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Cassini's Space Odyssey To Saturn
An anonymous reader writes in with this look at the amazingly successful Cassini mission and the discoveries it has made. Scientists says Cassini is helping them understand how our solar system developed. Of the astronomically profound discoveries it's made over a decade of circling, the startling hint this April of a new moon being formed in the rings of Saturn is merely the latest. Indeed, the spacecraft Cassini — which inserted itself into orbit around the giant gas planet in July, 2004 — has transmitted imagery and sensory data back to Earth that has given us a new understanding of our bejewelled neighbour three doors down. "It's one of the most successful (space) missions probably ever," says University of Toronto astrophysicist Hanno Rein, whose own work has been significantly informed by the tiny craft's output.
Tiny? I saw a clone in a space museum. That sucker is almost as big as a bus.
Anyhow, as a science mission, it has to rank up there almost with the Voyagers in terms of new and fascinating discoveries.
Table-ized A.I.
Michio Kaku is very intelligent, but he's also an attention whore of the first order.
Too often, that seems to trump reason and restraint.