An international team of astronomers, led by academics from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), has found the largest known structure in the universe. The large quasar group (LQG) is so large that it would take a vehicle travelling at the speed of light some 4 billion years to cross it. The team publish their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
"While it is difficult to fathom the scale of this LQG, we can say quite definitely it is the largest structure ever seen in the entire universe. This is hugely exciting – not least because it runs counter to our current understanding of the scale of the universe.
"Even travelling at the speed of light, it would take 4 billion years to cross. This is significant not just because of its size but also because it challenges the Cosmological Principle, which has been widely accepted since Einstein. Our team has been looking at similar cases which add further weight to this challenge and we will be continuing to investigate these fascinating phenomena."
This is significant not just because of its size but also because it challenges the Cosmological Principle, which has been widely accepted since Einstein. Our team has been looking at similar cases which add further weight to this challenge and we will be continuing to investigate these fascinating phenomena."
The cosmological principle states something like the universe is the same in all directions, no matter where you look at or where in the universe you're looking from.Could you elaborate on this a little more?
This is of course not really true if there is a structure that is possibly a significant size of the universe itself.
The cosmological principle is usually stated formally as 'Viewed on a sufficiently large scale, the properties of the Universe are the same for all observers.' This amounts to the strongly philosophical statement that the part of the Universe which we can see is a fair sample, and that the same physical laws apply throughout.
I don't get what "found a structure" means, is this a planet or a star or what? where is it?!It just means it's something coherent. Like clusters of galaxies, but on a much bigger scale. They all move towards or around a common point. But they're still far, far apart. Just like we can say that we are part of the Milky way, even though other stars etc are far away.
I know what the cosmological principle is, I just don't see how this violates it. From wikipedia:That's what I was thinking too.QuoteThe cosmological principle is usually stated formally as 'Viewed on a sufficiently large scale, the properties of the Universe are the same for all observers.' This amounts to the strongly philosophical statement that the part of the Universe which we can see is a fair sample, and that the same physical laws apply throughout.
This still fits in with the laws of physics, it's size is just unexpected.
The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) is an image of a small part of space in the center of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field within the constellation Fornax, showing the deepest optical view in space.(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Hubble_Extreme_Deep_Field_%28full_resolution%29.png)
Released on September 25, 2012, the XDF image compiled 10 years of previous images and shows galaxies from 13.2 billion years ago. The exposure time was two million seconds, or approximately 23 days. The faintest galaxies are one ten-billionth the brightness of what the human eye can see. Many of the smaller galaxies are very young galaxies that eventually became the major galaxies, like the Milky Way and other galaxies in our galactic neighborhood.
The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, adds another 5,500 galaxies to those discovered in the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field.
Re: Astronomers discover the largest structure in the universe
Find the faintest fuzzy dot in the zoomed picture. That object is a cluster of more than 10 billions stars like ours, with planets and lifeforms, with beings looking at a similar photo they took of our region of the universe, and thinking the same of us.That's mind boggling and it reminded me of Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luAteAz3WQ0)"
Find the faintest fuzzy dot in the zoomed picture. That object is a cluster of more than 10 billions stars like ours, with planets and lifeforms, with beings looking at a similar photo they took of our region of the universe, and thinking the same of us.That's mind boggling and it reminded me of Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luAteAz3WQ0)"
That's pretty huge if you have mathsed it right.Actually i had the wrong diameter on the structure, it's 1,4 billion light years in diameter so it shoud be 1.5% instead. Hey but still.....whooping 1.5%! Take that Milky Way!!
That's pretty huge if you have mathsed it right.Actually i had the wrong diameter on the structure, it's 1,4 billion light years in diameter so it shoud be 1.5% instead. Hey but still.....whooping 1.5%! Take that Milky Way!!
I don't know how far from earth it is but the group itself is 4 billion light years at it's widest point according to wiki.That's pretty huge if you have mathsed it right.Actually i had the wrong diameter on the structure, it's 1,4 billion light years in diameter so it shoud be 1.5% instead. Hey but still.....whooping 1.5%! Take that Milky Way!!
It's still huge. How far is that thing?
Just curious, what qualifies as a "structure" within the universe? On first instinct, that seems like an arbitrary categorical word, but I am open to it having real significant meaning.I'll quote someone else that i think sounds like a decent answer:
What makes this find even more amazing to me is the fact that I can't even comprehend how we as humans...with very rudimentary and limited technology (universally speaking) can even find and measure such a thing. When they come out every other month saying they've found such and such planet, or measured the nitrogen on a planet orbiting a star 14 million light years away....how they heck is that possible? It's amazing actually.Finding out what kind of atoms and/or molecules are on a star far away is actually very easy.... :) If you really want to know I can try to explain it to you as best as I can :)
And it's deep, too.
1 billion pixel mosaic of the Milky Way center region:
https://sguisard.astrosurf.com/Pagim/GC.html
Pretty cool!
:tup1 billion pixel mosaic of the Milky Way center region:
https://sguisard.astrosurf.com/Pagim/GC.html
Pretty cool!
One of my top 5 astronomy pictures ever!
Anyway, thanks for making this thread official. I will be a regular here, as I have loved astronomy/astrophysics since early childhood, and I am currently studying it for an university exam! :)
"The MicroGravity Foundry is the first 3D printer that creates high-density, high-strength metal components even in zero gravity," company co-founder and MicroGravity Foundry inventor Stephen Covey said in a statement. "Other metal 3D printers sinter powdered metal, which requires a gravity field and leaves a porous structure, or they use low-melting point metals with less strength."
Thanks! :tup I knew about their plans for the project but i was interested in that piece of technology called "Closed loop thrust vector" but i guess i will not fully understand it anyway! :lol
Yea that sounds about right. Kind of like how a gyroscope works and in a way like this?:Thanks! :tup I knew about their plans for the project but i was interested in that piece of technology called "Closed loop thrust vector" but i guess i will not fully understand it anyway! :lol
I think the closed loop has something to do with the engine's programming. Instead of just firing on or shutting off, it is constantly reassessing (looping in the code) what it's doing. That's how they compensate for the tilt of the rocket and it guide it back to the pad.
In astrodynamics orbital station-keeping is the orbital manoeuvres made by thruster burns that are needed to keep a spacecraft in a particular assigned orbit.
I made a thread about this a while, didn't get a single response. I forgot this thread existed.
SpaceX's Grasshopper test video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz-NYeH-CEY
I made a thread about this a while, didn't get a single response. I forgot this thread existed.
SpaceX's Grasshopper test video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz-NYeH-CEY
Ok, I don't want to be a buzzkill, but didn't NASA already tried this concept back in the late 90's, with the failed Delta Clipper test? The rocket actually failed to land, crashed and exploded. :hat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk-gGtC7xZ4
So did the space shuttle.... twice. Technology has advance so much in those 15 years, I think it'd be foolish not to try again.
So did the space shuttle.... twice. Technology has advance so much in those 15 years, I think it'd be foolish not to try again.
True, and I am fine with that idea. Guess what I was really wanted to know is, how is this new gen of rocket better than the Delta Clipper idea? What made the NASA officials think (new or better technology? More payload?) this time around it is safer, and more reliable?
Dead Space, here we come!!
I think the link was typed incorrectly.Thanks! That site stoped working for some reason so i found another link. :)
I'm sorry for Blob, but this one is completely ours. He had McNaught, or at least he might have had, if he managed to stick his nose in the great outdoors for the occasion :lol
You're moving through the universe at something like 2.7 million mph and you don't even feel it.
You're moving through the universe at something like 2.7 million mph and you don't even feel it.
Relative to what? On an astronomical scale measuring speed isn't at all as simple as here on earth.
Judging from the order of magnitude it must be the motion towards the great attractor
Judging from the order of magnitude it must be the motion towards the great attractor
I thought we were recieding away from that? Considering the redshift and all.
You're moving through the universe at something like 2.7 million mph and you don't even feel it..... So? Are you implying you wouldn't "feel" it if you were close to a neutron star?
You're moving through the universe at something like 2.7 million mph and you don't even feel it..... So? Are you implying you wouldn't "feel" it if you were close to a neutron star?
Ok. :lolYou're moving through the universe at something like 2.7 million mph and you don't even feel it..... So? Are you implying you wouldn't "feel" it if you were close to a neutron star?
Not at all, lol. I'm just fascinated by the fact that my body is screaming through space at a ridiculous speed and I don't even notice. It's breathtaking.
Ok. :lolYou're moving through the universe at something like 2.7 million mph and you don't even feel it..... So? Are you implying you wouldn't "feel" it if you were close to a neutron star?
Not at all, lol. I'm just fascinated by the fact that my body is screaming through space at a ridiculous speed and I don't even notice. It's breathtaking.
I find the fact that we are moving fascinating, but the fact that you don't notice is just basic physics. :P
It would be great to see something so ambitious go ahead, but I don't think there's any chance of it happening. Is it really worth the trouble and risk for a flyby?
Man first landed on the moon long before my time, and I'd love to see humans top that in my lifetime, or even just to do it again. I know it's much more practical to just send a robot, and we learn just as much (if not more) from it, but it's just not as inspiring to witness. Given the technology they achieved it with back in the 60s/70s, you'd think it should be a piece of cake to fly to the moon and back in 2013.
You guys are absolutely right, if not for the fact that the moon landing was staged. :neverusethis:
I would love to see something huge like this happen. A manned mision to Mars would be insanely awesome. I have also heard rumours of China setting up a base on the moon sometime and while that is probably bullshit, it would be really cool.
With the technology we have today, sending some people to Mars or even Jupiter wouldn't really be a problem. Just that it's damn expensive and money always ruins the chance for the coolest things to happen.
I'm don't to die pretty unhappy.
I'm don't to die pretty unhappy.
As for Chino's actual post: who cares for Europa? It's not like we don't know already what's there, most likely! I want to see a fucking nearby supernova!
I want to see a fucking nearby supernova!
Europa is very fascinating because of the water. But I'm pretty sure there is no life there.
Europa is very fascinating because of the water. But I'm pretty sure there is no life there.I want to see a fucking nearby supernova!
That'd be the last thing you ever see ;)
What makes you say that? How do you explain the red coloring that emerges through all the crevasses? The Earth has lakes that are similar in color due to decaying organisms and lack of oxygen flow. There is extreme heat at its core that would be more than enough to provide organisms with an energy source.
Nah, that won't be the case. Unless we stand in the line of the gamma ray burst (assuming there will be one). We had nearby (~1000ly) supernovas in 1054, 1106, 1572, 1604 and yet we are still here :D
Europa is very fascinating because of the water. But I'm pretty sure there is no life there.I want to see a fucking nearby supernova!
That'd be the last thing you ever see ;)
Nah, that won't be the case. Unless we stand in the line of the gamma ray burst (assuming there will be one). We had nearby (~1000ly) supernovas in 1054, 1106, 1572, 1604 and yet we are still here :D
But while our solar system may not be hit or directly affected by Andromeda, isn't our solar system held together to some degree by the other celestial bodies in the Milky Way? Wouldn't our sun be ejected from it's current orbit (not the Milky Way itself) and bring the planets with it? While our orbits around the now rouge sun may stay the same, couldn't it put our entire solar system on a collision path with other stuff in the Milky Way? If the two galaxies were to merge (that might not happen), wouldn't that fuck everything up? I understand the the vast distances between stars is so great in makes it unlikely, but I can't help but think that the energy contained in two approaching galaxies wouldn't cause mass devastation upon their collision. I would imagine all solar systems would be in a shooting gallery of space debris for millions of years.
I'm not challenging you. I am genuinely curious and like to learn about as much of this stuff as I can.
(https://www.nasa.gov/images/content/654291main_p1220bk.jpg)
Just took my first exam in my Astronomy class. I'd say the over/under is a 75.
Just took my first exam in my Astronomy class. I'd say the over/under is a 75.
Pardon?
Just took my first exam in my Astronomy class. I'd say the over/under is a 75.
Pardon?
I'm using my terrible knowledge of betting to say that I think I got around a 75% on the exam.
I would also settle for an underground cave mission on Mars.
I'm listening to Cosmos in the library right now and just heard something that I never noticed before. In episode 12, Carl Sagan is explaining the Drake equation. He says something like "assuming every sun has an average of 10 planets like ours does"... We thought there were 10 planets 40 years ago?
There are approximately 5,000,000 people living in Chicago.
1. On average, there are two persons in each household in Chicago.
2. Roughly one household in twenty has a piano that is tuned regularly.
3. Pianos that are tuned regularly are tuned on average about once per year.
4. It takes a piano tuner about two hours to tune a piano, including travel time.
5. Each piano tuner works eight hours in a day, five days in a week, and 50 weeks in a year.
From these assumptions, we can compute that the number of piano tunings in a single year in Chicago is
(5,000,000 persons in Chicago) / (2 persons/household) × (1 piano/20 households) × (1 piano tuning per piano per year) = 125,000 piano tunings per year in Chicago.
We can similarly calculate that the average piano tuner performs
(50 weeks/year)×(5 days/week)×(8 hours/day)/(2 hours to tune a piano) = 1000 piano tunings per year per piano tuner.
Dividing gives
(125,000 piano tunings per year in Chicago) / (1000 piano tunings per year per piano tuner) = 125 piano tuners in Chicago.
Well, you are not going to see it. After all, did you ever seen something comparable to the first, which is supposed to be an actual photograph? Getting colors visually with our eyes is very difficult, and surely not on such big scales.
Dung Beetles use the Milky Way light to navigate.That is pretty damn cool.
https://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/24/dung-beetles-navigate-via-the-milky-way-an-animal-kingdom-first/
He added that this discovery reveals another potential negative impact of light pollution, a global phenomenon that blocks out stars.It's sad when you think about all the people in the cities and other parts of the world that are impacted by light pollution and how most of them live their whole life completly disconnected to the sky above us even though that's the one big mystery we as humans have in common.
“If artificial light—from cities, houses, roadways, etc.—drowns out the visibility of the night sky, it could have the potential to impact effective orientation and navigation of dung beetles in the same way as an overcast sky,” Whipple said.
He is 22? :o Did he start working for NASA at 16? From what you wrote it sounds like he has alread two decades of career behind him!
"After putting aside all possible elements of contamination, DNA was found that did not coincide with any of the well-known types in the global database," he said. "We are calling this life form unclassified and unidentified," he added.
He's 22 and puts stuff in space.
^ Speaking of comets, the comet Ison has my curiosity at the moment. A comet that will, provided it stays intact, be visable to the naked eye for a few months towards the end of 2013. It is believed that it at some point will be brighter than the full moon.
Yeah, and that's a damn shame... But it will at least be visable (even if it's less) earlier when it's farther away from it.
"A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "From what we know now, the answer is yes."
Yea that is really cool.Quote"A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "From what we know now, the answer is yes."
Awesome stuff but as usual news media and general public let it pass like a tiny fart.
Yea that is really cool.Quote"A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "From what we know now, the answer is yes."
Awesome stuff but as usual news media and general public let it pass like a tiny fart.
I saw it mentioned in a 10 second clip on CNN just before the 6 minute segment on twinkies.
I am about %293827394871343399999999999 positive that an on-air 'tiny fart' would get so much more airtime than this.:facepalm: Yea you're absolutly right, a tiny fart on air would infact make more noise than some crappy story about life on mars. :|
P.S. AwesomeIwannadieonMars
That is awesome. Just in this one solar system, there are at least 2 bodies that were at one point able to sustain life. Where is everyone else?
I am about %293827394871343399999999999 positive that an on-air 'tiny fart' would get so much more airtime than this.
P.S. AwesomeIwannadieonMars
For some reason I'm not overly psyched about thise whole life on Mars thing..
For some reason I'm not overly psyched about thise whole life on Mars thing..
For some reason I'm not overly psyched about thise whole life on Mars thing..
I almost never get excited for space exploration. I'm all about observation and comprehension, and I vastly prefer deep space astronomy to our tiny Solar System matters. :)
I almost never get excited for space exploration. I'm all about observation and comprehension, and I vastly prefer deep space astronomy to our tiny Solar System matters. :)
I almost never get excited for space exploration. I'm all about observation and comprehension, and I vastly prefer deep space astronomy to our tiny Solar System matters. :)
But otherwise I pretty much agree with you.
Solar System stuff can be cool too though. I'd be very excited for a manned mision to Mars and I was even a little excited when I heard the rediculous rumours that the chines or something were planning on setting up a base on the moon.
This is pretty mind blowing:
https://htwins.net/scale2/
From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
Hmm... Giant planet tastes so yummy! :lol
A black hole is caught chowing down on what may be a giant rogue planet.
https://www.space.com/20580-black-hole-eats-giant-planet.html
That's pretty wild.
A lot of computer have simulated the creation of our solar system and shown that we once had another gas giant that was ejected shortly after its formation.
That's pretty wild.
A lot of computer have simulated the creation of our solar system and shown that we once had another gas giant that was ejected shortly after its formation.
You are correct. Apparently rogue planets, especially those gas giants, are very common.
That's pretty wild.
A lot of computer have simulated the creation of our solar system and shown that we once had another gas giant that was ejected shortly after its formation.
You are correct. Apparently rogue planets, especially those gas giants, are very common.
I've always found the concept of rogue planets fascinating, maybe because it originally came about in science fiction, unless I'm mistaken. Though in a way, I suppose a rogue planet is nothing more than an asteroid or comet with adequate mass to assume a spherical shape.
On that note, I wonder what it is about rogue bodies that prevents them from being captured by the gravity of another celestial body. For instance, the majority of the moons in the solar system are just captured asteroids, but how can asteroids of similar size zip right by a planet in very close proximity without becoming trapped by its gravity? Maybe it's the super slow moving asteroids that become moons?
For something to be actually caught in a sustainable orbit there are a couple of things that was to be right. Speed, if it's too slow it will be drawn in and crash on the planet and if it's too fast it will just pass by. Mass, if it's too massive the planet can't hold on to it and if it's to light it will be drawn in and crash.
It isn't this simple of course since either of these two variables changes if the other one does. So everything that comes close isn't caught in a gravitational orbit.
It's amazing yea but what's sad is that it's only these really big discoveries that get some attention and as you said they come up every month with new discoveries but most of those are often just ignored or get in the limelight for other news. And the fact that about 90% of the earths population will never fully understand discoveries like these (including me sadly) or they don't really care. We're too obtained with our daily life, career and everything that we don't have time anymore or we don't care too look up at the sky and ask those questions that we all share and have in common.
Sry for my rant. :)
SpaceX's Grasshopper successfully hovers at 820 feet... triple that of it's March 7th debut!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xUvbh-Z8Abk
LED streetlamp aims to improve public's view of stars.
Researchers believe they have come up with a new type of LED-powered streetlamp that could radically reduce light pollution.
QuoteLED streetlamp aims to improve public's view of stars.
Researchers believe they have come up with a new type of LED-powered streetlamp that could radically reduce light pollution.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22292129
Very interesting.
Brighter and bluer.
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/q84/s720x720/946487_674744159218427_751075303_n.jpg)
I love this pic! ISS making a pass.
Well this looks like a fun thread!Yes, welcome to the "µg" part of DTF!
How are the instruments still working? What kind of battery life do they have?!
What makes this find even more amazing to me is the fact that I can't even comprehend how we as humans...with very rudimentary and limited technology (universally speaking) can even find and measure such a thing. When they come out every other month saying they've found such and such planet, or measured the nitrogen on a planet orbiting a star 14 million light years away....how they heck is that possible? It's amazing actually.
Makes me wonder if there just aren't some really drunk or stoned geeks with physics degrees somewhere in a basement making this stuff up.....I'd never know. But the pictures on APOD are cool!
Side bar.
Radio Bursts Discovered From Beyond our Galaxy
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-216&cid=release_2013-216
Highly unlikely it's aliens, but we don't know for sure!!
I just read the whole thread and found it very entertaining, I'm not a physicist but I've always been interested in the field.
By the way, I've read a couple of books by Stephen Hawking and Brian Greene... can you guys recommend me similar books that are aimed towards the general public and not experts?
Thanks!
I just read the whole thread and found it very entertaining, I'm not a physicist but I've always been interested in the field.
By the way, I've read a couple of books by Stephen Hawking and Brian Greene... can you guys recommend me similar books that are aimed towards the general public and not experts?
Thanks!
I don't get what that is supposed to be. All I see is a bunch of random clips.
Well that made me depressed.
Well that made me depressed.
Why is that? If anything at all, I think the person who gets to witness the Halley's Comet TWICE in a life time is blessed! Cheer up, people. ;)
Well that made me depressed.
Why is that? If anything at all, I think the person who gets to witness the Halley's Comet TWICE in a life time is blessed! Cheer up, people. ;)
I interpreted it as the people who would appreciate Halley's Comet have died off and there's no one left who has any desire to watch it anymore.
Well that made me depressed.
Why is that? If anything at all, I think the person who gets to witness the Halley's Comet TWICE in a life time is blessed! Cheer up, people. ;)
I interpreted it as the people who would appreciate Halley's Comet have died off and there's no one left who has any desire to watch it anymore.
I think it was only referring to the one person, and contrasting how short our lives are compared to the vastness of space and time.
Well that made me depressed.
Why is that? If anything at all, I think the person who gets to witness the Halley's Comet TWICE in a life time is blessed! Cheer up, people. ;)
Yea that's what I felt. He had a remarkable life no doubts about that but the fact that we humans have such a short life span compared to events in the universe makes me atleast feel a little sad and slightly melancholy.Well that made me depressed.
Why is that? If anything at all, I think the person who gets to witness the Halley's Comet TWICE in a life time is blessed! Cheer up, people. ;)
I interpreted it as the people who would appreciate Halley's Comet have died off and there's no one left who has any desire to watch it anymore.
I think it was only referring to the one person, and contrasting how short our lives are compared to the vastness of space and time.
By the way Blob, did you see the Great Comet of 2007? It made quite a show that year down under.
By the way Blob, did you see the Great Comet of 2007? It made quite a show that year down under.
I don't think so. I don't even recall hearing about it, but from photos it looks like it was one heck of a sight. :o What a shame to have missed that.
I will be sad if:
- We devise methods to pinpoint habitable planets with greater accuracy and confidence
I will be sad if:
- We devise methods to pinpoint habitable planets with greater accuracy and confidence
you will be sad if we devise methods to pinpoint habitable planets with accuracy and confidence?
Good News, Everyone! Astronomers found an ancient star 'Methuselah', which appears to be older than the universe!
This is unreal! Astronomers found an ancient star 'Methuselah', which appears to be older than the universe!
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/03/08/astronomers-find-ancient-star-methuselah_n_2834999.html
This is unreal! Astronomers found an ancient star 'Methuselah', which appears to be older than the universe!
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/03/08/astronomers-find-ancient-star-methuselah_n_2834999.html
I don't understand how they can gather information from a star that far away, and 'age' it, just from the light it gives off? It's remarkable.....but at the same time to me it seems they can say whatever the heck they want because 99.99% of the population wouldn't know any different anyway.
If it's older than the universe, yet part of it, then I think it more likely that something is wrong with the way they've been calculating the ages of things, rather than some kind of temporal paradox.
If it's older than the universe, yet part of it, then I think it more likely that something is wrong with the way they've been calculating the ages of things, rather than some kind of temporal paradox.
Great Scott!!!
News just in: stars come with time machines.
This is unreal! Astronomers found an ancient star 'Methuselah', which appears to be older than the universe!That's pretty awesome and it's even inside our own galaxy! :omg:
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/03/08/astronomers-find-ancient-star-methuselah_n_2834999.html
If it's older than the universe, yet part of it, then I think it more likely that something is wrong with the way they've been calculating the ages of things, rather than some kind of temporal paradox.
And I thought early stars were formed much "later" than that.
And I thought early stars were formed much "later" than that.
I was also under the impression that the first generation of stars was gone by now. These were some interesting news.
yeah, but the great thing about science is that if you talk nonsense, someone in that 0.01% will call you out on it quick.This is unreal! Astronomers found an ancient star 'Methuselah', which appears to be older than the universe!
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/03/08/astronomers-find-ancient-star-methuselah_n_2834999.html
I don't understand how they can gather information from a star that far away, and 'age' it, just from the light it gives off? It's remarkable.....but at the same time to me it seems they can say whatever the heck they want because 99.99% of the population wouldn't know any different anyway.
I had no idea what you were talking about, so I looked it up
https://www.space.com/22379-spacex-grasshopper-rocket-sideways-flight-video.html
pretty amazing
I had no idea what you were talking about, so I looked it up
https://www.space.com/22379-spacex-grasshopper-rocket-sideways-flight-video.html
pretty amazing
That video actually worked on my network. Thank you so much !!!!! :lol
:omg: :omg:
Voyager sends back first pictures from beyond our solar system !
https://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130422235127/memoryalpha/en/images/3/3a/Borg_cube,_2366.jpg
:omg: :omg:
Voyager sends back first pictures from beyond our solar system !
https://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130422235127/memoryalpha/en/images/3/3a/Borg_cube,_2366.jpg
I am so glad I was too tired to read the url before clicking it. :lol
I WANT TO BELIEVE!
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-truth-is-out-there-british-scientists-claim-to-have-found-proof-of-alien-life-8826690.html
Suit * :blushMe = :facepalm:
Suit * :blushMe = :facepalm:
Bit of a morbid question... are their bodies still floating in orbit?
edit - nevermind lol read the wiki
Bit of a morbid question... are their bodies still floating in orbit?
edit - nevermind lol read the wiki
Doubt it. They either ejected into space (unlikely) or burned up in the atmosphere.
PLANET NIBIRU!! :dangerrobinson:Bit of a morbid question... are their bodies still floating in orbit?
edit - nevermind lol read the wiki
Doubt it. They either ejected into space (unlikely) or burned up in the atmosphere.
In the article it says they were found dead after the return module had landed.
How awful it must be to train for your whole life to go into space and die on liftoff. :(
How awful it must be to train for your whole life to go into space and die on liftoff. :(
Or a teacher that's chosen to go to space, lifts off, then dies. :(
(https://i.imgur.com/5lJ5myr.jpg)
I'm a dreamer who's always had his gaze turned towards the stars. At the same time, I'm about as mathematically minded as a box of rocks.Yep you basically described me. :lol
Yea i had one of those jaw moment too a couple of years ago. I was on a trip with my class at the time in north of sweden in "nowhereland" and i remember one night when we were outside and looking up at the sky in awe because i had never in my life seen so many stars in the sky, i could even see very clearly the milky way arm stretching across the sky and that made a big impact on me, no photo could ever stun me as the real thing. After that i went into a deep fasination about astronomy and space which lasted pretty long until i touched the one area i seriously lacked in: Math! :lol
So yea that experience made a big impact on me and still do.
That is just breathtaking... This thread has been a really fun journey. I'm a dreamer who's always had his gaze turned towards the stars. At the same time, I'm about as mathematically minded as a box of rocks. I see two camps here... the adventurous camp (Chino) and the Analytical camp (Wasteland) Chino...I want in your camp :lol (sorry Wasteland) I'd give my left nut to get into Space. I have no idea what awaits us when we move on from this life, but I sure the hell hope it involves some kind of existence out among the stars.
I remember taking an Astronomy course at the local community college back in the 80's, it turned out just a tad much for me to sort out. Think I got a "D" in the class. I also started to toy with the notion of doing stellar photography a few years back. I started pricing out telescopes and associated gear, then saw how complex the picture taking task was. Let see... spend $5-10k on gear, drive 2-3 hours each way to the desert to have a good view, stay up all night, and maybe get a shot. Most shots required multiple exposures, like 30..... :lol I changed my mind.....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc.com/future/bespoke/20140304-how-big-is-space-interactive/index.html
Fun little interactive site.
Physicists have found a long-predicted twist in light from the Big Bang that represents the first image of ripples in the universe called gravitational waves, researchers announced today. The finding is direct proof of the theory of inflation, the idea that the universe expanded extremely quickly in the first fraction of a second after it was born. What’s more, the signal is coming through much more strongly than expected, ruling out a large class of inflation models and potentially pointing the way toward new theories of physics, experts say.
ruling out a large class of inflation models
2. If a US citizen commits a crime in space what countries laws will be in hand? The US? Will we maybe have a universal space police? :police:
A lot of those questions can be applied to regular airspace .... There are probably answers for them.Yea but I find them a little bit more abstract though. You either have airspace within a country's territory or outside and it's international airspace. Outer space is a pretty big chunk of area.... ::)
I found this though:Yeah you can even get a master's degree in space studies at my university. https://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/opleidingen/e/SC_51016979.htm#bl=01,02
Space law is an area of the law that encompasses national and international law governing activities in outer space. International lawyers have been unable to agree on a uniform definition of the term "outer space", although most lawyers agree that outer space generally begins at the lowest altitude above sea level at which objects can orbit the Earth, approximately 100 km (60 mi).
and
https://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/index.html
Damn people have already figured stuff out. :lol
Even by todays standards it's not really for everyone to have a pilot license so let's say you have a relative that have the money and will to earn a space pilot license or whatever you would call it. He then invites you to travel out in space for a couple of hours and then you head home. Yes it's probably far into the future but someday it will happen or something like this, you get what I mean.
1. So my questions are when we actually have the ability to do what I just described how do you think regulations and law will work in space?
2. If a US citizen commits a crime in space what countries laws will be in hand? The US? Will we maybe have a universal space police? :police:
3. Will there be boundaries on how far out in space we actually can go and if so, what country will control that and how?
4. Should every human have the right to leave earth and live in space if the possibility were in hand?
5. If non of these topics are solvable in the future what will then stop everything outside the earths atmosphere to become lawless territory?
Anyone watch the Dragon V2 unveil last night?
I'm blown away. Elon Musk always brings the wows.
Our plan is simple: we intend to contact the ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer) spacecraft, command it to fire its engines and enter an orbit near Earth, and then resume its original mission - a mission it began in 1978. ISEE-3 was rechristened as the International Comet Explorer (ICE). If we are successful it may also still be able to chase yet another comet.
Working in collaboration with NASA we have assembled a team of engineers, programmers, and scientists - and have a large radio telescope fully capable of contacting ISEE-3. If we are successful we intend to facilitate the sharing and interpretation of all of the new data ISEE-3 sends back via crowd sourcing.
NASA has told us officially that there is no funding available to support an ISEE-3 effort - nor is this work a formal priority for the agency right now. But NASA does feel that the data that ISEE-3 could generate would have real value and that a crowd funded effort such as ours has real value as an education and public outreach activity.
Time is short. And this project is not without significant risks. We need your financial help. ISEE-3 must be contacted in the next month or so and it must complete its orbit change maneuvers no later than mid-June 2014. There is excitement ahead as well: part of the maneuvers will include a flyby of the Moon at an altitude of less than 50 km.
Our team members at Morehead State University, working with AMSAT-DL in Germany, have already detected the carrier signals from both of ISEE-3's transmitters. When the time comes, we will be using the large dish at Morehead State University to contact the spacecraft and give it commands.
In order to interact with the spacecraft we will need to locate the original commands and then develop a software recreation of the original hardware that was used to communicate with the spacecraft. These are our two greatest challenges.
The funding we seek will be used for things we have not already obtained from volunteers. We need to initiate a crash course effort to use 'software radio' to recreate virtual versions all of the original communications hardware that no longer physically exists. We also need to cover overhead involved in operating a large dish antenna, locating and analyzing old documentation, and possibly some travel.
This activity will be led by the same team that has successfully accomplished the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) SkyCorp and SpaceRef Interactive. Education and public outreach will be coordinated by the newly-formed non-profit organization Space College Foundation.
Our trajectory efforts will be coordinated by trajectory maestro Robert Farquhar and his team at KinetX. We are also working in collaboration with the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, and the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) at NASA Ames Research Center.
On Thursday a group of space enthusiasts announced that they had established two-way communication with the International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3), a satellite launched in 1978 and used throughout the 80’s to study solar winds.
After the satellite had completed its mission, NASA used the Moon’s gravity to fling it into an orbit leading Earth around the Sun. Contact with the ISEE-3 was officially suspended in 1998. Many years later, the ISEE-3 is about to catch up with Earth from behind, an occasion which led the space enthusiasts at the ISEE-3 Reboot Project to try to make contact with the dormant spacecraft.
With NASA funds perpetually low, using resources to make contact through the space agency was an impossibility. But last week, NASA handed the keys to the satellite over to the ISEE-3 Reboot Project, which is backed by a company called Skycorp, Inc.
The project wrote today on its blog:
"The ISEE-3 Reboot Project is pleased to announce that our team has established two-way communication with the ISEE-3 spacecraft and has begun commanding it to perform specific functions. Over the coming days and weeks our team will make an assessment of the spacecraft's overall health and refine the techniques required to fire its engines and bring it back to an orbit near Earth.”
The group first made contact at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico. As it describes in more detail:
We have successfully commanded both of ISEE-3's data multiplexers into engineering telemetry mode. The current bitrate is 512 bits/sec. We have been able to verify modulated data through ground stations in Germany, Morehead State in Kentucky, and the SETI Allen Array in California. We will not be transmitting over the next few days after this success but concentrating on telemetry. When we are confident of the state of the spacecraft, we will be placing the bird in engineering telemetry mode as soon as possible. We will keep everyone updated on this. We are setting up, with the cooperation of Arecibo, a means to remotely command the spacecraft.
Although the news is good for ISEE-3 lovers, it’s still uncertain whether the ISEE-3 reboot project will be able to fire its engines after such a long time out of contact. If the engines can’t be fired, the satellite will swing out of reach, perhaps for two centuries or more.
SpaceEngine - a free space simulation program that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions, from planet Earth to the most distant galaxies. Areas of the known universe are represented using actual astronomical data, while regions uncharted by astronomy are generated procedurally. Millions of galaxies, trillions of stars, countless planets - all available for exploration. You can land any planet, moon or asteroid and watch alien landscapes and celestial phenomena. You can even pilot starships and atmospheric shuttles.
Ok so I just found out about this:Sry for quoting my own post but i've been trying space engine now for a week and I urge anyone mildly interested in astronomy to try this program out. It's just fantastic!
https://en.spaceengine.org/QuoteSpaceEngine - a free space simulation program that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions, from planet Earth to the most distant galaxies. Areas of the known universe are represented using actual astronomical data, while regions uncharted by astronomy are generated procedurally. Millions of galaxies, trillions of stars, countless planets - all available for exploration. You can land any planet, moon or asteroid and watch alien landscapes and celestial phenomena. You can even pilot starships and atmospheric shuttles.
I tried it for 5 minutes and was immediately sold. It's crazy immense. You can either click on any star and I do mean any star in the sky and get info and travel there or you can manually go there. Luckily you can manage your travel speed. God damn it's immense!
Ok so I just found out about this:Sry for quoting my own post but i've been trying space engine now for a week and I urge anyone mildly interested in astronomy to try this program out. It's just fantastic!
https://en.spaceengine.org/QuoteSpaceEngine - a free space simulation program that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions, from planet Earth to the most distant galaxies. Areas of the known universe are represented using actual astronomical data, while regions uncharted by astronomy are generated procedurally. Millions of galaxies, trillions of stars, countless planets - all available for exploration. You can land any planet, moon or asteroid and watch alien landscapes and celestial phenomena. You can even pilot starships and atmospheric shuttles.
I tried it for 5 minutes and was immediately sold. It's crazy immense. You can either click on any star and I do mean any star in the sky and get info and travel there or you can manually go there. Luckily you can manage your travel speed. God damn it's immense!
Any of you guys ever seen "Moon Machines"? It's a multi-part documentary about the engineering behind the moon landing. Super cool.
NASA’s newest spacecraft, Orion, will be launching into space for the first time in December 2014, on a flight that will take it farther than any spacecraft built to carry humans has gone in more than 40 years and through temperatures twice as hot as molten lava to put its critical systems to the test.
Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a planned, beyond-low Earth orbit (LEO) manned spacecraft that is being built by Lockheed Martin for NASA, and Airbus Defence and Space for the European Space Agency for crewed missions to the Moon, asteroids and Mars. It is planned to be launched by the Space Launch System. Each Orion spacecraft is projected to carry a crew of 0–6 astronauts.
Holy shit.QuoteNASA’s newest spacecraft, Orion, will be launching into space for the first time in December 2014, on a flight that will take it farther than any spacecraft built to carry humans has gone in more than 40 years and through temperatures twice as hot as molten lava to put its critical systems to the test.
Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a planned, beyond-low Earth orbit (LEO) manned spacecraft that is being built by Lockheed Martin for NASA, and Airbus Defence and Space for the European Space Agency for crewed missions to the Moon, asteroids and Mars. It is planned to be launched by the Space Launch System. Each Orion spacecraft is projected to carry a crew of 0–6 astronauts.
https://youtu.be/KyZqSWWKmHQ
Any of you guys ever seen "Moon Machines"? It's a multi-part documentary about the engineering behind the moon landing. Super cool.One of my favorite of the Apollo documentaries. My favorite episode was the navigation computer.
That's gotta sting a bit! :lol Did he figure out what in his code that caused it?
That's pretty damn cool! You work for NASA?No, a subcontractor. Basically, NASA develops the requirements and bids out the spacecraft to industry. Lockheed is the prime contractor for the Orion crew module, who in turn subs out much of the subsystems to companies who specialize in the appropriate technology.
And it wasn't even as blatant as using feet instead of meters. The mass moments of inertia (heavy objects are difficult to rotate, so its akin to mass making it difficult to move a heavy object in a straight line) for the spacecraft were in the wrong unit system. The attitude control system was then using inappropriate thrust to maneuver.That's gotta sting a bit! :lol Did he figure out what in his code that caused it?
He said hardware failure. The main computer detected a malfunction and decided that destroying the rocket was the safest avenue. Through the FIRST robotics program, I also met Tom Gavin. He's the guy who signed off on the Mars orbiter that missed Mars because part of the project was done in metric units and other parts were done in English units.
Oh I see, cool. :)That's pretty damn cool! You work for NASA?No, a subcontractor. Basically, NASA develops the requirements and bids out the spacecraft to industry. Lockheed is the prime contractor for the Orion crew module, who in turn subs out much of the subsystems to companies who specialize in the appropriate technology.
Oh my, haven't heard about that. Googled a bit and yes that was one expensive brainfart!That's gotta sting a bit! :lol Did he figure out what in his code that caused it?
He said hardware failure. The main computer detected a malfunction and decided that destroying the rocket was the safest avenue. Through the FIRST robotics program, I also met Tom Gavin. He's the guy who signed off on the Mars orbiter that missed Mars because part of the project was done in metric units and other parts were done in English units.
NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter was lost in space last week because engineers failed to make a simple conversion from English units to metric, an embarrassing lapse that sent the $125 million craft fatally close to the Martian surface, investigators said yesterday.
Stunning Rosetta Images Reveal Sand Dunes on Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko
It's a large icy lump of rock that has spent millions of years hurtling through the vacuum of space, so you can imagine the surprise on the faces of ESA researchers when they discovered Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko possessed what appeared to be sand dunes. Of course, it's not sand as we know it, but instead dust that is almost inexplicably collecting on the comet's surface.
The images above were taken on October 18th with Rosetta approximately 8km away from Comet 67P, and the presence of those dusty dunes will be the focus of a great deal of study on the part of Rosetta's science team. However, most of ESA's energies will be fully focused on the events leading up to November 12th, when the Rosetta team will attempt the first soft-landing on a comet in human history.
So in the " this is news to me " category :
Apparently there is 90% gravity in space and people are only weightless in shuttles and space stations due to free fall - which is overridden by it's horizontal motion orbiting the earth.
:eek I've heard that twice recently. All this time I thought there was like 5% gravity in space.
California Highway Patrol has reported that there was one fatality and one seriously injured in the crash.
Yeah. That really sucks for that company. I wonder if they are going to lose any preorders. I know they have a ton of them. This has not been a good week for space.Yea some backlash will happen but as gruesome as it may sound it's during accidents like this that the project becomes "safer" because they're forced to investigate and solve scenarios they didn't foresee.
space is probably doing just fine without us
Comet landing shortly!
https://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2
:corn
Pretty much. People standing around at computers looking at screens and talking to each other.
edit: Looks like it was successful?
Too many German accents!!!
This is beyond awesome.
Wirth all the non-US space news lately (China, Europe, India), it might be time for a little Sputnik feeling here.
Here is a video of the probe's mission trajectory since launch in 2004:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktrtvCvZb28
I don't have detailed knowledge of deep space missions, but after launch, the only intervention by ground crew would be course corrections if necessary during key parts of the mission. For example, this mission was launched 10 years ago, and had 3 Earth gravity assist maneuvers, and one Mars gravity assist maneuver. As it was approaching these points, I'm sure they were looking very closely at trajectory to make any necessary corrections using the onboard maneuvering thrusters.Thx! :tup That video was fascinating and it makes it look so "easy" pardon the expression. However the equations and math behind that is something I will never understand and it's just so abstract for me that they could plan something like that 10+ years in advance.
Here is a video of the probe's mission trajectory since launch in 2004:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktrtvCvZb28
Chino, I'm trying hard not to correlate that comment with the website it was posted on.
He can be a scientist and still be a moron. Why does he focus so much on GPS? We didn't have GPS when we sent guys to the moon over 40 years ago. Oh yeah, he probably doesn't believe we did that, either.
That water tower held up to the blast nicely. Whoever built it needs to build the next rocket:lol
It kind of bums me out that in the 60's we decided to go to the moon and did it more or less from scratch in less than ten years. We have made so much progress since then and a manned Mars mission is still twenty years away. I understand fully that Mars is no easy feat, but if we put the resources into Mars that we did to the moon, we could easily do it in ten years.
It kind of bums me out that in the 60's we decided to go to the moon and did it more or less from scratch in less than ten years. We have made so much progress since then and a manned Mars mission is still twenty years away. I understand fully that Mars is no easy feat, but if we put the resources into Mars that we did to the moon, we could easily do it in ten years.
Think about it, anyone under the age of 40 or so has never even seen man land on the moon in their lifetime. I think it could be as big an event now for NASA as it was back then, especially with the technology of today, live streaming the whole thing over the internet. And getting to Mars is going to be absolutely huge.
Don't get me wrong, landing a rover on Mars is still a damn impressive feat, but it doesn't quite capture the imagination like seeing a living breathing person land on a different rock.
It kind of bums me out that in the 60's we decided to go to the moon and did it more or less from scratch in less than ten years. We have made so much progress since then and a manned Mars mission is still twenty years away. I understand fully that Mars is no easy feat, but if we put the resources into Mars that we did to the moon, we could easily do it in ten years.
Think about it, anyone under the age of 40 or so has never even seen man land on the moon in their lifetime. I think it could be as big an event now for NASA as it was back then, especially with the technology of today, live streaming the whole thing over the internet. And getting to Mars is going to be absolutely huge.
Don't get me wrong, landing a rover on Mars is still a damn impressive feat, but it doesn't quite capture the imagination like seeing a living breathing person land on a different rock.
I sadly don't think it would be that big of a deal to a lot of people. Just browsing the Fox News comments, and sites like Free Republic, it's clear that a good 1/3 of this country thinks it's a complete waste of time and money.
I don't think funding is the biggest issue. The technology, experience and infrastructure are also important. I think their timeline is unrealistic in that regard.Yea I agree on this. Lots of things to question.
And on the matter of ethics, I would think it would be even harder for a privately run company to be allowed to do it? Maybe I'm wrong on that, but I think that is a factor to a mission like this for anyone. They were much more "reckless" back in the 60s space race, the Russians probably much more so than the Americans.
What about the Mars One mission that no one believes in? I don't believe in it. :lol
I really hope to be proven wrong on that, but until there are some proven results, I don't have a lot of faith in private space companies to achieve something so monumental.
What about the Mars One mission that no one believes in? I don't believe in it. :lol
I really hope to be proven wrong on that, but until there are some proven results, I don't have a lot of faith in private space companies to achieve something so monumental.
I'm convinced SpaceX is capable of doing anything NASA does (probably better) for a fraction of the cost. In less than fifteen years, they've already successfully manuevered rockets and landed them back on a launch pad. The dragon capsule is a work of art and a technological marvel. Fuck. You could land that thing anywhere on the gblobe you wanted. Elon could have it land on his front lawn if he wanted to. NASA is still content with landing in the ocean.
From 2.9 billion miles away, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft let its handlers know on Saturday that it has awakened from hibernation and is ready for the climax of its nine-year trip to Pluto.
The first signals were received at the mission's control center at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland via a giant radio antenna in Australia just before 9:30 p.m. ET, nearly four and a half hours after it was sent by the piano-sized probe. It takes that long for signals to travel between there and here at the speed of light.
Later readings confirmed that New Horizons was fully awake.
The spacecraft is currently about 162 million miles away from Pluto, but as that distance shrinks, the observations will get better and better. By next May, New Horizons' images of Pluto should be sharper than the best pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. And in July, the probe may catch sight of the clouds and ice volcanoes that scientists suspect may exist on the dwarf planet.
New Horizons will capture pictures of Pluto and its five known moons, but there may be surprises as well — still more moons, perhaps, or icy rings around Pluto. So many readings are expected to pile up that New Horizons will have to store the data in its memory and transmit it for more than a year after the encounter.
After Pluto, New Horizons' team is planning to send the probe past another icy object in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of cosmic material that lies beyond Neptune's orbit, in late 2018 or 2019.
"New Horizons is on a journey to a new class of planets we've never seen, in a place we've never been before," NASA quoted New Horizons' project scientist, Hal Weaver of the Applied Physics Laboratory, as saying. "For decades we thought Pluto was this odd little body on the planetary outskirts; now we know it's really a gateway to an entire region of new worlds in the Kuiper Belt, and New Horizons is going to provide the first close-up look at them."
I can't wait :cornHmm I actually thought they had better pictures than that. I also thought Voyager 2 passed by but apparently neither Vog 1 or 2 did that, infact they never had a mission to Pluto before New Horizon. Goddamn I need to read up! :lol
These are currently the best images we have of Pluto.
(https://www.nasa.gov/images/content/421596main_s1006ay.jpg)
Hmm I actually thought they had better pictures than that. I also thought Voyager 2 passed by but apparently neither Vog 1 or 2 did that, infact they never had a mission to Pluto before New Horizon. Goddamn I need to read up! :lol
Galaxies are far away, it's true, but many of them are bigger than they are far, at least by comparison to the worlds within our solar system! Think about that for a moment -- how something that is millions of light-years away can still appear a thousand times bigger than something that's inside our own solar system.I think my brain took timeout....
Curiosity livestream with latest discoveries! (https://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html?adbid=542001027860287488&adbpl=tw&adbpr=15431856&cmpid=514648_20141208_36909237)
SpaceX will apparently attempt something truly epic during next week's cargo launch to the International Space Station.
During the Dec. 16 launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which will send SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule toward the orbiting lab, the California-based company will try to bring the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth for a controlled landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.
NASA Just Emailed A Wrench To The International Space StationPretty cool!
For the first time ever, hardware designed on the ground has been emailed to space to meet the needs of an astronaut. From a computer in California, Mike Chen of Made In Space and colleagues just 3D-printed a ratcheting socket wrench on the International Space Station. “We had overheard ISS Commander Barry Wilmore (who goes by “Butch”) mention over the radio that he needed one,” Chen writes in Medium this week. So they designed one and sent it up.
It's a printer that makes 3D objects.
BTW, people always make it out to be the next revolution ... I must say I'm pretty skeptical about it. The problem, as I see it, is that of materials. Most objects we have are highly specialized for their specific purposes. They are crazy-ass tempered alloys of 5 different compounds etc.
A 3-D printer will never have those materials at its disposal. At best it might have 5 substances it can mix, but in the end they will vastly underperform the "made for this purpose" equivalents.
BTW, people always make it out to be the next revolution ... I must say I'm pretty skeptical about it. The problem, as I see it, is that of materials. Most objects we have are highly specialized for their specific purposes. They are crazy-ass tempered alloys of 5 different compounds etc.
A 3-D printer will never have those materials at its disposal. At best it might have 5 substances it can mix, but in the end they will vastly underperform the "made for this purpose" equivalents.
Even though it's not for home use, they can effectively print just about any material by printing it out in a wax type substance and molding it in metals etc. Shapeways can print out gold/silver/steel/bronze etc, and ceramics for plates/mugs or whatever. For the home user to so easily have access to that kind of service is pretty cool. And in the medical industry, they've printed out custom designed jaws in titanium for replacements.
Even in its current capacity, I'd call it revolutionary.
BTW, people always make it out to be the next revolution ... I must say I'm pretty skeptical about it. The problem, as I see it, is that of materials. Most objects we have are highly specialized for their specific purposes. They are crazy-ass tempered alloys of 5 different compounds etc.
A 3-D printer will never have those materials at its disposal. At best it might have 5 substances it can mix, but in the end they will vastly underperform the "made for this purpose" equivalents.
Even though it's not for home use, they can effectively print just about any material by printing it out in a wax type substance and molding it in metals etc. Shapeways can print out gold/silver/steel/bronze etc, and ceramics for plates/mugs or whatever. For the home user to so easily have access to that kind of service is pretty cool. And in the medical industry, they've printed out custom designed jaws in titanium for replacements.
Even in its current capacity, I'd call it revolutionary.
Mold printing is kinda what I would call "secondary 3D printing" though. And the prosthesis printing, that is of course phenomenal, but it's still a very niche application, IMHO.
In March 2015, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will arrive in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres is a relatively warm and wet body that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the Jovian moon Europa and the Saturn satellite Enceladus, both of which may be capable of supporting life as we know it, some researchers say.
Cool, had no idea about that. Will definitly follow that. Speaking of do anyone now of any good site or anything were you can follow current NASA or non NASA missions both manned and unmanned. I can only find lists of current missions but it would be could to see them in some kind of "progress chart" if you know what I mean. So you can see when something was launched, current status and when its expected to arrive at it's destination and also future missions.
Launch Update
During the terminal count engineers observed drift on one of the two thrust vector actuators on the second stage that would likely have caused an automatic abort. Engineers called a hold in order to take a closer look. SpaceX is scrubbed for today and we are now targeting launch on Jan. 9th at 5:09am ET.
idk.... The new photo of Andromeda makes my head want to explode. This is zooming in.Mind=Blown
(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/the-sharpest-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy-ever-taken-41.jpg?w=920&h=294)
(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/the-sharpest-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy-ever-taken-21.jpg?w=920&h=294)
(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/the-sharpest-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy-ever-taken-31.jpg?w=920&h=294)
(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/the-sharpest-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy-ever-taken-51.jpg?w=920&h=294)
(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/the-sharpest-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy-ever-taken-11.jpg?w=920&h=294)
(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/the-sharpest-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy-ever-taken-61.jpg?w=920&h=294)
Elon Musk released a video of the "failed" attempt to land the Stage 1 rocket booster.Rapid unscheduled disassembly event. :rollin
https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK
From the initial reports, I was expecting a much faster descent. Apparently they ran out of hydraulic fluid that was controlling the stabilizing fins, which should be fixed in the next launch (50% more fluid this time around).
I had to watch twice. Pretty cool.u
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ca6x4QbpoM&feature=youtu.be
Well that was frustrating. SpaceX launch was scrubbed two minutes before launch. Was sitting on the bleacher section, everything looked perfect ... meh.
EDIT: Because the USAF radar was down. Wtf.
I guess I was really lucky then. I saw a shuttle launch when I was very young.
If a wormhole did in fact exist - would it indeed be a sphere as seen in Interstellar ? Or was that one a sphere because it was placed there by higher dimensional beings who operate on more dimensions than we can comprehend ?
If a wormhole did in fact exist - would it indeed be a sphere as seen in Interstellar ? Or was that one a sphere because it was placed there by higher dimensional beings who operate on more dimensions than we can comprehend ?
It's a sphere because a blackhole is a hole in three dimensions. How that works, I am not really sure :lol
If a wormhole did in fact exist - would it indeed be a sphere as seen in Interstellar ? Or was that one a sphere because it was placed there by higher dimensional beings who operate on more dimensions than we can comprehend ?
It's a sphere because a blackhole is a hole in three dimensions. How that works, I am not really sure :lol
It would actually be that epic if you saw it for real.
I can't read that article at work, so I might be saying what it's saying.
Both are strong contenders for harboring life. I think Europa has a slight edge in most scientists' eyes simply because it has (we think) an ocean of water beneath the ice. Titan, however, still has liquid oceans, they just happen to be methane. There are seasons and weather that are contantly mixing things up and keeping the environment fresh. Titan is also subject to tidal forces just like Europa. There is a lot of heat inside titan, and if there is water toward the core, life could exist. Life on Titan would require a new type of life that would probably not be carbon based. I know sceintists have recently been able design or imagine methane based cells that could divide.
I'm not a non-believer when it comes to life in the universe other than earth, but I do think that it's a bit over-optimistic to expect to find it here in our solar system.
My point is, life will exist anywhere. If it means survival, and as long as there is enough time, DNA will find a solution to surviving any environment. As far as we could tell, Mars was near identical to Earth millions of years ago, I'd be shocked if Mars never saw life. When you look at the extremes that life on Earth can survive in, the rest of the solar system becomes more than possible.
Just... :omg: :eek . It's truly another world.
Have you heard this (https://medium.com/matter/all-dressed-up-for-mars-and-nowhere-to-go-7e76df527ca0) about the Mars One project? Apparently, there's a lot of things media doesn't say (https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3) about the project, like it has no money, it's partners are no longer supporting it, and the finalists are not only being scammed, but thus far, they have zero training, and the interview process is awfully poor. Honestly, I thought this was going to be the next big thing, but this makes me worry about the poor participants, and the image it leaves of NASA and space science in the public.
Just... :omg: :eek . It's truly another world.Don't think NASA will be affected by that very much, lots of people had doubts about Mars One including NASA.
Have you heard this (https://medium.com/matter/all-dressed-up-for-mars-and-nowhere-to-go-7e76df527ca0) about the Mars One project? Apparently, there's a lot of things media doesn't say (https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3) about the project, like it has no money, it's partners are no longer supporting it, and the finalists are not only being scammed, but thus far, they have zero training, and the interview process is awfully poor. Honestly, I thought this was going to be the next big thing, but this makes me worry about the poor participants, and the image it leaves of NASA and space science in the public.
I really wish that shirt didn't say "Get your ass to" on it. I'd much prefer just the Mars version of the NASA logo. I'd buy one if it didn't have that on it. I saw a photo online of David Grohl wearing one.
It's Arnie, man! I haven't even seen the movie, and I know it. :lol
It's Arnie, man! I haven't even seen the movie, and I know it. :lol
I've never even heard of it.
And it's a good movie at that!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91dW9pUA1BI
That picture has to be fake.
Really cool discovery!
https://earthsky.org/space/underground-ocean-on-jupiters-largest-moon (https://earthsky.org/space/underground-ocean-on-jupiters-largest-moon)
That picture has to be fake.
Kinda hope it isn't.
unfortunately, cloudy here
As far as I know the Venera pictures were taken in B/W.
According to Wikipedia, venera 13 took color pictures, mostly of the soil.
Would it be possible for NASA to crowd source a mission? I feel like if NASA made a Kickstarter for a mission to one of the icy moons, they could raise some serious coin. I'd throw them a Benji.
Would it be possible for NASA to crowd source a mission? I feel like if NASA made a Kickstarter for a mission to one of the icy moons, they could raise some serious coin. I'd throw them a Benji.
Mars has liquid water just below its surface, according to new measurements by Nasa’s Curiosity rover.
Until now, scientists had thought that conditions on the red planet were too cold and arid for liquid water to exist, although there were known to be deposits of ice.
The latest findings are unlikely to change the view that if life ever blossomed on Mars, it probably died out more than a billion years ago.
Twenty years ago, you would have been crazy to think life could exist 7 miles underwater. James Cameron's little adventure to the Mariana Trench proved that to be very wrong. We've had bacteria survie launch, spend 500+ days in the vaccuum of space, and then survive reentry. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but if life ever blossomed on Mars, I'd be surprised if it died out.
Twenty years ago, you would have been crazy to think life could exist 7 miles underwater. James Cameron's little adventure to the Mariana Trench proved that to be very wrong. We've had bacteria survie launch, spend 500+ days in the vaccuum of space, and then survive reentry. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but if life ever blossomed on Mars, I'd be surprised if it died out.
You know, I've had this criticism for quite some time now. Life has been shown to be amazingly resilient, beyond the boiling point of water, into complete vacuum of space. And yet, I constantly see statements like "outside this narrow range of parameters, life would not be possible!!"
The next step is to refine the reusability of the main engine, Bruno says. The concept calls for the use of a hypersonic heat shield ULA is designing with NASA to protect the engine as it re-enters the atmosphere and slow its re-entry. Once slowed, the engine will deploy a steerable parafoil, which will guide it to a rendezvous point with a helicopter. The helicopter then will use a hook to pluck the engine from its descent. This is not unlike the retrieval operations for film canisters employed on early spy satellites.
Looks like the oldschool space logo that was on the '80s Lego spaceman suits too. :metal I like it.
Looks like the oldschool space logo that was on the '80s Lego spaceman suits too. :metal I like it.
I've wanted a Sagan shirt for so long. A while back I saw a Tyson/Nye shirt. It was cool, but I'm not the biggest fan of Nye. I like the guy, but he can be very annoying in his delivery. I lost my shit when I saw this one.
Having a flag for the planet is an awesome idea, but this just seems, I don't know, half assed.
I don't know, did you guys watch the video? There's of course 1000 other ways to illustrate Earth on a flag but it's a simple idea and I like it atleast.
I don't know, did you guys watch the video?
No that was Pioneer 10 and 11. Voyager 1 and 2 had each a Golden Record.I don't know, did you guys watch the video?
Yep. I watched it. It just seems to me there is a better design out there that typifies our Planet....like th example Chino just posted....was that on Voyager? That flag is just 'blah'....
Wow, that was a great podcast.And you can listen to ALL of his podcasts, being that some are in German. Lucky you.
@ESA_Rosetta
Day 45. No aliens spotted. More Rock. Just Rock. Infinite Rock. FML.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=197&v=PuNymhcTtSQLove the complete radio silence.
womp womp.
Latest Pluto image: https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/data/pluto/level2/lor/jpeg/029803/lor_0298030209_0x630_sci_1.jpg (https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/data/pluto/level2/lor/jpeg/029803/lor_0298030209_0x630_sci_1.jpg)
Less than two weeks until the flyby!!
I know there is a computer model of the solar system that JPL uses to plan trajectories. It accounts for deviations from the ideal point mass approximations of the planets, orbital perturbations, etc. I know I heard about it somewhere, but I don't know much more about it.Yea I would imagine something like that was in use. Cool stuff!
Edit: I did find this, though: https://eyes.nasa.gov/index.html
I totally share your excitment. I think that alot of people just assume we already been there with a satellite or something. I actually up until recently thought that Voyager 1 did a flyby in the 70s but apparently they went to Saturnus moon Titan instead.Latest Pluto image: https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/data/pluto/level2/lor/jpeg/029803/lor_0298030209_0x630_sci_1.jpg (https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/data/pluto/level2/lor/jpeg/029803/lor_0298030209_0x630_sci_1.jpg)
Less than two weeks until the flyby!!
This is so exciting. It kind of saddens me that the vast majority of the public doesn't even know this flyby is happening. We are going to be the first people in the history of our species to actually see Pluto. How cool is that?
I actually up until recently thought that Voyager 1 did a flyby in the 70s but apparently they went to Saturnus moon Titan instead.
It's an historic event for sure!
he event begs the question, did an ancient conjunction between the planets of Venus and Jupiter form the star of Bethlehem that the Wise Men of the Bible followed 2000 years ago? That is the theory that has not only been put forth by NASA, but many in the scientific community have come to support this recent finding. For the next six days, when the planet Venus has its conjunction with Jupiter, there will be what looks like the joining of two stars in the skies beginning on Monday night, and continuing through Saturday July 4th. It will appear as if one bright light or star forming in the western sky.
The scientific community now believe that this conjunction of the planets may have mistakenly been called the Star of Bethlehem by the Wise Men mentioned in the New Testament. According to Fred Schaaf, Sky & Telescope Contributing Editor, the upcoming conjunction of Venus and Jupiter will closely resemble one that occurred between the years 3 and 2 B.C., which falls within the approximate time frame that the Wise Men were said to have followed the Star of Bethlehem.
Prof Wickramasinghe said: "What we're saying is that data coming from the comet seems to unequivocally, in my opinion, point to micro-organisms being involved in the formation of the icy structures, the preponderance of aromatic hydrocarbons, and the very dark surface.
I read earlier that New Horizon's banwidth is roughly 1/50 of a 56k modem from the 90s. It takes 42 minutes to send a single 1024 pixel image back.
While this is going on we've also got a modern probe heading to a polar orbit of Jupiter which should be pretty cool, as well. I'm glad we're still using some good tech to study the solar system.
Juno is the mission I was referring to. DAWN is currently exploring proto-planets. NASA currently has a ton of missions underway, although few on other planets (Mars excluded).
And the problem is that few people really grasp the nature of change and research. Learning specific things is great, but just learning "stuff" will often yield far greater results. There's no telling what some currently anonymous egghead in his mom's basement might discover from research gathered by one of the many probes we're sending out. Might be far more helpful than a couple of more years of Meals on Wheels.
Juno is the mission I was referring to. DAWN is currently exploring proto-planets. NASA currently has a ton of missions underway, although few on other planets (Mars excluded).
And the problem is that few people really grasp the nature of change and research. Learning specific things is great, but just learning "stuff" will often yield far greater results. There's no telling what some currently anonymous egghead in his mom's basement might discover from research gathered by one of the many probes we're sending out. Might be far more helpful than a couple of more years of Meals on Wheels.
Also the technology created to do these missions can come back and play a role somewhere else in society. Im all for funding NASA, in fact I am wearing my NASA tshirt today :metal
There is a growing free-market view of human knowledge, according to which basic research should compete without government support with all the other institutions and claimants in the society. If they couldn’t have relied on government support, and had to compete in the free market economy of their day, it's unlikely that any of the scientists on my list would have been able to do their groundbreaking research. And the cost of basic research is substantially greater than it was in Maxwell's day-both theoretical and, especially, experimental.
But that aside, would free market forces be adequate to support basic research? Only about 10 percent of meritorious research proposals in medicine are funded today. More money is spent on quack medicine than on all of medical research. What would it be like if government opted out of medical research?
A necessary aspect of basic research is that its applications lie in the future-sometimes decades or even centuries ahead. What's more, no one knows which aspects of basic research will have practical value and which will not. If scientists cannot make such predictions, is it likely that politicians or industrialists can? If free market forces are focused only towards short-term profit-as they certainly mainly are in an America with steep declines in corporate research-is not this solution tantamount to abandoning basic research?
Cutting of fundamental curiosity-driven science is like eating the seed corn. We may harvest a little more to eat next winter, but what will we plant so we and our children will have enough to get through the winters to come?
In poking around NASA's website, I saw something that I'd somehow missed...we still ave two antennas pointing at (and receiving data from) Voyager 1!
In poking around NASA's website, I saw something that I'd somehow missed...we still ave two antennas pointing at (and receiving data from) Voyager 1!
I could have sworn that one of the Voyager missions had lost contact in the last few years, but I must be getting confused with something else. Maybe I'm thinking of a different probe, or just one function was shut down.
What I find most incredible is not that these old probes are still transmitting back data and we're receiving it, but that scientists are still able to interface with the old technology, and even modify and reprogram them successfully to fix problems remotely and adapt for new mission objectives. The ingenuity and ability to utilize technology of the time to its fullest potential impresses me so much.
If it's anything likeworking on a COBOL legacy system, I feel bad for them :lol
Crazy idea : One of our Voyager probes goes into a black hole - gets spat out and returned to Earth in the past - 50 years before it was launched.
It is still transmitting data.
We receive this Data and assume it is an alien craft.
Crazy idea : One of our Voyager probes goes into a black hole - gets spat out and returned to Earth in the past - 50 years before it was launched.
It is still transmitting data.
We receive this Data and assume it is an alien craft.
If it's anything likeworking on a COBOL legacy system, I feel bad for them :lol
They'd have been very lucky to get a higher level language like that. They programmed those things in assembly code. They had to interface with custom hardware and had to make full use of the limited resources.
Crazy idea : One of our Voyager probes goes into a black hole - gets spat out and returned to Earth in the past - 50 years before it was launched.
It is still transmitting data.
We receive this Data and assume it is an alien craft.
It would arrive in the future. I think.
Crazy idea : One of our Voyager probes goes into a black hole - gets spat out and returned to Earth in the past - 50 years before it was launched.
It is still transmitting data.
We receive this Data and assume it is an alien craft.
Interstellar
Crazy idea : One of our Voyager probes goes into a black hole - gets spat out and returned to Earth in the past - 50 years before it was launched.
It is still transmitting data.
We receive this Data and assume it is an alien craft.
Interstellar
???
It's more like Star Trek TMP if anything.
Crazy idea : One of our Voyager probes goes into a black hole - gets spat out and returned to Earth in the past - 50 years before it was launched.
It is still transmitting data.
We receive this Data and assume it is an alien craft.
Interstellar
???
It's more like Star Trek TMP if anything.
Did you see interstellar? What you described is very similar to what happens in that movie.
He enters a fifth dimensional tesseract - which is every point in time at once.
He's outside linear time. He doesn't go back in time.
Crazy idea : One of our Voyager probes goes into a black hole - gets spat out and returned to Earth in the past - 50 years before it was launched.Which was my point all along, I thought what you stated was very similar to what happens in the movie.
It is still transmitting data.
We receive this Data and assume it is an alien craft.
It includes a "listening" program — the effort to analyze vast amounts of radio signals in search of signs of life — and a "messaging" program that will include $1 million in prizes for digital messages that best represent the planet Earth.
The messages will not be sent, however, in part because some scientists — including Hawking — fear messages sent into space could possibly spur aggressive actions by alien races.
Neil Armstrong's spacesuit – like most of the spacesuits in the Museum’s collection – is currently being stored in a climate-controlled collections storage area that is not accessible to the public.
You may be surprised to learn that spacesuits are among the most fragile artifacts in the Museum’s collection. The Apollo suits were made to take astronauts to the Moon and back safely -- not to last hundreds of years in a museum.
Isn't the Smithsonian federally funded? Good question! Federal appropriations provide the foundation of the Smithsonian's operating budget and support core functions, such as building operations and maintenance, research, and safeguarding the collections. Projects like Reboot the Suit aren’t covered by our federal appropriations, which means we can only undertake them if we can fund them some other way. In other words, we won’t be able to do this project without the participation of Kickstarter backers.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/searching-et-hawking-look-extraterrestrial-life-121322284.html (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/searching-et-hawking-look-extraterrestrial-life-121322284.html)Sounds interesting.
That seems interesting, as well as this:QuoteIt includes a "listening" program — the effort to analyze vast amounts of radio signals in search of signs of life — and a "messaging" program that will include $1 million in prizes for digital messages that best represent the planet Earth.
The messages will not be sent, however, in part because some scientists — including Hawking — fear messages sent into space could possibly spur aggressive actions by alien races.
Just pledged $21 to this.They've got a couple on display already. I remember that they're pretty filthy. I guess they're just taking extra care of Armstrong's.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smithsonian/reboot-the-suit-bring-back-neil-armstrongs-spacesu?ref=nav_search (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smithsonian/reboot-the-suit-bring-back-neil-armstrongs-spacesu?ref=nav_search)QuoteNeil Armstrong's spacesuit – like most of the spacesuits in the Museum’s collection – is currently being stored in a climate-controlled collections storage area that is not accessible to the public.
You may be surprised to learn that spacesuits are among the most fragile artifacts in the Museum’s collection. The Apollo suits were made to take astronauts to the Moon and back safely -- not to last hundreds of years in a museum.QuoteIsn't the Smithsonian federally funded? Good question! Federal appropriations provide the foundation of the Smithsonian's operating budget and support core functions, such as building operations and maintenance, research, and safeguarding the collections. Projects like Reboot the Suit aren’t covered by our federal appropriations, which means we can only undertake them if we can fund them some other way. In other words, we won’t be able to do this project without the participation of Kickstarter backers.
I'm really curious to see how well this does. More than $60k has been raised since this morning. I won't be surprised if the $500k is shattered. It makes me wonder what else could be crowd sourced in terms of space and exploration.
Every so often I have to stop and remind myself that we *LIVE* on an enormous floating ball of rock and water - flying at 1,000 mph around a gargantuan ball of fire in an infinite void surrounded by other gigantic spherical bodies.
Just stop and think about that for a second.
That's FACT.
I think we're all so used to it being true that we don't really stop to truly consider it often enough.
Every so often I have to stop and remind myself that we *LIVE* on an enormous floating ball of rock and water - flying at 1,000 mph around a gargantuan ball of fire in an infinite void surrounded by other gigantic spherical bodies.
Every so often I have to stop and remind myself that we *LIVE* on an enormous floating ball of rock and water - flying at 1,000 mph around a gargantuan ball of fire in an infinite void surrounded by other gigantic spherical bodies.I usually have a epiphany from time to time especially during warm summer days laying down and frying myself when I realize that the heat I feel on my body is actually from that distant star up in the sky that we call the Sun, it's been there up in the sky my whole life but it also been there for every living creature that has ever walk on this planet we call Earth. Even though I hate to say it most of my life I have taken that for granted. It's a really weird thing when you think about it, the heat you feel every summer is from that planet 149,597,870,700 meters from Earth.
Just stop and think about that for a second.
That's FACT.
I think we're all so used to it being true that we don't really stop to truly consider it often enough.
The other epiphany I usually have but alot less unfortunately is seeing the Milky Way arms stretching out across the sky on a clear night. Light polution destroys that for me every night sadly. The first time I saw the actual arms was a real eyeopener for me.
The other epiphany I usually have but alot less unfortunately is seeing the Milky Way arms stretching out across the sky on a clear night. Light polution destroys that for me every night sadly. The first time I saw the actual arms was a real eyeopener for me.
I seem to recall a story of a city where the power went down one night so Milky Way became visible. However part of the population freaked out and called the police because they thought something wrong was going on in the sky...
Unfortunately I never saw the Milky Way myself, but I probably would stand in awe for a while if I were to.
The other epiphany I usually have but alot less unfortunately is seeing the Milky Way arms stretching out across the sky on a clear night. Light polution destroys that for me every night sadly. The first time I saw the actual arms was a real eyeopener for me.
I seem to recall a story of a city where the power went down one night so Milky Way became visible. However part of the population freaked out and called the police because they thought something wrong was going on in the sky...
Unfortunately I never saw the Milky Way myself, but I probably would stand in awe for a while if I were to.
Was this LA? I heard this story as well. Kind of funny, kind of sad.
Unfortunately I never saw the Milky Way myself, but I probably would stand in awe for a while if I were to.
Every time I think about light pollution and what people in the city (or even close...including myself) are missing I get depressed. Even though I'm no aficionado or anything, I still have a pretty nice telescope and very often go out back and gaze up. It is THE wonder. Shame that many people don't care too much about it. I always feel like this mofo when I look at it, even when I'm stone-cold sober: Mmm, space (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCbeutFkN8I).
I mean, where else would people react that way? (just kidding)
Returning humans to the moon could cost 90 percent less than expected, bringing estimated costs down from $100 billion to $10 billion. That's something that NASA could afford on its current deep space human spaceflight budget.
“A factor of ten reduction in cost changes everything,” said Mark Hopkins, executive committee chair of the National Space Society, in a press release.
The study, released today, was conducted by the National Space Society and the Space Frontier Foundation—two non-profit organizations that advocate building human settlements beyond Earth—and it was reviewed by an independent team of former NASA executives, astronauts, and space policy experts.
I'm curious about that, but also why we originally thought it would cost a certain amount, but now realize that it would really be only about 1/10 of that. I realize that they're all rough estimates anyway, but what changed? When did they realize that they were off by a factor of 10, and why?
I'm assuming a moon colony isn't meant for 'just a place to populate' with "normal" people. It'd be primarily scientific/research based? Test ideas for long term facilities for future exploration of Mars..other planets? Just curious as to how this would benefit us? I think it's an awesome idea and would love to see it in my lifetime....just wondering out loud 'what' it is exactly we can accomplish?As is so often the case, the way to look at is isn't just how will it benefit us. If it has one thing that's good, in this case I'd go with a platform for further space exploration, then you can justify it and begin to reap numerous rewards and benefits that were completely unforeseen. A wonderful aspect of research for the last 2000 years is that it invariably yields far more than what you expect. In the effort to make such a thing possible, tons of research, development and creation will occur. That's the real prize.
I'm assuming a moon colony isn't meant for 'just a place to populate' with "normal" people. It'd be primarily scientific/research based? Test ideas for long term facilities for future exploration of Mars..other planets? Just curious as to how this would benefit us? I think it's an awesome idea and would love to see it in my lifetime....just wondering out loud 'what' it is exactly we can accomplish?As is so often the case, the way to look at is isn't just how will it benefit us. If it has one thing that's good, in this case I'd go with a platform for further space exploration, then you can justify it and begin to reap numerous rewards and benefits that were completely unforeseen. A wonderful aspect of research for the last 2000 years is that it invariably yields far more than what you expect. In the effort to make such a thing possible, tons of research, development and creation will occur. That's the real prize.
I'm curious about that, but also why we originally thought it would cost a certain amount, but now realize that it would really be only about 1/10 of that. I realize that they're all rough estimates anyway, but what changed? When did they realize that they were off by a factor of 10, and why?
Maybe a re-evaluation of available technologies now vs when they originally planned it?
I'm curious about that, but also why we originally thought it would cost a certain amount, but now realize that it would really be only about 1/10 of that. I realize that they're all rough estimates anyway, but what changed? When did they realize that they were off by a factor of 10, and why?
Maybe a re-evaluation of available technologies now vs when they originally planned it?
That makes sense.
Assuming you could work out lunar mineral rights with the other space faring nations, I doubt you'd get much support for strip-mining the thing. Republicans don't own it yet.I'm curious about that, but also why we originally thought it would cost a certain amount, but now realize that it would really be only about 1/10 of that. I realize that they're all rough estimates anyway, but what changed? When did they realize that they were off by a factor of 10, and why?
Maybe a re-evaluation of available technologies now vs when they originally planned it?
That makes sense.
We also have a better understanding of what makes the moon up. We can mine stuff and sell it back on Earth. Getting there probably isn't 90% cheaper today, but that cost can be offset by the economic gains back home. I think.
NASA will host a news teleconference on thursday and IFLS had this title "NASA Has A "Huge Announcement" To Make (https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-announce-major-new-planet-discovery-kepler-tomorrow-and-you-can-watch-it-live) on their site which got my attention but on jpl.nasa.gov (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2015-239&rn=news.xml&rst=4660#.Va5Eb-1Ep3A.twitter) they kind of toned it down either way they did have the following line:
Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years -- another Earth.
I'm looking forward to what kind of planets they have found.
Yup. It seems they're discovering Earthlike or "Goldilocks" planets all the time. Not sure why this one is special. Moreover, it'll be a billion light years away, so just knowing it's there won't mean much.
Yup. It seems they're discovering Earthlike or "Goldilocks" planets all the time. Not sure why this one is special. Moreover, it'll be a billion light years away, so just knowing it's there won't mean much.
Absolutely loved this article....and relevant to this discussion.
https://qz.com/452452/where-are-all-the-aliens/
Absolutely loved this article....and relevant to this discussion.
https://qz.com/452452/where-are-all-the-aliens/
Possibility 7) We are receiving contact from other intelligent life, but the government is hiding it.The more I learn about the topic, the more this seems like an idiotic theory, but I had to mention it because it’s talked about so much.:rollin
Absolutely loved this article....and relevant to this discussion.
https://qz.com/452452/where-are-all-the-aliens/QuotePossibility 7) We are receiving contact from other intelligent life, but the government is hiding it.The more I learn about the topic, the more this seems like an idiotic theory, but I had to mention it because it’s talked about so much.:rollin
Absolutely loved this article....and relevant to this discussion.
https://qz.com/452452/where-are-all-the-aliens/
Thanks for sharing that.
There is absolutely no way the government could keep that a secret. Someone would leak that for sure. Hundreds of people at NASA would know about it and they are too passionate at what they do to not say anything. They'd happily go to jail to get that truth out there.
Absolutely loved this article....and relevant to this discussion.
https://qz.com/452452/where-are-all-the-aliens/
"There’s even a chance that we’re all part of a computer simulation by some researcher from another world, and other forms of life simply weren’t programmed into the simulation."
(https://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb337/krissyalleyofficer/random%20stuff/RunningInCircles.gif)
I suppose this is what The Matrix is all about, but are there any other good pieces of fiction that explore this idea well? I was never into science fiction so I never came across anything like this before, but I'm sure it's been done. I read Isaac Asimov's The Final Question about the progression from Type I to Type III and beyond and really enjoyed it.Absolutely loved this article....and relevant to this discussion.
https://qz.com/452452/where-are-all-the-aliens/
Lovely read. I've always been partial to the simulation theory myself - I can see us easily simulating entire civilizations with artificial intelligence in a few hundred (or thousand) years, so I find it hard to believe that we would be the first species to achieve that. I find it more plausible that it has already happened some time ago and we're just one of those simulations.
"There’s even a chance that we’re all part of a computer simulation by some researcher from another world, and other forms of life simply weren’t programmed into the simulation."
(https://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb337/krissyalleyofficer/random%20stuff/RunningInCircles.gif)
I suppose this is what The Matrix is all about, but are there any other good pieces of fiction that explore this idea well? I was never into science fiction so I never came across anything like this before, but I'm sure it's been done. I read Isaac Asimov's The Final Question about the progression from Type I to Type III and beyond and really enjoyed it.Absolutely loved this article....and relevant to this discussion.
https://qz.com/452452/where-are-all-the-aliens/
Lovely read. I've always been partial to the simulation theory myself - I can see us easily simulating entire civilizations with artificial intelligence in a few hundred (or thousand) years, so I find it hard to believe that we would be the first species to achieve that. I find it more plausible that it has already happened some time ago and we're just one of those simulations.
I'm tempted to repost the article in P/R just because I find it fascinating that some people (not all) are so open to these ideas (some of which even you will admit are just WAAAY off the chart) and yet almost seem agitated at the very thought of an intelligent designer in the personage of God.
I must ponder. But let's not turn *this* thread into P/R territory. Everyone, as you were....
"There’s even a chance that we’re all part of a computer simulation by some researcher from another world, and other forms of life simply weren’t programmed into the simulation."
(https://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb337/krissyalleyofficer/random%20stuff/RunningInCircles.gif)
I'd like to think someone went to the trouble of building an advanced computer simulation of an entire universe full of potential just so I could sit in front of a simulated computer and do nothing. :lol
:lol"There’s even a chance that we’re all part of a computer simulation by some researcher from another world, and other forms of life simply weren’t programmed into the simulation."
(https://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb337/krissyalleyofficer/random%20stuff/RunningInCircles.gif)
I'd like to think someone went to the trouble of building an advanced computer simulation of an entire universe full of potential just so I could sit in front of a simulated computer and do nothing. :lol
Just be thankful they cared enough to include porn in the simulation :lol
What happened 5 minutes ago?
NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star. This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.”
The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone -- the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet -- of a G2-type star, like our sun. The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.
"On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0."
While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun. Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.Pretty cool stuff.
What happened 5 minutes ago?
They started their announcement, which is the finding of an Earth-like planet, I think the most similar they've found yet.
This is really cool....but, are people getting the wrong idea? (and just for the record...this skepticism does not come from my faith. In fact, my faith allows for the possibility that God may someday *want* us to continue to colonize the universe....I'm not a science denier....just a realist)
What I mean is this. The Kepler is taking readings based on shadow patterns from suns that are a very long way away. Based on that, we have, in fact, discovered that there are planets which orbit similar suns at a similar distance. We can judge their size, the distance from the sun, and the length of orbit. And that's FANTASTIC. But beyond that, aren't we jumping the gun a bit? The photos that are being circulated with this article are not even real, but I'm not sure everyone who reads these articles knows that. They just see an artist's rendition of what it may look like and conclude that we have pictures from space of "another earth"... I mean, we don't even know if there's water on the thing.
I love the science, but I get frustrated when a lot of hype and hope turns into a lot of false "facts"...
It's about 1400 light years away. If we could see it clearly from Earth, that's not a long time in terms of evolution, but potentially a long time in terms of cultural and technological development. And it's still a lot further than we could imagine visiting.
It's about 1400 light years away. If we could see it clearly from Earth, that's not a long time in terms of evolution, but potentially a long time in terms of cultural and technological development. And it's still a lot further than we could imagine visiting.
Thanks, yea thats what I was thinking and just didn't know the number. Kind of makes the discovery not that important for my lifetime, although I'm not saying the discovery is not important.
It's about 1400 light years away. If we could see it clearly from Earth, that's not a long time in terms of evolution, but potentially a long time in terms of cultural and technological development. And it's still a lot further than we could imagine visiting.
It's about 1400 light years away. If we could see it clearly from Earth, that's not a long time in terms of evolution, but potentially a long time in terms of cultural and technological development. And it's still a lot further than we could imagine visiting.
But isn't the planet older than the Earth? That could offset some of the light years?
It's about 1400 light years away. If we could see it clearly from Earth, that's not a long time in terms of evolution, but potentially a long time in terms of cultural and technological development. And it's still a lot further than we could imagine visiting.
But isn't the planet older than the Earth? That could offset some of the light years?
This is all assuming that any intelligent species on the planet is currently still around, which is already assuming there was any to begin with. For all we know they came and went a billion years ago, or maybe they're still a bunch of tadpoles in a pond.
Plot Twist : Kepler is so far away - that it looks like a new Earth to us.
But it's so far in the past that all life on it has already left and the planet is now a barren rock.
It's about 1400 light years away. If we could see it clearly from Earth, that's not a long time in terms of evolution, but potentially a long time in terms of cultural and technological development. And it's still a lot further than we could imagine visiting.
But isn't the planet older than the Earth? That could offset some of the light years?
Every full moon, I try to get a decent picture and have failed every time. I am using my Nikon D3100 and an old 70-210mm zoom from my Nikon film camera. The problem is the autofocus on that lens is not compatible with the D3100, so i have to focus manually. Thus, I can never tell if its a resolution problem or a focus problem.
Last month I was able to get this shot, which is my best so far. There are visible crater details at the terminator on the lower left of the image. I think the focus is as good as it can be.
f/5.6
1/250
ISO 200
210mm
^^Awesome pictures guys!
Speaking of the moon, just saw this cool picture taken by the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite:
(https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/l/t1.0-9/11826025_10153447754851772_5865874462321484670_n.jpg?oh=6d80562f4d0fdc9b694ec809eed2e638&oe=564F5BF2)
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/from-a-million-miles-away-nasa-camera-shows-moon-crossing-face-of-earth
NASA's astronomy picture of the day:It's pretty amazing to think that no human has ever sat a foot on that environment, yet it feels so familiar if you know what I mean. Slightly big but you get my point.
(https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1508/PIA19803MSL.jpg) (https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150808.html)
NASA's astronomy picture of the day:It's pretty amazing to think that no human has ever sat a foot on that environment, yet it feels so familiar
(https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1508/PIA19803MSL.jpg) (https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150808.html)
I think that's one of the biggest drawbacks of modern day space exploration. People have become so familiar with pictures like this, they've almost become routine and unexciting. We have gotten go good at this sort of thing that people seem to have lost their sense of wonder.
Doesn't Louie CK have a bit where he rips on people for this? When people complain about their flight or crappy cell phone service....he lambasts them for the fact that we are getting to places in hours that used to take months upon months and we are talking to people in real time across the globe?
the landscape dosen't look "hostile" and not very far from a sand quarry or desert on earth which of course is very far from reality.
Today the crew aboard the ISS were the first people in the history of our species to eat food grown from beginning to end in a non-Earth environment.
Today the crew aboard the ISS were the first people in the history of our species to eat food grown from beginning to end in a non-Earth environment.
Yeah...but it nowhere competes with the fact that Tyga bought Kendal a $300k car for her 18th birthday....
Today the crew aboard the ISS were the first people in the history of our species to eat food grown from beginning to end in a non-Earth environment.
Yeah...but it nowhere competes with the fact that Tyga bought Kendal a $300k car for her 18th birthday....
Don't know who either of those people are. Was Kendal pissed because it wasn't in the color he wanted?
:lol you are so not into popular news!
sooo, who are those people?
Shadow doesn't line up. Government conspiracy. Sad part is...I KNOW god damn well there's people out there, probably more than I'd guess, that'd say that.
Found this on reddit today. I have been looking for something like this for a long time, but never knew exactly what to search for. It's the Apollo 11 flight plan, or mission sequence.This is awesome. Actually answered a question or two I've always been curious about.
(https://i.imgur.com/EDifGGX.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/EDifGGX.jpg)
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/3ftxjv/apollo_11_flight_plan_enlarged_and_digitally/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/3ftxjv/apollo_11_flight_plan_enlarged_and_digitally/)
Fixing to print one for mine right now.
More or less 10x34.Fixing to print one for mine right now.
What size?
Sick. If it's hi-res, can you beat the $37 it'd cost me on Amazon?Well, my normal demand for such things is a bottle of firewater, so I guess the answer would be no since my tastes have become more refined. :lol
Found this on reddit today. I have been looking for something like this for a long time, but never knew exactly what to search for. It's the Apollo 11 flight plan, or mission sequence.
(https://i.imgur.com/EDifGGX.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/EDifGGX.jpg)
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/3ftxjv/apollo_11_flight_plan_enlarged_and_digitally/
Found this on reddit today. I have been looking for something like this for a long time, but never knew exactly what to search for. It's the Apollo 11 flight plan, or mission sequence.
(https://i.imgur.com/EDifGGX.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/EDifGGX.jpg)
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/3ftxjv/apollo_11_flight_plan_enlarged_and_digitally/
This looks like a big penis.
This is awesome. Actually answered a question or two I've always been curious about.What were those?
This is awesome. Actually answered a question or two I've always been curious about.What were those?
The durations of the burns. The TLI burn in particular. All of the others are pretty short. Also, the mechanics and timeframe of extracting the LM which has to sit below the CSM in the stack.This is awesome. Actually answered a question or two I've always been curious about.What were those?
This also shows the braking maneuvers on reentry. Interesting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW5ozq4Tqew
Sick. If it's hi-res, can you beat the $37 it'd cost me on Amazon?Well, my normal demand for such things is a bottle of firewater, so I guess the answer would be no since my tastes have become more refined. :lol
However, the point is moot. All of the annotations are actually a somewhat dark yellow, so even at the ludicrous resolution I printed it at they're still very hard to discern. It'd need some photo editing to get them all white before it'd actually look good printed.
Downloaded that vid a while back, actually. That's the reason I was interested in the braking phase. NASA produce a ton of great educational videos back then, clearly geared towards a smarter audience than the TLC crowd. I know one that I downloaded on the basics of orbital mechanics was way, way over my head. :lolThis also shows the braking maneuvers on reentry. Interesting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW5ozq4Tqew
You're welcome.
Out of curiosity, why'd you change the black behind the text? Wouldn't it be possible to convert the rest of the background to that pure black to match it?Sick. If it's hi-res, can you beat the $37 it'd cost me on Amazon?Well, my normal demand for such things is a bottle of firewater, so I guess the answer would be no since my tastes have become more refined. :lol
However, the point is moot. All of the annotations are actually a somewhat dark yellow, so even at the ludicrous resolution I printed it at they're still very hard to discern. It'd need some photo editing to get them all white before it'd actually look good printed.
How about this?
https://www.blobvandam.com/link/A11.png (https://www.blobvandam.com/link/A11.png)
@Blob and Barto
If either of you has the capability to print one of those at good quality, I will be more than happy to compensate. The white looks killer.
Out of curiosity, why'd you change the black behind the text? Wouldn't it be possible to convert the rest of the background to that pure black to match it?Sick. If it's hi-res, can you beat the $37 it'd cost me on Amazon?Well, my normal demand for such things is a bottle of firewater, so I guess the answer would be no since my tastes have become more refined. :lol
However, the point is moot. All of the annotations are actually a somewhat dark yellow, so even at the ludicrous resolution I printed it at they're still very hard to discern. It'd need some photo editing to get them all white before it'd actually look good printed.
How about this?
https://www.blobvandam.com/link/A11.png (https://www.blobvandam.com/link/A11.png)
@Blob and Barto
If either of you has the capability to print one of those at good quality, I will be more than happy to compensate. The white looks killer.
Have you looked at online or even local printing services? You could probably get something printed up on glossy paper looking great for a decent price. Couldn't name any off the top of my head, but that's what I'd do.
I don't have any means to print out anything nice myself, just a B/W laser printer for the necessities.
I would get a standard size which has the desired length, then just trim it. That may be cheaper that getting a custom size print.
I just printed mine on Zazzle. Will make for a great office decoration.
I just printed mine on Zazzle. Will make for a great office decoration.
What'd it run you?
Couldn't see the Perseids at all last night. Damn light pollution >:(
Couldn't see the Perseids at all last night. Damn light pollution >:(
Three videos from ESA (European Space Agency):I've seen the launch sequence vid. I DL'd about 75 various space docs a few months ago. Most of what you get are basic overviews, but NASA and a couple of other agencies would put out some great stuff back in the 60's and early 70's that's definitely geared towards a pretty bright audience.
Journey to the ISS Part 1: The Soyuz launch sequence explained (Length 00:11:29) (https://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2013/08/The_Soyuz_launch_sequence_explained)
Journey to the ISS Part 2: Soyuz rendezvous and docking explained (Length 00:21:06) (https://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2014/11/Journey_to_the_ISS_Part_2_Soyuz_rendezvous_and_docking_explained)
Journey to the ISS Part 3: Soyuz undocking, reentry and landing explained (Length 00:20:44) (https://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2013/11/Soyuz_undocking_reentry_and_landing_explained)
Lots of cool technical details including orbital mechanics and rendezvous.
Apparently The Andromeda Galaxys actual seize, were it more brighter and visible from Earth:Turns out it is visible from Earth. NASA's photo of the day:
(https://i.imgur.com/uzswj99.jpg)
Had no idea. Imagine having that to look up to every night.
:tup :tupApparently The Andromeda Galaxys actual seize, were it more brighter and visible from Earth:Turns out it is visible from Earth. NASA's photo of the day:
(https://i.imgur.com/uzswj99.jpg)
Had no idea. Imagine having that to look up to every night.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1508/AndromedaAlps_Dunchi_4677.jpg
I wonder what kind of exposure was needed or that photo.
NASA may be cannibalizing museum pieces for space shuttle parts. In order to meet budget goals, NASA is turning to museums to find the parts that it needs for the International Space Station.
In this case, NASA engineers are working to remove four tanks from the old space shuttle Endeavor for use as potable water storage on the International Space Station. The tanks measure about 3 feet by 1 foot and weight about 40 pounds each while empty. They're from deep inside the orbiter, so museum patrons won't notice that they're actually gone.
This isn't the only shuttle that had its tanks removed. The shuttle Atlantis had its water tanks removed in May for future use on the ISS.
It seems as if even old parts are getting a makeover when it comes to the space agency. Because of the limited budget, NASA is thinking of creative ways to make things work and to successfully complete future space missions.
It doesn't sound like the kind of thing that would cost much, relatively speaking. It's kind of sad that NASA has to raid museum pieces to meet their current budget, over something that seems so basic.
I too think it's sad, but even if NASA's budget was strong, I still don't think I'd hate this. Let's say these tanks cost $75,000 a piece (I'm basing that estimate on nothing). The money they just saved could higher two quality engineers for a year that they otherwise might not have been able to bring on board.That's not a bad guess for cost. My company makes tanks, and has made some for the shuttle and ISS (not this particular one). The major cost is engineering development and qualification test programs. It can cost half a million dollars or more to develop and qualify a new tank. As for materials, it's probably nothing exotic; likely stainless steel or maybe titanium.
It would really depend on a lot of factors.
How big are they?
What are their distances from Earth? Are the similar, or does one have an orbit far outside the other?
What do their orbits look like?
How long do they take to do a full orbit?
Mars has two moons, but they are small enough where they don't seem to effect each other. Then you have gas giants with dozens of moons, and they heavily influence each other.
Fun fact. Many scientists believe that we did have two moons at one point in our history. The theory is that they eventually collided and formed the single moon we have today.
Cool/related article;
https://www.universetoday.com/92148/what-if-the-earth-had-two-moons/
The orbital period is independent of the size of the moon(s), so you could make the periods anything you like in your fantasy world just by changing their distance.
Well, yeah, but that's a 3-body problem for which there are no good analytical solutions. It would be interesting to see if this matters for a planet like Jupiter or Saturn, where the central body is so much more massive than the moons and the moons likely have little effect on eachother.
I'll occasionally pop down to the local Pick&Pull to grab a minor part for a car, not to save money but because I feel like taking care of something right then and there. It's possible NASA was approaching it from the standpoint of turnaround time just as much as cost. My hunch is that ISS water tanks are probably not an off the rack item, so new fabrication could be time consuming.It doesn't sound like the kind of thing that would cost much, relatively speaking. It's kind of sad that NASA has to raid museum pieces to meet their current budget, over something that seems so basic.
That's what I was thinking as well, but then I remember it's for space. I feel like anything, no matter what it is, must cost a small fortune. These tanks are probably made of some crazy material that prevents even the smallest amount of vapor from escaping the container, and there's probably some funky stuff required for micro gravity.
I too think it's sad, but even if NASA's budget was strong, I still don't think I'd hate this. Let's say these tanks cost $75,000 a piece (I'm basing that estimate on nothing). The money they just saved could higher two quality engineers for a year that they otherwise might not have been able to bring on board.
Jupiter's moon effect each other quite a bit, no?Indeed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_resonance). Never thought about this before.
The orbital period is independent of the size of the moon(s), so you could make the periods anything you like in your fantasy world just by changing their distance.Awesome, thanks!
The period is related to the 3/2 power of the distance from the planet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_period#Calculation
For example, if M2 is 1.59 times further from the planet as M1, its period will be twice that of M1: 1.593/2 = 2.
Basically, when you have several bodies orbiting a much larger body, the length of the orbits of the smaller bodies will tend to settle into simple-fraction (1/2, 2/3, 1/3, etc.) multiples of each other. 1 to 2 to 4 for Io, Europa, and Ganymede. The slight ellipses of any real-life orbits cause the gravitational force of the moons, to “pulse” (becoming slightly stronger or weaker) along another moon’s orbit. As a result (this is not at all obvious right off the bat) if the other moon slows down it gets pushed a little faster at regular intervals, and if it gets too fast it gets slowed down at regular intervals.
Probably using this:
https://www.nowykurier.com/toys/gravity/gravity.html
I think that may have been posted here before.
Probably using this:Quite entertaining and a great time waster at work. What it needs most is the ability to zoom out. A nice touch would be the ability to manually input velocity and vector.
https://www.nowykurier.com/toys/gravity/gravity.html (https://www.nowykurier.com/toys/gravity/gravity.html)
I think that may have been posted here before.
Enjoy.Ohhh thank you very much! :biggrin:
https://www.theflatearthsociety.org/
People have been into space. How have they not discovered that the earth is flat?
The most commonly accepted explanation of this is that the space agencies of the world are involved in a conspiracy faking space travel and exploration. This likely began during the Cold War's 'Space Race', in which the U.S.S.R and USA were obsessed with beating each other into space to the point that each faked their accomplishments in an attempt to keep pace with the others supposed achievements. However, since the end of the Cold War, the conspiracy is most likely motivated by greed rather than political gains. Thus opening up a tremendous amounts of funds to embezzle as it only takes a fraction of the total budget to fake space travel.
In light of the above, please note that we are not suggesting that space agencies are aware that the earth is flat and actively covering the fact up. They depict the earth as being round simply because that is what they expect it to be.
Enjoy.(https://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o669/bolsters/nope_girl.gif~original)
https://www.theflatearthsociety.org/
Enjoy.Ohhh thank you very much! :biggrin:
https://www.theflatearthsociety.org/QuotePeople have been into space. How have they not discovered that the earth is flat?
The most commonly accepted explanation of this is that the space agencies of the world are involved in a conspiracy faking space travel and exploration. This likely began during the Cold War's 'Space Race', in which the U.S.S.R and USA were obsessed with beating each other into space to the point that each faked their accomplishments in an attempt to keep pace with the others supposed achievements. However, since the end of the Cold War, the conspiracy is most likely motivated by greed rather than political gains. Thus opening up a tremendous amounts of funds to embezzle as it only takes a fraction of the total budget to fake space travel.
In light of the above, please note that we are not suggesting that space agencies are aware that the earth is flat and actively covering the fact up. They depict the earth as being round simply because that is what they expect it to be.
:corn
It's a joke/troll site, to my understanding.Yea I think i've heard that to somewhere
Is this site a joke?That either confirms it or not, i'm a bit confused what to believe. :lol
This site is not a joke. We are actively promoting the Flat Earth Movement worldwide. There are, admittedly, several non-serious flat earth posters, but they are fairly easy to identify.
Idk. I've spent a lot of time on those forums
The Earth is a sphere for the same reason every other heavenly body is.
Plus faked space pics or not - we have satellite pics of Earth and moon and every other planet - oh and they're all spheres. :lol
This theory - joke or not - has no legs at all.
The Earth is a sphere for the same reason every other heavenly body is.
Plus faked space pics or not - we have satellite pics of Earth and moon and every other planet - oh and they're all spheres. :lol
This theory - joke or not - has no legs at all.
This is one of Mars' moons. Not a sphere.
(https://www.esa.int/images/115-051004-0756-6-co-02-Phobos_L.jpg)
How do you know the pics of the Earth, the moon, and every other planet aren't faked? We don't see the moon as a sphere in a picture, it's just a circle. If the Earth was flat, we could still get a pic that give the illusion of a sphere.
The Earth is a sphere for the same reason every other heavenly body is.
Plus faked space pics or not - we have satellite pics of Earth and moon and every other planet - oh and they're all spheres. :lol
This theory - joke or not - has no legs at all.
This is one of Mars' moons. Not a sphere.
*snip*
How do you know the pics of the Earth, the moon, and every other planet aren't faked? We don't see the moon as a sphere in a picture, it's just a circle. If the Earth was flat, we could still get a pic that give the illusion of a sphere.
Cause I've been in a fucking airplane (and a jet, much higher than the commercial airliner) and can see with my own two eyeballs.
Oh, and I'm also not a brainless cunt. That helps too.
STOP THIS MADNESS CHINO! Go watch Avatar, buddy; clear your head.
(not that I think you're actually backing this but just entertaining the thought is insane, even if anyone is daft enough to think that there is any logical reason anyone would gain from faking all those pictures)
Quite simply you cannot. It is widely stated you would need to be at a height of at least 40,000 ft to get even a hint of curvature if earth were round. Commercial aircraft are not allowed to fly this high. They are only allowed to fly just under this altitude. 36,000ft might be typical. In addition, the windows on commercial aircraft are small and heavily curved. Even if they flew high enough for a person to see curvature, it would still not be visible to passengers.
Seriously though, why are you doing this?To hone your debating skills.
Srsly, dat green font doe. (but then it wouldn't be any fun)
According to QI - it's actually a myth that we ever thought the earth was flat.
According to QI - it's actually a myth that we ever thought the earth was flat.
Nah, you go back far enough, I'm sure that at some point it was pretty common. Cavemen, I'm sure, assumed the earth was flat. Everything in their experience said so. It's just a damned shame that some people haven't gotten any smarter.
According to QI - it's actually a myth that we ever thought the earth was flat.
Nah, you go back far enough, I'm sure that at some point it was pretty common. Cavemen, I'm sure, assumed the earth was flat. Everything in their experience said so. It's just a damned shame that some people haven't gotten any smarter.
I would think that cavemen probably had way more important things to think about than whether Earth was flat or not. Like not getting killed by every single thing on this planet... or having sex.
It's turtles all the way down :biggrin:
"This is the first time the amount and distribution of heat produced by fluid tides in a subterranean magma ocean on Io has been studied in detail," said Robert Tyler of the University of Maryland, College Park and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We found that the pattern of tidal heating predicted by our fluid-tide model is able to produce the surface heat patterns that are actually observed on Io." Tyler is lead author of a paper on this research published June 2015 in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.
Io is the most volcanically active world in the solar system, with hundreds of erupting volcanoes blasting fountains of lava up to 250 miles (about 400 kilometers) high. The intense geological activity is the result of heat produced by a gravitational tug-of-war between Jupiter's massive gravity and other smaller but precisely timed pulls from Europa, a neighboring moon to Io that orbits further from Jupiter. Io orbits faster, completing two orbits every time Europa finishes one. This regular timing means that Io feels the strongest gravitational pull from its neighbor in the same orbital location, which distorts Io's orbit into an oval shape. This modified orbit causes Io to flex as it moves around Jupiter, causing material within Io to shift position and generate heat by friction, just as rubbing your hands together briskly makes them warmer.
New Hi-Res pics of Pluto and one of Charon. Oh my!Wow, beautiful pictures!
https://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/09/10/pluto_new_images_from_new_horizons.html (https://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/09/10/pluto_new_images_from_new_horizons.html)
Fuckin hell.
So basically - if you were travelling the speed of light - it would take you FIVE THOUSAND YEARS to travel from one end to the other. . .
:o :|
These kinds of numbers, thinking about how big space is, thinking about the edge of space or if it's infinite... This hurts my brain... Yet I can't stop thinking about it.
Liquid water confirmed on the surface of Mars!!Mars is better off than California.
Liquid water confirmed on the surface of Mars!!That's pretty damn cool that water is most likely running on Mars at present day.
“This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water -- albeit briny -- is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”
Liquid water confirmed on the surface of Mars!!Mars is better off than California.
The chances of anything liquid on mars are a billion to one they said.
“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water -- albeit briny -- is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”
My girlfriend made me this for our anniversary.
(https://i.imgur.com/eZOSEsC.jpg)
The chances of anything liquid on mars are a billion to one they said.
Pretty sure no one has been saying that.
The chances of anything liquid on mars are a billion to one they said.
Pretty sure no one has been saying that.
:facepalm: :facepalm:
https://www.metrolyrics.com/eve-of-the-war-lyrics-wayne-jeff.html
::)
https://www.metrolyrics.com/eve-of-the-war-lyrics-wayne-jeff.html
::)
You said a billion to one.
(https://i.imgur.com/CpAFrLy.gif)Well, that explains why no one has bothered to go to any of those other places yet.
Uh...yeah, me too...couple of dipshits. For once the top Youtube comments are spot on. Verily. Now THAT is bad.
Jeeeeezus effing christ on a cracker...
Uh...yeah, me too...couple of dipshits. For once the top Youtube comments are spot on. Verily. Now THAT is bad.
Jeeeeezus effing christ on a cracker...
Even if it is all an act - I can't bear people all shouting at once.
New Charon photo released. Wild.:tup :tup
(https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2015/10/nh-charon-neutral-bright-release.jpg&w=1484)
Terrible interview which was setup for laughs at the expense of interesting scientific discussion. Glad I stayed until the end for Bill's unintentional(?) slam.
Bill: "Mars has 40% of Earth's gravity."
Michelle: "Ok, 40%, so what's that?"
Bill: "It's less than half".
:rollin
The first color images of Pluto’s atmospheric hazes, returned by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft last week, reveal that the hazes are blue.
“Who would have expected a blue sky in the Kuiper Belt? It’s gorgeous,” said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado.
The haze particles themselves are likely gray or red, but the way they scatter blue light has gotten the attention of the New Horizons science team. “That striking blue tint tells us about the size and composition of the haze particles,” said science team researcher Carly Howett, also of SwRI. “A blue sky often results from scattering of sunlight by very small particles. On Earth, those particles are very tiny nitrogen molecules. On Pluto they appear to be larger — but still relatively small — soot-like particles we call tholins.”
Astronomy :coolio :tup :eek
Astrology :rollin :tdwn NO
If Russia is serious on sending humans to the moon I think the great space race 2.0 will commence and that might be the kick in ze butt the US gov needs. Unless Russia lands on Apollo 11s landing zone and replace it with a Russian flag and WW3 commence or something like that.
Yea it would be one giant "poke in the eye" move from Russia towards the US.If Russia is serious on sending humans to the moon I think the great space race 2.0 will commence and that might be the kick in ze butt the US gov needs. Unless Russia lands on Apollo 11s landing zone and replace it with a Russian flag and WW3 commence or something like that.
Could you imagine how apeshit shit this country would go if Russia or China did that? I'm almost certain it would turn into an interplanetary game of capture the flag.
Astronomy :coolio :tup :eek
Astrology :rollin :tdwn NO
I read yesterday that Russia's moon mission will have an all-female crew. I hope that's enough to trigger some kind of response from the US.
(https://fbcdn-photos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtf1/v/t1.0-0/p235x350/12036949_940948845961295_8976316601960725010_n.jpg?oh=173aafab2eedc2b30eb6b74b2f19a373&oe=56C9BBF2&__gda__=1456539100_4ddcc5f83442608bbb380ef456323e1c)
Some of them are not bad.
Spectacular footage:
NASA | Thermonuclear Art – The Sun In Ultra-HD (4K) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tmbeLTHC_0)
Spectacular footage:
NASA | Thermonuclear Art – The Sun In Ultra-HD (4K) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tmbeLTHC_0)
Amazing stuff.
Spectacular footage:
NASA | Thermonuclear Art – The Sun In Ultra-HD (4K) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tmbeLTHC_0)
Amazing stuff.
Man that is awesome!!! can't stop watching and looking at that. I don't think I'll ever fall out of fascination with our Universe.
The sun is my favorite planet. It's like the king of planets.
The sun is my favorite planet. It's like the king of planets.
Thank god for that. :lol I've only seen that once, when someone linked it last time it came up, so pardon my forgetting.
The sun is my favorite planet. It's like the king of planets.
Looks like Kotowboy isn't the only one who needs to Google the sun. :P
Astronomers have discovered a mysterious dwarf planet that is three times farther away than Pluto and believed to be the most distant object in our solar system.
The discovery of the dwarf planet known as V774104 was announced on Tuesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society near the US capital and could indicate the presence of more rogue planets in our celestial neighborhood.
The dwarf planet currently sits 15.4 billion kilometers (9.6 billion miles) from the Sun.
It is believed to be between 310 and 620 miles across.
(https://imagesmtv-a.akamaihd.net/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/harry-caray-1436973016.gif)
I believe the US flag is solid white now; bleached from the sun.So it looks like France went to the moon.
I had to choose from a small booklet, the telescope was the best item. So, I'm not paying for it, no.Thanks for the reminder! I just had a work anniversary, and a telescope is one of the choices. I just put the booklet down, and forgot about it.
Just 644 days to go until the Total Solar Eclipse in the United States. There has not been a Total Eclipse of the Sun in the Continental U.S. since 1979. It takes place on August 21st, 2017.
More info: https://www.eclipse2017.org/eclipse2017_main.htm
But Bezos said his rocket performed exactly as planned, traveling into the edge of outerspace before returning. The rocket's engines reignited at 5,000 feet above ground to slow descent, and it was traveling at only 4.4 mph during its final 100 feet. It landed only 4-1/2 feet off the dead center of the the landing pad.
WooowwAmazing stuff!
If I'm not mistaken, this was their first attempt.
https://money.cnn.com/2015/11/24/technology/jeff-bezos-rocket-landing/index.html?iid=hp-toplead-domQuoteBut Bezos said his rocket performed exactly as planned, traveling into the edge of outerspace before returning. The rocket's engines reignited at 5,000 feet above ground to slow descent, and it was traveling at only 4.4 mph during its final 100 feet. It landed only 4-1/2 feet off the dead center of the the landing pad.
I must be the only person who sees space travel for the sole purpose of tourism as a major ecological issue.
SpaceX has attempted to land a rocket gently before, but those attempts were made on giant floating platforms in the ocean (which just missed). Then, last week, competitor Blue Origin managed to land it's own reusable rocket safely on the ground, amping up the public pressure on SpaceX to successfully land their own rocket.
Since one of their rockets exploded in June, SpaceX has been grounded as they troubleshoot. The company is also upgrading their rockets with new engines that can carry heavier loads.
Florida Today reported that SpaceX's next launch could happen as early as December 15, but that remains unconfirmed.
In the interest of saving money, NASA is planning to cut its ties to the International Space Station, which has maintained a continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit for 15 years.
According to ARS Technica, NASA's head of human spaceflight said the agency plans to leave the space station as soon as possible. Earlier this year, the U.S. Congress agreed to extend funding for the ISS from 2020 to 2024.
William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, addressed the space station topic Dec. 1 at a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Gerstenmaier said NASA can't afford to continue work on the ISS, which is maintained by 15 countries, if it wants to pursue its goal of sending people to Mars by 2035.
Really great technical achievement by Spacex last night. It was pretty impressive that they managed to achieve all the mission objectives. I wonder why they were able to forego the barge landing and go for a full return to launch site landing. I know this vehicle was a bit more powerful than previous Falcon 9's, so that might be it. I haven't found much more detail about that.
With regard to the re-usability (I'm sure Spacex wouldn't be going after this method if it wasn't economical to do so) I wonder what the comparison is in cost between re-qualifying used hardware and building new hardware? You don't just dust it off and fill 'er up. The space shuttle was "re usable" and went through unbelievable refurbishment between flights, including replacement of many components, disassembly of major systems, inspections, re-qual, etc. A first stage booster is a much simpler machine than the shuttle, however.
As for getting to skip the barge, that's probably because they hit it both times they attempted. They proved that they at least had control of the rocket during decent, even if they couldn't land it. They showed they could do it over land safely.My question is really one of energy. Continuing downrange to land requires much less fuel than reversing your velocity to return to the launch site.
Interesting interview with NASA's Chief Technologist. Dr. Miller:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqndNdkYKtg
The part about NASAs approach on the first mission to Mars would only be in orbit of Mars and then back just like Apollo 8 is interesting. Of course it makes sense to do it in steps but yea it's along way before we reach the surface at least if that's the plan NASA will stick to.
I must be the only person who sees space travel for the sole purpose of tourism as a major ecological issue.
Yeah. I don't love the idea of that either. Unfortunately, it's the only way to entice companies to pursue this technology.
I still can't imagine that it would be more economical to mine asteroids than the earth. Rare earth elements aren't "rare"; they are pretty common in the earth's crust but aren't found in high concentrations like other metals.
The new album Trailer animations made me think of Cosmos and in turn this thread!
So lets tell our favourite Cosmos episode..........mine is S01E07 The Clean Room.
Yes I need to watch the original one! I just came across the new one and I liked it so much that NdT's Startalk is always playing when I m at work. Thx for the reply!
So what's the difference between this and the dozens of other Kuiper belt objects? The video didn't really say anything other than its approximate size.
I got my cheap (free) telescope a few weeks ago, and have been using it to look at the moon and jupiter. I was surprised to point it at what I thought was jupiter, and after a bit of focusing I was able to see its moons. It's pretty tough to see with the tiny field of view, but I was just barely able to see jupiter's cloud bands, though not too clearly. It also traverses the field of view pretty quickly with the high power eyepiece, and since the mounting is rather crude, its really hard to track. There are simple ways to make equatorial mounts so I might try that.
The view isnt quite as good as this, but if look at this picture about 6 feet from your screen, that should give a decent idea:
(https://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/jupitermoons20050513composite.gif)
I can get a pretty good look at the moon, and was able to stick my DSLR behind the telescope for a shot. Since I don't have an adapter, there is a lot of light leakage even in a dark room, and its hard to focus. I figure with a bit of messing around I can get a really good shot of the moon.
That's awesome. I almost invested in a 10" telescope a few years ago. I was ready to buy but started house shopping. The house I bought is not in good location for star gazing unfortunately.Pretty much my situation to, have to drive pretty far to get a good view of the night sky without light pollution.
One day.
I will never forget this scene. This was the first thing I ever saw through a telescope!I was thinking the same thing, and wondering how much worse his telescope must have been compared even to a cheap 21st (or 20th) century telescope.
Can't help but have the all too cheesy thought of Galileo looking at the same thing and discovering the existence of more moons and much more!
Let us make recommendations to ensure that NASA officials deal in a world of reality, understanding technological weaknesses and imperfections well enough to be actively trying to eliminate them. They must live in a world of reality in comparing the costs and utility of the shuttle to other methods of entering space. And they must be realistic in making contracts and in estimating the costs and difficulties of each project. Only realistic flight schedules should be proposed—schedules that have a reasonable chance of being met. If in this way the government would not support NASA, then so be it. NASA owes it to the citizens from whom it asks support to be frank, honest, and informative, so that these citizens can make the wisest decisions for the use of their limited resources. For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
The thing I love the most about it is that he arrived ON HIS FEET. People tumble down after a jump from 50 cm, and he landed on his feet arriving from freaking SPACE :hefdaddy
The thing I love the most about it is that he arrived ON HIS FEET. People tumble down after a jump from 50 cm, and he landed on his feet arriving from freaking SPACE :hefdaddy
Well a parachute jump is a parachute jump. He slowed down to terminal velocity as he got closer to earth. Then he was able to land like any other parachutist would.
Once you reach terminal velocity - you cannot fall any faster - in normal atmosphere. And lots of parachutists can land on their feet.
I woke myself brutally once by falling out of bed and dragging a lamp with me and no I wasn't hangover, instead I blame it on a small bed. Nothing to do with space so please continue...The thing I love the most about it is that he arrived ON HIS FEET. People tumble down after a jump from 50 cm, and he landed on his feet arriving from freaking SPACE :hefdaddy
Well a parachute jump is a parachute jump. He slowed down to terminal velocity as he got closer to earth. Then he was able to land like any other parachutist would.
Once you reach terminal velocity - you cannot fall any faster - in normal atmosphere. And lots of parachutists can land on their feet.
That's true, although the extra wear from falling for so long in more difficult conditions could have had an impact on his ability to land nicely, so it's still impressive.
I can't even land on my feet getting out of bed.
I woke myself brutally once by falling out of bedThe thing I love the most about it is that he arrived ON HIS FEET. People tumble down after a jump from 50 cm, and he landed on his feet arriving from freaking SPACE :hefdaddy
Well a parachute jump is a parachute jump. He slowed down to terminal velocity as he got closer to earth. Then he was able to land like any other parachutist would.
Once you reach terminal velocity - you cannot fall any faster - in normal atmosphere. And lots of parachutists can land on their feet.
That's true, although the extra wear from falling for so long in more difficult conditions could have had an impact on his ability to land nicely, so it's still impressive.
I can't even land on my feet getting out of bed.
Yes, this was the final proof of Einstein's Theory; so it now becomes, "Einstein's Principle of Relativity". The "Theory of Relativity" is no more.
Somewhere, Albert is looking down and saying, "Suck it!" Or more likely, "Saugen sie!"
Yes, this was the final proof of Einstein's Theory; so it now becomes, "Einstein's Principle of Relativity". The "Theory of Relativity" is no more.
Somewhere, Albert is looking down and saying, "Suck it!" Or more likely, "Saugen sie!"
I'm not disagreeing or arguing, just curious. Why don't we say the "principle of gravity"?
Yes, this was the final proof of Einstein's Theory; so it now becomes, "Einstein's Principle of Relativity". The "Theory of Relativity" is no more.
Somewhere, Albert is looking down and saying, "Suck it!" Or more likely, "Saugen sie!"
I'm not disagreeing or arguing, just curious. Why don't we say the "principle of gravity"?
Oh sure! Go ahead...Just cut Einstein out of it altogether now!!!
it still blows mind that we know more about space than the bottom of the oceans.
it still blows mind that we know more about space than the bottom of the oceans.
Not me. Space is easy, it's empty. Getting to the bottom of the ocean with any kind of scientific instruments is significantly more challenging.
There's a documentary on Netflix called Deepsea Challenge. It follows the building of, and expedition with, the submersible James Cameron built to reach the deepest part of our oceans.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2332883/
The thing I love the most about it is that he arrived ON HIS FEET. People tumble down after a jump from 50 cm, and he landed on his feet arriving from freaking SPACE :hefdaddy
Well a parachute jump is a parachute jump. He slowed down to terminal velocity as he got closer to earth. Then he was able to land like any other parachutist would.
Once you reach terminal velocity - you cannot fall any faster - in normal atmosphere. And lots of parachutists can land on their feet.
That's true, although the extra wear from falling for so long in more difficult conditions could have had an impact on his ability to land nicely, so it's still impressive.
I can't even land on my feet getting out of bed.
Kelly said that there are parts of Asia and Central America that when look at them, you’re always looking through a haze of pollution.
Nasa’s Mars 2020 mission may well have company along the way, with teams in China working urgently to ready their first independent mission to the Red Planet.
“We are aiming to use the launch window of 2020,” says Dr Wu Ji, director-general of the National Space Science Centre (NSSC) in Beijing. “If we miss that window, it will be 2022. So it is quite urgent.”
The NSSC is managing the development and integration of all the science payloads for China’s Mars Mission, which will, ambitiously, combine an orbiter, lander and a rover.
This effectively means China will be integrating two steps into one. For its Moon exploration program, the Chinese first launched orbiters before attempting – successfully – to soft-land its Chang’e-3 probe on the lunar surface.
https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/watch-nj-astronaut-parts-earth-look-sick-0 (https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/watch-nj-astronaut-parts-earth-look-sick-0)
From my local news, a comment from an American Astronaut who has been in space longer than any other American. Pretty sad, if from above you can tell things don't look right.
https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/watch-nj-astronaut-parts-earth-look-sick-0 (https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/watch-nj-astronaut-parts-earth-look-sick-0)
From my local news, a comment from an American Astronaut who has been in space longer than any other American. Pretty sad, if from above you can tell things don't look right.
My favorite quote about space is the Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan.
My second favorite one is this by Edgar Mitchell, about seeing Earth from space:
“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.”
These are the things the human leaders should care about, preserving our planet and fighting off the diseases on it, the rest are just petty problems not worth killing each other over.
https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/watch-nj-astronaut-parts-earth-look-sick-0 (https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/watch-nj-astronaut-parts-earth-look-sick-0)
From my local news, a comment from an American Astronaut who has been in space longer than any other American. Pretty sad, if from above you can tell things don't look right.
My favorite quote about space is the Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan.
My second favorite one is this by Edgar Mitchell, about seeing Earth from space:
“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.”
These are the things the human leaders should care about, preserving our planet and fighting off the diseases on it, the rest are just petty problems not worth killing each other over.
"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the Momentary masters of a Fraction of a Dot"
I love that Sagan quote as well. Might be my favorite of all time.
https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/watch-nj-astronaut-parts-earth-look-sick-0 (https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/watch-nj-astronaut-parts-earth-look-sick-0)
From my local news, a comment from an American Astronaut who has been in space longer than any other American. Pretty sad, if from above you can tell things don't look right.
My favorite quote about space is the Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan.
My second favorite one is this by Edgar Mitchell, about seeing Earth from space:
“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.”
These are the things the human leaders should care about, preserving our planet and fighting off the diseases on it, the rest are just petty problems not worth killing each other over.
"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the Momentary masters of a Fraction of a Dot"
I love that Sagan quote as well. Might be my favorite of all time.
Nice quotes, honestly whenever I have some down time to myself and it's a nice night out, I like to stargaze in my hammock or if I am lucky enough to be somewhere else that has less light polution and just look up... it ALWAYS makes me feel like all the BS in life is "petty" Quite an amazing feeling actually to be put in place.
A spectacular new image of the Milky Way has been released to mark the completion of the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL). The APEX telescope in Chile has mapped the full area of the Galactic Plane visible from the southern hemisphere for the first time at submillimetre wavelengths — between infrared light and radio waves — and in finer detail than recent space-based surveys. The pioneering 12-metre APEX telescope allows astronomers to study the cold Universe: gas and dust only a few tens of degrees above absolute zero.
Bigelow inflatable module being launched to ISS today on a Falcon 9. I think this is a pretty cool development in space habitat technology and I'm interested to see how it develops. As I understand, once docked it will be mostly isolated by airlock from the rest of the ISS, but will be periodically accessed by astronauts. I've also heard that astronauts are eager for some new air (this module will have to bring additional air to inflate) because the smell is rather unpleasant on board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pUAydjne5M?t=1594 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pUAydjne5M&t=35m50s)
Timestamped to see the spacex rocket land in open water. Pretty impressive.
"Can we literally reach the stars, and can we do it in our lifetime?"
Milner is backing the $100 million R&D program necessary to get this to work. Existing technology won't do; New Horizons is the fastest spacecraft we've ever launched, and it would take 78,000 years to get to any of the stars in Alpha Centauri, a nearby three-star system. The plutonium in its power systems alone weighs 11kg and would require staggering amounts of energy to accelerate to the necessary speeds.
Instead, Breakthrough Starshot plans to build what's essentially a spacecraft on a chip, which Milner called a nanocraft. A gram-scale wafer will include "cameras, photon thrusters, power supply, navigation and communication equipment." The technology behind the power supply wasn't mentioned; communications at these distances will require something with pretty considerable power, even when using the optical communication that Breakthrough Starshot plans to rely on.
Each device would cost roughly the same as a high-end smartphone to make, allowing a massive number to be sent on the journey, providing some significant redundancy. Milner held up an early prototype during the announcement.
Propulsion will be outsourced to a facility on Earth. The small spacecraft will be equipped with a light sail, and a phased array of lasers in the 100GW range will provide the sail with enough push to get the craft moving at roughly 20 percent the speed of light in just a matter of minutes.
He noted that we can sacrifice ships to hit closer targets, mentioning that it would take only three days for these craft to reach Pluto, and we could drive one right into Saturn's rings to sample the material there. Worden later agreed that the basic technology could help move things around within the Solar System, possibly including moving heavier hardware at a somewhat slower pace.
https://www.iflscience.com/space/surprising-spacex-announcement-reveals-mission-mars-2018
"If Jupiter's magnetosphere glowed in visible light, it would be twice the size of the full moon as seen from Earth," Kurth said. And that's the shorter dimension of the teardrop-shaped structure; the dimension extending outward behind Jupiter has a length about five times the distance between Earth and the sun.So what they mean is that Jupiter and it's magnetosphere if visible would be twice the seize of the moon if seen from earth?
Yes. And twice the size of the sun, since the moon and sun are the same apparent size viewed from earth.Quote"If Jupiter's magnetosphere glowed in visible light, it would be twice the size of the full moon as seen from Earth," Kurth said. And that's the shorter dimension of the teardrop-shaped structure; the dimension extending outward behind Jupiter has a length about five times the distance between Earth and the sun.So what they mean is that Jupiter and it's magnetosphere if visible would be twice the seize of the moon if seen from earth?
That's really cool! :tupYes. And twice the size of the sun, since the moon and sun are the same apparent size viewed from earth.Quote"If Jupiter's magnetosphere glowed in visible light, it would be twice the size of the full moon as seen from Earth," Kurth said. And that's the shorter dimension of the teardrop-shaped structure; the dimension extending outward behind Jupiter has a length about five times the distance between Earth and the sun.So what they mean is that Jupiter and it's magnetosphere if visible would be twice the seize of the moon if seen from earth?
Didn't see it mentioned... Nasa called the Spacecraft Juno, to explore Jupiter and discover all of its secret.
Who was Juno in ancient mythology? Jupiter's wife.
And what do Jupiter's satellites get their names from? Jupiter's many lovers.
So what Nasa did? SHE SENT JUPITER'S WIFE TO SPY ON HIM AND HER LOVERS :biggrin: :lol :rollin
And people think science is boring!
https://www.universetoday.com/130276/earth-like-planet-around-proxima-centauri-discovered/ (https://www.universetoday.com/130276/earth-like-planet-around-proxima-centauri-discovered/)This will probably be invisible in media but it's really interesting news. Here's an update:
If confirmed, this would be absolutely incredible news!
So cool!! This and the confirmation of gravitational waves make 2016 one of the best years ever for science imo.https://www.universetoday.com/130276/earth-like-planet-around-proxima-centauri-discovered/ (https://www.universetoday.com/130276/earth-like-planet-around-proxima-centauri-discovered/)This will probably be invisible in media but it's really interesting news. Here's an update:
If confirmed, this would be absolutely incredible news!
https://www.universetoday.com/130427/habitable-terrestrial-exoplanet-confirmed-around-nearest-star/
“The signal conceivably fits the profile for an intentional transmission from an extraterrestrial source,"Would like to hear more about what makes the signal fit that type of profile.
The ESA's Rosetta comet orbiter has found complex, solid organic molecules in dust particles that came of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, lending credence to the theory that organic compounds, or even life itself came from the stars.
“Fifty-five years after President Kennedy challenged the nation to put a man on the moon, the Senate is challenging NASA to put humans on Mars. The priorities that we’ve laid out for NASA in this bill mark the beginning of a new era of American spaceflight,” said an optimistic Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, senior Democrat on the Commerce panel.
As a second step I'd love to see it happen. At the same time I have my doubts. Putting a man on the moon cost $20B in 1960s dollars. While this is clearly just the first installment, getting to Mars is going to take that much money every year until we get there, and I'm not sure the determination is quite to that point yet. Priorities change all the time. Apollo happened at a time when you could organize an enormous concerted national effort. I don't think we have that spirit right now. In 1961 the presidents says "I've decided we're going to the moon," and people stop discussing the merits and start discussing the practicalities. If Obama asked me to pick up a Snicker's wrapper off the ground, depending on the tone of his voice I might well tell him to go fuck his mother. Without the existential threat that Sputnik represented and the attitude sitcktogetherness that the cold war brought, I just can't see us completing such a thing.Quote“Fifty-five years after President Kennedy challenged the nation to put a man on the moon, the Senate is challenging NASA to put humans on Mars. The priorities that we’ve laid out for NASA in this bill mark the beginning of a new era of American spaceflight,” said an optimistic Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, senior Democrat on the Commerce panel.
https://futurism.com/its-official-were-going-to-mars/
^^Well said and yea it's gonna cost alot. Funny though because I was just about to ask what everyone thinks of SpaceX recent announcement about going to Mars in 2022?Sounds awesome. Hopefully they can actually pull it off.
https://www.geekwire.com/2016/spacex-elon-musk-colonize-mars/
Without the existential threat that Sputnik represented and the attitude sitcktogetherness that the cold war brought, I just can't see us completing such a thing.I really don't think this can be overstated. This was a rare alignment of history, politics and culture coming together to make this happen. I don't doubt that if that trajectory had been continued, we would have humans on Mars 10 or 20 or more years ago. Technology is rarely if ever the limiting factor.
Sweeeet, where do I sign up?
"Ultimately, I'd suspect you'd see Mars transit times of as little as 30 days in the distant future," he said, noting it's a lot different than the estimates of six months or more that are often passed around.
"During the journey, he wants to set up the spaceship's crew compartment so that passengers can play zero-gravity games, watch movies, and more."
"It will be, like, really fun to go," Musk said. "You'll have a great time."
Very exciting. They need to send something there immediately.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-hubble-spots-possible-water-plumes-erupting-on-jupiters-moon-europa (https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-hubble-spots-possible-water-plumes-erupting-on-jupiters-moon-europa)
Wife presented me with a Celeston powerseeker 127 EQ series telescope for my birthday. My first telescope ever! I haven't had a chance to play with it due to cloudy skies almost every night along with hurricane Mathew weather. Going to try it one of these nights.
Speaking of Hubble, the building of it's substitue the James Webb telescope is apparently done and will be launched in 2018. Can't wait to see what mystery of the universe it will unfold. Ultra Deep Field ×10 perhaps.Stoked for that too. Should bring back some amazing results.
https://www.space.com/34593-james-webb-space-telescope-complete-2018-launch.html
It's cool but again, whenever they discover new exoplanets which seems to be all the time I can't help but feel a bit meh when I know we will never get there in our lifetime. The discovery itself is still amazing. I think when the James Webb telescope is operational stuff will get even more interesting.
I accurately recalling that, in addition to the fact that the planets are so close together, that gravity impacts all of them from each other, that only one side of them faces the star?
I accurately recalling that, in addition to the fact that the planets are so close together, that gravity impacts all of them from each other, that only one side of them faces the star?
Yes, they are all tidally-locked to the star, so only one side faces the light from the star at any point. This means that each side of the respective planet either always has day or always has light.
I accurately recalling that, in addition to the fact that the planets are so close together, that gravity impacts all of them from each other, that only one side of them faces the star?
Yes, they are all tidally-locked to the star, so only one side faces the light from the star at any point. This means that each side of the respective planet either always has day or always has light.
Thanks for confirming for me. Interesting. Obviously, the possibility for life in that situation exists, but man, I wonder just how different it may be. Good stuff for some science fiction writing too.
Remarkably, the constraints of environment on physical bodies also constrain life to be roughly the same size that intelligence requires. The height of the tallest redwoods is limited by their inability to pump water more than 100 meters into the sky, a limit set by a combination of the force of gravity on the Earth (which pulls the water down) and transpiration, water adhesion, and surface tension in the plant xylem (which pushes it up).
"Andromeda Galaxy and Sunset over the unique rock formations of White Pocket, Arizona."
(https://i.redd.it/ijvcsk7isqny.jpg)
Holy Crap!
Wait, you can see the Andromeda with the naked eye?
Everything's better when naked.
It looks kind of "close" but when you start thinking that what you see is not another star in the nightsky but an entire new galaxy the distance to it starts to get a bit too abstract. We humans can't grasp the distance to Andromeda other than to read and imagine a giant number. We can't even wrap our heads around the seize of our own galaxy, it's to abstract and Andromeda is an entire diffrent galaxy. It's scary when you think about it but also beautiful.
Anybody hear the latest theory about dying stars? Evidently, astronomers aren't seeing enough supernovae in their observations. At least not as many as they think they should be seeing (based on how many stars are out there). Apparently (or not) some super giant stars are just disappearing. They don't explode but just collapse into a black hole immediately without any critical mass being reached which would cause an explosion. However, the conditions have to be "just right" for this to happen. So, this is the latest theory from astronomers and they are called "Un-Novas" or "Un-Novae" as they say.
Doesn't this violate some law of relativity? I thought critical mass explosions are what caused black holes to form if the star of course is large enough.
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive (https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive)
Live stream starting in 10 minutes regarding new results regarding ocean worlds in our Solar System. Exciting.
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive (https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive)
Live stream starting in 10 minutes regarding new results regarding ocean worlds in our Solar System. Exciting.
I kid you not, I was just watching a re-run of NASA Unexplained File or something on the Discovery Channel about Enceladus the night before... and when I woke up I read about it... wow! Wondering what a space sea bass might look like, lol! :lol
Anybody hear the latest theory about dying stars? Evidently, astronomers aren't seeing enough supernovae in their observations. At least not as many as they think they should be seeing (based on how many stars are out there). Apparently (or not) some super giant stars are just disappearing. They don't explode but just collapse into a black hole immediately without any critical mass being reached which would cause an explosion. However, the conditions have to be "just right" for this to happen. So, this is the latest theory from astronomers and they are called "Un-Novas" or "Un-Novae" as they say.
Doesn't this violate some law of relativity? I thought critical mass explosions are what caused black holes to form if the star of course is large enough.
I don't know anything about it, but I think this just goes to show how little we know about our universe even though we've learned so much.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft grabbed this raw image of a "giant hurricane" in Saturn's atmosphere during its first dive between Saturn and its rings on April 26.(https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA2NS8yNzYvb3JpZ2luYWwvY2Fzc2luaS1naWFudC1odXJyaWNhbmUtc2F0dXJuLmpwZz8xNDkzMzA5NTI0)
This is happening:
(https://i.imgur.com/MlslL9n.jpg)
https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/1-blog/post/137
https://imgur.com/a/Uan8W
Yeah, NASA tends to do remarkably well when complacency isn't a factor. In the meantime, Opportunity is driving North and still sending back pictures, 13 years after it was supposed to die.
Is that a diagram of the Up-Goer 5 in blue? :lolI thought the same :lol
This is happening:
(https://i.imgur.com/MlslL9n.jpg)
https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/1-blog/post/137
https://imgur.com/a/Uan8W
A bit Deja-vu because it feels like i've been reading about plans like this for the last 20 years but now it seems more official than ever.
https://futurism.com/its-official-humans-are-going-to-mars-nasa-has-unveiled-their-mission/
A bit Deja-vu because it feels like i've been reading about plans like this for the last 20 years but now it seems more official than ever.
https://futurism.com/its-official-humans-are-going-to-mars-nasa-has-unveiled-their-mission/
yes, Trump signed a bill to put NASA spending towards sending humans to Mars about a month or so ago. Probably the coolest thing he's done as President.
I think the date is 2033 set for humans on Mars. I guess we will just continue to wait and see.
I think the date is 2033 set for humans on Mars. I guess we will just continue to wait and see.
For NASA. I know Elon is confident he'll beat that by at least 5 years.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/11/nasa-mars-mission-year-long-moon/
It looks like NASA will ask for help from private companies to get things done faster and cheaper. :tup
The sooner we can get off this planet the better.
People who didn't vote for Trump or Brexit should get top priority.
I'll say it again...
The very nature of our galaxy blows my fucking mind. We're ACTUALLY on a massive ball of rock floating in an infinite void circling a gargantuan ball of fire ( essentially )...
THATS FACT.
Also there are stars in the galaxy so far away that by viewing them - we're actually looking thousands of years into the past. Like...WTF.
Also - because some stars are so far away - we can see them..BUT THEYRE NOT THERE.
Damn nature you cray cray etc.
The Superintendent of the School District cancelled all schools on the 21st. There is an influx of 1-1.5 Million people expected in our County on that day being that we are located at a prime spot....so after discussing it with the Missouri Department of Transportation and all the EMS Services he decided to cancel schools based off of not knowing IF there was an emergency with a student in school what the response time would be.
So...the kiddos will be with me at my work party.
The Superintendent of the School District cancelled all schools on the 21st. There is an influx of 1-1.5 Million people expected in our County on that day being that we are located at a prime spot....so after discussing it with the Missouri Department of Transportation and all the EMS Services he decided to cancel schools based off of not knowing IF there was an emergency with a student in school what the response time would be.
So...the kiddos will be with me at my work party.
They should have cancelled anyway IMO. Let the kids enjoy that day. I'm pissed I'm going to have a shit view.
Ill be visiting Nashville for the next several days, but unfortunately the eclipse is next month. Nashville lies right on the center of the eclipse path.
BBQ recommendation? Something towards the NE, perhaps?Ill be visiting Nashville for the next several days, but unfortunately the eclipse is next month. Nashville lies right on the center of the eclipse path.
I will be downtown Nashville at work. I plan to take a long lunch and enjoy. Probably about 50-50 that the clouds will obstruct the experience. A bunch of folks in my building are going to stay home and not fight the additional traffic expected this day.
The amount of people I just saw outside staring at the sun with no eye protection truly baffles me. I must have heard at least 100 times over the last week to not look at it without the special glasses.
The amount of people I just saw outside staring at the sun with no eye protection truly baffles me.
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s480x480/21032522_10203824264203118_8566976425434607351_n.jpg?oh=f1e2ea59cd075fe4a709afe318eaf70a&oe=5A60D077)
Dear god, Chino, I'm making a joke from a guy in Connecticut who didn't see shit! I had no glasses. My sense of humor is not funny to most.(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s480x480/21032522_10203824264203118_8566976425434607351_n.jpg?oh=f1e2ea59cd075fe4a709afe318eaf70a&oe=5A60D077)
Please please please don't tell me you've bought into the "eclipses are just a government conspiracy" bullshit :-X
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/do-you-believe-the-eclipse-is-going-to-happen/537090/
On August 21, the “moon” will pass between the Earth and the sun, obscuring the light of the latter. The government agency NASA says this will result in “one of nature’s most awe-inspiring sights.” The astronomers there claim to have calculated down to the minute exactly when and where this will happen, and for how long. They have reportedly known about this eclipse for years, just by virtue of some sort of complex math.
This seems extremely unlikely. I can’t even find these eclipse calculations on their website to check them for myself.
Meanwhile the scientists tell us we can’t look at it without special glasses because “looking directly at the sun is unsafe.”
That is, of course, unless we wear glasses that are on a list issued by these very same scientists. Meanwhile, corporations like Amazon are profiting from the sale of these eclipse glasses. Is anyone asking how many of these astronomers also, conveniently, belong to Amazon Prime?
Let’s follow the money a little further. Hotels along the “path of totality”—a region drawn up by Obama-era NASA scientists—have been sold out for months. Some of those hotels are owned and operated by large multinational corporations. Where else do these hotels have locations? You guessed it: Washington, D.C.
In fact the entire politico-scientifico-corporate power structure is aligned behind the eclipse. This includes the mainstream media. How many news stories have you read about how the eclipse won’t happen?
Meanwhile the newspaper owner Jeff Bezos is out there buying all of Seattle with the revenue from these “eclipse glasses.”
You’d think there would be a balanced look at even considering the idea that the eclipse isn’t going to happen. It’s like no one is even thinking to question this.
:facepalm: :facepalm:
I guess ancient texts going back centuries documenting these very event mean absolutely nothing. Obama must have conspired with the Chinese 4700 years ago.
It took me over 13 hours to get home from Carbondale, a trip that's normally under 6 hours. Got a few hours of sleep and now have to go to work. :'(Mine was only about 8.5 hours for a 5.5 hr trip to my midway point. Most of that was because of the Tennessee highway department, though. Maybe when you know there's going to be twice as many people on the road than usual you knock of the construction early, but that's just me thinking. Bad part was that TN does theirs during the day which put me into AK right about 8pm when they start their construction.
Ouch. Construction basically left 57 unusable most of the way North. Normal congestion was insane coming out of town though. We stopped at a gas station after driving for about 3.5 hours, and my friend asked the attendant casually how far out of Carbondale we were. We knew all hope was lost when she responded, "about 25 minutes."I never saw anything like that. There was increased traffic into Nashville, but nothing too bad. Same outbound. It wasn't until I was approaching Memphis that things really started to turn ugly. At one point Mrs. Google added 30 minutes to my ETA due to worsening traffic. Then every 30 minutes thereafter she'd add 40 more for the same reason. I was actually moving backward in time while driving forward. That's kind of disheartening.
I was actually moving backward in time while driving forward.
Anyone else see this...Ozzy at Moonstock singing Bark at the Moon during totality...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfWoZ43CF9k (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfWoZ43CF9k)
So, today Cassini ends his glorious run diving deep into Saturn. It's a noble sacrifice, the moons of Saturn have some kind of water and we cannot risk the craft eventually crashing into one of them and contaminating the system, so it's a sucide-by-planet for it.
Hooray for Cassini and all the beautiful pictures it sent us! :metal
These types of spacecrafts and it's missions are such a monumental engineering and technical achievement that is not highlighted enough in mainstream media imo, atleast not the work behind the scenes. I can only imagine how emotional it must be for those people that worked on the mission from start to finish when the signal was finally lost.
I downloaded them from Youtube and copied them over to my phone. Unfortunately whatever YT Downloader I use won't save them as MP3s, so they remain video files.
That's an incredible shot, cram. Wow.
Seeing a rocket launch, and then ideally a rocket explosion, is very high on my list of things to do.
I booked a meeting room tomorrow and blocked off my calendar for a launch. I plan on watching it on a huge projector. I'm effing stoked. I'm predicting a successful launch with both side boosters landing on land and the center core exploding on impact when it tries to touch down on Of Course I Still Love You.That would be best of both worlds in a way, the main rocket survives and heads for Mars while we get two awesome booster landings and everything ends with an epic explosion. :lol
Update: Falcon Heavy is scheduled to launch Feb. 6 at 2:20 pm E.T.
I just read that it got pushed to 3:15 because of high altitude winds. :-[ I have a meeting with a real asshole at 3:00 that I can't move or reschedule.
Got bumped to 3:45.Which is the other reason I didn't head out there to see it. And if you paid $250 to KSC to see this up close you just lost your money.
No way this is happening today. Their launch window closes at 4:00
Is that so? When I went there to see a SpaceX launch, it was canceled for that day, but I got a voucher for another launch.If it's scrubbed before you board the bus then you can use the ticket for the next launch opportunity. If it's scrubbed after you board the bus you're SOL. They'll give you a voucher for another day at KSC, but it won't include the launch ticket.
Jeff FoustFound this posted a couple of minutes ago although i'm not sure if that's a reassurance it's a go, maybe someone can explain?
@jeff_foust
Starting to load liquid oxygen into the Falcon Heavy. T-45 minutes and counting.
The two boosters landing in sync :omg:
Lol Chino it might be exactly as you predicted... :lol
Why did they cut the stream before mentioning what happened to the center booster?
Anyway that was beautiful and epic, so cool seeing the two boosters land next to eachother. :metal
38:30 of the countdown net audio feed says they lost the centre core.
I had to watch on mute in a meeting with my phone between my legs.
Take this flat earthers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBr2kKAHN6M
:P
Take this flat earthers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBr2kKAHN6M
:P
I think the only way to convince the hardcore followers is when public space travels become mainstream, only then will the argument die out. So many people don't trust anyone but themselfs so unless they see it with their own eyes they will not be convinced.Take this flat earthers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBr2kKAHN6M
:P
I wish that was enough. There's the wonderful car picture posted below going round in my FB feed, and I've seen someone (not on my friend list, it was a random dude commenting the original photo a friend reposted) asking where are the satellites, the stars and the ozone layer.
People will never cease to be stupid.
Awesome amateur footage of the two boosters landing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_kfM-BmVzQ
Musk is pretty much a rockstar in the science community now!
Musk is pretty much a rockstar in the science community now!
What blows me away is that people have failed to connect the dots and draw the obvious conclusion about him. And this particular generation, having been raised on comics, is especially well equipped to have figured it out. Sad. I mean, think about it: He has more money than he knows what to do with. He has some unidentifiable European accent. He is always surrounded by hot chicks who silently do his bidding. He launches rockets into outer space. The conclusion is obvious:
Musk is pretty much a rockstar in the science community now!
What blows me away is that people have failed to connect the dots and draw the obvious conclusion about him. And this particular generation, having been raised on comics, is especially well equipped to have figured it out. Sad. I mean, think about it: He has more money than he knows what to do with. He has some unidentifiable European accent. He is always surrounded by hot chicks who silently do his bidding. He launches rockets into outer space. The conclusion is obvious:
MUSK IS A SUPERVILLAIN!!! :panicattack:
Musk is pretty much a rockstar in the science community now!
What blows me away is that people have failed to connect the dots and draw the obvious conclusion about him. And this particular generation, having been raised on comics, is especially well equipped to have figured it out. Sad. I mean, think about it: He has more money than he knows what to do with. He has some unidentifiable European accent. He is always surrounded by hot chicks who silently do his bidding. He launches rockets into outer space. The conclusion is obvious:
MUSK IS A SUPERVILLAIN!!! :panicattack:
He puts his personal roadster into space playing David Bowie, then tells the world there's a 50/50 chance it blows to smithereens......I love this guy.
Something I've come to learn about this type of thing, is that it's not enough simply getting a bunch of smart people together. Team organization is at least as important, if not more so, than having smart people on the team. A group of the smartest people in the world won't accomplish much without good leadership and an understanding of their role and the role of others. I'm sure others can speak more about leadership and teamwork than I can.
If the achievements of spacex are attributed just to intelligence, it artificially inflates the perceived intelligence of the people responsible almost to the point of hero worship.
Interesting side note. STS-001 suffered quite a few problems during launch due to a significant overpressure lifting off the pad. One of the problems was major enough that Young said later that had he known about it the Columbia would be at the bottom of the Atlantic right now, as there's no way he'd have flown it into orbit.
Seriously, black holes have been driving me crazy lately. They are so much more strange than they seem and even more interesting than I even first thought. It began with me wanting to truly understand what it would be like to fall into one - what one would see or what someone else would see - but of course it wasn’t that simple. The coolest thing I found reading about them this time is that space and time switch places below the event horizon, which makes sense when you think avout it, but it’s still crazy.
Visited the California Science Center a few weeks ago, and actually seeing the Orbiter Vehicle 105, aka the Space Shuttle Endeavour, in person, is an amazing experience.
Have you ever seen the Space Shuttle exhibit at Kennedy Space Center in FL? It is indescribably awesome.
https://aichallenge.intel.com/spaceLeonard Nimoy told a story a while back about visiting CalTech back in the early 70s. They're walking him around showing him these new-fangled computers that can actually print a 16-bit picture on a piece of paper. All of these nerds are geeking out over meeting Spock and asking him questions about their projects. The fact that he was just some actor with no scientific expertise whatsoever was completely lost on them. They really wanted to hear his thoughts on computer engineering and whatnot. I get the impression that Picardo is now in the same boat. From what I've seen of the guy he seems really cool and it'd be fun to hang out with him, but his role in this seems pretty sensational.
Interesting challenge there
Seriously, black holes have been driving me crazy lately. They are so much more strange than they seem and even more interesting than I even first thought. It began with me wanting to truly understand what it would be like to fall into one - what one would see or what someone else would see - but of course it wasn’t that simple. The coolest thing I found reading about them this time is that space and time switch places below the event horizon, which makes sense when you think avout it, but it’s still crazy.
Leonard Nimoy told a story a while back about visiting CalTech back in the early 70s. They're walking him around showing him these new-fangled computers that can actually print a 16-bit picture on a piece of paper. All of these nerds are geeking out over meeting Spock and asking him questions about their projects. The fact that he was just some actor with no scientific expertise whatsoever was completely lost on them. They really wanted to hear his thoughts on computer engineering and whatnot. I get the impression that Picardo is now in the same boat. From what I've seen of the guy he seems really cool and it'd be fun to hang out with him, but his role in this seems pretty sensational.
Seriously, black holes have been driving me crazy lately. They are so much more strange than they seem and even more interesting than I even first thought. It began with me wanting to truly understand what it would be like to fall into one - what one would see or what someone else would see - but of course it wasn’t that simple. The coolest thing I found reading about them this time is that space and time switch places below the event horizon, which makes sense when you think avout it, but it’s still crazy.
*insert spoiler for the film Interstellar*
There’s a theory about interstellar that I find pretty interesting. Some people (including me) believe that the last 20 or so minutes of the movie didn’t really happened. From the moment he started falling it was all in his head, just the final moments of his life seeing what he wanted to see. It was a way to give the movie a “happy ending” but leaving some things to the viewers imagination.
:omg:This really is pretty amazing. I honestly had no idea this was going on.
https://www.iflscience.com/space/japan-has-successfully-landed-the-first-ever-rovers-on-an-asteroid/
SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket can now launch NASA's most expensive and highest-priority science missions.
NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) has certified the two-stage Falcon 9 as a "Category 3" rocket, SpaceX representatives announced Thursday (Nov. 8).
"LSP Category 3 certification is a major achievement for the Falcon 9 team and represents another key milestone in our close partnership with NASA," SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement.
Only Category 3 rockets can launch the priciest, most important, most complex NASA missions — projects like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars rover Curiosity and the James Webb Space Telescope. (Hubble launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery in April of 1990, Curiosity flew atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November of 2011 and Webb will ride an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket in March 2021.)
https://www.space.com/42387-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-nasa-certification.html
Is that Kerbal space program?
I am dying for some Europa exploration.
Europa clipper (https://europa.nasa.gov) is in the works, and may launch in 2023 or so. I am also working on a component of this spacecraft.I am dying for some Europa exploration.
This I hope to see in my life time above almost anything else in space exploration.
Europa clipper (https://europa.nasa.gov) is in the works, and may launch in 2023 or so. I am also working on a component of this spacecraft.I am dying for some Europa exploration.
This I hope to see in my life time above almost anything else in space exploration.
yeah that would be incredible. Pretty tough to land there, but not impossible (need lots of Delta v. Getting into Jupiter orbit is much easier). There is a poposed lander to compliment clipper, but who knows how far along that will get.Europa clipper (https://europa.nasa.gov) is in the works, and may launch in 2023 or so. I am also working on a component of this spacecraft.I am dying for some Europa exploration.
This I hope to see in my life time above almost anything else in space exploration.
Clipper is cool, and will probably yield some neat surprises, but I mean actually get under that ice. I want to see footage of an alien whale and an alien mega squid fighting
yeah that would be incredible. Pretty tough to land there, but not impossible (need lots of Delta v. Getting into Jupiter orbit is much easier). There is a poposed lander to compliment clipper, but who knows how far along that will get.Europa clipper (https://europa.nasa.gov) is in the works, and may launch in 2023 or so. I am also working on a component of this spacecraft.I am dying for some Europa exploration.
This I hope to see in my life time above almost anything else in space exploration.
Clipper is cool, and will probably yield some neat surprises, but I mean actually get under that ice. I want to see footage of an alien whale and an alien mega squid fighting
Is that the movie where the lander gets dragged down through the ice or something?yeah that would be incredible. Pretty tough to land there, but not impossible (need lots of Delta v. Getting into Jupiter orbit is much easier). There is a poposed lander to compliment clipper, but who knows how far along that will get.Europa clipper (https://europa.nasa.gov) is in the works, and may launch in 2023 or so. I am also working on a component of this spacecraft.I am dying for some Europa exploration.
This I hope to see in my life time above almost anything else in space exploration.
Clipper is cool, and will probably yield some neat surprises, but I mean actually get under that ice. I want to see footage of an alien whale and an alien mega squid fighting
Any of you ever watched this movie....Europa Report? I thought it was pretty cool.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2051879/
Is that the movie where the lander gets dragged down through the ice or something?
Ah that's right, I thought I seen it. :tupIs that the movie where the lander gets dragged down through the ice or something?
just in case anyone wants to watch it......yeah....the ending sequence is the lander melting through the ice surface. the final survivor knew she wasn't going to make it back so she chose to broadcast her death back to earth to reveal there was life under the ice.
NASA's InSight is landing on Mars today around 12:00 EST.
https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8391/nasas-insight-is-one-day-away-from-mars/?site=insight
NASA's InSight is landing on Mars today around 12:00 EST.
https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8391/nasas-insight-is-one-day-away-from-mars/?site=insight
I thought it was landing yesterday, so I kept looking up on the net... actually I got the date wrong... either way, can't wait to know more about if Mars has any seismic activity.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds-oxhaWoAEtzz9?format=jpg)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds-oxhaWoAEtzz9?format=jpg)
Such a plain picture. Some mechanical stuff and a boring landscape.
And then you think that it's ANOTHER PLANET... that we reached through a lander shot from our planet through the nothingness of space to reach Mars.... WOW!!!!
And then you think that it's ANOTHER PLANET... that we reached through a lander shot from our planet through the nothingness of space to reach Mars.... WOW!!!!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds-oxhaWoAEtzz9?format=jpg)
Such a plain picture. Some mechanical stuff and a boring landscape.
And then you think that it's ANOTHER PLANET... that we reached through a lander shot from our planet through the nothingness of space to reach Mars.... WOW!!!!
And to think that we got it onto the surface, autonomously, in one piece after having to slow it down from a top speed of 12,000+ mph.
https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-return-moon-mission-commercial-companies-announcement-2018-11?r=US&IR=T&utm_source=reddit.com
If NASA's stunning landing of a car-sized robot on Mars didn't already whet your appetite for space exploration this week, mark your calendar for 2 p.m. EST on Thursday.
That's when NASA plans to give an update about a program that aims to land privately developed spacecraft on the moon.
Watching the live feed of Space X's launch and the falcon 9 just started spinning out of control on re-entry. They killed the feed. This could be a news day :cornInteresting. Musk has said it "landed" at sea and is undamaged.
Watching the live feed of Space X's launch and the falcon 9 just started spinning out of control on re-entry. They killed the feed. This could be a news day :cornInteresting. Musk has said it "landed" at sea and is undamaged.
Which is why I labeled it as interesting. :lolWatching the live feed of Space X's launch and the falcon 9 just started spinning out of control on re-entry. They killed the feed. This could be a news day :cornInteresting. Musk has said it "landed" at sea and is undamaged.
I saw a fan video from the sidelines and it looked like a soft touchdown, but there were trees in the way. I couldn't see where it ultimately ended up. SpaceX has been really good about releasing their best footage regardless of the outcome of the event. Hoping for some good footage in the coming hours/days. Also, it wasn't supposed to be a water landing.
^^ :tup Things are definitely brewing at Space X.
This is SpaceX’s very first human crew (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJFlVsDjt_U)
Those pressure suits looks so movie like or something.
(https://i.imgur.com/b1qIYu0.jpg)After reading that comic, your sig ties in with it well. :lol
I hear you. I only have a 200mm as well. Need to shell out to get a 200-500 one of these days.That's a really great shot! Very clear and detailed of the moon, and the stars show up nicely. I seriously need to invest in a good camera.
I took a pic though!
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/361328053462499328/536781586876858368/DSC_4482.jpg)
I shot at 200mm on a tripod with a 1 second exposure, 400 ISO I think, at f/2.8. Manually focusing was a pain for sure.
Why were you stopped all the way down to f/10? Even most kit tele lenses open up to f/5.6.
Didn't know that! yes, indeed the universe is so full of many weird and fascinating thing. I wondered what the hell even happened there, to create such a void!
Awesome pic Implode
Here are my before and after shots, and the after is not that great sicne my camera does not do well in the low light, and it was pretty tough to see this with my own eyes too.
*Moon pics*
Didn't know that! yes, indeed the universe is so full of many weird and fascinating thing. I wondered what the hell even happened there, to create such a void!
My favorite part about these two photos is the rotation of the moon between them.
Based on my five minutes of astronomical research, I'd speculate that nothing whatsoever happened to create anything. There are still plenty of galaxies in there. There just aren't enough, close enough to create the glow we see all around it. Moreover, to get that glow we're seeing all of these galaxies in 3 dimensions. We're probably just pointing a camera to a position where there'e not a significant alignment of galaxies. If you walk along the edge of a forest there will be places where you see solid tree, places where you can see somewhat deep into the forest, and a couple of places where you can see the other side, even though there's probably a uniform consistency of trees. In a few billions years when the parallax has changed enough it'll probably look like the rest of the known universe, and new voids will have appeared.Didn't know that! yes, indeed the universe is so full of many weird and fascinating thing. I wondered what the hell even happened there, to create such a void!
There are some people who believe those spots represent areas where our universe "collided with another universe". Though I don't subscribe to those believe it's still fascinating to think about.
If you want a cool conversation about the size and scope of the universe, here goes Physicist Brian Cox on Joe Rogan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wieRZoJSVtw
You may have to go back to the beginning of the video.
The explosion of Challenger and the deaths of its crew, including Teacher-in Space Christa McAuliffe, traumatized the nation and left Boisjoly disabled by severe headaches, steeped in depression and unable to sleep. When I visited him at his Utah home in April of 1987, he was thin, tearful and tense. He huddled in the corner of a couch, his arms tightly folded on his chest.The story is nothing new but it's sad to hear how that haunted him for the rest of his life.
"I'm very angry that nobody listened," Boisjoly told me. And he asked himself, he said, if he could have done anything different. But then a flash of certainty returned.
"We were talking to the right people," he said. "We were talking to the people who had the power to stop that launch."
Boisjoly testified before the Challenger Commission and filed unsuccessful lawsuits against Thiokol and NASA. He continued to suffer and was ostracized by some of his colleagues. One said he'd drop his kids on Boisjoly's doorstep if they all lost their jobs, according to his wife Roberta.
"He took it very hard," she recalls. "He had always been held in such high esteem and it hurt so bad when they wouldn't listen to him."
I remember reading about some anonymous engineer(s) who worked on the shuttle, and how they'd tried to warn the powers-that-be. The NPR article provides the details to a story I was already pretty sure I'd guessed. Obviously something went very wrong, and it seemed basically impossible that nobody had any idea. Therefore someone did know, and of course they'd tried to warn them. Boisjoly didn't just try to warn them; he did, and NASA basically said "Nah, rescheduling would be a hassle. Let's do this anyway." Fucking bean counters.Well, it was a little more than "rescheduling would be a hassle," but it was still highly flawed. NASA just has issues with complacency, and what the Apollo guys used to call go-fever. They look for reasons why what they do is safe, rather than why it's unsafe.
I remember reading about some anonymous engineer(s) who worked on the shuttle, and how they'd tried to warn the powers-that-be. The NPR article provides the details to a story I was already pretty sure I'd guessed. Obviously something went very wrong, and it seemed basically impossible that nobody had any idea. Therefore someone did know, and of course they'd tried to warn them. Boisjoly didn't just try to warn them; he did, and NASA basically said "Nah, rescheduling would be a hassle. Let's do this anyway." Fucking bean counters.Well, it was a little more than "rescheduling would be a hassle," but it was still highly flawed. NASA just has issues with complacency, and what the Apollo guys used to call go-fever. They look for reasons why what they do is safe, rather than why it's unsafe.
Boisjoly was the one raising flags, but his program director was the one pleading with NASA the night before. Al here now makes his living giving talks on ethics. Short but excellent interview and describes very well what went down before, during, and after, including when Thiokol demoted him during the investigation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbtY_Wl-hYI
If you want a cool conversation about the size and scope of the universe, here goes Physicist Brian Cox on Joe Rogan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wieRZoJSVtw
You may have to go back to the beginning of the video.
I can't wait to watch that later. I'm a huge fan of Brian Cox and his "Wonders of the ______" series.
If you want a cool conversation about the size and scope of the universe, here goes Physicist Brian Cox on Joe Rogan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wieRZoJSVtw
You may have to go back to the beginning of the video.
I can't wait to watch that later. I'm a huge fan of Brian Cox and his "Wonders of the ______" series.
I've been watching 15-20 minutes or so of this at a time each night the past few nights. Utterly fascinating stuff. And, the way he handles/approaches the 'God talk' is extremely respectful and not condescending....which is not a common occurrence among really smart people like this guy. Seems like a legit good all around person.
Yea I really like Brian, he's probably one of my favourite science communicators.If you want a cool conversation about the size and scope of the universe, here goes Physicist Brian Cox on Joe Rogan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wieRZoJSVtw
You may have to go back to the beginning of the video.
I can't wait to watch that later. I'm a huge fan of Brian Cox and his "Wonders of the ______" series.
I've been watching 15-20 minutes or so of this at a time each night the past few nights. Utterly fascinating stuff. And, the way he handles/approaches the 'God talk' is extremely respectful and not condescending....which is not a common occurrence among really smart people like this guy. Seems like a legit good all around person.
If you want a cool conversation about the size and scope of the universe, here goes Physicist Brian Cox on Joe Rogan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wieRZoJSVtw
You may have to go back to the beginning of the video.
I can't wait to watch that later. I'm a huge fan of Brian Cox and his "Wonders of the ______" series.
I've been watching 15-20 minutes or so of this at a time each night the past few nights. Utterly fascinating stuff. And, the way he handles/approaches the 'God talk' is extremely respectful and not condescending....which is not a common occurrence among really smart people like this guy. Seems like a legit good all around person.
Which series are you currently watching?
I think he's the closest living person we have to Carl Sagan in regards to presentation style and scientific expression/communication.
If you want a cool conversation about the size and scope of the universe, here goes Physicist Brian Cox on Joe Rogan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wieRZoJSVtw
You may have to go back to the beginning of the video.
I can't wait to watch that later. I'm a huge fan of Brian Cox and his "Wonders of the ______" series.
I've been watching 15-20 minutes or so of this at a time each night the past few nights. Utterly fascinating stuff. And, the way he handles/approaches the 'God talk' is extremely respectful and not condescending....which is not a common occurrence among really smart people like this guy. Seems like a legit good all around person.
Which series are you currently watching?
I think he's the closest living person we have to Carl Sagan in regards to presentation style and scientific expression/communication.
I just followed that link to the Joe Roegan interview. That’s the first I’ve ever heard of him.
I remember that when this started the ops crews that were supposed to keep them running were working on a 90 day plan.
My take is that they weren't expecting to be able to power it beyond 90 days. The wind storms cleaning the solar panels was an unexpected bonus. Rather than shutting down once the first storm covered it with dust, it cleaned the panels and basically hit reset on the power supply. As for construction, they had to plan for it surviving in a very harsh environment. My hunch is that they built the thing to last 100 years. That just wasn't the limiting factor they were anticipating.I remember that when this started the ops crews that were supposed to keep them running were working on a 90 day plan.
This is something I've been trying to read up on and can't find much (mainly because of all the articles posted yesterday). I highly doubt the rover was only "designed" to last for 90 days like a lot of the articles imply. If that was the case, the engineers would have saved weight and material anywhere they could, and the thing would have fallen apart well before the decade mark. The wheels would have been thin as paper and would have disintegrated long ago if the hardware was to last for only 90 days. Rather, I think the primary mission was only planned to last 90 days. The rover had to function at 100% capacity for at least that period of time, but I'm pretty sure the engineers and NASA were planning on being able to use certain instruments for years if they were able to obtain the funding.
Opportunity, the rover that was operating on Mars since 2004, has ceased operations. The sandstorms in which it got involved influenced its operativity and since last August it was no longer possible to reconnect to it.
RIP Opportunity, thanks for all the postcards from Mars!
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA gave its final go-ahead on Friday to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX company to conduct its first unmanned test flight of a newly designed crew capsule to the International Space Station on March 2.Always exciting when things go forward.
The approval cleared a key hurdle for SpaceX in its quest to help NASA revive America’s human spaceflight program, stalled since space shuttle missions came to an end in 2011.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-spacex-boeing/nasa-clears-spacex-test-flight-to-space-station-idUSKCN1QB2OT?utm_source=reddit.com
Very excited for that launch. One of my oldest friends has been writing code for the Dragon 2 for about 2.5 years now.That's cool, do he work for SpaceX?
Very excited for that launch. One of my oldest friends has been writing code for the Dragon 2 for about 2.5 years now.That's cool, do he work for SpaceX?
Must be quite the emotional ride when you worked on something for a long time knowing it might blow up in a sec.
Seems like everything went accordingly with Falcon 9 and Dragon. :tup Saw the launch but missed the docking, never gets old seeing the boosters land. One thing I can't help wonder about is why they don't have a camera further away from the platform instead of on the platform because obviously the quality will be shit when a rocket lands a couple of meters away.Very excited for that launch. One of my oldest friends has been writing code for the Dragon 2 for about 2.5 years now.That's cool, do he work for SpaceX?
Must be quite the emotional ride when you worked on something for a long time knowing it might blow up in a sec.
Yeah, he's been there for about 6 or 7 years now. He worked at JPL prior to that. Everything he writes is for the pre-launch side of the mission. So when it comes to Falcon 9 and the Dragon 2 capsule, he writes code that handles all the safety checks in the minutes leading up to launch.
He gave me a tour of Space X on a Sunday once when I visited him out in Cali. This was several years before the grass hopper program, so the facility wasn't nearly as busy as it probably is on a Sunday today. He basically has these massive tables with every bit of electronic hardware that's on the rockets and capsules mounted in an orderly fashion. The 'on board' cpu(s) doesn't/don't know the difference between the table and a launchpad, and he simulates all kinds of scenarios with the hardware. A lot of the stuff he checks will help determine the go/no go for launch. It's pretty cool stuff.
He telecommutes now out of NYC. Kinda of bummed, I'd love to go back out there and see the facility a few years later.
Go see the Apollo 11 IMAX documentary, if it's playing near you. NASA apparently commissioned a documentary filed on 70mm film, but these were never used and have been in storage until now. The found film was synced with audio recordings of crew and mission control transmissions, and the clips were shown in their entirety, rather than a few seconds here and there. The on-board color film cameras show a large amount of mission detail, with the landing and Neil's first steps shown through the LM window in color, rather than the crap quality TV broadcast. The whole film was arranged chronologically from launch to splashdown with no interviews or any other historical hyperbole. You get a full picture of the entire mission sequence, with stage separations, engine burns, rendezvous and docking, landing, etc.Sounds like a modern version of For All Mankind (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind). That utilized mostly footage from the crew's cameras while they told their stories. The new one sounds like something I want to check out.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/apollo-11-2019
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/12/apollo-11-50th-year-anniversary
I checked and neither of our domed IMAX theaters are showing this. My guess is that it'll hit those once it becomes second or third release, so I'll keep an eye out for it. The Omni in Ft Worth shows midnight movies on the thing for the stoner set, so that's where I'd wind up seeing it.
Also, I believe what we're calling proper IMAX is technically Omnimax. That's what designates a domed screen. IMAX likely just refers to the 70mm format (which isn't even used much in modern releases).
IMAX has since renamed the system IMAX Domein referring to Omnimax so yea you're about right, its just that IMAX has changed things over time and just the term IMAX could refer to quite a few different types of set ups now.
Black hole photo should be coming out soon
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/opinion/black-hole.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47873592
And there it is...
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47873592
And there it is...
"What we see is larger than the size of our entire Solar System," he said.
"It has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. And it is one of the heaviest black holes that we think exists. It is an absolute monster, the heavyweight champion of black holes in the Universe."
I have a hard time wrapping my head around statements like that.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought we had images like this already? Not simulations or CGI, but images very similar to what was released today?I found this:
Nonetheless is pretty good image.
Of course, the photo is not directly of the black hole itself but its shadow (by their very nature, that would be impossible). Black holes generate a gravity field so strong nothing – including visible light – can escape them. Instead, this image reveals the black hole's event horizon, the swirl of dust and gas and stars and, importantly, light (hence the image) that circles the edge of the black hole before being sucked inside, and the shadow of the black hole beyond.
I understand its practically impossible to get a picture of a black hole, but this photo is kind of underwhelming. Very cool we are trying to do this and understand black holes, I think they are so fascinating to think about, but this picture just doesn't really do anything for me.
I feel compelled to listen to Into the Black Hole but i'm not complaining. :biggrin:
The article mentions "a perfectly circular dark hole" and "The edge of the dark circle". Shouldn't it be spherical? Circles are two-dimensional. This object is clearly three-dimensional and is therefore a sphere, not a circle.
Who knows, but I find this stuff pretty fascinating.
El Barto, I assume that's New York, right? I recognized the shape of Manhattan and the huge rectangular "hole" of Central Park :DIt's New York, but it's rotated 180°. I just find it interesting that all of the runways are "blacked out" from this angle. I spent several minutes trying to orient myself with that picture and the airports would usually be key reference points. I'd forgotten that happens.
Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have developed an ultra-sensitive light-detecting system that could enable astronomers to view galaxies, stars and planetary systems in superb detail.This sounds exciting, will be cool to see how it will be used and what comes out of it.
The system works at room temperature — an improvement over similar technology that only works in temperatures nearing 270 degrees below zero Celsius, or minus 454 degrees Fahrenheit. A paper detailing the advance is published today in Nature Astronomy.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/light-sensing-distant-galaxies-unprecedented-detail
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/18/739934923/meet-john-houbolt-he-figured-out-how-to-go-to-the-moon-but-few-were-listeningThere is one episode of the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon that features him pretty well. Also, my company had an Apollo 11 anniversary event with Tom Stafford as a guest speaker, and he mentioned him with great praise, too.
Not enough people know who this man was.
Speaking of the Apollo mission, I purposely watched Apollo 11 the documentary on bluray on the 16th for the first time. The majority of the documentary consists of never-before-released footage shot on 65mm film, and was scanned using a prototype 16K film scanner for the digitization. The result is a documentary looking as clean and as sharp as if it was shot only recently! If you have not seen it, I urge you to go check it out.I saw it in a theater and was floored. I love how it was simply the mission sequence and how that was more than enough drama without superlatives and people talking about how many elephants weigh as much as the Saturn V, or how many olympic swimming pools worth of propellant are fed to the engines.
I saw it in a theater and was floored. I love how it was simply the mission sequence and how that was more than enough drama without superlatives and people talking about how many elephants weigh as much as the Saturn V, or how many olympic swimming pools worth of propellant are fed to the engines.
I honestly just assumed it was a more modern version of FAM. What's the difference?I saw it in a theater and was floored. I love how it was simply the mission sequence and how that was more than enough drama without superlatives and people talking about how many elephants weigh as much as the Saturn V, or how many olympic swimming pools worth of propellant are fed to the engines.
Before I watched it (though I have heard many good things about it) I was a little skeptical. For one thing, I thought I've seen most (if not all) of the footage on Apollo 11. Also, I thought it would turn out more or less like the 2009 release of "For All Mankind" bluray (https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/For-All-Mankind-Blu-ray/5271/), in which I didn't really like the editing, and the grainy TV footage just bugged the hell out of me. All in all, I am glad it is not produced in that fashion, and I too feel impressed by the presentation.
Did anyone know that the six Apollo missions left 96 bags of human feces on the Moon? I didn't but now I know and so do you.
Did anyone know that the six Apollo missions left 96 bags of human feces on the Moon? I didn't but now I know and so do you.
That's glorious! :lolDid anyone know that the six Apollo missions left 96 bags of human feces on the Moon? I didn't but now I know and so do you.
I've spent countless hours reading about the Moon - was just doing this the other night actually - and this is 100% new information to me. Hilarious. Even better, you should read about what a pain in the ass (badum pish) it was to use those fecal collection bags. They even had little finger inserts so you could, er, remove any troublemakers manually. Also hilarious.
EDIT: found it - https://jalopnik.com/i-took-a-dump-the-same-way-the-apollo-astronauts-did-an-1836637152
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaX6BK66v9A&feature=youtu.be
Seeing videos like that I sometimes wonder if we would even notice if alien lifeforms had infiltrated Earth? Whatever strange alien creature you could think of, i'll bet there's some version of it already in the depth of our oceans.
It's pretty impossible to perceive.
I know the majority of you who frequent this thread don't need an explanation as to 'how big' the universe is.....BUT.....I've watched this video about ten times now. It's one of the better one's I've seen out there that gives a quick, concise....clear picture of the magnitude of this Universe. It's pretty impossible to perceive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy7NzjCmUf0
^Fascinating!! This metaphor was absolutely mind blowing.
"If the proton of a hydrogen atom was the size of the sun on this map, we would need 11 more of these maps to show the average distance to the electron." :omg:
Can't wait for that! I have to admit it's a bit weird seeing a rocket in stainless steel like this.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmj7pw/theres-growing-evidence-that-the-universe-is-connected-by-giant-structures?utm_source=reddit.com (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmj7pw/theres-growing-evidence-that-the-universe-is-connected-by-giant-structures?utm_source=reddit.com)The real takeaway from all of that is we simply don't have a damn clue. We celebrate new theories about how it all works, but in the end they're all just conjecture based on things we know absolutely nothing about, and observations based on what little of the universe we can see, with no idea how much of it lies beyond. Truth be told, I'd put about as much stock in Homer's doughnut shaped universe as I would in these guys and their cosmic superstructure. In the meantime, the course of human knowledge pretty much remains the same as we continue to base our theories on premises that are unfounded to begin with.
damn, talk about being a grain of sand
Since it landed in Gale Crater in 2012, the Curiosity rover has been studying the Martian surface beneath its wheels to learn more about the planet's history. But Curiosity also stuck its nose in the air for a big sniff to understand the Martian atmosphere.
So far, this sniffing has resulted in some findings that scientists are still trying to understand.
Earlier this year, the rover's tunable laser spectrometer, called SAM, which stands for Sample Analysis at Mars, detected the largest amount of methane ever measured during its mission.
SAM has also found that over time, oxygen behaves in a way that can't be explained by any chemical process scientists currently understand.
30 years ago today, Voyager 1 sent home the famous mosaic image of the solar system now known as "Pale Blue Dot".
On other news, Betelgeuse seems to be stabilizing and it might not go supernova after all :tdwn
Well, maybe it already did 1000 years ago and we're still seeing the light that had traveled since :D
I randomly stumbled on a YT vid that explained that Betelgeuse is far enough to not pose any problems for us when it goes boom. Otherwise we would have all been royally screwed.
On other news, Betelgeuse seems to be stabilizing and it might not go supernova after all :tdwn
Well, maybe it already did 1000 years ago and we're still seeing the light that had traveled since :D
Black holes generate soundEspecially after a large dose of refried beans..
I imaged from my Manorville NY USA Backyard. The International Space Stationwas was at the Max Pass of 84° / Dragon CRS-20 and more Spacecraft are docked to it and in my image and short video. The telescope was an Edge HD 14" with an Astrodon Red filter on a ZWO ASI174 mono camera and 1.6 barlow lens. Kind Regards To ALL :-)
https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-demo-2-go-for-launch.htmlYes, finally!
SpaceX is ready to make space history with its first astronaut launch for NASA next week.
No showstoppers were found during a crucial flight readiness review (FRR) for SpaceX's Demo-2 mission, keeping the company's first-ever crewed flight on track for a May 27 liftoff, NASA officials announced today (May 22).
"The Flight Readiness Review has concluded, and NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission is cleared to proceed toward liftoff on the first crewed flight of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program," NASA officials wrote in an update today.
Why SpaceX Bought An Entire Village (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4ZNgremZ4U)Highest elevation would be my guess. The chunk of land their on is only 9' ASL, and it's the highest point for miles. The houses are only 4 or 5. Outside of that plateau you're mostly looking at sea level.
I'm not sure I know all the details but I don't understand why they buildt the facility so close to the village, from the footage it seems there's lots of empty land surrounding the village.
I am very excited for this. I was also looking forward to catching the live stream but it looks like I might have to work late :tdwnYeah, I'm at work and have a virtual meeting 3 mins before launch. Hopefully I'll be able to have a live screen up to catch it ;)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XgY4NKoT9SQ
Cool video showing the inside of the capsule.
Pretty cool vid: https://old.reddit.com/r/elonmusk/comments/gyzy0o/elon_musk_spacex_gangstas_paradise/
Ew old layout was the reason I could never care for reddit, now I love it
Someone posted this on r/connecticut yesterday. Pretty cool shot! I've had no luck with seeing it.A friend and I are making a point to get some decent pictures of it. A point of getting away from the Dallas haze, mostly.
(https://preview.redd.it/3fs1tqy9z2b51.jpg?width=511&auto=webp&s=f9a3452b6c2bab3bedc0a4f5c1e1423f850d7cb8)
Oh yeah! Check out what they're doing with "Ms. Tree" (formerly Mr. Steven). It's freaking wild. The fairings cost $5M or $6M for the pair, almost 10% the cost of a Falcon 9. Recovering them is going to really add up once they nail it.
Oh yeah! Check out what they're doing with "Ms. Tree" (formerly Mr. Steven). It's freaking wild. The fairings cost $5M or $6M for the pair, almost 10% the cost of a Falcon 9. Recovering them is going to really add up once they nail it.
SpaceX caught both fairings on their most recent launch. First time they've managed to catch both of them.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/21/spacex-shares-video-of-first-double-fairing-catch/
That's cool! First I thought how the hell are they going to catch those until they appeared slowly with parachute. :facepalm:Oh yeah! Check out what they're doing with "Ms. Tree" (formerly Mr. Steven). It's freaking wild. The fairings cost $5M or $6M for the pair, almost 10% the cost of a Falcon 9. Recovering them is going to really add up once they nail it.
SpaceX caught both fairings on their most recent launch. First time they've managed to catch both of them.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/21/spacex-shares-video-of-first-double-fairing-catch/
That is awesome news! I hope that is able to become the norm for SpaceX.
That's cool! First I thought how the hell are they going to catch those until they appeared slowly with parachute. :facepalm:Oh yeah! Check out what they're doing with "Ms. Tree" (formerly Mr. Steven). It's freaking wild. The fairings cost $5M or $6M for the pair, almost 10% the cost of a Falcon 9. Recovering them is going to really add up once they nail it.
SpaceX caught both fairings on their most recent launch. First time they've managed to catch both of them.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/21/spacex-shares-video-of-first-double-fairing-catch/
That is awesome news! I hope that is able to become the norm for SpaceX.
Looking forward to this! ULAs Tory Bruno is such a cool guy with so much knowledge about Rockets.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/50163607127/
I'm following Everyday Astronauts livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcd7ePJ6nf8
So its confirmed that @CommanderMLA is flying the @Axiom_Space@SpaceX#CrewDragon tourist mission with Director @DougLiman & Tom Cruise. One seat still to be filled. They are to launch in October, 2021.
(https://i.redd.it/4izbp7qb1at51.jpg)
ISS infront of a cresent moon, that's one photo you just don't take like that. :omg: :tup
This is a rare type of transit. The ISS when it transits the moon is vary rarely illuminated like this, and when it is, it is usually too low on the horizon to get decent details. So I had to make sure to travel to the location of the transit (a space about 200 feet wide and about 10 miles long) but it happened to pass thorugh mostly private property. Thankfully I found a public road that left me a good spot to shoot it. I recorded video at 150fps at 2000mm with a special type of camera for this event to get this level of detail, and timed my shots down to the second to make sure I didn't miss it.
I think the footage of all the cables crashing down was a controlled demo.They weren't to that point yet. A controlled demolition was certainly coming up, that was the recommendation of numerous engineering consultants, including the CoE, but I don't think they knew how to do it safely yet. Moreover, they would have salvaged what they could have before blowing the thing. Lastly, it was too uncontrolled to be controlled, if you see my point. That was a violent failure. My take on it is that they were still conducting analyses and were coincidentally at the point of interest when the failure occurred.
I'll be damned. What timing.Yeah, I'm guessing the fourth thing out of that drone operator's mouth, after 3 rounds of hollllllly fuck, was "I didn't do it! Wasn't even close to it! I was ten feet away, I swear!"
I'll be damned. What timing.Yeah, I'm guessing the fourth thing out of that drone operator's mouth, after 3 rounds of hollllllly fuck, was "I didn't do it! Wasn't even close to it! I was ten feet away, I swear!"
Yea that had to be a holy crap moment for the drone operator. Unreal to see the pure force from the cables being pulled from the attachment. :omg:I'll be damned. What timing.Yeah, I'm guessing the fourth thing out of that drone operator's mouth, after 3 rounds of hollllllly fuck, was "I didn't do it! Wasn't even close to it! I was ten feet away, I swear!"
I was wondering about that drone and thought the same myself. What a capture.
Yeah, I was surprised by how violent the whole thing was. There really wasn't any place safe in an enormous area, all the way out beyond the backstay anchorages, which is more than double the diameter of the dish itself. In the drone video you can see the entire anchor point for the number 12 tower backstays being ripped out of the ground, and one of the cables cutting a lateral swath through the trees. When they said they didn't think it could be repaired safely they definitely weren't kidding.Yea that had to be a holy crap moment for the drone operator. Unreal to see the pure force from the cables being pulled from the attachment. :omg:I'll be damned. What timing.Yeah, I'm guessing the fourth thing out of that drone operator's mouth, after 3 rounds of hollllllly fuck, was "I didn't do it! Wasn't even close to it! I was ten feet away, I swear!"
I was wondering about that drone and thought the same myself. What a capture.
Yeah, I was surprised by how violent the whole thing was. There really wasn't any place safe in an enormous area, all the way out beyond the backstay anchorages, which is more than double the diameter of the dish itself. In the drone video you can see the entire anchor point for the number 12 tower backstays being ripped out of the ground, and one of the cables cutting a lateral swath through the trees. When they said they didn't think it could be repaired safely they definitely weren't kidding.Yea that had to be a holy crap moment for the drone operator. Unreal to see the pure force from the cables being pulled from the attachment. :omg:I'll be damned. What timing.Yeah, I'm guessing the fourth thing out of that drone operator's mouth, after 3 rounds of hollllllly fuck, was "I didn't do it! Wasn't even close to it! I was ten feet away, I swear!"
I was wondering about that drone and thought the same myself. What a capture.
That's why I thought it was an intentional demolition at first. Those cables came out with such force, I figured there was a charge placed there or something.The cables on the other side of the dish (tower 12 [o'clock]) were under a load of 512 KIP (thousand pounds). A half million pounds aren't going to let go gracefully. But yeah, it's still shocking to see happen like that.
So, yeah. The anchors installed 25 years ago were breaking down, and the original cables were failing well short of their designed load capacities.
Just to be clear, it was never intended to actually land right? I mean I saw no landing gear.
While that was cool, I'm not sure what the purpose of the exercise was. Was it to test the side boosters while in space or while here on Earth? Also, was the intent to blow it up or did the rocket come in too hot during landing?
Awesome stuff Chino! Is the Super Rocket under production?
SN8 high altitude test today :metal :metal They're going for just shy of an 8 mile high hop. Should be a great show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhxtcRKEyQA
SN8 high altitude test today :metal :metal They're going for just shy of an 8 mile high hop. Should be a great show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhxtcRKEyQA
It didn't take off in this video?
SN9 rolls out to the launch pad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFXQS01U4Eo&ab_channel=NASASpaceflight)
I enjoy watching videos like this, seeing all the activity is exciting. It's fun having access to the progress. This whole place (Boca Chica) feels like a "budget" NASA launch facility kinda in a DIY style but with a much quicker assembly line. :lol
Yea it seems like a very efficient way of doing things, can't wait for all the exciting things they have in store for 2021.SN9 rolls out to the launch pad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFXQS01U4Eo&ab_channel=NASASpaceflight)
I enjoy watching videos like this, seeing all the activity is exciting. It's fun having access to the progress. This whole place (Boca Chica) feels like a "budget" NASA launch facility kinda in a DIY style but with a much quicker assembly line. :lol
It's a very agile way of doing things, and it's the right approach IMO. Fail fast, learn faster.
Looks like SpaceX purchased two offshore drilling platforms to be converted into launch platforms for Starship. The names Deimos and Phobos are fitting. I'm really interested in seeing the conversion process.Interesting, I just feel that's something Nasa would never ever do. SpaceX: "Ey fuck it, let's just buy some drilling platforms and convert them into launch pads. Badabing!"
https://www.chron.com/news/space/article/SpaceX-gulf-coast-offshore-spaceports-15887227.php
I too am a bit nervous about the James Webb launch. I sincerely hope and pray it goes without a hitch, there's been a lot of investment in it already and the ramifications of it not succeeding could be really high.Yea lots at stake, the mission itself has also alot of stages before it reaches L2.
Looks like it wont happen today, bummer.Yeah, as soon as Chino posted the link I went there, saw wind 24kt, gusting over 30, and figured it was a no-go.
I'm wondering if it was a remote detonation. It was sitting crooked and probably not safe to approach.Certainly a possibility. It was crooked, and it was definitely on fire when it landed. I don't know how long there was between the landing/MECO/Kaboom, but after a minute or two on the ground I still saw fire under one of the fins, even while the remote fire hose was dousing it.
My freshman astronomy teacher from Berkeley, Alex Fillepenko, just posted this...4 years to build the last two mirror segments, yikes.
https://www.universetoday.com/150506/the-giant-magellan-telescopes-6th-mirror-has-just-been-cast-one-more-to-go/?fbclid=IwAR1UVtA62W37ZL4VyIigNQbRG-XPDmgl6AVXoKDapwNSe7gRyStSLNJzCi4 (https://www.universetoday.com/150506/the-giant-magellan-telescopes-6th-mirror-has-just-been-cast-one-more-to-go/?fbclid=IwAR1UVtA62W37ZL4VyIigNQbRG-XPDmgl6AVXoKDapwNSe7gRyStSLNJzCi4)
This thing is going to produce images 10x sharper than the Hubble... :omg:
James Webb is a sexy ass beast! Let's get her launched!!!!!
I didn't know telescopes could look so sexy.
Just saw the livestream of the data (actually it's a short video) from Mars's Rover Perseverance and the helicopter's data showing the helicopter has flown on freakin Mars. Incredible stuff.
Crazy we're seeing a video of a helicopter flying on Mars being taken by another machine. So surreal.
I haven't been following this, but if we flew a helicopter on Mars, then that means Mars has an atmosphere, right? I hadn't really thought about that before.
Cool, but it sounds like Quaid needs to get his ass to Mars and start up the reactor.
Just saw the livestream of the data (actually it's a short video) from Mars's Rover Perseverance and the helicopter's data showing the helicopter has flown on freakin Mars. Incredible stuff.
Crazy we're seeing a video of a helicopter flying on Mars being taken by another machine. So surreal.
I love the fact that it had a piece of the Wright brother's plane on it too. That was a cool touch.
Also, I can't wait to seen a Starship on the moon. That's going to be sick.
Is anyone else feeling a diffrent kind of excitment these days that going back to the moon might actually be a reality and not just talk this time?
Is anyone else feeling a diffrent kind of excitment these days that going back to the moon might actually be a reality and not just talk this time?
Is anyone else feeling a diffrent kind of excitment these days that going back to the moon might actually be a reality and not just talk this time?
I understand what you mean, thinking about the space race during the 50-60s. That would be awesome. Honestly though for me i'm more excitied about countries working together this time for a common goal but seeing Russia turning it's focus on China I guess it's wishful thinking. Foolishly i'm kinda hoping the Artemis program and the journey for Mars will be a global event making the general public truly excited for space exploration again and the mysteries of the universe.Is anyone else feeling a diffrent kind of excitment these days that going back to the moon might actually be a reality and not just talk this time?
Exciting times for sure! I hope we start an inter-celestial game of capture the flag with other countries.
Some awesome footage of Ingenuity's third flight on the red planet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNx9hcrUpww
Is anyone else feeling a diffrent kind of excitment these days that going back to the moon might actually be a reality and not just talk this time?
Exciting times for sure! I hope we start an inter-celestial game of capture the flag with other countries.
Some awesome footage of Ingenuity's third flight on the red planet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNx9hcrUpww
SN15 today! :tup
Yea looks pretty dim, is it officially scrubbed?SN15 today! :tup
Or not :(
Waiting for days now for this that I almost forgot about it today. Thx for reminding! :tup
Richard Branson's Message From Space (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0XwIl5X96c&ab_channel=WallStreetJournal)
Ahh that's probably why the livestream kept cutting out.Richard Branson's Message From Space (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0XwIl5X96c&ab_channel=WallStreetJournal)
Space orgy? :lol
Richard Branson's Message From Space (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0XwIl5X96c&ab_channel=WallStreetJournal)
Space orgy? :lol
So I know nothing about this. I'm curious then, what can suborbital flight help us with? I'm sure it's something, but I'm unsure what it is other than avoiding storms.
So touchdown for Blue Orgin and it seems everything went as accordingly. Fun seeing Wally Funk among the passengers, amazing woman!
Whatever one might think about billionares in space i'm trying to look at it from a bigger picture, hopefully this leads to a big step forward for commercial flight. Sure the day I will afford a ticket is most likely way past my time on this earth. :lol :-[
So I know nothing about this. I'm curious then, what can suborbital flight help us with? I'm sure it's something, but I'm unsure what it is other than avoiding storms.I guess the most basic answer is, it's alot cheaper overall than going into space which reflects the ticket prices (~250k), atleast that's the plan moving forward. Since they aren't going into space the training dosen't need to be as intense as the real astrounats has to endure.
So I know nothing about this. I'm curious then, what can suborbital flight help us with? I'm sure it's something, but I'm unsure what it is other than avoiding storms.Not much. I'd say that it's in our capability to get there, but neither outfit is really doing anything new. Branson and Bezos have basically just done what the USAF and NASA were doing in '61. At best they're helping to decrease the cost going forward, but Musk is really the one pushing that avenue. Elon is doing something very beneficial. These two I'm really not seeing.
So I know nothing about this. I'm curious then, what can suborbital flight help us with? I'm sure it's something, but I'm unsure what it is other than avoiding storms.Not much. I'd say that it's in our capability to get there, but neither outfit is really doing anything new. Branson and Bezos have basically just done what the USAF and NASA were doing in '61. At best they're helping to decrease the cost going forward, but Musk is really the one pushing that avenue. Elon is doing something very beneficial. These two I'm really not seeing.
So I know nothing about this. I'm curious then, what can suborbital flight help us with? I'm sure it's something, but I'm unsure what it is other than avoiding storms.Not much. I'd say that it's in our capability to get there, but neither outfit is really doing anything new. Branson and Bezos have basically just done what the USAF and NASA were doing in '61. At best they're helping to decrease the cost going forward, but Musk is really the one pushing that avenue. Elon is doing something very beneficial. These two I'm really not seeing.
I mean we haven't had anything like this ever so one can't exactly say it's not doing anything for space travel, bringing down the price is a huge deal. A ticket with Space X to ISS is 55 millon which include ALOT of training and preperation. Sure the stuff Space X are doing is alot more exciting and beneficial but still though, maybe i'm optimistic but I think it's pretty cool. We'll see in a couple of years how this will evolve.So I know nothing about this. I'm curious then, what can suborbital flight help us with? I'm sure it's something, but I'm unsure what it is other than avoiding storms.Not much. I'd say that it's in our capability to get there, but neither outfit is really doing anything new. Branson and Bezos have basically just done what the USAF and NASA were doing in '61. At best they're helping to decrease the cost going forward, but Musk is really the one pushing that avenue. Elon is doing something very beneficial. These two I'm really not seeing.
Yea, I just kept reading about how that Bezos and Branson are doing will ultimately help humanity in huge ways and I'm just curious what that is. If suborbital flight serves no purpose other than the novelty, then I don't see how it helps. But if it improves travel or helps with interplanetary travel, that's awesome but I don't see how it does. Yet. Seems that this one really was just a few billionaires having fun.
That's cool! how many pieces was it?
are you going to blow it up? :)
So excited form that! :metalare you going to blow it up? :)
Negative! Tis' a static model.
I can't believe we're going to finally about to see this thing fly!!!
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1422607954101084161?s=21
are you going to blow it up? :)
Negative! Tis' a static model.
I can't believe we're going to finally about to see this thing fly!!!
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1422607954101084161?s=21
Not sure which I'd want to see more.Compared to Starship THAT booster is a big badaboom.
https://www.space.com/nasa-moon-landing-2024-spacesuit-oig-feasibility
Bummer that the moon mission is delayed, but expected.
Part 2: https://youtu.be/SA8ZBJWo73E
It's like a view into Elon's mind. I love how he pauses after a question to think about his answer.
Part 3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zlnbs-NBUI&ab_channel=EverydayAstronaut)
The most interesting of all the parts.
Part 2: https://youtu.be/SA8ZBJWo73EIt looks like the pauses are a combination of things. Part of it is defensive. There are certainly things he doesn't want to go public. Part of it is thoughtfulness. He knows a ton of stuff about these, and wants to get his facts straight. Part of it is that he's probably stoned as fuck. He looked just like I do on edibles.
It's like a view into Elon's mind. I love how he pauses after a question to think about his answer.
Part 3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zlnbs-NBUI&ab_channel=EverydayAstronaut)
The most interesting of all the parts.
Part 2: https://youtu.be/SA8ZBJWo73EIt looks like the pauses are a combination of things. Part of it is defensive. There are certainly things he doesn't want to go public. Part of it is thoughtfulness. He knows a ton of stuff about these, and wants to get his facts straight. Part of it is that he's probably stoned as fuck. He looked just like I do on edibles.
It's like a view into Elon's mind. I love how he pauses after a question to think about his answer.
Part 3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zlnbs-NBUI&ab_channel=EverydayAstronaut)
The most interesting of all the parts.
I like that the Cybertruck shirt he was wearing was the broken window. And one thing I really like about him is that he really wants to understand all aspects of his projects. He's intensely curious, be it by nature or by necessity, and seems able to converse intelligently about all of it.
Elon at the very least seems to have a genuine interest in the tech his companies work in, but he's very much standing on the shoulders of giants much cleverer than himself. In that respect he's no different than the other billionaires and tech giant CEOs who cultivate a cult of personality.We're all standing on the shoulders of giants. At the same time, he seems to be engaged in a one man space race, so while I don't know if he's a good guy or not, I'm rooting for him and Space X. What he's done over the span of 15 years has been remarkable. It's something that would traditionally take massive government involvement, and he's doing what our government is no longer capable of, and doing it fairly well.
Also his insistence of throwing money at hyperloop and the boring company as opposed to just building a goddamn light rail or high speed train system is infuriating.
Don't disagree with that, SpaceX does fantastic work. Where we probably disagree is how much this is attributable to Musk himself.On a scientific level, zero. On a managerial level a great deal. And while he may be a crook (I really have no idea), I do buy into his sincerity about wanting to change the world. I think the dude want's to all that he can before he runs out of time, and that's good for everybody.
My only beef with Musk is that he has been polluting the night sky.
My only beef with Musk is that he has been polluting the night sky.
Yeah. This is brutal. And it's only going to continue to get worse as we 'advance' as a species.
I know their visible from earth but can you call that light pollution? That too me sounds more like more "moving stars in the sky light" kind of problem. Light pollution to my knowledge is about light on earth blocking the sky like citylight in cities.
Oh that makes sense, didn't thought about that.I know their visible from earth but can you call that light pollution? That too me sounds more like more "moving stars in the sky light" kind of problem. Light pollution to my knowledge is about light on earth blocking the sky like citylight in cities.
Taking photos of space requires really long exposures, so those satellites orbiting create very long and annoying white lines in the final pictures.
I'm not sure if "light pollution" is the proper term, I don't know what it's official definition. Either way, the added light in the night sky is making it harder to see into space from Earth. Orbiting telescopes aren't impacted by this.
Oh yeah Chino, no argument there. Thats why the first part of my comment was saying that from a technology stand point, what he is doing is great.
Rest of my comment comes more from a selfish view of wanting my astrophotos to be as clean as possible :P the minor inconvenience to me and others in the same hobby is very, very, very minor compared to what he is doing to advance our technology.
Oh yeah Chino, no argument there. Thats why the first part of my comment was saying that from a technology stand point, what he is doing is great.
Rest of my comment comes more from a selfish view of wanting my astrophotos to be as clean as possible :P the minor inconvenience to me and others in the same hobby is very, very, very minor compared to what he is doing to advance our technology.
What kind of telescope to you have?
Inspiration4 launch in about 3 hours. I'm probably not awake to see it though, hopefully it all goes well.
Yea but i've only watched the first episode so far.Inspiration4 launch in about 3 hours. I'm probably not awake to see it though, hopefully it all goes well.
Did you watch Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space on Netflix? I like the first 2 episodes in this mini series.
Pretty cool Star Base video that was released the other day. Just a quick 90 second thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeVbYCIFVa8
Dope!
https://old.reddit.com/r/elonmusk/comments/r6u15g/i_am_speechless/
Hmm interesting, right now in everyones mind it's an alien structure made by a lost civilisation. In a couple of days it turn out to be just a natural made rock in a kinda cube like formation. :DDope!
https://old.reddit.com/r/elonmusk/comments/r6u15g/i_am_speechless/
That's so cool!
Here's some weird news for ya
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.space.com/amp/china-yutu-2-moon-rover-cube-shaped-object-photos
Probably nothing, but intriguing nonetheless
Seriously, we can land a rover on Mars. We can a control and communicate with it. All this technology and all we get is a blurry pic circa 1975?
Geez... :tdwn
I'm starting to get a bit jiggy because THE launch of thecenturyoups meant decade is just days upon us. :omg:
I REALLY hope everything goes as planned or atleast with no major incidents.
Yea I kinda missed that too. That's christmas day in my part of the world. I'm excited for this launch!I'm starting to get a bit jiggy because THE launch of thecenturyoups meant decade is just days upon us. :omg:
I REALLY hope everything goes as planned or atleast with no major incidents.
Didn't realize the launch was pushed back to Dec 24th. Hopefully everything goes as plan :corn
I wondered if the delays were because of weather, and if it is so, we won't see a launch before the New Year
https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/d40a371b14f3afc345b16522ef119529e75a405f4d56d0ef54fd842febb3e6fc
So how long will it take for it to get to its destination so it can unfurl its shield?29 days until it reaches L2. As far as I understand it, it will be unfolded on the journey to it's destination.
What a glorious beast.It's freaking huge! I saw some workers at the bottom and that kinda revealed the scale of it.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FLNbf90UYAMdbBJ?format=jpg&name=large)
These listed targets below represent the first wave of full-color scientific images and spectra the observatory has gathered, and the official beginning of Webb’s general science operations. They were selected by an international committee of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
- Carina Nebula: The Carina Nebula is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina. Nebulae are stellar nurseries where stars form. The Carina Nebula is home to many massive stars, several times larger than the Sun.
- WASP-96 b (spectrum): WASP-96 b is a giant planet outside our solar system, composed mainly of gas. The planet, located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, orbits its star every 3.4 days. It has about half the mass of Jupiter, and its discovery was announced in 2014.
- Southern Ring Nebula: The Southern Ring, or “Eight-Burst” nebula, is a planetary nebula – an expanding cloud of gas, surrounding a dying star. It is nearly half a light-year in diameter and is located approximately 2,000 light years away from Earth.
- Stephan’s Quintet: About 290 million light-years away, Stephan’s Quintet is located in the constellation Pegasus. It is notable for being the first compact galaxy group ever discovered in 1877. Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.
- SMACS 0723: Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations.
Yeah I think I saw the same image on Twitter and they had the source details of the Hubble pic. The conference tomorrow should be interesting. NASA have already mentioned what the five locations (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-shares-list-of-cosmic-targets-for-webb-telescope-s-first-images)will beThis sounds the most exciting on paper but the image i'm imagining won't look anything like the real thing.Quote- WASP-96 b (spectrum): WASP-96 b is a giant planet outside our solar system, composed mainly of gas. The planet, located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, orbits its star every 3.4 days. It has about half the mass of Jupiter, and its discovery was announced in 2014.
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/main_image_star-forming_region_carina_nircam_final-5mb.jpg
Holy. Moley.
These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample narrow and broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Red: F444W, Orange: F335M, Yellow: F470N, Green: F200W, Cyan: F187N, Blue: F090W
At the same time, I was kind of expecting something new and revolutionary. I don't see that here. I see "much better," but nothing really game changing. The pictures we're seeing look great, but twenty five years ago we were all oohing and awing over the HST pictures. This seems rather underwhelming to me.
Also, HST was able to look back to about Boom+500 million years. JWST might be able to go back as far as Boom+100. Is that 400 million year difference likely to be all that meaningful?
Lastly, I'd be interested in knowing how much of what we're seeing is data and how much is interpolation. The reason the current picture looks like a painting is because in some respects it is. If nothing else it was colorized. I'd be curious to know how close to the pretty pictures the raw data is. Or, more to the point, how much of that is human interpretation.
I just noticed there's a guy staring menacingly out of your avatar. Huh.At the same time, I was kind of expecting something new and revolutionary. I don't see that here. I see "much better," but nothing really game changing. The pictures we're seeing look great, but twenty five years ago we were all oohing and awing over the HST pictures. This seems rather underwhelming to me.
It terms of resolution and ability to pick out distant objects out of the background noise, it blows HST out of the water, but this is the least interesting part of JWST. Hubble was a visible light and near-infrared telescope and so could only really do science on objects and features emitted at those wavelengths. Older objects however, have been red shifted so much that most of their light is in the mid and far-infrared, and that is where JWST excels which means that it can look at objects much older and closer to the big bang than HST ever could. Additionally, IR spectroscopy is very useful in determining molecular composition, as molecules have a very distinct IR emission spectrum related to their structure and how the molecules bend and vibrate:
https://www.savemyexams.co.uk/dp/chemistry_sl/ib/16/revision-notes/11-measurements--data-processes/11-1-spectroscopic-identification/11-1-4-infrared-spectroscopy/
JWST has already managed to measure the molecular composition of the atmosphere of a planet 1000 light years away. That is remarkable.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_reveals_steamy_atmosphere_of_distant_planet_in_exquisite_detailQuoteAlso, HST was able to look back to about Boom+500 million years. JWST might be able to go back as far as Boom+100. Is that 400 million year difference likely to be all that meaningful?
Long story short: yes. The transition from the dark age to the first stars being born occurred somewhere in the period of 100-500 million years after the big bang. With JWST there is a good possibility of being able to observe the very first stars that ever existed, and how the large scale structure of the universe was created.QuoteLastly, I'd be interested in knowing how much of what we're seeing is data and how much is interpolation. The reason the current picture looks like a painting is because in some respects it is. If nothing else it was colorized. I'd be curious to know how close to the pretty pictures the raw data is. Or, more to the point, how much of that is human interpretation.
Vox did a pretty summary of how the photos are colourised.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSG0MnmUsEY&t=211s
To summarise: the telescope itself monochromatic, so the raw data is just going to be a black and white photo. To get any colour at all, you have to take several exposures with different filters that select specific wavelengths, and then combine them digitally (your digital camera is also monochromatic at the sensor level but uses an in built filter to create a colour image. If you can use broadband filters in the red, green and blue spectrum, you can can generate true to life pictures, and when Hubble or JWST takes pictures of things like Jupiter or planets in our solar system, this is what you see. For other objects, you instead use narrowband filters that select only a very specific wavelength that corresponds to a particular atomic feature (for example H-alpha (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-alpha)) and then map that to either the red green or blue channels in the picture. That way the composite photo becomes a map describing the composition of the thing you are looking at. It's not interpolation, any more than representing population density using a graph like this (https://ecpmlangues.unistra.fr/civilization/geography/maps/US%20Population%20density,%202010%20570x361.png) is interpolation. It's just a method of data presentation. The data itself is real.
Nice summary of the color representation. However, I still think there's a fair amount of artistic license taking place in those. The space cliffs thing may well be a map, but it's a map that's been crafted to look interesting to human eyes.
Nice summary of the color representation. However, I still think there's a fair amount of artistic license taking place in those. The space cliffs thing may well be a map, but it's a map that's been crafted to look interesting to human eyes.
Well...
https://old.reddit.com/r/space/comments/vy3a3h/james_webb_deep_field_image_scale/
I am impressed.
Humanity’s mission back to the Moon is about to see its first major test in just a few weeks. NASA has announced that Artemis I, the uncrewed test mission of its new rocket and capsule, will roll out to the launch pad on August 18 for the expected launch on August 29.
The private sector (which in reality means SpaceX) have a demonstrated ability to get stuff into LEO. They have much less demonstrated ability beyond it, and essentially nothing when it comes to longer term crew life support. There is nothing in the private sector that comes close to getting people to the moon within a reasonable time frame.
I just don't think NASA has any business being in the launch business anymore. We're what, like $23B into this rocket alone? And I believe each launch thereafter costs $1B+. I'm all for throwing money at NASA. I wish they got more. But at this stage, the private sector has proven that they are more than capable of routinely delivering payloads to space for a tenth of what NASA's launch systems can. NASA should be focused on space imaging, space settlements/habitats, and the exploration of other celestial bodies in our solar system - Basically all the stuff that doesn't provide a return on investment for private companies.
I'm all for the Artemis mission itself. I just think it's the SLS that's a complete waste. Our money could be much better utilized on other space endeavors.
If you're asking about Artemis, it's NASA's in house rocket repurposing SSMEs. It's essentially the old orbiter stack without the orbiter and significantly bigger SRBs. THe problem with the price tag is that SSME's are terribly expensive, and while the shuttle reused them, these will burn up afterward.I just don't think NASA has any business being in the launch business anymore. We're what, like $23B into this rocket alone? And I believe each launch thereafter costs $1B+. I'm all for throwing money at NASA. I wish they got more. But at this stage, the private sector has proven that they are more than capable of routinely delivering payloads to space for a tenth of what NASA's launch systems can. NASA should be focused on space imaging, space settlements/habitats, and the exploration of other celestial bodies in our solar system - Basically all the stuff that doesn't provide a return on investment for private companies.
I'm all for the Artemis mission itself. I just think it's the SLS that's a complete waste. Our money could be much better utilized on other space endeavors.
Isn't this a SpaceX rocket?
If you're asking about Artemis, it's NASA's in house rocket repurposing SSMEs. It's essentially the old orbiter stack without the orbiter and significantly bigger SRBs. THe problem with the price tag is that SSME's are terribly expensive, and while the shuttle reused them, these will burn up afterward.I just don't think NASA has any business being in the launch business anymore. We're what, like $23B into this rocket alone? And I believe each launch thereafter costs $1B+. I'm all for throwing money at NASA. I wish they got more. But at this stage, the private sector has proven that they are more than capable of routinely delivering payloads to space for a tenth of what NASA's launch systems can. NASA should be focused on space imaging, space settlements/habitats, and the exploration of other celestial bodies in our solar system - Basically all the stuff that doesn't provide a return on investment for private companies.
I'm all for the Artemis mission itself. I just think it's the SLS that's a complete waste. Our money could be much better utilized on other space endeavors.
Isn't this a SpaceX rocket?
That said, the SLS system has a massive payload, far greater than Falcon Heavy, and it's utilizing tried and true technology. While it's stupidly expensive, we did have the parts laying around, and it will fill a niche that isn't currently filled.
I think the SLS can carry 30k lbs or so more to LEO, and 10K lbs or so more to the moon than Falcon Heavy. Unless the dimensions of the thing being launched exceed that of the size of Falcon Heavy's cargo hold, it still makes more financial sense to go that route. Send up two FHs for 1/5 the cost of an SLS, and get more weight into space in the process.
I think the SLS can carry 30k lbs or so more to LEO, and 10K lbs or so more to the moon than Falcon Heavy. Unless the dimensions of the thing being launched exceed that of the size of Falcon Heavy's cargo hold, it still makes more financial sense to go that route. Send up two FHs for 1/5 the cost of an SLS, and get more weight into space in the process.
And then you need to design a crew carrier that not only can be easily split into two separate payloads (and recombine), but is also capable of and performs a LEO rendezvous before you can even think about going to the moon.
I'd also argue the massive strides SpaceX can do have relied on rapid prototyping and a willingness to do risky launches under the rationale that even a rocket that blows up can teach them something. Which is good, in a way, but its an approach that won't fly with publicly funded entities, and DEFINITELY doesn't work for crewed space flight.There's certainly a place for that. The trick is to use that approach early on and only move to crewed launches when you've mastered what you're trying to do. This was Korelev's approach and they were very successful with it. And in the end they wound up killing fewer astronauts than we did. At the same time there are so few examples it's hard to tell which approach actually works better. It got them quite a few firsts, but it also cost them the moon race when they kept blowing up N1s.
I'm not entirely sure the public should be too mad about deaths regarding crewed launches to the moon or beyond. I feel like it's expected and everyone involved knows the risks. Not trying to say we shouldn't care or do what's necessary to protect people, but deaths from unexpected mistakes or unknowns seems like a given to me. I don't think I'd react differently to a spacex disaster compared to a nasa disaster.Seldom are they unexpected mistakes or unknowns, though. There are almost always reasons to be pissed off about them because by and large they should have been prevented. The only one I can think of that really came out of the blue is going to be the crew of Soyuz 11, and while I'm not an expert, that would still most likely be a result of cutting corners somewhere. NASA doesn't screw things up by being cheap. It screws things up with arrogance and complacency. Space X stands a decent chance of screwing up by being careless. NASA can't fail. Space X can.
I'm not entirely sure the public should be too mad about deaths regarding crewed launches to the moon or beyond. I feel like it's expected and everyone involved knows the risks. Not trying to say we shouldn't care or do what's necessary to protect people, but deaths from unexpected mistakes or unknowns seems like a given to me. I don't think I'd react differently to a spacex disaster compared to a nasa disaster.Seldom are they unexpected mistakes or unknowns, though. There are almost always reasons to be pissed off about them because by and large they should have been prevented. The only one I can think of that really came out of the blue is going to be the crew of Soyuz 11, and while I'm not an expert, that would still most likely be a result of cutting corners somewhere. NASA doesn't screw things up by being cheap. It screws things up with arrogance and complacency. Space X stands a decent chance of screwing up by being careless. NASA can't fail. Space X can.
Absolutely. And the more complex a thing is the more unknowns there are that can kill you. Chernobyl is a perfect example of that. The engineering flaw that caused it to blow up was something nobody had ever imagined. Spaceflight deaths have always been knowns, though. North American had made repeated warnings that testing the CM with pressurized pure o2 was a really bad idea, and NASA and the astronauts knew there was shoddy wiring in the CM. Thiokol (and Rockwell) both tried to get NASA to scrub the Challenger launch and were rebuffed. Guys at Marshall and former astronauts were accutely aware of the risk of falling insulation and NASA repeatedly ignored the warnings. ("Well, they've never caused a problem before" is a recurring theme with NASA.) None of these were the sorts of deaths you expect when doing something new and dangerous. You can accept casualties you cannot foresee or prevent. These were all deaths that were easily preventable and certainly should have been. They're far more likely, I think, and these are the sorts of deaths I think will be more accepable on NASA's watch than Space X's.I'm not entirely sure the public should be too mad about deaths regarding crewed launches to the moon or beyond. I feel like it's expected and everyone involved knows the risks. Not trying to say we shouldn't care or do what's necessary to protect people, but deaths from unexpected mistakes or unknowns seems like a given to me. I don't think I'd react differently to a spacex disaster compared to a nasa disaster.Seldom are they unexpected mistakes or unknowns, though. There are almost always reasons to be pissed off about them because by and large they should have been prevented. The only one I can think of that really came out of the blue is going to be the crew of Soyuz 11, and while I'm not an expert, that would still most likely be a result of cutting corners somewhere. NASA doesn't screw things up by being cheap. It screws things up with arrogance and complacency. Space X stands a decent chance of screwing up by being careless. NASA can't fail. Space X can.
When doing something new, it's almost guaranteed there will be unseen mistakes and/or unknown. These things may often be very easy to notice in review of what happened, but not always so obvious going in. Going to the moon isn't really new though. I'd imagine deaths from missions to the moon would be more maddening, but the more ambitious goals are almost certainly going to lead to deaths. At the end of the day, it's people doing this and people make mistakes. It's inevitable IMO.
Plus it was cool to get a little payback for the dinosaurs...
Cool seeing the two boosters land so close to eachother.I was thinking it was going to be an unmanned deal. Last I heard they were just sort of knocking around if it would even be possible.
I also heard that NASA and Space X are discussing a possible Hubble reboost doing EVA.
Yea apparently it's only a study with no current plan but maybe in the future.Cool seeing the two boosters land so close to eachother.I was thinking it was going to be an unmanned deal. Last I heard they were just sort of knocking around if it would even be possible.
I also heard that NASA and Space X are discussing a possible Hubble reboost doing EVA.
NASA and SpaceX signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement Thursday, Sept. 22, to study the feasibility of a SpaceX and Polaris Program idea to boost the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit with the Dragon spacecraft, at no cost to the government.
There are no plans for NASA to conduct or fund a servicing mission or compete this opportunity; the study is designed to help the agency understand the commercial possibilities.
Someone should offer a bunch of flat earthers a ride.
Man, we live in the beginning of a new era where ordinary people have the option to experience zero-g and see Earth from "space". Sure the price tag is still hefty with a whoppin $1.25 million per ticket but still though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXXlSG-du7c&ab_channel=DudePerfect
Someone should offer a bunch of flat earthers a ride.
I guess more appropriately millionares and lucky people which in a way can be called ordinary folks. :biggrin:Man, we live in the beginning of a new era where ordinary people have the option to experience zero-g and see Earth from "space". Sure the price tag is still hefty with a whoppin $1.25 million per ticket but still though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXXlSG-du7c&ab_channel=DudePerfect
Someone should offer a bunch of flat earthers a ride.
Word "ordinary" is doing some heavy lifting there. :P
Extremely underwhelmed and a little bit 'embarrassed' by the generic and boring pictures the Orion moon flyby produced. Pretty lame IMO.....normally I'm good with spending $$$ on space exploration and what not but this was a massive waste of money. Unless there's just a top secret aspect as to why they 'really' sent this thing out there....then maybe it's justifiable....but if what we got is what it was..... :tdwnI could be wrong, but I believe this mission, Artermis I, was supposed to be a test flight before sending humans to the moon again.
Extremely underwhelmed and a little bit 'embarrassed' by the generic and boring pictures the Orion moon flyby produced. Pretty lame IMO.....normally I'm good with spending $$$ on space exploration and what not but this was a massive waste of money. Unless there's just a top secret aspect as to why they 'really' sent this thing out there....then maybe it's justifiable....but if what we got is what it was..... :tdwnI could be wrong, but I believe this mission, Artermis I, was supposed to be a test flight before sending humans to the moon again.
We probably could've gotten better pictures, but I don't think that was part of this mission at all.
Artemis I was most definitely just a test flyby. It wasn't a mission of any kind beyond completing the trip to the moon and back.I'd say that about the SLS, but not the overall program. It's a pretty ambitious program, and I like what they're looking to do. And I'm not sure I'd trust Musk to do it, either right or at all. Seems the better move would just be to pay him to launch NASA's hardware. That said, has Musk ever put anything into lunar orbit?
That being said, I'm in the camp that the Artemis program is a massive resource suck and shouldn't exist, and NASA's budget would be much better spent elsewhere. There's no need for the government to be in the business of launching anything anymore, especially at a price tag of over $1B per launch with a comically long turnaround time in-between. They should be focused on landers, rovers, orbiters, deep space imaging, asteroid deflection, and anything else research related.
Artemis I was most definitely just a test flyby. It wasn't a mission of any kind beyond completing the trip to the moon and back.I'd say that about the SLS, but not the overall program. It's a pretty ambitious program, and I like what they're looking to do. And I'm not sure I'd trust Musk to do it, either right or at all. Seems the better move would just be to pay him to launch NASA's hardware. That said, has Musk ever put anything into lunar orbit?
That being said, I'm in the camp that the Artemis program is a massive resource suck and shouldn't exist, and NASA's budget would be much better spent elsewhere. There's no need for the government to be in the business of launching anything anymore, especially at a price tag of over $1B per launch with a comically long turnaround time in-between. They should be focused on landers, rovers, orbiters, deep space imaging, asteroid deflection, and anything else research related.
Starship is actually what Artemis will be using for its LEM. Not sure what Elon's plans for it are and when they might come to fruition.Artemis I was most definitely just a test flyby. It wasn't a mission of any kind beyond completing the trip to the moon and back.I'd say that about the SLS, but not the overall program. It's a pretty ambitious program, and I like what they're looking to do. And I'm not sure I'd trust Musk to do it, either right or at all. Seems the better move would just be to pay him to launch NASA's hardware. That said, has Musk ever put anything into lunar orbit?
That being said, I'm in the camp that the Artemis program is a massive resource suck and shouldn't exist, and NASA's budget would be much better spent elsewhere. There's no need for the government to be in the business of launching anything anymore, especially at a price tag of over $1B per launch with a comically long turnaround time in-between. They should be focused on landers, rovers, orbiters, deep space imaging, asteroid deflection, and anything else research related.
That's fair. I'll echo that. My real beef is with with the rocket and launch system, not the program as a whole.
SpaceX hasn't put anything in lunar orbit yet, but that's what Starship is being developed for. I'd put my money on Musk if I were a betting man. As far as launching stuff into space goes, his company has delivered on basically everything they said they would.
I think the landing date is definitely going to be delayed. I mean, we still haven't seen the lunar lander prototype up until this point. I don't think NASA would do anything too rapidly to ensure a fully functional prototype is built before a soft deadline. Another item of interest is the Toyota Lunar Cruiser. I read something earlier this year that the company is still committed to building it. Perhaps it becomes a reality before the lunar lander? We will just have to wait and see.Isn't Starship the lunar lander? I think it's a different block version, but the main bits are the same.
Everyday Astronaut Tim is going around the moon, that's pretty damn epic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFIuzormhYU&ab_channel=EverydayAstronaut
Everyday Astronaut Tim is going around the moon, that's pretty damn epic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFIuzormhYU&ab_channel=EverydayAstronaut
I am so happy for Tim. It's so well deserved. Freaking wild to think that 6 years ago he hadn't even made a video yet, and now he's strapping his ass to rocket and getting to see the moon up close.
It's amazing how some things gets kinda left out in media, first I wasn't paying attention to it to later realise what a big thing this could be.
The NIF news is interesting, but definitely not as a big a deal as the press releases make it out to be. The way ICF defines "scientific breakeven" means they don't take into account the efficiency of the lasers themselves when counting the Q value. They produced about 1.5 times the laser energy focused on target, but the lasers themselves only convert about 1% of the electricity they use into useful laser energy. So its still a few orders of magnitude off being a useful energy source.
Q is generically defined as Power out / Power in. So "break even" is when you get as much power out of the fusion reaction as you did heating the fuel to get it going, which corresponds to Q= 1. It then comes down to how you define "Power out" and "Power in".Oh, I got the joke. I'm just used to Q meaning pressure. In the comic pressure could have actually worked. In your explanation not so much. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised it represents different values for different fields.
Scientific break even only considers the power delivered on target verses the fusion power generated, whereas a more more accurate version would also consider the losses of the heating process and the efficiency of these components, so if you are using a laser that only converts 1% of the electricity it uses to useful laser power (since electricity is what we want at the end) then the Q reduces by a factor of 100 under this more strict definition. More strict still is the "engineering break even" which considers losses and inefficiencies in the power plant.
The xkcd comic is taking the concept of breakeven and applying it to water instead of power, implying the dam is generating more water than it consumes. This is clearly ludicrous, which is the joke.
Q is generically defined as Power out / Power in. So "break even" is when you get as much power out of the fusion reaction as you did heating the fuel to get it going, which corresponds to Q= 1. It then comes down to how you define "Power out" and "Power in".Oh, I got the joke. I'm just used to Q meaning pressure. In the comic pressure could have actually worked. In your explanation not so much. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised it represents different values for different fields.
Scientific break even only considers the power delivered on target verses the fusion power generated, whereas a more more accurate version would also consider the losses of the heating process and the efficiency of these components, so if you are using a laser that only converts 1% of the electricity it uses to useful laser power (since electricity is what we want at the end) then the Q reduces by a factor of 100 under this more strict definition. More strict still is the "engineering break even" which considers losses and inefficiencies in the power plant.
The xkcd comic is taking the concept of breakeven and applying it to water instead of power, implying the dam is generating more water than it consumes. This is clearly ludicrous, which is the joke.
I learned a new term for rocket go boom today, "Rapid unscheduled disassembly"Challenger was the textbook example of the rapid unscheduled disassembly. I don't know if they actually referred to it that way, but the term was definitely in use by that time.
I learned a new term for rocket go boom today, "Rapid unscheduled disassembly"
I learned a new term for rocket go boom today, "Rapid unscheduled disassembly"I saw that. Very nice.
USAF, I believe. There were references to RUDEs (events) back in the sixties. Wouldn't surprise me if it was the favoured euphemism back during the X project days. Elon popularized the expression a few years ago.I learned a new term for rocket go boom today, "Rapid unscheduled disassembly"
Never heard it before, but it has that air of military or government terminology. Completely accurate, but possibly the least logical way to describe it by normal humans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r91Q4dAHnUw
The announcement on Nuclear Fusion
Man... That thing flipped like 3 times at a few thousand miles per hour. That's one strong machine!
I haven't read any dives into the postmortem analysis yet, but based on nothing but the video of the explosion, it looks like a control system sequence failure. At one point you can see the grid fins deployed, and the vent plumes from the second stage tanks were at an angle to the vehicles axis, which means the whole stack was already moving a bit sideways. The commentary mentioned the turn-around maneuver, but its not clear if that was actually occurring when announced, or was just anticipated. If it was already in the turn around maneuver, it would make no sense to allow that command or grid fin deploy command until stage separation was confirmed. Also mentioned in the commentary was max Q, but again, not clear to me if it actually got that far, or was just mentioned by commentator.Scott Manley dug into it a bit. There were 5 Raptors out and another was squirrelly. Three were out by the time it lifted off, and it looked like there as a hydraulic failure around the same time, and the CW is that so much debris was kicked up by the thing that the first stage suffered significant damage as a result. Stage 0 (what SpaceX calls the launch pad) will be the focus going forward. Elon was opposed to using a flame diverter (there won't be one on the Moon or Mars), but it looks like he's probably going to have to. As for it losing control, two of the failed Raptors were gimblers, and if there was a hydraulic failure other ones might not have been able to gimble, so it probably just went outside the motors' ability to keep it stable.
I was in the car during the launch, and listened on youtube for about 2 minutes until the explosion. I was on my way to a welding facility, and ended up working with a welder who developed the welds used in the raptor engine nozzles. Spacex ended up purchasing a few welding machines for themselves (~$4M each) and continued their production in house.
Yeah. Apparently Elon said that they designed a giant, water cooled, steel plate that was supposed to cover the pad. It wasn't completed in time and they just sent it.The colour of the flame suggested burning hydraulic fluid. Not to say that's they're wrong, but I think that's where the speculation has been coming from. Also, did the thing ever actually reach the appropriate altitude for the first stage sep? I know they were expecting it based on time elapsed, but with up to 8 Raptors not firing it was probably well short at the actual time.
I haven't seen it verified, but a source popped up a few times on Reddit claiming that there was damage done to an exterior module that's responsible for controlling the hydraulics that release stage one from stage two. A chunk of concrete flew into it, damaging it beyond the point of operation.
The sound in your first video is awesome. It's cool to see/hear so many people excited about this kind of thing.
So cool to finally see Starship launch, sure they have a long way to go but it's atleast a bit closer to the Moon or even Mars.
So cool to finally see Starship launch, sure they have a long way to go but it's atleast a bit closer to the Moon or even Mars.
Speaking of Mars, I got a question that perhaps some of you can enlighten me. With robotic and AI technology development advancing so swiftly at a much lower cost. Sending a couple of highly advanced robots to Mars may do a better, more efficient job than we do. So why must we set such a goal to land on Mars?
So cool to finally see Starship launch, sure they have a long way to go but it's atleast a bit closer to the Moon or even Mars.
Speaking of Mars, I got a question that perhaps some of you can enlighten me. With robotic and AI technology development advancing so swiftly at a much lower cost. Sending a couple of highly advanced robots to Mars may do a better, more efficient job than we do. So why must we set such a goal to land on Mars?
There literally isn't enough space on this board to properly articulate the 'why' we, as in, mankind, feels the need to venture out and place our boots on the ground of some unknown world.
I suppose, the best answer to this question may always be the following quote from George Mallory: "Because it's there."
In 1922, he took part in a second expedition to make the first ascent of the world's highest mountain, in which his team achieved a record altitude of 26,980 ft (8,225 m) without supplemental oxygen. Once asked by a reporter why he wanted to climb Everest, Mallory famously replied, "Because it's there."
If any of that makes sense to you (and, admittedly, as a risk-adverse person, I have never understood the desire to explore, climb, or go to Mars), then I suspect you don't even bother asking 'why,' because you are already attempting to do it.
The desire to explore is intrinsic to our species, and even with AI and all that, a small portion of us will always desire to see for ourselves.
It's also a life raft. In 1000 years, 5000 years, who knows. Humanity's only chance at surviving might one day come down to being able to rehome ourselves.I believe that's been Musk's thought process all along.
It's also a life raft. In 1000 years, 5000 years, who knows. Humanity's only chance at surviving might one day come down to being able to rehome ourselves.
It's also a life raft. In 1000 years, 5000 years, who knows. Humanity's only chance at surviving might one day come down to being able to rehome ourselves.
Seems to me it would be a good idea to demonstrate we can keep out current planet liveable before we try to make a planet with no atmosphere and soil full of perchlorate habitable.
We stand a better chance that the latter simply because we'd all be interested in trying. It's new and exciting. We're more interested in fighting about it rather than actually trying to salvage the Earth.It's also a life raft. In 1000 years, 5000 years, who knows. Humanity's only chance at surviving might one day come down to being able to rehome ourselves.
Seems to me it would be a good idea to demonstrate we can keep out current planet liveable before we try to make a planet with no atmosphere and soil full of perchlorate habitable.
Any human life on Mars will never be long term self sustainable in the next century, and probably much longer than that. Hell, life on the ISS requires a whole supply infrastructure to sustain.
Conversely:
https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-faa-mishap-investigation
"Aspiring to have no flame diverter in Boca, but this could turn out to be a mistake,"
Interesting visualization of the 2024 solar eclipse
https://youtu.be/sOpYoO_SK7o
I'm a member of an astronomy association here, and there's been email chains going on since October that some members have booked 2-3 hotels just in case :lolThey're fools! Spend less money at Academy for a tent, bag, air mattress, and Coleman stove+lantern. For a good eclipse you're better off out at some lake in the boonies than you are at a Ramada outside of Dayton.
While I'm not getting my hopes up, the new study on Betelgeuse is interesting. The paper is not peer reviewed yet, but there is chatter that the data is correct.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.00287.pdf
If true, Betelgeuse going supernova might be sooner than expected, with an optimistic prediction of just a few decades.
While I'm not getting my hopes up, the new study on Betelgeuse is interesting. The paper is not peer reviewed yet, but there is chatter that the data is correct.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.00287.pdf
If true, Betelgeuse going supernova might be sooner than expected, with an optimistic prediction of just a few decades.
That would be incredible if it went supernova in our lifetime.
With a reported budget of just $75 million, India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully landed on the moon’s south pole yesterday is a spectacular achievement. Now sooner than later someone will have to land on the Clavius crater and start digging. :biggrin:
By comparison, it cost $100M to make the movie Gravity :lol