01-17-2011

So the moon right? Crazy.

What's even crazier is that we've been to the moon.

Think about this for a minute. We landed on the moon in 1969. With this:

Which is insane. Here's something I didn't know, the computer they used, was one of the first to use an Integrated Circuit. The computer itself was named the AGC, but its interface was called DSKY (pronounced dis-key for some reason, I prefer DESKY, as if it were some sort of lovable desk). Anyway as it turns out DSKY was actually really polite. Here look at its list of commands:

Isn't that awesome? Here let's try out some ancient computer speak. 5123. Which means "Please mark docking angles" Incidentally this is not a successful pick-up line, although I encourage everyone reading this to try it out at least once. You can go either route, just saying the numbers out loud, or saying their encoded message. Oh also in case you want to purchase this historic piece of technology that cost the US govt $200,000.00 (1969 dollars) to produce (I believe per unit), and basically launched America's love affair with the computer, you only need to spend $60,000.00, as of 2009.

So this is AGC and DSKY :

and together they allowed these three guys:

To pilot this:

To the moon so they could do this. Sorry to post that same link again, I just think it is crazy that they did that. Anyway. I promised to talk about Lunar Bases.

1. Why don't we have them?
• There are a couple of factors.
• Primarily there is no need for them as of yet. We simply don't do enough business that far out in space. Oh sure we've got a lot of satellites and and there's talks about going to Mars about every seven years, and we're constantly repairing or upgrading the Hubble Telescope. But really we don't have any need as of yet to be doing things on the moon. 
• Which brings me to the movie Moon. The premise of the movie that there is some sort of magical fuel on the far side of the moon, turns out to be true. 
• It is called Tritium. And it turns out to be crazy useful. And apparently we've all known about it for a really long time. Like for instance, because of the way it decays (it is an isotope and isotopes decay) it reacts with a "phosphor" to produce a crazily stable (for hydrogen) glow. 
• Apparently people use this mysterious gas from beyond the moon for such things as: Fishing lures. Gun sights. and other manly things. But while we're on it. Click on that link for the Gun Sights. Because this company is calling itself United Scientific Instruments, and they seem to only sell guns and things that help people use guns more effectively. I'm not a scientist, in fact I'm not even a science blogger, but I'm not sure that a gun constitutes a Scientific Instrument, except when held by Ted Nugent:

So there's your answer. Ted Nugent. And by the Nuge, I mean Reagan.

No but really we don't have Lunar Bases because they are impractical, and we don't have a pressing need for Tritium because its main use was in nuclear weapons, and what with the S.T.A.R.T. treaty and other such hippie left-wing non-proliferation nuclear policies enacted by this President:

We don't have a need for Tritium. Also it turns out that we can make it in nuclear reactors, and we've made about 170 lbs of it so far, and that's quite a bit when you consider the fact that it is a gas.


I never really addressed the topic of Lunar Bases in this post did I?

Oh well.

New Year New Post New Things To Learn

This week I'm learning about the moon, and it is awesome.

The moon is pretty darn cool, average temperature at night is -387˚ F.

Here are some cool quick-facts about the moon:

1.  It is the fifth largest satellite in the solar system and the largest relative to the body it orbits.
2.  The moon causes the ocean to have tides, and it also causes the earth to wobble.
1.  This is why your horoscope is wrong, I'm not sure if you know, but this was in the news cycle recently.
3. Americans are the only people who have been to the moon.
1. And when we got there we threw a bunch of junk around and stole some rocks. 
2. Over 380kg of lunar rocks, which is about 840 lbs of moon rocks.
4. We Don't Really Know Where The Moon Came From! 
1. you're probably thinking that this isn't true. 
2. But it is! 
3. The current accepted theory as to where the moon came from is called the Giant Impact Hypothesis , but we're not really certain if this theory is correct.
1. incidentally this is the name of a new band I'm forming, so nobody steal it. 
2. The Giant Impact Hypothesis explains the mechanics of the origin of the moon pretty well but it doesn't explain a couple of key points, 
3. Namely why isn't the earth covered in a Giant Magma Ocean (which is going to be the name of our first album) 
1. If the Earth was hit by a Mars sized object (as described in the above theory) the result would have been crazy to see. Imagine something coming from the sky and smacking into the Earth and bouncing off, and taking a huge chunk of the the planet with it! Things would be lifting off the ground INTO SPACE! 
2. That's crazy. Of course you'd be dead because at that time we think that the Earth's atmosphere was mostly straight up poison. Poison. 
4.   Tom Hanks never went to the moon, but the guy he played in Apollo 13 did.

1. Jim Lovell is one of the 24 people who have been to the moon. 
2. and he's one of three people who have been there twice. 
3. Look at that grin, that is the grin of a man who gets to one up every vacation story you will ever tell.

That's all I learned about the moon for now.