Well, on the ISS when the latest rounds of solar panels were being deployed automatically (via a robot, if you like), one of the tracks jammed and an astronaut had to go out and whack it with one of those $10,000 hammers.
Robots are great, but sometimes, you just need to whack something with a hammer...
Favorite Three Laws moment: After some robots are told to restrain the protagonist, he puts a gun to his own head and tells them if they come any closer, he will kill himself...
They must act to prevent harm to humans, but if they act, he will be harmed, but they have to prevent that, so they must act. But if they act, he will be harrrrrrgggxxxkkkktttt *pop*
The problem with so many ideas to remove space debris is that most of them seem to add to the problem. Even microscopic particles can do tremendous damage at the velocities concerned.
The best idea I've come up with would be to send a cannister into the path of the debris to be removed at a slightly lower relative velocity. This device would then open, releasing a huge cloud of rapidly expanding resinous foam (think of the canned stuff you use to fill holes in the wall). The debris would then impact and become lodged in the hardened foam. The very large (but very low mass) object could then be caused to burn up in the atmosphere.
Then again, getting the canister up there will, of course, generate *more* debris...
Lower demands on QA now that the launch period has passed...
Kinda like the doctor who says:
I have good news and bad news.
The bad news is you've lost a lot of blood.
The good news is you lost an arm and a leg too, so you don't need as much of it.
In favor of the teacher's stance. While I cannot agree with her *methodology*...
The concept being that the content of the lectures you attended has an agreed upon finite value: You paid a semester's tuition for them.
Therefore, providing that same content for free (or at reduced cost) to another person could well be construed as a devaluation of that content, and hence, actionable.
As a casual gamer, I find that with many MMO titles, I never get to experience the 'whole' game. In World of Warcraft, I do not have 39 buddies and two five-hour blocks of time a week, so I will never see a fair amount of the 'end game' despite the fact that I paid for it and continue paying for it. Analogies are suspect, but I somtimes feel as if i've paid $20 to see a movie, but am not allowed to watch the last reel.
A game where you are charged a minimal fee for the 'basic' game, and optional additional charges for more 'hardcore' content would be fine by me.
Considering NASA gets a mere 0.6% of the federal budget (granted, it's a darn big pie to start off with), I'm amazed that they can pull off what they do.
As to the 'Spending money in Space' issue, I'm reminded of a statement made by a former head of the Interplanetary Society:
"Not a single dime has been spent in space. We don't have any malls up there yet."
While seemingly ridiculous, there is a significant hidden meaning in the statement. Every dime spent by NASA is given to someone on this planet to do work; NASA spends the money on science. We as a species benefit from this when the esoteric technologies eventually 'trickle down'.
One of the most ubiquitous examples is smoke detectors. Now found in virtually every home in America and credited with saving many thousands of lives, these devices were invented by NASA in order to protect the astronauts aboard Skylab.
So when you hear the darned thing chirping, remember that it was money well-invested in NASA.
How about a bunch of halogen lights hooked up to a motion sensor?
If that's not enough, set them to strobe at about 10-30 Hz. Causes the human nervous system to wildly malfunction, inducing what is essentially an epileptic seizure in anyone.
Blind them with *science* !
P.S. For those who feel they must use a firearm to defend their homes: Sellier and Bellot make a variety of "less-lethal" shotshells. Now you can use the same rubber bullets the riot cops do!
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Well, on the ISS when the latest rounds of solar panels were being deployed automatically (via a robot, if you like), one of the tracks jammed and an astronaut had to go out and whack it with one of those $10,000 hammers.
Robots are great, but sometimes, you just need to whack something with a hammer...
Diatoms that generate electricity... great! Who's in charge of soldering the leads to them so we can harness it ?
I always wondered where that phrase came from...
Favorite Three Laws moment: After some robots are told to restrain the protagonist, he puts a gun to his own head and tells them if they come any closer, he will kill himself...
They must act to prevent harm to humans, but if they act, he will be harmed, but they have to prevent that, so they must act. But if they act, he will be harrrrrrgggxxxkkkktttt *pop*
The problem with so many ideas to remove space debris is that most of them seem to add to the problem. Even microscopic particles can do tremendous damage at the velocities concerned.
The best idea I've come up with would be to send a cannister into the path of the debris to be removed at a slightly lower relative velocity. This device would then open, releasing a huge cloud of rapidly expanding resinous foam (think of the canned stuff you use to fill holes in the wall). The debris would then impact and become lodged in the hardened foam. The very large (but very low mass) object could then be caused to burn up in the atmosphere.
Then again, getting the canister up there will, of course, generate *more* debris...
Lower demands on QA now that the launch period has passed...
Kinda like the doctor who says:
I have good news and bad news.
The bad news is you've lost a lot of blood.
The good news is you lost an arm and a leg too, so you don't need as much of it.
... and i'm in !
You mean other than the smoke alarm, which saves hundreds of lives every day, and was developed specifically for the Skylab program ?
Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft ...
and the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor.
- Wernher von Braun
In favor of the teacher's stance. While I cannot agree with her *methodology*...
The concept being that the content of the lectures you attended has an agreed upon finite value: You paid a semester's tuition for them.
Therefore, providing that same content for free (or at reduced cost) to another person could well be construed as a devaluation of that content, and hence, actionable.
As a casual gamer, I find that with many MMO titles, I never get to experience the 'whole' game. In World of Warcraft, I do not have 39 buddies and two five-hour blocks of time a week, so I will never see a fair amount of the 'end game' despite the fact that I paid for it and continue paying for it. Analogies are suspect, but I somtimes feel as if i've paid $20 to see a movie, but am not allowed to watch the last reel.
A game where you are charged a minimal fee for the 'basic' game, and optional additional charges for more 'hardcore' content would be fine by me.
Considering NASA gets a mere 0.6% of the federal budget (granted, it's a darn big pie to start off with), I'm amazed that they can pull off what they do.
As to the 'Spending money in Space' issue, I'm reminded of a statement made by a former head of the Interplanetary Society:
"Not a single dime has been spent in space. We don't have any malls up there yet."
While seemingly ridiculous, there is a significant hidden meaning in the statement. Every dime spent by NASA is given to someone on this planet to do work; NASA spends the money on science. We as a species benefit from this when the esoteric technologies eventually 'trickle down'.
One of the most ubiquitous examples is smoke detectors. Now found in virtually every home in America and credited with saving many thousands of lives, these devices were invented by NASA in order to protect the astronauts aboard Skylab.
So when you hear the darned thing chirping, remember that it was money well-invested in NASA.
Now we won't be able to tell the classic "Blonde holding the page up to her monitor and pressing the 'PrintScreen' key" joke anymore...
Short story by Spider Robinson on the evolution of copyright as regards artistic endeavors.
Anthologised in "By Any Other Name". ( ISBN 0-671-31976-4 )
An excellent cautionary tale on the perils of extending copyrights.
-Rollgunner
How about a bunch of halogen lights hooked up to a motion sensor?
If that's not enough, set them to strobe at about 10-30 Hz. Causes the human nervous system to wildly malfunction, inducing what is essentially an epileptic seizure in anyone.
Blind them with *science* !
P.S. For those who feel they must use a firearm to defend their homes: Sellier and Bellot make a variety of "less-lethal" shotshells. Now you can use the same rubber bullets the riot cops do!