RIP Niel Armstrong

The moon is 384,400 kilometers away from Earth. It is the farthest mankind has ever been. And yet to our minds it seemed so near. Thanks to Neil Armstrong who took us there with his first step.

The most famous astronaut died yesterday due to heart complications. And while I can choose to write about his life or about what he has contributed to history in memory of him, I would not. Since that is what you will all get in the news most probably. So I will tell about an urban legend about one of Armstrong's quotable qoutes. It has been going around in e-mails for years.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leep for mankind." Everybody heard that. It is certainly the most famous line from NASA but not that one. Everyone in NASA knew has was going to say that. But what puzzled some is the other quote he said.

According to legend he was going back inside the lander when he said "Good luck Mr. Gorsky".  Many who heard it thought it was a smirk for the Russian cosmonauts. But over time, people who were more puzzled than the others searched more on who Mr. Gorsky was. It turns out that it was not for the Russians because there was no cosmonaut named Mr. Gorsky. People kept asking Armstrong about what was that all about but he only replied with a grin. Until in July 1995 when he was asked again after a speech he made. His answer was not expected by anyone in that room.

He said that Mr. Gorsky has died so felt he can now answer that question. Mr. Gorsky was his neighbor when he was a kid in a small mid town. And one day in 1938, while playing baseball with friends in a backyard, the ball was hit hard enough to land in Mr. & Mrs. Gorsky's yard near the bedroom window. As he leaned down to pick up the ball. The young Niel Armstrong back then heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting to Mr. Gorsky - "Sex?! All you want is oral sex! You will get one when that kid next door walks on the moon."

He remembered that while in the moon and thus he said "Goodluck Mr. Gorsky".

Most likely not true but whether or not, I find it amusing to pass along in memory of Mr Armstrong(and also to Mr. Gorsky). May they rest in peace.

We're NASA and We Know It

Just saw a parody nasa video that was uploaded yesterday. Geeky lyrics, astronaut break-dance with Niel DeGrasse Tyson - not bad really.

Monsoons Over Manila

As the greater part of Luzon, particularly Metro Manila, is being tormented with torrential rainfall for the past days, I worry for those who are displaced due to flooding. Reports on the continuing aftermath is all over TV  news for the last couple days now. At the same time, I also worry for my apartment - just a few more inches to the flood level outside the gate will bring the water inside my room. I cant help tune in to radio stations for updates as well as check the PAGASA's website to check their changes in the forecast.

I found that there are some of interesting new stuffs from PAGASA/DOST website. The Project NOAH is one and it's gives interesting info, like flood maps. This page can be really helpful for information. Someone can use it to check how flooded a particular area can be based from its historical records. I believe that these initiatives came from the hard lessons of Typhoon Ondoy in 2009.

Another thing I noticed is PAGASA has also improved the info they disseminate to the public (or perhaps they improved forecasting models they use). Anyone can remember that before Typhoon Ondoy, the usual weather report we hear from the agency is the usual - manaka-nakang pag-ulan at pagkidlat. But now we  can rely on better info because they now give more details like amount and time of rainfall to expect and they now issue the public color coded warnings of rainfall volume.

I was also wondering about the PAGASA satellite images showing overview of the monsoons. I am under the impression that our government doesn't own a satellite. I searched around where this images are from. We get them from the foreign geostationary satellites, mostly from the Japanese MTSAT-EIR Satellite. 

In fact the only Philippines territory in space was one communications satellite named Agila 2. Although we have lost lost ownership of this satellite since 2008.

Agila 2 was launched into orbit in August 20, 1997 and is expected to have a mission lifetime of 15 years. That is this coming August 20. After this expiration date, we can expect that our Agila 2, will become bits and one of space junk cluttering in out planets inner orbit.

Agiila 2 

As we can say goodbye to our only and former satellite, we should also ask if we need a replacement? I say YES. It will helpful in a lot of ways and not only for weather forecasting but also for:

1. For national security and defense. Given prevailing threat from bullying China, the Philippines should control its own reconnaissance(like in Panatag Shoal) and advanced communications.
2. For reliable automated election results come next year.
3. For the growing cellphone and internet appetite of the Filipinos.
4. For economic advancement. Our neighboring countries like Indonesia has nine satellites; Malaysia has four; Singapore, nine; and Thailand, five. Even Vietnam now controls and profitably operates its own satellite and will launch a second this year.

And while our government alone will have difficulty putting this in the priority list, I think that giant local companies (PLDT, ABSCBN, GMA,Globe and Smart telecoms etc) can help launch a new one  and not only to gain for their own purpose but as well a sense a patriotism for the country.

Red Planet Welcomes our Curiosity

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, also known as "Curiosity," is ready to touchdown this week and expected to land Mars August 6. I wonder if it will still send the same pictures like from the first rover.

I remember an old commercial I saw when i was little about the rover. So I dug around so i can post here.

 

Mars Mission - HP Commercial -

Expect the martians to con us again with printed pictures hence expect same old pictures from curiosity.