FIELD CAMP OPPORTUNITY

Hey guys! Here is a really cool field camp opportunity for anyone interested.  The deadline is coming up quick though, so jump to it!




The LPI-JSC Center for Lunar Science and Exploration is excited to
announce a new student field camp opportunity coming this fall! The
Field Training and Research Program at Meteor Crater is being organized
under the auspices of the NASA Lunar Science Institute, which is
designed, in part, to train a new generation of explorers for the Moon
and beyond.

The Field Training and Research Program at Meteor Crater is a week-long
geology field class and research project based at Barringer Meteorite
Crater, Arizona, more popularly known as Meteor Crater. The goal will be
to introduce students to impact cratering processes and provide an
opportunity to assist with a research project at the crater.  Skills
developed during the field camp should better prepare students for their
own thesis studies in impact cratered terrains, whether they be on
Earth, the Moon, Mars, or some other solar system planetary surface.

The field camp is designed for graduate college students in geology and
planetary science programs, although advanced undergraduate students
will be considered if they have successfully completed a summer field
geology program and have a demonstrated interest in impact cratering
processes. The field camp is offered October 17-23, 2010, and limited to
twenty-four participants. Interested candidates should apply by June 11,
2010, to be considered.


For more information, please visit: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/nlsi/mcFieldCamp/

La Agua Luna

Thirsty, anyone?  
This weekend was really super hot and humid, and I probably drank a few gallons of water. . . . 
Good thing I'm not on the moon! 
haha. . .

Okay, that was lame.  BUT I do have a point.  I'm referring to NASA's  exciting and recent discovery of water molecules on our lunar buddy, of course!

No, not "lakes, oceans or even puddles. Water on the moon means molecules of water and hydroxyl that interact with molecules of rock and dust specifically in the top millimeters of the moon's surface."

So dirty water, basically.  Sorry to disappoint.

Read it hurr! 

-Martha

Well that was a great talk...But now for Budget Woes!

Sorry We've been off the radar for a little while - busy week.

Dr. Holt's talk last week was interesting and entartaining. Best part of all was the little kids asking the questions afterward. We learned a lot about the polar regions of Mars and how Italian radar has been helping us to understand where water is suspected to be in several ice caps and below the surface of Mars.

Martha got stuck with one of the little ones who just wanted to talk about saving Yoshi in some Super Mario game he had. Needless to say, it was humorous.

-----

Now, Sean has brought to our attention a US News & World Report article on how "Budget Woes Could End NASA's Space Exploration Plans".... One of my favorite lines is "Trying to put a thousand pounds of canaries in a 500-pound box is where we are now."

President Obama has decided to review NASA's budget by use of the Review of US Human Space Flight Plans Committee to decide whether or not NASA should get as much money as it's asking for to further it's plans for human space exploration. Such things include a replacement vehicle for the space shuttle and future missions to Mars and the Moon. The Augustine report from that committee is soon to be delivered to congress of its findings on the matter later this month. It seems like it will be a balance between cost and benefit of these missions and which are plain unnecessary to the current administration.

One scary line from the article was said byJohn Logsdon, a former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University: "The message is pretty ugly. The whole notion we are going back to the moon, given the current budget is a myth"


Hopefully we can still get the Constellation program that will implement the Ares booster rockets to get to Mars! (They'll be usable for the moon too...)





-Tim


picture of Ares Rocket courtesy of globalsecurity.org/space/systems/images/clv-atk_evolution2.jpg

Click the pic for a NASA video!