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Bill Nye's Marsdial
Some Clown writes "MSNBC via the Seattle Post Intelligencer is reporting that Bill Nye the Science Guy, as part of the Earthdial Project has got what's being billed as a 'Marsdial' put onto the Mars Rover. Interestingly, it is now the official backup for orienting the Mars Rover in case of primary camera failure. Maybe an old fashioned sundial is just what the doctor ordered after the many math and other blunders of late. This whole Earthdial Project seems pretty interesting as well. They're trying to set up a worldwide network of sundials tracked via webcam. The goal is to track the sun's movements as viewed from many points on earth, as well as from Mars. Definitely interesting... at least if the 'Marsdial' doesn't disintegrate upon landing." There's a little more technical description of the Marsdial in our earlier story.
If they're going to use the sundial to align the camera if the camera goes out, how are they going to align the sundial to make sure it's correct in the first place?
Edward@Tomato - /home/Edward/ man woman
man: no entry for woman in the manual.
"Qua!?"
I have noticed that the Beagle 2 may have a problem with its clock:
Another possibility is that Beagle's clock might have been reset during its descent to the Martian surface, and so it is trying to call home when nobody is listening.
Now this potential problem has a solution! The rovers just need to use the Marsdial to calibrate their clocks on landing.
Ask me about repetitive DNA
One time, he even came to the elementary school I went to and gave a presentation on precipitation and weather patterns. It was actually one of the most entertaining presentations I ever saw at school. I havn't heard anything about what he has been up to in years, but I'm glad to see that he is still actively contributing to the world, and perhaps continuing to interest kids with his wierd experiments.
In case you've forgotten, the whole thing about the Space Race, if I remember my Kennedy correctly, is we do these things because they are there, because we want to see if we can do them.
Edward@Tomato - /home/Edward/ man woman
man: no entry for woman in the manual.
"Qua!?"
here's a little more technical description of the Marsdial in our earlier story.
/. summary
Your statement has already been indicated in the
As usual software solution could have been done for far less than a bulky hardware solution
Yes, but how does the software read the suns inclination? RAND()? Besides that, I'd choose a failsafe, simple piece of hardware like the sundial, over a blown up piece of software every day.
Also, it appears as though Bill Nye essentially only modified the design of the color post that they were sending up that was originally meant to better calibrate the color tinting on the cameras. From the article:
From the article: Remote digital images taken during past Mars missions have had no reference, or calibration scale, to help scientists accurately determine the correct "tint" of the images. /../ NASA had planned to calibrate using an erect post set in a color chart. The idea was to compare various colors in shadow and direct light to accurately adjust the natural tint. /../ When Nye saw the color-calibration method planned for the rover, he realized it would just take one small step for mankind to transform the device into a sundial. He could add function without adding weight.
I don't care if the posters don't bother to RTFA before clicking the 'submit' button, but at least the few moderators out there should...
nor Insightful. The guy is a blatent troll.
So, in other words, Nye did do it in software, didn't add weight, and the parent is a complete troll?
The SIG of the previous poster contains a link to an Internet Explorer exploit. (Try wgetting it) MOD DOWN!
Yes, he is a troll. He just wants to spread his links leading to his goatse picture collection..
The pointy end goes in the up direction
I wouldn't want to see this in a software solution. I think this is great. Not only will it inspire future generations to think big, but also could make a nice historical landmark on mars tourists can visit in the future if everything goes successfully.
:/
What really stinks is at the rate humanity is going I may not see it in my life time.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
GET SUCKING NOW WHORE!
Damn it, mod this F***R down. He just wants us to click on his links.
I was just about to mod you overrated (or troll) but I thought I'd explain instead.
This bulky hardware solution is almost foolproof! I challenge you to find a software solution that will stand up under Mars conditions for any substantial length of time as compared to a no-moving-parts sundial.
And don't be ignorant and begrudge the kids scientific knowledge. Some of those that track the marsdial will probably end up on the Mars program in a few years.
The article also indicates that the sundial is additional functionality added to an existing item - a color measuring instrument. "He could add function without adding weight". So your $100,000 of "my" tax dollars (semantically loaded sentence) is a red herring.
Now, other moderators need to lower your rating.
SYS 64738 NO CARRIER
So your $100,000 of "my" tax dollars (semantically loaded sentence) is a red herring.
Does that qualify for a Guinness Record for The Worlds Most Expensive Fish?
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
Another choice: You can not reply to obvious trolls. YHBT. YHL. HAND.
> as viewed from many points on earth, as
> well as from Mars.
Ok, kids, pop quiz: what celestial movement does a sundial track?
Slashdot also keeps mentioning that 'Linux' thing - they must be posting an article about it at least once a day. Talk about duplicates!
I think it is great, I my self remember wakeing up all early to watch his most wonderful TV show. "No i'm not a geek". I learned about everything, in a fun and interesting way. To hear that Bill Nye is now interplanetery, just make my heart feel good.
So what do people do with a sundial, when the sun won't come up for another month?
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_rstablew.pl
Bill Nye was on TechTV a couple weeks ago talking about this. It was pretty interesting. They have a video of it on the TechTV site. http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/howto/story/0,2 4330,3587881,00.html
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
I wonder (thinking of all these angles of observation), if given observation points on multiple planets, if you would get an actual "3d" representation of the local universe.. or if the distances involved would require the observation points to be further apart.
meh
We always thought you were a moron davmoo, but now you've gone and proven it.
Science Guy Bill Nye Killed in Massive Vinegar/Baking Soda Explosion.
Truly an American icon.
I am glad Bill Nye is still participating in science. Its unfortunate that his reputation seemed to have suffered in the scientific community after his Disney show Bill Nye the Science Guy, and is now relegated to working on the show 'Battle Bots' for comedy central.
An interesting article / interview from Scientific American also mentions a wide contempt in the scientific community for scientists engaging the public, for example it is likely Carl Sagan was denied membership to the national academy of sciences because he was on television. As well a scientist deserving of the Nobel Prize, who wrote children's books, was also ridiculed.
Is it no wonder why the public is so science ignorant when scientists are punished for speaking to and educating them. Hopefully, with Bill Nye as the example, scientists will be more willing to engage the public.
apparently, rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.
"...today consumers have been conditioned to think of beer when they see a bullfrog..."
That's actually a good point -- a sundial is simple, has no moving parts, is usually made of durable materials, and so long as you don't do something silly like plant it upsidedown, will be accurate so long as the sun doesn't suddenly rise in the west. (Since the sun is on fire, that would be a hardware problem. :)
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
"NASA engineers orient the Mars rover by looking at the sun through the panoramic camera," Sullivan explained. But they only recently recognized they had no orientation system to back up the camera should it fail, he said.
Each rover is expected to cruise the Martian surface for three months, collecting samples of rock and soil, and each vehicle's success depends upon having its bearings.
"Then the engineers realized they could orient using the sundial," Sullivan said. "Our sundial is now the official backup for orienting NASA's rover."
If the camera fails, how can they read the dial?
Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
Crypto Gnome, just wanted you to know that somebody appreciated your witty aside.
Or so I'd imagine.
There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start arrays with one and 1) those who start them with zero.
panoramic camera
There are a total of nine cameras on the rover. I suspect that the pair of Navcams (which don't have solar filters) would be used for task should the pair of Pancams malfunction.
Wow, great for MSNBC. They're reporting something I saw on TechTV a month ago. Cutting edge!
The Beagle is a european device and project. Being an American citizen, I don't pay European taxes and hence did not pay any taxes toward the Beagle.
during the last daylight savings time switch i actually went and read a bit about it. what i found particularly interesting were some details behind the creation of standard time:
"Standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads on 18 November 1883. Before then, time of day was a local matter, and most cities and towns used some form of local solar time, maintained by some well-known clock (for example, on a church steeple or in a jeweler's window). The new standard time system was not immediately embraced by all, however.
[SNIPPED]
Detroit kept local time until 1900 when the City Council decreed that clocks should be put back twenty-eight minutes to Central Standard Time. Half the city obeyed, half refused. After considerable debate, the decision was rescinded and the city reverted to Sun time. A derisive offer to erect a sundial in front of the city hall was referred to the Committee on Sewers. Then, in 1905, Central time was adopted by city vote."
the notion of living according to local solar time is very appealing to me. i wonder how my natural rhythms might be different from what they are now and how i would feel if i lived more in harmony with the ebb and flow of light.
it's interesting to note that *when* plants and animals receive sunlight has a huge effect on their existence. not only that, the whole environment the plant or animal exists in changes with the arrival of sunlight (other critters wake up, temperatures rise, moisture levels change, etc.). the whole biology is mind-bogglingly complex.
it seems to me that standardizing time adds more complexity to an already complex system that already works fine without the notion of _time_. i also notice that the desire for knowing the answer to "what time is it?" is deeply rooted in a desire for control.
human attempts to control biological systems has seemingly contributed to a vast destabilizing of our environment everywhere on earth. moving back to true local solar time seems like something that might move us back in the direction of our natural rhythms and encourage us to relinquish the notion of needing to control.
on Christmas Eve i decided to have a potluck with my friends. i told them all to bring candles because i wanted to turn of the electricity while we ate. this was partially inspired by some of my friends that have instituted "no-electricity sundays" in their home. every sunday (for the whole day) of every week they turn the juice off at the breaker box.
after everyone arrived i lit all the candles, but i left some of the lights on. i was concerned that there would not be enough light. after the potluck ended i realized that being accustomed to having daytime quantities of light available at night led me to choose to leave electric lights on. realizing this led me to dine by candlelight (with even fewer candles) for my Christmas dinner. the dimness of the candle light made me much more aware that it was the evening. it also caused me to reflect on the sustainability of using electricity and contemplate how i might use less of it.
peace
david
The Star Hustler building a fusion reactor?
You should not mod someone as troll or overrrated just becuase their opinion might be misguided. This is why you should reply to them and correct them. I applaud you for taking the correct course of action.
Fucking Rocks.
"
Lastmeasure is NOT an MSIE exploit.
Please explain how you were exploited, otherwise you're a troll.
"We chose to go to the moon, we chose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because the goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one in which we intend to win, and the others, too"
Take a globe of the world, one that's mounted in such a way that the axis can be tilted to any angle. Take it outside. Put it in a sunlit area. Turn the globe's support horizontally until the axis is pointing true north/south. Then adjust the tilt of the axis and the globe's rotation on the axis until your own town's position on the globe is straight up. You've just aligned the globe to match the orientation of the Earth.
Now, when you look at the globe, the part of the globe that is in sunlight shows you the exact part of the world that's in daylight. No software, no calculations, no gnomons, no Equation of Time. In the late afternoon you can see that your home town is near the edge of the lit part of the globe... and that it is lit more dimly than the part of the globe on which the sun is falling directly.
One project I fantasize doing someday during retirement is to find some sort of globe that can tolerate being outside in all sorts of weather... and a location where the sky is unobstructed... that is close to some elementary school... and set one of these things up permanently on a concrete pillar or something.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
I hope the experts don't have too much trouble with the conversion from Mars-Time to Earth-Time and/or US Standard Time (Laden, or Unladen?).
Oh, and the dial had better not be marked in Roman numerals. Or they might have "minor difficulties" in the conversion to foot-pound-second units.
Besides, don't sundials have to be calibrated for lattitude and longitude ? And are only exact twice a year ?
Have you ever seen Bill Nye man? Have you ever seen Bill Nye, ON WEEEED?