As somebody stated before, this is *an experiment*. It's not really going to repair anything.
It's important to remember that this kind of science is like any other conducted with a large grant. The experiment itself is fairly limited. If it goes well, then they can apply for more money to design and build another satellite with more capability (they probably have a draft of the next grant already). Since it's a limited experiment they are probably fairly sure of some degree of success. Even then they may not get any more grant money, or it may be delayed for a time until they find new sources. The final goal of a "repair satellite" is just so much smoke designed to fuel their research. I'd be surprised if they even have a plan mapped out to such a spacecraft.
Gee, since the Defense Department has a budget orders of magnitude higher than NASA, I don't think the government needs any help subsidizing defense.
Re:To the Retard who Posted this Story
on
New Ice Age Theory
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It's true that Venus is hotter than Mercury (well, I'd believe it anyway). But you can't convince me that Titan is colder than Venus only because of the atmosphere! What if you moved Venus out past Neptune, would it still be as hot?
I think global warming is accepted by those with open minds, but keeping an open mind means looking at other science as well. It's how we got here.
MRO has been trying to image Beagle 2 based on possible locations from MGS. But there have been some minor problems so the targeting was off. There will be another try soon, and then a new planning cycle will try to fit it in. But the observations are generally chosen by the scientists for each experiment (in this case HiRISE) so if they want science instead of PR, then Beagle will have to wait.
It could be done, but one of the primary considerations is practical -- mission cost. You need to pay for the additional time in mission operations to go back and forth. Looking at the energy cost, you need less to go to Venus than Mars but I haven't done the gravity assist calculations for it. But you can either add energy or subtract energy to the orbit with a flyby.
Missions to Mars are typically about half an orbit around the Sun. Type 1 orbits are less than 180 degrees, Type 2 are greater. But it can also be done with an orbit and a half (Types 3 and 4) and sometimes these are easier to accomplish. But in that case you're paying for a mission on the ground for that extra transfer time.
Gee, it's nice that you concede NASA still gets things done despite our 'low tech' and being 'behind.' Yes, it's too bad the rovers are still alive, it sure is expensive to keep driving around, getting science. And it's a nice tip about reducing project costs by launching nuclear materials into space. I'm sure the EU would love to do this from their own launch pad... in South America, just in case it blows up.
Remind me again, what are the amazing EU successes? Please list at least three.
It's simply not useful to discuss being 'smart' or 'intelligent' in this area. There are many, many smart people who are not interested in getting up on the OS learning curve. Most of the people here enjoy tinkering with software, hardware, programming, etc. We are a minority. It isn't that the world is not ready for Linux; Linux is not ready for the world.
I'll try to go in a different direction from the 'appliance' metaphor. Let's use, hmm, myself as an example. I have a good engineering job associated with NASA, so I'll classify myself as 'smart,' or smart enough anyway. How many of the things I need and use every day do I keep trying to learn about? A very few. I don't handle my own investments. I don't fix my own car. I don't sew my own clothes, homeschool my daughter, play music, grow my own food, fix the roof, or even mow my own lawn. Fortunately I can cook and use the TiVo and generally dress myself in the morning;) Nobody would argue that I couldn't learn to do any of these things tolerably well, but I don't want to. I have other things I want to do.
I do have another couple of examples. My mom, in her 70s, was quite willing to talk about the benefits of switching to OS X when it came out. After the kids left she *did* get interested in computers. And she's doing pretty well.
A second is a friend of mine with a graduate degree. I helped her select a PC a few years ago, but eventually she picked some HP media PC which I thought was a poor choice. Oh well, no skin off my nose. I helped her get set up and I have some hope it's not a spambot. But later on we talked about software and she simply couldn't see how Mac software would have a problem running on her machine. "How different could it be?" she wondered. Once again a smart person who was busy with other things.
I probably shouldn't bring up my wife, who insists on using IE instead of FF because she thinks "FF doesn't work right." We just got the new IE7 pushed on us, so we'll see how that goes.
We certainly have our surveillance problems, but the UK is way ahead of us. What about the stat that 20% of the world's CCTV cameras are in the UK? One for every 14 people? I mean, we're still debating whether you can give people traffic tickets when the pictures show them running red lights. How about the town where you need fingerprint ID just to go into a bar? I mean, I'm wasting my time arguing with libertarians here and I find that absolutely frightening...
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/
You're not making a convincing argument with this. What does total oppression mean to you? Hint: it's nothing,
nothing
like what exists in North America or Western Europe. I've lived under martial law in Southeast Asia, and that was pretty bad. You would open the paper in the morning and read about the new 'Presidential Proclamation' i.e., the new law. But this talk of 'total oppression' simply has no meaning. The best I can come up with for that is Apokolips and I'm having trouble seeing Bush or Kerry as Darkseid.
BTW, I think your sig is making you look absolutist too. There are other states of being besides ignorance, idiocy and informed sainthood.
Mod parent up, please! I won't say that Libertarians have a classic weakness, but a reasoned reply is much better than any posting which uses the word "fascism."
I can't see the original reference, but it's worth noting that the SLA was not merely a bunch of incompetents. Well, perhaps they were, but they murdered two people. One was an assassination with hollow-point bullets dipped in cyanide. It should be obvious to the original poster that the fact nobody was hurt was simply coincidence.
The only reason to claim a network is not "fair and balanced" is because it doesn't fit your political agenda.
Bollocks. There is such a thing as reporting the truth without bias. Suppose the American Spectator had a network, how would that rate? What about Greenpeace? Each of these organizations has an agenda. Look at Trinity Broadcasting, are they fair and balanced? Roger Ailes has an agenda as a long-time Republican political operative and that is reflected in the reporting. Also, the distinction you draw between news and editorializing is false. The discussion is about Fox News, the network, not 'Fox News' the department which writes the stories.
It's a good point about the angular deformation, but the camera already has distance information from the range finder. This could be used as a starting point to correct the angular problems. Of course the resolution of the farthest points would still be less. The vertical and horizontal pan could be corrected if there were overlap areas.
This would require massive CPU firepower in today's terms, but very possible later. Also, if overlapping or movie data were available, then processing could be used to lower the effective resolution of the final photo by combining images.
For those of you not acquainted with the Mike Rowe in the article, try watching his "Dirty Jobs" show for a while. You'll see the worst of these and more... it may be a bad sign that my eight-year-old daughter is addicted to this show. It really only bothers me when he's "stimulating" a horse or such, but hey, my parents, grandparents grew up on farms. I mostly view it as the "go to college or else" show on TV.
Manure Inspector
I challenge anyone to find an episode without manure in it. Manure, or "poo" as he prefers, is the very heart and soul of this show.
Orangutan-Pee Collector
Hmm, he did stool collections from polar bears, or were they seals? About equivalent.
Hot-zone Superintendent
I'll back off on this. This is not the kind of dirt you wash off, these guys are heroes.
Extremophile Excavator
See above.
Dysentery Stool Sample Analyzer
Would it count with cows?
Semen Washer
As others said, nothing too dirty about looking through a microscope.
Volcanologist
Check. And too much fun to be called dirty.
Carcass Cleaner
Double check (and spectacular!).
Fistula Feeder
Is this better or worse than having your arm up to the elbow in a mare to check for pregnancy?
Corpse-Flower Grower
Not too impressed with this one. I realize botany is a science, but this sounds like smelly gardening. If it had to be fed with corpses I'd rate it higher.
Slashdot Mirror
It's definitely MRO, you can identify HiRISE sticking out the side.
As somebody stated before, this is *an experiment*. It's not really going to repair anything.
It's important to remember that this kind of science is like any other conducted with a large grant. The experiment itself is fairly limited. If it goes well, then they can apply for more money to design and build another satellite with more capability (they probably have a draft of the next grant already). Since it's a limited experiment they are probably fairly sure of some degree of success. Even then they may not get any more grant money, or it may be delayed for a time until they find new sources. The final goal of a "repair satellite" is just so much smoke designed to fuel their research. I'd be surprised if they even have a plan mapped out to such a spacecraft.
Gee, since the Defense Department has a budget orders of magnitude higher than NASA, I don't think the government needs any help subsidizing defense.
It's true that Venus is hotter than Mercury (well, I'd believe it anyway). But you can't convince me that Titan is colder than Venus only because of the atmosphere! What if you moved Venus out past Neptune, would it still be as hot?
I think global warming is accepted by those with open minds, but keeping an open mind means looking at other science as well. It's how we got here.
MRO has been trying to image Beagle 2 based on possible locations from MGS. But there have been some minor problems so the targeting was off. There will be another try soon, and then a new planning cycle will try to fit it in. But the observations are generally chosen by the scientists for each experiment (in this case HiRISE) so if they want science instead of PR, then Beagle will have to wait.
The line that comes to mind here is "Captain Cheese ... er, sorry, Chase."
Oh, and to think I wasted mod points yesterday on "Insightful" comments!
I'll try to keep that one in mind for my deathbed. Everyone's used to my smart-ass remarks, it should be great for the wake.
It could be done, but one of the primary considerations is practical -- mission cost. You need to pay for the additional time in mission operations to go back and forth. Looking at the energy cost, you need less to go to Venus than Mars but I haven't done the gravity assist calculations for it. But you can either add energy or subtract energy to the orbit with a flyby.
Missions to Mars are typically about half an orbit around the Sun. Type 1 orbits are less than 180 degrees, Type 2 are greater. But it can also be done with an orbit and a half (Types 3 and 4) and sometimes these are easier to accomplish. But in that case you're paying for a mission on the ground for that extra transfer time.
Gee, it's nice that you concede NASA still gets things done despite our 'low tech' and being 'behind.' Yes, it's too bad the rovers are still alive, it sure is expensive to keep driving around, getting science. And it's a nice tip about reducing project costs by launching nuclear materials into space. I'm sure the EU would love to do this from their own launch pad ... in South America, just in case it blows up.
Remind me again, what are the amazing EU successes? Please list at least three.
Put that cough syrup down right now!
Welcome to the working world. Wait until you have children.
Well, sorta, the cable's not really in orbit. Not one I know how to write down, anyway.
Hmmm ... I don't know any rocket scientists from Ohio State. Definitely some from Michigan. I see mostly MIT, Texas, Purdue, Colorado.
It's not much of a river ... but it's not the depth, it's the pollution that slows people down.
I liked this story better the first time ... http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/02/15 13239
It's simply not useful to discuss being 'smart' or 'intelligent' in this area. There are many, many smart people who are not interested in getting up on the OS learning curve. Most of the people here enjoy tinkering with software, hardware, programming, etc. We are a minority. It isn't that the world is not ready for Linux; Linux is not ready for the world.
;) Nobody would argue that I couldn't learn to do any of these things tolerably well, but I don't want to. I have other things I want to do.
I'll try to go in a different direction from the 'appliance' metaphor. Let's use, hmm, myself as an example. I have a good engineering job associated with NASA, so I'll classify myself as 'smart,' or smart enough anyway. How many of the things I need and use every day do I keep trying to learn about? A very few. I don't handle my own investments. I don't fix my own car. I don't sew my own clothes, homeschool my daughter, play music, grow my own food, fix the roof, or even mow my own lawn. Fortunately I can cook and use the TiVo and generally dress myself in the morning
I do have another couple of examples. My mom, in her 70s, was quite willing to talk about the benefits of switching to OS X when it came out. After the kids left she *did* get interested in computers. And she's doing pretty well.
A second is a friend of mine with a graduate degree. I helped her select a PC a few years ago, but eventually she picked some HP media PC which I thought was a poor choice. Oh well, no skin off my nose. I helped her get set up and I have some hope it's not a spambot. But later on we talked about software and she simply couldn't see how Mac software would have a problem running on her machine. "How different could it be?" she wondered. Once again a smart person who was busy with other things.
I probably shouldn't bring up my wife, who insists on using IE instead of FF because she thinks "FF doesn't work right." We just got the new IE7 pushed on us, so we'll see how that goes.
Thanks, I really needed a lift. Nicely done!
We certainly have our surveillance problems, but the UK is way ahead of us. What about the stat that 20% of the world's CCTV cameras are in the UK? One for every 14 people? I mean, we're still debating whether you can give people traffic tickets when the pictures show them running red lights. How about the town where you need fingerprint ID just to go into a bar? I mean, I'm wasting my time arguing with libertarians here and I find that absolutely frightening ...
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/
- nothing
like what exists in North America or Western Europe. I've lived under martial law in Southeast Asia, and that was pretty bad. You would open the paper in the morning and read about the new 'Presidential Proclamation' i.e., the new law. But this talk of 'total oppression' simply has no meaning. The best I can come up with for that is Apokolips and I'm having trouble seeing Bush or Kerry as Darkseid.BTW, I think your sig is making you look absolutist too. There are other states of being besides ignorance, idiocy and informed sainthood.
Mod parent up, please! I won't say that Libertarians have a classic weakness, but a reasoned reply is much better than any posting which uses the word "fascism."
I can't see the original reference, but it's worth noting that the SLA was not merely a bunch of incompetents. Well, perhaps they were, but they murdered two people. One was an assassination with hollow-point bullets dipped in cyanide.
It should be obvious to the original poster that the fact nobody was hurt was simply coincidence.
I heard it was 85% ...
It's a good point about the angular deformation, but the camera already has distance information from the range finder. This could be used as a starting point to correct the angular problems. Of course the resolution of the farthest points would still be less. The vertical and horizontal pan could be corrected if there were overlap areas.
This would require massive CPU firepower in today's terms, but very possible later. Also, if overlapping or movie data were available, then processing could be used to lower the effective resolution of the final photo by combining images.
For those of you not acquainted with the Mike Rowe in the article, try watching his "Dirty Jobs" show for a while. You'll see the worst of these and more ... it may be a bad sign that my eight-year-old daughter is addicted to this show. It really only bothers me when he's "stimulating" a horse or such, but hey, my parents, grandparents grew up on farms. I mostly view it as the "go to college or else" show on TV.
Manure Inspector
I challenge anyone to find an episode without manure in it. Manure, or "poo" as he prefers, is the very heart and soul of this show.
Orangutan-Pee Collector
Hmm, he did stool collections from polar bears, or were they seals? About equivalent.
Hot-zone Superintendent
I'll back off on this. This is not the kind of dirt you wash off, these guys are heroes.
Extremophile Excavator
See above.
Dysentery Stool Sample Analyzer
Would it count with cows?
Semen Washer
As others said, nothing too dirty about looking through a microscope.
Volcanologist
Check. And too much fun to be called dirty.
Carcass Cleaner
Double check (and spectacular!).
Fistula Feeder
Is this better or worse than having your arm up to the elbow in a mare to check for pregnancy?
Corpse-Flower Grower
Not too impressed with this one. I realize botany is a science, but this sounds like smelly gardening. If it had to be fed with corpses I'd rate it higher.