Public Lecture Reminder

A reminder that the Keck public lecture is tomorrow night…

Astronomy Talk: America’s Space Program – NASA’s Roadmap to Tomorrow’s Missions

Saturn from Above
This portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings was created from images obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10, 2013. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/G. Ugarkovic
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will discuss America’s space program and the challenges the agency faces for the missions of tomorrow. Using a stepping stone approach that builds on the capabilities of our unique orbiting laboratory – the International Space Station – the growing abilities of commercial providers to reach space, and a new rocket and crew vehicle to travel to deep space, NASA is extending human reach into the solar system even as its amazing science missions are rewriting textbooks about our universe and inspiring the next generation of explorers.
The agency currently has spacecraft speeding toward Jupiter and Pluto and roving on Mars, and is searching for planets that could potentially harbor life beyond our solar system. An unprecedented mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to an orbit near to Earth is in the planning stages, and the Space Launch System and Orion Crew vehicle are reaching new milestones in development to take astronauts to an asteroid and on to Mars.

NASA has been a 1/6 partner in the W. M. Keck Observatory since 1996 and it is an honor to offer this program to the community.

Friday March 13, 2015
07:00 pm – 08:00 pm
Kahilu Theatre
Waimea
Free Admission

The Aftermath of the Storm

The storm appears to be waning now, the satellite shows that much of it has passed the island. Not long ago the snowplow crews let it be known that they would not reach the summit today, try again tomorrow as the storm abates.

I did a bit of a photo survey of the summit using MastCam to check on the summit conditions. Poliʻahu rules Mauna Kea!

The Blizzard Continues

The storm continues unabated atop Mauna Kea. Word from the snowplow crews is bad, deep drifts cover the road above the switchbacks. They are stating that it is unlikely our summit crew will be able to access the telescopes today. That will make the second day in a row with no access.

MastCam is still functioning, only half the dome is covered with ice. I have turned the heater on in an attempt to clear what I can. The view it reveals is deeper snow and a lot more ice. The railings on the dome ladders have coatings many inches thick.

Mauna Kea Blizzard
The blizzard continues atop Mauna Kea March 12, 2015

Pineapple

Another experiment in growing tropical fruit… Deb had sprouted a pineapple using the top to one she had bought at the farmers market. With roots showing she asked me to set up a more appropriate home for the plant. That came in the form of a large pot on our front lanai. I was surprised when the pineapple not only survived but thrived. the plant is an attractive pot plant just outside our front door. I have shared some photos of the geckos and anoles that call the plant home.

Then the first signs of blooming appeared… In place of a new leaf a little spiky ball appeared at the center of the plant. This has developed into a very nice looking fruit, a recognizable pineapple covered with little purple blossoms. It is another tropical fruit I never imagined myself growing, one of the interesting things about living in Hawaii.

Now I just need to figure out when to harvest it!

Pineapple
A pineapple in fruit on our front lanai

Why is the Summit Road Closed?

Folks sometimes get a little perturbed when MKSS closes the Mauna Kea summit road. Everyone wants to go up and see the snow. Yes, the road is closed right now, for good reason, there really is no accessible road on the summit at the moment. Not taking my word for it? See for yourself…

Snow Drift
A MastCam image of the snowdrifts covering the road between Keck and IRTF

A Stormy Day

It has been raining all day in Waikoloa, a few tenths in the rain gauge as I left the house for work. In Waimea it is even worse, cool and damp, enough so that everyone is complaining about the cold. But then, island folks complain about anything under 80°.

Money Tree
Raindrops cover the leaves of the money tree
The weather was great for my mother’s visit two weeks ago. She was able to get some sun and beach before returning to the Northwest. Good thing she did not come this last week, nothing but grey skies and rain for the island. The storm is expected to last a few more days.

No progress on the lanai project this weekend, far too wet to paint. The trees in our landscape will like this rain, a steady soaking rain. Likewise the weeds will probably be doing all too well. I can turn off the watering system for a while. This morning’s shower was a tad cooler than I like, need to remember to turn on the electric backup in the solar hot water heater this evening.

Mauna Kea Blizzard

The storm is raging at the summit. The wind is howling and freezing fog is coating everything with ice. The webcam images are mostly blocked as ice covers the camera windows, but I can still see out of one side of MastCam towards the Keck 2 dome.

Just received word that our day crew will not attempt the summit, they are leaving HP and headed home. The rangers report snow drifts on the road at fairly low elevations and the snow plow crews will not attempt to clear the roads until the storm abates. Looks like we will lose cooling on some of the instruments as the liquid nitrogen runs out.

Freezing Fog
Freezing fog forms ice on the weather mast on March 9th, 2015

Video Games Then and Now

For the first time in decades I have been playing a video game.

Growing up, we had a state of the art video game console in the house, an Atari 2600. This machine was impressive… For the late 1970’s. Specifications included color graphics, 160×192 pixel resolution, and monaural sound. My brother and I played for hours, eventually beating some of the joysticks to the point where they required replacement. I mastered Space Invaders, I could play through all of the levels, wrapping back to level 1 for as long as my stamina allowed.

Atari Tanks
Atari tanks game, circa 1978
One of the games bundled with the Atari was Combat, there were four games on the cartridge including a tank game. I look back on that first game, one of the first we played on that console, with a bit of nostalgia. Two tanks maneuvered around a simple obstacle course, with a point awarded for each shot that hit the opponent. The audio was similarly quite simple, a basic growling sound meant to sound like engines and a few sound effects for the shots.

In the intervening decades I have seldom played video games with any great intensity. There was an Apple II space adventure game called Elite that I did play for a while in the 1980’s, but little else.

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