This will have to be short today, I’m on the run headed from Ames to JSC.
The Lunar Science conference at Ames exceeded beyond the organizers dreams; twice as many people came as they had planned for. Almost all were scientists and researchers from around the world with new scientific questions about the moon and proposals on how to gather more data.
In short, if anybody asks “what more can we learn from the moon?” The answer is “A WHOLE LOT”.
After the scientific conference concluded, another set of meetings with representatives from 9 nations started. Every one of these nations has serious plans to send robotic spacecraft to the moon in the next few years. At the conclusion of this meeting, all parties signed a letter of intention setting up something called the International Lunar Network. We all agreed to exchange scientific data, to work together on selection of scientific instruments that would complement each other’s work, and on communications protocols. This was like a mini UN session! Wow.
This is the second age of lunar exploration and we are witnessing the start of it. Great things are in the wings and exciting times lie ahead!
We felt the Wayne Hale force yesterday. A little less smoke from the forest fires. Slightly warmer weather, not that warmer weather is good of course. Now if only we had a mini UN budget.
Man must continue to explore, and going back to the Moon – and hopefully beyond, will indeed be continuing exploration, at it’s ultimate finest.
I truly believe that in ‘leaving our planet’, we may indeed be able to save our planet from what we find ‘out there’ via the discoveries and the processes we discover and invent by necessity in order to go ‘out there’…..
It’s a no-brainer really.
CJB
Hi Wayne,
This is not meant for the blog; just want to relay a heartfelt and simple thanks for sharing your experiences and observations – then and the present with me – and everyone else through this medium.
I’d say more – but I’m tired after a long day up here in Ottawa – and I too will be traveling (tomorrow) back home to the US. I’m doing this bouncing back and forth every week. This commercial communication satellite business is hard on the systems…..
Take care and if you run into LaBrode or Horlacher in your travels around ‘the campus’ – give them a big hello from me (watch their eyebrows raise)…. Those two – they truly deserve the positions they are in. I knew that long-long ago.
Peace,
C.
Sure, a whole lot can be learn from the Moon. We are still learning from the Earth, after thousands of years of studying it. The question is, do those additional studies deserve the cost of manned missions to the Moon? Of course, a scientific specialized in the Moon will say yes, it is his job after all… But I am skeptical about it.
Lets be honest: the reason why we are going back to the Moon is politics. Of course, if we have to go, let’s study something, let’s take advantage of the trip… but science is not the reason for the trip, we all know that.
I am not against manned exploration of space, but this is not the way it should be, IMHO. I know NASA is trying to do its best following the political guidelines it receives, but we should be honest acknowledging that. Anyway, I have to say that I will enjoy a lot seeing american astronauts again on the Moon (if these missions are finally carried out; next president will have something to say about this), so good luck, after all.
Congratulations, Wayne, for this great blog, and sorry for speaking so candidly. Greetings from Spain.
THANK YOU : SCIENCE TO THE MOON IS SOMETHING I WAS WAITING TO SEE GO THIS WAY IN UNIQUE MORE OPEN WAYS .TO GO THIS WAY NOW IS SET IN THE PAST . BUT AND THE BUTS ARE IN CHARGE NOW IN THIS WORLD SO LETS SEE IF IT HOLDS UP OWER GOOD PLANS RIGHT NOW TO DO OR IF WE MANAGED TO GET RID OF THE ASSERTIONS THAT THE PAST GOOD WILL BE THERE.
THANK YOU FOR THIS BLOG IT IS KIND OF A SITE NEED .AS TO THE FUTURE OF NASA TO ADD MORE TO A SITE OF GOOD LOAD OF TECHNICAL JURNALEASUME.
I AM ELECTRONICS ENGIEER IN INSTRUMENTATIONAL ASSEMBLE PHYSICS. AND A SIGHT BY NASA ON THIER SIGHT WOULD BE FATASTIC VIEW AND OUTLOOK.
thanks wayne
it will be nice to have a station on the moon i hope it will be possibel
MoonMan
MoonMan