The Cheese Has Landed

One small step for a cheddar, one giant leap for cheesekind

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a group of cheesemakers launched a 300g (10.58 oz) wedge of cheddar over 18 miles into the skies over England.

Here is the tale from “Mission Control” at the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers:

Cheddarnaut lands in one piece

Members of the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers group breathed a sigh of relief today as the extra-mature handmade Cheddar launched into space on Tuesday 28th July, was found safe and sound by a Buckinghamshire resident, and handed in to Thames Valley Police.

Organizers of the launch believe the cheese, and its specially-designed capsule built by the dairy farmers at a secret location in the West Country, did indeed achieve its space-bound objective as the large weather balloon used specifically to take the pod up to the 100,000 feet had burst, and the parachute had engaged, guiding the 300g wedge safely back to earth.

Discovered late last night in the Cressex area of High Wycombe by a resident who wishes to remain anonymous, the pod was handed in to local police officer Detective Constable Jane James, who notified the cheesemakers group. Final calculations suggest the pioneering cheese travelled 439,927.822 feet from launch to landing site…no mean feat for an 18-month old no matter how mature!

The capsule carried digital camera equipment and a GPS satellite tracking device, but the latter failed to send any signals back to earth and so far the camera has not displayed any images from the flight.

The rest of the cheesy saga:

Healthcare worker Leonie Gould, 56, discovered a mysterious…thingy…in the back garden of her Woodland Close home on her return from a 14-hour shift at Wycombe Hospital.

She called police fearing the foil-covered, Wallace and Gromit-styled invention was a suspect package.

Intrepid Cheddarnaut poses with instrument package

Mrs. Gould said:

I was at work when I spoke to my husband on the phone and he said a parcel was in the garden. I said “a parcel? I haven't ordered anything.”

I forgot all about it, got home and then my husband reminded me about the parcel.

I went out there and I was shocked to find this nine inch-long box, covered in foil with a cheese attached to an aerial.

I didn't know what it was or where it came from, so I ran inside and called the police.

When the officers arrived, they just laughed and explained about the cheese-launch mission.

Mrs. Gould added:

It's a bit strange!

Dom Lane from the mission team said:

We got a call from the police who said a resident found the cheese in the garden of their High Wycombe home, so I rushed out straight away to pick it up.

Unfortunately the camera didn't work and therefore we don't have any pictures from the mission but the weather balloon burst according to plan, everyone has had a great time and to get it up there at all is a wonderful feat, so we're delighted.

We're very grateful and pleased that the resident handed in the cheese – we will be sending them a box of cheese as a thank you present.”

Philip Crawford, chairman of the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers group, added:

We are thrilled to announce the success of our space odyssey.

We feel we have appropriately marked the 40th anniversary of the first man on the moon in our own way with a first for cheese.

We are also incredibly touched by the public support for the safe return of the Cheddarnaut and are delighted that people are as proud of this West Country food icon as we are.

There is, as yet, no word as to whether the Cheddarnaut plans a book on the history-making voyage.

Apollo Moon Landers Photographed By Lunar Orbiter

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images historic Moon landing sites

Vehicles, instruments, astronaut footprints visible

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has returned its first imagery of the Apollo moon landing sites. The pictures show the Apollo missions' lunar module descent stages sitting on the moon's surface, as long shadows from a low sun angle make the modules' locations evident.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, was able to image five of the six Apollo sites, with the remaining Apollo 12 site expected to be photographed in the coming weeks.

The satellite reached lunar orbit June 23 and captured the Apollo sites between July 11 and 15. Though it had been expected that LRO would be able to resolve the remnants of the Apollo mission, these first images came before the spacecraft reached its final mapping orbit. Future LROC images from these sites will have two to three times greater resolution.

All images credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle.
Image width: 282 meters (about 925 ft.)
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Apollo 15 lunar module, Falcon.
Image width: 384 meters (about 1,260 ft.)
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Apollo 16 lunar module, Orion.
Image width: 256 meters (about 840 ft.)
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Apollo 17 lunar module, Challenger.
Image width: 359 meters (about 1,178 ft.)
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Apollo 14 lunar module, Antares.
Image width: 538 meters (about 1,765 ft.)
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"The LROC team anxiously awaited each image," said LROC principal investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University. "We were very interested in getting our first peek at the lunar module descent stages just for the thrill -- and to see how well the cameras had come into focus. Indeed, the images are fantastic and so is the focus."

This photograph shows Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin in front of the lunar module. The photo helps provide a scale to the LROC images shown above. Credit: NASA/Neil Armstrong › Larger image

Although these pictures provide a reminder of past NASA exploration, LRO's primary focus is on paving the way for the future. By returning detailed lunar data, the mission will help NASA identify safe landing sites for future explorers, locate potential resources, describe the moon's radiation environment and demonstrate new technologies.

"Not only do these images reveal the great accomplishments of Apollo, they also show us that lunar exploration continues," said LRO project scientist Richard Vondrak of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "They demonstrate how LRO will be used to identify the best destinations for the next journeys to the moon."

The spacecraft's current elliptical orbit resulted in image resolutions that were slightly different for each site but were all around four feet per pixel. Because the deck of the descent stage is about 12 feet in diameter, the Apollo relics themselves fill an area of about nine pixels. However, because the sun was low to the horizon when the images were made, even subtle variations in topography create long shadows. Standing slightly more than ten feet above the surface, each Apollo descent stage creates a distinct shadow that fills roughly 20 pixels.

The image of the Apollo 14 landing site had a particularly desirable lighting condition that allowed visibility of additional details. The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package, a set of scientific instruments placed by the astronauts at the landing site, is discernable, as are the faint trails between the module and instrument package left by the astronauts' footprints.

Launched on June 18, LRO carries seven scientific instruments, all of which are currently undergoing calibration and testing prior to the spacecraft reaching its primary mission orbit. The LROC instrument comprises three cameras -- two high-resolution Narrow Angle Cameras and one lower resolution Wide Angle Camera. LRO will be directed into its primary mission orbit in August, a nearly-circular orbit about 31 miles above the lunar surface.

Goddard built and manages LRO, a NASA mission with international participation from the Institute for Space Research in Moscow. Russia provided the neutron detector aboard the spacecraft.

Related Link:
› Additional information on LROC

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Supplemental Material

This graphic shows the approximate locations of the Apollo moon landing sites.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
› Larger image
› View animation

Mars Update to Google Earth

Mars' Valles Marineris Credit: NASA/Google Earth

NASA and Google announce an update to Mars in Google Earth, a 3D mapping tool for the Red Planet.

Originally released with Google Earth 5.0, Mars in Google Earth now contains even more features that give users a sense of how our knowledge of Mars, and our study of astronomy, has evolved over time.  After selecting 'Mars' from the toolbar in Google Earth, users “fly” to a 3D view of the Red Planet, complete with informational layers, imagery, and terrain.  The tools for navigation and exploration on Mars are identical to those on Earth - zoom in and out, change the camera view, or spin the entire planet with a click of the mouse.

There are several new features in this updated version of Mars in Google Earth:

First, users can “travel back in time” to see the Red Planet through the eyes of the pioneers of Mars science in the Historical Maps layer by exploring antique maps by astronomers Giovanni Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell, and others .

Then, they can fast-forward to the present day with the new Live from Mars layer, featuring a continuous stream of the latest imagery from today's Mars spacecraft.  Live from Mars includes imagery from NASA's THEMIS camera on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, and lets users fly along with Odyssey as well as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to see what they have been observing lately and where they are headed next.

Users can discover these, and other exciting features—and learn all about the history of Mars science and exploration—with two new guided tours of Mars narrated by Ira Flatow of Public Radio's Science Friday and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

You may wish to view the narrated tutorial here or here.

Mars in Google Earth also contains several updated elements, in addition to the many popular features that were available at the original launch:

Updated imagery from NASA and ESA, and improved the search function to make it easier to explore well-known sites on Mars.  Just as they could in the original version of Mars in Google Earth, users can read geo-located articles from William K. Hartmann’s A Traveler's Guide to Mars about the solar system's largest canyon, Valles Marineris, its tallest volcano, Olympus Mons, the infamous “Face on Mars”, and many other famous Martian locations.  They can also follow the paths of Mars rovers and view hi-resolution panoramic photos of the Mars surface.

British May Launch Spaceplane Within 10 Years

Single-Stage-To-Orbit spacecraft would use runways for take-off and landing

Illustration of Skylon spaceplane in orbit

The European Space Agency and the British Government have awarded $1.28 million dollars to Reaction Engines Limited as part of a multi-million dollar package aimed at developing the SABRE hybrid engine. The SABRE engine is capable of operating as both an air-breathing jet engine and a rocket engine.

SABRE engines would make possible the 269-foot-long Skylon Spaceplane, capable of taking off from and landing on a runway like any airliner, (the Boeing 747-300 is 231 feet long). However, after take-off, Skylon will ascend high above the Earth where at Mach 5.5 Skylon’s SABRE engines will switch from air-breathers to rockets, propelling the craft into orbit.

With a payload capacity of 13 tons and a 40-foot cargo bay, Skylon will be capable of hefting satellites and orbital base (space) station modules into orbit. There are even plans for a 40-passenger payload module for astronauts or space tourists.

Computer-generated Skylon Spaceplane animations may be viewed at REL’s website in QuickTime or Flash.