AIS on the IIS is amusing, but not all that helpful. SpaceQuest, ORBCOMM, and COM DEV all have space based AIS systems up...
Specifically, COM DEV has CanX-6 (also known as NTS, or Nanosatellite Tracking Ships) which has been operating on orbit for over a year now. NTS is much smaller than the ISS too, measuring in at 6.5 kg for a 20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm cube. NTS went from bar-napkin concept to launch in just 7 months.
The UTIAS Space Flight Laboratory (the organization that designed and built NTS for COM DEV) is also working on a Norwegian satellite called AISSat-1 that is due to launch in the coming months. While the same size and roughly the same mass as NTS, AISSat-1 will offer two significant improvements -- on-board AIS signal decoding and verification, and full three-axis stabilization and control.
The problem isn't politics, it's requirements. In order meet a requirement like mission length, you have to show that the system will be X% capable of operating for the desired life span (where X is defined by your customer). To show that a system is capable of surviving 90 days on Mars is likely multiple orders of magnitude cheaper than to show that a system is capable of surviving 5 years. Right off the bat, you would need
increased solar panel area to deal with end-of-life conditions, both cell degradation and environmental effects;
more, bigger batteries to ensure that they can maintain sufficient charge after 5 years;
more expensive electronic components that can handle higher radiation doses, and more electronic redundancy to protect against single-event faults;
redundancy of moving parts critical to the mission (e.g. wheel motors); and,
as you mentioned, ground operations, both personnel, equipment, and antenna time.
This is just what I thought of in the 60 s it took me to write this post -- I'm sure there are many more factors anyone could dig up. The point is that aiming for 5 years, even with intent of only operating it for 90 days, would drive the cost up prohibitively.
Instead of focusing resources on ensuring safe return, we should spend those resources on setting up permanent, sustainable facilities on the moon, so that we can slowly reduce our need to continually send materials. Is shipping miniature mining and production robot/facility to the moon that unimaginable? Once you can harvest and produce key materials on the moon, the task of setting up long-term human habitats becomes at least slightly easier.
Not exactly.. you make some observations about the world around you, use that to come up with a theory, and then you perform experiments and observations to test that theory. One of the core components of a theory is it's ability to make predictions about things that we haven't observed yet; observing them a posteriori, we can determine whether the theory is at least plausible. A theory that makes no predictions is, to many academics and scientists, the equivalent of mental masturbation.
If you deal only with past observations, then you could come up with any number of theories to explain something, all of which are wrong because they fail to properly predict events in other scenarios.
I'm not sure some planetary body that could cause a gradual change in orbital inclination is any more likely than a near-collision encounter. Changing orbital inclination is one of the most expensive maneuvers you can do, and there are no known orbital disturbance effects that cause a secular change in inclination.
What's hilarious is how many times I've been called a "tin-foil hatter" because I openly expected ulterior motives and other treachery from this company.
I guess I missed the public announcement where ensuring your company didn't violate any copyright laws and/or software licenses was considered treacherous. Sure, Microsoft were not completely forward about why they were contributing GPLed code, but the real reason behind the contribution is not any form of betrayal.
Do you have a link to a well-written guide on setting this up? I've been trying to test it out on my laptop (which research tells me/can/ run VDPAU), but I'm a Linux user, not a developer, and I keep getting lost and giving up before I reach the destination =(
Since it's not in the summary, Brendan Quine is an associate professor at in Space Engineering at York University in Toronto, Ontario (Canada). He is responsible for the Argus micro-spectrometer on the CanX-2 nanosatellite, currently operating on orbit. The satellite was developed by the University of Toronto's Space Flight Laboratory.
Because in the one *I* watched, they traveled through the event horizon of a black hole, and came back out again (although, this is actually an interesting question over in Trek-land; warp engines let you travel FTL, so could you escape a black hole? I mean, after the tidal forces ripped your puny ship into it's component atoms, of course...)
I recall them being pulled into the gravity well of a black hole, but not across the event horizon... the external observer could always still see the ship.
Or how about that giant drill? Why did it fall when they cut it off the ship? If the ship was in geosynchronous orbit, then the drill must have been traveling slightly slower than geo-synchronous orbital speed; it should have very gently drifted eastwards.
The ship was in geosynchronous orbit; the tether was orbiting at the same angular velocity, but at a much lower altitude. The geosynchronous condition is an angular velocity condition on a circular orbit; this defines the altitude at which this can occur. There is only one geosynchronous altitude. Because the drill had the same angular velocity, but was not located at this geosynchronous altitude, the tether would be in tension due to the planet's gravity. Cut the tether, and all of a sudden the drill has an unbalanced force and accelerates toward the planet. Because it had zero inertia relative to the rotation of the planet, it falls "straight down".
I whole-heartedly agree with your comment regarding the Kobayashi Maru simulation. Even though it had never been established in canon, I sat there watching this scene saying to myself "WTF, that isn't how he did it!" It wasn't believable as Kirk!
Just being a touch pedantic here, but Trent does indeed record his music in a recording studio -- it's just probably one he built himself, such as Le Pig Studios. What he doesn't have any more is a major record label -- he now releases under his own label, The Null Corporation.
Right, because no one has ever heard of Rush, The Tragically Hip, Matthew Good, Sum41, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morisette, Celine Dion, Paul Anka, Bryan Adams, Great Big Sea, Spirit of the West, Steppenwolf, The Arrogant Worms, David Usher/Moist, Neil Young, Raine Maida/Our Lady Peace, Barenaked Ladies, Bif Naked, Three Days Grace, Sloan, The Tea Party, Crash Test Dummies, Howard Shore, Death From Above, Alexisonfire, The New Pornographers, Arcade Fire, Nickelback, Danko Jones, Finger Eleven, Crystal Castles, The Guess Who, [...]
There is an abundance of good Canadian music (not that I am endorsing all of the artists/bands above, nor that I appreciate all of their music), and we shouldn't need a law to have them be a significant portion of the broadcast material. Sadly, most radio stations prefer to draw as much as possible from the US because there is more money in it. But greed is a problem with radio in general, not with Canadian radio.
If you make an assumption about a variable, any function/method that you pass that variable to should have that assumption explicitly stated in the comments. Don't scan your code, just scan the relevant documentation.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks a lot; I just spent an hour and a half clicking through tropes. I should know better than to visit that site..
Aikon-
You could also fail to survive the attempt.
In Soviet Russia, the Andromeda Galaxy collides with you?
AIS on the IIS is amusing, but not all that helpful. SpaceQuest, ORBCOMM, and COM DEV all have space based AIS systems up...
Specifically, COM DEV has CanX-6 (also known as NTS, or Nanosatellite Tracking Ships) which has been operating on orbit for over a year now. NTS is much smaller than the ISS too, measuring in at 6.5 kg for a 20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm cube. NTS went from bar-napkin concept to launch in just 7 months.
The UTIAS Space Flight Laboratory (the organization that designed and built NTS for COM DEV) is also working on a Norwegian satellite called AISSat-1 that is due to launch in the coming months. While the same size and roughly the same mass as NTS, AISSat-1 will offer two significant improvements -- on-board AIS signal decoding and verification, and full three-axis stabilization and control.
-Aikon
The problem isn't politics, it's requirements. In order meet a requirement like mission length, you have to show that the system will be X% capable of operating for the desired life span (where X is defined by your customer). To show that a system is capable of surviving 90 days on Mars is likely multiple orders of magnitude cheaper than to show that a system is capable of surviving 5 years. Right off the bat, you would need
This is just what I thought of in the 60 s it took me to write this post -- I'm sure there are many more factors anyone could dig up. The point is that aiming for 5 years, even with intent of only operating it for 90 days, would drive the cost up prohibitively.
Aikon-
I think I saw a documentary about this.
Aikon-
Best reply to the article.
Aikon-
Not exactly.. you make some observations about the world around you, use that to come up with a theory, and then you perform experiments and observations to test that theory. One of the core components of a theory is it's ability to make predictions about things that we haven't observed yet; observing them a posteriori, we can determine whether the theory is at least plausible. A theory that makes no predictions is, to many academics and scientists, the equivalent of mental masturbation.
If you deal only with past observations, then you could come up with any number of theories to explain something, all of which are wrong because they fail to properly predict events in other scenarios.
Aikon-
I'm not sure some planetary body that could cause a gradual change in orbital inclination is any more likely than a near-collision encounter. Changing orbital inclination is one of the most expensive maneuvers you can do, and there are no known orbital disturbance effects that cause a secular change in inclination.
Aikon-
p.s. Emphasis mine.
Aikon-
What's hilarious is how many times I've been called a "tin-foil hatter" because I openly expected ulterior motives and other treachery from this company.
I guess I missed the public announcement where ensuring your company didn't violate any copyright laws and/or software licenses was considered treacherous. Sure, Microsoft were not completely forward about why they were contributing GPLed code, but the real reason behind the contribution is not any form of betrayal.
Aikon-
Incidentally, this is the first time in history that there will be two Canadian astronauts working aboard the ISS simultaneously.
Aikon-
p.s. Better work quick if they've only got 'til 2016 =P
Right.. it's this "compiled with VDPAU" support that's the problem as far as I can tell...
Do you have a link to a well-written guide on setting this up? I've been trying to test it out on my laptop (which research tells me /can/ run VDPAU), but I'm a Linux user, not a developer, and I keep getting lost and giving up before I reach the destination =(
Aikon-
Why Kelvin? You could always use Rankine instead. Not that I would endorse such an action...
Aikon-
Four movies.
Aikon-
Since it's not in the summary, Brendan Quine is an associate professor at in Space Engineering at York University in Toronto, Ontario (Canada). He is responsible for the Argus micro-spectrometer on the CanX-2 nanosatellite, currently operating on orbit. The satellite was developed by the University of Toronto's Space Flight Laboratory.
Aikon-
I recall them being pulled into the gravity well of a black hole, but not across the event horizon... the external observer could always still see the ship.
The ship was in geosynchronous orbit; the tether was orbiting at the same angular velocity, but at a much lower altitude. The geosynchronous condition is an angular velocity condition on a circular orbit; this defines the altitude at which this can occur. There is only one geosynchronous altitude. Because the drill had the same angular velocity, but was not located at this geosynchronous altitude, the tether would be in tension due to the planet's gravity. Cut the tether, and all of a sudden the drill has an unbalanced force and accelerates toward the planet. Because it had zero inertia relative to the rotation of the planet, it falls "straight down".
Aikon-
I whole-heartedly agree with your comment regarding the Kobayashi Maru simulation. Even though it had never been established in canon, I sat there watching this scene saying to myself "WTF, that isn't how he did it!" It wasn't believable as Kirk!
Aikon-
No worries =P
Aikon-
Just being a touch pedantic here, but Trent does indeed record his music in a recording studio -- it's just probably one he built himself, such as Le Pig Studios. What he doesn't have any more is a major record label -- he now releases under his own label, The Null Corporation.
Aikon-
Right, because no one has ever heard of Rush, The Tragically Hip, Matthew Good, Sum41, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morisette, Celine Dion, Paul Anka, Bryan Adams, Great Big Sea, Spirit of the West, Steppenwolf, The Arrogant Worms, David Usher/Moist, Neil Young, Raine Maida/Our Lady Peace, Barenaked Ladies, Bif Naked, Three Days Grace, Sloan, The Tea Party, Crash Test Dummies, Howard Shore, Death From Above, Alexisonfire, The New Pornographers, Arcade Fire, Nickelback, Danko Jones, Finger Eleven, Crystal Castles, The Guess Who, [...]
There is an abundance of good Canadian music (not that I am endorsing all of the artists/bands above, nor that I appreciate all of their music), and we shouldn't need a law to have them be a significant portion of the broadcast material. Sadly, most radio stations prefer to draw as much as possible from the US because there is more money in it. But greed is a problem with radio in general, not with Canadian radio.
Aikon-
If you make an assumption about a variable, any function/method that you pass that variable to should have that assumption explicitly stated in the comments. Don't scan your code, just scan the relevant documentation.
Aikon-
If people could reroll out of trolling, then life would be no fun.
Aikon-
Day as in 24-hour period. Context is a beautiful thing.
Aikon-