LCROSS - No Lunar Impact Cloud

Early this morning at 1:30 AM, NASA crashed the LCROSS space probe and Centuar rocket booster into the moon. The goal is to confirm whether or not there is water at the polar regions of the moon.

Upon impact the LCROSS booster was supposed to kick up a huge cloud of lunar stuff into the barren air. The smaller LCROSS space probe loaded with sensitive instruments and cameras was supposed to record the impact for 3 to 4 minutes on the way to its own impact with the lunar surface.

There was a lot of media and NASA hype building up this event. The public was told that the stuff kicked up by the vehicle impact would be visible to anyone with a good telescope and certainly to those large ground based scopes and the live TV coming from the LCROSS.

I watched NASA TV early this morning. Sad to report at impact time I saw nothing of the fact. There was no impact cloud of stuff strewn into the air. NASA did get confirmation that both vehicles did impact the moon.

NASA TV was broadcast online as well as on Olelo Channel 56 in Honolulu.

With all the build-up of this event, I was expecting a spectacular explosion like the one that happened a few years ago when a space probe was sent crashing into a comet or when comet fragments impacted Jupiter many years ago.

Regardless, it is hoped that NASA did get some kind of data from this $79 million experiment and that results and photos be released to the public later.

Photo: The moon as photographed by LCROSS, courtesy of NASA.

Creative Students & Their Robots

Hundreds of students from several Hawaii State public schools converged on the State Capitol yesterday for a 21st century style robotics exhibition. Here are kids who are on the cutting edge of technology. Most of them who participate in the program have formed teams where they build robots of all shapes and sizes to perform specific tasks.

There were large robots that were used to lift light objects such as colorful oversized balls to tiny little robots that just did stuff on a small table. Several robots were built from lego sets while others resembled re-assembled Nintendo Game Boys that were tasked with duties ranging from moving small objects around to just racing around a track. A couple of them did their tasks underwater.

Most of the robots were remote controlled, several of which were operated from laptop computers.

The robotics program is being pushed by the Lingle administration as a way for students to become interested in mathematics, science and technology. It is hoped that the skills they learn in the program are carried over into the students' adult lives so that they could one day work and develop new technologies for the future. Whatever the motives, the robotics program can only be good for Hawaii.

Links to additional information

• Robots Rock, Roll at Capitol
• Robotics Students Flex Their Chips
• Hawaii State Robotics Exhibition
• More Photos

These robots are programmed to lift and catch these balls.


Students remote controlling their robots.

Thick Ugly Vog

Honolulu has been looking a lot like Los Angeles lately. Today the sky was filled with the thick volcanic haze known as "Vog" which drifted over 200 miles from the Big Island of Hawaii to blanket the entire State of Hawaii. The thick vog layer is a result of changing winds and the ongoing eruption of Kilauea volcano on the Big Island.

The Big Island's Kilauea volcano has been constantly erupting from the Pu'u'O'o vent since 1983. Millions of cubic yards of red hot lava has spewed out of the volcano and covered many miles of acreage along the southeastern areas of the Big Island. Lava reached the sea many times sending out clouds of hot sulfuric steam into the atmosphere. Some of these clouds have drifted over the islands through the years.

Last month, Kilauea's Halemaumau crater exploded into activity after a vent near a parking lot suddenly erupted sending a huge plume cloud of gas into the sky. The gas eruption started out small and eventually exploded into a larger event over the course of several days. Nearly a month later, the spewing gas has contributed more volume into the air than what Pu'u'O'o apparently delivers.

The island now has two eruptions going. Pu'u'O'o with its lava flows and Halemaumau with its spewing gas cloud. Note that Halemaumau has not had an explosive eruption since 1924. The last lava eruption from Halemaumau occurred in 1968.

The combination of the two eruptions and the shifting winds have created thicker vog and a greater health hazard to many people on the Big Island of Hawaii and throughout the state.

Volcano Links

• Photos: Voggy Sky in Honolulu, 4-25-08
• HVO Volcano Update
  
• Hawaii Volcano Observatory
• Kilauea Volcano
• Pu'u'O'o Volcanic Vent
• County of Hawaii Eruption Update

Kilauea Volcano on a clear, calm day... photo taken June 2005 by Mel. The 2 photos at the top of this article show the thick vog in Downtown Honolulu as seen from the 5th floor of the Hawaii State Capitol.