An additional 5 pounds in mass at launch would have required many times that much in additional fuel.
Since we're talking about taking out the five pounds (actually more like 20 pounds) of solar panels + batteries and inserting five pounds of RTG (actually probably closer to ten pounds), we're not actually talking about a massive increase in additional fuel.
On the other hand, let's assume we ARE talking about an extra five pounds of lander.
So, we make the guesstimate that it requires about 10% above escape speed from Earth to reach the design orbit (given the use of gravity assists, it probably doesn't, but hey, rounding errors). And given an Isp of about 300 (last I looked, Ariane was higher Isp than that, but, again, rounding errors...).
Hmm, that works out to 320 extra pounds of fuel for the launch!!! Out of the 270 metric ton launch vehicle. A 0.05% increase in launch mass...oh, the humanity!
Seriously, if the worst case analysis for the RTG is a 0.05% increase in launch mass, I fail to see the insurmountable problem....
The mass of the Churyumov---Gerasimenko comet is roughly 1 x 10^13kg. Should it ever fall to earth, I wouldn't expect the dispersal of U-238 from an aging Rosetta-class probe to be my biggest concern.
Hmm, 10^13kg at hitting the planet at escape speed (actually, a bit more, but escape speed will suffice for demonstration purposes). That works out to about 6.2x10^20 joules.
Call it 150000 megatons equivalent, in round terms (it's actually a few thousand megatons short of that, but rounding errors).
Hmm...150000 megatons + 5kg of Pu238... 150000 megatons without the Pu238...
Yeppers, got to come down on the side of "the Pu238 wouldn't matter if the comet hit the planet.
Caveat: given that you lived in the sweet spot where total destruction caused by the 150000 MT explosion didn't get you, it would be annoying to be clonged on the head by an RTG containment vessel, so in that one case, the Pu238 (as an addition to the 150000 MT) might matter.
I'm assuming that the author managed to mangle the spelling of "hindrance". Mostly because I'd have to be appalled that an "editor" could neither run spellcheck nor recognize a misspelled word...
On the other hand, this is/., so I shouldn't be surprised....
This happened now because the Democrats knew it would fail (if they'd thought it would succeed, they'd have pushed it BEFORE the elections just past), and wanted to get the good publicity for being AGAINST THE NSA!!!
The Republicans voted against it because the Democrats were for it.
Neither Party's position had anything to do with their opinions about the issue (they're both in favour of the status quo) - it was a purely tactical vote.
That means Joe Uber is going to get into more accidents, and requires a far higher level of skill to get the rate down to acceptable level.
Given that Uber is legal in a lot of places (and still done in places it's not), there should be plenty of statistical evidence that they get into more accidents per mile driven than "normal" drivers.
So, can you point me at the evidence that supports your statement, or were you just talking out your ass?
Disclaimer: I've got no interest in this whatsoever. While it's possible Uber operates here, I've never noticed, and am unlikely to do so, since I don't ever have to go anyplace I can't go in my own car.
Obviously, if the company does something illegal the people behind it will be prosecuted, too.
Umm, no. Hence the Limited Liability Corporation.
Note that anyone who owns stock is one of the "people behind it ("it" being the corporation)", so your view of the way corporate law words would make YOU liable for the actions of any corporation whose stock is part of your 401k....
Fortunately, the rest of us live in a world of Limited Liability Corporations, where the owners are not held liable for the actions of the managers....
Hmm, seems to be a reference to the ACA. Note that we didn't need 2000 pages for that, either.
Start with "Age of eligibility for Medicare decreases by one year for every 90 days after the date this legislation becomes law".
Then, "All individuals under the age of majority (currently 18 in the USA, last I looked) are eligible for Medicare as of the date this legislation becomes law".
At that point, we're on a 12 year transition to Single-Payer, and everyone should be happy (except possibly the Insurance Companies that bought the ACA).
Ion engines [wikipedia.org] can impart much higher velocities to the "fuel" than chemical rockets
Pedant Mode...ON.
"Fuel" is what produces the energy. "Reaction Mass" is what you push out the back to make thrust. In chemical rockets, they're the same thing, but in ion engines (or NERVA engines), they're not.
I know a lot of guys don't even wear their wedding ring because it's annoying when you're not used to it
Let's see...I think I stopped wearing my wedding ring the first time I had to put that hand into a junction box with some 450V circuits. Reminding myself to remove the ring every time I had to do something similar just seemed a particularly stupid way to live my life, so into a drawer it went, and it's never come back out.
That the Dupont corn is considered tastier thereby, and that yeilds with it being higher mean increased total supply. These factors combine to drive down the price of local variety and make farming it a losing proprosition over time too.
So, the Dupont corn tastes better & produces more edible grain. Enough so that the local competition is a "losing proposition".
And this is bad, why?
Do keep in mind that industrialization pretty much requires that you get some of those farmers out of the fields and into factories. if 80% of your population are growing food, you don't have much left for anything else, and will end up with a population of peasants....
Given the assumption that AGW is an existential crisis, everyone is going to have to reduce emissions to zero in the near term (near being defined as within half a century).
At that point, we'll all be at the same emission level.
Note that if AGW is NOT an existential threat, it's probably not important to bother with landmark agreements that won't accomplish anything meaningful anyway.
On the other hand, "@madamemariecurie Fuck you and your science you should have stayed in the kitchen, I'm coming right over to your lab at 37 Rue de Nord, Paris 50123 to murder you and defile your body": that's what we want people in jail for.
So, I switched to cable instead, and they lost-out even more as I also cancelled my landline and took the number to a cell phone. Had they continued to operate as common-carriage, I might STILL have that DSL account with those static IPs and still pay the phone company for the privilege.
This is pretty much what happened at my house.
Net result is that I'm paying the Cable Company for internet access (no, I'm not required to buy cable from them too, so I don't bother), using my cell for phone service, and paying TPC (The Phone Company, for those who don't remember the movie The President's Analyst) zilch.
I have a cousin a nephew. Who is a 'veteran' (yet he doesn't even have his ID, his DD214, or any legit story about his service).
I'm a veteran.
From about 30 years ago. I couldn't tell you where my DD214 is to save my life.
And there's not a whole lot other than "we flew to Holy Loch and went on patrol. Then we flew back when the patrol was over." that I could tell you, what with all the security clearances surrounding playing with the Navy's nuclear reactors....
The whole point of Relativity is that you can assume ANY frame of reference you like and get the same answers.
In other words, if you assume that the Earth is the stationary center of the universe, with the rest of observed reality rotating around it, the numbers still work just fine....
Anyone inclined to become a "space tourist" is, pretty much by definition, rich.
In other words, he or she almost certainly doesn't need life insurance to make sure the spouse and rugrats can afford the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed when the breadwinner gets splattered all over the desert.
Slashdot Mirror
Since we're talking about taking out the five pounds (actually more like 20 pounds) of solar panels + batteries and inserting five pounds of RTG (actually probably closer to ten pounds), we're not actually talking about a massive increase in additional fuel.
On the other hand, let's assume we ARE talking about an extra five pounds of lander.
So, we make the guesstimate that it requires about 10% above escape speed from Earth to reach the design orbit (given the use of gravity assists, it probably doesn't, but hey, rounding errors). And given an Isp of about 300 (last I looked, Ariane was higher Isp than that, but, again, rounding errors...).
Hmm, that works out to 320 extra pounds of fuel for the launch!!! Out of the 270 metric ton launch vehicle. A 0.05% increase in launch mass...oh, the humanity!
Seriously, if the worst case analysis for the RTG is a 0.05% increase in launch mass, I fail to see the insurmountable problem....
Hmm, 10^13kg at hitting the planet at escape speed (actually, a bit more, but escape speed will suffice for demonstration purposes). That works out to about 6.2x10^20 joules.
Call it 150000 megatons equivalent, in round terms (it's actually a few thousand megatons short of that, but rounding errors).
Hmm...150000 megatons + 5kg of Pu238... 150000 megatons without the Pu238...
Yeppers, got to come down on the side of "the Pu238 wouldn't matter if the comet hit the planet.
Caveat: given that you lived in the sweet spot where total destruction caused by the 150000 MT explosion didn't get you, it would be annoying to be clonged on the head by an RTG containment vessel, so in that one case, the Pu238 (as an addition to the 150000 MT) might matter.
I'm assuming that the author managed to mangle the spelling of "hindrance". Mostly because I'd have to be appalled that an "editor" could neither run spellcheck nor recognize a misspelled word...
On the other hand, this is /., so I shouldn't be surprised....
Oh, nonsense!
it's not like the compiler can tell that explode() precludes further processing.
Any more than the killbot-2100 can tell whether it has killed the last human on Earth, thus leaving its programming eternally unfulfilled....
This happened now because the Democrats knew it would fail (if they'd thought it would succeed, they'd have pushed it BEFORE the elections just past), and wanted to get the good publicity for being AGAINST THE NSA!!!
The Republicans voted against it because the Democrats were for it.
Neither Party's position had anything to do with their opinions about the issue (they're both in favour of the status quo) - it was a purely tactical vote.
Given that Uber is legal in a lot of places (and still done in places it's not), there should be plenty of statistical evidence that they get into more accidents per mile driven than "normal" drivers.
So, can you point me at the evidence that supports your statement, or were you just talking out your ass?
Disclaimer: I've got no interest in this whatsoever. While it's possible Uber operates here, I've never noticed, and am unlikely to do so, since I don't ever have to go anyplace I can't go in my own car.
Umm, no. Hence the Limited Liability Corporation.
Note that anyone who owns stock is one of the "people behind it ("it" being the corporation)", so your view of the way corporate law words would make YOU liable for the actions of any corporation whose stock is part of your 401k....
Fortunately, the rest of us live in a world of Limited Liability Corporations, where the owners are not held liable for the actions of the managers....
Hmm, seems to be a reference to the ACA. Note that we didn't need 2000 pages for that, either.
Start with "Age of eligibility for Medicare decreases by one year for every 90 days after the date this legislation becomes law".
Then, "All individuals under the age of majority (currently 18 in the USA, last I looked) are eligible for Medicare as of the date this legislation becomes law".
At that point, we're on a 12 year transition to Single-Payer, and everyone should be happy (except possibly the Insurance Companies that bought the ACA).
Pedant Mode...ON.
"Fuel" is what produces the energy. "Reaction Mass" is what you push out the back to make thrust. In chemical rockets, they're the same thing, but in ion engines (or NERVA engines), they're not.
Let's see...I think I stopped wearing my wedding ring the first time I had to put that hand into a junction box with some 450V circuits. Reminding myself to remove the ring every time I had to do something similar just seemed a particularly stupid way to live my life, so into a drawer it went, and it's never come back out.
The coffers of people doing frivolous lawsuits are finite. The amount a lawyer can get doing frivolous lawsuits at government expense are NOT.
In other words, do we really want endless frivolous lawsuits being filed at our expense?
So, the Dupont corn tastes better & produces more edible grain. Enough so that the local competition is a "losing proposition".
And this is bad, why?
Do keep in mind that industrialization pretty much requires that you get some of those farmers out of the fields and into factories. if 80% of your population are growing food, you don't have much left for anything else, and will end up with a population of peasants....
Citation? I didn't notice any mention of "steep discounts".
"Getting a large lease"? Is that the same thing as "paying the government a lot of money"?
Yes, the winner wasn't a Democrat....
Given the assumption that AGW is an existential crisis, everyone is going to have to reduce emissions to zero in the near term (near being defined as within half a century).
At that point, we'll all be at the same emission level.
Note that if AGW is NOT an existential threat, it's probably not important to bother with landmark agreements that won't accomplish anything meaningful anyway.
Closer to 9000 hours per year (8760, 8784 in leap years, 8766 on average).
Which would make your estimate closer to 600 KWh/m^2....
I've had two CT scans this year.
Compared to that, a maximum of 8 becquerels per ton of seawater is pretty much meaningless.
Fortunately, that's already a crime.
Problem solved a century ago....
Two things:
1) Whatever makes you think that retail giants are "pure-blooded capitalists"?
2) A sufficiently powerful government usually means that the cheapest solution to any problem is to buy favourable legislation.
This is pretty much what happened at my house.
Net result is that I'm paying the Cable Company for internet access (no, I'm not required to buy cable from them too, so I don't bother), using my cell for phone service, and paying TPC (The Phone Company, for those who don't remember the movie The President's Analyst) zilch.
I'm a veteran.
From about 30 years ago. I couldn't tell you where my DD214 is to save my life.
And there's not a whole lot other than "we flew to Holy Loch and went on patrol. Then we flew back when the patrol was over." that I could tell you, what with all the security clearances surrounding playing with the Navy's nuclear reactors....
Hell, $75/annum is only six bucks a month. I'd get one if I lived there, just for the novelty value....
The whole point of Relativity is that you can assume ANY frame of reference you like and get the same answers.
In other words, if you assume that the Earth is the stationary center of the universe, with the rest of observed reality rotating around it, the numbers still work just fine....
Anyone inclined to become a "space tourist" is, pretty much by definition, rich.
In other words, he or she almost certainly doesn't need life insurance to make sure the spouse and rugrats can afford the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed when the breadwinner gets splattered all over the desert.
Is that near the Straits of Dover? Or the Straits of Gibraltar?