Author Topic: Darwin Moon Rock 2017 Mission  (Read 2108 times)

Offline Apollo-phill

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Darwin Moon Rock 2017 Mission
« on: 11/25/2015 01:58 pm »
A small piece of  the Darwin Millennium Space Rock (DMSR) - which flew in space aboard the MIR Space Station from August 1998 to August 1999 - will now re-fly in space and land on the Moon in 2017.  This small piece of the Darwin Millennium Space Rock has already been shipped from the UK to Astrobotic's USA facility to be integrated into the Griffin lunar lander payload container in preparation for its 2017 launch toward the Moon and its subsequent lunar landing in the same year.

The  original "Darwin Millennium Space Rock" (DMSR) was carried aboard the Russian Soyuz TM-28 manned spacecraft by cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev to the  MIR Space Station on 13th August 1998. This small piece of North Staffordshire Dolerite igneous volcanic rock returned to Earth just over one year later on 28th August 1999. It later went on to be displayed in several museums and visitor centres including The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Paisley Museum and Stockport Hat Museum. It was also  displayed at  NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center during space shuttle operations from November 1999 through to February 2000 when over 1/2 million visitors passed through the exhibition .
 
 Now, a small piece taken from the Darwin Millennium Space Rock (DMSR) will  fly in space and land on the Moon in 2017 aboard the Griffin lunar lander. Phill is dubbing this piece the "Darwin Lunar Rock" !
 
The Darwin Millennium Space Rock Story begins in 1842 with famous scientist Charles Darwin.

During that year in 1842 , about three miles into one of his frequent long walks from his Uncle Josiah Wedgwood's home at Maer Hall,near Newcastle ,Staffordshire ,  famous scientist Charles Darwin discovered a Dolerite rock volcanic magma intrusion in the sandstone rock banks that form the typically English countryside  "Butterton Lane"  . In that same year Darwin was preparing his revolutionary "pencil sketch" for his evolution of species theory that was later to be called "On The Origin of Species". He found the peace and solitude of these English lanes between Maer, Butterton and Newcastle-under-lyme just the right kind of environment in which to prepare such a historic document. The lane still exists today and still has that same peacefulness.. The discovery by Darwin of this 53 million years old volcanic intrusion, called a geological dyke, proved to be of importance to leading contemporary geologist Roderick Impey Murchinson, who had earlier predicted that igneous rocks (such as dykes) observed in the Welsh Shropshire borderlands would extend into Staffordshire and beyond. The discovery  provided the proof that Murchinson was seeking. Incidentally,Darwin was Secretary of the Geological Society of London from 1838-41 and a foremost geologist of his era with great knowledge on plutonic and volcanic rocks  gained from his earlier education and travels aboard "The Beagle" sailing ship .
 
 The original idea and concept for the spaceflight of the commemorative rock - dubbed  " The Darwin Millennium Space Rock" (DMSR)  - was that of Phill Parker from Newcastle, Staffordshire . A   well known award winning space writer and lecturer (Apollo missions, space colony articles), Phill lives just one mile from the historic Butterton Dyke geological site and is where he collected the specimen Dolerite rock from Darwin's dyke that was to become  " The Darwin Millennium Space Rock" .  Besides acting as a fitting tribute to  Darwin  , Phill views the DMSR as a "token " from the people of the second millennium that can carry their hopes, spirits and dreams forward to the people of the third millennium - to encourage them to continue the human exploration of space. It is highly likely that during the next thousand years that not only will we discover extraterrestrial life (whether it be fossilized, microbial, plant or even a recognizable intelligent, living life form) then - just as Darwin had recognized our terrestrial "Origin of Species" - human beings will have to consider the "origin of extraterrestrial species".

Now, a small piece from that original DMSR - the "Darwin Lunar Rock" - has been extracted and will fly and land on the Moon aboard the Astrobotic Griffin unmanned lunar lander spacecraft . The Griffin lunar lander will be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida in in 2017.
 

The small Darwin Lunar Rock has already been shipped from the UK to Astrobotic's USA facility to be integrated into the Griffin lunar lander payload container in preparation for its launch toward the Moon and subsequent landing. The Griffin lunar lander is targeted to land at the Moon's Lacus Mortis region in 2017.

Prior to being shipped to USA, the DMSR (including the Darwin lunar rock piece ) was taken to the top of the Vesuvio , Italy volcano . The DMSR was shown to the staff of the "Presidio Vulcano Vesuvio" office on the rim of Vesuvio and they were so intrigued by the story and mission they rubber stamped its Certificate (see attached image)! It was later taken to the rim of the Sicilian volcano , Mt Etna - where it was nearly blown into the crater by the icy cold high winds. Fortunately, I managed to save it just before it disappeared !

The original DMSR rock - along with several meteorites and Apollo flown items - will be on display at The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery (PMAG) , Hanley,Stoke-on-Trent from Monday 15 February to Friday 19  February 2016. Admission is free.

Phill Parker authored many Apollo manned lunar landing articles for the British Interplanetary Society in the 1960s-70s – several of which are cited in NASA's official Apollo Bibliography and,additionally, founded the West European Space Colony Society in 1975 which later merged with the prestigious US National Space Society (NSS). He has produced many spaceflight exhibitions at museums in the UK and delivered over 750 talks on space missions across UK since 1964, as well as writing dozens of articles on spaceflight.

Offline Apollo-phill

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Re: Darwin Moon Rock 2017 Mission
« Reply #1 on: 03/24/2023 02:56 pm »
Because of a whole raft of changes with procedures, spacecraft changes, rocket launcher change  engine problems and, of course, not too mention the COVID pandemic this mission did not take place .

However, it is now slated for launch onboard Astrobotic's Peregrine-1 first unmanned lunar lander to be launched by ULA's Vulcan rocket currently slated for 4 May 2023.


Offline Apollo-phill

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Re: Darwin Moon Rock 2017 Mission
« Reply #2 on: 03/24/2023 02:58 pm »
Target landing site is the area near Gruinhuisen Domes on edge of Mare Imbrium.


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