It's a fundamentally sound idea. Perhaps they executed it all wrong. This type of assembly works for almost every other type of device or vehicle known to man. I can't think of any reasons why it wouldn't fundamentally work for space probes.
1. Mass produce the science instruments. At least have common designs so that they can be quickly fabricated.
2. Common OS, instrument bus and communications sub system.
3. A common power plant and chassis design.
4. A common Earth orbit departure stage.
I know that the instrument specs for each mission is unique and the propulsion and communication requirements all depend on the probe's trajectory, but I'm thinking that they can do a lot more prefab-and-assembly than they are doing now.
I think I misunderstood the title. I was expecting this:
System and Method for Making Untrue and Fantastical Claims Targeted at a Selected Individual on a Specific Calendar Date, Observing Said Individual's Reaction as a Group, Later Revealing the Claim to be Untrue and Further Observing the Individual's Embarrassment, Thereby Experiencing Enjoyment.
And on its maiden voyage, it will become trapped in a turbulence, and its captain will be presumed dead until the captain of the Enterprise after the next discovers him chopping wood on an island.
Amen. Plus I know a few business people who bring iPads to meetings, scroll up and and scroll down a few times and then take it back. They do nothing. If you really want a tablet for professionals and business people, make one with a responsive enough stylus with no parallax error.
Perhaps it *will* work, if short finger gestures are used (and I'm not talking about the obvious finger gesture).
One of the biggest problems with touch interfaces is that they have *friction* -- you're wearing your fingerprints away against a flat surface. I'd love an interface where I can just hover my index finger a few inches away from the screen and have the mouse pointer follow it. Goodbye trackpad. Added benefit -- the difference between move and drag (which is muddy when using a touch interface) is now clear. You actually touch the screen to click. Everything else is cursor motion.
I have held kilogram-quantities of uranium in my hands -- and still have all 10 fingers to show for it. Plutonium is more radioactive -- half a kilogram is warm to the touch
Just out of curiosity, have you ever tried to figure out what went down in between all those times when you got angry and those times you woke up somewhere in torn pants?
+1 my hours are identical. 7.30am-5.00pm. And I usually find the most secluded cubical I can find. My productivity (i.e. the output) hasn't increased much, but the quality of work is now much, much higher!
1. Takeaway all the planets that are orbiting inside the equivalent of Mercury's orbit. That's a lot.
2. Takeaway all the gas giants (a lot) but include the moons (not known).
3. Takeaway the ones without a proper magnetic field (and therefore pummeled with cosmic rays and solar particles).
4. Takeaway the ones that are not protected from asteroids by outer gas giants.
5. Takeaway the ones with environments that are too static for life to evolve beyond micro-organisms
6. Takeaway the ones with basic life forms only
7. Takeaway the ones where they're still inventing fire.
8. Takeaway the ones that are simply too far away.
Slashdot Mirror
The magic words you are looking for is called "temporal ant-ialiasing"
What does the jagged appearance of diagonally swarming insects have to do with this?
Mars has meteor showers too, [oblig]you insensitive clod[/oblig]
It's all a part of Jobs' plan, for he moves in mysterious ways.
It's a fundamentally sound idea. Perhaps they executed it all wrong. This type of assembly works for almost every other type of device or vehicle known to man. I can't think of any reasons why it wouldn't fundamentally work for space probes.
Damn nucleophobes. Can't other isotopes do the job?
The last time we trusted anything from the Nest it took Mila Jovovich to clean up the... or was the the Hive? I forget.
Say,
1. Mass produce the science instruments. At least have common designs so that they can be quickly fabricated.
2. Common OS, instrument bus and communications sub system.
3. A common power plant and chassis design.
4. A common Earth orbit departure stage.
I know that the instrument specs for each mission is unique and the propulsion and communication requirements all depend on the probe's trajectory, but I'm thinking that they can do a lot more prefab-and-assembly than they are doing now.
I think I misunderstood the title. I was expecting this:
System and Method for Making Untrue and Fantastical Claims Targeted at a Selected Individual on a Specific Calendar Date, Observing Said Individual's Reaction as a Group, Later Revealing the Claim to be Untrue and Further Observing the Individual's Embarrassment, Thereby Experiencing Enjoyment.
And four navigation controls: traverse space, zoom in/out space, traverse time, zoom in/out time!
Do you know who the scientist is? Because of this man's work, his grandson will never be able to get Data to pronounce contractions properly.
And on its maiden voyage, it will become trapped in a turbulence, and its captain will be presumed dead until the captain of the Enterprise after the next discovers him chopping wood on an island.
Chuck Norris won't have to do *anything*. The asteroid will see him and take a detour.
20 years for each count he could do 140 (a death sentence) for a non-violent crime.
More than one life sentence != death sentence.
+1 For beating me to it.
Answer: Alert sickbay to prepare to receive all crew members aboard the elevator.
OP says title is "An Honest Man", but TFA says it is "An Honest Liar".
Amen. Plus I know a few business people who bring iPads to meetings, scroll up and and scroll down a few times and then take it back. They do nothing. If you really want a tablet for professionals and business people, make one with a responsive enough stylus with no parallax error.
I'd mod you up if I had any points today. You have hit the nail on the head with a sledgehammer.
I find the lack of comments about your lack of faith being disturbing, disturbing.
Late stage angry bird flu will cause the sufferer to repeatedly fling himself at any loose assemblage of bricks, wood or stone in the vicinity.
Perhaps it *will* work, if short finger gestures are used (and I'm not talking about the obvious finger gesture).
One of the biggest problems with touch interfaces is that they have *friction* -- you're wearing your fingerprints away against a flat surface. I'd love an interface where I can just hover my index finger a few inches away from the screen and have the mouse pointer follow it. Goodbye trackpad. Added benefit -- the difference between move and drag (which is muddy when using a touch interface) is now clear. You actually touch the screen to click. Everything else is cursor motion.
I'd rather be able to wave my hand over a Google results page and say, "These are not the results I'm looking for".
Better late than never. The invasion of England would have gone very differently had the Spanish Armada not been running Windows.
I have held kilogram-quantities of uranium in my hands -- and still have all 10 fingers to show for it. Plutonium is more radioactive -- half a kilogram is warm to the touch
Just out of curiosity, have you ever tried to figure out what went down in between all those times when you got angry and those times you woke up somewhere in torn pants?
+1 my hours are identical. 7.30am-5.00pm. And I usually find the most secluded cubical I can find. My productivity (i.e. the output) hasn't increased much, but the quality of work is now much, much higher!
1. Takeaway all the planets that are orbiting inside the equivalent of Mercury's orbit. That's a lot.
2. Takeaway all the gas giants (a lot) but include the moons (not known).
3. Takeaway the ones without a proper magnetic field (and therefore pummeled with cosmic rays and solar particles).
4. Takeaway the ones that are not protected from asteroids by outer gas giants.
5. Takeaway the ones with environments that are too static for life to evolve beyond micro-organisms
6. Takeaway the ones with basic life forms only
7. Takeaway the ones where they're still inventing fire.
8. Takeaway the ones that are simply too far away.