Moon Rock http://moonrock.com.au Unique Gift from Space Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:22:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Scientific balloon from Alice Springs http://moonrock.com.au/2011/08/04/australia-balloon-mishap/ http://moonrock.com.au/2011/08/04/australia-balloon-mishap/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 05:05:55 +0000 admin http://moonrock.com.au/?p=26 NASA Releases Report About Australia Balloon Mishap
WASHINGTON — A NASA panel that investigated the unsuccessful April 28 launch of a scientific balloon from Alice Springs, Australia, has released its report.
NASA was attempting to launch the balloon carrying a gamma-ray telescope belonging to the University of California at Berkeley. The Nuclear Compton Telescope, which was partially destroyed in the accident, was designed to look for distant galaxies from a vantage point high in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
The scientific payload inadvertently separated from a mobile crane being used for the launch, and it was dragged approximately 150 yards by the airborne balloon. Spectators narrowly escaped injury when the payload hit an airport fence and a car.
NASA’s Mishap Investigation Board determined weather conditions were acceptable for launch, and there were no technical problems with the vehicle or the payload.
The board was led by Michael L. Weiss of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The board’s report listed 25 proximate, intermediate and root causes related to insufficient risk analysis, contingency planning, personnel training, technical knowledge, government oversight and public safety accommodations.
“There is no question in our minds that balloon launches are fragile processes,” Weiss said. “The mishap board reviewed a large volume of information about the accident and conducted numerous interviews with eyewitnesses. But in the course of our investigation, we found surprisingly few documented procedures for balloon launches. No one considered the launch phase to be a potential hazard.”
The purpose of the investigation was to discover what caused the mishap and provide recommendations to help prevent similar future mishaps. The board listed 44 recommendations regarding the need for better communication; more robust range and ground safety plans and procedures; and better understanding of potentially unsafe conditions that can lead to accidents.
Immediately after the accident in Australia, launch operations at all of NASA’s balloon sites were suspended. NASA’s Balloon Program Office will resume launches once it has implemented and verified new procedures to safeguard launch crews and the public.
“We have learned a lot from this incident, and we’ll have a better balloon program because of it,” said Rob Strain, Goddard Space Flight Center director.
The Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, conducts balloon launches for NASA under contract to the Balloon Program Office. The program office is based at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, which is managed by Goddard.
To download the report, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

Beth Dickey
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2087
beth.dickey-1@nasa.gov

]]> http://moonrock.com.au/2011/08/04/australia-balloon-mishap/feed/ 0 Basic Universe http://moonrock.com.au/2011/01/28/basic-universe/ http://moonrock.com.au/2011/01/28/basic-universe/#comments Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:56:55 +0000 Marcus http://moonrock.com.au/?p=1 Universe is defined as the set of all created things (if you believe in creation) and of all things that exist.

We use words such as “universal” or “universal” to refer to a fact or idea that covers everything but often we refer to something beyond our planet, such as when an artist named “universal” or we refer the “universality” of laws, phenomena or cultural events. In these cases, but obviously we refer to the scope of our planet, we are expressing a sense of wholeness.

When discussing the astronomical universe seems more appropriate to refer to him with the Greek word “Cosmos.” Although in many dictionaries we can find exactly the same definitions for both terms, there is a difference of nuance: “Cosmos” seems limited to matter and space, while the concept of “Universe” also includes the energy and time.

In this chapter we will address the basics of the universe: that is, how it is observed and what are its fundamental laws.

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