Right ... like I would let them take MY supply ... 
Posted on 09/20/2004 5:39:43 PM PDT by wagglebee
In the days of the Cold War, Soviet commanders and their best scientists were working on a project to build military headquarters on the moon, the Novaya Gazeta weekly reports.
The paper writes that the lunar base project was developed 30 years ago and was abolished only because of its enormous cost.
The newspaper cited Aleksandr Yegorov, deputy general designer of the General Machine Building Design Bureau (the name of the bureau suggests that it deals with top secret military projects) as saying that he personally took part in the development of the lunar base project.
Soviet scientists considered the moon to be a very good place for a strategic headquarters as nuclear strikes on its surface would lose most of their destructive force. As the moon has no atmosphere, no shockwave could spread there and the radioactive dust would immediately fall out back on the surface without an atmosphere to carry it.
The designer also said that the USA had also developed a lunar base project and the Soviet scientists had been aware of these plans.
Yegorov said that the Soviet Union had planned to put two spaceships into orbit and assemble them into a single station that would fly to the moon. At first the lunar settlers were to live in moving shelters and later a stationary base was to be built.
Crews of four cosmonauts were to spend up to one year on the moon. To make the base habitable it would have been furnished with water and air purification systems and even a special space greenhouse.
The project was abolished only due to its enormous cost, Yegorov said. According to him, the Soviet project was "tens of times” more expensive than the Apollo project of the United States, which cost $34 billion.
I guess we can't use the word 'ragheads' anymore.
Why not?
Did you know there is a slight possibility that life on Earth will be wiped out next Wednesday?
News-Alert-Specials
from The Survival Center
August 26, 2004
Asteroid Toutatis 4179 (official) Sept 29th, 2004
Anyone who spends even 20 minutes researching Toutatis should quickly comprehend the very real danger this monstrosity represents.
==== According to NASA on September 29, 2004 a large and potentially hazardous asteroid called Toutatis 4179 will come very close to planet Earth.
Facts from NASA:
·Toutatis is about 3 miles long, 1.5 miles wide
·Discovered in 1989, it nears earth every 3.98 years
·It has a very strange shape, rotation and orbit
·On Sept 29th it will come less than 963,000 miles close
·963,000 miles is considered a very near miss
·It orbits into the main asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter
·Earth, Mars & Jupiter's gravity affects its orbital path
·It will slow down crossing near Earth at about 24,000 m.p.h.
·It will be very bright, visible even with binoculars
·Officially, NASA gives a zero chance of impact
·A collision would kill most all life forms on Earth
Because of many unknowns, the chance of Toutatis hitting Earth on Sept. 29th can't be entirely ruled out. The scientist at the NASA (NEO) near earth object program are some of the smartest people in the world, so let's hope their calculations are correct.
A large asteroid will hit Earth on Sept. 29, 2004?
"On September 29th this year a 3 mile long asteroid will make the closest predicted approach of any asteroid or comet to Earth until the year 2060", say scientists at NASA´s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Near-Earth Object Program. They predict the asteroid will come within 963,000 miles of Earth....... a very near miss.
Asteroid Toutatis 4179 (formerly named 1989 AC), was discovered by C. Pollas on January 4, 1989, at Caussols, France. It was named after a Celtic/Gallic god. It is one of the largest known "Potentially Hazardous Asteroids" (PHA) that approaches our planet on a near Earth orbit. Close encounters with Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter constantly alter the shape of the asteroid´s path as it loops through the solar system every 3.98 years. During its orbital path it enters and exits the "main asteroid belt" which lies between Mars and Jupiter. It is estimated that the main asteroid belt contains over a million objects larger than 1 kilometer across. Toutatis' strange shape, chaotic rotation and eccentric orbit could be best explained by a history of violent collisions. Any collision within the main beltway would change the exit trajectory of Toutatis, altering its return path to Earth. This would render all standing calculations meaningless.
On October 31, 2000 Toutatis passed less than 29 lunar distances from Earth. The September 29th fly-by will come less than four lunar distances of the Earth.
Toutatis also has one of the strangest rotations yet observed in the solar system. Instead of the spinning about a single axis, as do the planets and the vast majority of asteroids, it "tumbles" somewhat like a flubbed football pass.
At three miles long it would present a terrible danger to the Earth if it were to collide with the planet, although scientists at NASA say this is unlikely. It is traveling at a speed of about 20 miles per second and if it struck, the ocean would unleash a "mega tsunami" or giant tidal wave that could reach around the entire globe, inundating millions of hectares of land, destroying coastal habitations and killing perhaps millions of people.
If it hits land it could completely destroy an area the size of Europe and would raise enough dust into the atmosphere to change the climate of the planet completely, causing a mini ice age that would freeze crops, destroy plant life and pre-empt a global famine. It would also completely destroy the ozone layer.
Provided below are enough clicks to get you going, and then you´re on your own - meaning do your own research, draw your own conclusion. My own opinion is that this fly-by has a 50/50 of impact. The most disturbing thing for me personally is that I can´t find anything from NASA indicating their admitted margin of error. This leads me to believe that their margin of error does not exclude impact. As you begin to read and pour through the wealth of information and data you will not like what you learn. This city size asteroid is coming right at us on what may very well prove to be a collision course - or a near miss.
( some of the links below you may have to copy and paste into your browser )
http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/4179_Toutatis/toutatis.html
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=4179
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/text/toutatis.txt
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/toutatis.htm
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/pha.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040503.html
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1998AcA....48..547S
Originally from www.para-normal.com.
A minor rumor has hatched on the Internet that a large and deadly asteroid will strike Earth this fall. The rumors are likely rooted in a real event, however. On Sept. 29, 2004 an asteroid the size of a small city will make the closest known pass of such a very large space rock anytime this century. While not dangerous for now, asteroid Toutatis is incredibly strange. And scientists are quite familiar with it, having bounced radar off the tumbling stone on previous flybys to generate computer renderings of its weird shape and movement. Toutatis looks something like a dumbbell hurtling awkwardly through space. It has a crazy rotation that makes normal days impossible. (read more)
Scientists can't explain the shape or the spin, but they're eager to learn more in September when, during the close pass, even backyard skywatchers will be able to spot the asteroid.
Well known path
The orbit of Toutatis is pinned down with better precision than any other large asteroid known to cross Earth's orbit. Toutatis' 4-year trek around the Sun ranges from just inside the Earth's path out to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid visits us every four years.
This fall, it will zoom by our planet within a million miles, or about four times the distance to the Moon. WSU Site and Potentially Hazardous objects
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~hudson/Research/Asteroids/index.htm
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~hudson/Research/Asteroids/index.htm
NASA site with table of near earth objects.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/close.html
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Silly....look at the rats ears. The Blue Cheese. :-)
.read later
probably just pulling my leg but food for thought
Yup, he was BSing you.
You mean the lunar gravity well? A mass driver will do it.
The Soviets also wanted sharks with frickin'laser beams attached to their heads, but they had to make do with mutant sea bass.
Actually, the "dark side of the moon is referring to the far side, since the moon keeps one face to the Earth.
The Moon rotates just like the Earth does, so it too has a day and a nightime.
Nope. The orbit is known.
O I know... but I have a rule that I follow in life after of years of troubleshooting to avoid the pitfall of have my head "up and locked"
"...never say never.. never say always...."
Just fun to to play with ideal no matter how off the wall and remote a possibility because they some times lead to by-produce ideas that aren't ;)
Indeed, I do the same thing! :-) Keeping an open mind is a good thing. However, lets not open our minds so far the brains fall out is also a fav saying of mine. LOL!
The above is the absolute last line on the Pink Floyd album "Dark Side of the Moon".
When the last strains of "Eclipse" are fading and the heartbeat grows in volume, you can hear a faint, man's voice utter the line "There is no dark side of the moon really...as a matter of fact it's all dark."
'Twas just my 2 cents in reply to traumer's #33.
Of all the celestial bodies to be looked at in the night sky, Earth's moon fascinates me like no other. The mathematical coincidences alone boggle the mind. For example, the fact that you stated that the moon rotates once every 30 days so we only see the one side. Why is that? It would seem a near impossibility given the forces that placed it there and act upon it. The fact that it is exactly the right size and distance from Earth to eclipse the disk of the Sun perfectly is another amazing thing.
Without Luna, life as we know it, perhaps even life itself on Earth would not be possible. In my mind, everything about our moon points more than anything else to the existence of a higher power.
But, hey...you're the astronomer. Why am I telling you all this?
BTW, the "brains falling out" remark was not directed at you even in the smallest degree. Just hoped it would give you a smile.
Best regards,
RA
I had no idea. I have never listened to that album. Sorry for the mixup.
Of all the celestial bodies to be looked at in the night sky, Earth's moon fascinates me like no other. The mathematical coincidences alone boggle the mind. For example, the fact that you stated that the moon rotates once every 30 days so we only see the one side. Why is that? It would seem a near impossibility given the forces that placed it there and act upon it. The fact that it is exactly the right size and distance from Earth to eclipse the disk of the Sun perfectly is another amazing thing.
The following explanation will answer this. :-) BTW, that the Moon is just the right size to eclipe the Sun the way it does is a matter of timing. Earlier, it was too large and later on it will be too small. We happen to be in the right time frame for this to happen.
Ok, let us take a look at the Moon. :-)
1) How was it formed, 2) what is it made of, and 3) how far away is it are some of the questions that we can begin to answer.
1) How was the Moon formed?
There were at least five major ideas that were proposed as to the formation of the Moon.
Fission – The Moon split off from the Earth.
Capture – The Moon was captured by the gravity of the Earth.
Condensation – The Moon coalesced out of the same “stuff” the Earth did.
Colliding Planetesimals – Formed from colliding Planetesimals during the early formation of the solar system.
Collision – A body collided with the Earth causing a piece of the Earth’s crust to form the Moon from a resultant ring produced by that collision
The evidence points to the collision theory. First, the Moon does not have an iron core. This pretty much rules out that it coalesced from the same cloud of debris that the Earth did. Second, throughout the solar system, the oxygen isotopes have been found to be different. If the Moon were captured, it too would not match the Earth’s oxygen isotope ratio (which it does). Fourth, by looking at the angular momentum and energy required, the theory that the Moon spun off the Earth after the Earth formed does not hold up.
This leaves us with the Collision theory as the best model we have for the formation of the Moon. The resultant collision caused a ring of debris from the Earths crust to form outside the Roche limit. If it had not, tidal forces would have not allowed for the Moon we see today.
A more in depth discussion of tidal locking since the Moon is tidal locked to the Earth. The reason the Moon keeps one face to the Earth (Its rotation on its axis matches the period of its orbit) is it is tidally locked to the Earth. Here is a more in depth explanation. The total angular momentum of the earth moon system, which is spin angular momentum plus the orbital angular momentum, is constant. (The Sun plays apart also) Friction of the oceans caused by the tides is causing the Earth to slow down a tiny bit each year. This is approximately two milliseconds per century causing the moon to recede by about 3.7 centimeters per year. As the Earth slows down, the Moon must recede to keep the total angular momentum a constant. In other words as the spin angular momentum of the earth decreases, the lunar orbital angular momentum must increase. Here is an interesting side note. The velocity of the moon will slow down as the orbit increases.
Another example of tidal locking is the orbit period and rotation of the planet Mercury. What is interesting about this one is that instead of a 1:1 synchronization where Mercury would keep one face to the Sun at all times, it is actually in a 2/3:1 synchronization. This is due to the High eccentricity of its orbit.
There also can be more than one body “locked” to each other. Lets take a look at the moon Io. Io is very nearly the same size as the Earth’s moon. It is approximately 1.04 times the size of the moon. There is a resonance between Io, Ganymede, and Europa. Io completes four revolutions for every one of Ganymede and two of Europa. This is due to a Laplace Resonance phenomenon. A Laplace Resonance is when more than two bodies are forced into a minimum energy configuration.
2) What is the Moon made of?
From here http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/science/geochem.htm
“Primary elements: The lunar crust is composed of a variety of primary elements, including uranium, thorium, potassium, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, titanium, calcium, aluminum and hydrogen. When bombarded by cosmic rays, each element bounces back into space its own radiation, in the form of gamma rays. Some elements, such as uranium, thorium and potassium, are radioactive and emit gamma rays on their own. However, regardless of what causes them, gamma rays for each element are all different from one another -- each produces a unique spectral "signature," detectable by an instrument called a spectrometer. A complete global mapping of the Moon for the abundance of these elements has never been performed.
Hydrogen and helium: Because its surface is not protected by an atmosphere, the Moon is constantly exposed to the solar wind, which carries both hydrogen and helium -- each potentially very valuable resources. One natural variant of helium, [3]helium, is the ideal material to fuel fusion reactions. When scientists develop a more thorough understanding of fusion, and can practically implement such reactions, the Moon will be a priceless resource, since it is by far the best source of [3]helium anywhere in the Solar System.”
This pretty much answers the question; are there valuable materials up there?
3) What is the distance to the Moon?
The mean distance to the Moon is approximately 238,800 miles. From past experience, we can design spacecraft to get there in about three days. This is far shorter than the months the early voyages took to the new world.
Final thoughts on the Moon.
So here we have this tremendous resource at our fingertips. Unfortunately (not unlike the early explorers), the initial cost is staggering. However, in the long run it would end up being an invaluable resource for both material and scientific study. One of the big advantages is that the Moon keeps one side facing the Earth. This minimizes communication problems between the two bodies. Also since the backside of the Moon is shielded from the Earth, it would be an ideal spot to place a radio telescope array.
(You really should listen to DSOM at least once.)
We may recall from our study of quantum mechanics that there is a finite probability that the moon may suddenly find itself halfway across the galaxy at noon today.
What you say?
That's the one I buy and AFAIK it is the leading contender.
The impactor must have been the size of Mars or somewhat smaller. It hit at a low angle--and fortunately for us, in the right direction to create a prograde-orbiting large satellite.
Now, about what tipped Uranus (no jokes please) over 90 degrees...?
--Boris
Right ... like I would let them take MY supply ...
That's right! They adherents to the "religion of peace" who have been victimized by Bush the warmonger./sarcasm off
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