Daily Archives: July 15, 2017

Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base. The Apollo programs most iconic image. Large color photograph taken by Neil Armstrong of Buzz Aldrin during their Apollo 11 moonwalk. Signed & inscribed by Buzz Aldrin.Courtesy of Sotheby's Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base. The Apollo programs most iconic image. Large color photograph taken by Neil Armstrong

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Updated: Jul 14, 2017 12:11 PM ET

It's impossible to put a price on the rocks and dirt brought back from the moon by the six Apollo landing missions the rare case in which the word "priceless" applies literally. But one way to grasp the value of lunar samples is to compare them to something else we prize highly: gold. Over the course of history, about 425 million pounds of gold have been mined and refined. That's 505,000 times more by weight than the 842 pounds of samples carried home from the moon. Gold currently trades at a per-ounce price of around $1,215. Using that as a benchmark and multiplying by scarcity, moon dirt should trade at over $614 million per ounce.

It's not likely anyone will pay nearly that much for the lunar dust that will be sold at Sotheby's during an auction of space artifacts on July 20 the 48th anniversary of the first moon landing . There will hardly be an ounce of the stuff anyway, just a few grains and stains trapped in the fabric of a sample return bag carried home by the Apollo 11 crew. Still, that's enough for the Sotheby's appraisers to estimate a $2 million to $4 million sales range for the bag.

Space artifacts have that kind of effect on people, and the auction house is counting on a big pay day when the sample bag and the 172 other items being auctioned along with it go under the hammer. Some of the space merch on offer is, at least by cosmic standards, relatively commonplace stuff: the familiar photo of Buzz Aldrin standing on the Sea of Tranquility, but signed by Buzz himself; a patch from Apollo 11, but one that was actually carried on the spacecraft to the moon and back.

There are, too, actual pieces of actual ships an altimeter cover flown aboard Apollo 9 and signed by mission commander Jim McDivitt, a pyrotechnic battery from the Apollo 11 lunar module. None of it looks any more glamorous than garage junk, except it's garage junk that once left our planet and is therefore limned in a special light. Perhaps most evocative is the astronauts' in-flight paperwork a signed lunar map used by Apollo 8 navigator Jim Lovell when he and two crewmates became the first human beings to orbit the moon; a flight plan, filled with scribbled notes and workarounds, that Lovell and his Apollo 13 crew used 16 months later as they brought their crippled spacecraft back to Earth.

Artifacts are, by definition, backward looking things, and without a clear destination for America's present-day space program, moon artifacts take on a special poignancy. The nation will surely find its way in space again, but the relics of the Apollo era the first grand age of exploration will likely never lose their value.

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Space-Exploration Artifacts Are Worth So Much Money for a Reason - TIME

Moon Express is shooting for the moon with every intention of landing on its crater-covered surface. They dont intend to stop there, either.

Lunar exploration is only one small step for Moon Express. The company recently announced that it's developling an entire fleet of spacecraft to explore the moon, Mars and whatever lies beyond without the specter of exorbitant costs. CEO Bob Richards wants to make travel to the moon for both scientific and commercial purposes possible without the financial end of it existing in some unreachable galaxy.

"That's where my heart issolar system exploration on a grand scale that democratizes and completely accelerates our evolution into the solar system through knowledge and discovery, not just a few expensive voyages sponsored by kings and governments, like in history," said Richards. "We need to get everybody going."

A satellite is only the launching point for Moon Express far-out vision. They are currently one of five finalists competing for the Google Lunar X Prize (GXLP), meaning they could win $20 million for further research and development if they manage to be the first privately funded company to accomplish soft-landing a robot on the moon, moving it at least 1,640 feet across its pockmarked surface and beaming back hi-res images and video. Because the award will expire if it remains unclaimed by the end of this year, Moon Express plans to have its lander take off with Rocket Labs Electron booster, though the launch date is still floating in space.

GXLP is just the first portal of opportunity. Next to launch in 2019 will be a robotic research outpost that will search the lunar south pole for water and other resources that could possibly fuel missions to Mars or a potential space station orbiting the moon. The year 2020 will see the first commercial sample-return mission to the moon and back. MX-1 is the lander that will make these missions and more happen. Moon Express wants to mass-produce and market the MX-1 as a solo lunar explorer and use it as the basis for designing orbiter, lander and deep-space models of the more complex MX-2, MX-5 and MX-9. More advanced spacecraft will increase payloads and rocket engine power that could potentially make missions to the moons of Mars, Venus and beyond more than just the stuff of sci-fi.

"We're not The Moon Express," Richards added. "We're Moon Express, so any moon will do."

While a ticket to the moon is likely to set you back more than even a first-class seat to your next Earthly vacation destination, the companys estimates show a drastic reduction in costs that may only keep plunging further with new innovations. Moon travel could even become a thing.

(via Space.com)

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How Moon Express is shooting way beyond the moon for space - Syfy - SYFY WIRE (blog)

An iceberg the size of Delaware one of the largest ever recorded broke off the Antarctic continent this week. Scientists had been anticipating that the trillion-ton iceberg would break away for months, and they now worry about the hazards it poses for nearby ships. (Reuters)

One of the largest recorded icebergs could pose a threat to cruise ships traveling from South America.

Visual by James Petts/Flickr

A film clip has been successfully stored in bacterial DNA using the genome editing tool Crispr. The scientific advance ushers in new possibilities for other record-keeping techniques using bacteria, such as recording and replaying how human cells behave when a person becomes ill. (New York Times)

A record number of environmental activists were killed worldwide in 2016, primarily due to disputes over mining, logging, and agribusiness projects, according to a report released by Global Witness. Sixty percent of the killings occurred in Latin America, and almost 40 percent of the victims hailed from indigenous communities. (BBC)

The Yemeni government has dropped a request for cholera vaccines to slow the spread of the disease, which has claimed more1,742 lives in the war-torn country since April 27. A representative from the World Health Organization said the decision was made because most of Yemen has already been affected by the disease, reducing the effectiveness of vaccination. (Science)

A new gene therapy for leukemia has garnered support from an FDA panel of experts, an important milestone for the experimental treatment. The cancer therapy now awaits approval from the FDA itself, which is expected to make a final decision on October 3. (STAT)

An all-female high school robotics team from Afghanistan has been granted permission to compete in an American competition by President Trump, after having been twice denied requests for U.S. visas. (Associated Press)

The Juno spacecraft captured its first closeup images of Jupiters Great Red Spot. Mission Juno invites the public to download and tweak the images for free. (Science News)

And finally, hoping to become the first private company to land a spacecraft on the moon, the Florida startup Moon Express released a plan on Wednesday for a regular delivery service to send payloads to the moon. The plan is part of the companys efforts to make space exploration less expensive. (NBC News)

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Abstracts: Environmental Killings, Space Exploration, and More - Undark Magazine

July 15, 2017 12:01 PM

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) To infinity, and beyond! Youll soon have a chance to own some incredible space memorabilia.

Sothebys is holding its first space exploration themed auction on the 48th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

The famed auction house previewed some of the items up for auction, which include space photography, equipment use on Apollo missions, and memorabilia including a bag used to collect the first lunar samples, which could fetch millions.

The star lot in the sale is the bag that Neil Armstrong used to bring back the very first samples of the moon ever collected, Vice President and Senior Specialist Cassandra Hatton said. The current low to high estimate is three to five million dollars, but we will, we will see on the day of the sale.

The auction is set for July 20 in New York City.

For more on whats available at the upcoming auction, CLICK HERE.

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Space Memorabilia Up For Grabs At Upcoming Auction At Sotheby's ... - CBS New York

As the VP has recently named an advisory body named the National Space Council, the U.S. is expected to aim at new advances in the space traveling field. According to Pences statements earlier this week, Americans will build a "new era" of space travel, with both Moon and Mars missions in the schedule.

The Vice President offered few details about planned explorations, but joined the NASA's Kennedy Space Center in order to attend the construction phases of a NASA deep space missions spaceship, especially designed to launch astronauts to the low orbit of our planet. SpaceX and Boeing are the two companies that will build the capsules.

"Our nation will return to the Moon, and we will put American boots on the face of Mars. We did win the race to the Moon," Pence declared for the Space Centers audience.

For instance, the Deep Space Gateway project by NASA will use the Space Launch System rocket to send explorers near the Moon, while the missions to Mars are programmed around 2030, as a result of Barack Obama and George W. Bush previous space-related policies.

The relaunch of a strong space program was taken into consideration due to the fact that back in 2011 the United States has stopped sending its astronauts to the International Space Station, as the program was retired. Since then, American explorers use Russia's Soyuz spacecraft for prices as high as $80 million per seat.

Therefore, the Vice President also underlined the importance of the private industry developments, in order to make space travel safer and more affordable. No other specifics were yet provided though, as details on the administration's vision for both NASA and the commercial space flight industry are expected to be revealed during the next months.

"We will get back to winning in the 21st century and beyond," Mike Pence concluded.

As the current Trump administration proposed a $19.1 billion budget for NASA, with a 0.8 per cent decrease when compared with the figures last year, the agency is fighting to make its own adjustments to the budget, in order to be able to complete its projects. The final call will be decided by lawmakers later this year.

Source: phys.org

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The United States aim for space exploration leadership - Travel Wires

The Luxembourg Parliament has adopted a draft law on the exploration and use of space resources, making the Grand Duchy the first European country to offer an official framework for private investors and operators.

Coming into force on August 1, it acts as a legal and regulatory framework which ensures private operators ownership of the resources they extract from space and establishes procedures for authorising and supervising space exploration missions.

The legal framework represents a key action within a wider strategy implemented by the Luxembourg government through its SpaceResources.lu initiative which seeks to support the long-term economic development of new and innovative activities in the space industry.

"Luxembourg is the first adopter in Europe of a legal and regulatory framework recognising that space resources are capable of being owned by private companies," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, Etienne Schneider, said in a statement.

He said the legal framework is "part of the expertise ecosystem and the business-friendly, innovation-nurturing environment" which Luxembourg offers space industry companies.

"By adopting almost unanimously the respective draft law, the Luxembourg Parliament confirmed the strong political cross-party and national commitment to the SpaceResources.lu initiative," he said.

The new law does not apply to satellite communications, orbital positions or the use of frequency bands.

Luxembourg authorities are already supporting the research and development projects of a number of leading players in the space mining industry that have set up their European operations in Luxembourg.

(Roxana Mironescu and Heledd Pritchard roxana.mironescu@wort.lu,+325 49 93 748, heledd.pritchard@wort.lu, +352 49 93 459)

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Luxemburger Wort - Luxembourg becomes first European country to ... - Luxemburger Wort - English Edition

Space exploration is a necessity not only because of its tangible benefits to our everyday lives, but because of its potential to inspire and uplift mankind in ways we can only imagine. Kamran Jebreili / AP Photo

At the time of the first lunar landing, the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration was using the most advanced technology. Today, most people in the UAE have more computing power in their mobile phones than was available to the American astronauts back then.

Space exploration is one of the greatest catalysts for innovation in the 21st century and squarely aligns with the UAEs competitiveness strategy. As the UAE Space Agency celebrates its third anniversary today, we are proud to have developed the largest space programme in the region and remain dedicated to growing the sector, in line with the objectives of the UAE Vision 2021.

Underpinning our aspirations in space is an education system that creates a sustainable, globally competitive economy led by highly-skilled andhighly educated Emiratis.

The Ministry of Education is committed to realising this vision by expanding research and development as well as innovation opportunities across universities, fostering greater collaboration with the private sector and improving the quality of tertiary education, with the overall objective of preparing our graduates for the future. The competitiveness of the country relies on the competitiveness of its people and nowhere is this more evident than in our goals for space exploration.

I also have the distinct honour of serving as Chairman of the UAE Space Agency. Just as higher education pushes our boundaries, so do our aspirations in space. As with bolstering our higher education system, our ability to explore space reaps benefits beyond the immediate task it creates a virtuous cycle.

We recognise that space exploration is a necessity not only because of its tangible benefits to our everyday lives, but because of its potential to inspire and uplift mankind in ways we can only imagine. Satellite technology, for example, has been instrumental in weather forecasting, communications and broadcasting as well national security enhancements, let alone expanding our knowledge of the earth and universe. Now Mars offers the next frontier in space exploration and is a key strategic initiative of the UAE Space Agency.

The Emirates Mars Mission will be the first Arab mission to the Red Planet and aims to provide a truly global picture of the Martian atmosphere, from understanding its climate dynamics to the escape of hydrogen and oxygen. Once the Hope probe reaches Mars in 2021 and begins to gather this information, we will share our findings with more than 200 scientific institutions and education and research centres for analysis, allowing the UAE to lead the way in creating new knowledge about the universe.

These ambitions for our space programme have and will continue to inspire Emirati youth to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics, providing the UAE with the skilled manpower and capacity to conduct research and development that will advance space exploration. Furthermore, the possibility for greater discovery and innovation in space will motivate our young people to build the necessary expertise so that they may contribute to creating a brighter future for all of us.

In our efforts to be one of the most innovative nations in the world, higher education and space exploration will work hand-in-hand to secure the UAEs future. Together, they will drive sustainable economic development, help diversify our economyand elevate our competitiveness, thus ensuring the long-term prosperity of our great nation.

Dr Ahmad Belhoul is the UAEs Minister of State for Higher Education and newly appointed Chairman of the UAE Space Agency

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Our space programme will inspire Emirati youth and create a competitive economy - The National