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Japanese 'Minerva' Robot Lost in Space
space_weasel writes "A little Japanese robot that was supposed to land on the surface of an asteroid has accidentally been flung into space by its mothership. New Scientist Space reports that the accident occurred as the data link with the spacecraft was being switched from an station in Japan to one in Australia. Mission controllers still plan to punch a hole in the asteroid and collect samples, which will be returned to Earth."
...is, after roaming the galaxy for 200 years collecting information, it will come back to Earth to destroy us.
Dark Reflection
robot 1 : target acquired, beginning landing sequence...
robot 2 : roger that, beginning land... OH LOOK A STAR!
[all robots turn towards the star]
robot 3 : OOHHHHHHHHHHH PRETTY!!!!
If Star Trek has taught us nothing else, it is that probes lost in space are a bad thing. And the fact that it's Japanese means that it's definitely going to come back and go apeshit.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
When working with the USA, spacecraft get lost due to forgetting to switch between metric and common units.
When working with Australia, spacecraft get lost due to forgetting that their maps of the universe are up-side-down.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Exonature is as cruel as mothernature herself. Obviously, the mothership began to ovulate, and, sensing a potential mate nearby, cruelly cast off her young to fend for itself.
The probe was named Minerva, after the Roman goddess of wisdom and skill. The mothership is named Hayabusa, after the world's fastest flying bird.
Unfortunately, the mission controller was named Bob, after the Roman god of lazy eyes and uncoordinated pitching.
As a politician instead of a scientist, the first thing that came to mind when I read this story were the faces of the people who made the budget for that robot. They just heard that their spacecraft flung a $20million bag of money into the great unknown. I imagine that feels just about the same as getting kicked square in the nuts.
I am and always will be a stereotype, because who in their right mind prefers mono?
You joke, but I know something many of you probably haven't heard of.
The 2nd law of thermodynamics against Evolution. A chaotic soup of particles doesn't just magically tend towards order. For scientists to have any credibility, they would have to prove that there is some sort of huge source of energy external to the Earth. Consider this: according to my calculations, there would need to be at LEAST a few million terawatts of power hitting the Earth's surface, averaged over a year, for any of what we see now to have happened.
What say you now? *Crickets chirping.*