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NASA STEREO Spacecraft Set to Launch
An anonymous reader writes "As first reported on last year, NASA's
STEREO mission is set to launch tonight at 8:38pm EST. The two near-identical spacecraft will give us unprecedented stereoscopic views of the Sun-Earth system, hopefully leading to the creation of the first
3-D movies of the Sun! Launch can be watched live on
NASA TV with coverage starting at 6:30pm EST."
Hate to be pedantic, but the launch time is 8:38 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time), not EST (Eastern Standard Time).
Landing a person on the moon was not a "breakthrough", but more of a "cold war PR victory". Sending people into space is (for the foreseable future at least) more of an exercise in tourism than science. You have obviously been spendig too much time drinking the scifi cool-aid and not enough time logically thinking things through. And yes, I am a scientist (physicist).
The planned holds allow launch personnel an opportunity to ensure that the vehicle's status is nominal. NASA does not expect staff to evaluate information as complex as rocket science with a time contstraint; that is, scientists cannot work with a ticking clock in front of them as would be required if it were kept running.
At the end of holds often comes the "Go, no-go" sequence immortalized by Apollo 13. Or at least an implicit "Go, no-go" indication.
That's just not true. No air means no transfer of energy therefore no sound is generated.
google is your friend:
m ission_leinbach_transcript.html :
From http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/115_ask
"Barrett: Why are there holds in the countdown and what is happening in the firing room during those holds?
Leinbach: Well the holds were put in -- designed in the countdowns from the very beginning of the manned spaceflight program. And they are intended to be points in the countdown where the team can take a breather, essentially. There's not supposed to be much work going on during a hold. Again, it's a point where if work leading up to that built-in hold has run behind schedule for some reason, we can continue to work into the hold and then take the hold itself and then when we pick up the clock again, get back into work. So, really they are points in the timeline that allow catch-up time and also time for the team to take a breather and think about what's coming up next in the count. The last built-in hold we have is at T minus 9 minutes and for the current missions those are 40 minute long holds so that we can make sure that the vehicle is ready to pick up the clock at T minus 9 minutes and counting, because for 9 minutes on down is when the vehicle really starts to come to life. And so we want the team to be focused having just taken a short break as it were. We don't leave the control room, but we look forward to what's about to happen and we concentrate on our jobs. And so, it's really a time of reflection. It's a time to catch your breath and to think about what we're about to go do."
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch.
Your tax dollars also pay for the publication of volumes of information available at NASA's website.
Here is some very relevant information on the science instraments attached to the STEREO probe.
You'll notice that each of the vehicle's instruments has it's own page, and some pretty good information on what it is supposed to do and why. It sounds pretty relevent to me. NASA's website is pretty great actually. You paid for it, go check it out.
Why not read up a bit:
i ndex.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/mission/
http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/
For example, this mission could be important for understanding how to protect humans out in the solar system.