July 19, 1999
Scientists who analyze the data from the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment have measured, among other things, that the Moon is moving away from the Earth and that the shape of the Earth is changing at an unprecedented accuracy level. They have also used the experiment to test the validity of several predictions of Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
The lunar laser ranging reflector is designed to reflect pulses of laser light fired from the Earth. The idea was to determine the round-trip travel time of a laser pulse from the Earth to the Moon and back again, thereby calculating the distance between the two. Unlike the other scientific experiments left on the Moon, this reflector requires no power and is still functioning perfectly after 30 years.
The reflector consists of a checkerboard mosaic of 100 fused silica half cubes (roughly the size of the average computer monitor screen), called corner cubes, mounted in a 46-centimeter (18-inch) square aluminum panel. Each corner cube is 3.8 centimeters (1.5 inches) in diameter. Corner cubes reflect a beam of light directly back toward the point of origin; it is this fact that makes them so useful in Earth surveying.
"The Lunar Laser Ranging project cuts across disciplinary and international boundaries, measuring characteristics of the Earth, the Moon and gravitational physics," said Dr. James Williams, a research scientist at JPL. "Data analysis has been conducted around the world, including Germany, France and the U.S."
The McDonald Observatory Laser Ranging Station near Ft. Davis, Texas, and the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, operated by the Centre d'Etudes et de Recerche en Geodynamique et Astronomie near Grasse, France, regularly send a laser beam through an optical telescope and try to hit one of the reflectors. The reflectors are too small to be seen from Earth, so even when the beam is correctly aligned in the telescope, actually hitting a lunar reflector is quite challenging. At the Moon's surface the beam is roughly one mile wide; scientists liken the task of properly aiming the beam to using a rifle to hit a moving dime two miles away.
Once the laser beam hits a reflector, scientists at the observatories use sensitive filtering and amplification equipment to detect any kind of return signal. The reflected light is too weak to be seen with the human eye, but, under good conditions, one photon -- the fundamental particle of light -- will be received every few seconds.
Three more reflectors have since been left on the Moon, including two by later Apollo missions and one (built by the French) by the unmanned Soviet Lunakhod 2 lander. Each of the reflectors rests on the lunar surface in such a way that its flat face points toward the Earth.
Continuing improvements in lasers and electronics over the years have lead to recent measurements that are accurate to about two centimeters (less than one inch). Scientists know the average distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon is 385,000 kilometers (239,000 miles), implying that the modern lunar ranges have relative accuracies of better than one part in 10 billion. This level of accuracy represents one of the most precise distance measurements ever made and is equivalent to determining the distance between Los Angeles and New York to one-hundredth of an inch.
During the course of the last 30 years, scientists have been able to use the orbit of the Moon and the data they received through lunar ranging to study events happening on Earth.
There have been major scientific advances derived from lunar ranging:
Researchers say that lunar reflectors will remain in service for years to come, because of the usefulness of continued improvements in range determinations for further advancing our understanding of the Earth-Moon system and the need for monitoring the details of the Earth's rotation.
At JPL, this lunar ranging analysis, sponsored by NASA's Office of Space Science, is conducted by Drs. James G. Williams, Dale Boggs, J. Todd Ratcliff and Jean O. Dickey. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Vice President
Tuesday, July 20, 1999
On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy made a public commitment to land an American on the Moon by the end of the decade. On July 16, 1969, a Saturn V rocket blasted off from Kennedy Space center carrying the crew of Apollo 11. Four days later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, aboard the 'Eagle' Lunar Module, touched down on the surface of the Moon, making history.
"Hundreds of years from now, when historians are chronicling the history of the 20th Century, I believe they will conclude that one of the most significant decisions we made was to send a man to the moon," Vice President Gore said. "One poet has written: 'there is no path; we create the path as we walk.' That is true of the people we honor today -- who blazed a path farther than any we had known, and made President Kennedy's vision a reality."
In his remarks at the National Air and Space Museum, the Vice President stressed his commitment to the space program.
"I am deeply committed to an aggressive, forward-looking space program," Vice President Gore said, "A space program that dares to push the limits of the heavens."
The Samuel P. Langley Medal was established by the Board of Regents in 1908, at the suggestion of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. The medal honors the memory of Samuel Langley, the third secretary of the Smithsonian and a pioneer in early aviation. Previous recipients include Charles Lindbergh, Robert Goddard, Alan Shepard, Wernher von Braun, and the Wright Brothers, who were the first to receive the medal in 1909.
Additional info on the presentation at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
U.S. Postal Service News Release
July 18, 1999
Taking part in the Man Walks on the Moon stamp unveiling were former astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, and Florida Congressman Dave Weldon. Representing the Postal Service were Deborah K. Willhite, Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Viki Brennan, the Postal Service's Central Florida District Manager.
"Putting mankind on the moon was a powerful statement for our nation as the representative of democracy in the space endeavor, but it also was a testament to our technology, inventiveness, and courage," said Willhite, the Postal Service's unveiling official.
The Man Walks on the Moon stamp was selected by the public during nationwide balloting in May 1998 as one of 15 commemorative stamps saluting the 1960s. Over a two-year period the public was offered opportunities to vote for stamp subjects honoring the 1950s through the 1990s, as part of the Celebrate The Century stamp and education program.
Other winning 1960s stamp subjects include: Woodstock; The Integrated Circuit; Lasers; "I Have a Dream;" The Vietnam War; The Beatles; The Peace Corps; STAR TREK; Super Bowl I; Green Bay Packers; Roger Maris, 61 in '61; Peace Symbol; Ford Mustang; and Barbie Doll. The stamps will be issued Sept. 17, 1999, in Green Bay, Wis., joining six sheets of 15 stamps saluting the 1900s-1950s, now available at post offices nationwide.
All 15 stamps saluting the 1960s were designed by Carl Herrman of Laguna Niguel, Cal., and the Man Walks on the Moon is the only engraved stamp in the '60s set.
The Celebrate The Century commemorative stamp and education program honors some of the most significant people, places, events, and trends of each decade of the passing century. In cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education and 12 leading education associations, the Postal Service has developed a curriculum being used in some 300,000 classrooms nationwide, taking students on a field trip through the last 100 years of American history.
On July 20, 1969, about six and a half hours after lunar module Eagle landed on the moon, the world watched in awe as Neil A. Armstrong made the historic first step onto the surface. "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
Armstrong was joined by "Buzz" Aldrin and the two astronauts set about accomplishing the lunar surface experiments assigned to the Apollo 11 mission. They also gathered some 45 pounds of lunar soil and rocks. During a pause in their work, they raised the American flag and spoke to President Richard M. Nixon by radiotelephone. After they unveiled a plaque mounted on a strut of Eagle's landing gear, Armstrong read the following statement to a worldwide television and radio audience: "Here Men From the Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon. July 1969, A.D. We Came In Peace For All Mankind."
For nearly 22 hours, alone in command module Columbia, astronaut Michael Collins orbited the cold but no longer lifeless moon waiting for Armstrong and Aldrin to return so they could prepare for their return trip to Earth. At 12:51 p.m. EDT on July 24, Columbia splashed down in the Pacific Ocean not far from the recovery ship USS Hornet.
The unveiling stamp ceremony is part of the Kennedy Space Center's 30th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 mission -- commemorating man's historic landing on the moon. The Kennedy Space Center is the most appropriate site for the celebration because it was there where this spectacular event began with the liftoff of Apollo 11.
The Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee recommends all stamp subjects and designs to the Postmaster General for final approval. The committee also selected the stamps to honor the 1900s through the 1940s. During month-long balloting periods, the public selected the subjects for stamps commemorating the 1950s through the 1990s. Each decade-specific ballot offered a total of 30 choices in five categories: People & Events, Arts & Entertainment, Sports, Science & Technology, and Lifestyle. The top two vote getters in each category, along with the next five highest vote getters overall, become stamps for a total of 15 stamps per decade.
The Celebrate The Century series of 150 commemorative stamps, available on 10 stamp panes honoring each decade of the 20th century, captures 100 years of American history in a colorful and educational way. The 1970s stamps are scheduled to be issued in November 1999, the 1980s in January 2000, and the 1990s in April 2000.
For more information on stamps, or to see an image of the Man Walks on the Moon stamp, visit the Postal Service Web site at www.usps.com and click on "Stamps." To order the Celebrate The Century stamps, or other stamps or stamp products, go directly to www.stampsonline.com.
Celebrate The Century is a trademark of the U.S. Postal Service.
UA science news releases
July 12, 1999
Maybe you missed that historic moment on television - maybe you weren't yet born. Or maybe the first moon walk is still a vivid memory and you want to recapture the magic of that moment.
Whatever your motivation, if you want to relive those early days of space travel and meet some of those who made it happen, the University of Arizona will give you the chance Tuesday, July 20th.
On this 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory will hold open house in the Kuiper Space Sciences Building from 1 p.m. - 9 p.m. The open house celebrates the entire Apollo program (1967-72), said Maria Schuchardt of the Space Imagery Center, who is organizing the event.
Open house exhibits on each of the Apollo missions will display rare memorabilia, including an American flag that made the lunar roundtrip. Videos of all the Apollo missions will air continuously in Room 312. Guests are invited to use computers in Room 316 to surf the web for Apollo program pages and can take away handouts of some of the best URLs to visit. More is still in planning stages.
Not to be missed:
3 p.m. and 7 p.m. talks by Ewen Whitaker and Robert Strom, UA scientists with key roles in the moon mapping programs used to determine lunar landing sites. The talks include a screening of the 28-minute, 1971 video, "In the Mountains of the Moon." LPL researchers will field questions after the 7 p.m. presentation.
For LPL such a celebration is particularly appropriate, for without the lunar missions there might be no LPL and without LPL the missions would have been much more difficult. In some sense this 30th anniversary celebration also is a birthday party for LPL.
The story behind these ties between the moon missions and LPL is detailed in "The UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Its Founding and Early Years," which was written in 1985 by Whitaker, who now is associate research scientist emeritus at the Lunar Lab.
The story behind the LPL's birth centers on the late Gerard P. Kuiper, for whom the space sciences building is named. Kuiper, a leading authority on solar system astronomy, was director of the Yerkes Observatory in Chicago in the early 1950s. At that time, relatively few astronomers had any interest at all in the moon. But Kuiper was keenly interested in getting high-quality photographs of the moon for scientific research.
At the 9th Congress of the International Astronomical Union held in Dublin, Ireland, in late summer 1955, he circulated a memo called "Considerations of a New Photographic Lunar Map." Then he personally lobbied colleagues to realize the pressing need for an atlas of large-scale, high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface.
Only one other astronomer at the meeting shared his enthusiasm for this project. That was Whitaker, who was then a professional astronomer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England. Whitaker traces his fascination with the moon back to 1951, when he joined the Lunar Section of the British Astronomical Association, a long-established organization of amateur astronomers. Whitaker, too, concluded early on that scientists needed scientifically suitable images of the moon. Kuiper and Whitaker began regular correspondence on the topic of their strong mutual interest after meeting in Dublin.
In early spring 1957, Kuiper applied to the National Science Foundation to fund the "Lunar Atlas Investigations Research Project." Confident that he would win NSF support, he quickly invited Whitaker to spend two or three months at Yerkes helping him on the project. Kuiper got his NSF grant in April. Whitaker's boss at the Royal Observatory granted Whitaker leave only very reluctantly - Whitaker had to forfeit his entire year's holiday in exchange for a month at Yerkes.
Whitaker left London Airport for Chicago O'Hare on Saturday night, Oct. 5, 1957, "just as the evening newspapers were splashing the banner headlines: 'Sputnik 1 Orbits the Earth.' "
Fate had just dealt an ace to scientists bent on photographing and mapping the moon. It proved an winning hand for the University of Arizona, too.
Sputnik 1 panicked the U.S. government and military into a space race that, however inauspicious its start, mobilized extraordinary science and engineering talent for the U.S. space program. In January 1959, the U.S.S.R.'s Luna 1 spacecraft flew within two diameters of the moon's surface. In September 1959 Luna 2 became the first spacecraft to land (crash, actually) on the lunar surface. Shaken to the core by such Soviet successes, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army independently pursued serious moon-mapping efforts necessary for America's future unmanned moon shots.
Kuiper sensed a windfall of funding opportunities for lunar and planetary scientists.
But at Yerkes, Kuiper was plagued by discontent from "nonlunar-oriented" staff astronomers, from the burdens of observatory administrative duties, lack of work and laboratory space, telescope limitations and Chicago weather. He began to think about moving the entire Lunar Project to a more favorable location - someplace west that offered still, dark, dry skies critical to good telescope "seeing."
Kuiper called Aden B. Meinel, a former colleague at Yerkes who had just secured a major new national astronomical observatory at Kitt Peak, Ariz., near Tucson and was serving as its founding director. Would the University of Arizona be receptive to the idea of a Lunar and Planetary Laboratory? Kuiper asked.
What happened next is the stuff of legends. An October 1960 edition of Tucson Citizen summed it up: "The University of Arizona got the only lunar and planetary laboratory in the country today when 14,000 pounds of books, papers and instruments were unloaded on campus. The director is the world famous astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper."
From 1960-62, Charles P. Sonnett was chief of sciences at the Lunar and Programs Office at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was Sonnett who approved Kuiper's first research grant at the UA. (As chief of the Space Sciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center 1962-70, Sonnett was principal or co-principal investigator on 10 lunar space experiments - including Apollo 12, 14, 15 and 16. Sonnett would in 1973 succeed Kuiper as LPL director as well as become founding head of the new UA planetary sciences department.)
By 1961, Kuiper, Whitaker and William Hartmann (now with the Planetary Sciences Institute in Tucson) and others were working on the Photographic Lunar Atlas, an atlas of "rectified" (that is, astronaut's-eye) views of the lunar surface. Kuiper began expanding his staff and launching new programs and projects with NASA support.
By 1963, Kuiper was principal investigator on the team that chose impact points for the Ranger 6 - 9 moon missions. Whitaker said, "It somehow fell to my lot to choose impact sites for each of the six or so days of the available 'launch window' when a suitable trajectory of the moon was possible." Whitaker applied his talent in the same way on the later Surveyor missions.
Ranger 7 was a euphoric experience, according to Whitaker. "As the Experimenter team, we had the privilege of seeing the first hurriedly produced prints, and our excitement can be imagined as we viewed the lunar surface with up to 1,000 times higher resolution than had ever been available before!"
Ranger 7 also heralded the era of instant, public science, he added: "A national TV, radio and press conference was scheduled for 9 p.m. that evening (31 July 1964) and we had just a few hours to examine the pictures and come up with answers to all the questions that had ever been asked about the moon! The conference probably marked Kuiper's finest hour."
Analysis of Ranger 7, 8 and 9 photographs was a major LPL effort. Collaborating with Kuiper on the work were Hartmann and LPL Professor Robert Strom, who joined LPL in 1963 and specialized in the geology of the moon's surface features.
By 1965, UA Lunar Lab staff began observing with Kuiper's "pride and joy" -- the new 61-inch precision optical reflecting telescope near Mount Bigelow., northeast of Tucson. The night after "first light," Whitaker and a colleague took a trial series of photographs of the moon using a camera destined to become a workhorse in the LPL's intensive lunar photography program. High resolution photography of the moon and planets took precedence over all other programs for the first 18 months at the 61-inch.
Kuiper's Photographic Lunar Atlas had been published in April 1960. But lunar surface photos from the 61-inch were so strikingly good, LPL researchers took thousands more photographs for a supplement. Whitaker and Strom chose the best 225. Stephen M. Larson, now a senior research associate at LPL, was then one of two undergraduate students who prepared the 11 x 14 copy negatives.
The result -- the "Consolidated Lunar Atlas" published in 1967 -- "is the finest lunar atlas ever produced from groundbased photography, and is also probably the last," Whitaker wrote.
Not incidentally, by 1966 the University had a new 5-story, 51,600 square-foot, NASA-funded $1.12 million space sciences building.
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, AL
July 8, 1999
Thirty years ago, Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team of engineers and dreamers turned an American dream into reality. That original rocket team at the Marshall Center built a mammoth rocket called the Saturn V that launched the first humans to the Moon. Today, Marshall's new rocket team is pursuing a dream as challenging and exciting as the first team's dream more than a quarter-century ago.
It's a dream that holds the possibilities of adventure travel to the Moon, solar power satellites tapping the Sun's limitless energy, orbiting movie studios, space hospitals free from the stress of gravity, laboratories in weightlessness where the pace of discovery is accelerated, and a realistic plan to explore Mars and other planets.
In the early 1960s, the goal of the Marshall Center was to design a rocket capable of carrying three brave explorers and their landing craft to the Moon and bringing them safely home again.
At the dawning of the new millennium, the goal is to open space not only to explorers, but to the man or woman in a business suit, college professors and students, the soldier, movie producer, artist, and family on vacation -- as well as to the explorer who needs to get to Mars in weeks, not months. And to get them into space more safely than today at a more affordable price.
The goal 30 years ago when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon was to plant the American flag and return home with soil from another world for study.
The goal today is to build factories, observatories and hotels and return home with cancer drugs, electronics, love letters and cards postmarked "Sea of Tranquility."
The goal then was to land a man on the Moon and bring him back safely within a decade, and to beat the Soviet Union in doing it. Cost was secondary. Risk was high.
Cost today is primary. NASA's goal is to lower the cost of launching payloads into orbit from $10,000 per pound to $1,000 per pound within a decade, and to hundreds of dollars per pound in 25 years. Reliability must be increased 100 times. Risk must be minimized.
In charge of meeting those goals is the Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA's Lead Center for Space Transportation Systems Development. Marshall leads a diverse team from government, industry and academia that is approaching these new challenges from several aspects.
"Everything we want to do or may want to do in space is stymied by the high cost of getting there," says Arthur G. Stephenson, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. "It's not much more efficient to get to space today than 30 years ago when this nation sent Neal Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the Moon. Back then, national pride and Cold War victory were on the line. Being able to 'afford' to win these races wasn't a question then; the pride of our nation was at stake. Opening space to the rest of civilization today involves different economics entirely. The advanced technologies that we are working on today are needed to open the space frontier to benefit all humanity."
Today, Marshall engineers and scientists, with their colleagues in industry and academia, are working on lighter structural materials and tougher thermal insulation. They're designing, developing and building rocket engines that are simpler, cheaper and more efficient for reusable launch vehicles that will operate more like today's airlines. They're studying rockets that don't have to carry their propellants with them, rockets that get a cheap boost from a magnetic catapult and rockets that ride a laser beam into space.
And once in space, according to NASA's vision, ion rockets 10 times more efficient than chemical rockets will power satellites and spacecraft to the planets. Superstrong tethers, cords that are tens of miles long, will cast payloads toward the Moon. Sunbeams will push paper-thin solar sails miles across toward the outer planets. And starships powered by the annihilation of matter with oppositely charged antimatter will become more than a physicist's novelty and a science fiction writer's dream.
On this 30th anniversary of the first human Moon landing, NASA is continuing the dream. Experimental rocket planes are being built and readied for test flights beginning this year. Exotic hardware for trapping antimatter particles is being assembled in a NASA laboratory. And commercial companies are writing business plans to open the space frontier to everyone.
Von Braun and his team were visionaries. They took us to the Moon and envisioned space stations and voyages to the planets. The new rocket team is building on their vision, working on ways to make that dream come true and open the final frontier to us all.
Daniel S. Goldin
NASA Administrator
Washington, D. C. 20590
Dear Dr. Goldin,
Considering forthcoming the 30th anniversary of the first manned lunar mission and its great importance for cosmic exploration and all humankind, we should like to inform you that three minor planets discovered at the Klet Observatory in the Czech Republic were named in honor of the crew of Apollo 11 now.
There are minor planets :
(6469) Armstrong
(6470) Aldrin
(6471) Collins
The citations announcing these namings appeared on Minor Planet
Circular No. 34623 issued by the Minor Planet Center of the International
Astronomical Union on 1999 May 4. Names were suggested by J. Ticha, M.
Tichy and Z. Moravec, who observed these minor planets at the Klet
Observatory in 1995 opposition, just prior to their numbering.
All three minor planets were discovered in the course of long-term Klet minor planet search programme by late A. Mrkos in early eighties. All three minor planets belong to main belt population.
With best regards
Yours Sincerely
Jana Ticha
Director
Klet Observatory
Czech Republic
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