I LIVVVVEEEE...

It has been well over a year since I posted, and for that, I apologize. My life has changed a lot in the last year. I have completed my undergraduate career, received my degrees in Communication and Chemistry, and begun the elusive job hunt.

I figured there was no better time for me to relaunch Scitidbits. The United States and the world recently celebrated the 45th anniversary of the first man on the moon. July 20, 1969 was an amazing day in human history - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first two men to step onto the surface of the moon. Below is a photo of the National Geographic from December 1969, just months after the landing.

            "Mankind entered a new era at Tranquility Base - an era in which travel will be reckoned not in thousands of miles but in millions and billions.  Space is an endless frontier for our children, and for all future generations."

                        -Dr. Thomas Paine, National Geographic December 1969

While I am still in awe of this major human accomplishment, it also reminds me of how far NASA has fallen - to just below 0.5 percent of the Federal budget. This has to change because the vastness that is outer space still offers us a multitude of things to discover, and great unknowns that are still to be explored.

            "... To what goals in space would we now commit ourselves as a Nation?"

                        -Dr. Thomas Paine, National Geographic December 1969

Dr. Paine said it well then, and I believe it remains a fair question - "To what goals in space would we now commit ourselves to as a Nation?" In the past years, we have continued to send scientists and astronauts to the International Space Station, but the STS-135 mission using the Atlantis space shuttle on July 8, 2011, was the last time we launched our astronauts ourselves.

There are many exciting new missions in store for NASA - this includes capturing an asteroid and bringing it back to orbit the moon for research and study purposes, sending astronauts to the same asteroid, even launching another rover to Mars in 2020 to further research, and hopefully, eventually getting people to Mars and back.

Private industry is also developing some interesting opportunities. Space X has been delivering supplies to the International Space Station the past few years, and Google has an initiative, the Google Lunar X Prize, that directly involves the moon.  This competition is to be completed by December 31, 2015 and features a huge monetary prize to the team that completes a series of challenges first. These challenges include landing a rover on the moon, moving 500 meters on, above, or below the Moon's surface, and sending back HD video from the surface of the moon. There are currently 18 teams still in the running for the prize, and you can read about their progress on the individual team blogs. Mars One is obviously the private, non-profit organization that has received the most media attention. They intend to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars, and begin sending astronauts to Mars by 2024.

So here's to space, to continuing human curiosity, and to further exploration into our vastly unknown solar system and universe!

Molybdenum - Element of the Week 4/19/13 - 7/22/14

Element 42. Douglas Adams would be a big fan of this element's number (if you don't understand the reference - click here). This is a silvery, metallic element that was discovered in 1778 by Carl William Scheele, a Swedish chemist who also isolated oxygen (even though he didn't get the credit). Scheele did his research on an ore that contained the element. The first person who produced molybdenum metal was Peter Jacob Hjelm, who produced an impure form in 1782 or 1781.

The name molybdenum comes from the Greek word "molybdos" meaning "lead." There are 35 known isotopes of molybdenum. It is the 54th most abundant element on Earth and the 25th in the universe! Much of the use of molybdenum is in alloys.

Molybdenum has some uses. One of the most bizarre is that molybdenum powder is used as a fertilizer for cauliflower, and an unstable isotope, molybdenum-99, is used to manufacture technetium-99, which is an isotope used in nuclear medical imaging. Molybdenum is also used some in solar cell creation because it remains fairly inert (non-reactive) even under the temperatures needed (greater than 500 Celcius) to make a solar cell.

Molybdenum is also an essential element of human nutrition., but no one is quite sure why. They believe that molybdenum may be involved in the formation of the nervous system and responsible for energy production in our cells. There have also been studies where molybdenum has helped reduce the harmful effects of certain cancer drugs (in animals of course). Read more -here.

Molybdenite, which is the ore that most molybdenum is extracted out of, was actually just featured on the news. You can read about it -here.

The Next Great Space Race?

The United States

Hearing about space from me is, at this point, probably less than shocking. This week though, I am going to be telling all of you about the plans that the United States has for its space program in the next decade or so. I will also be telling you all about Russia's plans, though they seem a little more fantastical and perhaps less realistic.

            While the budget for their project has not been approved yet (thanks Congress), the 2014 budget that President Obama released included a bizarre plan by NASA. It would seem that NASA wants to "shrink-wrap" an asteroid and drag it back to the vicinity of Earth for study.

Begin watching around 2:20 for the "Shrink-wrap mission"

            As you know, NASA's original plan was to send astronauts into deep space and have them anchor onto an asteroid and study it there. Apparently (and understandably), there are a lot of things standing in the way of this being a plausible option. Some of these hindrances include the fact that we don't have rockets powerful enough, NASA's budget could not handle the expenses, and that we have no way to protect or preserve astronauts in deep space. Read more about that plan - here.

            Due to the above factors, scientists have come up with an alterative method, one that would involve using the telescopes that orbit Earth to identify a relatively small asteroid (somewhere in the vicinity of 500 tons). Once an asteroid that met the criteria was found, NASA would send a ship with an inflatable cone on the front to the asteroid. The cone would inflate, engulf the asteroid, and then deflate around it. After capturing the asteroid, the ship would drag it back to Earth's system and put it in orbit around the moon. The estimated costs of this mission are around $2.6 billion. It is expected that the plan will be opposed in Congress, as many members would like to see NASA's focus elsewhere.

Photo from NPR

            Bringing space to us! This is a very cool prospect, but it brings to mind the book "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer. I read this book back in maybe middle school or junior high, but it is an interesting concept. In this series, the moon was hit by an asteroid and forced closer to Earth, which messes up everything! Now, I don't mean to be negative, but I am worried about some seemingly small miscalculation that could send this asteroid Earth's way instead of being safely placed in the moon's orbit. I also wonder if something of this size could actually affect us. The asteroid is supposed to be around 500 tons, and the moon is supposed to be approximately 81 billion tons (explanation of number - here), so it is unlikely.

Russia

            According to Popular Science, Russia (or at least President Vladimir Putin) wants to funnel more than $50 billion into their space program within the next several years. This announcement came on the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's launch into space! The plan seems to be to modernize the Russian space system - a new launch point in the next two years, a manned launch in the next five years, a permanent moon base at some point, and wait for it... "the ability to take out threats from other countries through space." Hold the phones! I am fairly certain that there are laws against that kind of thing (read the UN treaty - here). And not only that, it is a terrifying prospect. Can you imagine if space became militarized?!? It brings to mind Starship troopers, Ender's Game, and..oh, I don't know... maybe the end of the world? Maybe space will be the final frontier - emphasis on final. Excuse my Star Trek joke, and to be honest the plans are very vague. Therefore,  I am not that worried about it now. But it is something to be watched.

NASA Budget article - here

Cool slideshow of the plan - here

Russia's (not yet well defined plans) - here