Aeronautics and Space Report 254 (1990)

[Music] it was a Time of Wonder and [Music] Discovery six trips to the lunar surface revealed much about our closest Celestial neighbor and changed Forever The Way We view our own planet today NASA is looking towards returning to the Moon a permanent lunar base would complement space station freedom and provide a springboard for Mann missions to Mars and if researchers at NASA's center for the commercial development of space in Wisconsin are successful the first lunar settlers will also be miners actually this large automated vehicle would do most of the work processing the moon's rocks and soil to remove a potentially valuable product helium 3 just 25 metric tons of this rare isotope roughly the capacity of the shuttle cargo bay could provide enough energy to generate all the electricity used in this country in an entire year touchdown helium 3 is produced by Fusion reactions in the Sun and carried through space by the solar wind Earth's atmosphere Shields us from the solar wind but it has been depositing helium 3 on the moon for more than a billion years former Senator Jack Schmidt was part of the Apollo 17 Mission which marked our last or as he likes to say our most recent Journey to the lunar surface we can't always use fossil fuels for the production of electricity uh there are many environmental reasons why you don't want to do that one of the most popular now of course is the addition of CO2 to the atmosphere we don't need to panic but we ought be making those kinds of uh research and development plans that we have an alternative to coal and other fossil fuels in the not too distant future studies indicate that the amount of radioactivity in a device like this generating energy from Helium 3 will be 1 millionth less than in nuclear systems used today and no greenhouse gases acid rain or solid wastes will result the proposed mining system will be equally kind to the lunar environment once helium 3 has been boiled off the untainted rocks and soil are returned to the surface leaving it essentially unblemished the process should also produce a number of byproducts including water which will be of great value to a lunar colony and according to Jerry Kinski a professor at the University of Wisconsin and member of the NASA commercial development team current oil prices make helium 3 an even more attractive alternative at today's prices helium 3 would be worth $4 billion a ton which would make a shuttle load worth about100 billion and that's enough I think for any businessman to figure out a way to make a profit helium 3 mining using the moon's resources to meet future energy requirements on [Music] Earth Earth's atmosphere it's the air we breathe the force that regulates our temperature weather and importantly what cleanses pollutants from the environment we've begun to realize that our atmosphere has no geographical boundaries when it comes to pollution Airborne industrial w bed in one area can litter forests thousands of miles away with acid rain due to our everyday activities a host of Gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are being released into the atmosphere at alarming rates these greenhouse gases are known to trap heat near the surface of the Earth that otherwise would radiate into space potentially causing serious global warming this problem has been studied by scientists for many years but never with the detail an Airborne Observatory can make flying at all levels of the atmosphere to do this us and Canadian scientists teamed up to study greenhouse gases in the remote Northern latitudes of Canada the program called able for atmospheric boundary layer experiment is the third in a series of NASA sponsored research Expeditions initiated in the early 80s AEL will eventually study major ecosystems around the globe to better understand the Dynamics of our atmosphere with the help of McGill University a groundbased site was chosen in Northern Quebec that featured a forest and wetlands environment scientists from Harvard and the State University of New York built a 100t tower at the forest site to sample atmospheric chemistry and collect meteorological data meanwhile NASA biospherics researcher Gary Whiting and assistant Joel canz spent countless hours at the nearby Wetlands measuring gases given off by these grass-like sges detailed studies of the marsh plants were also made by a group from the University of Delaware to characterize their growth patterns and how they transport methane gas into the atmosphere because of their Hollow stems these plants are very efficient Transporters of methane piping the gas directly into the sky many other measurements such as balloon SS track local winds temperatures and humidity an Electra aircraft from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility Virginia flew repeated missions over the sites seven experiments took air samples and measured various chemical concentrations Dr Ed browl of NASA's Langley Research Center used an instrument that shoots a laser beam above and below the aircraft to plot a cross-sectional view of the atmosphere the reddish orange colors represent regions containing higher concentrations of ozone another greenhouse gas studying atmospheric events from the sky and the ground giving scientists an unprecedented glimpse of the health of our global [Music] environment [Music] Columbia Houston we have a Tallyho on LF called the long duration exposure facility this 11 ton satellite had been in space for almost 6 years when a shuttle crew retrieved it and brought it safely back to Earth T after delivery to the Kennedy Space Center and several months of close inspection ldef became an empty shell its 57 external experiments were shipped to scientists around the globe including a group at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia the effects of long-term exposure to space can be seen in this materials and Coatings experiment according to Wayne SL a senior engineer at Langley the various colorations and stripings evident on the surfaces here were not present when LF was put into orbit in fact the top of this panel looked exactly like its unexposed Underside prior to the journey the goal is to determine the significance of these changes so that future spacecraft and structures can be built with the best possible materials Dawn hes a Langley Aerospace technologist had 22 aluminum panels positioned around ldef their mission was simple be struck by micrometeoroids and other man-made debris determining how many particles are out there where they are and what they're made of is critical in designing future protection for astronauts and spacecraft research scientist Gail Harvey is discovering that a thermal control paint used almost universally on spacecraft can contaminate Optical materials this unexpected brown staining will almost certainly result in an across theboard change in surface Coatings for space applications learn learning more about cosmic rays is the goal of an ldef experiment at the naval research lab in Washington DC according to physicist Jim Adams cosmic rays are fast moving particles that can penetrate human skin and disrupt onboard computers another factor to be considered in developing future space Hardware technologically what would come out of LF is a set of handbooks which will be the Bible for how uh spacecraft are built for the next 20 20 or 30 years I think it'll be a very long time before there's an opportunity to fly such a large spacecraft for such a long time and learn so much about the effects of the space environment more than 12 million tomato seeds carried on ldef have been distributed to students of all ages around the country the majority of the plants eventually produced normal fruit and a second generation is planned in addition to providing valuable information about the effects of space on living matter the seeds project is designed to excite young people about science the long duration exposure facility 6 years of unparalleled information extending our future capabilities in [Music] space Kittyhawk 1903 the success of the wri brothers put America at the Leading Edge of Aviation while the Europeans pulled ahead during World War I that edge was recaptured and maintained by the NACA the national advisory committee for Aeronautics for 75 years the NACA NASA team has continued to fulfill this mission to supervise and direct the scientific study of problems and solutions of flight both inside and outside the cockpit dramatic advancements have been made in reducing drag and increasing speed for instance in 1947 while piloting the X1 Chuck joerger broke the sound barrier for the first time and the X5 proved the variable sweep Wing could fly the X15 tested from 1958 to 1968 was the first aircraft to fly 67 M High along the fringes of space reaching 4500 m per hour it came back to an aerodynamically controlled Landing inside the Coit control panels once a myriad of dials are being Consolidated into each easy to read monitors enabling Pilots to fly better and safer also helping the pilot are flight simulations for a while the only way to get the feel of an aircraft was to fly it flight simulations show how an aircraft will perform without leaving the ground together with wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics engineers and Pilots have the best information possible before actual flight tests aeronautical improvements like these have led NASA to a blending of Air and Space Case in point the lifting body concept half spacecraft half aircraft a lifting body achieves aerodynamic lift from the shape of its body alone lifting bodies were precursors to NASA's successful space shuttle and we have touchdown no gear coming down flight experience from many programs has led to the planned x30 also known as the national Aerospace plane This research vehicle will be a true air topace machine taking off like an air breathing aircraft and accelerating to 17,500 mph into low earth orbit NASA's world class class Aeronautics program 75 years of continued achievement in air and [Music] space [Music]