For my on-call requirements I have both a cellphone and a pager. The cellphone is typically turned off, the pager alerts me when a client has dropped a message on a voicebox. I then use the cell to get the message and help the client. Then turn it off again. Works well for me.
I'm 30something and have trouble remembering stuff from when I was 15. Yes, important stuff too. You want me to have faith in stuff people remember from a hundred years ago? or fifty? I think we've all played the game at parties where one person would whisper a short story to the person sitting to left of him, and so on, to see how much the story changed after x people repeated it to the next...
excuse me if i misunderstood what you where saying, it's getting kinda late here in euroland:)
As for me, I really hope we clean up our act and start convincing Mother Earth that we are worth keeping around. I don't want to be buried in volcanic ash along with some dinosaurs she didn't like anymore.
Yeah, let's quicky go sacrifice some virgins to make her happy (/me looks around and sees plenty candidates), so Mother Earth will use her magic to ward off any huge meteorites coming our way, and to stop magma chambers from building up to much pressure.
Yes, there are probably some things we can do to lessen our impact on nature, on our habitat, but by playing the (often hilarious) drama card the greens only hurt their case.
All taxes.. "We know you need your cars, we know you won't drive one kilometer less if we increase the tax, so, we'll make it look as if we're introducing environment friendly legislation, but to be honest, we'd be shocked if you actually drove less, because after all, we just want your money!"
How many prominent scientists do you know are also qualified as astronauts?
Harrison H. Schmitt. Although he might be pushing the age limit a bit for a Mars mission;) And of course, many of the astronauts that have worked on the ISS are scientists. Prominent? Maybe not, but definately qualified.
IMHO it's well worth the wait. Rosetta/Philae have some 21 different instruments on board, it should give us a real insight into what makes comets tick. Anyway, here's the SpaceFlightNow.com Mission Status Center.
And if you really can't wait 10 years... NASA's Stardust will bring back some pieces of comet in only 685 days:)
The author of the article is quoting Gilbert Levin (of Viking fame), thus giving someone with a different view a chance to speak his mind. In every remark or conclusion he makes it very clear that it is Levin speaking, not himself. Cut Leonard David a little slack, he does a great job in reporting about the marsrovers in terms that a layman can understand. All he does in this article is speculate a bit about what might be coming from JPL soon.
What you learned about comets while growing up is mostly right. Most comets originate from outside the planets' orbits, either from the Kuiper Belt (in the Pluto region of the solar system) or from the Oort Cloud (waaaaay out there). Sometimes an object from those areas will be nudged into an orbit that brings it closer to the sun. Interaction with the Sun's or planets' gravity may force some comets in smaller orbits (like this one). IANA astronomer, maybe someone else can explain it better...
I don't know the numbers, and am too busy at work to look them up (:-)), but the comet's speed is indeed very high with respect to the Sun. That is why Rosetta does 3 Earth flyby's, and one Mars flyby. Each slingshot adds speed to Rosetta until it matches the comet's speed. Rosetta's speed will be very slow wrt the comet, they want to stay in orbit around it.
The surface temperature? I couldn't find any meaningful information in a quick google, but since the comet stays outside Earth's orbit it receives less energy from the Sun than Earth does. So I wouldn't imagine the comet as a red hot glowing piece of molten rock that might melt the spacecraft.
True... But there is a reason that Rosetta intercepts the comet on the outermost point of it's orbit. Because the comet is so far away from the sun it is not yet ejecting gas and particles, that happens when the comet nears the sun and heats up. That's when the famous tail(s) of comets start to appear. The really interesting part of this mission is that we'll see this process of heating up from very close up, from start to finish (if Rosetta lives that long).
IMHO this is ESA's biggest challenge thusfar. 10 years is a very long time to wait for results of your mission... This flash animation shows Rosetta's long journey. This mission is even more awe inspiring than Stardust or Deep Impact.
The article is about dark energy, not dark matter. Those are two distinctly different things. Dark matter is simply matter that has not been found, but that astronomers assume must exist to explain certain gravitational behaviour as observed in galaxies. AFAIK there is not much controversy over wether dark matter is real or not. Dark energy however is theorized to be a force that acts opposite to gravity, and that could explain why the rate of expansion of the universe seems to be increasing.
IANA astronomer, but that's what I've understood from the stuff that I've read about it. Pop science ofcourse because the math is way over my head.
I'm not sure if "allow" is the problem. First there must be the will to do it, the wish for cooperation. A very nice read is the SP-4209 The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project website. There is a lot of info on that mission there, the first real cooperation in space between USA and USSR, AFAIK. I guess it's more or less applicable to the China situation too..
How many apollo flights blew up after flying a short distance? Right, 0. One had a little boom, then again, they named it 13... Anyway, it only partly blew up just a little bit... Never trust those Iraqi information dudes:)
Slashdot Mirror
For my on-call requirements I have both a cellphone and a pager. The cellphone is typically turned off, the pager alerts me when a client has dropped a message on a voicebox. I then use the cell to get the message and help the client. Then turn it off again. Works well for me.
In fact, I would recommend people not to read those summaries, because they give completely the wrong impression.
Agreed. The synopsis that bcolflash linked to is good, but when quoted out of context it will give the wrong impression.
Jupiter is next, AFAIK. Don't know of any missions being planned to Neptune or Uranus.
excuse me if i misunderstood what you where saying, it's getting kinda late here in euroland :)
Yeah, let's quicky go sacrifice some virgins to make her happy (/me looks around and sees plenty candidates), so Mother Earth will use her magic to ward off any huge meteorites coming our way, and to stop magma chambers from building up to much pressure.
Yes, there are probably some things we can do to lessen our impact on nature, on our habitat, but by playing the (often hilarious) drama card the greens only hurt their case.
All taxes.. "We know you need your cars, we know you won't drive one kilometer less if we increase the tax, so, we'll make it look as if we're introducing environment friendly legislation, but to be honest, we'd be shocked if you actually drove less, because after all, we just want your money!"
Harrison H. Schmitt. Although he might be pushing the age limit a bit for a Mars mission ;) And of course, many of the astronauts that have worked on the ISS are scientists. Prominent? Maybe not, but definately qualified.
I'm not even sure if there are any terminals on the moon..
I'm sure some of IBM's lawyers have already seen this and are chomping at the bit to get a piece of the acti...err... to assist AutoZone.
And if you really can't wait 10 years... NASA's Stardust will bring back some pieces of comet in only 685 days :)
$ id
uid=1002(polar) gid=1002(lander) groups=1002(lander)
$ ssh mars
ssh: connect to host mars: Connection refused
The author of the article is quoting Gilbert Levin (of Viking fame), thus giving someone with a different view a chance to speak his mind. In every remark or conclusion he makes it very clear that it is Levin speaking, not himself. Cut Leonard David a little slack, he does a great job in reporting about the marsrovers in terms that a layman can understand. All he does in this article is speculate a bit about what might be coming from JPL soon.
I say the Soviet Mars 2 mission dug the first hole :)
And again, at least until next week. This time because of insulating foam coming loose.
What you learned about comets while growing up is mostly right. Most comets originate from outside the planets' orbits, either from the Kuiper Belt (in the Pluto region of the solar system) or from the Oort Cloud (waaaaay out there). Sometimes an object from those areas will be nudged into an orbit that brings it closer to the sun. Interaction with the Sun's or planets' gravity may force some comets in smaller orbits (like this one). IANA astronomer, maybe someone else can explain it better...
The surface temperature? I couldn't find any meaningful information in a quick google, but since the comet stays outside Earth's orbit it receives less energy from the Sun than Earth does. So I wouldn't imagine the comet as a red hot glowing piece of molten rock that might melt the spacecraft.
True... But there is a reason that Rosetta intercepts the comet on the outermost point of it's orbit. Because the comet is so far away from the sun it is not yet ejecting gas and particles, that happens when the comet nears the sun and heats up. That's when the famous tail(s) of comets start to appear. The really interesting part of this mission is that we'll see this process of heating up from very close up, from start to finish (if Rosetta lives that long).
IMHO this is ESA's biggest challenge thusfar. 10 years is a very long time to wait for results of your mission... This flash animation shows Rosetta's long journey. This mission is even more awe inspiring than Stardust or Deep Impact.
And you can cook it just the way you like... add some spices, herbs... And get a free beer too :)
I didn't. But my mind's eye saw huge linear accelerators slinging the earth's maddest men at asteroids... Bye Lance! Bye Darl!
IANA astronomer, but that's what I've understood from the stuff that I've read about it. Pop science ofcourse because the math is way over my head.
I'm not sure if "allow" is the problem. First there must be the will to do it, the wish for cooperation. A very nice read is the SP-4209 The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project website. There is a lot of info on that mission there, the first real cooperation in space between USA and USSR, AFAIK. I guess it's more or less applicable to the China situation too..
well... it didn't fly a bit then, did it, your highness? :)
How many apollo flights blew up after flying a short distance? Right, 0. One had a little boom, then again, they named it 13... Anyway, it only partly blew up just a little bit... Never trust those Iraqi information dudes :)
I'm not allowed to run a server, but I could put it up on the webspace that comes with the account.