What's Up In Space? Europa report, claiming territory on the Moon, and a new look at Pluto
Meteorologist/Science Writer
Wednesday, February 4, 2015, 6:27 PM - Asteroids, dwarf planets, missing moons and ancient star systems are just a sample of what we've covered so far in this series, but there's always more to see in space. This week, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft gives us its closest look yet at Pluto and Charon, rules are laid down for staking out territory on the Moon, and NASA drops a Jovian bombshell in a recent announcement.
Pluto and Charon graduate from pinpoints
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is on approach for a rendezvous with Pluto, Charon and the rest of their orbital family in July, but the vessel's cameras are already returning new images for us to marvel over.
A Long Distance Look from LORRI: Pluto and Charon, the largest of Pluto's
five known moons, seen Jan. 25 and 27, 2015, through the telescopic Long-Range
Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.
According to the New Horizons mission site:
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| "Pluto is finally becoming more than just a pinpoint of light," said Hal Weaver, New Horizons project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. "LORRI has now resolved Pluto, and the dwarf planet will continue to grow larger and larger in the images as New Horizons spacecraft hurtles toward its targets. The new LORRI images also demonstrate that the camera's performance is unchanged since it was launched more than nine years ago."
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These latest images also celebrate the birthday of the man who first discovered Pluto - astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who was born on February 4, 1906 and passed away in 1997.
For more on this story, and other details about the mission, visit NASA's New Horizons website.
A comparison of real images snapped by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, showing Pluto and Charon in July 2014 and the latest look at the pair from January 2015. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.
A long-overdue visit to an icy moon
Any fan of scifi author Arthur C. Clarke will tell you that we're at least 4 years overdue for a visit to Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, but based on what NASA administrator Charles Bolden said during the State of NASA speech on Monday, February 2, it looks like we're going (or at least a robotic mission is) after all!
"Looking to the future, we’re planning a mission to explore Jupiter’s fascinating moon Europa."-Bolden
#StateOfNASA pic.twitter.com/v9L46zn4Up
— NASA (@NASA) February 2, 2015
Why is a mission like this important? First, check out NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day from May 24, 2012 for just one reason (hint: the moon has A LOT of water!), but watch the video below for even more:
Staking a claim on the Moon
There's been a long-standing rule on the books - the Outer Space Treaty - ever since humans were getting close to landing on another body in this solar system, that said all bodies in space (planets, moons, asteroids, etc) would be used for peaceful purposes, and for the benefit of all humankind, and that they could not be owned by one government or another. The problem is that this only applied to governments, and not corporations. With private space companies like SpaceX already making launches into orbit, Google's Lunar XPrize contestants still working towards a private lunar landing before the end of 2016, and companies already showing interest in mining resources from the Moon, there's been a need for someone to make rules to include these private interests.
Credit: NASA/Dennis Davidson
As reported by Reuters, a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to Bigelow Aerospace stated that the existing licenses for space launches allowed U.S. companies to make claims on lunar territory.
According to the report:
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| The Federal Aviation Administration, in a previously undisclosed late-December letter to Bigelow Aerospace, said the agency intends to "leverage the FAA’s existing launch licensing authority to encourage private sector investments in space systems by ensuring that commercial activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis."
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So, can anyone now launch something to the Moon and stake their claim? Is the Moon going to be populated in 'old west' style, with lunar homesteads popping up everywhere, and lunar claim-jumpers preying on innocent miners trying to dig out a living from the barren Moon landscape?
Not really. The Reuters report went on to say:
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| The FAA’s decision "doesn't mean that there's ownership of the moon," Bigelow told Reuters. "It just means that somebody else isn't licensed to land on top of you or land on top of where exploration and prospecting activities are going on, which may be quite a distance from the lunar station." |
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Eventually, a solid set of rules will need to be in place as we start landing more missions - and people - on the lunar surface, of course, simply to avoid confusion and to protect the rights of anyone who goes there. This decision by the FAA - an agency of the United States, whose government did not sign the 1984 Moon Treaty - may be a catalyst to bring about serious talks about this issue.
Sources: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, @NASA, US Dept of State, Google Lunar XPrize, Reuters, UNOOSA.
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH: NASA administrator Charles Bolden delivers his State of NASA speech, describing the current missions being supported, and what's to come in the future.
