Image (Credit): Surface of the Moon as captured by the Orion spacecraft. (NASA)
This week’s image of the lunar surface comes from NASA’s Orion spacecraft as it orbited the Moon on December 5th. Orion is now on its way back and is expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere on December 11th.
Regarding the return of the Orion crew module, NASA stated:
Earth’s atmosphere initially will slow the spacecraft to 325 mph, then the parachutes will slow Orion to a splashdown speed in about 10 minutes as it descends through Earth’s atmosphere. Parachute deployment begins at an altitude of about five miles with three small parachutes pulling the forward bay covers away. Once the forward bay cover separates, two drogue parachutes will slow and stabilize the crew module for main parachute deployment. At an altitude of 9,500 feet and a spacecraft speed of 130 mph, three pilot parachutes will lift and deploy the main parachutes. Those 116-foot-diameter parachutes of nylon broadcloth, or “silk,” will slow the Orion crew module to a splashdown speed of 20 mph or less.
The landing point is in the Pacific Ocean near Guadalupe Island. It should be a strong finish to a successful Artemis mission.
On this day in 1972, the Apollo 17 crew on their way to the Moon took a photograph of the Earth that became known as “The Blue Marble” (shown above). You can see Africa, the Middle East, and Antarctica. It remains one of the most popular images of the Earth.
The Orion spacecraft caught its own image of the Earth earlier in Artemis I mission (shown below). It is more of a black and white marble. We can expect to see many more images of the Earth in the years to come as the Artemis missions continue.
Image (Credit): View of the Earth from the Orion spacecraft on November 17, 2022. (NASA)
If you are looking for a fun gift that will encourage kids to learn more about the universe around them, then you cannot go wrong with a nightlight that illustrates the beauty of the nighttime objects above us. For instance, the Moon lamp shown above (there are many others like it on Amazon and elsewhere) allows an up-close view of this amazing orb. As with the Earth globes of old, seeing a world in three-dimensions and being able to touch it assists with understanding. Besides, in the case of the Moon, a youngster looking out the bedroom window will only see one side of the Moon, whereas the lamp provides the entire surface.
You can find similar lamps and nightlights showing Mars, Jupiter, and even the Milky Way (see below).
Or why not simply project the constellations onto the bedroom ceiling so kids can learn about the night sky even when it is cloudy outside? There is nothing like a personal planetarium.
Mind you, these gifts are not only for children, but it’s a good place to start. I may yet get one of those Moon lamps for my desk. Why should the kids have all the fun?
Image (Credit): A trasch bag lying beneath the Apollo Lunar Module in 1969. (NASA)
Back in July 2019, Vox had a great article about the waste astronauts left behind on the Moon. In the article, “Apollo Astronauts Left Their Poop on the Moon. We Gotta Go Back for That Shit.,” we learn about approximately 96 bags of human waste left behind on the moon. The topic is relevant today because (1) we are talking about returning to the Moon under the Artemis mission and (2) we probably want to learn more about the lifespan of this waste before we continue to deposit it on the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere. So maybe it is time to revisit the poop.
Earlier, The Atlantic had another article that listed much more human debris on the Moon than just the 96 bags (of urine, feces, and vomit, mind you). Here is the incomplete list:
more than 70 spacecraft, including rovers, modules, and crashed orbiters;
5 American flags;
2 golf balls;
12 pairs of boots;
TV cameras;
film magazines;
96 bags of urine, feces, and vomit;
numerous Hasselbad cameras and accessories;
several improvised javelins;
various hammers, tongs, rakes, and shovels;
backpacks;
insulating blankets;
utility towels;
used wet wipes;
personal hygiene kits;
empty packages of space food;
a photograph of Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke’s family;
a feather from Baggin, the Air Force Academy’s mascot falcon, used to conduct Apollo 15’s famous “hammer-feather drop” experiment;
a small aluminum sculpture, a tribute to the American and Soviet “fallen astronauts” who died in the space race—left by the crew of Apollo 15;
a patch from the never-launched Apollo 1 mission, which ended prematurely when flames engulfed the command module during a 1967 training exercise, killing three U.S. astronauts;
a small silicon disk bearing goodwill messages from 73 world leaders, and left on the moon by the crew of Apollo 11;
a silver pin, left by Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean;
a medal honoring Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin; and
a cast golden olive branch left by the crew of Apollo 11.
In the 2022 movie Moonshot, we sent Martian trash back to Earth. But that was not the case with the Moon. And now China and Russia are clamoring to do the same in the near future. Will the Moon someday be marked with more trash heaps than craters?
One might argue that explorers throughout time have had to leave something behind. Think of the piles of trash as well as corpses left on the top of Mount Everest. The great sea explorers also left plenty of men, material, and ships at the bottom of the sea where they would remain unclaimed.
But the interesting part of the Vox story is the potential of life remaining in that trash and even producing new life. If such biological material can seed new life, then who can say whether the Earth was simply a rest stop for aliens on their way somewhere else, and we are the product of their poop.
One more thing. If we do manage to let the Earth slip away from us and flip into another Venusian nightmare, the Moon poop may be the only human biology for a future alien to analyze. We sent the Voyager and other spacecraft out into the void with recordings and data, but no one thought about adding a biological component. Well, now we have that surviving piece on the Moon should it be needed. If we can figure out what a Tyrannosaurus was eating millions of years ago, maybe future visitors can figure out what the astronauts were eating in 20th century Texas.
Intense stuff, and worth reading about when you have a moment.
The Hungarian government plans to spend $100 million to send an astronaut to the International Space Station in two years through a deal with Axiom Space. In a presentation at the European Space Agency’s ministerial council meeting Nov. 22, Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian foreign minister, said the country was in the middle of a process to select an astronaut to fly on a month-long mission to the ISS in late 2024 or early 2025. Axiom Space announced in July it signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Hungary regarding that country’s Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) program, which would fly a Hungarian astronaut to space on a future Axiom Space mission. That announcement, though, provided few details about when that person would fly.
Three Chinese astronauts docked early Wednesday with their country’s space station, where they will overlap for several days with the three-member crew already onboard and expand the facility to its maximum size. Docking with the Tiangong station came at 5:42 a.m. Wednesday, about 6 1/2 hours after the Shenzhou-15 spaceship blasted off atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center...The station’s third and final module docked earlier this month, one of the last steps in China’s effort to maintain a constant crewed presence in orbit.
A tiny spacecraft is ready to head out for a big job: shining a light on water ice at the Moon’s south pole. Lunar Flashlight is a cubesat about the size of a briefcase, set to launch on December 1 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, sharing a ride with the Hakuto-R Mission to the Moon. The tiny 14 kg (30 lb) spacecraft will use near-infrared lasers and an onboard spectrometer to map the permanently shadowed regions near the Moon’s south pole, where there could be reservoirs of water ice.
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