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Look, this really shouldn't devolve into an argument about semantics. Sophistry does often imply intent, and "after the manner of the glass panes in hot-houses" possibly refers to the fact that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and greenhouses both trap heat, not that they use the exactly the same mechanism to do the trapping.

Regardless, we are all telling you now that there is only one effect correctly referred to as "the greenhouse effect" in science, and that it not the same mechanism that keeps greenhouses warm. Any source that claims otherwise is incorrect, no matter how official-sounding the domain name.

Are you proposing that the CO2 knows whether it is in a real greenhouse or not?

No, I am proposing that the CO2 would be aproximately the same inside and outside the greenhouse, so its effect would not be noticeable. In the experiment, the greenhouse temperature is compared to the external temperature, right?

Regardless of the size of the greenhouse, the increased temperature (increased, that is, over the external temperature) will be due to trapped convection. The same CO2 density inside and outside the greenhouses means that the CO2 would increase the greenhouse temperature and the external temperature by the same amount.

That is why we say the experiment on that website has nothing to do with the greenhouse effect.

The XKCD "trustworthiness scale" is a cartoon joke.

Uh, yes. That parenthetical statement I made that referenced a cartoon joke, was a joke, an attempt at humour on my part. I am sorry it offended you so. If I may ask, why did you chose to link to the PDF document when there are (as you noted) many other HTML documents mirroring the original? Also please note that I did not "ask [you] about credibility". We are discussing these pages on content, only.

In any case, the original source page was up when I googled for it before I posted. As I stated, it had little to no relevence to the article you referenced.

There are two sources provided for the web article's results. You probably meant to link here: http://www.principia-scientific.org/publications/Absence_Measureable_Greenhouse_Effect.pdf

That is a report produced by the person who wrote the web article, linked to from the article. It seems to contain the conclusions listed in the "Results" section of the web article. In it is a very different experiment to the one listed on the website (that doesn't even involve measuring temperatures in a greenhouse at all!)

That report is rife with errors, but that is an entirely separate subject. What matters is that the experiment described in it does not correspond with the website. On the other hand, his other provided source does have an experiment similar to the web article. However, it does not contain the results in the article.

This is (partly) why we say that that page is absurd.

Honestly, I don't think the problem is that people don't really know this and are arguing against the human effect of carbon emissions on our planet's environment. The problem is our modern society at its foundation is completely based on carbon based fuel and combustion engines.

Unfortunately, that's not the case; if it were, this article wouldn't have made the news. In the US there is a large fraction of the population that denies anthropogenic global warming. This in and of itself isn't the worst thing ever, since we can't expect everyone to understand everything. However, the fact that many of these deniers are Congressman and Senators is a significant issue, since these are precisely the people who have the necessary influence to direct our society towards alternative energy sources.

A group of brilliant scientists, no matter how intelligent or correct they are, is not going to convince the entire modern world to stop what it's doing, shut down society and restructure it for the long term health of the planet.

No scientists that I know of suggests that industry should be stopped in order to prevent global warming and climate change. There are likely some environmentalists that do suggest this, but they are quite certainly on the fringe. The scientists that I know are prudent people, and they are technologists. They propose a gradual shift towards carbon neutral energy sources such as nuclear fission, wind, and solar.

Two things to note about this: 1) That would have a devastating impact because of the chaos it would create and 2) There's not enough motivation because it's not going to affect anyone currently here in their lifetime. By the time it's a problem, it will be a future generation and it will be too late.

Climate change is not a problem of some distant future. Its effects are here with us now. Climate change is also not an all or nothing shift - it is a gradual change. However, greenhouse gas emissions are growing near exponentially, which means the rate of climate change is going to continue accelerating. Seen from a positive light, this means that the sooner and more vigorously we act, the more pronounced the affect will be.

Now I know this is a bitter bill for geeks to swallow but you'll have to negotiate the win/win, not just use pure logic. Fortunately, you're the smart group and what you should use your intelligence for is to find an economically equivalent or better, cleaner, environment friendly source of energy and propulsion. Get to work! We're depending on you to solve the problem.

Alternative sources of energy are here, and they are constantly improving. Some of these alternative energy sources already are superior, particularly when taking into account the external costs associated with fossil fuels. Even without including external costs, wind is one of the cheapest energy sources available. The switch to renewable energy sources is inevitable. Eventually they will be the only energy sources that are economical. However, that's not really the issue that I think this article addresses. I think it's really about the anti-scientific sentiment that has become so influential in the US media and political sphere. I think this article is an example of the effort needed from the scientific community to educate the public about the science that affects us all. It's much easier in many ways, as a scientist, to write only for the scientifically literate audience represented by scientific journals, but we need people willing to translate the scientific consensus for the general population - particularly when it comes to topics such as anthropogenic global warming.

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19880010181_1988010181.pdf

*There* we go, had to check that before I could go to bed...

I probably shouldn't buy one though...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Watkins-Johnson-TWT-Amplifier-7-to-12-4GHz-Unused-Condition-/190858149076

The space station should have the most advanced remote manipulator system available. Deep-sea work is not done by guys in complex suits, it is done by remotely controlled manipulator robots. The continued dependence on space suits for basic construction/repair/maintenence operation just seems like a bad idea given current remote maniplulation technology.

Deep sea work is different - when you have external pressures higher than internal ones, the demands are different.

And no, a lot of deep sea work isn't done by remote manipulators, but by divers - often saturation divers (where divers work and live "at depth" because decompression can take up to a week. And accidents have happened because the saturation chamber is above atmospheric pressure, and catastrophic decompression has happened.

One reason is that when external pressures are higher, you only deal with "suit squeeze" where the suit presses on the body (This assumes the use of regular diving equipment, and not NewtSuits which allow a shirtsleeve environment, and are highly complex beasts). In this case, all one needs to do is inflate the suit to equalize pressure.

In space, though, inflating a suit is the last thing you want to do, because it leads to ballooning - in effect, a space suit is a human-shaped balloon, and if you've ever blown up a latex glove, you know the main air chamber gets the biggest (i.e. chest area) while the extremities don't really inflate at all Lots of special fabrics are involved in this under control, but it's unavoidable. If you ever seen the strap that connects the helmet ring and runs to the crotch, that's to keep the helmet from ballooning away from the head.

Then there's the whole mobility problem - air-tight bearings just aren't easy to move, and in fact, there is always leakage (how much is acceptable varies.

Finally - ventilation - getting heat away from the body, getting extremities cool or warmed (as necessary) isn't an easy task, and having pools of sweat gathering around just isn't fun (try wearing a sauna suit all day - after a workout it's fine, but it'll get clammy, cold and just plain yucky after a while).

  NASA actually documented the history of pressure suits and their problems - "Dressing for Altitude" - http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/dress_for_altitude_detail.html

It's a great read on all the intricacies of pressure and space suits. And how even now we still are in the learning phase.

As for robots - they're getting there - the problem being that there's a lot of feedback issues - one wrong move can put a nasty dent in the structure, which weakens it. While the pressure vessel is isolated, there's only a small difference between "minor dent" and "major problem".

Check out this gash/puncture taken from the mast camera. A whole set of images from the MAHLI "hand lens" camera on the arm, which lets them look under the rover. Lots of dents, and quite a few punctures. The ridges that form the treads seem to be holding out, though.

Check out this gash/puncture taken from the mast camera. A whole set of images from the MAHLI "hand lens" camera on the arm, which lets them look under the rover. Lots of dents, and quite a few punctures. The ridges that form the treads seem to be holding out, though.

"Curiosity comprised 23 percent of the mass of the 3,893 kg (8,580 lb) Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft, which had the sole mission of delivering the rover safely across space from Earth to a soft landing on the surface of Mars."

That's about what the Atlas V can take to GTO. I don't know how that translates to "grossly overpowered" in your simple world.

So you make the wheels heavier, so now you need stronger motors, that need a bigger RTG to power them...

Now you need to make the MSL bigger to be able to support the heavier rover through all stages of the mission... Which now needs more fuel to maneuver the heavier rover around.... Hmm, but I'm sure you've solved that too?

But let's see, you seem to know a lot about tires on spacecraft that go on other planets AND the rockets we should be using to launch them there!

Send your CV here:

http://www.nasa.gov/about/career/index.html#.UrUtlOLtd0Q

http://www.spacex.com/careers/list

I think you're pretty much guaranteed a job if you know as much as you seem to. Tell those pointy-headed PhDs a thing or two about common sense!!

It is indeed an awesome photo, but personally, I think Voyager 1's Pale Blue Dot photograph of Earth is much more thought provoking.

Wikipedia has a write-up about it here.

Did you know that Titan has lakes?

Depends on your definition of lake. It's not water.

It's the same reason no stars.

There are quite a number of stars visible in the full sized photo.

I looked at the full sized image (3000x2400) and I can only see a few dozen stars, a very, very, very, very small fraction of the stars that would be visible if not for the very bright planet in the middle of the picture.

The same is true on a night when there is a full moon vs a moonless night.

Anyone who knows anything about photography will not be surprised by this.

Why go through Slate when you can hit NASA?

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-releases-new-earthrise-simulation-video/

FUCK! China landed a probe on the moon. Dammit we haven't done a damm thing in ages.

Good for China. Now how many probes do they have on Mars? We just landed, what, our 4th rover?

CHINA. you know those guys who make all our cheap plastic walmart crap... is now kicking our asses in space.

Let me know when China lands men on the moon, or anything on Mars. Personally, I'm also super impressed with the Cassini mission. Did you know that Titan has lakes?

FUCK! China landed a probe on the moon. Dammit we haven't done a damm thing in ages.

Good for China. Now how many probes do they have on Mars? We just landed, what, our 4th rover?

CHINA. you know those guys who make all our cheap plastic walmart crap... is now kicking our asses in space.

Let me know when China lands men on the moon, or anything on Mars. Personally, I'm also super impressed with the Cassini mission. Did you know that Titan has lakes?

You beat me to it, it's called the "Biosuit". Here are some more-recent articles, including photos of Professor Dava Newman modelling the skin-tight suit.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/dava-newmans-skintight-spacesuit-could-be-nasas-future-2013-12
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/appel/ask/issues/45/45s_building_future_spacesuit.html

Nah think bigger picture. NASA needs to start filming and selling zero-g porn. They'll have a virtual monopoly on the stuff and the adult industry is worth $10+ billion a year. That's twice what NASA spent on space operations in 2011.

And in case you think it's a joke, and not a commentary on how sad it is people would rather invest in seeing money shots than real science, I haz links :

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/659660main_NASA_FY13_Budget_Estimates-508-rev.pdf
http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html

(although it is cheering to know that the entire NASA budget is bigger than the porn industry, although I must admit I was a little surprised by the 3 billion spent on "cross agency support" -- what's that about?)

Nah. Russian zero-g porn!

Nah think bigger picture. NASA needs to start filming and selling zero-g porn. They'll have a virtual monopoly on the stuff and the adult industry is worth $10+ billion a year. That's twice what NASA spent on space operations in 2011.

And in case you think it's a joke, and not a commentary on how sad it is people would rather invest in seeing money shots than real science, I haz links :

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/659660main_NASA_FY13_Budget_Estimates-508-rev.pdf
http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html

(although it is cheering to know that the entire NASA budget is bigger than the porn industry, although I must admit I was a little surprised by the 3 billion spent on "cross agency support" -- what's that about?)

Presuming these plumes are not one off events, couldn't we send an orbiter there to sample the plumes to at least get some idea of the chemistry of Europa's ocean, if not possibly outright detect signs of life?

Yes, and according to the BBC article NASA researchers hope to do just that. However, Europa Clipper is expensive and long way off. They are hoping that a European probe due to launch in 2022 (like that is close) will do the job even though is not intended to go over the poles, which is where the plumes were seen.

How to dissipate heat in a near-vacuum sounds like an interesting engineering problem.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast21mar_1/

I managed to stay with them right up to the point where they said they radiated the excess heat into space...I thought that this entire setup hinged on the idea that vacuum doesn't conduct heat? Or is it like diffusion where heat wants to spread evenly, only in this case the diffused-to location is near absolute zero?

You'd think for the amount of money they steal someone would just shoot them in the head or hire someone to do it.

With what?! Ballistic weapons? Oh, that's rich! Consider that if any aliens exist there's at least a 50% chance they're more advanced than humans. If the aliens can manage interstellar space travel then they've already mastered the warp drive. Imagine all the technology they must have. You think they'd care about being threatened with micrometeors? Ooh, how terrifying!

One answer to the Fermi Paradox could be that the aliens can't visit you because they'll invalidate every damn patent on Earth with their prior art and destabilize the world economy humans built upon laws that create artificial scarcity of information and ideas. If only humans could extract their craniums from their rectums and stop treating infinitely reproducible information and knowledge as if they are physical things... Until human laws agree with the basic Universal truth that symbolic configurations of matter and energy are not matter and energy themselves, the Drake equation will never be solved.

Think about it. Economics 101 says that as supply tends towards infinity, price tends towards zero regardless of demand or cost to create. The elements that make up sand and water were forged in a huge expensive furnace: A 1-A supernova, yet sand is cheap, you just pay for hauling it, not the sand itself. You wouldn't sell Ice to Eskimos, as the locals say, but selling infinitely reproducible information to humans possessing "sentient" brains and digital information replicators is acceptable? The world economy of ideas and information can't even grok economics 101. It's the work to create new configurations that's scarce, not the 1's and 0's or ideas. You have no evidence that patents and copyright are beneficial -- Not a single one of you tested that damn hypothesis!

The Patent Trolls are what you pre-information-scarcity races deserve. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if the "trolls" weren't actually aliens risking violation of the prime directive just to try and help you humans out by demonstrating exactly how insane your current patent and copyright system is. Imagine yourself in their shoes! Imagine that you risked being re-assigned as an overseer of primordial ooze for the next billion years just to directly tell the humans via world wide neural network of their folly, and they STILL didn't get it?! Imagine how you would feel if you went through the trouble to do all that, and the Humans STILL sided with the moronic laws?! If you travelled 23 light millennia just to stop in for a spot of tea and solve every problem human science will face for the next few centuries, but you discovered the "Best and Brightest" humans embracing an economy that's incompatible with the nature of information and is based on Untested Hypotheses would YOU trust them with a Warp Drive?! I wouldn't!

In other space news... http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-350

The speed of light is also by definition the fastest information can travel.

We once thought the sound barrier was unbreakable. So far no matter can travel through space faster than light, but that won't stop us from using relativity to change the definition of travel. There is a horizon beyond which we can not currently see -- Galaxies are travelling away from us faster than the speed of light from them can reach us. Aren't they traveling faster than light? Oh, that's expansion... So, if it's space that's moving then the matter doesn't have to travel through space to achieve faster than light speeds.

Of course, since you're being metaphysical, I suppose one could argue that since information is made of matter that even if FTL drives enable us to reach our destination before light would it doesn't mean that our meanings mean the same things once we do so -- The information mightn't really travel with us, it'll be different by definition when it gets there due to entropy.

Would you be more impressed if NASA said it? http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/qa_sp_ht.html#void

If you look at the choices they're different types of plants that provide different things: Basil / Cress, seasoning, greenery -- You eat the leaves. Turnip, a tuberous plant with starch / calories -- you eat the root. I recall a prior story about this that also listed Sunflower seeds: Oils, proteins -- You eat the seeds; And another small flowering plant which herpetologists have gene sequenced and use as a model... Can't recall its name, ATM.

From TFSA (the fucking space agency):

Plant growth at Earth gravity has been well studied and there has been a lot of research on plant growth in microgravity on Shuttle and Space Station. Recently, ISS payloads have been able to simulate partial gravity (eg. Kiss et al. 2012, Planta 236, 635-645.). The surface of the Moon however is the only location in which the effects of both lunar gravity and lunar radiation on plant growth can be studied. Eventually human exploration of the Moon will require plant growth systems for life support. Germination is the first step in plant growth and thus forms the focus of this first experiment. We will also look for phototropism and circumnutation. The basic data from the experiment would be the growth rate, expressed as leaf area, over time. This would be extracted from images of the plant growth area. In addition image data would be collected to investigate both phototropism (plant motion in response to changes in position of the light source) and circumnutation (plant circular motion). The growth and movement of the plants on the Moon would be compared to similar data from Earth controls in identical growth units.

The growth rates will be important for determining how much space will be required to grow food to feed Astronauts who take extended trips to the moon base. Of course it'll have the crew rotated like the ISS due to atrophy in weaker gravity, but they may be able to stay longer on the moon's gravity than in orbital microgravity.

This research isn't a waste of money or publicity thing. The question isn't can we grow a plant on the moon, it's can we grow tasty edible things up there and eventually get a few of our eggs out of this one basket. The moon is made of the same ratios of elements the Earth is. This means we may eventually be able to dome over some craters or caves / mines, and get plants and microbes -- possibly genetically engineered life -- to break down the rock into organic chemical rich dirt and air, then grow other crops. We're a long way away from bio-dome construction and lunar microbes; However, we have the technology to launch and connect a lunar habitat, and possibly grow plants therein -- We already know for sure that plants can grow in near zero G.

Exposing seeds to UV or Cosmic Rays is one way to accelerate mutation and this is currently used to speed up cultivation of desirable traits in crops -- Moon crop technology could help feed people on Earth. I always think about space exploration when I brush my teeth with the non-toxic toothpaste and clean water sanitation system that NASA invented for Astronauts and terra lubbers alike.

Just read Nasa's version, okay? http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/qa_sp_ht.html#void

Jeez.

Video from NASA -

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.php?id=1188

I'm excited about it too, and very happy about the program.

It's not over yet, though, and everyone should be reluctant to celebrate. Mars has a reputation for being a probe killer. There's still plenty of time for this to end very badly.

Imagine being one of the people who read the e-mail address placed on error messages on the STEREO servers.

Then imagine that STEREO had a highly compressed near-real time data stream that was used for space weather forecasting. And that the files were replaced once the full-resolution data was downlinked and processed.

And, by working for the government, you have a duty to respond to requests for information from the public, even when they're being completely abusive in their messages.

I've probably spent weeks of my life responding to people trying to explain that no, NASA is not covering up evidence of UFOs, because we know what those items are-- compression artifacts, internal reflections, SEP hits, etc. (in this particular case, it's pixel bleed on the CCDs).

And there's no reason to view some GIF that someone made when you can just view a slideshow of the images directly. It'll let you speed up / slow down the images (once you've downloaded them). After that, it should move into the field of view of COR2A

Imagine being one of the people who read the e-mail address placed on error messages on the STEREO servers.

Then imagine that STEREO had a highly compressed near-real time data stream that was used for space weather forecasting. And that the files were replaced once the full-resolution data was downlinked and processed.

And, by working for the government, you have a duty to respond to requests for information from the public, even when they're being completely abusive in their messages.

I've probably spent weeks of my life responding to people trying to explain that no, NASA is not covering up evidence of UFOs, because we know what those items are-- compression artifacts, internal reflections, SEP hits, etc. (in this particular case, it's pixel bleed on the CCDs).

And there's no reason to view some GIF that someone made when you can just view a slideshow of the images directly. It'll let you speed up / slow down the images (once you've downloaded them). After that, it should move into the field of view of COR2A

Imagine being one of the people who read the e-mail address placed on error messages on the STEREO servers.

Then imagine that STEREO had a highly compressed near-real time data stream that was used for space weather forecasting. And that the files were replaced once the full-resolution data was downlinked and processed.

And, by working for the government, you have a duty to respond to requests for information from the public, even when they're being completely abusive in their messages.

I've probably spent weeks of my life responding to people trying to explain that no, NASA is not covering up evidence of UFOs, because we know what those items are-- compression artifacts, internal reflections, SEP hits, etc. (in this particular case, it's pixel bleed on the CCDs).

And there's no reason to view some GIF that someone made when you can just view a slideshow of the images directly. It'll let you speed up / slow down the images (once you've downloaded them). After that, it should move into the field of view of COR2A

Imagine being one of the people who read the e-mail address placed on error messages on the STEREO servers.

Then imagine that STEREO had a highly compressed near-real time data stream that was used for space weather forecasting. And that the files were replaced once the full-resolution data was downlinked and processed.

And, by working for the government, you have a duty to respond to requests for information from the public, even when they're being completely abusive in their messages.

I've probably spent weeks of my life responding to people trying to explain that no, NASA is not covering up evidence of UFOs, because we know what those items are-- compression artifacts, internal reflections, SEP hits, etc. (in this particular case, it's pixel bleed on the CCDs).

And there's no reason to view some GIF that someone made when you can just view a slideshow of the images directly. It'll let you speed up / slow down the images (once you've downloaded them). After that, it should move into the field of view of COR2A

The NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will be providing near real-time images/movies at http://cometison.gsfc.nasa.gov/ on Nov 28 between 12:45 pm and 1:00 pm ET (1745 - 1900 UT)

I'll just call you blind to the facts, if that's okay. I'd say, based on the linked information below, that warming is continuing.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/decadaltemp.php

And, let's face it: you can argue that the cause is somewhat irrelevant. What is hard to argue with is that a change in the environment will destabilize the existing geopolitical conditions, which are relatively constrained at the moment. If you believe in the free market and capitalism, you know that change in market conditions is mostly bad for the vast majority of people. If we identify those things which will minimize the change, that will maximize overall stability as well as returns.

Unless, of course, you believe - like much of the human population - that you are part of some chosen, elite subset (or will be very, very soon). In which case you don't understand statistics, and hence can't even comprehend why everything I've said above should apply to you. And you never will.

I don't think that's it - have a look at this photo. You can see the same kind of assembly between the two cupola shields, should be obvious what I'm speaking of. Looks like a brass/gold trefoil with a rod sticking out of the center, with what looks like a black and yellow target nearby. Down and right from the visible crewmember.

If you can grow crabgrass, dandelions, and kudzu, then you could grow basil and turnips instead with no substantial difference in difficulty. What's the real difference? Astronauts would rather eat basil-turnips stew than kudzu crabgrass salad. The experiment is actually somewhat needed since it'll give us better estimates on the amount of area food production will take (it depends on the growth rate of the foods).

If we're talking terraforming and not just growing goodies to eat in a mostly closed cycle (poo is fertilizer, albeit rather 'hot' with bacteria), then we'll want some kind of genetically engineered microbes and lichen, etc which can survive on water mixed with regolith + heat and break down the rocks into more useful soil. You'd be wanting that under a dome of sorts, maybe in a crater or two on the south pole, so any gases produced wouldn't be blown away by solar winds.

We're a long way off from lunar dome construction and genetically engineered lunar microbes. However, we have all the technology required to put a habitat on the moon -- Just not funding to do so. You want funding you need to aim for getting people off the planet. Joe sixpack is inspired by people, not probes or plants. Folks atrophy in low G, so it limits the time humans can spend in a habitat; One that's big enough for long term missions and food cultivation would have to be cycled like the ISS does, but the gravity may let them stay longer than orbital platforms -- It's the radiation I'd be worried about.

Actually, this just reminded me I need to catch up on Space Brothers -- An anime series about the human element involved in becoming a JAXA astronaut, international cooperation, brotherly love and rivalry, and performing Lunar and other missions. I recognized many Houstonian landmarks in their episodes at NASA / Johnson Space Center. There were episodes about such a lunar habitat, and while I'm sure artistic license is taken, the show demonstrates some impressive real life space agency involvement for an show. The current arc includes training in an international undersea platform must be inspired by actual plans. Space Brothers includes the first voice acting to ever be recorded in space (by Akihiko Hoshide). In the live action movie based on the anime / manga, Buzz Aldrin makes a cameo appearance as himself.

I don't mean to ramble on about this series (which you can find free streaming online w/ ads on crunchroll among other places), but IMO, this sort of thing I think about as "baby steps". I agree with you on that front. NASA needs more Community Involvement, sparking public interest especially among children. They're getting a bit better with social media, and we have NASA TV, but it's not half as entertaining to minds young or old as comic books, animations, or movies about what it would be like to live in space in the future. All around the world I see cultures becoming more excited about space, and yet here in the USA most common people are disenchanted with it, and many are actively negative towards awarding any funding. That Gravity film was in the right vein, but far more expensive than a manga or anime. It's a shame the stigma western societies have over art mediums like these (and even games) -- It's just as valid a medium as film, radio, theater, or painting, but western animation studios (like Dreamworks or Pixar) are hampered by the expectation that animation is for kids, and thereby kid-safe and lacking most mature dramatic elements. I'd much rather see something like an American version of Space Brothers on prime time TV than yet another Simpsons wannabe.

Ultimately space exploration's goal must include spreading life beyond our planet.

Likewise, the automation is not designed to handle extreme failures of the aircraft. For example, the situation many years ago in Iowa where the hydraulics failed and the pilot had to steer the plane using only the engine throttles is an example of something that no computer system is designed to do. Yet a veteran pilot managed to pull it off.

This scenario has happen several times and the pilots have not always been successful at control via engine throttle only. But an autopilot program has been developed now that can do a much better job than the human pilots. See Propulsion Controlled Aircraft.

While I'd love to have my local welder supply open on weekends. they aren't equipped with safe separate areas for filling gaseous hydrogen tanks on vehicles.

You'd need something laid out like a gas station unless the vehicles were equipped to carry standard cylinders in which case swaps wouldn't be technically difficult. I don't see that working well thoughas conventional high pressure cylinders are thick and heavy.

Semi-OT but interesting vintage NASA liquid hydrogen gear.
Love the violin "tuning method":

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4404/ch4-4.htm

Check out the international GNSS service: http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/ This is a NASA-run program that simultaneously monitors GPS and GLONASS signals all over the world for scientific purposes. Not the same as an official ground control station, but it's not fair to say this would be breaking entirely new ground.

It's pretty problematic that the impact in question happened in Mexico. The Yucatan isn't exactly a haven of extremophiles—you wouldn't expect to find anything that can maintain a biosphere without a good light source, and they're definitely not well-adapted to the sulphur and magnesium contamination that Europa appears to have. Unfortunately the best places to find organisms with a chance of surviving in this kind of environment are at the bottom of the ocean, which is a particularly bad target for producing ejecta. Caves are also a possibility, and since Mexico has no shortage of them, they might be a potential avenue... but who knows if there were any decent ones in the Yucatan at the time.

NASA will be launching another rocket, a Minotaur, from Wallops Island: http://www.nasa.gov/content/air-force-minotaur-rocket-launching-from-virginia-november-19/ I will be photographing the night launch and should have some good pics up. Check my journal for them, there may also be Air Force interviews after the launch, I'll see if I can get some words in as well

They think Mars looked like this (4 Billion years ago)...

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-video-illustrates-maven-missions-investigation-of-a-lost-mars/#.UoTqxLxq61s

And their point is exactly?

Sorry, guess I'm being rather pessimistic about trying to figure out how a planet was billions of years ago. We can speculate with far greater accuracy about our own planet's environment back then, and yet speculating about any of it provides us with exactly what usable data today?

Even if we found out why dinosaurs went extinct, it doesn't change the fact that dinosaurs are extinct, nor will it change the atmosphere on Mars. Pointless activity is pointless. But hey, someone's pockets are being lined, I promise you that...

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-video-illustrates-maven-missions-investigation-of-a-lost-mars/#.UoTqxLxq61s

I would not be surprised if the loss of the weight of the ice that has already melted is itself contributing to the emergence of the volcanoes. Less weight pressing down might make it easier for them to come to the surface.

Disclaimer: I am not a geologist.

Not conclusive, but Nasa says:We estimate over 600 million cubic meters (1 cubic meter = 1 metric ton) of water in these features

Just read The Apollo Experience Lessons Learned for Constellation Lunar Dust Management. Summary: Moon is a rather impractical place to be, unless: you have a way of washing everything on your way in and all of the exterior equipment is designed to be dust tight in vacuum environment (a nigh impossible feat). The dust will grind everything to a halt. It's that bad. And you better not got any into the shuttles subject to microgravity - both the people and the equipment will be in bad shape after a trip.

It's much more coupled than that. We're finding that the sun is massively connected to the Earth via magnetic flux tubes that dump charged particles into the magnetosphere, and that the day side of the magnetosphere is sometimes wide open to solar wind.

It's much more coupled than that. We're finding that the sun is massively connected to the Earth via magnetic flux tubes that dump charged particles into the magnetosphere, and that the day side of the magnetosphere is sometimes wide open to solar wind.

NASA's using DMLS for part of their J2X engine (for the SLS vehicle, funnily enough), and interestingly it's for a very simple part that's just too small to make conventionally. So they're only about three years ahead of you.

There are technology issues to overcome – notably current limitations on the size of the parts to be made – but this process is potentially an order of magnitude improvement in terms of the costs for building complex, severe environment components out of that ubiquitous substance that we’ve got all over in a rocket engine, i.e., “shiny metal.”

Neither article (OP or this response) seem to support the assertions made in the posts.

Also, is "amount of radiation" a good metric for harm done? Seems like that leaves out a lot of factors that would affect the real world impact.

One thing that seems clear is that (even ignoring climate change) fossil fuels cause a lot more deaths than nuclear.

This is a ridiculous comparison. The data are from two completely different proceedures, from a technical perspective.

Taking a functional government website, like say Astronomy Picture of the Day

To make it 'not work' all they have to do is whip up a basic "this site shutdown due to..." with a few HTML tags and its is "taken down due to the shutdown"

That's all...a few lines of HTML and a redirect!

Second, the criticism of the Obamacare website in the media is not representative of the ***ACTUALL*** technical problems.

Politics aside, the website problems were **routine IT work**...its not an excuse, but **management** is to blame for not scheduling testing with enough time before rollout...

So, this data is doubly unusuable...but it makes sense...

**of course** sites like Astronomy Picture of the Day were up in 24 hrs after the shutdown lifted!!!!! It just took a few lines of code!

To me this looks like an agreement by the UN to help fund NASA's existing NEO program ( http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ).