UK's gonna throw lots of cool new toys at the moon via NASA

[brellis]

BBC Article on British-US cooperation in lunar testing/exploration in prep for Mars<br /><br />In this thread we discussed the concept of a "mothership" dropping a mini-armada of various probes on a mission to an outer planet and its moons. This sounds like a good step towards an outer planet mission involving lots of separate mini-devices. <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Exellent link, I like the idea of developing penetrator darts which would eventually be useful at Europa although they might have to be fairly long to get very deep in Europan ice sheets.<br /><br />The multi mini probe concept would be easily testable at the moon as well. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[brellis]

<font color="yellow"> I like the idea of developing penetrator darts which would eventually be useful at Europa although they might have to be fairly long to get very deep in Europan ice sheets.</font><br /><br />Wouldn't it be great if Cassini could throw a dart into the geyser at Enceladus? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[dreada5]

Yeah UK is interested in playing a "robotic" role in VSE and ESA's Aurora/lunar exploration.<br /><br />The past couple years has seen industry, academia and british-born NASA astronauts debate the need to be involved... even if its only via UK "small sat" expertise.<br /><br />Here are some other news stories:<br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6573729.stm<br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6567709.stm<br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6459581.stm<br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6246513.stm<br /><br /><br /><br />

 

[3488]

I'll believe it when / if it happens.<br /><br />The UK can talk the talk, but can it walk the walk????????<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[dreada5]

Well at least its back on the radar these days.<br /><br />New space policy is schedule for release in the autumn. If its what we've been asking for then government may give the necessary rubber stamp to get the ball rolling again. So far I think we've been getting all the right signals. <br /><br />Its been three long years since we've had anything [beagle2] like the above! You're probably far more experienced than I am Andrew, but I'm somewhat hopeful.<br /><br />http://www.scitech.ac.uk/PMC/PRel/STFC/shield.aspx

 

[dreada5]

More "talk"...<br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6583189.stm<br />http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/news.asp?id=6289<br /><br />Perhaps Mike Griffin had an added positive effect on the Royal Soc a few months ago when he was in London.<br />http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/dec/HQ_06360_Griffin_London.html

 

[qso1]

brellis:<br />Wouldn't it be great if Cassini could throw a dart into the geyser at Enceladus?<br /><br />Me:<br />You bet. Maybe a future craft will incorporate some kind of system to investigate those geysers now that we know about them. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[spacester]

There's a lot of talk about Europa on this thread about new toys for the moon. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br />Thanks for those links, dreada5. I have to admit that upon reading them I can see why no one gets excited by lunar exploration. Most of it is talking about 8 years out or longer.<br /><br />Cooperation and competition. Those are two interacting forces we find at work in all of mankind's progress. <br /><br />All those links point to increased cooperation. But I think what is needed is more competition. Specifically, private industry needs to go to the moon sooner, cheaper and more focused on industrial technologies.<br /><br />The scientists want to put every last and latest and greatest sensing instrument on their probes and learn lots of important but rather esoteric scientific facts. Good for them, but the rest of us should not be held back from learning the answers to specific questions.<br /><br />While the scientists prepare their <b>demonstrator</b> <img src="/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /> for 2015, and their Mars sample return precursor, and their sub-surface investigation, and their magnetic shields, and the forming of a new organization to even get started at all of it, others should move forward with more practical investigations.<br /><br />Great Britain should, IMO, take their smallsat expertise and provide lunar bandwidth. They should fly lunar landers early and often, stripping the expensive instruments off and instead flying small factory precursor experiments. Buy the landers from Armadillo, save a bunch of money, but be the first with new, practical, <b>marketable</b> technologies.<br /><br />Sell the bandwidth to lunar robotic entrepreneurs. Build it and they will come.<br /><br />Learn how to idenify and prepare regolith feedstocks for LUNOX and glass production. <br /><br />Pioneer in-situ manufacture of solar panels using in-situ glass production, 'printing' the pure silicone brought from Earth to create cells of whatever efficiency, seeki <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[dreada5]

Couldn't agree with you more! <br /><br />The problem over here is that I think industry and gov't's attitude to space is far less developed/matured compared to what I see whenever I'm in the US, so waiting for gov't contracts that seek out "esoteric scientific facts" and actually winning them is currently viewed as the pinnacle of achievements over here! Add to it the fact that there isn't much competition including go-getter entrepreneurial start-ups, namely Starchaser and Virgin Galactic, and you start to get a feel for what I think is an existent, but fragile "micro-economy". IMO the national diversity for strong, beneficial competition simply doesn't exist YET!<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Of course GB is all talk and no action so the entrepreneurs here in the good ol' USA will beat you to it! Game on? <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />LOL! Ok if the game's rules entail seeing whether GB academia/industry can beat its counterparts across the pond to getting onboard some of the near-term missions... then yep, game on! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> ...the british already have a reasonable running record.<br /><br />But much of what you mention in terms of capitalising on future lunar exploration by installing infrastructure now is indeed a very attractive opportunity. I hope the rest of GB industry are thinking "game on" too!