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Exploding Robots May Scout Hazardous Asteroids
An anonymous reader writes to mention NewScientist is reporting that a small force of robots designed to explode could help reveal an asteroid's inner structure. This could in turn allow scientists a better understanding of how to divert a rogue asteroid on a collision course with Earth. From the article: "The main spacecraft would stay a few dozen kilometers away, perhaps nudging the probes towards the asteroid using springs. Once on the surface, the protective spherical shell of each probe would open to allow the probe to scan the surface nearby. To reduce complexity and costs, the probes lack solar panels and run on battery power, limiting their lifetime to a few days. But each probe could still cover a lot of ground in that time, as they could be fitted with small thrusters to let them hop across the surface. Eventually the probes could detonate onboard explosives, sacrificing themselves for science one by one. Probes that had not yet detonated would listen for any seismic waves sent rippling out from the explosion, and the main spacecraft could observe the craters left behind. That would tell scientists about the asteroid's strength and internal structure."
Exploration by destruction. If that is not a Bush Administration approach to space exploration, I don't know what is :-)
Table-ized A.I.
What with all the exploding robots exploring them, of course they're going to be a bit hazardous.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Oh great, we're about to start pissing off asteroids by blowing up their kin. OF COURSE they're going to come falling on us, if for no other reason than retaliation.
Watch for attacking asteroid clusters, armed to the teeth with lasers and nuclear bombs!
ha ha, just kidding...asteroids don't have teeth.
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"Let there be light"
I for one welcome these expl [NO CARRIER]
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NASA announces the hiring of Wile E. Coyote to a Senior Staff position....
-- www.globaltics.net
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Will these explorer androids be launched by the JSA? Jihad Space Agency?
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Sometimes I wonder what they mean by cheap. I suppose they mean cheap in comparison to other robots they could send. Either way, I do find this a bit exciting. It might lead to some interesting discoveries. Who knows, we could soon by mining these asteroids some day and all these experiments will pay for themselves. Then again, with all the budget cuts NASA has been taking these days, I wonder if these small and cheap robots will even get off the ground. I suppose only time will tell.
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New Space robots look amazing like a 1972 Ford Pinto ...
-- www.globaltics.net
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With the proliferation of people willing to strap bombs to their chests in order to "make the world better," it would certainly be easier (and cheaper) to recruit people who already know how to walk to a location and self-detonate than to spend it on "high tech" solutions.
;) )
I can see the ad campaign now:
"Tired of being labeled a terrorist? Why not join the new Space Explorers Club and really help humanity! Visitation with Allah guaranteed after mission! Sign up today!"
Then research funds could be freed up to build robotic solutions the world REALLY want... sex bots! Woo!
(For the humor impaired, insert tongue into cheek and re-read.
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Send Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck up there again. They're cheap and expendable. Plus they're not doing any good down here.
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Are the suicidal robots being misinformed about 72 virgin robots awaiting them?
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... kind of reads like a test sentence for a font.
..
"Exploding Robots May Scout Hazardous Asteroids"
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If the advice is sound, what difference does it make if it came from a fictional character. When Yoda says, "Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'", is it somehow less valid because it came out of the mouth of a glorified sock puppet? When the fictional Captain Jean-Luc Picard says,"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." (incidentally, quoting another fictional character) does that mean that we are not chained when a thought is forbidden or a freedom denied?
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