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NASA Sending Probe to Saturn

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the into-the-great-wide-open dept.

Plissken writes "Nasa along with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency have launched a towards Saturn in hopes of obtaining vital data to help understand the mysterious, vast region. The Cassini-Huygens mission is composed of two elements: The Cassini orbiter that will orbit Saturn and it's moons for four years, and the Huygens probe will dive into the depths of Titan and land on it's surface. If all goes well, more than 200 scientists worldwide will study the data collected."

109 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Uhh.. Didn't they launch Cassini a *ling* while ago?
    What's the news value of this?

    1. Re:news? by dWhisper · · Score: 2, Informative

      This probe was launched a while back. The intersection with the planet is in a little over a year, but I figured this was old news.

  2. It won't... by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 2, Funny

    People that can think about Stellar IP, and assign an IP to the Moon, don't have to be afraid of the /. effect...

    They just turn their DNS in such a way that your packets have to go to Saturn, Jupiter, Webhop in a small private Europa-Io-X firewall and then allow you access to 0.0.0.1:0.0.0.255 (Earth)

    Hopefully, your lag will only be a couple centuries.

    --
    It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
    1. Re:It won't... by shish · · Score: 1

      In some of the kernel docs it's written (quoted from old memory) that the TCP timeout can be maxed to 255 seconds, so sorry, no SpaceQuake :(

      Does IPv6 have longer timeouts, or will we need *another* systems specifically for space comms?

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
    2. Re:It won't... by GigsVT · · Score: 2, Insightful

      We already do need another system for space comms. On Starband, using regular TCP/IP, you only get 56k modem speeds. You must use their special modified TCP/IP drivers that are Windows-only to be able to get broadband level download speeds. TCP/IP, as currently implemented, does not lend itself to high latency connections.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  3. 200 scientists by E.+T.+Alveron · · Score: 3, Insightful
    it's a shame space probe data is disseminated to only the 200 with influence/money/connections to NASA's good ol boy network...

    someone tell me the data is public domain... anyone?

    1. Re:200 scientists by dakers27 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Well, that sounds like a good idea, but think about it..... What if information on Saturn were to fall into the hand of terrorists? Releasing the data into the public domain could be a threat to national security, plus, its not like the project was funded by your tax dollars, oh wait...... :P

    2. Re:200 scientists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      All the data from NASA missions is normally
      released in the public domain after 12 months.
      The delay is to give their scientists a head
      start in the publicating their work.

      In some cases the data is witheld like in the
      case of the almost global world RADAR map with
      30 m resolution

    3. Re:200 scientists by JimPooley · · Score: 3, Interesting

      So what exactly would you do with the raw data from the probe? They're probably just giving it out to people who are actually capable of using it. There'd be no point NASA being slashdotted by people who have absolutely no use for raw data just going in to have a look...

      --

      "Information wants to be paid"
    4. Re:200 scientists by EasyTarget · · Score: 1, Funny

      ...people who have absolutely no use for raw data...

      I have a use for it, I'd analyse it to death until I have some sort of sequence that matches the dimensions of the Pyramids, preferably also chucking in the orientation of Stonehenge and distance of Easter Island from Atlantis.

      Then I'd write a book.

      Perhaps I should patent my Business plan first? or is there prior art?

      --
      "Oops, I always forget the purpose of competition is to divide people into winners and losers." - Hobbes
    5. Re:200 scientists by Vulch · · Score: 5, Informative

      The researchers who get immediate access to the data are the ones who have already spent a decade or more of their lives working on the project. In return for their long-term commitment to the project they get the raw data first. After an agreed amount of time, which can vary from project to project but is meant to be long enough to analyse the numbers and write a paper on the subject, the data is made more widely available.

      Most space missions including the Hubble Telescope work the same way. Apart from the occasional "pretty" picture used for publicity, the researchers who have planned a set of observations get the first chance to analyse and publish. Those who don't want to make the up-front commitment just have to be patient.

    6. Re:200 scientists by JWW · · Score: 1

      Yep, I've seen raw data that comes off of the Lansat satellites, and it's pretty ugly stuff.

      The scientests involved will more than likely release pretty pictures for you to look at anyway.

    7. Re:200 scientists by Vireo · · Score: 1

      Another reason for giving raw data to the mission's science team first is that they were part of the mission design and know how to calibrate and correct the measurements. Raw data seldom can be used "as is"; it must be filtered, corrected for a bunch of instrumental and spacecraft drifts, etc.

      In mission-speak, the first thing to do is transform raw data (Level 1A) into corrected data (Level 1B), before it is ready to be processed and interpreted (Level 2 and above). Mission scientists don't want uninformed scientist to apply ad-hoc calibration and corrections to Level 1A data and publish results which contradicts theirs just because they applied the wrong transformation.

    8. Re:200 scientists by saider · · Score: 1

      Most of the pretty pictures look nothing like the raw data. Many pictures are taken in various wavelengths and the final image is a composite of several exposures with false colors used for invisible wavelengths. Many of those releases are from observations months beforehand.

      SOHO is one satellite that does give everyone near realtime access to the data. Some amateur astronomers use this data to find new comets.

      --


      Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
    9. Re:200 scientists by burns210 · · Score: 1

      "There'd be no point NASA being slashdotted by people who have absolutely no use for raw data just going in to have a look... " my government, my money, my data.

  4. Ugh, this is 6 1/2 years old by Crazieeman · · Score: 4, Funny

    I knew /. liked to post old stuff, but its starting to get out of hand

  5. Measurements.... by Max+Romantschuk · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nasa along with the European Space Agency

    ESA Engineer: We need to calibrate the spinoff vector 3 micrometers forward.
    NASA Engineer: Micrometers?
    ESA Engineer: Yes, metric units.
    NASA Engineer: Metric?

    A bit over the top perhaps, but it's not like it hasn't happened before ;)

    --
    .: Max Romantschuk :: http://max.romantschuk.fi/
    1. Re:Measurements.... by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 5, Informative

      Um, excuse me?

      This has been beaten to death already. Can we get over the stupid metric jokes? And if your going to do them, can you at least get them RIGHT?

      I am quite positive that ESA would use metric, and infact, NASA uses metric too.

      Why did we lose the Mars Climate Orbiter? Precisely because NASA *does* use Metric, but NASA's outsourcing to Lockheed Martin, unfortunately, doesn't. American coroporations persist on using ye olde system, while NASA infact DOES use metric.

      So don't pay out NASA, they did it right. Lockheed Martin fucked this one up.

      D.

      --
      You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
    2. Re:Measurements.... by Max+Romantschuk · · Score: 2, Funny

      This has been beaten to death already. Can we get over the stupid metric jokes? And if your going to do them, can you at least get them RIGHT?

      I'm sorry if the joke offends you, but it was meant as a joke, not an I-point-out-stupid-Americans exercise.

      --
      .: Max Romantschuk :: http://max.romantschuk.fi/
    3. Re:Measurements.... by stoborrobots · · Score: 3, Funny

      IIRC, the Fuckup was that Lockheed HAD used metric measurements, but NASA "corrected" the metric coordinates into the imperial ones before sending them...

      So NASA bad, LM good... or something like that...

      --
      "Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco
    4. Re:Measurements.... by macdaddy357 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Metric jokes? It's the ones about NASA sending a probe to uranus that are really getting old.

      --
      How ya like dat?
    5. Re:Measurements.... by CausticWindow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You almost make it sound like I-point-out-stupid-Americans exercises are bad.

      --
      How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
    6. Re:Measurements.... by VanillaCoke420 · · Score: 1

      Why wouldn't the scientists and engineers use the SI system? I thought it was the scientific unit system already? And also, this joke isn't just 'old'. Archaeologists have found it side by side with cave paintings.

    7. Re:Measurements.... by VanillaCoke420 · · Score: 1

      I have to add, that the joke isn't much older than the 'news' in this article. Seriously. How many did NOT know of this probe??

    8. Re:Measurements.... by thogard · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Brits had a base 10 system but they gave up centuries ago. The French decide that there are 10,000,000 from the pole to the equator but can't get their figures right.

      It turns out that the meter isn't a good "human" unit for most applications. All day I've been working on building a computer room in Australia. They used to use a foot as unit of measure but now use metric and have for 20+ years. The problem is none of the locals now know metric or imperial. I had a flatemate that was an architecture student at Melboure Uni. Not one of her friends who where in the same program could tell me how wide the lounge room was within 2 meters (its 16 ft as built in the finest tradtions in the 1850's). To me this is very scary considering they are all at least 3 years into an architecture degree.

      The plywood flooring we bought was 3.6m by .9m and it was but some of the other bits that were sold as some x.y meter were infact even feet down to .001 while they were not close to the sold as size.

      All the bolts are in inch sizes but the drill bits are metric. Its a real mess.

      I'm quite happy to deal with the metric system nearly everywhere execpt when it comes to building materials and in that case feet work much better. I know builders in the US that never need to write down measurements, the locals need a spreadsheet to keep the numbers together for small projects.

      If the local police hear that a suspect is 5'10, they figure +/- 2 inches while if someone says 180 cm they figure +/- 20cm (thats 4x larger than 2 in)

      Realestate in Australia is sold in "square" units (a square, not a square something but simply a square) that only one out of 20 people know about. It could be a quare meter or an acre and most people wouldn't have a clue.

      Most people under 20 in Australia have never delt with non-metric (except for how tall people are an how heavy babies are) and couldn't tell you how big a foot is if they had too but they aren't much better for metric. The Kiwis are about as bad (so I'm not just picking on the Aussies, I just know more of them)

      I propose that a metric foot be a nano-light second (about .299m). That would give the metric world a decent unit for measurement for building.

    9. Re:Measurements.... by edxwelch · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem is *not* that some one is using the "wrong" measurement system. There will always be two different mesurement systems: Kalvin/Fahrenheit/Celcius whatever, you have to be able to handle the conversion correctly. That's where the problem was.

    10. Re:Measurements.... by Mattsson · · Score: 1

      The sad part about all this is that there really is no need for more than one system. =(
      The US and UK use feet, inch, mile, etc out of tradition. It would be a very hard and costly endevour to change it.
      The same goes for kalvin vs. fahrenheit vs. celcius, gallon vs. litre, etc. (Though the litre is a metric standard, so maybe that's a bad example)
      No one standard are better than the others. It's just that some countries started using one standard a long time ago and some countries another.
      The world would be better of if everyone could unite around one standard per physical phenomena though...
      It's very frustrating when you need, say, a certain length of something in a even amount of centimeters and end up having to order it in inches with six or seven decimals instead of your nice no-decimals number...

      --
      /.Mattsson - My native language is not English, so please don't whine over linguistic errors. (That's lame anyway...)
  6. Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I don't see why we're so interested in Titan. The big deal about Titan is it might have life on it. But the fact is, we live in a vast universe and the possibility that we are the only life is very slim. It's also a particularly arrogant and foolish belief. But if we found life on Titan, it would likely be in the very early stages and it wouldn't be particularly interesting. So I don't see why we're making a huge fuss over it.

    This raises another question. We might be looking for life in all the wrong places. We assume that all life in the universe is created in our image. We expect that chemically, all other life will be similar to ours. When we go hunting for life on other planets and other moons, our search is limited to this kind of life. This is a rather narrow view of things, and who knows what we're missing? For all we know, there could be life in the volcanoes of Venus. It could be Silicon based, and it'd thrive in an environment rich in Sulfur compounds such as Sulfuric acid and Hydrogen sulfide.

    Maybe we're looking in all the wrong places and for all the wrong things. And that's why it's hard for me to get excited about missions like this.

    1. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by stoborrobots · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But that just raises a less tractable question, how do you guess what to look for?

      It's very likely that there is life out there which is not similar to ours... but where do we look?

      Examining everything is impossible... there are just too many places to look, and too many things to look for. We are unlikely to find those (non-relationship-guide-human-females) Silicon-based Venusians unless they were broadcasting in English on FM frequencies. And even then, we'd probably not notice.

      Looking for things like us gives us a target to work towards.

      And every little while, there is something slightly off the main track which is interesting, and we find out more about our universe. Maybe even discover silicon-based life in an environment similar to ours somewhere. That could then open our eyes to what to look for to find silicon-based life elsewhere. Then we turn to Venus and see what was staring us in the face all along.

      So we are not assuming that "all life is created in our image". We are just using all the models of life we currently know of to start our search.

      --
      "Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco
    2. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by Dan+B. · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes, but Titan may also be a massivley available fuel source, already in a high orbit, a long way from Earth where future outer space missions can be launched from.

      If life exists on Titan, the human race will seek to exploit it for our own goals of exploration to other worlds. Not a hugely good thing, but good none the less.

      --
      Dan. -- So what if it's spelt wrong, nobody's perfect
    3. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by WegianWarrior · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But if we found life on Titan, it would likely be in the very early stages and it wouldn't be particularly interesting. So I don't see why we're making a huge fuss over it.

      Taking this logic to the extreme, we should only bother to look for not just life, but actuall civilications at least as advanced as our own.. right?

      Wrong! By looking somewhere close and looking for something roughtly simular to the various forms of life we know from earth we can learn a lot. First and foremost, we'll learn that the earth isn't anything special. There is life out there, not just in our imagination, not just around distant stars, but basicly right out there in our own back yard. True, there could exist siliconbased life in the volcanoes on Venus - possible with a life-chemestry analog to the one we find in creatures here on earth that lives near black smokers - but it's a good idea to go look places where we and our probes can surive first, isn't it?

      And maybe we are looking in the right place for the right thing. You never know before you actually takes a look...

      --
      Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
    4. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by AndroidCat · · Score: 1
      It's very likely that there is life out there which is not similar to ours... but where do we look?

      My fridge?

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    5. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by oogoliegoogolie · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Considering that space exploration resourses are limited we have to look for life in places where it has high probabilities of existing AND we have to be able to get to those places easily. Life perhaps could exist on places on venus, but the best spacecraft don't last even a few hours on venus so looking for life there would be futile and destined for failure. Titan on the other hand is chemically similar to early earth and if it has an ocean then that would have spread life all over the whole moon so no matter where the probe lands, if life exists it has a good chance of finding it.

    6. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by VanillaCoke420 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How can this be so uninteresting? Finding life on other worlds, even in our own solar system, would be an extraordinary discovery. I suspect it would teach us quite a lot about the possible origins of life, where life can start, how it evolves... Maybe we will find something, maybe we wont. Either way we will learn a lot about our interplanetary space around us.

    7. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by mikerich · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I don't see why we're so interested in Titan. The big deal about Titan is it might have life on it. But the fact is, we live in a vast universe and the possibility that we are the only life is very slim. It's also a particularly arrogant and foolish belief. But if we found life on Titan, it would likely be in the very early stages and it wouldn't be particularly interesting. So I don't see why we're making a huge fuss over it.

      I can think of two reasons, the first is purely for the novelty of it - Titan has an atmosphere, no other satellite does.

      The second is more important. Titan appears to have a mixture of organic compounds and nitrogen in its atmosphere, which would make it very similar to the primordial atmosphere on Earth. if we can look at the chemistry of the Titan atmosphere and see what is happening to the compounds on Titan under the influence of solar radiation, we can start to work out what happened on Earth all those billions of years ago.

      I don't think anyone is seriously expecting to find life on Titan, the surface temperature is so low that most chemistry has effectively ground to a halt.

      And even if you aren't excited at the mission, think of the awe-inspiring pictures we're going to get of Saturn and its rings.

      Best wishes,
      Mike.

    8. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by xaaronx · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, that's not the only reason Titan is interesting.

      But if we do find even single celled organisms, it is a HUGE F'ING DEAL! Besides the simple proof that we aren't alone, finding life in our own solar system implies that life is probably neither uncommon or insanely spread out. And, if life is that common, intelligent life can't be all that rare.

      The reason we look in Earth-like places for Earth-like life is that we know life like us is possible in conditions like ours. We know how to recognize it and where it might possibly exist. To look for something unlike us in weird environments leaves us flailing about and unlikely to find anything, even if it's there.

      And Titan would be one of (and possibly THE) most hospitable place for humans in the solar system. The air pressure is such that we would need only simple breathing gear and drysuits to keep us warm, which could be augmented by small bleed valves allowing small amounts of oxygen to burn against the methane atmosphere. It also has lots of readily available carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. These, and other, advantages are discussed in obert Zubrin's Entering Space. The only problem with Titan is its distance from us.

      And if you're not excited by Cassini, what space exploration does interest you? It's well short of what we could have accomplished if the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and other things done in the late sixties and early seventies to slow down the space program hadn't happened (not to mention the stagnant shuttle program and cheaper/faster/mia), but we have to work with what's available and build upon it.

      --
      It's amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired. - Robert Anson Heinlein
    9. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by TnkMkr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why you ask? NASA has been suffering in the last decade (or few) because Joe-public just doesn't see space exploration at 'neat' anymore. Why bother to go out into space when there is nothing but rocks and dust. If even the simplist form of life could be found somewhere other than Earth, It may re-ignite the passion of the general public to reach out and see what we can find. The space program may recieve not only the money, but the intrest of our nation, or the world again.

    10. Re:Why all the fuss over finding primordial life? by Jim-gagnon · · Score: 1

      If life is found anywhere off of the Earth - especially in a place like Titan where it's highly unlikely to have been seeded from the Earth - then it's both scientifically and socially reasonable to assume that life is common at least in our portion of the galaxy. This calls into question the Fundamentalist notion of Genesis and thus the validity of most organized religions' teachings. If Science can finally free humanity of the headlock Religion has upon people, then mankind can move beyond the constraints of strict adherance to the teachings of organized religion and into an arena where enlightened discourse can occur on all sorts of topics concerning the essential character of life (such as the true start of the beginning and end an individual's existence, the biological nature of a "soul", etc).

      Only when Mankind is free of the straitjacket of Biblical dictates can true evolution in the social notions of ourselves occur. Finding off-world life, even primordial life, makes this an eventual outcome.

  7. Old stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    This mission started several years ago.
    I suppose the submitter wanted both karma and attention whoring. Soon we'll see the following story:

    New transportation system invented.

    Megawhore writes: I seems that researchers have invented a revolutionary new transportation system called wheel which enables people to get around loads without carrying them....
    I think this will enable us to transport our MP3 server's around.

  8. Huh? by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is supposed to be new news??? This is like 7 years old! Cassini has been mentioned on slashdot numerous times, and the fact that Cassini-Huygens is en route to Saturn is pretty common knowledge... why suddenly make a story about it now, as if NASA only just launched this beast...

    Infact there was alot of Cassini news on slashdot (and other sites) when Cassini did its Jupiter flyby, alowing us to examine and study jupiter from 2 vantage points... Cassini on its flyby, and Galileo in orbit.

    Anyway. This'll be fantastic news once Cassini does approach Saturn, and inserts itself into orbit!

    D.

    --
    You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
  9. Old news or Premature news by steve.m · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cassini was launched 15th Oct 1997, and will insert into orbit around Saturn 1st July 2004.

    The spacecraft is in good health and is undergoing routine checkouts of the systems and is downlinking pictues of Saturn.

    Not exactly front page news....

    1. Re:Old news or Premature news by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 1

      Precisely what i thought. God knows how this got onto front page of slashdot.

      Oh well....

      --
      You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
    2. Re:Old news or Premature news by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "The spacecraft is in good health and is undergoing routine checkouts of the systems and is downlinking pictues of Saturn."

      You mean it didn't break up over earth, spewing radioactive death all across the surface of the planet, killing off all human life in the process? Shouldn't the cockroaches be in power or something?

      Did the "environmental" lobby ever suggest a different power source for space probes going to Saturn?

  10. Re:What's the news? by FTL · · Score: 4, Informative
    > It launched in October 2002

    It was launched in 1997

    --
    Slashdot monitor for your Mozilla sidebar or Active Desktop.
  11. In other news... by BTWR · · Score: 3, Funny

    NASA launched two probes to the outer solar system in the late 1970's: Voyager and Voyager 2. Slashdot is just reporting this amazing story today...

  12. Late breaking news! by Crazieeman · · Score: 2, Funny

    There was a sudden mass extinction of dinosaurs. More on this as it develops.

    1. Re:Late breaking news! by Mirk · · Score: 1
      [OK, so this is off-topic. I know. But it's interesting.]
      There was a sudden mass extinction of dinosaurs. More on this as it develops.

      Actually, there may or may not have been a sudden mass extinction: it's one of the big, long-running controversies among dinosaur palaeontologists. What's not in doubt is that there was a mass extinction (well, duh!) but the timescale has not been and may never be established - the evidence just doesn't have enough resolution, at 65 million years' distance, to establish whether the dinos died in a day, a month or a hundred thousand years.

      Also: contrary to popular opinion, it is far from universally accepted that a bolide (= meteor or comet) impact was responsible for dinosaur extinction. That is perhaps more widely accepted than any single alternative, but probably less than half of all dino palaeontologists believe it. The strongest alternative theory at the moment seems to be an extended period of extreme volcanic activity resulting in the same kind of "nuclear winter" effect that the bolide is often assumed to have caused. There are plenty of other theories, including but not limited to: radiation from a nearby supernova; disease; climactic changes unrelated to bolide or vulcanism.

      --

      --
      What short sigs we have -
      One hundred and twenty chars!
      Too short for haiku.
    2. Re:Late breaking news! by Crazieeman · · Score: 1

      Its not the method or length of the period I'm pointing out, its how long ago it happened and poking fun at /.'s consistent way of putting out ancient information... in this case, years old.

  13. And this is 'recent' news? by GraWil · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well it seems that CowboyNeal has just awoken from a five year coma. The Cassini-Huygens satellite is currently nearing the end of its seven-year voyage to Saturn! It was launched on way back in October 1997 and will arrive in July 2004. In December 2004 the Huygens probe will be ejected from the orbiter and will descend into Titan's cloudy atmosphere. For those that care, there is a huge archive of Cassini Jupiter data availible. Sadly, there are few (if any) Jupiter publications as it seems a few NASA engineers & scientists are still mucking around with the calibration.

    1. Re:And this is 'recent' news? by Xandar01 · · Score: 1

      > Well it seems that CowboyNeal has just awoken from a five year coma

      Is this why the CowboyNeal option has dissappeared from the polls??

      --
      Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. -FB
  14. The bets are on... by kinnell · · Score: 1, Funny

    How long will it take Slashdot to post a dupe of this "story"?

    --
    If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
    1. Re:The bets are on... by Nanoda · · Score: 1

      See, how can the report of reaching orbit be a dupe post? /. has to have this posted now, so that it'll be a dupe in 2004. Either that, or slashdot is trying to beat CNN, and muscle Miss Cleo out in the predictive news business the easy way. ;-)

    2. Re:The bets are on... by aiabx · · Score: 2, Funny

      Everyone whined when the transit of Mercury was posted after the fact. This time, the editors are ahead of the curve. This is what the people wanted!
      -aiabx

      --
      Just this guy, you know?
  15. In other news.... by Cally · · Score: 1

    "..hats are on heads and ice-creams are in cornets." (Brian Kant, 1975)

    Slow news day, huh?

    --
    "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
  16. Probe.... by MoonFog · · Score: 1

    Man, I've been watching to much southpark. Every time I hear the word "probe" I get an image in my head of Cartman "I know it was just a dream" .....

  17. launched a what ? by EpsCylonB · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Nasa along with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency have launched a towards Saturn

    A car ?, a piece of fruit ?, a major new military offensive ?. Please don't tell me it's just a boring old probe.

    1. Re:launched a what ? by kinnell · · Score: 1

      You are obviously reading slashdot using as text only browser, or a graphical browser with image loading disabled. Those of us with graphical capabilities have learned that an Albert Einstein lookalike has been launched towards Saturn.

      --
      If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
  18. We only have 25 left now, right? by KFury · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Nasa along with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency have launched a towards Saturn"

    Goddamn. They're spending our letters like they grow on trees. Sure, today they're just launching 'a', but tomorrow it'll be 'x', and then 't'. I want to know when they're planning on launching'u' and 'i' in to space...

    --

    Kevin Fox
    1. Re:We only hAve 25 left now, right? by FroMan · · Score: 1

      Don't worry, we still hAve upper cAse 'A's. Use those for now. NASA is working on AlternAtive letters. You cAn sAfetly Assume until the full AlternAtive AlphAbet is creAted NASA will keep the upper cAse 'A' here. Otherwise they'd hAve to chAnge their nAme to NS.

      --
      Norris/Palin 2012
      Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
    2. Re:We only have 25 left now, right? by sohp · · Score: 1

      They need to launch 'm' and 's' into deep space permanently. For good measure, follow them up with 'f' and 't'. Hmm. That leaves us with "icroot". How odd.

  19. italian spaceagency! by skipperkongen · · Score: 2, Funny

    ok, so there's the european spaceagency, and then we have the italian spaceagency... what excactly are those guys up to? Interstellar pizzadelivery? Pan solar system opera transmissions?

  20. here's a more interesting story... by g4dget · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Japan just launched a space probe for a sample return mission from an asteroid. Here is a home page for the mission (but rather outdated). Apparently, it also uses electric propulsion.

    1. Re:here's a more interesting story... by Sanga · · Score: 1

      NASA has something that will scoop comet matter and return to earth in a few months ...

      http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/

    2. Re:here's a more interesting story... by g4dget · · Score: 1

      It won't really "scoop"--it flies by and catches particles in an aerogel. That may be scientifically as valuable, but it seems like a much simpler engineering feat than what the Japanese are doing.

  21. Huygens probe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
    Titan is the only moon in the entire solar system with a significant atmosphere. It is 50% thicker than Earth's atmosphere. In theory, someone could walk around on the surface of Titan with nothing but an oxegen mask, and some warm clothes.

    So far, all we have seen of Titan is the Orange clouds circling the planet. The Huygens probe will dive through Titan's atmosphere and reveal what lies below the clouds.

    1. Re:Huygens probe by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      -330 degrees seems to be out of the "very warm jacket" range. I'm thinking you would need something pretty much completely sealed.

      Still, Titan is very interesting, and as you said, less toxic to life than most other places around the solar system.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    2. Re:Huygens probe by CheshireCatCO · · Score: 1

      "So far, all we have seen of Titan is the Orange clouds circling the planet."

      If you only count visible wavelengths, true. But we have images from a few other bands, mainly radio and infrared. These can make it to the surface, allowing us to do some sorts of mapping.

  22. Re:Fill in the blank? by Skater · · Score: 1

    Best advice I've heard: "Proofread carefully to see if you any words out." ;)

    --RJ

  23. Ever read Titan by Stephen Baxter? by DominiqueChanet · · Score: 1, Interesting

    in fact, i'm just reading it right now... it's a novel from 1997 that is based on the assumption that Huygens, when it descends to Titan, will actually find life based not on carbohydrogens but on ammonia and other stuff.

    talk about a visionary novel: it opens with a scene aboard space shuttle Columbia, and during the first fifty pages of the book, Columbia gets destroyed in an accident during reentry in the earths atmosphere. Furthermore, Baxter mentions one contemporary dictator, and guess who it is: Saddam Hussein! Even more, he predicts a victory for a Republican president in the presidential elections, and one of the first things this president does in reinstate the Strategic Defense Initiative (AKA Star Wars)... Sounds familiar?

    1. Re:Ever read Titan by Stephen Baxter? by Muad'Dave · · Score: 2, Funny

      OMG! Rearrange the bits in the Swahili spelling of "Stephen Baxter" and you get "Nostradamus"!

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  24. More late breaking news! by cperciva · · Score: 1

    Life discovered on earth. Scientists uncertain if it is intelligent.

    --
    Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
  25. Should improve Ford's image by 241comp · · Score: 1

    My first thought was - "Well that should improve Ford's image."

    --
    Full-Featured GPL Web Hosting Control Panel
  26. Pretty DAMN warm cloths by wowbagger · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, as far as we know, Titan has 150% the atmospheric pressure at surface level as does the Earth, and those gases are not corrosive/poisonous to human life.

    However, the surface temperature of Titan is 95 Kelvin. Liquid nitrogen is 75 Kelvin at 1 atmosphere pressure. Water ice melts at 273 Kelvin at one atmosphere. Water boils at 373 Kelvin at one atmosphere.

    You would need some pretty DAMN warm clothes. In fact, you would need better insulation on Titan than you would on the dark side of the Moon, as Titan's atmosphere would be conducting and convecting heat away from you at a prodigious rate.

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
  27. This has been real problem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
    I heard about this from a former boss, who used to do astrophysics at Goddard SFC in Maryland.

    It seems that seniority really does play a big part in who gets the data and when. She was just starting out, and was way down on the list, and had a hard time getting access to new data. She eventually chucked astrophysics and started doing plain old software development.

    I guess that if you get your hands on the data first, you've got a pretty good chance at writing some important papers and perhaps getting into mass media for a couple of seconds, so I can understand why people would want to fight that chance. But the 'merkin taxpayers are footing the bill, so why should only a few benefit?

    Seems like a shame to me, although she made a pretty good boss.

    Are things getting better? It seems to me that a lot of satellite data is available on the internet. Anyone know?

    -- ac at home

  28. Whoa dude by madmarcel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Like dude...you can assume "there's guaranteed to be more life *somewhere* in the galaxy" all you want, nobody is gonna believe you until we actually find some (proof of) life on/in a place other than earth.

    Let's start by looking in the obvious places first.
    It doesn't matter so much WHAT we find, as long as we find something. Then we can see whether [we|life on earth] is a fluke or not. (And we can see whether or not there are/have been paralllellls in the development of either - or whether one is the origin of the other...etc etc :)

    And obviously, by looking in obvious (and familiar) places, we increase the probability that we will actually recognize the life-forms that we find!

    e.g.
    Silicon life-forms? Sure...eh..ok...how do you know it's alive? What might be a hundred years to carbon-based life-forms might be 1 second of comparative time to a silicon based-lifeform (or even the inverse of that :) How does either one see/know that the other is alive? How does a silicon-based lifeform perceive the world? Does it actually have senses? Do those senses overlap our own?

    Let's start by finding alien bacteria and stuff like that....much easier :)

    Oh, just a thought:

    ** If NASA *DO* find signs of life on another planet then I think the same thing will happen as what happened with the so-called 'martian' bacteria that supposedly arrived on earth by hopping on a comet/asteroid/rock -> We will end up with endless arguments over cross-contamination and whether or not we put those bugs there in the first place.
    Space might be freakin' cold and a very convenient vacuum, but it doesn't stop pollen and bacteria and god knows what else from happily travelling along with our space-probes :o
    (And I need someone to confirm this: Was there stuff growing on the outside of ol' MIR? or is that a myth?)

    I was going to add another bit on how religious groups might get upset when the scientific community announces they've found life on other planets....but that's just asking for a troll-rating (:o (Hmm...some cults/sects would be ecstatic I'd imagine ;)

    1. Re:Whoa dude by snilloc · · Score: 1
      Contamination could eventually be proven by genetic analysis, IF we find them alive (or nearly so). If the Martian microbes we might find are genetically identical to known earthly bacteria, then it is 99% likely to be an instance of contamination.

      As for religion, it will adapt. Somehow, Christianity came to terms with the fact that the Earth isn't the center of the universe, or even the solar system. Somehow, it has accepted much of medical science, and we all now accept that diseases are the result of pathogens or genetic disorders and not demonic possession. Adjusting to alien life would be a minor adaptation.

  29. I guess it's true ... by PseudonymousCoward · · Score: 1

    No news is good news.

    --
    If it isn't true, don't say it. If it isn't helpful, don't say it. If it's true and helpful, wait for the right time.
  30. Cassini by xaaronx · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yeah, as many have already pointed out, this is not new news. But it is worth discussing. Why? Because Cassini is the last real NASA probe, made in the old way. None of that cheaper/faster/destroyed on entry/by miscommunication/flat out lost in space crap. It should give us some good data to chew on and maybe, but not probably, inspire NASA to cut the crap and get back to real space exploration.

    --
    It's amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired. - Robert Anson Heinlein
    1. Re:Cassini by ianscot · · Score: 1
      Because Cassini is the last real NASA probe, made in the old way. None of that cheaper/faster/destroyed on entry/by miscommunication/flat out lost in space crap.

      Until it gets there and works, we don't know that your fisrt sentence necessarily leads to your second. The fact they built it at greater cost and with a much more lavish set of features may mean that one simple problem could be devastating, whereas the cheaper model at least might spread the risk around by sending several more task-specific probes. To wit:

      ...the European Space Agency admitted a serious and embarrassing problem due to a a glaring design error which no one had caught during years of design reviews and ground tests.

      It now turns out that the Huygens data receiver on Cassini isn't properly adjusted to the Doppler change in the frequency of Huygens' received signal caused by the fact that Cassini will be barreling toward Titan (and Huygens) at over 21,000 km per hour during its listening period.

      -- Space Daily March 21, 2001

      --
      "Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
  31. Significantly... by bluyonder · · Score: 1

    This mission is the last of NASA's big budget planetary projects.

  32. Choose your battles by dorfsmay · · Score: 1

    How about we sort out life on Earth

    One should choose one's battles, space seems easier...

  33. Next stop: URANUS! by visgoth · · Score: 1

    So is NASA planning on probing Uranus next?

    Geddit?

    No? Ok, /me goes back to the corner.

    --
    My patience is infinite, my time is not.
  34. Re:Fill in the blank? by blinder · · Score: 1

    Maybe "a" is the name of the probe???

    have launched a towards Saturn

    So, its not fill-in-the-blank after all... its just that its probe "a" ???

    --
    sad robot making broken music
  35. What about the flux capacitor? by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

    The "spinoff" vector. Thats rich. Yeah... those things need to be "calibrated". I think your computer must be HIV positive. Too much uprotected cybersex.

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  36. You have to convert the physical world too by Chemisor · · Score: 1

    Switching to a different measurement system is stupid if you don't actually intend to use it. What good is using meters when you still sell 4x8 ft plywood? Measurement system conversion must necessarily imply converting not just the units, but the physical object sizes as well. Sell 1x2 m plywood, 5 mm bolts, and 5 mm drill bits. Halfway conversion is simply an incovenience, since you end up with ugly fractional measurements which give an unjustifiably bad name to the metric system.

    1. Re:You have to convert the physical world too by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

      the point of the preceeding post was that some sizes make more sence for a particular industry. 4x8 is a better size for construction then 1mx2m. The problem isn't in the conversions( metric is much better for this) but the magnitude of the fundemental units.

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    2. Re:You have to convert the physical world too by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "Sell 1x2 m plywood, 5 mm bolts, and 5 mm drill bits."

      That's all well and good for new products, but what about repairing older products? Do you have any idea how many 5/8" bolts are out there?

    3. Re:You have to convert the physical world too by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      Except there are no conversions in SI. All SI units are metric, but not all metric units are SI. The unit of length in SI is the meter, period. Not centimeters, not kilometers, but meters. It doesn't matter if you're talking about the Bohr radius or the distance to the nearest supercluster, you must use meters. The standards will grudgingly accept the use of such prefixes, but they'd much rather you say "1E(-2) m" than "1 cm."

      Mass can even be more annoying. There, the standard is kilograms, not grams. And everybody wants to use these units as force instead.

      Oh, by the way, you're also not allowed to use metric prefixes for powers of 2. A kilobyte must be 1000 bytes, not 1024.

    4. Re:You have to convert the physical world too by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "When measuring astrophysical distances, scientists nearly always use parsecs."

      First off, I wasn't talking about "what is commonly used" here or there, I was talking about SI. I said "SI" in the original post. Several times in fact.

      Secondly, parsecs aren't SI. Parsecs aren't even metric.

      "And if you had any knowledge of physics, you would know about the CGS system of unit,"

      The only SI part of the CGS system, however, is the S.

      "which is used by many people because it treats electric charge in a better way than SI does."

      But the EMU Coulomb is the one your government has made law. Whatever your thoughts on the matter, the Coulomb and all the other SI units are "the standard" that everybody seems to enjoy talking about in glowing terms.

  37. OT (was Re:We only have 25 left now, right?) by bryan1945 · · Score: 1

    I love your score:
    -1, Funny

    Priceless!

    --
    Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
  38. NASA Sending Probe to Saturn by nick_davison · · Score: 1

    NASA Sending Probe to Saturn

    And I thought it was just a damn uncomfortable car seat. I feel so violated!

    (For Europeans, Saturn is a US car company that make relatively... let's call them "efficient"... cars.)

  39. At least... by Plissken · · Score: 1

    On the bright side they didn't get /.'d

  40. NASA Sending Probe to Saturn by Jaguar777 · · Score: 1

    This story would have been much cooler if it was
    NASA Sending Probe to Uranus

    --
    Maybe you should educate the morons of tomorrow so they'll stop believing the leaders of tomorrow. - Dogbert
  41. Ok, You asked for it. by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

    Bad pickup lines: If you don't like red then stop running away from me,.. baby. Are you're eyes actually blue or its it that I'm falling into them? A Good Trafic Excuse: I'm sorry officer, but the light was blue when I entered the intersection. It didn't turn red until I got through the intersection.

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  42. I don't get no respect by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    I'd love to be a karma whore, but nobody wants me.

    (But my submissions about MS EULA forbidding users to even tell anyone benchmark results on .NET get rejected in favor of THIS crap? Who do I have to sleep with to get MY stories accepted?)

    --
    -Styopa
  43. Thank you Mr. Biology by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

    Only a Biologist would be so anal as to declare such a assinine statemate. The standards really don't give a crap, they are not living entities. Most scientists , and biologists that have a head above their sholders, use what ever is most convienint. Absolutely, no si unit is "anoying". Only those who do not understand physics want to use kilograms as a measurement of force. Not anyone in the scientific community(except maybe for nutritionists. I had to teach a physics for nurses class and the stupid book said that kilograms were a mesurement of force, and that Work=Weight x Distance).
    SI does not apply to computer science. There isn't si a unit of data declared.

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    1. Re:Thank you Mr. Biology by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "Only a Biologist would be so anal as to declare such a assinine statemate."

      That's a peculiar prejudice. I have nothing to do with biology.

      "Most scientists , and biologists that have a head above their sholders, use what ever is most convienint."

      Isn't that exactly what people complained about when the Mars probe was lost? That LockMart was using units that were "convenient" instead of switching to all-SI and forcing their private-sector customers to follow suit?

      "Absolutely, no si unit is "anoying"."

      Oh, I can think of quite a few. For example, I find the meter too long and the centimeter too short to be convenient in measuring day-to-day lengths. Decimeters might be better, but people look at you funny when you say that word.

      However, in that paritcular instance, I was referring to the annoyance of using a "kilo-" anything as the base unit declared for a system. And it does bring to light the way other people have found the units inconvenient as well: A kg*m/s^2 is a "Newton" and a g*cm/s^2 is a "dyne," but nobody even bothered to name a g*m/s^2 because of the mismatch of scales involved.

      "Only those who do not understand physics want to use kilograms as a measurement of force."

      ie. The vast majority of the population of the planet. Think of all the products sold by the "kilogram" in grocery stores even though they use spring scales.

      "(except maybe for nutritionists."

      Aside from using "calories" instead of the proper "Joules," they also have the nasty habit of calling a kilocalorie a "Calorie."

      "SI does not apply to computer science."

      You seem to be confused. The SI isn't about "science" (especially since true scientists understand that the decision of measurement systems is completey arbitrary) it is about an agreed-upon measurement standards needed for trade. Lengths of fabric, areas of land, weights of food, and anything else that you don't purchase per-unit. And computer storage media gets bought and sold just like anything else.

  44. Re:NASA Sending Probe to Saturn by Parsec · · Score: 1

    "... in hopes of obtaining vital data to help understand the mysterious, vast region."

  45. Re:Next Month's Uranus Probe by stanmann · · Score: 1

    Actually, they are back already and they have pictures, but I've forgotten the link... someplace on Christmas Island though.

    --
    Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
  46. Obligatory Movie-Tie-In Quote by YetAnotherName · · Score: 1

    Charlie: Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us.
    -- Brazil 1995, Terry Gilliam

  47. Italian explorer finds western path to India by rk · · Score: 1

    An Anonymous Coward writes "Apparently, Christopher Columbus, an Italian navigator in the employ of the Kingdom of Spain has found a way to navigate west across the Atlantic Ocean to new territories in India." No word yet on we can expect broadband internet access there, but this could be a mighty blow to the RIAA.

  48. As long as they don't send a probe to Uranus by AbdullahHaydar · · Score: 1

    Futurama:

    Professor: "I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all."

    Fry: "Oh. What's it called now?"

    Professor: "Urectum."

    --


    Suicide Booth: You are now dead! Thank you for using Stop and Drop, America's favorite since 2008.
  49. Re:Ugh, this is 6 1/2 years old by BaronCarlos · · Score: 1
    Indeed, I was in college when this launched:
    JPL's Official Site

    and

    Current Location.

    FYI: Cassini launched on Oct. 15 1997.

    --
    *Carlos: Exit Stage Right*

    "Geeks, Where would you be without them?"
    "Got Linux?"

  50. Re:Useful cool by alienmole · · Score: 1
    Yeah, I though Titan would solve my cooling problems, for sure. So I signed up for web server hosting with minorplanethosting.com, but I'm having a bit of a problem establishing an SSH connection to my server now. To try to diagnose this, I did a ping, and here's what I got back, after waiting 3 hours:

    64 bytes from 192.168.44.12: icmp_seq=0 ttl=52 time=10803411.277 msec

    What do you think could be wrong??

  51. Saturn the Car by voideng · · Score: 1

    It's an Opel although cheaper.

  52. Re:Ok ,senor Smelly pants. by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

    "Convienient: The solution that accompleshes the requirements with the least ammount of effort."

    I didn't realize what I was saying was so difficult to understand.

    A meter cannot fit into a notebook. It is not a convenient unit of measure.

    A centimeter falls through small holes in pockets. It is not a convenient unit of measure.

    Measurements in whole grams can be thrown off signifigant figures by slight air currents. It is not a convenient unit of measure.

    Global confusion like "kilograms of force" can make communication of concepts of mass or force difficult with other people, therefore it is not as convenient as other alternatives.

    The word "kilogram" suggests that its defintion is derived from that of the gram, when the truth is actually the other way around. This misunderstanding is also not always convenient.

    "or those that don't understand that mass can be accuratly measured with a spring scale if the gravitational pull is known."

    Does your grocer know how to measure localized gravitational potential? Can the scales even be corrected? Even for known discrepancies like latitude?

  53. Scaling modifiers do NOT make a new unit by Chemisor · · Score: 1

    A centimeter is not a different unit from a meter. It is simply a shorthand for "one hundredth of a meter". The reason you are asked to normalize (usually in scientific literature), is to facilitate comparisons of different values. You should also note that this normalization process is MUCH easier than in English units, since it involves only modifying the exponent (or moving the decimal point).

  54. Recycle them. by Chemisor · · Score: 1

    That's just the point. You stop manufacturing parts in English units and as soon as you run out of those parts, the old products become obsolete. There will always be mechanics who will rethread a bolt for your vintage car, but most people will soon only need metric parts. So recycle the old bolts.

  55. Re:Ok ,senor Smelly pants. by panthro · · Score: 1

    civilian noun:
    a person not on active duty in a military, police or fire-fighting force

    You seem to imply that there is some correlation between an understanding of science (scince?) and serving in one of the aforementioned forces, or at least that soldiers, policemen and firefighters are outside of your scope of criticism. I think I understand science, and I am a civilian. Does that qualify me for whatever fate you and whoever has any ideas come up with? I think I also qualify as a sci-fi fan and possibly a "technophile" as well, but I do not believe I undestand science due to having seen Babylon 5. In fact, I have never seen Babylon 5. I do not show up at public lectures to argue with "the expert", whoever he or she may be, over special relativity. I'd be interested in listening to you speak about it, though, if you are the humble "expert" who gets all this argument from civilian technophiles and the like.

    I must admit, though, I do not understand the word convinent (or convienient, for that matter). Perhaps it is similar to convenient:

    convenient adj.:
    1. suited to personal comfort or ease
    2. placed near at hand

    Maybe my personal comfort standards lend themselves to a solution which accompleshes the requirements with some ammount of effort more than the least possible.

    I don't think that this would be the case, however, if the requirement was to measure mass accuratly with a spring scale. I don't know the gravitational pull here, and I imagine calculating it would not be particularly convenient, convinent or convienient.

    --
    If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.