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HELLO READERS!

As I am typing this I am in the class room  where I am doing the last five hours of my art GCSE exam.

I have finished my painting and I am now working on my portfolio to hand in.

This is my first GCSE so I am hoping it goes well!

Fingers crossed!

Elliott E

In recent news, Barack Obama has declared that he expects man to reach Mars in the mid 2030’s. He has also declared that he wants to delay the International Space Stations’ (ISS) shutting down from 2016 to 2020 and he wants commercial companies to takeover the ISS so people can go for day trips into space. Personally, I think this is a very good idea. There is still allot of work we could do on board the ISS and it is also a great symbol of what man has achieved during the past 40 years and for people to burn it up in the atmosphere would be a great shame. The idea of selling it to a commercial company is also a very good idea, and if they get some money out of it, they could fund other missions and possibility other space stations to sell, get more men into to space, make a profit and so on.

The idea of going to mars, I think, is a bad idea for the time being. I know he would like it to look like the next step but we need to restrict our selves. Just heading off to mars would be a bit like the Apollo missions. Great achievement, brilliant for our self esteem but, after a few visits, would just seem like a waist of money and would turn into page 3 news and eventually would lead to no more great missions or discoveries. I think we should work towards getting back to the moon, but this time, more of a permanent base. Each mission would be a mainly like Apollo, but with the lander, we could take down small bases, about the size of a small flat. It wouldn’t be much but with seven missions (The same amount they did in Apollo), you would practically have a small town on the moon with solar panels to create electricity. It would take allot of fuel and cost a bit of money but I doubt it would be much more than a base on Mars. According to a random accident in a lab, if you mix moon dust and oxygen at the right temperature and the right pressure, you get WATER! With this moon water, you could grow plants, have small animals living of the plants and create a small ecosystem. Now, again, this would be difficult and costly but it would cost less than building one on mars. Also, using these moon bases, we could bring the good old moon rovers that were left on the moon back into use. They cost allot of money and it would be ashamed to waist them. People are planning to mine for gold on the Moon so the rovers would be a good way of getting the astronauts from the town to the mine and back. So, with my little plan, man kind could build a town on the moon with astronauts on moon buggy driving around, a little garden like building to provide food, pipes with running water flowing to the houses and wires flowing electricity into the houses and possibly even mines digging for metals that could be used to make more rockets to go off into the solar system. It may sound a little science fiction, but this wouldn’t cost much more than Obama’s plan of going into orbit around Mars, coming back, going back out again, landing on Mars, making a “TEMPORARY” base that would eventually be abandoned and get destroyed by Mars’ weather and then the men come back home and it would lead to no further missions. Yes, a base on the moon isn’t the cheapest thing in the world and I doubtwe’ll have people living and working on the moon any time soon. But it would be cheaper than a Mars mission and would open many more opportunities. Including, going to Mars at a much cheaper price.

The moon is only three days away while Mars is, give or take a few, 260 days so it would be much easier and quicker to get to the moon. Also, because of the moons close proximity to the Earth, outer world trade would be alloteasier if we set a permanent base on the moon instead of Mars. Also, because the gravity on the moon is so weak and there is no atmosphere (or very close to being none), it would make traveling out into the solar system allot easier, cheaper and allot safer than blasting off from a world like the Earth or Mars. The reason it would be cheaper is that, because of the low gravity, we would need less fuel to take the same amount of wait of something like a satellite or space station. The reason it would be safer is a combination of lack of atmosphere and low gravity. Re entry is a big problem on Earth and we have lost astronauts this way. The low gravity means that you need (as I have recently said) less fuel. This means that if something dose go wrong, the disaster will be a less of a threat than if you had a problem on something like the Space Shuttle or Saturn V. George W. Bush said that the moon is our gateway to the cosmos, making space travel cheaper and earlier. But he didn’t manage it, but if Barack tries with the new budget he’s given NASA’s space program, I’m sure there’ll be a moon base and it will revolutionise man kinds economy, as well as our scientific understanding of the solar system.

To see the BBC news report on this story, click here. The BBC want you to show your opinion on this matter. Please click here to get your opinion heard by the BBC.

As Obama is planning these new missions, I would also like you to view your opinion on what America should do, whether you think we shouldn’t go into space or whether you think we should go to Mars or the Moon, please comment and show your opinion and maybe we could make a really good ideas of what we should be done with NASA’s increased budget.

Thanks for reading.

Elliott E

Hello All!

This week I went on a holiday to Kent in our camper van Dinky. The main reason for this is that Kent is home to Charles Darwin, famous geologist and author of “On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection”. As many of you may know, 2009 is the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and I have had a very Darwin packed year. First of all I went to Darwin’s birthday celebrations in his home town of Shrewsbury (Link to blog post) and I went on to have a leading role in a group of Darwin plays all around Shrewsbury celebrating different stages of his life. I later went to ”The Beagle Ball”, a group of dance workshops followed by a big ball with a even bigger buffet. All this means that I have grown interested in the theory of natural selection and all his other works he did throughout his life. When I went to his home (Down House) I felt very privileged to be walking in the footsteps of one of the best science brains that has ever lived. The upstairs of the house had been turned into a museum of Darwin’s work and his family life. One exhibition room was the one that used to be his bedroom and was the room Darwin died in. To me, this seemed a shame because this house is celebrating Darwin’s life yet the room he spent his last moments in has been modernised to the extent that you couldn’t imagine him in there. Downstairs on the other hand had been restored to its original condition. The games room, Dining Room, Drawing room and Darwin’s study were all restored to their former glory using some of the original furniture, books and paintings. The drawing room was the one I spent allot of my time in. I have heard how Emma (Charles’ wife) used to play to Charles on the piano as he thought. I could imagine him sitting in the big armchair listening to her music. I also enjoyed his study because I had the opportunity to stand in the same room and see the chair were one of the most influential books ever written was created. Darwin’s later study has now been converted into the reception and gift shop. Like his bedroom, it is a shame that it has been transformed but it did allow me to buy something!

“From So Simple a Beginning” is a collection of four of Darwin’s greatest books, “The Voyage of the Beagle”, “On the Origin of Species”, “The Descent of Man” and “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals”. It is a very thick book and I don’t think I will finnish it in a hurry but we’ll just have to see how I get on.

I later went into the garden where Darwin did most of his experiments. Thanks to an audio tour, I learned all about his experiments with earth worms, in-breeding plans and his experiments into the constant battle between animals and flora. One of the best bits of the entire garden was the Sand Walk. This is a path Darwin went down five times a day to think and to get some exercise. The path had a great view and it was full of lovely wildlife including squirrels and I managed to see my first wild deer!

After the visit to “Down House” we spent the night at a local camper van site. The next morning we went to Howletts Zoo to see the wildlife. It was a lovely experience and it tied in well with Darwin as I saw all the Gorillas, Monkeys and lemurs that are so closely related to us.

I had a really great time in Kent and it was brilliant to go to Darwin’s house and to see all the amazing animals at the zoo.

Thank you for reading, please comment and tell me what you think.

Elliott E

Hello, Elliott E here, sorry about the long wait the website has been having some server problems.

Anyway, In the news recently there has been a lot about Nasa’s new Ares X rocket. Nasa says it will replace the current space shuttle and one day it will take us to Mars.

How the hell do they think they are going to do all this? For starters, Nasa are considering putting the International Space Station (ISS) out of commission in 2012, therefor, “Ares X” cannot be used to take people from the Earth into the ISS. So, what about going to Mars? Well, estimates for how much it would cost to fly a small probe to mars come to somewhere around 550 billion US dollars. Mildly costly, but there are worse problems, the main problem is that it would take six years to get to mars and six years to get back. Nasa says it will be a long stay, about a year so that all notches it up to 13 years in space. Who do you know who would spend six years in a small metal box, then spend another year either inside an even a smaller box or a heavy space suit and then spend six more years traveling back in the same box you have been living in for the past seven years. NOBODY! Even knowing that you will step on mars I don’t know anybody who would do such a thing. I wouldn’t waste twelve years of my life so I could spend a year in a claustrophobic suit knowing that the slightest rip would result in certain death.

So, what about the Moon. I mean, the Apollo 11 mission cost 1.75 billion dollars in today’s money. Now, Nasa says they have based their rocket on the Apollo moon lander so it will cost around the same, or will it? The fact of the matter is, health and safety is bound to get in the way of things. During the space race, nobody cared as long as they were the first to get to the moon so as soon as something looked like it was in working order, they stuck three men inside it, crossed their fingers and pressed the launch button. Now, I am glad that heath and safty is being involved because many young men died in those rockets. But people can’t keep promising us that we will soon be walking around on Mars.

George W Bush once said “Today I announce a new plan to extend a human presence across our solar system. Beginning no later than 2008, we will send a series of robots to the lunar surface to research and prepare for future, human, exploration with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods of time…” Now, I’m not sure but have there been any probes going to the moon recently? No, Nasa have bombarded the moon with some kind of satellite/missile hybrid to see if there is any water at the poles but that sort of thing will only work once (and to be honest, not very well) and then they will have to build a new probe to destroy. What they could do is have a sort of mars rover but on the moon. Going around, collecting rock, dust and water samples and try and discover water. These would last for extended periods of time and would actually work longer than those on Mars due to there being no dust storms to cover the solar panels to stop them working.

All these issues mean that Nasa can’t afford and wont be able to use its new, reusable rocket and all the money they spent on it could have been put to much more realistic usage.

So, what do you think on Nasa’s new rocket and do you have any ideas how Nasa could have used the money more wisely. If so please comment, it will be great to hear your opinion.

This is Elliott E signing out.

Hello all! Small news update.

A brilliant underwater erupting volcano! Spewing smoke and gas into the sky this underwater volcano has created a new island in the Pacific Ocean.

Video below*

The underwater volcano began to erupt this Monday. It produced so much lava that by Wednesday morning it formed an volcanic island. The new island is still producing smoke that is blowing about two miles north of the volcano.

Please Comment

Elliott E

Hello all.

Some more news from NASA now as they may have discovered water drops on the Phoenix Lander from when it landed. Dr Nilton Renno, who’s a co-investigator on the Phoenix Mission and professor of Astronomy at the University of Michigan is really excited at the new images. He thinks the liquid is forming a droplet. Dr Renno believes that there is water existing in liquid form under the surface layer of the Martian soil.

We’ve known for some time that ice may be beneath the surface of Mars, meaning that there might have been possible life in the far past. Liquid water makes the possibility that bacterial life could have survive on the surface of Mars till now.

We still don’t know if there is life on the Red Planet, but liquid water means it is finally possible.

Please comment below to post suggestions on what might have happened and if you have heard anything about the resent discoveries on mars!

Elliott E

There seems to have been running water on the surface of Mars about 1 million years ago, according to some new evidence. Images from a Nasa spacecraft orbiting Mars show gullies on the crust that seem to be about 1.25 million years old!

Scientists believe the channels were eroded away by the water from melting ice!

Just a small news uptate today. Please comment.

Elliott E

Hello all! I’m just posting this blog post to say that our time performing “The Wizard of Oz” is now over.

Please look at my blog page “Me on the Stage” for more information on past performances I’ve been involved in and for information on The Wizard of Oz.

This is Elliott E logging off

I just thought to say that my Drama group are starting their productions of the Wizard of Oz in ten days time. We have two rehearsals up untill then so wish me luck!

I now have a Dance roughteen as a Jitterbug “Creatures that make people dance to the DEATH! ” and another as a Munchkin. But I’m getting to grips with both dances.

This is Elliott E logging off