What's New Robert L. Park 4 April 2012

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L Park   Tuesday, 10 Apr 2012   Washington, DC

1. THE LAST ASTRONAUT: FUNCTIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT IN SPACE.=20
Retirement of the aging Space Shuttle fleet last summer (WN 8 Jul 2011)=20=

grounded the 62 remaining NASA astronauts. Although the US is one of the =
16=20
partner nations of the International Space Station, an American astronaut=
=20
would need a ticket on a Russian Soyuz to get there.  The Bush plan was=20=

Constellation, a new program to deliver astronauts and supplies not only =
to=20
the ISS, but also to the Moon, to Mars and "other destinations beyond."=20=
=20=20
Constellation would have indulged all the space-colony fantasies at a cos=
t=20
that would retard genuine progress.  Worse yet, astronauts romping around=
=20
Mars would almost guarantee contamination of Mars with terrestrial=20
bacteria, ending any hope of answering the profound scientific questions=20=

about the origin of life that draw us to Mars.  In the end, common sense=20=

prevailed; Constellation was canceled.

2. THE FIRST ASTRONAUT: "INTRODUCTION TO OUTER SPACE."
On the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, barely a month after=
=20
Sputnik 1,  a dog named Laika was launched on Sputnik 2.  Poor Laika=20
survived a few hours at most.   President Eisenhower shared a remarkable=20=

report with the American people: "Introduction to Outer Space," prepared =
by=20
his Science Advisory Committee under the direction of James R. Killian,=20=

President of MIT (http://www.fas.org/spp/guide/usa/intro1958.html).  "The=
=20
cost of transporting men through space will be extremely high," it=20
noted, "but the cost and difficulty of sending information through space=20=

will be comparatively low."  A year later, however, NASA chose seven=20
military test pilots to be the first astronauts, romanticized by Tom Wolf=
e=20
in "The Right Stuff." John Glenn was picked for the first orbital flight,=
=20
but NASA first sent Ham, a chimpanzee, to test the water.  In spite of hi=
s=20
lack of test pilot experience,  Ham did everything John Glenn would do.=20=
=20
Both Ham and Glenn would end up in Washington: Glenn in the U.S. Senate,=20=

Ham in the National Zoo.

3. A MESSAGE FROM MARS: "THE RIGHT STUFF" IS PLUTONIUM-238.
The Mars Science Laboratory, including a new Mars rover, Curiosity, was=20=

launched 26 Nov 2011 from Cape Canaveral by an Atlas V rocket.  It's=20
scheduled to land on Mars at Gale Crater near Mount Sharp on 6 Aug 2012.=20=
=20
The primary objective is to determine whether Mars has ever supported lif=
e.=20
Curiosity is about five times larger than the Mars rovers, Spirit and=20
Opportunity, and uses far more sophisticated instrumentation.  It=92s=20
designed to explore for at least one Martian year (687 Earth days) over a=
=20
range of 5-20 km.  Instead of solar panels, Curiosity relies on an RTG=20=

(Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) for power, allowing it to operate=
=20
at full power night and day, unaffected by dust collecting on its surface=
s.=20
The isotope of choice is Pu-238, an alpha emitter with an 87.7 year half-=

life that generates about 0.5 watts/gram.  According to the March 23 issu=
e=20
of Aviation Week, U.S. production of Pu-238 was halted in 1988 and suppli=
es=20
are dwindling.  NASA and the Department of Energy expect to restart=20
production of Pu-238 in six or seven years and for the first time use the=
=20
isotope more efficiently in the Advanced Sterling Radioisotope Generator.=
 

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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