It’s not quite as good as walking on it, but amateur space enthusiasts can now help scientists learn more about the moon by studying detailed, super high-resolution photographs. In fact, the pictures transmitted by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) are so fine and multitudinous that there is simply too much information for scientists to handle.

Continue reading Moon Zoo Crowdsources ‘Citizen Scientists’ to Map the Moon

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Moon Zoo Crowdsources ‘Citizen Scientists’ to Map the Moon originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 26 May 2010 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not quite as good as walking on it, but amateur space enthusiasts can now help scientists learn more about the moon by studying detailed, super high-resolution photographs. In fact, the pictures transmitted by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) are so fine and multitudinous that there is simply too much information for scientists to handle.

Continue reading Moon Zoo Crowdsources ‘Citizen Scientists’ to Map the Moon

Filed under: Web

Moon Zoo Crowdsources ‘Citizen Scientists’ to Map the Moon originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 26 May 2010 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

That was quick. NASA just released some data last week recorded by the LRO that indicated water might be present and suddenly an Indian probe actually found some. India’s first Moon probe , Chandrayaan-1, is equipped with sensors to detect the electromagnetic signature of water. Furthermore, these sensors cannot penetrate very deep and the data indicates that the water is actually on ore near the Moon’s surface. How exciting. NASA is expected to release more data later today at a press conference so be sure to check back for more info.

The LRO has already provided us with a lot of fascinating high-res photos of the Moon’s surface. But photos are just the start.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter also has more instruments aboard and one of them, the Diviner Lunar Radiometer developed and operated by the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is sending back some wild info about the Moon’s surface temperature.

The contraption works by measuring the infrared radiation’s intensity that’s emitted by the lunar surface. The hotter the surface, the great the emitted infrared radiation’s intensity. The map generated by Diviner will likely be used to help plan future manned Moon missions – whenever the hell that might be. But even still some of the info sent back is still of scientific value.

Apparently some spots on the lunar surface are always in a shadow and can nearly reach absolute zero. It’s thought that these spots can hold frozen water and might be some of the coldest spots in the galaxy including Pluto. These cold traps as they are called have been theorized about for nearly 50 years so you can imagine geek-types getting excited about the possible confirmation.

The unit will take about six months to complete its survey. The instrument was first turned activated on July 5 though, so it’s about 50% done.

NASA already has major budget issues so it’s a damn good thing the agency didn’t turn to AT&T to provide the wireless data coverage for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Because AT&T charges $0.0195 per kilobyte over a 5GB cap, it would cost roughly $231,883 for the daily data transmission of the 461GB. That’s $83,709,763 per year assuming AT&T didn’t come up with some charge for interplanetary roaming. All joking aside, this Moon satellite has an impressive data transmitter.

Somehow electrodes in a vacuum tube boosts microwave signals to high levels that are idea for transmitting large amounts of data. This amplifier can send data at a 100 megabytes a second back to Earth, more than 238,800 miles away. Similar designs were used on Kepler and Cassini, but the LRO’s system is the most powerful. And it has to be if it’s taking high-res photos of the Moon’s surface.

There has been a good deal of focus on the Moon lately. First, the LRO sent back high-res photos of the surface, which was followed by the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the release of restored video footage from the Moon. Then the LRO produced the first photos of the equipment left behind from the Apollo missions and Walter Cronkite, the trusted voice who informed America about the events, passed away.

The LA Times is keeping the buzz alive with a fantastic article about the construction of the Saturn V rocket that shot the astronauts to the Moon.

“What set us apart was our ability to build a very big rocket to get us to the moon,” said Roger Launius, the Smithsonian Institution’s space historian, reflecting on the U.S.’ race with the then-Soviet Union to reach the moon first. “The Russians were never able to do that.”

If you think about it, that’s about as accurate as it gets. Our engineers who were backed by a massive budget, out-developed the Soviets with the Saturn V rocket. Well done, boys. Well done.