The Moon Will Never Look the Same

The question of lunar colonization has long been debated in scientific (and sci-fi) circles for decades, and has always rested on one conclusion - man cannot sustain life on the moon without water. World governments have spent billions of dollars trying to determine if there can exist some slight amount of water... in polar craters, in the regolith. Even the Apollo missions returned lunar rocks with the intent of searching for embedded water - the results were inconclusive.

The world has changed today... and the moon will never again look the same.

When early civilizations looked to the moon, they saw vast oceans on a nearby celestial body... and named them rightly.

It turns out that the entire surface of the moon contains, in some small amount, WATER. There may be more water hidden in the shadows of the polar craters, but the new discovery reveals, at least in some small amounts, that water exists on the entire surface of the moon.

The moon remains drier than any desert on Earth, but the water is said to exist on the moon in very small quantities. One ton of the top layer of the lunar surface would hold about 32 ounces of water, researchers said.

Water, as we all know, is the sustaining force for life as we know it. To consider a lunar colony, permanent settlement of the moon, one would have to plan a supply of water. With the discovery of any amount of water on the lunar surface our ability to simplify a self sustaining colony has just exponentially increased.

The simplest form of colonization considers "In-Situ" resources a necessary - that is, the ability to collect your resources for survival at your destination. To not have to bring water, even the short distance to the moon, could save us decades of slow growth due to required transportation.
I am a Mars Colony advocate, but taking advantage of lunar resources is a required step if human kind should ever decide to fight for a prolonged existence in the cosmos.

The next time you look up at the moon, think about a future where the half moon will play host to a night time display of distant city lights... Humans, en masse, living on other worlds. That reality just got a little closer today.

Is NASA wrong on the Moon/Mars Launch Vehicle?

NASA Director, Mike Griffin, is the father of the next moon vehicle. A design concept aimed at piecing apart the US Space Shuttle components into a series of launch vehicles aimed at returning the US to space after the retirement of the shuttle, and eventually back to the moon.

However, Griffin’s focus on the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles may be the wrong path for the future of US space travel.

The Ares V, when complete, will dwarf the Saturn V in sheer size, yet will not allow for a single launch to aim for the moon. The Ares I will need to launch the crew in the Orion Capsule, which will dock with the Ares V upper stage (complete with lander), and the two will aim toward the moon. A complex ballet in space, made further more complicated by the Ares I development issues – most notably an acoustic envelope that exists in the early part of flight, causing vibrations that would kill the astronauts – a problem that NASA admits is part of dealing with new launch systems. The solution, says NASA, is reverse thrusters firing during launch… kind of the anti-booster. Leave it to the government to proceed with building a new launch vehicle that cannot launch without retro rockets used during launch – like building a new plane that cannot fly without anchors on it’s wings.

Since it’s inception, NASA has spent over $7 Billion on developing this new technology.

But is NASA wrong in scrapping the entire shuttle program? The shuttle itself is flawed, but the launch technology is proven, and perfected since the Columbia disaster. In fact, the changes made to the External Tank have improved flight safety and performance – for a program that has roughly ten flights left – sounds like a government fumble to me.

Enter the Jupiter DIRECT 2.0. When the Constellation Program was being conceived, there were a number of proposals to replace the shuttle. All incorporated shuttle technology, but none more so than the Jupiter Direct. The initial design proposal was questionable, and was cast to the side… however, a rogue group of NASA engineers (some of whom, no doubt, are working on Ares and see the unsolvable problems) may have fixed the issues with the DIRECT launcher.

The design uses the shuttle launch structure, minus the shuttle, placing a small engine pod attached below the tank and placing the payload above the tank. There is no vibration issue, no new configuration issue, and no expensive and time consuming development cost – it is the launch vehicle already in use.

However, NASA officials refuse to take a second look at the cost/schedule saving plan. They simply discredit the idea by citing the shortcomings of the DIRECT 1.0, claiming that there is no possible way that this design could be superior to the design which was chosen… sort of staying the course.

As an Aerospace Engineer (and employee of the Orion Program), I have had my doubts with the Ares-I launch vehicle from the beginning, and these problems/solutions are reason enough to build doubt in the success of this vehicle. We will find ourselves with an inefficient launch vehicle with questionable safety, and a price tag nearing $50 Billion and 5 years of development. It was my opinion from the start that the Ares be scrapped in favor of an Atlas V or Delta V launcher, slightly modified for human rating. NASA would not bite, as some components (notably engine parts) are Russian in origin and they demand an all-American design. The Jupiter DIRECT 2.0 solves this problem and has minimal development cost.

Perhaps we, the grassroots activists of the net, take some action on an issue that is less a “limelight” issue, and more a Taxpayer Friendly obligation – write your Congressmen, write NASA, and write the candidates – ask them if NASA is on the right track with Ares. Ask them if it is prudent that we are scrapping the Shuttle launch system in favor of an unproven and unsafe launch system. Ask them if they should consider an alternative that keeps the current manufacturing jobs and processes in place, keeps our launch infrastructure in place, and requires less time and money for development overall. Ask them about Jupiter DIRECT 2.0.

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