[FPSPACE] FW: [lunar-update] The lost NASA tapes: Restoring lunar images after 40 years in the vault

Mon Jun 29 21:43:34 EDT 2009


 
> From: larry.kellogg at gmail.com
> To: lunar-update at news.altair.com
> Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:58:41 -0700
> Subject: [lunar-update] The lost NASA tapes: Restoring lunar images after 40 years in the vault
> 
> The lost NASA tapes: Restoring lunar images after 40 years in the vault
> 
> Jeff Marraccini, Director, Computer Systems, Altair Engineering, Inc. 
> http://www.altair.com/ sent me the below link and it brought back memories 
> of NASA Ames and my getting coffee and a bagel at McDonald's on my walk into 
> Ames. Now no Navy Exchange and McDonalds' is McMoon's.
> 
> We are coming up on 40 years since we first landed men on the Moon and it is 
> a good reminder that we need to preserve the data from missions past for 
> those who come later and might want to look at the old data in the light of 
> new technology.
> 
> I am guilty of watching old 1 inch magnetic tapes from the Pioneer Venus 
> missions being thrown out because they were contaminated by sewer backups in 
> the basement of the building I worked in. Who would want to watch TV 
> interviews of what was found on Venus?
> 
> Take a look at the link below. It is an interesting article. Hope you have 
> the time to read.
> - LRK -
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> The lost NASA tapes: Restoring lunar images after 40 years in the vault
> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9134771
> A Mac Pro and 40-year-old tape drives are helping restore the original Lunar 
> Orbiter tapes
> By Lamont Wood
> June 29, 2009 12:01 AM ET
> 
> Computerworld - Liquid nitrogen, vegetable steamers, Macintosh workstations 
> and old, refrigerator-size tape drives. These are just some of the tools a 
> new breed of Space Age archeologists is using to sift through the digital 
> debris from the early days of NASA, mining the information in ways 
> unimaginable when it was first gathered four decades ago.
> 
> At stake is data that could show Earth's risk of an asteroid strike, shed 
> light on global warming and -- perhaps -- even satisfy those who think the 
> moon landings were a hoax.
> 
> The most visible of the archeologists is arguably Dennis Wingo, head of 
> Skycorp Inc., a small aerospace engineering firm in Huntsville, Ala. He's 
> the driving force behind the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project, operating 
> out of a decommissioned McDonald's (since dubbed McMoon's) at NASA's Ames 
> Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. The project's goal is to recover 
> and enhance as many of the original lunar landing images as possible.
> 
> snip
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> If you like to follow folks on Twitter, ApolloPlus40 is posting twitter as 
> if it was happening back leading up to the Apollo 11 mission.
> http://twitter.com/ApolloPlus40
> Name ApolloPlus40
> Location The Moon
> Web http://blogs.nature.com/news/blog/events/apolloplus40/
> Bio Nature News twitters the Apollo 11 moon mission as it happened -- 40 
> years on
> 
> 
> Thanks for looking up with me.
> 
> Larry Kellogg
> 
> Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
> BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
> RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
> Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
> ==============================================================
> This too is worth a read if you are wondering why go to the Moon and on to 
> Mars. - LRK -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1334
> Going Beyond The Status Quo In Space
> 
> Dennis Wingo, Paul Spudis, and Gordon Woodcock
> Sunday, June 28, 2009
> 
> "Perhaps worst of all, we were (are) hearing an incessant drumbeat that the 
> world was running out of room and resources, that we faced a world of 
> limits, a zero-sum game in which our children would have to settle for less 
> in life than we had. Many young people who picked up that message-that 
> success would be elusive--concluded that study and hard work might not be 
> the kind of blue-chip investments they were a generation earlier. The space 
> program itself was viewed by many as a too-expensive series of stunts that 
> would be unaffordable in the bad times ahead. It was certainly not seen in 
> terms of an investment in breaking out of those limits and into new and 
> better times."
> 
> Setting The Context
> 
> The preceding paragraph was not written in the last few years. It is an 
> excerpt of a speech given by Dr. George Keyworth, Director of the Office of 
> Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) almost 25 years ago. Therein lies the 
> issue before us today when considering how to re-craft the "Vision for Space 
> Exploration" into a policy that can garner the continuing support of the 
> Congress and the American people. Our exploration effort beyond Low Earth 
> Orbit (LEO) must make a concrete connection to addressing the critical 
> issues that confront our nation and our civilization today. This is the 
> subject of this missive
> 
> Declaration
> 
> The next step in our space program is the development of a true space faring 
> civilization using the Moon as a stepping stone. Elements of such a system 
> include a lunar spaceport, settlement, and industrial infrastructure to 
> support the further economic development of the Solar System. Pursuing this 
> goal requires a different way of thinking about space infrastructure and 
> operations. Reducing operating cost is paramount. We must accept high-payoff 
> new technologies and manage their risks until they are mature. But the 
> payoff is huge: a new economic frontier in space.
> 
> snip
> ==============================================================
> Buzz Aldrin isn't happy about how we handling our entry to using space for 
> humans. - LRK -
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200927/3951/Buzz-Aldrin-calls-for-focus-on-manned-Mars-mission
> Buzz Aldrin calls for focus on manned Mars mission
> by Rich Bowden - Jun 29 2009, 04:21
> 
> Legendary Moon walker and NASA spaceman Buzz Aldrin has said the race to 
> establish a permanent Moon base should be the result of international 
> cooperation with the real focus on a manned mission to Mars.
> 
> Speaking in a lengthy interview with Popular Mechanics magazine, Aldrin said 
> the next race to be the first to host a manned presence on the Moon should 
> not be a financially damaging "space race" but an international effort 
> combining the resources of China, Europe, India, Japan and Russia.
> 
> "By renouncing our goal of being first on the Moon (again), we would call 
> off Space Race II with the Chinese and encourage them to channel their 
> ambitious lunar efforts into the consortium," Aldrin said.
> He added that the Mark II mission to the Moon is, in fact, a "damaging" 
> detour from what should be NASA's principal objective -- namely, the 
> preparation for a manned mission to Mars.
> 
> "The agency's current Vision for Space Exploration will waste decades and 
> hundreds of billions of dollars trying to reach the moon by 2020 -- a 
> glorified rehash of what we did 40 years ago," he said. "Instead of a 
> steppingstone to Mars, NASA's current lunar plan is a detour."
> 
> snip
> ==============================================================
> 
> WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
> 
> ==============================================================
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