I know that BBC viewers aren't too keen on the corporation's news reports after yesterday's dark matter story, but this interesting item appeared this evening...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6246513.stm
I can't find any related press releases on the PPARC and BNSC sites. Has anyone else more information?
It sounds like a bid for work from Martin Sweeting, no more, no less. SSTL is a great success at what it does, but historically there has been zero commitment towards the type of missions he's suggesting. And, frankly, with a notional budget which is some small proportion of JAXA's far-too-miserable funding I doubt if it'd be a goer.
Bob Shaw
They need to send John Cleese. Imagine what the Minister of Silly Walks could accomplish on the moon!
I like SSTL - met some of their guys in Valencia. They actually put a commercial off the shelf hard drive on a satellite and it works great - they just built a hard housing for it so it felt 'at home'. Far cheaper than coming up with that sort of storage capacity in solid state space qualified....quite cunning.. Of course, it could always crash etc.
And I must admit - I do like the romantic notion of another venture to gather support, much like Beagle 2 did, for space exploration in general in the UK
But I don't see this one coming to fruition - even if for only £100M ( which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't much). The problem is, you can't spend £100M in this country without the Guardian telling you how many hospital wards it would build, the Mail telling you how many more police it could train and the Express telling you how many illegal immigrants it could return home.
Doug
All very true but I'm going to cross my fingers and hope a little anyway.
From a global/sociological perspective, this proposal is very interesting. The article explicitly mentioned the fact that several other countries are contemplating lunar UMSF, so I personally think that this mission has a better than average chance of happening.
It really does look like there's a quiet new Moon race building up steam, and that's a good thing!
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article2144063.ece on this topic, in the Independent.
Ahh - the Independant wouldn't let this one go probably without telling us how many theatres it could build...
I jest - all the press coverage to date has been comparatively positive to the idea.
Doug
The Guardian's http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1987409,00.html...
... and not a hospital ward in sight! Wahey!
The MOONlite mission looks remarkably similar to JAXA's Lunar-A (lunar penetrators/seismology) - I was wondering if it would be a UK/JAXA collaboration, or if they intended to use Lunar-A's lunar penetrators(if Lunar-A is cancelled)?
Most people don't remember that Lunar-A was going to carry *3*, not 2, penetrators before the mission got into trouble years ago now. You really do need 3 seismometers to accurately and unambiguously locate a seismic event. They had to drop one penetrator due to battery weight gain and stuff on the orbiter.
Closest Europe's gotten to a penetrator was Beagle 2.
>ducks and hides!<
Well, MoonLITE is back in the news on BBC. I must say that I always grin when I hear about a UK-sponsored space project. The UK has more than enough industry, science, and inginuity but space science has never been a major focus. Their last one was very exciting proposal--a real budget "ride along" trying to take some wind out of the MER's sails. It just needed a few more pounds in the project, I guess.
Anyway, back to MoonLITE. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7143197.stm, NASA is apparently "very likely to support plans to send a British probe to the Moon" with a hopeful launch date in 2012. NASA should ask the UK space community to carry out a detailed feasibility study by the end of the summer. The proposal still uses multiple (4) penetrators with a simple relay orbiter. "These would quite literally enable scientists to scratch below the lunar surface. These would hit the Moon at extremely high speeds, about 300m/s (1080km/h) and penetrate to a depth of two metres. Once embedded in the surface, instruments in the penetrators would listen out for 'Moonquakes'." Another story can be found http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/12/07/220148/uk-moonlite-mission-to-cost-205-million.html as well as a more official http://www.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/planetary/missions/DGLR07_PPARC_lunar_study.pdf.
And meanwhile :
http://chrislintott.net/2007/12/11/stfcs-plans/
http://www.scitech.ac.uk/About/Strat/Council/STFC_DelPlan.aspx
Seems odd to be proposing a lunar mission when big cuts are underway.
Doug
Big cuts for pure science, big bucks - I mean pounds - for engineering?
Phi
In this field - they're one and the same - STFC is where the funding for such a thing would come from ( Science and Technology Funding Council - although I remember it as Swindon Town Football Club, as the offices are in Swindon) I would have thought. There might be other pathways from other sources, but I can't see them being sufficiently large for a project like this.
Doug
Nice article in the April 2008 issue of TheSkyAtNight magazine "Britain's Moon Shot "pages 36 - 41
with comments by Sir Martin Sweeting & Prof Alan Smith
http://news.google.co.uk/news/url?sa=t&ct=uk/0-0&fp=4849c4fb46934310&ei=Z3dJSJn_Fo--wwH21oGMBA&url=http%3A//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7438270.stm&cid=0&usg=AFrqEzcCIxet9RLXeISvjbWScEFKePjzMw
Here's one for the Brits:
Me an me Mam an me Dad an me Gran
are off to clock the moon
Me an me Mam an me Dad an me Gran
and a rocket of MoonLITE
Hit the moon (stomp stomp)
Hit the moon (stomp stomp)
Hit the moon, hit the moon DAA DAA
Okay, I'm jealous. Not only do you guys get to hit the Moon, but you got a pub song for it! Can't get anybody to sing anything except bad karaoke in the US, dammit...
The music goes like this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T1pXsJp_go
And I think...I THINK... Colin Pillinger is in the video somewhere. I might be wrong on that one.
Doug
Then there's that immortal line
Can I introduce you please to a lump of cheddar cheese
('cept its really Wensleydale)
1998?!?!?!??!?!??! O.... M..... G.....!!!! Is it really ten years since I was on my feet singing "Vindaloo" in the pub in front of a huge TV screen, wrapped up in a St George flag and crunching my way through my tenth packet of Scampi Fries?!?!?!
Happy days....
(I know, I know, you're seeing me in a whole new light now, eh? )
Here's http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7438270.stm with some video of impactor tests. Whooooosh... CLONG!!
Hmmm.
I'm worried for two reasons:
1) Penetrators are high risk landers and Moonlite will only carry four. Hitting a rock= goodbye data return.
2) Luna-Glob will launch first, carry more penetrators (both Japanese and Russian designs) and may well steal Moonlite's thunder
MoonLITE has been given the go-ahead for Phase A technical study. We're looking at a 2014 launch at present, it seems.
http://www.scitech.ac.uk/PMC/PRel/STFC/MoonLite1108A.aspx
Here's a recent article from Astronomy & Geophysics about the science.
http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~iac/AG_MoonLITE_article.pdf
--Emily
I got to see one of the test articles at the UCL RPIF today (thanks Pete!)
Smaller than I was expecting - but far less damaged than I was expecting.
Two of the test-electroncis modules were there as well - one a battery pack, one an electronics pack - all set hard in an Epoxy.
Not the best Photos, maybe Ted got some better.
Thanks for sharing those photos Doug... what's the diameter of that penetrator?
... I am going to be banned...
Why post this, and yet STILL post the comments that you know are about a banned subject. They've been deleted. Final Warning. - ADMIN
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/09/11/332186/cash-shortage-freezes-uk-moon-mission.html too bad
BNSC and STFC are really not in my good books right now.
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