Japan plans to launch asteroid sampling mission in 2014, Time to switch from mega-solar projects to small scale
Japan Launching Ambitious Asteroid-Sampling Mission in 2014
Japan?s space agency is readying a new asteroid probe for launch, an ambitious mission that aims to build on the victory of the country?s first round-trip asteroid mission that sent the Hayabusa spacecraft to retrieve samples of the space rock Itokowa.
The new Japanese asteroid mission, called Hayabusa2, is scheduled for launch in 2014 and aimed at the asteroid 1999 JU3, a large space rock about 3,018 feet (920 meters) in length. It is due to arrive at the asteroid in mid-2018, loiter at the space rock and carry out a slew of challenging firsts before departing the scene at the end of 2019.
If all goes well, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft will return to Earth with samples of asteroid 1999 JU3 at the end of 2020. The probe?s name is Japanese for ?Falcon2.?
An artist?s illustration of Japan?s Hayabusa2 probe crashing an impactor into the asteroid 1999 JU3 ahead of sampling the space rock in 2018. CREDIT: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita
There was a recent New York Times piece on the future of asteroid mining ? A Start-Up Sees a Gold Rush Among the Stars. The NYT article gets into the financial feasibility and the technological challenges. Some very bright people including James Cameron and Goggle executives are enthusiastic about the possibilities. Though there are also some scientists who think the scientific and technological breakthrough required for large scale mining may be much further off than the enthusiasts believe. Space craft have been proven able to get to asteroids and bring back samples at least. The initial Hayabusa mission launched in May 2003, returned samples of the asteroid Itokawa. Which were the first asteroid samples ever collected in space ? in June 2010. The top link goes into detail about the Hayabusa2 mission, including how it will make contact, blow out a small crater and collect samples that have not been weathered by space, just below the surface.
This article sounds like me in a cranky mood wondering why we?re not putting more emphasis on individualized solar projects at least in addition to, if not instead of these super large solar farms, Small-scale solar?s big potential goes untapped. Modest-size projects can produce electricity at a lower cost to consumers and the environment, but financing goes to big plants.
The Obama administration?s solar-power initiative has fast-tracked large-scale plants, fueled by low-interest, government-guaranteed loans that cover up to 80% of construction costs. In all, the federal government has paid out more than $16 billion for renewable-energy projects.
Those large-scale projects are financially efficient for developers, but their size creates transmission inefficiencies and higher costs for ratepayers.
Smaller alternatives, from rooftop solar to small- and medium-sized plants, can do the opposite.
Collectively, modest-sized projects could provide an enormous electricity boost ? and do so for less cost to consumers and less environmental damage to the desert areas where most are located, say advocates of small-scale solar power.
Recent studies project that California could derive a substantial percentage of its energy needs from rooftop solar installations, whether on suburban homes or city roofs or atop big-box stores.
One defense of the large projects and loans to large companies is that it created jobs while also fast tracking some new technological development. So it is difficult for me at least to say that such an approach was all bad. Though now is as good a time as any to start to diversify investment in what will become the new energy infrastructure of this century. One of the other factors that made these large corporate solar farms a priority was cost efficiency. The larger the project ? kind of like buying in bulk at the local discount club ? the lower the cost per kilowatt. Much of the technology that was new and expensive just four or five years ago has gotten much cheaper, making roof top solar for homes, big box stores and office parks just as cost efficient as these large projects. On the national level there is little hope ? until the 2014 mi-term elections and getting more pro clean energy representatives in the House ? for any federal incentives for a shift in direction. Conservatives just yesterday proposed holding the debt ceiling hostage in exchange for increasing the Social Security benefit retirement age. These are not the kind of forward thinking or fair minded people that will pass any kind of new solar incentives.
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Can anyone guess what kind of creature is in this photograph. I will give one hint. It is not a snake. You can get the answer here or wait until Monday when I post it.
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