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San Francisco, 8:15 AM
Sun Nov 22
10 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #esa more →

    Titan's Drone Boat Could Be Joined By a Nuclear Hot-Air Balloon

    Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?

    Pack Your SPF-5 Billion: We're Going To The Sun!

    NASA's Trash and ESA's Treasure

    Europeans Play Asteroids — For Real!

    Heaviest, Farthest Cluster Points Toward Dark Energy

    Galactic Cluster Collision Divides Ordinary Matter from Dark Matter

    Hardcore Martian Moon Pix — In 3D!

    The Frozen Waterfalls of Mars

    Zero-G Metals Will Put a Flying Car In Every Garage
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Bootknife-Jackson Bootknife-Jackson
    11/15/09

    In reply to Titan's Drone Boat Could Be Joined By a Nuclear Hot-Air Balloon
    I am so excited about this mission! This and Europa! Oh man! I might need new space pants here, seriously! The only thing that would be cooler is a manned mission to Titan! But I don't think that's currently feasible.

    Also, has anyone made an Ethan Hawke joke yet? #saturn
     Reply
    Bootknife-Jackson was starred Bootknife-Jackson was unstarred
    Image of Dr Emilio Lizardo Dr Emilio Lizardo
    11/14/09

    In reply to Titan's Drone Boat Could Be Joined By a Nuclear Hot-Air Balloon
    So when the native Titanians (Titanites?) see it, will the UFO be dismissed as a weather balloon? #saturn
     Reply
    Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred Dr Emilio Lizardo was unstarred
    Image of Post-Nuked Post-Nuked
    11/15/09

    @Dr Emilio Lizardo:
    Perhaps swamp gas? #saturn
     Reply
    Post-Nuked was starred Post-Nuked was unstarred
    Image of Alasdair5000 Alasdair5000
    11/14/09

    In reply to Titan's Drone Boat Could Be Joined By a Nuclear Hot-Air Balloon
    A nuclear powered hot air balloon and a robotic boat. On another planet. That's AWESOME:) #saturn
     Reply
    Alasdair5000 was starred Alasdair5000 was unstarred
    Image of mosquitosBuzzz mosquitosBuzzz
    11/14/09

    @Alasdair5000: Agreed.
    But its gonna take soooo long.
    A solid 19 years to be ready to send a balloon to another planet, damn that makes it seem like we're even further behind than I've hoped. sigh #saturn
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment mosquitosBuzzz was starred mosquitosBuzzz was unstarred
    Image of GreyHammer GreyHammer
    11/14/09

    In reply to Titan's Drone Boat Could Be Joined By a Nuclear Hot-Air Balloon
    a balloon makes sense but am i the only one who finds it amusing that a rocket will deliver a device to a far off moon that was developed in the 1800s? #saturn
     Reply
    GreyHammer was starred GreyHammer was unstarred
    Image of Ghost_in_the_Machine Ghost_in_the_Machine
    11/14/09

    @GreyHammer: Well it is a nuclear powered hot air balloon. But the retro factor is pretty cool. #saturn
     Reply
    Ghost_in_the_Machine was starred Ghost_in_the_Machine was unstarred
    Image of CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard) CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard)
    11/14/09

    @Ghost_in_the_Machine: I whole heartedly expect that the crew will be wearing Top Hats whilst stroking their huge beards. Mwhahh. What-o. #saturn
     Reply
    CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard) was starred CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard) was unstarred
    Image of Klebert L. Hall Klebert L. Hall
    08/05/09

    In reply to Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?
    "Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?"
    No.
    For one thing, it would encourage the space program to be filled with internal strife to improve ratings.
    More importantly, this is the mistake that jackass JFK made in the first place, that got us into the situation we're in with NASA today. Making the space program into a public media circus = fail, because the general public thinks it's boring.
    -Kle.
     Reply
    Klebert L. Hall was starred Klebert L. Hall was unstarred
    Image of Boas_MC Boas_MC
    08/04/09

    In reply to Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?
    When I was in Johannesburg a few years back, they had a channel that broadcast Big Brother South Africa 24 hours a day. In real time. And wouldn't you know it, but I had people constantly come over to watch. I was actually experiencing insomnia at the time, so I would sometimes pass the late-night hours watching night-vision footage of a bunch of people sleeping. It was strangely comforting.
    All of which is to say, don't underestimate people's penchant for watching absolutely nothing happen on a screen. Though I suppose they could spice things up with an astronaut confessional booth or a boxful of space puppies...
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Boas_MC was starred Boas_MC was unstarred
    Image of gorehound gorehound
    08/04/09

    In reply to Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?
    excellent !!! Vote em all off to walk the plank in space.
    cause in space no one can hear you scream.
     Reply
    gorehound was starred gorehound was unstarred
    Image of OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear
    08/04/09

    In reply to Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?
    Snippit of future dialogue:
    "Whatever, I dont care what you think. I'm not here to make space friends!"
     Reply
    OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was starred OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was unstarred
    Image of k4man k4man
    08/04/09

    In reply to Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?
    I wouldn't mind a broadcast of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for whatever reason. Just give him hair this time.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment k4man was starred k4man was unstarred
    Image of CParis CParis
    08/04/09

    @k4man:
    I'll take him with any hairdo!
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment CParis was starred CParis was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    08/04/09

    @CParis: I miss "New Amsterdam".
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of EBone EBone
    08/04/09

    In reply to Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?
    If it's going to be a successful reality TV show, the temp on the ship will have to be warm enough to warrant everyone wear bathing suits, and the ratio of female to male astronauts be 2:1.
     Reply
    EBone was starred EBone was unstarred
    Image of LittleDragon LittleDragon
    08/04/09

    @EBone: you forgot the booze
     Reply
    LittleDragon was starred LittleDragon was unstarred
    Image of WestMantooth WestMantooth
    08/04/09

    In reply to Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?
    If it takes some stupid reality show to get people excited about possibly dying a million miles from Earth, then we are doomed.
     Reply
    WestMantooth was starred WestMantooth was unstarred
    Image of jp182 jp182
    08/04/09

    @WestMantooth: ...wait what? are you talking about people WATCHING OTHERS possibly dying a million miles from Earth?
    I thought this article was talking about filming the 105 day test and not the actual mission.
     Reply
    WestMantooth promoted this comment jp182 was starred jp182 was unstarred
    Image of WestMantooth WestMantooth
    08/04/09

    @jp182:
    I know.
    I'm talking about about people not caring about a fake Mission to Mars training more than the thrill of the real thing. I don't think the astronauts would be bored by the actual mission.
    Practicing just sucks. No reality show crap needed.
     Reply
    WestMantooth was starred WestMantooth was unstarred
    Image of EBone EBone
    08/04/09

    In reply to Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?
    Should the US version of 'Life on Mars' be added?
     Reply
    EBone was starred EBone was unstarred
    Image of WestMantooth WestMantooth
    08/04/09

    @EBone:
    Thanks for spoiling it for the rest of us! lol
     Reply
    WestMantooth was starred WestMantooth was unstarred
    Image of NefariousNewt NefariousNewt
    04/29/09

    In reply to Pack Your SPF-5 Billion: We're Going To The Sun!
    These mission are going to be a real gas.
     Reply
    NefariousNewt was starred NefariousNewt was unstarred
    Image of ImTheGarbageman ImTheGarbageman
    04/29/09

    In reply to Pack Your SPF-5 Billion: We're Going To The Sun!
    OK, I'm looking into the 150 years thing, and it is DEFINITELY wrong. Log1c's post above is right.


    I looked at the Telegraph article this links to, and THEY got it wrong, too.


    I'm going to email them and ask where their info came from.


    Here's another link to real info. Its a Power Point presentation about the mission. May take a while to download, but pretty cool.

    [zeus.nascom.nasa.gov]

     Reply
    ImTheGarbageman was starred ImTheGarbageman was unstarred
    Image of ImTheGarbageman ImTheGarbageman
    04/29/09

    @ImTheGarbageman:

    Here's the real thing.


    [www.esa.int]


    It says "150 days" right there.


    I'm wondering if the error originated with the Telegraph writer or if he copied off someone else's paper.

     Reply
    ImTheGarbageman was starred ImTheGarbageman was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    04/29/09

    @ImTheGarbageman: Probably got too excited and rattled off "years" to show off the grandiose scale of things.
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of Log1c Log1c
    04/29/09

    @ImTheGarbageman: AND BAM! You found the error.


    The ESA's probe (ie not NASA) will have an orbital period of 150 days. Which you've just confirmed. NASA's probe has varying orbital periods depending on what orbital path its taking (ie see what I wrote).

     Reply
    Log1c was starred Log1c was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    04/29/09

    @Log1c: Both of you guys rock.
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of Log1c Log1c
    04/29/09

    In reply to Pack Your SPF-5 Billion: We're Going To The Sun!
    150 years isn't anywhere near correct. Its not days either.


    The entire mission has a complete cycle time of 24 orbits totalling 6.4 years. The final 3 orbits within 9.5 Rs or 8.4 Rs* from the Sun's surface occur over a period of 88 days.


    *Rs = 6.96x10^5 km, or (6612000 km and 5846400 km respectively)


    Source: [solarprobe.gsfc.nasa.gov]

     Reply
    Log1c was starred Log1c was unstarred
    Image of corpore-metal corpore-metal
    04/29/09

    @Log1c: It's my theory that the wily IO9 editors make these mistakes on purpose to drag us pointy headed physics geeks out of the woodwork.
     Reply
    corpore-metal was starred corpore-metal was unstarred
    Image of Log1c Log1c
    04/29/09

    @corpore-metal: I'm an engineer, I just read the data sheet ;)
     Reply
    Log1c was starred Log1c was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    04/29/09

    @Log1c: Damn right, that's how we roll. Double checking the max values is up to the design engineer, not the app engineer! *watches things explode*
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    04/29/09

    @crashedpc /sarcasm: Oh you silly fellows and your "math"!
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    04/29/09

    @Grey_Area: Math? I connect random wires and pins and see if shit works. Guess and check is alive! Only we call it the "iterative process".
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    04/29/09

    @Log1c: Ha... Okay I'm taking that reference out. It sounded super weird to me, but I was like, "maybe it's a realllly elliptical orbit!"
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
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