Earth and Space News: June 2014

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Amundsen Satellite A Now Honors Hungarian Geophysicist Péter Hédervári

Summary: The lunar near side’s south polar Amundsen satellite A now honors Hungarian geophysicist Péter Hédervári with its renaming as Hédervári Crater.

Detail of Lunar Aeronautical Chart (LAC) 144 shows Hédervári Crater (center right), between former parent, Amundsen Crater (left) and Amundsen satellite C (right); also Nobile (above, center), Faustini (center; left of Amundsen) and Shackleton (center left) joined Hédervári in receiving official name approval in 1994, during the IAU’s XXIInd (22nd) General Assembly; scale 1:1,000,000 Polar Stereographic Projection: Courtesy NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center)/ASU (Arizona State University), via IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

The lunar near side’s south polar Amundsen satellite A now honors Hungarian geophysicist Péter Hédervári with its official renaming as Hédervári Crater in 1994.

Hédervári Crater adjoins its former parent’s northern rim. The northern rim, wall and floor of Amundsen Crater’s former satellite A, in turn, hosts its parent’s only remaining satellite, Amundsen C.

A rough mound approximately marks the midpoint of the crater’s floor. The mound emerges from a pitted floor that contrasts roughness with levelness.

Hédervári is centered at minus 81.77 degrees south latitude, 85.6 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The eroded, rough crater registers northernmost and southernmost latitudes at minus 80.53 degrees south and minus 82.98 degrees south, respectively. Hédervári achieves easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 94.12 degrees east and 77.01 degrees east, respectively. The south polar crater’s diameter measures 74.14 kilometers.

The IAU officially approved Hédervári as the crater’s new name in 1994. The crater’s renaming honors Hungarian geophysicist Péter Hédervári (April 29, 1931-June 27, 1984).

A memorial tribute in the October 1985 issue of The Strolling Astronomer, the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers’ (ALPO) journal, noted Dr. Hédervári’s passing away, at age 53, from a heart attack. The Budapest-born scientist received his doctoral degree in Geography and Planetary Geology at his hometown’s prestigious public research university, Eötvös Loránd University (Hungarian: Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE), in 1970.

Hédervári pursued his interest in observational astronomy via his own private observatory. In his description of his observatory for the September 1980 issue of the International Amateur and Professional Photoelectric Photometry (IAPPP) association, he placed the observatory in Budapest at 47 degrees 31 minutes 25 degrees north latitude, 19 degrees 02 minutes 33.7 seconds east longitude. In his article for November 1976 issue of The Strolling Astronomer, he specified the location as sited on the banks of the Duna (Danube), facing the central part of Margaret Island. He declared the air around the Danube as clear and dust-free.

He had the observatory built approximately two years prior to this announcement, i.e., circa 1978. He named it The Georgiana Observatory in honor of his wife. Built on a concrete base, the brick building had a rotating metal dome that weighed about 600 kilograms. The altitude of the observatory’s upper observing site measured 118.08 meters above sea level.

Hédervári noted that his initial observations concerned transient lunar phenomena (TLPs). Transient lunar phenomena reference localized, short-lived flashes or glows in optical wavelenths on the surface of Earth’s moon.

He considered TLP as co-author of “The Importance of the Observation of Earthquake Lights as Precursory Phenomena of Impending Earthquakes.” Hédervári and Zoltán Noszticzius presented their research at the European Seismological Commission’s (ESC) Seventeenth Assembly, which was held in Budapest from Sunday, Aug. 24, to Friday, Aug. 29, 1980. The physicists suggested that escaping gases and chemiluminescence, the phenomenon of light emission during a chemical reaction, account for earthquake lights and transient lunar phenomena.

The Strolling Astronomer’s editor, geographer and amateur astronomer John E. Westfall (born Aug. 16, 1938), noted that Péter Hédervári sadly predeceased the 1986 apparition of Comet Halley (1P/Halley). He had been making plans for photographic and visual observations of the solar system’s well known short-period comet.

The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)’s announcement of the new name of Hédervári for Amundsen satellite C occurred during its 23rd regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 1994. The group convened during the IAU’s XXIInd (22nd) General Assembly. The General Assembly was held from Monday, Aug. 15, to Saturday, Aug. 27, in The Hague, Netherlands.

The WGPSN identified new nomenclature approved during August’s General Assembly. Hédervári numbered among eight new names for lunar craters. Also receiving approval were Ashbrook, for 20th century American astronomer Joseph Ashbrook; Chappe, for 18th century French astronomer Jean-Baptiste Chappe d’Auteroche; Faustini, for 20th century Italian polar geographer Arnaldo Faustini; Nobile, for 20th century Italian Arctic explorer Umberto Nobile; Rosseland, for 20th century Norwegian astrophysicist Svein Rosseland; Shackleton, for 20th century Irish-born British Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton; and von Braun, for German-American rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun.

The takeaways for Amundsen satellite A now honoring Hungarian geophysicist Péter Hédervári are that lunar near side south polar crater Hédervári adjoins the northern rim of its former parent and hosts Amundsen’s only satellite, C, in its northern sector and that Péter Hédervári pursued his interests in astronomy via his private observatory, named The Georgiana Observatory after his wife, along the Danube in his hometown, Budapest.

lunar near side south polar crater Hédervári’s namesake, Hungarian geophysicist Péter Hédervári, ca. 1980: The tominator ca, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

lunar near side south polar crater Hédervári’s namesake, Hungarian geophysicist Péter Hédervári, ca. 1980: The tominator ca, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hedervari_Peter.jpg

For further information:

Amundsen, Roald. My Life as an Explorer. Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1927.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/roaldamundsenmyl00amun_0/

Amundsen, Roald. The North West Passage: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship “Gjöa” 1903-1907 by Roald Amundsen With a Supplement by First Lieutenant Hansen Vice-Commander of the Expedition. With About One Hundred and Thirty-Nine Illustrations and Three Maps. Vol. I. London UK: Archibald Constable and Company Limited, 1908.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/northwestpassage01amun/

Amundsen, Roald. The North West Passage: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship “Gjöa” 1903-1907 by Roald Amundsen With a Supplement by First Lieutenant Hansen Vice-Commander of the Expedition. With About One Hundred and Thirty-Nine Illustrations and Three Maps. Vol. II. London UK: Archibald Constable and Company Limited, 1908.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/northwestpassage02amun/

Amundsen, Roald. The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the Fram, 1910-1912. In two volumes. Translated from the Norwegian by A.G. Chater. London UK: John Murray, 1912.
Volume I: Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/southpoleaccount01/
Volume II: Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/southpoleaccount02/

Andersson, Leif E.; and Ewen A. Whitaker. NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA Reference Publication 1097. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Branch, October 1982.
Available via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reports Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19830003761

Appenzeller, I. (Immo), ed. XXIInd General Assembly – Transactions of the IAU Vol. XXII B Proceedings of the 22nd General Assembly The Hague, The Netherlands, August 15-27, 1994. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Jan. 1, 1996.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/
Available @ https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B7F65CD4AE932ED639507F5D5F1C5DBE/S0251107X00008828a.pdf/working_group_for_planetary_system_nomenclature_wgpsn_group_de_travail_pour_la_nomenclature_du_system_planetaire_committee_of_the_executive_committee.pdf

Bown, Stephen R. The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen. A Merloyd Lawrence Book. Boston MA: Da Capo Press, 2012.

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Hedervari, P. “The Georgiana Observatory.” International Amateur-Professional Photoelectric Photometry Communication No. 2 (September 1980): 29-31.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980IAPPP...2...29H

Hédervári, Péter, Dr. “Some Words on the Research Group on Planetary and Geophysical Volcanology and About the ‘Georgiana’ Lunar Observing Station.” The Strolling Astronomer: The Journal of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, vol. 26, nos. 5-6 (November 1976): 109-113.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1976JALPO..26..109H

Hédervári, P.; and Z. (Zoltán) Noszticzius. “The Importance of the Observation of Earthquake Lights as Precursory Phenomena of Impending Earthquakes.” Pages 35-39. In: E. (Ede) Bisztricsány and Gy. (Gyorgy) Szeidovitz, eds. Proceedings of the Seventeenth Assembly of the European Seismological Commission, Budapest, 24-29 August 1980. Developments in Solid Earth Geophysics 15. Elsevier, Jan. 1, 1983.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=N3cxf3_rqvAC&pg=PA35

International Astronomical Union. “Amundsen.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/247

International Astronomical Union. “[Amundsen A].” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated March 25, 2011.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/7235

International Astronomical Union. “Amundsen C.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/7236

International Astronomical Union. “Hédervári.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2620

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Lunar Crater Amundsen Honors Norwegian Polar Explorer Roald Amundsen.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 16, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/07/lunar-crater-amundsen-honors-norwegian.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Lunar Near Side Crater Amundsen Parents One Satellite Near South Pole.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 23, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/07/lunar-near-side-crater-amundsen-parents.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Stickney Crater Honors Phobos Discoverer Asaph Hall’s First Wife." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 3, 2013.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/07/stickney-crater-honors-phobos.html

Moore, Patrick, Sir. Philip’s Atlas of the Universe. Revised edition. London UK: Philip’s, 2005.

U.S. Geological Survey. Color-Coded Topography and Shaded Relief Map of the Lunar Near Side and Far Side Hemispheres. U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2769. Page last modified Nov. 30, 2016. Flagstaff AZ: U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center, 2003.
Available via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2769/

van der Hucht, Karel A., ed. IAU Transactions: XXVIB Proceedings of the XXVIth General Assembly Prague, Czech Republic, August 14-25, 2006. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, Dec. 30, 2008.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Westfall, John E., ed. “In Memoriam: Peter Hedervari, 1931-1984.” The Strolling Astronomer: The Journal of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, vol. 31, nos. 3-4 (October 1985): 86.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1985JALPO..31...86.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy Was Placed in Solar Orbit May 23, 1969

Summary: Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy was placed in solar orbit May 23, 1969, about two and one-half hours after docking with Command Module Charlie Brown.

Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy was placed in solar orbit May 23, 1969, approximately two and one-half hours after its docking with Command Module Charlie Brown.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 10 Press Kit, released May 7, 1969, described the Apollo human spaceflight program’s lunar module as “a two-stage vehicle designed for space operations near and on the Moon” (page 42). The module stood with a height of 22 feet 11 inches and a width of 31 feet. The module’s ascent stage measured 12 feet 4 inches in height and 14 feet 1 inch in diameter. The descent stage’s dimensions were a height of 10 feet 7 inches and a diameter of one inch. The lunar module was built by NASA contractor Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in Bethpage, New York.

The lunar module’s spaceflight was a one-way trip. Neither of the module’s two stages was designed for a return to Earth. The Press Kit stated: “The LM is incapable of reentering the atmosphere.”

Apollo 10 was commanded by Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930), who was joined by John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930) and Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) as Command Module Pilot (CMP) and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP), respectively.

The mission’s three astronauts assigned the call sign of Snoopy to the lunar module. They selected Charlie Brown as the command module’s identifier.

Apollo 10 launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) as a lunar-orbital mission. Apollo 10 was designed as a dress rehearsal, absent a lunar landing, for Apollo 11, slated for launch in mid-July.

The Apollo 10 mission objectives required undocking of Apollo Lunar Module LM-4 from the Apollo Command and Service Module CSM-106 approximately 22 hours after the spacecraft’s insertion into lunar orbit. The 356.1-second, orbital-insertion maneuver began Wednesday, May 21, at 20:44:54 GMT/UTC (3:44 p.m. EST, 4:44 p.m. EDT). The firing of the service module’s propulsion engine cut off at 20:50:50 GMT/UTC (3:50 p.m. EST, 4:50 p.m. EDT).

The lunar module undocked from the command module Thursday, May 22, at 19:00:57 GMT/UTC (2 p.m. EST, 3 p.m. EDT). The Ground Elapsed Time (GET) was 98 hours 11 minutes 57 seconds (098:11:57) after Range Zero, the integral second before liftoff.

At 23:34:16 GMT/UTC (6:34 p.m. EST, 7:34 p.m. EDT; 102:45:16.9 GET), the ascent stage separated from the descent stage. The separation occurred at an altitude of 31.4 nautical miles above the lunar surface, according to freelance space writer Richard W. Orloff’s NASA-published Apollo by the Numbers (2000: page 76).

The ascent propulsion system (APS) began a 15.55-second firing at 23:44:02 GMT/UTC (6:44:02 p.m. EST, 7:44:02 p.m. EDT; 102:55:02.13 GET) to place the module’s ascent stage into an orbit with pericynthion, or nearest point to the lunar surface, at 46.5 nautical miles and apocynthion, or farthest point from the lunar surface, at 11.0 nautical miles. The ascent stage’s orbital insertion firing cut off at 23:44:17 GMT/UTC (6:44:17 p.m. EST, 7:44:17 p.m. EDT; 102:55:17.68 GET).

Lunar module ascent stage Snoopy docked with Command Module Charlie Brown on Friday, May 23, at 03:11:02 GMT/UTC (Thursday, May 22, at 10:11 p.m. EST, 11:11 p.m. EDT; 106:22:02 GET). Docking occurred at an altitude of 54.7 nautical miles, according to Orloff’s Apollo by the Numbers (page 77).

Closeout activities for Lunar Module Snoopy began Friday, May 23, at 03:31 GMT/UTC (Thursday, May 22, at 10:31 p.m. EST, 11:31 p.m. EDT; 107:20 GET). NASA’s Apollo 10 Mission Report, released August 1969, noted the “restowage of lunar module equipment for final jettison” and stowage of “debris, such as used food containers and other disposable items, that had collected in the command module over the 4-day period” inside Lunar Module Snoopy (9.9.8: page 9-19).

The ascent stage’s jettison occurred Friday, May 23, at 05:13:36 GMT/UTC (12:13 a.m. EST, 1:13 a.m. EDT; 108:24:36 GET). The ascent propulsion system’s (APS) firing to propellant depletion, which aimed to place LM Snoopy into a solar orbit, began at 05:41:05 GMT/UTC (12:41 a.m. EST, 1:41 a.m. EDT; 108:52:05.5 GET). The depletion burn was completed 249.0 seconds later, at 05:45:14 GMT/UTC (12:45 a.m. EST, 1:45 a.m. EDT; 108:56:14.5 GET).

NASA’s Apollo 10 Mission Post Launch Mission Operation Report No. 1, released May 26, 1969, noted, after the ascent stage’s jettison, that: “The crew visually acquired the LM descent stage on several occasions” (page 5).

The Mission Report described the crew’s last view of Lunar Module Snoopy. “Sequence films were made of separation, but after approximately 13 frames the lunar module disappeared into the sunlight and was only seen momentarily during the depletion firing” (9.9.8: page 9-19).

The Post Launch Mission Operation Report stated that Snoopy was tracked via the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) for “about 12 hours” after separation from Charlie Brown. “LM/MSFN communications were maintained until LM ascent stage battery depletion at about 120 hours GET.”

The takeaway for Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy’s placement in solar orbit May 23, 1969, is that the Apollo 10 spacecraft’s ascent stage may still be circling the sun while the descent stage’s lunar orbit likely ended in a lunar surface impact.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

With its descent stage already jettisoned, Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy’s ascent stage approaches Command Module Charlie Brown, with lunar eastern limb (about 120 degrees east longitude) in background; red/blue diagonal line is the command module’s window; photograph by Command Module Pilot (CMP) John Young, Thursday, May 22, 1969; NASA image AS10-34-5112: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as10-34-5112

Lunar Module 4, known in spaceflight as Snoopy, is being moved into position, Monday, Jan. 13, 1969, for mating with the Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) 13 in the John F. Kennedy Space Center’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB); NASA ID S69-17807: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S69-17807

For further information:

Cernan, Eugene; and Don Davis. The Last Man on the Moon: Eugene Cernan and America’s Race in Space. New York NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Dunbar, Brian; and Kathleen Zona, ed. “Snoopy Soars With NASA at Charles Schulz Museum.” NASA > News & Features > News Topics > NASA History & People. Jan. 5, 2009.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/topics/history/features/snoopy.html

Dunbar, Brian; and Robert Garner, ed. “Map of Past Lunar Landing Sites.” NASA > Missions > LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter > News and Media Resources. May 13, 2009.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/moonimg_07.html

Godwin, Robert, comp. and ed. Apollo 10: The NASA Mission Reports. Second edition. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2000.

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Schmidt Crater During May 1969 Lunar Orbit.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 21, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10-imaged-near-sides-schmidt.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Triesnecker Crater During Lunar Orbit.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 14, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10-imaged-near-sides-triesnecker.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy Passed 47,400 Feet Above Apollo 11 Site.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 28, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10s-lunar-module-snoopy-passed.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 10 Service Module Returned to Earth Instead of Orbiting the Sun.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 11, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/06/apollo-10-service-module-returned-to.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Jettisoned LM Snoopy Descent Stage Appeared Near Taruntius Crater.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 11, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/05/jettisoned-lm-snoopy-descent-stage.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “London Science Museum Displays Apollo 10 Command Module Charlie Brown.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 4, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/06/london-science-museum-displays-apollo.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Nick Howes and Faulkes Telescope Project Seek Lost Apollo 10 LM Snoopy.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/09/nick-howes-and-faulkes-telescope.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Nick Howes Considers Possible Orbits for Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/nick-howes-considers-possible-orbits_14.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Snoopy and Charlie Brown Are Hugging Each Other in Apollo 10 Docking.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 18, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/05/snoopy-and-charlie-brown-are-hugging.html

McKinnon, Mika. “Snoopy the Astrobeagle, NASA’s Mascot for Safety.” Gizmodo > Animals. April 30, 2014.
Available @ https://gizmodo.com/snoopy-the-astrobeagle-nasas-mascot-for-safety-1570066950

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. “11.3 Photographic Results.” Apollo 10 Mission Report: 11.3-11.5. MSC-00126. Houston TX: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Manned Spacecraft Center, August 1969.
Available @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a410/A10_MissionReport.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 10 Mission (AS-505) Post Launch Mission Operation Report No. 1. Report No. M-932-69-10. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, May 26, 1969.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap10fj/pdf/a10-postlaunch-rep.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 10 Mission Report. MSC-00126. Houston TX: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Manned Spacecraft Center, August 1969.
Available @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a410/A10_MissionReport.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 10 Press Kit. Release no. 69-68. May 7, 1969. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1969.
Available @ https://www.history.nasa.gov/alsj/a410/A10_PressKit.pdf

Orloff, Richard W. “Apollo 10 The Fourth Mission: Testing the LM in Lunar Orbit.” Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference: 71-88. NASA History Series. NASA SP 4029. Washington DC: NASA Headquarters Office of Policy and Plans, 2000.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029.pdf

Pearlman, Robert Z. “The Search for ‘Snoopy’: Astronomers & Students Hunt for NASA’s Lost Apollo 10 Module.” Space.com > Spaceflight. Sept. 20, 2011.
Available @ https://www.space.com/13010-snoopy-nasa-lost-apollo-10-lunar-module-search.html

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Stafford, Thomas P.; and Michael Cassutt. We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race. Washington DC: Smithsonian Books, 2002.

Stanley, Will. “The Last Man on the Moon.” Science Museum Blog. Sept. 24, 2013.
Available @ https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/the-last-man-on-the-moon/

Woods, W. David; Robin Wheeler; and Ian Roberts. “Apollo 10 Image Library.” NASA History > Apollo Flight Journal > The Apollo 10 Flight Journal. 2011.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap10fj/as10-image-library.html

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Integrated Vegetation Management of Plants in Utility Rights-of-Way

Summary: Randall H. Miller of PacifiCorp in Portland, Oregon, applies Integrated Vegetation Management of forbs, grasses, herbs and shrubs to rights-of-way.

Integrated vegetation management (IVM) identifies vegetation that is compatible with utility rights-of-way: utility right-of-way, Blue Mountain north slope, Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Monroe County, northeastern Pennsylvania; Sunday, Sep. 9, 2012, 15:55:37: Nicholas_T (Nicholas A. Tonelli), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Integrated vegetation management (IVM) acts as a "system of managing plant communities" that are incompatible with nearby utility rights-of-way, according to Integrated Vegetation Management in the June 2014 issue of Arborist News.

Randall H. Miller of PacifiCorp in Portland, Oregon, backs evaluating, selecting and using the IVM control methods that "best achieve management objectives at a particular site." Analysis, choice and implementation consider combined or single IVM control methods in terms of anticipated effectiveness, current land use, economics, environmental impact, security and site characteristics. For example, incompatible, non-managed vegetation sometimes damages utility facilities and does not promote accessibility, emergency service restoration, environmental and regulatory compliance, lines-of-sight, reliability, safety or security.

Management of incompatible vegetation and support for compatible vegetation entails the use of such IVM control methods as site-appropriate biological, chemical, cultural, manual or mechanical options.

The "management of vegetation by establishing and conserving compatible, stable plant communities using plant competition, animals, insects, or pathogens" fills IVM requirements for biological control methods.

Allelopathy gives certain cover-type, low-growing, tree-resistant grasses biological control over IVM-deemed incompatible vegetation through the release of chemicals that "suppress other plant species growing around them." Early successional, short-growing, stable, tree-resistant plant communities hold competitive advantages in cover-type conversion biological controls that sometimes have occasional, supplementary chemical, cultural, manual or mechanical inputs. Non-selectively clearing rights-of-way of undesirable trees to encourage long-dormant seed reservoirs of "compatible species to germinate" in open sunlight is deemed the "most desirable" biological control.

Integrated vegetation management justifies biological, ecological controls by birds, insects and mammals such as boxelder bugs, mourning doves and squirrels eating undesirable plant seeds and shoots.

Cultural control methods keep desirable plant communities inside, and undesirable vegetation outside, rights-of-way by kick-starting managed meadows, pastures and prairies from cultivated, fertilized, irrigated low-growing crops. They leave dense, gas-sensitive, low-growing native prairie forbs and grasses over right-of-way pipe zones and taller-growing counterparts over border zones without compromising pipe integrity and maintenance. Narrow paths directly over pipe zones periodically may be strip-mowed for pipeline maintenance and testing at "low economic and environmental costs" and without jeopardizing right-of-way wildlife.

Wire-border wire zones need grasses, herbs and shrubs under 3 feet (1 meter) and shrubs and trees under 25 feet (3 meters) in wire-border border zones. They operate as sections of utility transmission rights-of-way under wires and extending sideways to 60 percent of phase-to-phase spacing on the border sides of outside conductors.

Herbicides preferentially prevent "specific botanical biochemical" pathways from functioning and undesirable trees from re-sprouting or suckering in rights-of-way and prioritize minimal environmental, human and soil disturbance. Long-legged pants, long-sleeved shirts, shoes and socks qualify as common personal protective equipment for applying selectively broadleaved plant-selective individual stem treatments without damaging off-range, sensitive plants. Non-selectively applying herbicides that non-selectively repress broad-leaves and grasses results in threats of off-target drift during aerial treatments to compatible and incompatible vegetation during broadcast treatments. Tree growth regulators (LTGs) slow growth rates of "fast-growing species" most frequently in urban forests that resist cover-type conversions or mechanical removals and on distribution lines.

Master arborists, master gardeners, master naturalists and tree stewards tend toward biological, ecological controls for tackling ultimate Integrated Vegetation Management objectives: maintenance of desirable plant communities.

Integrated vegetation management (IVM) control methods aim for elimination of vegetation that vexes utility rights-of-way; control of kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata) in power line right-of-way: James H. Miller/USDA Forestry Service/Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to:
talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

Image credits:

Gilman, Ed. 2011. An Illustrated Guide to Pruning. Third Edition. Boston MA: Cengage.

Hayes, Ed. 2001. Evaluating Tree Defects. Revised, Special Edition. Rochester MN: Safe Trees.

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 April 2014. “Tree Twig Identification: Buds, Bundle Scars, Leaf Drops, Leaf Scars.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/04/tree-twig-identification-buds-bundle.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 February 2014. “Tree Twig Anatomy: Ecosystem Stress, Growth Rates, Winter Identification.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/tree-twig-anatomy-ecosystem-stress.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 December 2013. “Community and Tree Safety Awareness During Line- and Road-Clearances.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/12/community-and-tree-safety-awareness.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2013. “Chain-Saw Gear and Tree Work Related Personal Protective Equipment.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/10/chain-saw-gear-and-tree-work-related.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 October 2013. “Storm Damaged Tree Clearances: Matched Teamwork of People to Equipment.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/10/storm-damaged-tree-clearances-matched.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 August 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Damage Assessments: Pre-Storm Planned Preparedness.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/storm-induced-tree-damage-assessments.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Failures From Heavy Tree Weights and Weather Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/06/storm-induced-tree-failures-from-heavy.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 April 2013. “Urban Tree Root Management Concerns: Defects, Digs, Dirt, Disturbance.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/04/urban-tree-root-management-concerns.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 February 2013. “Tree Friendly Beneficial Soil Microbes: Inoculations and Occurrences.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/tree-friendly-beneficial-soil-microbes.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 December 2012. “Healthy Urban Tree Root Crown Balances: Soil Properties, Soil Volumes.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/healthy-urban-tree-root-crown-balances.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2012. “Tree Adaptive Growth: Tree Risk Assessment of Tree Failure, Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/10/tree-adaptive-growth-tree-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 August 2012. “Tree Risk Assessment Mitigation Reports: Tree Removal, Tree Retention?” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/tree-risk-assessment-mitigation-reports.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 June 2012. “Internally Stressed, Response Growing, Wind Loaded Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/06/internally-stressed-response-growing.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 April 2012. “Three Tree Risk Assessment Levels: Limited Visual, Basic and Advanced.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/three-tree-risk-assessment-levels.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Risk Ratings for Targets and Trees.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Falling Trees Impacting Targets.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 December 2011. “Tree Risk Assessment: Tree Failures From Defects and From Wind Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/tree-risk-assessment-tree-failures-from.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 October 2011. “Five Tree Felling Plan Steps for Successful Removals and Worker Safety.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/10/five-tree-felling-plan-steps-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 August 2011. “Natives and Non-Natives as Successfully Urbanized Plant Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/08/natives-and-non-natives-as-successfully.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 June 2011. “Tree Ring Patterns for Ecosystem Ages, Dates, Health and Stress.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/06/tree-ring-patterns-for-ecosystem-ages.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 April 2011. “Benignly Ugly Tree Disorders: Oak Galls, Powdery Mildew, Sooty Mold, Tar Spot.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/04/benignly-ugly-tree-disorders-oak-galls.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 February 2011. “Tree Load Can Turn Tree Health Into Tree Failure or Tree Fatigue.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/02/tree-load-can-turn-tree-health-into.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 December 2010. “Tree Electrical Safety Knowledge, Precautions, Risks and Standards.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/tree-electrical-safety-knowledge.html

Miller, Randall H. June 2014. "Integrated Vegetation Management." Arborist News 23(3): 12-18.
Available @ http://viewer.epaperflip.com/Viewer.aspx?docid=eca77516-faa2-4516-a384-a33400b3c5dd#?page=26

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Apollo 10 Service Module Returned to Earth Instead of Orbiting the Sun

Summary: The Apollo 10 service module returned to Earth Monday, May 26, 1969, instead of orbiting the sun in a bounce maneuver off Earth’s atmosphere.

The Apollo 10 service module returned to Earth Monday, May 26, 1969, for a landing in the Pacific Ocean, instead of orbiting the sun in a skipping maneuver off Earth’s atmosphere.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 10 Mission Report, released August 1969, the Apollo 10 mission numbered as “. . . the tenth in a series of flights using specification Apollo hardware and . . . the first lunar flight of the complete spacecraft” (2.0, page 2-1), according to NASA’s Apollo 10 Mission Report, released August 1969. The Mission Report stated the mission’s purpose as confirmation of the upcoming July 1969 Apollo 11 mission in “. . . all aspects of the lunar landing mission exactly as it would be performed, except for the actual descent, landing, lunar stay, and ascent from the lunar surface.”

Range Zero, defined as “the integral second before lift-off,” occurred Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The eight-day mission successfully ended 193 hours 39 minutes (193:39 Ground Elapsed Time GET) after liftoff with the hoisting of the spacecraft’s command module onto prime recovery ship USS Princeton Monday, May 26, at 18:28 GMT/UTC (1:28 p.m. EST, 2:28 p.m. EDT).

The spacecraft’s command and service modules had separated prior to the command module’s scheduled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Separation of the two modules took place Monday, May 26, at 16:22:26 GMT/UTC (11:22 p.m. EST, 12:22 p.m. EDT), according to freelance space writer Richard W. Orloff’s NASA-published Apollo by the Numbers (2000: page 88). The jettison of the service module occurred 191 hours 33 minutes 26 seconds (191:33:26 GET) after liftoff and 29 minutes 57 seconds prior to the command module’s re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

NASA’s Apollo 10 Mission Report explained that firing of the service module’s reaction control system (RCS), after separation, was intended “. . . to insure that the service module would not enter and endanger the command module and the recovery forces” (6.10: page 6-5). Approximately 370 seconds of firing time “. . . should have resulted in a positive velocity change of 370 ft/sec, sufficient to have caused the service module to enter the earth’s atmosphere and then skip out (because of the shallow flight-path angle and near parabolic velocity). The resulting trajectory would either have been a heliocentric orbit or an earth orbit with an apogee in excess of a million miles.”

The service module, however, did not bounce off Earth’s atmosphere for entry into a heliocentric, or sun-centered, orbit. Instead, the service module re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. Its impact point in the Pacific Ocean, at 19.14 degrees south latitude and 173.37 degrees west longitude, was distanced “about 500 miles uprange from the command module.” The service module impacted the South Pacific Ocean southeast of the Vava’u archipelago in the northern Kingdom of Tonga.

The Mission Report found that the effective velocity change after separation could not have been 370 feet per second (fps). The Report calculated that, with “. . . separation attitude and service module weight of 13, 072 pounds, an effective velocity change of only 55 ft/sec would have resulted in an impact at this location.”

Hypothesized scenarios of unstable attitude or premature firing termination were presented and rejected. “Six-degree-of-freedom simulations have shown that tumbling during the firing is very unlikely, and past experience and ground testing of the reaction control thrusters indicate that a premature thrust termination is not probable,” the Mission Report explained. “Although recontact between the two modules was virtually impossible because of the out-of-plane velocity at separation, no conclusive explanation for the uprange impact location can be given at this time” (6.10: pages 6-5 to 6-6).

The takeaway for the Apollo 10 service module’s return to Earth instead of bouncing into a sun-centered orbit is that its unexpected impact point in the South Pacific Ocean fortunately was located approximately 500 miles uprange from the command module’s splashdown.

artist’s concept of Apollo spacecraft’s command module (CM)-service module (SM) separation; NASA ID S66-05101, NASA ID S66-10991: NASA Johnson Space Center via NASA

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Interior view of the John F. Kennedy Space Center’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB) shows transfer of the Apollo 10 mission’s cone-shaped command module and cylindrical-shaped service module to integrated work stand number one for mating to spacecraft LM (lunar module) adapter (SLA), Jan. 31, 1969; NASA ID S69-19190: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S69-19190

artist’s concept of Apollo spacecraft’s command module (CM)-service module (SM) separation; NASA ID S66-05101, NASA ID S66-10991: NASA Johnson Space Center via NASA @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/S66-05101.jpg

For further information:

Cernan, Eugene; and Don Davis. The Last Man on the Moon: Eugene Cernan and America’s Race in Space. New York NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Godwin, Robert, comp. and ed. Apollo 10: The NASA Mission Reports. Second edition. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2000.

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Masursky, Harold; G.W. Colton; and Farouk El-Baz. Apollo Over the Moon: A View From the Orbit. NASA SP-362. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-362/contents.htm

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Command Module, Apollo 10.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Collections > Objects on Display.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/command-module-apollo-10

Stafford, Thomas P.; and Michael Cassutt. We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race. Washington DC: Smithsonian Books, 2002.

Stanley, Will. “The Last Man on the Moon.” Science Museum Blog. Sept. 24, 2013.
Available @ https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/the-last-man-on-the-moon/