Scientific Proficiency, Amateur Passion Make for Stellar 'Year of Astronomy'

By George Berkheimer, STAFF WRITER

Space exploration has come a long way since Galileo first put his eye to an astronomical telescope 400 years ago and discovered Jupiter's moons.
Today, earthbound humans are capable of driving remote controlled Go Karts around the surface of Mars and smashing satellite probes into permanently darkened targets inside lunar craters with pinpoint accuracy - all in the name of science, of course.
In celebration of Galileo and all of the explorers he inspired, the United Nations proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy. It is turning out to be a fitting year, in part owing to some fresh lunar research accomplishments made possible by contributions from The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL) in Laurel.
It is also shaping up to be a fitting year thanks to efforts by the Howard Astronomical League (HAL) to share the wonders of astronomy with anybody willing to visit a Howard County park on a clear night. But more on that in a moment.
On Oct. 23, more than 100 Howard County middle school students got a near-real time view of APL's scientific prowess during the annual Space Academy program sponsored by APL and the Science Channel.
The panelists presenting this year's program are currently participating in two unprecedented lunar missions: NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which crashed a spent rocket stage and a probe into a crater on the moon; and the Goddard Space Flight Center's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which carries the Mini-RF Small Aperture Radar package designed by APL to map the moon's surface and determine its composition.

Mission Support
On Oct. 9, APL was part of the action when the LCROSS probe crashed into the crater Cabaeus near the moon's South Pole. "We used APL's 60-foot dish ground station to relay commands and receive telemetry from the craft to help determine its position," said Helene Winters, program manager for the Mini-RF mission.
Both LCROSS and the LRO are part of preliminary work being undertaken as part of NASA's goal to return humans to the moon by 2020.
Ben Bussey, who was NASA's program scientist for oversight on LCROSS and serves as principal investigator for the Mini-RF, explained that both missions are looking for water on the moon that could be used by future explorers for drinking water or to make rocket fuel.
"We know it's there, but unless we find it in a certain amount, it's not going to be economical to get it," Bussey said. At the moment, it costs roughly $50,000 to deliver one pint of water to the moon.
Whereas LCROSS ejected lunar soil from a permanently shaded crater into hot sunlight and used a probe to try to detect water vapor, the Mini-RF is being used to analyze the grain scale of the soil. "We need to know how hard it is to drill into ... because it's hard to go mining at temperatures of -230 degrees Celsius," Bussey said.
APL's Mini-RF was used to select the LCROSS target, and it also will be used to study the impact craters for signs of subsurface ice. Analysis of the LCROSS mission data should be completed by the middle of November, when NASA is expected to announce its findings.
According to Winters, APL is also currently involved in studying technology that will be used in the future to make soft landings on the moon, including NASA's Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) system that will help astronauts make more precise landings.

Science as a Hobby
The price tag for the LCROSS mission was $79 million and the ongoing LRO mission amounts to about $491 million.
That's a costly dowsing expedition, but astronomy actually remains one of the few sciences in which amateurs can still make significant contributions right in their own backyards with relatively little outlay. In fact, armchair astronomers across the globe have contributed volumes of information about the universe simply by logging into remote telescopes through their laptops, scanning the night sky and tipping off researchers when they find new supernovas.
Many amateur astronomers prefer the hands-on experience, however, and the local region happens to be home to the only storefront telescope shops in Maryland.
Hands On Optics, in Damascus, carries a wide selection of brand name telescopes and accessories, as does The Sky Plus of Mount Airy, which is open by appointment only.
But for the most serious amateur astronomers, Company 7 in Laurel is one of the area's best kept secrets. The high-end optic shop sells professional scopes on consignment and deals internationally with foreign governmental agencies and research facilities looking for upmarket or custom built equipment.
How specialized is Company 7? "We were consultants on STS-61, the very first NASA Hubble Space Telescope repair mission carried out by a space shuttle crew back in 1993," said owner Marty Cohen. His company also provided support of mission critical aspects of the NASA International Comet Halley Watch in 1986.

Free for All?
Even if the price of a modest refractor scope or a good pair of binoculars is out of reach, astronomy enthusiasts are always eager to share their passion for the night sky.
HAL welcomes the public to its monthly star parties at Alpha Ridge Park and other locations throughout Howard County. It is also working with the county Department of Recreation and Parks to find a publicly accessible home for the Watson Telescope, a unique, one-of-a-kind professional instrument built in the 1930s or '40s and used by Johns Hopkins University Astronomer Paul Watson.
"We acquired it from the Baltimore Astronomical Society when they disbanded, and we have completely restored it," said Joel Goodman, a Glenelg dentist who chairs the league's observatory committee. HAL has already acquired a pre-fabricated observatory building, but still needs a concrete pad on which to set it up.
Howard County Council Chairwoman Mary Kay Sigaty (D-Dist. 4), who happened to be one of HAL's five founding members in 1999, said county officials are excited about the prospect of a partnership to establish the county's first public observatory.
"It will be a good [complement] to the planned planetarium at the Robinson Nature Center," she said.
Although the county currently has no available funding to provide a concrete slab for the observatory at Alpha Ridge Park, "We're going to be constructing restrooms there soon and it would be economical to have both projects completed at the same time," Sigaty said.
Still, current business before the council includes the transfer of $400,000 in excess capital project funds from the Robinson Nature Center to Meadowbrook Park. "There's always the possibility that a similar opportunity might arise in the near future to make this possible now instead of waiting for the Fiscal Year 2011 budget process," she said.