What's New Robert L. Park 24 Jun 2011

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 24 Jun 2011   Washington, DC

1. LEFT BEHIND: WAIT, WAIT!  YOU FORGOT SOMETHING.
Don't worry, that's just the international space station.  It isn=92t "ou=
r"=20
space station of course; its operation is overseen by five separate space=
=20
agencies.  Nevertheless we bear a major responsibility for this $160=20
billion monument to the age of manned space flight.  Left alone, it=92s a=
=20
417,000 kg missile that will return to Earth traveling at 28,000 km/h.  I=
=20
leave it to the students to calculate the energy.  I raised this point in=
=20
1998 when ISS assembly began and was told it would be disassembled and th=
e=20
parts returned to Earth on the shuttle. President Obama might prefer to s=
ee=20
this done with commercial space vehicles, except they don't exist yet. =20
Controlled or uncontrolled, the ISS will return to Earth.

2. STS-135: THE FINAL MISSION OF A PUBLIC RELATIONS PROGRAM.
The space race with the Soviet Union ended with Apollo-17.  Both countrie=
s=20
explored the Moon, brought back piles of moon rocks, and took astounding=20
photographs, but today few even remember that the USSR had a Moon program=
. =20
They had chosen to do it with robots; more technologically advanced than=20
Apollo perhaps, but it counted for little in the hearts and minds of the=20
public.  You can't give robots tickertape parades down Broadway. Apollo w=
as=20
followed by the Space Shuttle.  For a time, every space mission had to=20
begin with a shuttle launch, guaranteeing a constant supply of heroes but=
=20
the shuttle could not keep up with the demand for launches.  Atlantis is=20
now being prepared for a July 8 launch.  A prosaic 12-day "UPS" flight to=
=20
deliver supplies and equipment to the International Space Station, it wil=
l=20
be the final mission in the 30-year-old shuttle program.  Sold to Congres=
s=20
as a cost-effective way to get into space, the shuttle will be remembered=
=20
as the most expensive launch system ever devised.=20

3. CURIOSITY: THE OTHER NASA IS HEADED BACK TO MARS.
This, of course, is the NASA that does science. A new species of NASA rov=
er=20
has evolved named "Curiosity."  It will resume exploration of the Martian=
=20
surface begun by little Sojourner, which landed on Mars on July 4, 1997.=20
The new rover is bigger and faster with far more sophisticated laboratory=
=20
than previous rovers.  Yesterday's issue of Nature identifies the Gale=20
Crater, a 150-kilometre wide depression, as the destination preferred by=20
mission scientists.  The decision will be made, perhaps today, by associa=
te=20
administrator Ed Weiler. =20

4. PU-238: RADIOISOTOPE THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS.=20
Curiosity will be powered by the heat given off by the natural decay of P=
u-
238, a non-fissile isotope of plutonium with a half-life of 87.7 years.  =
An=20
alpha emitter, it is easily shielded. Pu-238 RTGs are essential to a numb=
er=20
of spacecraft missions, particularly those bound for the outer solar=20
system. United States currently has limited facilities to produce Pu-238.=
 =20
Since 1993, all of the Pu-238 the U.S. has used in space probes has been=20
purchased from Russia. 16.5 kilograms in total have been purchased.  The =
US=20
Department of Energy is requesting funding to restart domestic production=
,=20
but production of substantial amounts could take 5 years.=20

5. OCEANS: NEXT WEEK WE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT THE FINAL SEWER.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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