[meteorite-list] Edward Anders on going to the Moon: meteorites, asteroids & politics bonus (was ... 'the poor man's space probe')

From: karmaka <karmaka_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:47:18 +0200 (CEST)
Message-ID: <605702272.987766.1311893238678.JavaMail.fmail_at_mwmweb042>

Thank you for the information, Doug.

I wrote an email to Edward Anders asking him about the phrase.

I hope he will reply.

Best wishes

Martin


-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug at aim.com>
Gesendet: 29.07.2011 00:30:45
An: karmaka at email.de, Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: Edward Anders on going to the Moon: meteorites, asteroids & politics bonus (was ... 'the poor man's space probe')

>Hi List -- While the chemists are having a moment in the Sun-
>
>More on Edward Anders, a colorful personality with incredible
>foresight, who swam with the greats at Chicago during their
>unprecedeted heyday (His colleague Harold Urey 'invented' the term
>"cosmochemistry" and you all know about amino acids and their possible
>relationship to carbonaceous chondrites). Taken in context in 1972,
>very impressive, it could be our discussion today (and he better have a
>good pair of boxing gloves) ;-)
>
>
>Ref: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist (December, 1972) pp. 32-38.
>
>"The first thing we saw on in the Apollo 11 samples was that the soil
>was enriched in about a dozen "meteoritic" elements relative to the
>rocks. The amount corresponded to an admixture of about 1.5 to 2.0 per
>cent meteoritic material. Because the elements ocurred in essentially
>solar proportions we could tell that this material was very primitive,
>similar to carbonaceous chondrites. And this is still true four
>missions later..."
>
>""I have always been rather critical of the manned space program, at
>first because I considered it an extravaganza and later because it
>undercut and weakened our unmanned lunar and planetary programs...But
>now that the money has been spent...Let us face it, manned Lunar
>exploration is probably a one-time adventure for mankind. After the
>Apollo program ends, I think it will take many decades or centuries
>before mankind attempts another manned lunar program. There is a lot
>of fundamental information hidden in the lunar rocks, and as with the
>meteorites, it will take a sustained effort over centuries to extract
>all this information. So we are really gathering samples for future
>generations and the cost of the lunar missions has to be judged from
>this point of view. Therefore it is an opportunity to carry out these
>missions while we still have trained astronauts, technicians, and
>engineers, why not? The ost is something like 50 cents for every man,
>woman and child in the country..."
>
>I opposed asteroid missions because asteroids are probably the only
>celestial bodies [sic.] from which samples are delivered free of charge
>to our door step. It would be quite embarrassing if an expensive
>mission were launched to an asteroid and brought back samples a few
>years later esentially identical to meteorites that have been sitting
>on museum shelves for many years. We would have spent all this money
>to get material that is already on hand.
>
>I would concede one point, namely, that we probably get meteorites only
> from a small fraction of the asteroid population, maybe 10 percent,
>maybe less. More than 90 per cent of the asteroids do not communicarte
>with us. Among those are some oddballs which are quite different from
>the rest. If future work shows that some of these asteroids are keys
>to the mysteries of the solar system, then one can make a case for a
>mission to such an asteroid.
>
>Kindest wishes
>Doug
>PS Next time we go - and we will - it will be with less brawn but at
>least as much brains! Got to love the last quote in light of the DAWN
>mission at Vesta today.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug at aim.com>
>To: karmaka at email.de; Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>Sent: Thu, Jul 28, 2011 5:39 pm
>Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Who invented the phrase 'the poor man's
>space probe'?
>
>
>... nothing but a 'poor man's space probe' launched unceremoniously
>somewhere in the asteroidal belt sometime during the last two billion
>years [sic.] ...?
>?
>1960 - Dr. Edward Anders?
>Univ. of Chicago?
>?
>... unless Nininger said something similar earlier!?
>?
>Best wishes?
>Doug?
>?
>-----Original Message-----?
>From: karmaka <karmaka at email.de>?
>To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com?
>Sent: Thu, Jul 28, 2011 4:37 pm?
>Subject: [meteorite-list] Who invented the phrase 'the poor man's space
>probe'??
>?
>Dear list members,?
>?
>Does anyone know who was the first who called a meteorite 'the poor
>man's space?
>probe"??
>?
>Best regards?
>?
>Martin?
>?
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>
Received on Thu 28 Jul 2011 06:47:18 PM PDT