the works of william shakespeare didn't start out their star studded lives as computer code. They went through a lengthy evolution through at least several iterations of printing presses before they made their way to a digital medium.
Data evolves. If theres one thing that google searches have shown it is that the demand of information is always changing, people arent going to want the same chicken noodle soup that they had fifty years ago because we make better chicken noodle soup now.
If the census 2000 information really deserves saving it will be copied hundreds of times into different isolated servers by individuals or companies who use the information. it will be ported to a new format, it will evolve.
The general idea of a ionization engine is obviously sustained impulse (as previously stated).
Ionizations engines are typically attatched to probes which have initial combustion engines that give them the thrust required to escape the earth's gravity. Once the probes have escaped gravity, the ion engines allow continual thrust that allow (for extremely long range expeditions) extremely high velocity. It is a competing technology with solar sails - which also allows for huge velocities over long distances using continual (though very low) acceleration.
This probe isnt making much use of the ionization engine, as the article says: "Smart was originally designed to test the feasibility of 'ion engines' which operate by shooting out streams of electrically-charged xenon." The duration of the mission isnt long enough to reap the benefits of a continual acceleration device.
Theoretically, ionization engines and such drives are the only currently possible means of probing, say, the other side of the galaxy, within hundreds or thousands of years, instead of taking billions of years with a one-thrust coast - as they have the possibility of reaching fractions of the speed of light.
But this is more about the moon's origins than the ion drive =)
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the works of william shakespeare didn't start out their star studded lives as computer code. They went through a lengthy evolution through at least several iterations of printing presses before they made their way to a digital medium.
Data evolves. If theres one thing that google searches have shown it is that the demand of information is always changing, people arent going to want the same chicken noodle soup that they had fifty years ago because we make better chicken noodle soup now.
If the census 2000 information really deserves saving it will be copied hundreds of times into different isolated servers by individuals or companies who use the information. it will be ported to a new format, it will evolve.
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The general idea of a ionization engine is obviously sustained impulse (as previously stated).
Ionizations engines are typically attatched to probes which have initial combustion engines that give them the thrust required to escape the earth's gravity. Once the probes have escaped gravity, the ion engines allow continual thrust that allow (for extremely long range expeditions) extremely high velocity. It is a competing technology with solar sails - which also allows for huge velocities over long distances using continual (though very low) acceleration.
This probe isnt making much use of the ionization engine, as the article says: "Smart was originally designed to test the feasibility of 'ion engines' which operate by shooting out streams of electrically-charged xenon." The duration of the mission isnt long enough to reap the benefits of a continual acceleration device.
Theoretically, ionization engines and such drives are the only currently possible means of probing, say, the other side of the galaxy, within hundreds or thousands of years, instead of taking billions of years with a one-thrust coast - as they have the possibility of reaching fractions of the speed of light.
But this is more about the moon's origins than the ion drive =)