Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Last of the Great Observatories to Launch

Posted by michael on from the eye-in-the-sky dept.

jqpublic writes "The last in NASA's Great Observatory Program, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), is set to launch in the wee hours on Monday. The launch can viewed live on NASA's Countdown web site. Interestingly, SIRTF will not be in Earth orbit, but will drift away from Earth by about 15 million kilometers per year. This allows the telescope to cool to very low temperatures (30K), which reduces dramatically the amount of cryogens it needs to carry."

2 of 19 comments (clear)

  1. Buwahahahaha... by David_1038 · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Victory is mine!!

    Mars is the closest to Earth in 60,000 years. The Chinese have given the USA reason to care about space again. The wacky Russians have terraforming goals. I say, screw Mars... on to Europa!!

    1. Get in bed with Mars
    2. Mess it up more
    3. Mess with Europa
    4. Wait for Pluto to bite Mars heel.
    5. The sun goes Red Giant
    6. Yadda, yadda... blah, blah.. ???
    7. The sun goes White Dwarf
    8. Wormholes to others galaxies
    9. Profit!!

    In Soviet Russia, they terraform YOU!!

    Natalie Portman, Europa and the grits (crushed kukurice) are mine!!

    By the way, it is the year of the goatse.cx.

    It's all my fault...

    Everything is illegal in the state of Iowa.

    And, finally... to hell with MacroShaft and LinSux... I am gonna make my own OS... called Philix... ;-P

    Did I miss anything?

    Oh, yeah, I will hold the world for ransom for a googleplex of dollars... BUWAHAHAHAHA.

    Really?

    Yes, really!!

    Sincerly, The World's Greatest Slave

    */-+-\*

    --
    "Why would any sane man trust another that calls his business a practice." Challenge: To whom is this quote attribute
  2. Re:Buwahahahaha...ninnle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    >> Did I miss anything?

    Yes.

    You forgot some mention of Ninnle Linux.