Slashdot Mirror
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!?"
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:
So, in other words, Nye did do it in software, didn't add weight, and the parent is a complete troll?
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 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
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.
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.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzt! Wrong.
It tracks the rotation of the Earth, as well as the motion of the Earth around the Sun -- you can use a sundial to tell not only the time, but also what day of the year it is.
Sorry, just had to put this in. *grin*
--
I Hit the Karma Cap, and All I Got Was This Lousy
Actually, I hated that stupid show. Admittedly, I was many years older than its target audience, but I can't imagine a kid with a bad enough case of ADD that he needed the same *tiny* snippet of information repeated every couple of seconds for the duration of a 20 minute show just to get it in his head.
When I was young, I watched proper science shows on PBS, and learned more for it. Of course, at the time I thought my dad was a twit for making me watch those shows, but it was hardly torture!
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