Posts Made By: K. Michael Malolepszy

I've been too busy with moving to a recently bought house, so I haven't been watching it much lately.


Perhaps it has something to do with Russian crew members photographing Georgia...? Have you seen this?

http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2008/08/using_the_iss_t.html

Using the ISS To Do Military Recon?

Cosmonaut Photographed South Ossetia From ISS, Aviation Week

"On Aug. 9 Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko used a digital camera equipped with an 800mm telephoto lens and a video camera to photograph "after-effects of border conflict operations in the Caucasus," according to the ISS status report for that day published by NASA on its website."

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 9 August 2008

"Also working from the discretionary task list, Oleg Kononenko conducted another session of the Russian GFI-8 "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program, using the D2X digital camera with the F800 telephoto lens and the HVR-Z1J SONY video camera. Uplinked target areas were glaciers on the north slope of the main Caucasus Ridge, the Dombai region, after-effects of border conflict operations in the Caucasus ..."

There's a long thread on it on USENET in sci.space.station:

http://groups.google.com/group/sci.space.station/browse_thread/thread/dc5f6d7e9565b423?hl=en#

http://tinyurl.com/5bmwrd

Cosmonaut's photos of Georgia spur inquiry

Robert Block and Mark K. Matthews | Sentinel Staff Writers
August 26, 2008

CAPE CANAVERAL - Just days after the Russian army rolled into Georgia, Moscow instructed a Russian crew member aboard the international space station to shoot pictures of the breakaway South Ossetia province from 200 miles above Earth.

Russia claims that cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko's photos Aug. 9 were part of a digital-mapping exercise, done for "humanitarian" reasons. But some space experts say it is possible the pictures were part of a military-related reconnaissance exercise that made use of the vantage point of the orbiting lab complex.

The incident, referenced in a status report on NASA's Web site more than two weeks ago and first reported by Aviation Week, comes as reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia is threatening to disrupt America's space program.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/oviedo/orl-station2608aug26,0,7133437.story

http://tinyurl.com/68vkxd

Bill Madewell said:

Is it me or has anybody else noticed this also. I enjoy watching the LiVE NASA channel, and in the past, you allways see the live pictures from the ISS of the beautiful views of mother Earth, and also the daily activities inside the ISS of the Astronauts and Cosmonauts. There has been No video feeds from the ISS since the actions of our partners the Russians or our American Astronaut. I can't find any info on this in the NASA websites, and it has been going on for a little over 2 weeks.It's also strange that the mainstream News channels have said nothing at all..
If anybody has any news on this, please send it too me.Thanks,
Bill

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/08/mccain_bashes_o.html

McCain bashes Obama on NASA
Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor August 18, 2008 01:34 PM

John McCain opened a new front today to bash Democratic rival Barack Obama, accusing him of straddling on cutting the space program.

Last year in New Hampshire, Obama suggested delaying NASA's mission to Mars to help fund education improvements. But earlier this month in Florida, he appeared to back away from any NASA cuts.

Today at a business roundtable at the Astronaut Planetarium at Brevard Community College in Cocoa Beach, Florida, McCain pledged to keep space exploration a top national priority.

"I know that earlier this year, Senator Obama proposed cutting the NASA budget and delaying the timetable for our return to the Moon and the Mars mission," McCain said, according to prepared remarks released by his campaign. "I believe that he later repudiated his own plan. Sometimes it is difficult to know what a politician will actually do once in office, because they say different things at different times to different people. This is a particular problem when a candidate has a short, thin record on the issues as in the case of Senator Obama.

"Let me say, just in case Senator Obama does decide to return to his original plan of cutting NASA funding – I oppose such cuts," McCain added. "That position is a shortsighted approach that fails to recognize the benefits of space exploration and the technology and economic advantages that result from the space program."

-------

http://www.space.com/news/080826-mccain-nasa.html

McCain to Bush: Keep Space Shuttle Options Open
By Brian Berger

Space News Staff Writer
posted: 26 August 2008 07:17 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Acknowledging that a NASA authorization bill is unlikely to be enacted this year, three Republican senators – including presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) – have written President George W. Bush imploring him to direct NASA to hold off for at least a year taking any action that would preclude the agency from flying space shuttles beyond 2010.

McCain, joined by Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and David Vitter (R-La.), also cited Russia's recent military incursion into neighboring Georgia earlier this month as evidence that Russia's continued cooperation on the international space station program should not be taken for granted.

Once the space shuttle is retired, Russia stands to possess the only means of transporting astronauts to and from the space station until the shuttle's successor – the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and Ares 1 launcher – comes on line around 2015.

Russia has agreed to fly U.S. astronauts to the station through 2011 when a temporary exemption from a non-proliferation law barring NASA from making space station-related payments to Russia is due to expire.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/sep/HQ_08220_griffin_statement_email.html

David Mould
Headquarters, Washington
Sept. 7, 2008

RELEASE : 08-220


Statement of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin on Aug. 18 Email


WASHINGTON -- The following is the complete statement of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin regarding the Aug. 18 email published by the Orlando Sentinel:

The leaked internal email fails to provide the contextual framework for my remarks, and my support for the administration's policies. Administration policy is to retire the shuttle in 2010 and purchase crew transport from Russia until Ares and Orion are available. The administration continues to support our request for an INKSNA exemption. Administration policy continues to be that we will take no action to preclude continued operation of the International Space Station past 2016. I strongly support these administration policies, as do OSTP and OMB.

K. Michael Malolepszy said:

NASA chief blasts US space policy in leaked email

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/08/griffin_leaked_email/

White House advisers waged 'jihad' on Shuttle, ISS

By Lewis Page


Published Monday 8th September 2008 09:46 GMT

An internal email from NASA chief Mike Griffin has been leaked to the media. It expresses Griffin's frustration with recent US space policy, says that White House oversight offices have waged a "jihad" against the space shuttle, and offers a gloomy view of the future.

The email was obtained at the weekend by the Orlando Sentinel, and lays out Griffin's view of how America should have acted in recent years.


"In a rational world," writes Griffin to a senior US advisor, "we would have been allowed to pick a shuttle retirement date to be consistent with Ares/Orion availability, we would have been asked to deploy Ares/Orion as early as possible (rather than 'not later than 2014') and we would have been provided the necessary budget to make it so."

A good, small APO is something you'll likely never regret buying... I have owned over a dozen scopes and my 76mm Televue Oracle 3 is the one I cannot see getting rid of. Small, easy to setup & use, beautiful wide fields that I cannot get any other way with a scope. Under reasonably dark skies, some familiar constellations will reveal all sorts of stuff you've overlooked.

K. Michael M.

Paulo martin said:

Hello,
I am looking for a small APO refractor, size 60-80mm, Apo lens, and portable for dual purpouse,terrestrial-astronomical observation, .

I am searching advise on theme, any comment are welcome!

Thanks,
Paul

I have both and generally I like the Nagler better. The nagler seems a bit more comfortable in use than the XL, but I'd give the XL slightly higher rating in terms of contrast. But the wider AFOV of the Nagler wins me over for deep sky, and it's much smaller & lighter - a big plus in my dobs.

K, Michael M.

Michael Tencza said:

These are very similarly priced on the used market. I am looking for something to fit between my 13 mm T6 and Pentax 7 mm XL. Which would you choose?

According to this site - "Palin Rumors" at

http://explorations.chasrmartin.com/2008/09/06/palin-rumors/

" ...No, Sarah Palin doesn’t think that dinosaurs walked the earth with Adam and Eve 4000 years ago, In fact, this was a purposeful satire that comes from a post actually entitled Fake Governor Palin Quotes. This has, however, kept neither Matt Damon nor Maureen Dowd from propagating them as fact. "

I have 16 & 20 inch dobsionians. While the 20 inch will show a noticeably brighter image, the 16 will still impress you. Heck, even a good 11 inch - like me Starmaster EL - gets plenty of "wow" reactions from my fellow club members!

So if you are accustomed to using 6 inches, going to anything above 14 inches will probably be quite satisfying, especially if you are a somewhat experienced visual observer. With a 14 inch mirror, you'd be getting more than 5 times the light gathering power of your 6 inch.

Other factors may be more important, as you noted, such as the need for ladders, portability, setup ease, etc. In fact, those considerations have lead to the 11" being my most used deep sky instrument, despite spending years with the 20 inch.

KMM

Louis Marchesi said:

I've been looking at the Starmaster FX series of scopes (dreaming may be more accurate).

I'm weighing the pros and cons of the 16.5- and the 18-inch models.

Here is where I'm coming from: I have a 6-inch refractor that I used visually until I attached a camera to it. This rig is such a pain to set up at a star party (in fact, it's a pain to set up and tear down anywhere). So I plan to put this in a building and thus I "need" something to look through and a "travel" scope.

An observing buddy of mine has a 20-inch Obsession, but I don't want to climb a ladder. I want something with enough punch to deliver "in my face" views (compared to the six inch).

Coming from the driven six inch, though, I'm partial to tracking and goto, so those are nice to have. My friend's dob is undriven and I find it difficult to do "critical" observing that way.

What I'm looking at, then, would be the 16.5 with tracking versus the 18 without. If I went the 16.5 route, would I be leaving too many photons uncollected? Will I be utterly disappointed viewing side-by-side with my friend with the 20-inch?

Thanks for your opinions.

It can be said that, like Saddam after the first Gulf War, she can claim to have "won" by merely surviving.

KMM

jeff glancy said:

Sarah has stuck with her talking points and from what I have heard, has has not embarassed herself. If she has a problem, it is that she does not have too many talking points but she is smart enough to stick with them. Any mention of the Bush record is pretty much met with the equivalent of "Why do we have to focus on the past?" Certainly she learned a lot from the Couric interview. I guess I'm holding being perky and cute against her. I know it isn't fair, but I've never liked cute and perky.
As far as Biden goes, well I'm kind of disappointed that he isn't running for president. Knows his stuff cold and presents it well and understandably. IMO he is that good and that knowledgable.
Sarah's a nice person, but the differences between the two are night and day.

According to Ifill's opening statement, neither of the campaigns had advance notice of what the questions would be.
Ifill:

"The specific subjects and questions were chosen by me and have not been shared or cleared with anyone on the campaigns or on the commission.."

Transcript at

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/debate.transcript/

Examination of some of the candidate's claims at:

Check Point: The Vice-Presidential Debate By The New York Times

The Times’s Peter Baker, Kitty Bennett, Julie Bosman, John Broder, Michael Luo, Larry Rohter and William Yardley are examining the policies and statements of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Gov. Sarah Palin in real time tonight. For more on the candidates and the issues, see The Times’s Election Guide.

At http://tinyurl.com/43zvr6

OR

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/check-point-the-vice-presidential-debate/?ref=politics

Chris Myers said:

Someday it would be nice to see a debate where the candidates didn't get the questions and topics weeks in advance. I'd also like to see a wider range of questions.

Are you thinking of this?

Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Orbiter

Or this?

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=EAL

Or artists conceptions of wish list items like this?

http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1944.html

http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/news/expandnews.cfm?id=1199

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/europa_life_011219-1.html

John Meiners said:

Can anyone tell me what Mission to one of these systems (Planet: Sat or Jup) was suppose to have a probe orbit a certain moon on either of these 2 Planets, decend a 2nd probe to melt with a heated drill through the ice mantel and see if there is an ocean beneath the frozen outer shell? thanks. John M