I can't say I'm surprised. The university isn't exactly forthcoming when this kind of thing is concerned. You should have seen what it took just to get the location of SOME of their security cameras around campus. For those interested, it should be in the Daily Texan archives somewhere.
Considering the immense distance between Earth and Titan, it is incredible that we can use radar to see any surface detail at all. If the results from the ESA's Huygens probe are interesting enough, perhaps a Titan-dedicated mission with multiple entry probes and full radar mapping will be commissioned in the next decade.
Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has done it again, it would seem. When the Voyager 1 and 2 missions were launched in 1977, they estimated that they would only last until the encounter with Saturn roughly four years later. Now, in 2004, they are still returning useful data, at a distance of over 90 AU from the Sun (in comparison, Pluto is only 40 AU from it). Sure, they had their problems during the mission, but it looks like Spirit and Opportunity may share a similar quality construction. It's definite that they won't last 27 years, but with how well they are functioning, I think the only limit will be the Martian dust collecting on their solar panels. When they Next Generation Rover lands on Mars in the latter part of this decade, it will hopefully use nuclear power, and overcome this obstacle.
Even without these people, it was most definitely bound to happen. Telemarketing and mass mailing have been the norm for so many years, it's almost inevitable that they would find a place in the digital realm. That being said:
[British]
"I don't like spam!"
[/British]
As a person who mainly cut his teeth on Windows and DOS-based PCs, this series of articles helps out a bit. Sure, it's fun to figure things out yourself, but I'm not always in the mood to have to reference Google every time I try something new and exciting. Now only if they had something that would remember all those console commands so my stupid brain doesn't keep filling up. =P
Slashdot Mirror
I can't say I'm surprised. The university isn't exactly forthcoming when this kind of thing is concerned. You should have seen what it took just to get the location of SOME of their security cameras around campus. For those interested, it should be in the Daily Texan archives somewhere.
Considering the immense distance between Earth and Titan, it is incredible that we can use radar to see any surface detail at all. If the results from the ESA's Huygens probe are interesting enough, perhaps a Titan-dedicated mission with multiple entry probes and full radar mapping will be commissioned in the next decade.
Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has done it again, it would seem. When the Voyager 1 and 2 missions were launched in 1977, they estimated that they would only last until the encounter with Saturn roughly four years later. Now, in 2004, they are still returning useful data, at a distance of over 90 AU from the Sun (in comparison, Pluto is only 40 AU from it). Sure, they had their problems during the mission, but it looks like Spirit and Opportunity may share a similar quality construction. It's definite that they won't last 27 years, but with how well they are functioning, I think the only limit will be the Martian dust collecting on their solar panels. When they Next Generation Rover lands on Mars in the latter part of this decade, it will hopefully use nuclear power, and overcome this obstacle.
Even without these people, it was most definitely bound to happen. Telemarketing and mass mailing have been the norm for so many years, it's almost inevitable that they would find a place in the digital realm. That being said: [British] "I don't like spam!" [/British]
As a person who mainly cut his teeth on Windows and DOS-based PCs, this series of articles helps out a bit. Sure, it's fun to figure things out yourself, but I'm not always in the mood to have to reference Google every time I try something new and exciting. Now only if they had something that would remember all those console commands so my stupid brain doesn't keep filling up. =P