 73.242517 East in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Bin Laden had lots of neighbours, including Pakistan's military academy, so it is suspicious how he could hide here without someone knowing. Thank heaven for US Navy SEALS too!
It should be noted that early Sunday morning enjoyed a nearly new Moon, so the Navy SEALS would have more cover of darkness in which to ambush their prey. The Moon's thin crescent was doubtless a factor in planning the raid. UPDATE: Better photo added.
Tuesday afternoon at JSC I witnessed a hot-fire test of the Morpheus lunar lander prototype. This is about as close as JSC employees can get. Johnson Space Center is not normally a rocket site. JSC designed the Space Shuttles, trains astronauts, and is home to Mission Control. It is a convenient tourist destination for the entire middle of the USA. We in Houston naturally think that JSC deserves a Shuttle for display.
3:40 video of coworkers at JSC doing a cold-flow test on the Morpheus lunar lander prototype. Liquid nitrogen is run through the fuel system to check for leaks without using explosive fuel. We also used nitrogen in Building 31 to protect lunar samples from the environment. NASA's mysterious Project M investigated sending a Robonaut to the Moon within 1000 days of a go-ahead. M has morphed into Morpheus, a prototype lunar lander built in partnership with Armadillo Aerospace. Who says we don't have fun in Houston?
Graphite is the carbon form seen in pencils, which are all a cosmologist really needs to work. By exposing graphite to common adhesive tape, physicists have produced graphene, a material with many potential uses. The APS meeting in Dallas last month was full of presentations on graphene and its applications. Recently graphite has been found to occur naturally in tubelike whiskers, even in Space. Today graphite whiskers have been found in Moon samples.
Apollo 17 landed in Mare Serenitatis. The Sea of Serenity is said to form one eye of the Man in the Moon. Mare Serenitatis was also home to the fictional Moon Kingdom in SAILOR MOON before it was overcome by cosmic dark energy. Apollo 17also carried Harrison Schmitt, the only geologist yet to have explored the Moon. Evidence from the Moon may be dark energy's undoing.
Our Apollo samples are over 40 years old, yet they still yield new discoveries. Examining Apollo 17 regolith samples using the technique of Raman spectroscopy, scientists at JPL have found traces of graphite whiskers. They could be leftovers from 3.9 billion years ago, when the Moon and solar systems underwent a Late Heavy Bombardment of meteors. The whiskers would have arrived on the Moon via meteorites, having formed in deep Space.
In 2008 other astronomers found traces of graphite whiskers in 3 different meteorites. Graphite dust may be common in the Universe. The dust would block light in infrared wavelenghts. If so, its presence might dim the light from distant supernovae. That dimming is the only evidence of "cosmic acceleration" or "dark energy." Other sorts of cosmic dust might also explain away dark energy.
Redshifts are related to the speed of light. The other explanation is that the Universe is not accelerating but the speed of light is slowing down. If the "accelerating" redshifts are caused by dust, there is other evidence for c slowing. Since this blog started, evidence for c change has also been found from the Moon. Like whiskers on the Man in the Moon, alternatives to "dark energy" continue to sprout.
UPDATE: "Dark energy" skeptic Subir Sarkar of Oxford reports that the Hubble WFC2 data only rules out some void models, not others. An assertion in the press that DE's existence has been proven is premature, to say the least.
The view from my lanai. Everyone look at the Moon tonight! As with the planets, the Moon orbits in an ellipse. Tonight's full Moon coincides with perigee in the lunar orbit, leading to a "supermoon." The Moon will appear larger than ever before.
One moon ago February 21 this paper appeared from Lorenzo Lorio:
The eccentricity of an ellipse measures its departure from a circle. According to Lorio, the Moon's eccentricity has increased at an anomalous rate. He is generous enough to examine a variety of possible causes, from General Relativity's Lense-Thirring effect to an undiscovered planet. If this effect is confirmed, it adds to a number of anomalies in solar system orbits.
Anomalies in orbits can have great significance. Mercury's elliptical orbit precesses at 5600 arcseconds per century, but a discrepancy of only 43 arcsec/century was enough to prove General Relativity. Readers of this blog know that the Moon is receding from Earth 1/3 faster than geology says. The anomaly may be predicted even more precisely than Mercury's precession! If you are in Dallas, Texas for the American Physical Society meeting next week, you might enjoy this talk:
ABSTRACT: Studies of the Moon at Johnson Space Center have confirmed a large anomaly in lunar orbital distance, with possible applications to Relativity. Our Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment has reported the Moon's semimajor axis increasing at 3.82 ± .07 cm/yr, anomalously high. If the Moon were gaining angular momentum at this rate, it would have coincided with Earth less than 2 Gyr ago. The Mansfield sediment (Bills, Ray 2000) measures lunar recession at 2.9 ± 0.6 cm/yr. Additional observations independently measure a recession rate of 2.82 ± .08 cm/yr. LLRE differs from independent experiments by 10 sigma. A cosmology where speed of light c is related to time t by GM=tc^3 has been suggested to predict the redshifts of Type Ia supernovae, and a 4.507034% proportion of baryonic matter (Riofrio 2004). If c were changing in the amount predicted, lunar orbital distance would appear to increase by an additional 0.935 cm/yr. An anomaly in the lunar orbit may be precisely accounted for, shedding light on puzzles of "dark energy.'' In Planck units this may be summarised as M=R=t.
Analysis of old data from Apollo seismometers may have revealed that the Moon has an iron core like Earth. The Apollo Passive Seismic Experiment consisted of four seismometers left on the Moon by astronauts. They were used to record both moonquakes and the impacts of spent rocket stages. New analysis suggests that the Moon has a solid inner core 150 km in diameter and a liquid iron outer core 205 km in diameter. NASA Press Release
As followers of this blog know, data from the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment, also left on the Moon by astronauts, may reveal a changing speed of light. As Galileo suggested, light can be timed using lanterns on distant hilltops. Galileo lacked an accurate clock, but today we have access to laser lanterns and the distant hilltop of the Moon. 40 years of laser ranging report the Moon receding anomalously high. If the speed of light were slowing, time for light to return from the Moon would increase each year, making the Moon appear to recede faster. Missions to the Moon are a priceless asset for cosmology.
Despite uncertainties in budgets and the world, work is continuing on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. On December 14 Orion will be displayed at the Michoud Assembly Facility to mark completion of the Ground Test Article. Congress has approved funding for a Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle to boost Orion beyond LEO. Both a CEV and booster would be needed to finally get beyond Low Earth Orbit.
Lockheed-Martin, prime contractor for Orion, is still thinking of missions using Orion's unique capabilities. Previously they proposed using two docked Orions for an asteroid mission dubbed "Plymouth Rock." This week they proposed a mission to Lagrangian Point L2, on the far side of the Moon. A crew at L2 would send robotic probes to the surface, exploring the far side and poles. L2 is also a point coveted by Space colony enthusiasts, who would use it as a staging area for lunar materials. The far side of the Moon is a great location for radio astronomy, being protected by the Moon's bulk from Earth radio noise.
Another possible destination is the Earth-Sun L2 point, 1.5 million km from Earth. This is the future location of the troubled James Webb Space Telescope. JWST, like previous Space telescopes, will someday need servicing. Hopefully the JWST builders will include a docking capability with Orion. Rendezvous with JWST would be good training for a near-Earth asteroid.
FLORIDA TODAY reports an even more audacious plan. Their article claims that Lockheed wants to launch Orion unmanned atop a Delta IV EELV in 2013. In this mission Orion would orbit to 8000 km altitude and test its performance in the deep Space environment. Controllers on Earth would test the spacecraft's stability and control. The test would include reentry and water landing off Southern California. If successful, this would make a human asteroid mission possible by 2015. The article doesn't mention that a heavy lift booster would still be required to reach an asteroid.
High Earth orbit, the lunar farside or Sun-Earth L2 point are possible stepping-stones to an asteroid mission. The trip to a near-Earth asteroid could put a crew in Space for months. In turn an asteroid mission would be training for a mission to Phobos or Deimos. With the right steps, Orion and a Heavy Lift Launcher could send crews on the way to Mars soon.
Dr. Daniel Gezari worked for 28 years at NASA's Goddard Space flight Center, and is currently an Astrophysicist Emeritus. He received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. His current interests include tests of Lorentz invariance and searching for evidence of a preferred reference frame for light. Earlier this year he released a paper that has caused a stir.
According to Gezari's paper, the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment (LLRE) measures the speed of light c as 8 m/sec less than its formerly accepted value. Perhaps c has slowed since the canonical measurement? Even more surprising, Gezari claims that c varies by as much as 200 m/sec depending on the observer's direction. This would undermine Lorentz Invariance, which says that c is the same regardless of direction.
Typically, the Gezari paper has drawn criticism. One arxiv abstract reads "We show that the conclusion of a recent experiment [arXiv:0912.3934] that claims to have discovered that 'the speed of light seems to depend on the motion of the observer' is wrong." If true, Gezari's results would undermine the basis of Special Relativity that is taught in schools. The schoolteachers may not be happy.
Shortly after Gezari was published, a similar paper appeared from Reginald Cahill at University of Flinders, Australia:
Cahill also claims that LLRE shows a variation in c. He also claims a correlation with spacecraft flyby anomalies. These papers show the value of Apollo lunar missions to Physics.
Galileo was criticized for claiming that Earth circles the Sun, but he was also interested in light. At the time there was disagreement whether light travelled instantaneously or had a finite speed. Galileo suggested stationing lanterns on distant hilltops to time light's passage. Of course clocks of his time could not possibly measure time so accurately. Finally in the 1750's Ole Roemer used observations of Jupiter's moon to show that light had a limited speed. Despite Roemer's accurate predictions, it was 50 years before his conclusions were widely accepted.
Thanks to Apollo, we can measure light with laser lanterns and the distant hilltop of the Moon. LLRE has reported the Moon's semimajor axis increasing by 3.82 cm/yr, anomalously high. If the Moon were gaining angular momentum at this rate, it would have coincided with Earth about 1.5 billion years ago. Apollo lunar samples (which this scientist has had the honour to touch) show that the Moon is nearly old as the Solar System, over 4.5 billion years. Measurements using tidal sediments and eclipse records show that the Moon is receding at about 2.9 cm/yr. LLRE disagrees with independent measurements by 0ver 0.9 cm/yr, a huge anomaly.
If the speed of light is slowing according to GM=tc^3, the time for light to return will increase, making the Moon appear to recede faster as measured by LLRE. Predicted change is 0.935 cm/yr, precisely accounting for a 10 sigma anomaly. Since a little equation was first published, cracks have appeared in the "constant speed of light" canon.
Other voices at GSFC, who do not have a fraction of Dr. Gezari's experience, have been telling the press that they have found acceleration caused by "dark energy." The explanation for DE and the apparent acceleration of redshifts is something a child could understand. Since redshifts are related to the speed of light, it is not the Universe accelerating but the speed of light slowing down. A repulsive "dark energy" can not survive the light of discovery.
The first video from the Moon's surface July 20, 1969. Prior to Apollo all of human history took place on the tiny dot of Earth. Since 1969 human exploration has spanned the short distance from Earth to Moon. We hope to see footage like this soon.
This is the Lunar Sample Return Facility at Johnson Space Center. Apollo 14 landed in the Fra Mauro formation, the intended site of Apollo 13. Sample 14003,96 was a contingency sample collected by the crew at the beginning of their first EVA in February 5, 1971. This returned sample was unopened by anyone in 38 years! Today is the great honour of touching the Moon.
Apollo samples are beyond priceless. Only by many months of applying and experimenting can one get a piece. 14003,96 is the largest sample ever released to researchers. The sample is handled here in the clean room, within a glovebox pressurised with nitrogen. The sample is kept within this flying saucer-shaped container, sealed with many bolts. No one knows exactly what we will find within. Working within a glovebox is tricky, much like being on EVA. Removing the lid, we find 3 layers of heat-sealed plastic and another metal container. Here is the first view of sample 14003,96. It will be used for some very important experiments.
Unlike Earth's surface, which has been renewed many times by plate tectonics, the lunar regolith is extremely ancient. The "Genesis Rock" found by Apollo 15 was 4.5 billion years old, nearly as ancient as the solar system. The lunar regolith is therefore a recorder of solar system history. It can give us a record of stellar variability, and whether dangerous supernovae have exploded nearby. Exploring the Moon is therefore valuable for uncovering Earth's history.
The regolith can also tell us how the Sun's luminosity has varied over time. The "Faint Young Sun" hypothesis claimed that the Sun has been slowly warming. According to this idea, 4 billion years ago Earth and Mars would have been frozen solid. Data from geology and paleontology does not support this hypothesis. Early in their history, both Earth and Mars were warm enough for liquid water and life.
The Sun turns fuel to energy according to E=mc^2. Because speed of light c has slowed over time, billions of years ago the Sun was nearly as bright as today. Evidence from Apollo missions to the lunar surface is smoking-gun evidence that the speed of light slows to this day. Whose pots are cracked now?
Robonaut 2 was developed by General Motors and Oceaneering Space Systems in Houston. A new video shows an advanced Robonaut landing on the Moon. Potentially this could be part of NASA's Flexible Path beyond Earth orbit. Project M is a secretive project within JSC Engineering Directorate to put a robot on the Moon within 1,000 days. Innovation is still alive here at NASA.
From the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco: Wednesday the talk was about water on the Moon. In 1999, as the Cassini spacecraft passed the Moon on the way to Saturn, the Visual Infared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) found the 3-micron signature of water molecules and hydroxyl. Though found 10 years ago, this discovery was not published until this September.
This year the finding was confirmed by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) aboard India's Chandrayaan orbiter. Further confirmation was found from the Epoxi spacecraft which passed the Moon in June 2009 on its way to encounter a comet. Corroborating evidence from 3 missions show water and/or hydroxyl on the Moon. Today the Moon, once thought drier than a bone, is known to contain water.
As seen in this slide from yesterday afternoon, the two major 'water relations' on the Moon are temperature and composition. Cold terrain, such as near the poles contains more water. Mare contain less water than the lunar highlands. For these reasons, polar highlands are considered to be likely locations for settlement.
In response to this writer's question, another speaker noted that 10^21 kg asteroid Ceres could be composed of nearly 30% fresh water. While Earth contains about 10^21 kg water, not all of it is fresh. Ceres could potentially contain more fresh water than Earth! The asteroids are also potential sites for human mining. With possible changes in NASA's visions for the Moon and beyond, humans could venture to an asteroid in the near future.
Full-time scientist. Before graduating I learned that the speed of light is slowing down and originated the "GM=tc^3" theory, which explains the dark energy problem and most physicists still can't explain. More recent work seeks Black Holes in some unexpected places, even within Earth. I've been working at NASA in Houston on studies of the Moon, and have an insider's view of the Space program. Actress in film, television and stages from Honolulu to Houston. In spare time I fight off hostile aliens, explore a strange world and unusual forms of life.
