Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NASA STEREO Spacecraft Set to Launch

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the bring-yer-3d-glasses dept.

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."

4 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Nearly identical? by subl33t · · Score: 5, Funny

    Which one uses metric?

  2. Re:No one has seen the sun in 3D before? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    > > I thought that when I look at the sun, since I see it with two eyes, I see it in 3D.
    >
    > funny but you do know that stereoscopic vision does not work for things as far away as the Sun? There is like a 30m max for that.

    He's right. I tried switching between my left eye and my right eye to see if I could spot the parallax difference, and I couldn't see a goddamn thing after ten minutes, never mind 30 minutes.

    Nothing to see here, guess I'll move along.

  3. Re:planned holds by scapermoya · · Score: 5, Informative

    google is your friend:

    From http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/115_askm ission_leinbach_transcript.html :
    "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.
  4. Re:While it is great... by GreggBz · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.