Gizmodo Australia » lunar

Moonbell Creates “Beautiful Music” From The Lunar Surface

John Herrman — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:20:00 +0000

Moonbell, a surprisingly complex MIDI composer and visualiser that draws inspiration from lunar topographical data, poses a pressing question: Is there music hidden on the moon’s surface? The answer depends heavily on your definition of the word “music”.

Created in part by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, this animated web toy might not render the most appealing soundscapes straight away, but it gives you plenty of tools to at least try to coax notes out of two years of topographical data collected by the Kaguya moon orbiter. There are two playback modes: Orbit, which translates the altitudes along a fixed rotational path into sounds, sort of like a phonograph needle; and Free Scratch, which lets you plot a listening path along the moon’s surface with your cursor. Both modes have a slew of MIDI instrument options, as well as adjustable speed.

Fiddle as I may, I couldn’t really create anything that most people would consider listenable—the only consistent aesthetic I could achieve was “Childhood Clown Nightmare”—but that’s not the point: For a certain class of aspirational armchair astronauts, anything that brings us even a micrometer closer to experiencing space, the moon, or really, anything that isn’t earth in a new way, is an unqualified, unconditional Good Thing. [Moonbell via Pink Tentacle]

NASA To Take Photos Of Lunar Landing Sites, End Conspiracy Theories

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:59:47 +0000

Suck it up, conspiracy theorists, because soon your cuckoo stories about the US simulating the Moon landings will be over forever. NASA has confirmed to Gizmodo that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will take photos of all the Apollo landing sites:

Jesus Diaz: Would the LRO return images of the moon landings when it flies over them?
Grey Hautaluoma (NASA Headquarters, Office of Public Affairs): Yes, it will. We don’t have a timeline yet for viewing the Apollo sites, but it will be in the near future.

There you have it. Soon we will have photos showing the remains of the Apollo Lunar Modules, also known as LEM (Lunar Excursion Module.) Built by Grumman Aircraft Engineering, the Lunar Module was 20.9-foot tall, with a 14 feet diameter and a landing gear span of 29.75 feet.

However, the Lunar Reconnoissance Orbiter will only be able to take photos of what is known as the Descent Stage, the bottom part of the LEM that housed the main propulsion system. This part was left on the Moon’s surface, while the Ascent Stage launched after each mission to rendezvous with the Command Module orbiting around the Moon.

Other remains left on the Moon include the Lunar Roving Vehicles, used in Apollo J-class missions: Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17. Since they are 3-meter long, the LRO will be able to distinguish them as well.

NASA’s Ares 1 Rocket in Trouble Again: Could Crash Into Launch Tower

Kit Eaton — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:45:00 +0000

NASA’s Ares 1 rocket may be facing another large technological hurdle before it can take part in the future lunar missions: it’s apparently in danger of banging into its own launch tower if the wind is up. Actually, the wind needs only be a gentle-sounding 20kph from the south-east to cause problems, and it’s all to do with how the rocket’s solid fuel motor causes it to “hop” on ignition, before it powers upwards.

Computer models are reportedly showing that during this crucial moment, the wind could cause enough “liftoff drift” that the rocket could get dangerously close to the tower. And if it managed to avoid an impact, there’s still the danger of the flaming rocket gas output badly damaging the tower’s structures.

NASA itself seems confident it can overcome this problem (if it ultimately proves to be a significant enough one) by positioning the tower differently or redesigning the launchpad: both requiring time and money that could impact the bigger program.

After the earlier reports of “tuning-fork” problems with the manned missile, the calls for an alternative solution to the whole Constellation program begin to look interesting again: what’s your opinion chaps? My take on this: this sort of hurdle comes up frequently when you’re in a program of this scale and complexity—some sort of better workaround will surface eventually. [Orlando Sentinel]

First Look At New Russian-Euro Lunar Capsule

Matt Hickey — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:30:00 +0000

Here it is, fellow space-geeks, the first official image of the new joint Russian-European manned spacecraft, and we’ll be damned if it doesn’t look like something out of the Ikea Kitchen Collection. It’s made to ferry up to four people (cosmonauts or astronauts?) to the moon and back, with a two-stage orbiter-and-lander design much like the original American lunar missions. What’s interesting is that the craft uses thrusters to slow its descent to the moon’s surface as well as to launch itself off the surface. The Russians state that they expect a launch in 2018, though a launch could happen sooner if stock rockets currently available are modified, which sounds perfectly and totally safe to us. [BBC]

NASA’s Bad-Ass Manned Moon Rover Prototypes

Brian Lam — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:30:25 +0000

To mark the new mission to the Moon, here’s a collection of wonderful manned lunar rovers from the future and past from Apollo days gone by. I wish I knew more about these vehicles but Big Picture’s source linking policy is kind of bizarre to me. [Big Picture]

NASA’s ATHLETE Hex-Legged Lunar Robots Now Work in Pairs

Gizmodo US Edition — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:00:00 +0000

We’ve shown you NASA’s neat ATHLETE robots before and it looks like the little hexapod machines have been getting more sophisticated. This vid of two ATHLETEs collaborating to lift a heavy habitat load onto the ground sent faint Matrix-esque shivers down my spine. NASA is taking development of the robots seriously, as it turns out their multiple-wheeled dexterity make them perfect for carrying mobile habitats across the rocky, uneven lunar terrain. They’ve even been discussed in the most recent mission planning, so they really might be trotting-rolling across the Moon’s surface in a short bunch of years. Next up for ATHLETE: a mock mobile lunar base trial. [NASA and New Scientist]

NASA Lunar Chariot Tested by NYT Earthling (Verdict: Best Rims in Outer Space)

Haroon Malik — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:00:00 +0000

NASA’s Lunar Chariot, which costs a reported US$2 million to build, has just been tested by the NYT. The top speed of 24 kph may not set tarmac on fire, but it sure as hell can burn a truckload of astro stuff, all with it’s six-wheeled wackiness trailing closely behind. The front driving “turret” houses the primary control; a joystick for steering, as well as various cameras and sensors, the feedback of which is relayed to the onboard screen. John Schwartz, the NYT reporter sent out to run the test, didn’t get to drive the buggy itself, but he was offered the passenger’s seat / stand, and here’s what he made of it.

NASA Releases New Footage Of The Moon

Mark Wilson — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:00:45 +0000

NASA has just released new imaging data from the moon’s south pole—the area they believe to be best suited for future landings and even colonisation. Gathered from a 70-metre radar dish, scientists assembled a precise topographical map of a 640 by 400 km area (we’re not certain how much of that we see here). In the first video (above), NASA recreated a day passing on that spot by adding shadow detail to their model. (It looks neat, we promise.)

But to see what it would look like to actually land there, check out their second video:

Even with some of NASA’s cheesier image effects, it’s pretty freaking cool that we can see the real terrain where we would land…if we were only lucky enough to have grown up to be astronauts (though baseball players might have been nice, too). [NASA via io9]

Lunar Astronauts To Have Mobile Phone Service

Gizmodo US Edition — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:40:41 +0000

NASA will definitely beat the Mt. Everest phone calls when they launch mobile phone service on the moon around 2012. Their MoonLite system will link astronauts, the lunar base and Earth via satellite. Even though there is over four years until launch, the service will only have a speed of 3kbps down/2kbps up. One small call for man…ah forget it. [Silicon.com via Newlaunches]

NASA Chariot Lunar Rover Looks Like Something I Made With LEGOs When I Was 8

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:00:00 +0000

I can’t say for certain how NASA comes up with its designs for lunar rovers, but my guess is that the LEGO Space system plays a big part in it. Today we’re looking at Chariot, a 12-wheeled space SUV designed in 12 short months specifically for a proposed 2020 moon landing.

Lucien Junkin, chief engineer, told ABC News:

“Our mandate was building a truck that could go to the moon…Our crew members will stand up, and we can carry more than two astronauts. The Chariot can move in a crablike motion from side to side as well as forward and reverse. It has six wheels instead of four wheels.”

Speaking of crablike motions, what ever happened to ATHLETE, the other lunar rover that had LEGO influence written all over it? Chariot does look a tad more practical, if not half as fun.

See? LEGO inspired, or I’ll eat my space helmet:
Check out a full gallery and story at the ABC News website. [ABC News]
Thanks Paul!