Fly me to the moon

© Mark Ollig

For years, people have talked about commercial tourism space flights to the moon.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, planned to launch two civilian space tourists on a mission around the moon in 2018, using its Dragon capsule and Falcon Heavy rocket. This mission never took place.

Under NASA’s Artemis program, a man and a woman astronaut will land on the moon in 2024.

NASA also confirms astronauts will reach the surface of Mars aboard the Orion spacecraft in the early 2030s.

Regularly scheduled civilian space tourists’ flights from the Earth to the moon could begin in the late 2040s.

Imagine it’s 2049, and yours truly is one of 16 other civilian space tourists taking a trip to the moon aboard a commercial spacecraft.

Looking out a passenger window seat at the stars and moon in amazement while drinking my coffee, I think back to the Apollo astronauts who made the same trip decades ago and never in my wildest dreams thought I, too, would be traveling to the moon.

I leave my seat to stand inside the spacecraft’s domed arch to look out its larger windows at the moon, which we are orbiting.

“We are preparing to begin our descent to the lunar surface. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelt,” says the voice from an overhead speaker.

Upon hearing the announcement, I walked (floated) back to my passenger seat and began to fasten the seat belt.

“Here, let me help you with that,” a member of the cabin crew says to me.

Folks, in 2049, I will be in my early 90s; I might need a little help now and then.

Looking out the reinforced passenger window, made from aluminum silicate and fused silica glass, I notice our spacecraft slowly beginning to descend; the moon is quickly getting closer.

“We are initiating our powered descent to the lunar surface. Guidance system operating without incident. Lunar surface radar and Earth telemetry via the high gain antenna are good,” our spacecraft’s captain’s voice from the overhead speaker reports.

As we get closer to the lunar surface, its features become more apparent.

My first impression is how gray the surface is. At times, it resembles burnt charcoal. There are many large and small craters, along with various-sized boulders and rocks.

“We are at 7,000 feet above the surface and descending at a rate of 125 feet per second,” the captain reports.

“If you look out your window, we are approaching the Sea of Tranquility and are coming up to Tranquility Base, which is the site of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing,” a cabin crew member’s voice from the speaker says.

Today’s date is July 24, 2049, the 80th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

“We are throttling down on our descent. Our attitude control is good, and we are starting to kick up some dust,” reports the captain.

Our spacecraft gently lands on the lunar surface, about 200 feet from the Apollo 11 landing site.

“Contact light on. Engine stop. Mode control both automatic. Descent engine command override off. Passengers, welcome to Tranquility Base on the surface of the moon,” the captain tells us.

The surface appears to be very finely grained, and its topsoil looks almost like a powder – just like Neil Armstrong said.

Buzz Aldrin accurately described the lunar landscape as “magnificent desolation.”

I see the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle descent stage wrapped in gold foil, and its footpads resting on the lunar surface.

“There’s the lunar module ladder Neil and Buzz used to climb down to the moon’s surface,” I say to myself.

Close to the lunar module descent stage sits the lunar television camera and a seismometer.

Nearby is a retroreflector used by scientists to reflect a laser beam sent from Earth to the moon and back. It gives the precise distance of the moon from the Earth.

The footprint trails Neil and Buzz made walking on the moon’s surface 80 years ago have not changed.

Sadly, the American flag blew down when the Apollo 11 Lunar Module left the moon. It is resting on the lunar surface, not far from the descent stage.

I recall Buzz Aldrin saying he saw the flag blow down during lift off from the moon when the Eagle’s ascent stage engine exhaust struck the flag.

Everything the astronauts left on the moon appears not to have been disturbed by the passage of time.

Thank you, readers, for taking this trip with me.

I am reminded of the 1954 Bart Howard song, “In Other Words,” first sung by Kaye Ballard. The song became known as “Fly Me to the Moon,” made famous by Frank Sinatra.

“Fly me to the moon. Let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on a, Jupiter and Mars.”

Someday soon, we may see what spring is like on the moon.

Be safe out there.

The ‘radio newspaper’ experiment

© Mark Ollig

The future for delivering printed newspapers inside people’s homes is by using wireless facsimile transmissions over a local radio station’s airwaves.

At least this is what many folks thought during the 1930s.

It began with a local radio station sending news bulletins over their airwaves directly into a newspaper office. A facsimile machine inside the newspaper office tuned to the radio station’s frequency printed the announcements onto paper.

It may surprise you that this method was used 83 years ago by city radio stations and newspaper outlets – including one from Minnesota.

I recently obtained a copy of the April 1934 Radio-Craft magazine, and read an article titled “Radio Set Prints Newspaper!” written by Hugo Gernsback, the editor of Radio-Craft.

In his piece, Gernsback described a “radio newspaper.”

“The idea of using your radio set in your own home, to print a complete tabloid newspaper and deliver it to you, is not original with me. The idea has been mentioned by many well-known radio engineers ever since 1925, and perhaps even before that,” Gernsback writes.

His piece included photos of a scanning unit used in the transmission of photographs manufactured by the Radio Corporation of America, better known as RCA.

The article also contained photographs of an RCA facsimile reception device and radio facsimile receiver from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.

Inventor William G.H. Finch, a radio engineer and an editor with the International News Service, is credited for creating the technology used with wireless facsimile transmission and reception.

Finch proposed using a local radio station’s radio spectrum that went silent when regular on-air programs ended, which occurred during the late-night hours when most Americans were sleeping.

The first experimental tests of his radio facsimile system took place in 1933 over station W10XDF, transmitting from the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

Radio stations became very interested in Finch’s idea of using wireless radio frequencies to send news information and photographs directly to newspaper offices.

Many newspaper outlets were receptive to the idea – but not all.

During 1937, RCA manufactured the wireless facsimile scanner and printer equipment to be used with Finch’s technology.

Radio broadcasters received FCC special license permission to transmit radio facsimile signals between midnight and 6 a.m., starting in September 1937.

The first successful transmissions of radio facsimile printed news were made the week of Oct. 15, 1937, by the Minneapolis-St. Paul area radio station KSTP.

By the end of 1937, Finch had three radio stations testing his “radio printer” system: WGH in Newport News, Virginia; WHO in Des Moines, IA; and KSTP based in St. Paul, MN.

In 1938, St, Louis MO radio station W9XZY, using a facsimile scanner manufactured by RCA, transmitted a news bulletin over its radio frequency to the local St. Louis Post Dispatch newspaper.

The newspaper office received a paper hard copy bulletin message from an RCA printer tuned to W9XZY’s transmitting frequency.

The newspaper’s printer and paper expenses were paid by the radio stations, while the local newspaper company would perform the distribution of the news and information.

In 1938, this setting was in operation between radio station W9XWY in St. Louis, MO and the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Eventually, radio stations’ staff began thinking, “Why not bypass the local newspaper and send the news information directly to the home user?”

It would eliminate the radio stations’ printing and distribution costs and directly move those costs to the end-user, who would purchase the printers and paper.

Finch envisions local radio stations delivering news over-the-air directly to customers radio facsimile printers during the overnight hours to homes in the city.

As folks woke up, they would walk over and pull the six pages of typed information from their newspaper printer and take it to the kitchen table to read while having their eggs, toast, and coffee.

The 1938 Finch facsimile radio receiver housed in a 1-foot-square wooden box sold for $125 ($1,900 in today’s dollars). It uses AC power and connects to the speaker of any radio receiver with at least 3 Watts audio output.

Finch also developed a “talking newspaper” process that would produce a soundtrack from newsprint. A subscriber using a “radio newspaper” could have the printed information reproduced and audibly read using specialized equipment in their home.

I consider myself better informed and appreciate having my local town newspaper reporting on the local city news, businesses, sports, and community activities.

A printed newspaper needs no batteries or electricity to operate; it only needs a curious reader flipping through its pages to keep up-to-date with the goings-on in their community.

Sipping freshly-brewed coffee is also a part of my newspaper reading habit.

Finch’s wireless radio facsimile technology for distributing news and information to a device in our home never became popular; however, it may have influenced later inventions, such as the fax machine plugged into a telephone line.

Finch, inventor of the radio facsimile system used by several radio broadcasting stations, and holder of many US patents in radio technology, passed away Nov. 13, 1990, at the age of 93.

According to his family members, Finch was actively working on several new inventions up to his death.

Be safe out there.

William G.H. Finch reads a 'radio newspaper.'

Here comes the sun

© Mark Ollig On the morning of Sept. 1, 1859, images from a telescope pointed at the sun could be seen on a yellowish glass plate. British astronomer Richard Carrington draws on paper the images he is seeing. His drawings show large dark spots appearing on the surface of the sun. Two patches of intensely bright and white light suddenly showed on the dark spots that surprised Carrington. Carrington witnessed an enormous solar flare erupting from the sun. The bright and forceful solar flare was a coronal mass ejection (CME), and it was heading directly towards Earth. Upon reaching Earth, the CME blanketed the upper atmosphere. This solar event caused confusion and wonderment; as the night sky brightened, and then changed into a red, green, and swirling purple hue of a gigantic aurora borealis. Over several days, the resulting magnetic solar storm played severe havoc with devices using electricity, most notably, telegraphs. Telegraph systems, a commonly used communications device in 1859, required battery voltage. In this case, a battery consists of a glass jar filled with a chemical solution (such as copper sulfate) with submersed copper and zinc electrodes. This solution creates a chemical reaction to supply voltage for the telegraph. Several battery cells were connected to produce the higher voltages needed for a telegraph to operate over long spans of telegraph wire. I was surprised to learn about the many unique and distinctive styles and makers of not only telegraphs but electrically-powered magnetic clocks used in 1859. However, let’s digress back to the CME, which has now reached Earth and is described as “Auroral displays” by one Massachusetts newspaper. Today, the 1859 CME is known as the Carrington Event. The CME, upon hitting the Earth’s atmosphere, unleased a powerful solar storm wrapping its powerful flow of electrical current energy around miles of copper telegraph wire attached to wooden poles along the US eastern seaboard. The copper wires connected the individual telegraph stations located along the railroad tracks and towns. At some stations, telegraph operators were physically being shocked by the solar storm’s electrical current surges on the brass or copper telegraphy break-key they used to tap out (key) Morse Code messages. Reports of sparks shooting out of the break-keys caused paper used with the telegraph machines to ignite on fire. Telegraph operators quickly disconnected the batteries to their telegraph machines – but were astonished by what happened next. The electric current from the solar storm, described as “auroral current,” began powering their telegraph systems without its battery cells. I came across a detailed conversation between two telegraph operators working during the CME. The article appeared on Sept. 8, 1859, in The Berkshire County Eagle newspaper in Pittsfield, MA. This conversation is between the Boston, MA, and Portland, ME, telegraph operators working on the American Telegraph Line. Boston (to Portland operator)—“Please cut off your battery entirely from the line for 15 minutes.” Portland— “Will do so. It is now disconnected.” Boston— “Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?” Portland— “Better than with our batteries on. [The] current comes and goes gradually.” Boston— “My current is very strong at times, and we can work better without batteries, as the aurora seems to neutralize and augment our batteries alternately, making current too strong at times for our relay magnets. Suppose we work without batteries while we are affected by this trouble?” Portland— “Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?” Boston— “Yes. Go ahead.” The electrical current produced by this solar storm provided enough electricity for many telegraphs to operate for hours without using their batteries. Therefore, during 1859, solar-powered telegraphs were in operation. The CME eventually subsided, and the life of the telegraph operator returned to normal. “The phenomenon took place at an elevation considerably above the general surface of the sun,” he later wrote in the November 1859 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society publication. In 1879, the Brush Electrical Company provided two electrical direct-current producing dynamo generators in San Francisco for supplying customers with arc lighting lamps. In 1880, New York city Brush Electrical Company generators supplied power for electrically-powered arc lamps for lighting public street areas. In 1884, the first Alternate Current (AC) long-distance transmission system (covering 21 miles) was installed at the International Exhibition in Turin, Italy. Since 2016, the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite has been monitoring solar activity. The satellite’s primary purpose is to obtain information about the solar wind and charged particles constantly bombarding our planet’s magnetic field. This data can help us prepare for and respond to significant solar events that might disrupt our electrical infrastructure. Be safe out there.

Follow the fiber-optic light

© Mark Ollig

In 1841, Jean-Daniel Colladon, a Swiss physicist, publicly demonstrated how a ray of light, traveling inside a curved arc of flowing water, would bend, thus becoming refracted.

He presented what is known as total internal reflection, which he described as “light guiding.”

“[It was] one of the most beautiful and most curious experiments that one can perform in a course on optics,” Colladon later wrote.

Moving ahead 135 years, AT&T engineers successfully sent and received information over a beam of light in 1976.

The engineers, producing rapid changes in a light source, learned it could code information within it using direct modulation through multiplexing laser frequencies within the modulated light, and guide it over a transparent, fiber-optic glass strand.

The information encoded within the laser light traveled over a fiber-optic telephone cable installed at AT&T’s research facility in Atlanta, GA.

The “laser” acronym means Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

The two most common light sources for fiber-optic transmission are LED’s (light-emitting diodes), and laser diodes.

“It is a device which produces light. Tunable lasers can produce light of a single frequency, or visible color, in human terms. By turning the laser light signal on and off quickly, you can transmit the ones and zeros of a digital communications channel,” is the description of a laser I found in my trusty Newton’s Telecom Dictionary.

In 1976, an A-7 Corsair US military fighter jet replaced its copper wiring harness with a fiber optical link network.

The fighter jet’s optical link network weighed only 3.75 pounds and contained 13 fiber-optic cables spanning 250 feet.

The A-7 Corsairs’ previous copper wiring harness comprised 300 individual copper wire circuits, totaling 4,133 feet, and weighed 88 pounds.

Today’s fiber-optic systems installed in modern aircraft allow military pilots to make instantaneous decisions using high-resolution imaging systems, displays, and flight controls linked with fast fiber-optic networks providing real-time data.

In 1977, AT&T’s first commercial application of transmitting public telecommunications over a fiber-optic cable took place in Chicago.

During the late 1960s, and unbeknownst to the public, NASA installed certain classified fiber-optic technologies for the Apollo 11 moon mission.

Your investigative columnist did some research.

I discovered NASA’s lunar television camera used by the Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon’s surface in 1969, incorporated fiber-optic technology.

The use of fiber-optics inside the lunar television camera was classified as “confidential” in NASA’s “Lunar Television Camera Pre-installation Acceptance (PIA) Test Plan” document 28-105, dated March 12, 1968.

Stowed inside a compartment on the Apollo 11 lunar module “Eagle” descent stage was the lunar television camera.

Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s Aerospace Division developed and manufactured the Apollo Lunar Television Camera (part number 607R962).

The first lunar television camera remains on the moon’s surface, near the Apollo 11 landing site, in the Sea of Tranquility.

We had previously believed fiber-optic technology would not reach its data-capability bandwidth capacity for many years; however, this may no longer be the case.

According to the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, today’s increases in data, coupled with the advances in information technology, will have troublesome repercussions on the current technology used to provide the bandwidth needed to transport data – even over fiber optics.

“Traditional optical communication systems modulate the amplitude, phase, polarization, color, and frequency of the light that is transmitted,” the news release from the university stated.

Researchers from this university began working with South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

They demonstrated 100 separate light patterns (representing data) individually sourced through a single optical communications link.

The researchers created a computer hologram encoded with more than 100 light pattern configurations in multiple colors.

The light pattern configurations, being sent through an engineered liquid crystal, acted as a single spatial light modulator.

As this single light was transmitted, each light pattern was “demultiplexed,” meaning, the 100 individual light configuration patterns were extracted and sent to their unique designated locations.

All 100 light patterns were detected simultaneously.

Their next test involves demonstrating this new technology in a “real-world” situation using voice and video.

An increase in light patterns will allow for a sizeable expansion in available bandwidth for transmitting data.

The additional bandwidth will result in information being more efficiently “packed into light.”

Today, fiber optic cables provide the pathway for 1 Gbps (Gigabit per second) internet data speeds into businesses and residential homes.

We’ve come a long way from those 56 Kbps dial-up modems, where it might take a day to download a full-length movie.

Laboratory tests of data speeds (measured in bits) through a fiber optic cable have reached speeds from terabits per second (Tbps) into the petabits (Pbps).

Data speed of 1 Tbps equals 1,000 Gbps. 1 Pbps equals 1,000 Tbps, and 1 Pbps is equal to 1,000,000 Gbps.

When describing 1 gigabyte of information, the abbreviation 1 GB is used.

Remember, 8 bits of binary data equals 1 byte.

A NASA booklet, dated March 12, 1968, describing the “Lunar Television Camera,” is at http://tinyurl.com/lunarcam.

In this booklet, Section 1.1, “Security Classification,” includes the classified confidential mention of the fiber optics used with the lunar television camera.

Be safe out there.