Movie: Mutiny in Outer Space

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Poster for the 1965 film Mutiny in Outer Space. (Hugo Grimaldi Film Productions)

If Hollywood is not planning to provide any summertime space movies, maybe it’s time to check the archives for something fun from the past. One such movie is Mutiny in Outer Space, a black and white film from 1965. You can find it on the Internet Archive and Youtube.

The story involves a space station infected by a lunar sample and efforts by the crew to contain the damage. It reminded me of Star Trek with deadly tribbles, though the special effects are pretty primitive compared to Star Trek, which came out the next year in color. Even so, the story hit on some themes that are recognizable today, such as space junk threatening the space station, the discovery of water on the Moon, and the establishment of lunar bases.

One humorous bit from the movie was the arrival of astronauts from the Moon at the space station. It appears the incoming rocket was unable to dock at the station, so the two astronauts had to float from the rocket to the space station. After they departed, the rocket oddly broke into two pieces and somehow landed on the space station like a suitcase on top of a station wagon. I remember hearing that Star Trek did away space transportation, and such awkward scenes, by simply creating the transporter room. It saved a lot of production money and became a key part of the series.

The film is earnest and humorous at the same time. I recommend you check out the film if you need a fun diversion some evening.

Image (Credit): Scene from the film Mutiny in Outer Space. (Hugo Grimaldi Film Productions)

Lunar Pits Offer Refuge

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Mare Tranquillitatis pit crater revealing boulders on an otherwise smooth floor. (NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)

If you are looking for a comfortable spot on the Moon, you could do much worse than a lunar pit. These pits have shaded portions that maintain a comfortable temperature of about 63 F. That is much better than the surface temperatures of 260 F in the day and minus 280 F at night. Such pits can also be useful to visitors by protecting them cosmic rays, solar radiation, and micrometeorites.

You can see one of these pits above, as detected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.

You may ask why we are looking at building space habitats when such locations exist. A good question, but I expect the location, size, and stability of these pits will also be important. Maybe they can at least serve as a safe shelter should the be needed.

More study is necessary, of course, before any big decisions on human settlement can be contemplated.

You can read more about the lunar pits here. You can also check out this video.

China Needs Reusable Rockets

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The July 24th launch of a Long March 5B rocket transporting China’s second module for its Tiangong space station. (CNS/AFP/Getty Images)

A few days ago debris from China’s Long March 5B rocket landed in the waters off the Philippine island of Palawan. The 1.8 million pounds of rocket brought a module to the Chinese space station. Such problems with Chinese rocket debris is a clear example that China needs to follow both SpaceX and Blue Origin and start using resusable rockets in the future.

NASA’s Administrator was not happy, tweeting:

The People’s Republic of China did not share specific trajectory information as their Long March 5B rocket fell back to Earth.

All spacefaring nations should follow established best practices, and do their part to share this type of information in advance to allow reliable predictions of potential debris impact risk, especially for heavy-lift vehicles, like the Long March 5B, which carry a significant risk of loss of life and property.

Doing so is critical to the responsible use of space and to ensure the safety of people here on Earth.

China has plans to develop reusable rockets for future heavy-lift missions to its space station and the Moon. This would certainly reduce the risk to parties below and hopefully add some efficiencies to the launch process.

Of course, China is not alone when it comes to falling space debris. SpaceX appears to be responsible for debris that landed in Australia last month (see below). While confirmation is still needed, the material appears to be from a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Image (Credit): One of the panels of the debris found in Australia. (The Guardian/Brad Tucker)

RIP: Nichelle Nichols (aka Lt. Nyota Uhura)

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Lt. Nyota Uhura on the deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise. (Paramount)

This weekend we lost actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Nyota Uhura on the original Star Trek television series. She was 89.

Back in 1966, her role as part of the crew on the U.S.S. Enterprise was a risky and eye-opening move by creator Gene Roddenberry in a nation divided by race (as well as many other issues – sound familiar?). In an NPR interview, Mr. Nichols noted how civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. encouraged her to remain with the Star Trek series at a time she was considering leaving:

He complimented me on the manner in which I’d created the character. I thanked him, and I think I said something like, Dr. King, I wish I could be out there marching with you. He said, no, no, no. No, you don’t understand. We don’t need you on the – to march. You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for. So, I said to him, thank you so much. And I’m going to miss my co-stars.

And his face got very, very serious. And he said, what are you talking about? And I said, well, I told Gene just yesterday that I’m going to leave the show after the first year because I’ve been offered – and he stopped me and said: You cannot do that. And I was stunned. He said, don’t you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen. He says, do you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch. I was speechless.

An impressive endorsement.

The last time I saw Ms. Nichols was on the History Channel special on the television series: The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek. I enjoyed listening to her stories about her time with the television series and related movies. I recommend the program as a way to learn more about Ms. Nichols as well as the other actors associated with the Star Trek phenomena.

ISS Research Projects

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): International Space Station. (NASA)

Have you ever wondered about all of the scientific projects, past and present, on the International Space Station (ISS)? Quite a bit has happened onboard the station since it was first occupied back in November 2000.

Fortunately, NASA maintains an inventory of all of these projects. The Space Station Research Explorer provides information on all of the experiments, separated into six categories:

  • Biology and Biotechnology;
  • Earth and Space Science;
  • Educational Activities;
  • Human Research;
  • Physical science; and
  • Technology.

For instance, back in 2017 the station supported an experiment under “Earth and Space Science” titled ASTERIA:

The Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics (ASTERIA) is a six-unit (6U) CubeSat deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) that tests new technologies for astronomical observation, such as the detection of planets outside our solar system (a.k.a., exoplanets). Observing exoplanets requires repeated observation of stars over a long period of time from a dark environment, so that the small shadow of an orbiting planet can be detected passing through the star’s light. ASTERIA uses advanced pointing control technology, new thermal stabilization features, and the scalable CubeSat-platform to perform these complex measurements.

Some projects still lack information. These incomplete projects tend to be sponsored by ROSCOSMOS, though the Russian space agency has plenty of complete projects as well.

Poke around and see what you can find.