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UFO Streaks Through Martian sky
lkatz writes "The BBC is reporting that the Spirit rover has observed an object streaking across the Martian sky. They believe it was either a meteor or possibly the Viking 2 probe which still orbits Mars."
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This could be a flying cup from Earth!!!!
I'd better charge up the batteries in my Subetha signalling device and hope the Dentressi are feeling like a bit of company for the voyage back!
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
Um, UFO = Unidentified Flying Object?
A preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.
Obviously can't blame the martians for this one....
If it was Viking 2, let's hope those martian conspiracy theorists only got a blurry picture. We wouldn't want to let them know that there's extramartian intelligence just yet. First we have to set up the slave camps.
this is proof that Al-Quaeda is using Mars as a base of operations in their development of WMD, requiring a 50-fold expansion of funding for the Mars liberation effort.
Or Steven Spielbergs special effects team working on his next SciFi movie
Headed for yet another undisclosed location.
There has been an unexplainable surge in the price of Aluminum foil. Representative of the Aluminum manufactures of America are at a loss to explain the sudden demand.
One should not theorize before one has data. -Sherlock Holmes-
As detailed in the initial NASA article the streaking was actually the result of a 15 second exposure of the sensor. It is likely that the actual object appeared as a bright moving dot against a dark sky. The length of the streak and exposure time gives NASA an estimate of speed for various theories based on the angle covered across the sensor in that 15 seconds. The data doesn't rule out a Viking orbiter but does rule out all other orbiters.
Likely origin of the "UFO" - Earth. Cool, there's finally real evidence that the UFO sighted is actually from another planet. Unfortunately if it's true then it would really be an identified flying object, not an unidentified one.
It was my Illudium Q-35 Explosive Space Modulator. I was wondering where it got to.
-Marvin
P.S. Where was the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering Kaboom.
"The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government." - George Washington
Absolutely. It skimmed the atmosphere of Mars and bounced off and then travelled to Earth at a substantial fraction of the speed of light, to miss Earth by a few Earth radii. Rocket Scientists call this "Vogon pin-ball." It's one of those geeky jokes.
Stick Men
Ok, if it was an alien vehicle, but we're aliens on that planet, is it alien? Or do we just call it a vehicle because we're actually the aliens? Then are we being called the aliens by the people in the vehicle? Do we call our vehicle up there the alien vehicle?
I'm so confused!...
To make a pun demonstrates the highest understanding of a language
Don't be silly. Aliens wouldn't be going to Mars to do anal probes...there aren't any rednecks there!
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
Considering Mars is about 86 million miles from earth today, that rock would have to be hurling at about 3.5 million mph to get near (26,000 miles) earth in a day.
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make it Dejah Thoris.
Freeman Dyson (Freeman Dyson!) had no trouble believing in the Ringworld
believing in what sense? That one had been observed? I don't think so.
That it could be built? You'll need nearly Jupiter's mass of a substance with the same tensile strength as an atomic nucleus. In sort, not known to our physical theories (I'll stop just short of saying it's impossible). And then to spin the thing up to 1 gravity, you'll need the amount of energy that our sun puts out in 1000 years. In short, extremely difficult. Even then it's unstable.
His concept of the "Dyson Sphere" was very different from the SF concept of "a solid shell around the sun". He merely observed that the end-point of putting stuff in space to soak up the sunlight, is that all the sunlight is soaked up by millions upon millions of things, and all that gets out is the waste heat.
More info here
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog
I called out "Don't look Ethel!", but it was too late -- she'd been MOONED
Or would that be PHOBOS'ED in this case?
Anonymous Kev
Proudly posting as AC since 1997
(Finally got a dang account in 2004)
Satellites in low and medium orbits around earth are slowed by the earth's thick atmosphere. The relatively thin atmosphere of Mars would allow a spacecraft to orbit for MUCH longer at lower orbits due to reduced drag.
Crushing my karma one post at a time.
Since the speed of light is approximately 670,616,629 mph, a mere 3,500,000 mph seems quite stately in comparison. (although still a nice percentage of c)
Although orbital mechanics is not my specialty, I think NASA should be able to calculate an approximate orbit and take more images to see if it might be Viking 2.
The height of the streak in the image, the distance away and the orientation of camera will give the position. Put this with velocity to get the orbit. So, we just need to know distance away and velocity. The length of the streak plus the exposure time can give them a equation of velocity vs. distance away. Orbital mechanics gives another equation for velocity vs. height. Use these 2 equations to solve for the orbit, assuming the object is in orbit and not just passing by. NASA knows the orbital elements of Viking 2 when it was in use and can use these to see if the calculated orbit is reasonable.
Then using the orbit, calculate times the object would be visible to either rover and make some long exposures at the predicted times to look for it again. The only problem I can see is that the measurement error might be too much to make accurate predictions about future approaches.
This assumes NASA cares whether it's Viking 2.
War was beginning...
Martian Captain: What Happened?
Martian Soldier: Somebody set us up the bomb!
Martian Soldier: We get signal!
Martian Captain: Main Screen Turn On!
Martian Captain: It's you!
Viking: How are you gentlemen!!
Viking: All your rover are belong to us
Viking: You are on the way to destruction
Martian Captain:What you say!!
Viking: You have no chance to survive make your time
Viking: HA HA HA HA...
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
On Red Mars, rednecks probe YOU!