NASA’s Constellation Program is in trouble and it really is no surprise to anyone who knows how NASA or the United States Government operates. When Constellation was announced as a main component of President Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration in 2004, it was to be the “Apollo Program on Steroids” that would return us to the Moon and eventually land humans on Mars. Space advocates cheered for the idea of a new rocket, but honeymoon was pretty much non-existent as the cheers gave way to petty bickering between space travel advocacy groups and scientists over the design, cost, and proposed destination of the new system. In fact, nightShifted Astronomy shares some of the guilt in the petty bickering as we were a contributing member to The Planetary Society until they published a report suggesting that Constellation skip the Moon and go directly to Mars. I do not regret pulling my membership because I feel that they do not truly represent the desires of the people when it comes to space exploration initiatives, but it did happen and we do have to live with being part of the mess.

Now, Constellation is under intense review by the Obama White House and every day it seems that the program is growing closer and closer to joining the oblivion inhabited by so many other NASA projects (see The Countless Many Who Cried Spacewolf and The Sharks are Circling). The Augustine Commission, which was appointed to review the Constellation Program and specifically, its Ares I and V rocket designs, gave very little support to NASA and its program. This does not bode well for an agency competing more and more with commercial rocket companies. There is a huge amount of contempt for the new designs and it has unfortunately put NASA’s future in limbo. Everyone that depends on the United States Space Program for their livelihoods is on high alert as they wait for an announcement from President Obama about the future of the agency. Keith Cowing, the ultimate NASA watchdog has more information at NASAWatch.

I believe that it would be reasonable to cancel the Ares I rocket because I feel that there is enough evidence available to show that it is a gross waste of hardware and is an unnecessary redesign of technology that is already available in mass quantities today. I have spoken before about getting human ratings for Delta rockets and other ICBM-type missiles and I still believe that it would be our best bet. I really like the DIRECT Launcher proposal which takes hardware from the Space Shuttle Program and combines it with the Orion capsule. DIRECT makes perfect sense if the Government decides to cancel the Ares I rocket. However, I think that a full-on cancellation of the Constellation Program would be a blow to our nation’s space program of unfathomable consequences. The U.S. Government and NASA have let us down too many times in the realm of space exploration and there are already very few people listening to what they have to say. Another failure, especially one of this magnitude, would be nothing more than the death rattle of a glorious agency strangled by partisan politics and overburdened by meaningless bureaucracy.

Image Credits: NASA/DIRECT

The stress of my real job and my proclivity for forgetting basic information and tasks requires that I carry a device that will remind me of the mundane meetings and endless tasks that have to be completed throughout the day. Since I have always had an aversion to carrying my cell phone with me except for emergency purposes, I have always used a personal data assistant to keep track of my work and my life. Until a couple of months ago, I used an HP iPaq 110 handheld running Windows Mobile 6. However, I recently joined the twenty first century and transitioned to a third generation Apple iPod Touch with which I immediately fell in love. While the app store has a wide variety of applications that can turn an iPhone or iPod into a powerful astronomical tool, I have found a nice selection of free apps that can get an amateur astronomer working in the field in a matter of minutes. In no particular order, here are the four recommended free astronomy applications from Apple’s Store.

• DISTANT SUNS (LITE) [Full Version $6.99] – The Distant Suns iPhone app is a descendent of the 80s desktop application that is still a favorite of many amateur and professional astronomers. This free app has a database of thousands of stars, 88 constellations, all 9 planets (that’s right…Pluto included), and a realistic portrayal of the Milky Way glow. Each star in the Distant Suns database includes the appropriate right ascension, declination, and magnitude information to find it in the night sky. Quick options on the bottom toolbar allow you to instantly select a planet, constellation, or other target and easily navigate yourself across the sky. I recommend it for someone looking for an app to create a realistic representation of the sky.

 

• ASTROCALC – This app rocks. It is a wonderful little tool that allows you to input each piece of astronomy gear that you own and use it to calculate focal length with different eyepiece or optical tube assembly (OTA) configurations. For example, this screenshot shows viewing data for my Orion AstroView 100mm refractor with an Orion 25mm eyepiece installed.

 

• PLANETS 1.6 – Planets is a cool little app that has options for a two and three dimensional view of the night sky as well as 3D rotational views of each planet in the solar system. It is very comparable to Distant Suns, but is more like a star chart than a realistic representation of the sky. In addition to the two views of the sky, the app includes general information and viewing opportunities for each planet as well as the Sun and the Moon. It makes a great companion application to Distant Suns and the AstroCalc.

 

• MOON GLOBE – Regular readers know that I pretty much worship the Moon. I think that it is an overlooked and underappreciated night (and day) sky target. Even the smallest and worst-quality telescopes can bring out incredible mountain chains, craters, valleys, canals, and other wonders of our nearest celestial neighbor. Moon Globe gives you an unparalleled access to our Moon by allowing you to rotate, flip, or zoom in and around it. Highly recommended for anyone interested in watching the brightest object in our night sky.

nightShifted Astronomy received no compensation for endorsement of these applications. You can download each of these applications from the Apple App Store.

I apologize in advance for the angry rant, but it is long overdue. A recent piece in The Guardian and the pathetic Space.com article mentioned below have compelled me to say what most of us are thinking: We need a space exploration project that fulfills our hopes and dreams instead of crushing them under the weight of government bureaucracy. Simple, right? Are you wondering what type of hallucinogens your humble host has been smoking tonight? Well friends, you can relax because I am not hallucinating, I am just getting fed up with stories like this. Congratulations to the group of college students who used a 3D rendering program to design a sub-par add-on module for the International Space Station. You are a credit to space exploration and certainly have inspired many to reconsider their apathy toward low-Earth orbit. I am really saddened by this story because it is not a newsworthy event. Artists design 3-dimensional renderings of space stations, spacecraft, alien cities, solar systems, and other space-related objects every day. Many of these are based on real, modern technology that offer much more than the so-called “hotel in space”.

I am a firm believer that it is stories like these that add to the apathy that exists toward any space exploration endeavors. It seems as though we’re introduced to some “fascinating” new technology or space hardware design every few weeks only to see them disappear without a trace. Bigelow Aerospace and its Genesis modules are the only designs I can think of in the last few years that seemed like complete BS, but were ultimately built and launched. It is much like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Yes, I know that it is a HUGE cliché to use this comparison, but it must be done. With a new design for a spacecraft or a station released every few weeks, but nothing new in the way of completed contracts or launches, people will naturally begin to assume the worst when it comes to these designs. I am already there. I read this article and already assigned my own opinion to its chances for completion before I was finished: Zero. None. Nada. We’re NEVER going to see this design attached to the International Space Station. It does not matter what the reasoning is, but the fact is that it just will not happen. I am tired of seeing this “marvels” that will “change the way we think about living in space” come and go without changing how we actually live in space! This is nothing new, however. Remember Space Station Freedom (see pic on right)? I think it is time for NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to start cruising the forums at some 3D art websites for ideas on practical designs for future spacecraft. After all, the terrible design of this little “space hotel” has just as much chance of being constructed and launched to the ISS as a prototype fighter plane from a Gary Tonge painting. Zero. None. Nada.

The Guardian article is on target, but the Space.com article is a waste of time. The sense of wonder and adventure that exploring the stars used to bring to people’s lives is mostly gone. It is, in my opinion, going to take a successful space program of some kind to reignite the dream of reaching the cosmos for many people. Bar charts and 3D renderings are not enough. Give me enough time and I can build you a 3D rocket and a timeline for launching it into orbit. If you want to donate $1.2 billion to this blog, I’ll even make sure that it is repeatedly pushed back until one of my friends convinces me to cancel it and pocket the money. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Image Credit: Imperial College of London/NASA

There’s no doubt in my mind: nuclear weapons and the destructive power they wield are horrifying. While outsiders can watch old footage of villages being leveled and forests burned to the ground as these weapons were being developed, only those unfortunate few that have experienced the devastation of a nuclear blast firsthand know the true pain and suffering that comes with the use of these weapons. To date, the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the Earth’s only victims of a nuclear weapons attack which was carried out by the United States in World War II. Tomorrow marks the 64th anniversary of the Hiroshima explosion as the Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” into a crowded intersection in the heart of the city. The Boston Globe’s Big Picture feature has some incredible photos from before and after the destruction of the city. I recommend that you take a moment to look at these photos and absorb the power of the weapon which leveled a city and killed almost 70,000 people in an instant.

The photo above is a sampling from the collection and it shows the flash shadow of a control valve that occurred as a result of the bomb’s heat blast. The black area on the wall is an outline of the valve and is actually paint that was protected from the blast. The rest of the white area surrounding the shadow was heavily burned along with everything else in the area. This photo was taken almost 7,000 feet from ground zero.

My reasons for posting this here on nightShifted Astronomy are twofold. The first is to emphasize the deadly power of these weapons. I understand that war and conflict is something that is ingrained into our nature and that it is not something we can easily get rid of. However, we can work together as cooperative, unique nations to reduce the number of these weapons across the world and ultimately to do away with them altogether.

In addition to my hippie, peace-loving motives behind this post, I also wanted to point out the impact that nuclear technology has had on the space exploration community. While nuclear weapons are extremely dirty and dangerous pieces of technology, nuclear energy and nuclear propulsion are, thanks to decades of research and development, surprisingly clean and efficient. The Galileo space probe that explored Jupiter for a number of years was powered by the radioactive decay of plutonium-238 and the Voyager probes each carried a significantly larger amount of the radioactive element. Nuclear powered space craft look to become a significant part of mankind’s exploration of the cosmos, and why not? There will always be those individuals who see the world “nuclear” and associate it only with its destructive powers, but in the end we have taken a technology that was essentially designed to destroy and used it to create a power source that opens up a whole new universe of possibilities and may help us ultimately colonize other worlds. Check out the Hiroshima photos and then give the Galileo and Voyager probes a thought for a moment. We have come a long way indeed.

Image Credit: U.S. National Archives/Boston Globe/NASA