new space taxi service to the moon

327-foot (100-meter) Ares 1-X rocket, currently the world's tallest, blasted off at 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT) from a modified space shuttle launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.




Firing its motors for just over two minutes, the Ares 1-X rocket flew to an altitude of 28 miles (45 km) and reached a speed nearly five times the speed of sound.


Ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station 225 miles (360 km) above Earth, the booster is intended to be part of a system to fly astronauts to the moon and other destinations in the solar system.


Ares 1-X was outfitted with more than 700 sensors to monitor pressures, vibrations, temperatures and speeds as the rocket plowed through the atmosphere. The modified shuttle booster is wider at its forward part than at its base and had a simulated Orion capsule perched on its front end.


NASA would focus on developing a heavier-lift rocket needed to carry cargo and vehicles to the moon and other destinations beyond the station's orbit.


read more at http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=450686

longer school days and school years

Schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.


read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_re_us/us_more_school

NASA future

National Aeronautics and Space Administration may send astronauts to more corners of the solar system more quickly while keeping within a limited budget.

NASA studied several possibilities, including NASA's current program to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020, a more ambitious plan to skip the moon and aim directly for Mars and what the members called the "flexible path," which would avoid the "deep gravity wells" of the moon and Mars, saving the time and cost of developing landers to carry astronauts to the surfaces of those bodies.

A flyby of the moon might be followed by more distant trips to so-called Lagrange points, first to the location where the gravity of the moon and the Earth gravity cancel each other out, then to where the gravity of the Earth and sun cancel out. There could also be visits to asteroids or flybys of Mars leading to landings on one or both of the low-gravity moons of Deimos and Phobos.

The flexible path essentially goes across stepping stones" of progressively longer, more challenging missions by which NASA would learn how to operate long missions in deep space.

NASA may establish fueling depots in space. "You can now do much larger missions with the same size booster" by launching an empty spacecraft and fueling it in orbit.

read the details at http://news.cnet.com/Panel-wants-deep-space%2C-not-landings-as-U.S.-goal/2100-11397_3-6249943.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

宇宙神－５

美国航天局１８日利用一枚“宇宙神－５”运载火箭将两个月球探测器发射升空，这标志着美国“重返月球”计划正式启动。

两个探测器——月球勘测轨道飞行器、月球坑观测和传感卫星，搭乘运载火箭从佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角空军基地升空，月球探测之旅正式开始。

月球勘测轨道飞行器配备有７种科学仪器，预计４天后进入距月球表面约５０公里的绕月极地轨道运行，其主要目标是搜寻月球表面适宜载人探测器登陆的地点、勘测月球资源、观察月球辐射环境以及测试新的探月技术。借助它传回的图像，科学家们将可以绘制高清三维月球地图。

月球坑观测和传感卫星以及运载火箭的第二级将在运行４个多月后，在月球表面实施两次撞击，探测月球表面的深坑，并在地表下寻找月球水冰存在的线索。月球勘测轨道飞行器、地面以及在轨天文望远镜将对二者的撞击进行观测。

这次任务也是美国“重返月球”战略计划的第一步，将为美国载人探月以及探索太阳系提供重要数据。

“新太空探索计划”，内容包括研制下一代航天器，重返月球乃至登陆火星等。

其核心目标是在月球上建立永久基地，并以此为跳板，为人类登陆火星甚至探索更遥远的太空做准备。

see photos at http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-06/19/content_11565520.htm

Getting It Right

read it at http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1906802_1906838_1906981,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

The ills of the country could not be addressed without more aggressive involvement by the government by step into the breach and restart the economy.

surrounded with brilliant people.

confidence to abandon a policy that wasn't working and believed in experimentation, but didn't deny the evidence when an experiment proved unsuccessful. an appetite for experimentation and the determination to keep what works and scrap what doesn't.

from a rural to an urban society; from an agricultural to an industrial economy; from a fairly stable and homogeneous nation to a more dynamic, diverse one of new immigrants; from a nation of modest influence to a global power, I would prefer to keep both!!

That is the challenge President Obama has inherited and believe he will succeed in his efforts at economic recovery, health-care reform and taking big steps on climate change. Along the way, be inspired by F.D.R.'s concern for all, with relentless optimism, penchant for experimentation, relish for spirited debate among brilliant advisers and his unshakable faith in the promise of the World.

Cairo Speech

Speaking from the lectern in an ornate hall at Cairo University, Obama called for

embraced the pursuit of freeing people from autocracies -- commitment to human rights and freedoms

commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons.