Author Archives: Gray Rinehart

Space Technology Exports and Installations

By | | ,
Comments Off on Space Technology Exports and Installations

Two space-related items today: an article in New Scientist covers the illegal export of space technology to China, and the Space Shuttle crew plans to install a new toxic gas detector on the ISS.

First, from New Scientist: China denies attempting to get US space data. The story relates how Shu Quan-Sheng, a physicist born in China but now a naturalized US citizen, pled guilty to illegally exporting space technology to China: specifically, data on space launch vehicle technology.

This piqued my interest because I was a space technology security monitor for almost 3 years in the Defense Technology Security Administration. The NS article was heavy on Chinese denials, but light on their previous shenanigans (although it did link to an article with a list of a few previous items). Yet all they had to do was Google “Cox Commission Report” and downlink the file to learn about previous activities in which China obtained launch vehicle technology from U.S. corporations.

(I cross-posted this item in the Space Warfare Forum.)

Second, a link I got from Twitter: Astronauts to Install ENose Hazardous Gas Detector. The “ENose” detector is the latest version of a detector to warn station residents of dangerous levels of toxic gases.

I was interested in this item for two reasons. First, I used a variety of vapor detectors in my assignment as a Bioenvironmental Engineer at the AF Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at Edwards AFB, and I hope — but have some doubts that — the device will perform as advertised. I don’t doubt at all that it will work: it’s a polymer film detector based on electrical conductivity, more sophisticated than the old paper-tape, photosensitive detectors and certainly easier to use than some of the more complex, chemically-intensive instruments we had. I’m more concerned with its useful life, what happens if the detector medium gets saturated, that sort of thing.

But enough geeky reminiscing.

The second reason that story interested me is that two of the main characters in my novel (my work-in-progress) are environmental engineers who are trying to keep the new lunar colony alive — and detecting hazardous vapors is a big part of that job. I’m trying to get just enough realism in the novel to make it believable, without going to the geeky extreme. Hopefully, I’ll do a better job in the novel than I did in this blog post. :rolleyes:

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

85 Years Ago in Space History

By | |
Comments Off on 85 Years Ago in Space History

I know what you’re thinking: nobody was in space 85 years ago. You’re right.

But 85 years ago today — on November 18, 1923 — Alan Shepard was born in East Derry, New Hampshire. And a few years later, in May 1961, he became the first U.S. astronaut in space, when he flew a suborbital flight on a Mercury Redstone rocket. In January 1971 he walked on the moon as the mission commander of Apollo-14.

His official NASA biography is here. Rear Admiral Shepard died ten years ago this past July.

As I read his bio, I remembered that I’ve actually been to Derry, NH, where Shepard went to school. I traveled up there to play a Pop Warner football game when I was in middle school. A geographic coincidence, I guess.

(If I was more into coincidences of that type, I’d have sited my novel closer to one of the Apollo landing sites, instead of out-of-the-way in Mare Nubium.)

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

My Science Fiction Church: ST Klingon References

By | | ,
Comments Off on My Science Fiction Church: ST Klingon References

I attend North Cary Baptist Church, and I’m frequently pleased by the large proportion of genre fans in our church. (I even blogged about that in this post.)

Yesterday Pastor Mark started his sermon by explaining that the title of the book of Acts is the Greek word, “praxis,” at which our pianist remarked that Praxis is also the Klingon moon. This prompted the pastor to point out that the Bible is being (or maybe has been) translated into Klingon — is that right, Dr. Schoen? — and to give and receive from many of us the Vulcan salute. And at least one of us (that would have been me) exclaimed “success!” in Klingon.

We have a great church, and you’re welcome to visit any time.

[BREAK, BREAK]

In other news, I passed the 85,000-word mark yesterday in MARE NUBIUM, my novel about an early lunar colony. Still hoping to make 100K, if not finish outright, by the end of the month.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Today's Space Anniversary: the Last Skylab Launch

By | |
Comments Off on Today's Space Anniversary: the Last Skylab Launch

Thirty-five years ago today, the last manned flight of the Skylab program — Skylab-4 — launched from the Kennedy Space Center. The three crewmembers were Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, and William Pogue, who would spend 84 days in space.

This NASA page has links to more information about the Skylab program; this Wikipedia page has details about Skylab-4.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Today in Space History: Buran

By | |
Comments Off on Today in Space History: Buran

Today’s space anniversary marks the first and only flight of the Soviet Union’s space shuttle “Buran” — November 15th, 1988. It lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a modified Energia booster, and returned to the launch site a few hours later.

When I was at Baikonur in 2002, the Buran facility was pointed out to me as we drove by it. Part of it had collapsed earlier in the year, damaging the remaining orbiter. What was left of it looked to be in sad shape — Baikonur is an unforgiving environment.

More about the Buran program is here and here.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

NASA Announcement: First Extrasolar Planet Imaged by Hubble

By | |
Comments Off on NASA Announcement: First Extrasolar Planet Imaged by Hubble

Let me start by saying: It was really cool to be allowed to call in to the NASA press conference to hear the announcement live. I am space today.*

So here’s what NASA had to say:

The Hubble Space Telescope collected the first visible light images of a planet circling another star. The star, Fomalhaut, is one of the twenty brightest stars in the sky; even though it’s about 27 light years away, it’s visible with the naked eye if you know where to look (an image of the constellation is on the page linked below).

The planet, known as Fomalhaut-B, was observed in 2004 and 2006, but not “discovered” until scientists reanalyzed their data this past Memorial Day weekend. The NASA team concluded that the object was a planet based on three factors: first, its relatively low mass of around three Jupiters; second, the presence of a perturbed dust ring in the Fomalhaut equivalent of our Kuiper Belt; and third, comparative images from 2004 and 2006 that show the planet’s motion in its orbit. The team expressed high confidence that Fomalhaut-B was a planet rather than a brown dwarf star because the object did not show up at infrared wavelengths as a brown dwarf should, but was only detected using visible wavelengths.

After the next Hubble servicing mission, the team hopes to make further observations of the Fomalhaut system. With a third observation of the planet in its orbit, they can make more accurate calculations of its orbital elements.

See this page for the story and this page for the briefing materials.

As a space geek and would-be “steely-eyed missile man,” this was pretty awesome for me. 😀

___
*To add to all the other days when I was space, which seem oh so long ago now. I miss my space days.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

What’s NASA Going to Announce Today?

By | |
Comments Off on What’s NASA Going to Announce Today?

This afternoon’s NASA “Science Update” is supposed to include an announcement about a “major extrasolar planet discovery” made by the Hubble Space Telescope. See this link for more information.

In today’s space history, a seeming disrepancy: one NASA site says today is the 30th anniversary of the launch of the “Einstein Observatory,” the second High Energy Astrophysical Observatory (HEAO-2), but this page gives the mission start date as yesterday. Since I found the 13th noted in more places than the 12th — not that I did any kind of exhaustive search — I’m comfortable posting this as today’s space anniversary. (It’s not as if I can go back and post it yesterday.)

Now, I wonder if blogging counts as reporting in terms of getting a spot in that NASA press teleconference this afternoon. 😉 It’s all research, isn’t it? It may not show up in the novel I’m writing now — unless they’ve discovered a planet with a moon like ours — but who knows what novel I might write next?

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

A Tribute to Our Protectors

By | |
Comments Off on A Tribute to Our Protectors

I originally planned to post this yesterday, but I got carried away typing about the National Veterans Freedom Park.

One of the troops from the old 55th Mobile Command & Control Squadron — where I was the Operations Officer in the late 1990s — clued me in to this video called “Remember Me.” It’s extremely well done, and a heart-rending tribute to our uniformed forces. Click on the link, spend five minutes watching, remember and be thankful.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

On Veterans' Day: National Veterans Freedom Park

By | | ,
Comments Off on On Veterans' Day: National Veterans Freedom Park

Even though I’m an Air Force veteran, I think of Veterans’ Day as something for those other folks — for the real veterans, in other words, for those who faced more danger and hardship than I did. The most danger I faced was cleaning up burning red phosphorus at the AF Rocket Propulsion Lab, and I didn’t have any real hardship — my remote tour in Greenland was more fun than not, and my requests to go to the Iraqi AOR were denied.

So Veterans’ Day sort of embarrasses me. Honor the guys who really sacrificed, please. Honor those with whom I served, but not me.

That’s why I’m glad to promote the National Veterans Freedom Park, which is going to be built right here in Cary, North Carolina. Its theme is “The Story of Freedom as told by the Veteran,” and it will feature some striking artwork and an education center. It’s also working with the Library of Congress in the Veterans History Project, to “collect and archive the personal recollections of U.S. wartime veterans to honor their service and share their stories with current and future generations.”

In other words, the National Veterans Freedom Park will honor not just veterans, but real heroes. I’m all for that.

And for those served honorably — no matter where or when — and who are still serving today, on the front lines and behind the scenes, I salute you all.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

A Little Lunar Exploration History

By | |
Comments Off on A Little Lunar Exploration History

For our continuing “this day in space history” series, today marks the 40th anniversary of the Russian’s Zond-6 mission to the moon. It successfully flew by the moon as planned, but a reentry problem apparently caused most of its photographic film to be lost. You can read about it on this NASA page or this Wikipedia page. I’m not sure what to make of the notation that France sponsored the mission, but I was very interested to see that Zond-6 launched on a Proton rocket out of Tyuratam: the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Why did that fact interest me? Because I watched the Nimiq-2 satellite and its Proton booster get prepped for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome back in November-December 2002. (I came home shortly before the launch.) While I was there I was inspired to write the first draft of my short story, “The Rocket Seamstress.”

In other writing and lunar-related news, yesterday I passed the 80,000-word mark on my novel, MARE NUBIUM. I’m beginning to doubt that I’ll hit 100K by December, but I’m trying to forge ahead.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailby feather