NASA's New Help

NASA recently just appointed 3 new flight directors for the Space Station; Greg Whitney, Tomas Gonzolez-Torres, and Judd Frieling.  These guys will lead a team of flight controllers, support personal and engineering experts from around the world.  They also help control what goes in the ship’s cargo and the future plans for space exploration.  After these flight directors finish their upcoming training, NASA will have 25 active flight directors supporting their space station and their upcoming explorations.  These new directors have a lot of experience on past flights and have helped NASA in the past.  That is great to have people who have some experience and know what they are doing.  I believe hiring these new brains will help lead NASA to an even better future.  New people are always a good way to help spring new ideas to life.  I hope in the future they keep hiring more and more NASA directors to help coordinate what goes on for the program.  We need people who are self-determined to better this world and learn more about what is going on in space.  There are so many planets out there and the only way to find out more information about them is to explore them ourselves.  We need to keep NASA alive and keep developing an even better staff.  Hiring these new employees will shape the future of NASA forever and hopefully in the years to come these new brains help develop some new extraordinary ideas for space exploration. 

Space Station

Do you know what one of NASA’s biggest achievements is?  Building the International Space Station!  The ISS is the largest, most complex worldwide scientific project in history and our biggest adventure into space.  In 2005, the ISS was labeled a National Lab.  The station is where scientists can test future equipment, technologies, medicine, and other space related activities.  Boeing is the major contractor to NASA for the ISS.  Boeing also builds and designs all the major elements of the station; and to an extent responsible for successfully integrating new hardware and software.  A recent mission included the installation of the Starboard 6, which was building the final set of solar arrays.  The solar arrays gave almost twice the power to the ISS, which allowed for further advancements for key science projects.  The solar arrays wingspan is around 240 feet, which the last one was 212.  The ISS also has more livable room then a five bedroom house.  This is such a huge advancement for NASA, building such a unique place for scientists to conduct their research.  I think this is amazing and we need to build more things like this in space.  Scientists can study so much in space and this is the perfect way to achieve this.  From the pictures I have seen, this thing was constructed by some serious technologically advanced mechanics.  They need to build more things like this in space and advocate better technology worldwide.  I honestly in five years the technology for NASA will be unbelievable and we can explore space in a whole new way.  Overall, I believe this space station is overall one of the best achievements of mankind and I hope in the future we can build maybe more space stations in space.  The technologies of NASA are the future for mankind.    

NASA Telescope

                I recently read in an article that NASA was designing an advanced telescope that could look into far away solar systems and even into other galaxies.  Imagine the possibilities with such a telescope.  We could look into other galaxies and maybe even discover other planets out there.  I recently also heard that they found a planet that is just like earth, named Kepler 22-b.  I wonder if NASA used this telescope to find this planet.  With advanced technology that keeps coming in from NASA why would we ever think about shutting down the space program?  Since we found this other planet wouldn’t it be wise of us to try to explore more in depth of this planet?  I think there could really be some discovery here if this world is just as earth is.  I know that the climate there was supposed to be around 75 degrees year round.  It also features a lot of water, just like here on earth.  This telescope could also be used to check for further constellations out in our solar system.  There is always something new to discover out there in space, we really need to keep expanding our technologies so we can better ourselves as a nation.  This telescope would also be used to check for dust, gas, infant planets, asteroids, and collision fragments surrounding other stars.  I believe if we keep on track with building new technologies then the government will want to fund the program.  Evidence of this new planet Kepler-22b should also persuade their decision and also persuade them to want to look more in depth on this planet.  There could be life forms among us after all and we will never know unless we look to this planet.  Overall, I believe this telescope is the start of some new advancement’s from the NASA program.           

Hackers Into Space

I recently learned that hackers and independent space programs are trying to reach the moon on rockets they built themselves.  I think this is absolutely crazy and very dangerous.  If they do, they need to make sure they have a really safe journey and check all the precautions before launching into space.  If these people can do this then space exploration is on a whole other level than it used to be.  No one in the past would have thought of building their own spacecraft and launching it into orbit.  These amazingly smart people doing this are saving a lot of money on space travels and are trying to reach for new heights.  It’s a great thing, but also a very bad thing.  If they are safe about it, then I am all for it.  However, I feel like something will go wrong when they get into orbit and they will have trouble landing back on earth safely.  They don’t have the technology NASA had, unless somehow they are brilliant geniuses with a lot of money.  I do not think all of these missions into orbit will go so smoothly.  I think they can travel into orbit and fly around for a little, but landing on the moon?  I don’t think so.  It took NASA awhile before we could land on the moon and there were still some struggles along the way for them.  Imagine these independent space programs trying to do this.  It’s just plain dangerous.  I love how people want to explore space more because our own country won’t do it that much, but these people are taking it to the extreme.  I’m just looking out for their well-being and I really hope they have safe travels.  Overall, I believe a lot of these privately owned space programs will have some failures along the way without a team of advanced scientists like the NASA program.         

New Earth?

Is there really a new planet like earth? Recently, I read an article and discovered NASA found a new earth like planet called Kepler-22b. I think this is so cool and scary how we found another planet 600 light-years away. So far there is no way to travel there because of how far it is. But, I feel like maybe in the future we could build such a spacecraft to travel that distance.  So many questions arise when we find a planet like this.  Are there life forms that occupy this planet?  How is the landscape?  Can humans breathe oxygen on the planet?  How many years would it take to travel there with our technology we have now?  How do you get into that galaxy?  The answers to these questions are yet to be answered.  But maybe in the future we can answer these questions and learn from them to better our life here on earth.  In the future possible resources could diminish and we might have to look to Kepler-22b; even possible relocation and a fresh start of life.  All of this is really a lot to take in right now, but the future is the most important thing to think about.  Could this really be another resort of a home for humankind?  I believe if we can create a spacecraft to reach there quickly enough then we could possibly populate the area.  This would be the biggest achievement the earth would have ever seen.  The earth is getting overpopulated day by day and we might need to look to another planet to relocate; this could be our option.  However, tell scientists discover more about this planet all these questions are unknown.  I think the future is looking brighter now for life on earth with this discovery and if we keep learning more about this planet, then we will figure out a way to use it to our advantage if its reachable.        

Astronauts Drinking Water in Space

I recently read an article about how scientists are doing experiments to make sure that astronauts that go into space are drinking safe and clean water.  I think this is a really good idea to help make sure the astronauts are at full health when they are exploring space.  Water is a vital key to survival and giving them the best possible drinking water is the least we can do for them.  The astronauts that go into space are risking their lives just for the well-being of the world.  The scientists test the water by dropping iodine in the water and if it turns a wildly different color then growth of microorganisms is occurring.  A diffuse reflectance spectrometer is what judges the colors.  The testing they do on the water can also be used to test forensic drugs.  I thought it was interesting how they test the water; I didn’t know dropping Iodine in the water changed its color.  The growth of microorganisms is bad for the health of the water, so eliminating them is the only solution.  I think with the growth of science, the water for the astronauts will be beyond perfect.  Astronaut in space will get tired very easily from all the research they will be doing and having good water to drink will help them cope a lot better.  I did not know water that is taken into space can be easily contaminated.  The best precautions on making this water are in task and I think it should be.  We need to keep our astronauts in tip-top shape all the time, keeping their brains and minds running fully are all we can do.  Overall, contaminated water is bad for the health of our astronauts and with the help of scientists everywhere we can eliminate this problem.    

The Chinese Space Program

Will Chinas space program pass the United States and all other space programs in the near future?  I believe they will unless the United States or Russian space programs get their butt in gear.  Knowing the recent failures of the Russian government, they are going to really need to get going or the United States is going to have to do something soon.  Chinas space program recently has done a few missions and have been very successful.  By the year 2020, China is supposed to have an International Space Station orbiting the earth.  Ironically, that is the same year NASA’s space station is going to diminish (so they say).  I think the Chinese will have the second best space program behind NASA as long as NASA continues their missions on space exploration.  The Chinese have always been known for being more technologically advanced then the United States.  These include cell phones, TVs, video games, computers, and basically anything dealing with technology.  The NASA program is going to have to start doing some missions soon or they will be passed up quickly by the Chinese space program.  The difference between NASA and the Chinese space program is that the Chinese program is connected with their military.  The NASA program is totally separate from our military force.  I think it could be an advantage to have the two linked together, however, it could also cause some faults.  For one, you don’t want the opinions of military men on space exploration.  It is totally a different thing and they don’t correlate at all.  I see how it could be a good thing too because of the military men’s perspectives.  Overall, I think the Chinese space program is one of the best around right now.  The NASA program needs to open its mind and start coming up with new missions to keep up.