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NASA Gravity Probe Set for Launch
The Real Dr John writes "NASA announced
yesterday that its longest running program, Gravity Probe B, was ready and
scheduled for launch on April 17th. The project has taken 44 years to complete,
at a cost of approximately $700 million. The reason for the high cost is that
the probe contains the most sensitive gyroscopic equipment ever created, which
will be used to test Einstein's theory of gravity. Einstein predicted that the
gravity created by a large body warped space-time, but he also predicted that if
the large body was rotating it would create a drag effect on space-time
known as frame dragging. Gravity Probe B will be able to test
Einstein's theory using Earth's relatively small gravitational field because the
instruments are so sensitive."
Seems God plays roulette even if he doesn't play dice.
Did I mention that my car is a Maybach 62, which costs $380,000? With an expensive car like that, you want to make sure the upholstery doesn't get dirty.
Einstein predicted that the gravity created by a large body warped space-time, but he also predicted that if the large body was rotating it would create a drag effect on space-time known as frame dragging.
AAagh! Mental images of my ex dancing! *SHUDDER!*
NASA announced yesterday that its longest running program, Wooden Block B, was ready and scheduled for dropping off the Empire State Building on April 17th. The project has taken 44 years to complete, at a cost of approximately $700 million. The reason for the high cost is that the probe contains the most expensive wood ever created, which will be used to test Newton's theory of gravity. Newton predicted that an attractive force known as 'gravity' will act between any two bodies. Wooden Block B will be able to test Newton's theory using Earth's gravitational field, and a very tall building.
SpamNet - a spam blocker that really works
They should launch anti-gravity probes. Wouldn't even need rockets and save us taxpayers some bucks.
Table-ized A.I.
Great. Cell phones -- the next great terrorism threat.
I'm a private pilot
Woohoo! A new one: IAPP/IANPP!!
You are more than the sum of what you consume. Desire is not an occupation.
From the article :
Since the project was conceived by three scientists after a naked midday swim at Stanford University's pool, more than 1,000 people have worked on the satellite. Two of its founders are dead. More than 90 people have earned their doctorates working on the project.
Naked physicists... wow... with the current administration in charge, this project would have never been approved.
Preparations A through G were a complete failure. But now, ladies and gentlemen, we finally have a working [gravity probe] which we shall call...Preparation H!"
no comment
Finally we're the ones doing the probing!
Is there some rule, that when discussing string theory, one must use copious amounts, of commas?
... the project that ate Stanford.
:)
When I was a grad student there, we had a running joke that nobody could get an astrophysics degree without selling at least a piece of their soul to Francis Everett, the chief booster for this project.
I was there when a rogue group suggested that, in the intervening four decades, technology had advanced enough to do the frame-dragging experiment with a laser-coordinated satellite net for half the cost.
We also circulated the "fact" that the GP-B launch date slipped by about 1.05 days per day. A friend defined it as a new universal constant for project overruns...
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
Duke Nukem Forever was originally first described in a Bell Labs whitepaper personally written by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie in early 1970, just over 34 years ago. The whitepaper said that Duke Nukem Forever would run on Bell Labs' new UNIX system, and would be available "sometime before the end of the year". Bell started taking orders the next week, and the historic first order for DNF, by the U.S. patent office, was placed on that day. Eight months later, despite not yet being finished, Duke Nukem Forever was proclaimed "Game of the Year" by the October issue of the Association for Computing Machinery quarterly journal.
Since then the game has changed publishers and target platform numerous times, and changed intended game engines a stunning 57 times. Of the original five-man development team, two are still on the project, one currently holds a senior managerial position at Intel, and two are since dead. In 1995 when the original UNIX intellectual property block was licensed from Novell to SCO, the Duke Nukem Forever project was split off and separately sold to a company called 3D Realms, who still oversees it and currently publically states that DNF will be available "when it's done".
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Can I buy one of these satellites on ThinkGeek?
"Simple words such as 'better' or 'faster' are best used by simpletons. Life [...] is more complicated." - TMC