Slashdot Mirror
Did Bat Hitch a Ride To Space On Discovery?
suraj.sun writes "A bat was seen clinging to the external fuel tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery before its launch on Sunday, apparently clung for dear life to the side of the tank as the spaceship lifted off.
The shuttle accelerates to an orbital velocity of 17,500 milers per hour, which is 25 times faster than the speed of sound, in just over eight minutes. That's zero to 100 mph in 10 seconds.
Did it make it into space? No one knows yet. But photos of Discovery as it cleared the launch tower showed a tiny speck on the side of the tank. When those photos were blown up, it became apparent that the speck was a bat."
Poor bat. Can we come up with a better name for him (or her) than 119V-0080? We're talking about the highest- and fastest-flying bat of all time, probably. A real name is definitely in order.
>When those photos were blown up
poor photo.
Yes, I'm left. You have a problem with that?
Bats on a Shuttle?
Spacebatman, now that would be news!
Where are the animal rights crowd? PETA should have a field-day with this.
Submission as evidence constitutes plaintiff and/or prosecutorial misconduct.
The Air Force Research Lab is developing an Electric Motor-powered Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) that can 'harvest' energy when needed by attaching itself to a power line. It can also temporarily change its shape to look more like innocuous piece of trash hanging from the cable.
I guess I assumed that they meant the US Air Force.
Your answer: Val Kilmer sucks. Your wager: George Clooney sucks.
There are some places even the BatPlane can't go ... yet.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Wetbat !!!
LEO is bat country!
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Did he bring Robin along ?
Where did that myth come from anyway?
Poor bat. Can we come up with a better name for him (or her) than 119V-0080? We're talking about the highest- and fastest-flying bat of all time, probably. A real name is definitely in order.
Bruce Wayne?!
Could be worse. Could be raining.
So we are to believe some conspiracy theories, aliens are going to capture it, thinking that bats are the dominant intelligent species of Earth. (After watching too much Batman from Earth tv.) Soon the bat will return to Earth as a super intelligent genetically engineered super bat and try to dominate Earth. Just like the chimps. Welcome, my wonderful new bat masters. Please don't probe me.
Contrary to popular opinion, we never got a bat into space. It is a conspiracy by the government to one-up batman. You're all a bunch of sheeple.
If you're looking for the truth about animals in space, look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvjgIxuVdo4 [moon bears, the whitest kids you know]
there's a YouTube clip of 3 or 4 buzzards circling the shuttle at lift off. You can guess what happens next. It looks like they get stunned before they're even struck, probably from all the noise. They flutter down to the engines and that's that.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
I don't how strong a bat is, but I doubt he was able to hang on that long. My guess is his claws gave out, he slid and clawed is way down the tank, and went out in a huge blaze of glory with the whole world watching and wondering.
Lucky fucker.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Batassss
The external tank doesn't make it into space. It separates from the shuttle before that. Unless the bat managed to switch horses in the middle of the stream.
VAMPIRES IN SPACE
Are any of the astronauts oversexed teens? All those '50s sci-fi movies will come true one day, you just watch.
30 feet off the pad the engines gave out and the bat carried them into orbit.
Heroic fucker.
Are they sure it's not a mynock?
It was Dracula!
"So long and thanks for all the bugs."
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
bats can't survive in space.
bats can't survive in the upper atmosphere.
bats aren't falcons.
They're using their grammar skills there.
Godspeed little bat.
Let's just hope that bat uses his newly aquired superbat abilities (after the appropriate amount of exposure to intense intergalactic radiation) for good, and not evil.
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a teatray in the sky.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Title of the post says it all.
"...showed a tiny speck on the side of the tank. When those photos were blown up, it became apparent that the speck was a bat.
And that folks, is the difference between NASA-cam and your average gas-station-cam, which, on average, can't identify Bigfoot if it were robbing the place.
NASA should investigate adhering heat tiles with bat claws
Is it April 1st already?
Details at 11...
We're seeing the first steps in the evolution of space-bats!
Pffft. My car is faster then that. Seriously.
I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class, especially since I rule.
The bat was on the far side of the external tank from the orbiter, about a third of the way up from the bottom. There wasn't really any way that it could strike the orbiter during launch, or that any foam that it might pull off would fall and strike the orbiter. The weight of the bat compared to the weight of the shuttle loaded with fuel is negligible, you'd need a pretty big envelope for your back-of-the-envelope calculations to have enough decimal places to show any effect from it. It was not an unsafe call to essentially ignore the bat. It didn't pose any risk.
As for the idea of contaminating something like Mars and having it end up overrun with earth bacteria, I guess it's impossible to prove that it couldn't happen, but I don't it's very likely. Mars is more like the earth than anywhere else in the solar system, but it's still very different. You might be able to find a few organisms here that could potentially survive on Mars, but it's doubtful that any would thrive, particularly to the point of overrunning the planet.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
an orbital velocity of 17,500 milers per hour
17500 milers per hour = 28163.52 kilometes per hour
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
until the space shuttle burns up on re-entry because the bat chewed a hole in it or something.
they say it is often more relevant then the comment above, all we know is its called the Sig!
I would really be surprised if the bat managed to hold on to the tank after the sudden acceleration.
A new villian for the Fantastic Four--Collossal Cosmic Space Bat!
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
> I hope they at least did a quick back-of-the-envelope look to see if it *could* be risky, rather than just hoping it wouldn't be.
Bat-of-the-envelope calculation?
is to get bats into space, so they can colonise the universe.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
other things bats are not or cannot do...
Bats cannot swallow a whole hotdog
Bats cannot follow the finer details of Neon Genesis Evangelion
Bats aren't horses, sheep or baseball bats
they say it is often more relevant then the comment above, all we know is its called the Sig!
The numbers on acceleration are incorrect. The last I knew, the Shuttle went supersonic in ~10 seconds. After that it doesn't really pick up a lot of speed until its out of the atmosphere and most of the fuel is burned up. They are supersonic by the time they get the "Throttle up" command. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle
How do you know that guidance system on the shuttle wasn't sabotaged in an obscure plot for world domination that was narrowly averted by this bat flying in at the last minute and guiding the shuttle into orbit only to return quickly to the offices of the Daily Bat and resume his secret identity has Gerald the Bat, mild mannered reporter.
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
No wonder his mind is warped
Do you prefer your bat roasted or freeze dried? Once the launch started I think those were the only two options.
Correct me if I misunderstood. But... Bigfoot bummed a ride on the space shuttle?
Holy Way-out Tangents Batman! Is that Bigfoot over there?!?
"The bat eventually became 'Interim Problem Report 119V-0080' after the [Final Inspection Team] finished their walkdown," the memo said. "Systems Engineering and Integration performed a debris analysis on him and ultimately a Launch Commit Criteria waiver to ICE-01 was written to accept the stowaway."
pretty much IS the report showing they assessed the likelihood of danger from a bat on the tank. Remember that debris and other dangers to the shuttle are very dependent on where they are- if Challenger's blow-through on the SRB were rotated 90 degrees, the thing would have survived intact, as several other launches did. If Columbia's foam loss had been on another part of the external tank, it could have fallen harmlessly away and not struck the orbiter at all.
http://marsandmore.com - Posters of space, spacecraft, and astronomy.
This bat is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he'd be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-BAT!!
I was at the Space Center last Tuesday and didn't realize he'd gotten away until we got home. Sorry about this! (OK...I admit this is a fabrication. But I really was there last Tuesday.)
If your only tool is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail.
Bats aren't horses, sheep or baseball bats
In the face of all the potential examples of what bats are not, your failure to pick 3 things is mind-boggling.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
A new Muppet Show is obviously on the way...
That's a shitload of beer.
I hope they at least did a quick back-of-the-envelope look to see if it *could* be risky, rather than just hoping it wouldn't be.
You don't know that they haven't already done the maths on that. Poor risk management would be not considering the possibility that a bat or similar flying thing might perch on part of the shuttle at liftoff, and do the calculations long before it reaches the launch pad.
Alternatively, maybe they have a *proper* techie who just knows this sort of stuff intuitively. "Bat? Nah, won't make a difference. Fire it up."
Casket of Soil Mistakenly Sent to ISS in lieu of Supplies soon followed by... ISS Infested by Vampires
I don't doubt that you're right, in practice. The point is that in theory, you wouldn't go strapping dead bats to your "sterile" planet.
So you've made the assumptions that: a) bacteria have to live on other life seeing as they are found in radioactive waste and in parts of the world that *have* no other life (e.g. inside the Earth's crust, acidic hot springs etc.), b) heat/cold kills all water-utilizing bacteria (I think we can easily discount this one given the previous information) and c) only water-utilizing bacteria would be present in a dead bat. That's quite a big leap.
It's all moot anyway, the thing probably dropped off before it hit the atmosphere and if it didn't, it would be contained to the Earth's gravitational field.
At the end of their report on the bat they speculate whether the bat was still clinging to the shuttle when it docked witht the ISS. How they think it managed to jump from the external tank to the shuttle during lift-off is beyond me.
I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
NASA finds, among a pile of junk mail, a gift-wrapped bowl inscribed with the words "So Long and Thanks for All the Gnats."
That's it people, the Earth is fraked. The Vogon demolition fleet must be on its way.
I didn't say it was "clinging", but does it really take that much for it to be cooked into the surface of the fuel tank, or otherwise permanently attached? I'm not saying it could have got to space with nothing more than the little critters hair on fire, but there would be *something* left of it if it *had* stayed attached, which could just be a matter of it being welded to the tank by the heat, or bits of it getting caught in tiny microscopic cracks. Even if that portion was only 0.0001% of it's mass and quite well done, it's still biological matter that can (in certain circumstances) survive in the most extreme conditions - after that, an anaerobic journey and careful re-entry are nothing in comparison.
...why not, 'Tiffany?' Anyhow, it's name is Mudd, now.
There is nothing to FEAR but NOTHING itself; and I fear there is a whole lot of nothing going on. --scorpivs
What does that translate to in usable formats? Like Libraries of Congress or Cars?
Do you Gentoo!?
Obviously this was the first know case of aBIHALO drop - Bat Initiated High Altitude Low Opening
I for one do not welcome my new space bat overlords.
WTF Slashdot, why do I have to login 50 times to post?
Yes they are.
Bats are falcons, and falcons are dogs - so get it right... ...Now dogs can't survive in space unless they have a Russian name, and that is only until they run out of food, water, and air.
I love the scientific method!
Since it was in the comments of the last 5,000 stories posted on ./ that would make it a tad redundant.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Oh no no no
I'm a rocketbat
rocketbat -- burning out his fuse up here alone
If the bat were to still be frozen clinging to the tank, after the shuttle reaches orbit the tank is released and it renters the Earths atmosphere very shortly thereafter. Plus nothing ever reaches Escape Velocity and is not going near enough fast enough to make it past Earth orbit.
We are Dead Stars looking back Up at the Sky
I smell a Disney Adventure movie. I hope they're in talked to his agent.
The solid rocket boosters separate 125 seconds into the flight at about 150,000 feet (46 km). About seven minutes later when the external tank (ET) separates 30 seconds after MECO, it's at about 120 km, so it's already in space (going with 100 km as the boundary, which is greater than your 50 miles). Additionally, although it's on a suborbital trajectory, it is not yet at the apogee of that trajectory.
I do not have a number for its apogee, but since the OMS-1 burn is generally not required anymore, you can assume to a first approximation that the ET's apogee is close to that of the Shuttle. Without it's own version of the Shuttle's OMS-2 burn to circularize the ET's orbit, however, the ET reenters the atmosphere after less than a complete orbit.
Regardless, if the ill-fated bat with the apparently broken wing (or its earthly, perhaps spacely, remains) managed to stay attached through max Q, it could have been the first animal (body) to make it up to space.
All while the Fat Lady was Singing ?!
We are Dead Stars looking back Up at the Sky
And I fail to see the word 'animal' in your original post.
I for one welcome our new chiropteran overlords!
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
quick, someone get disney or pixar on the phone! i have a movie idea to pitch to them about a bat who wants nothing more than to go to space.
Well there goes my plan to enter a bat in the Nathans Hotdog eating contest.
Unfortunately, holding onto the fuel tank spelled certain doom; it is doubtful he would have been able to remain attached as the violent shaking and g-forces took hold. Although he made it as high as the launch tower, it is likely the bat dropped off and died in the searing 1400C exhaust of the throttling boosters.
Check out our infosecurity industry blog: http://securitymusings.com/
than no i don't think it made it to space.
Unless they took the tank to space somehow...
Or does the tank actually make it to what is considered 'space'by entering so sort of xxxxsphere
Ladies, and Gentlemen (mainly gentlemen, I mean it is slashdot),
I believe it is time for Science to sacrifice itself in the name of adorability. The picture of this bat is ruined, knowing that it met its untimely demise shortly after.
I propose from here onwards, all evidence suggesting that the bat died is completely disregarded. The bat made it into space, and is now enjoying life in the cosmic wind. That is all we need to know.
I would have named her "Misty".
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Uhm, it's a CNN reporter, they don't actually think, never have and probably never will.
Like a bat out of hell Ill be gone gone gone
Like a bat out of hell Ill be gone when the morning comes
When the day is done
And the sun goes down
And the moonlights shining through
Then like a sinner before the gates of heaven
I'll come crawling on back to you
I wonder why you got modded Troll.
Send a mission to Mars one week, find the next week that it's overrun by heat-loving bacteria that spread like mad and cover the planet. It's not impossible, and then where would our search for the origins of life be?
You've obviously never been to Mars; it's not a place for heat lovers. And it's becoming quite apparent that nothing lives there. Covering Mars with bacteria or lichens or kudzu or something would be doing it a big favor. In fact it would be a significant accomplishment for humanity during this brief time while we're still able to launch crap into space. If we manage to ignite Mars with its own biosphere, in a billion years the germs will evolve into intelligent bats.
We now know the terrible cost of our scientific endeavors. NASA should adorn every future space shuttle with an image of a bat. NASA should adopt it as their mascot, lest we forget.
As for the idea of contaminating something like Mars and having it end up overrun with earth bacteria, I guess it's impossible to prove that it couldn't happen, but I don't it's very likely. Mars is more like the earth than anywhere else in the solar system, but it's still very different. You might be able to find a few organisms here that could potentially survive on Mars, but it's doubtful that any would thrive, particularly to the point of overrunning the planet.
I hope you don't have to eat those words when our giant bat overlords come back down in 30 years.
Shows you what you know...
Fact #1: Bats = bugs
and what group of species seems to be able to survive anything? Huh?
We can't stop here! This is bat country!
Mars is more like the earth than anywhere else in the solar system
Not to nit-pick, but I would argue that the upper atmosphere of Venus is more Earth-like than the surface of Mars. At a certain altitude, Venus has a similar pressure and temperature to Earth, with the majority of the atmosphere being made up of CO2. Supposedly, a human could survive there with only a respirator and something to protect against acid rain, the same can hardly be said for Mars.
True. So very true.
I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
Genesis 1:32 And God typed :wq!
Wow, you're treading on thin ice here. I mean there are some things that should never be made fun of. Do you realize how many people could take offense at this "joke"? People could be screaming "blasphemy" and worse! I'm personally not offended, but I think a lot of people wouldn't be so tolerant. I think you are running the risk of creating hatred and even violence with this kind of mockery.
I mean, implying that the Creator of the Universe doesn't use Emacs? That's harsh... where's your sense of decorum and respect for other people's religions?!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Are you saying that there are vampires on the ISS now?
[spoken in Chinese] Hey Captain - look what I see! A bat! Seriously! right next to us! Look!
(dead bat)
Amazing - how can a bat fly this high? Let's do an EV and collect him.
OR:
Frozen bat carcass, travelling at 17,000 mph slams head on into spaceship travelling 17,000 mph, resulting in an explosion visible from the ground. yay.
"Mommy, daddy! Look at the fireworks! Pretty!"
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
If the creator did use Emacs it would come with a decent text editor.
Whoosh...
...one giant leap for bat kind.
Bye and thanks for all the insects?
The Long Now Foundation
Interesting. I had not heard anything like that, but I will look for more information about it. Thanks.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Ostensibly, yes. Emacs and Lisp. In reality, God http://xkcd.com/224/
the external fuel tank is lined with orange shag carpet.
These are the same clueless bastards that reported the Columbia was going 18 times the speed of light during its fatal re-entry a few years back, so frankly it doesn't surprise me.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
Could God create an editor that sucks so badly even He couldn't use it?
(joke purposefully phrased to be editor-agnostic)
Oh, Fry, I love how you can *REMEMBER TWO THINGS*
One two three, spread out the cape
One two three, twirl round the floor
One two three, left foot you swing
One two three, then start to sing
One two three, loud as you please
One two three, counting with ease
One two three, doing the batty bat!
Batty batty bat batty batty bat batty batty bat
One two three count!
Batty batty bat batty batty bat batty batty bat
Dance with me doing the batty bat!
Ah ah ah!
And 3million years from now, alien archaeologist discovers a frozen corpse of the bravest little astronaut of planet Earth. The bat far away from his home. At least they can have some interesting arguments on how it ended up in there.
To answer your question, No.
Microsoft beat god to it in 2007..
Slashdot - I went there to fix their grammar that they're so bad at.
Pointing out that it's dead, well, it's a bit obvious.
Wrong place at the wrong time, and bam, you're both dead and you make international headlines.
If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
Name it Ash.
beautiful plumage...
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
no no no... it's a BIHANO...
Bat
Initiated
High Altitude
NO
Opening
I will not give in to the terrorists. I will not become fearful.
Anyone have any idea what it was like for the bat before it likely lost its hold and fell into the flaming rockets? If it got near or above the speed of sound, what would the bat be thinking? Do they just perceive a wall or does the bat see nothing at all? Just wondering what was going through its mind.
Am I the only one thinking that this would be a great concept for a Meatloaf Records cover art?
. .
...Top Secret was funny, too...but he sucked as Batman...
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
They tell you this bat just sorta showed up, but really it was planned all along. The bat is a planned counter-measure: he's going after that spider they lost last year! NASA needs to take the spider out before it learns how to work the bag of tools it stole.
i speak for myself and those who like what i say.
You just need a big blue guy although you might have to remind him to set up the air bubble.
Maybe god uses emacs in
Repton.
They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
I think they took it literally when NASA said they would "Go to bat" for the space program
Well, we could still try contaminating Mars with lawyers....tougher than most bacteria, I can tell you.
It's the media. They don't know the tank separates and burns up on reentry.
Look behind you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibq2IwznCgc
Error: PANTS NOT FOUND. Press <F1> to continue.
Bat Attack... But, then that would be...
Fowl play. But, fi the bat could be smelled, there might be some foul play in play...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Holy shit, I'm a bat!
It's the sequel to 'Snakes on a Plane' it's 'Bats on a Shuttle'.
1/23.8 Libaies of Congess or (17+i17) Cas
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Also, for landing on Mars, NASA takes some precautions against contamination. This page talks a little bit about the bio-barrier around Phoenix's arm: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4265740.html?page=7&series=35
To smash a single atom, all mankind was intent / Now any day the atom may return the compliment
Well, this bat has proven that he ain't no Wall-E.
Gone to join the sapient zats which soar through airless space, slanting their metal wings to winds of light. May Issek bless you, Fritz Leiber
Given there are so many of them on Wikipedia, I'd have to say the answer is "yes".
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
It's clearly gone after the missing spider!
I'm surprised no one (i've noticed) has suggested "Meatloaf" as a moniker for the diminutive rocketeer. Perhaps the readership is too young to remember "Bat out of Hell"; circa 1977. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Out_of_Hell Could Meat be contemplating "Bat out of Hell IV"?
So, the shuttle has 30 some odd million horsepower... but perhaps the question we should be asking: how much batpower does it have? One, apparently.
"I'm Batman, and I can breathe in space."
FOOLS! I will destroy you ALL!
Microsoft beat god to it in 2007..
More like 1981. Ever use edlin?
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.