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Rosco Bodine
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A relaunch attempt is to occur in a few minutes
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html
[Edited on 22-5-2012 by Rosco Bodine]
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Rosco Bodine
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Entrepreneurs in Space: SpaceX Proves that Space Belongs to the Private Sector
<iframe sandbox width="624" height="351" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B5m7odnak8Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Rosco Bodine
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6 days to Mars landing for Curiosity
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html
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Twospoons
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Its such a bold plan, I really hope it all works out well.
Helicopter: "helico" -> spiral, "pter" -> with wings
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froot
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I'm not sure about the skycrane stage where the rover is lowered to the surface, the rover would have to be lowered below the skycrane's booster
nozzles and even though they are angled away the exhaust gases could easily cause the rover to swing uncontrollably on it's tether.
According to Wiki the surface 'air' pressure on earth is over 150 times that on mars so the exhaust gas spread from the nozzles would be considerably
broader raising my suspicions even more.
We salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who remove themselves from it.
Of necessity, this honor is generally bestowed posthumously. - www.darwinawards.com |
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Rosco Bodine
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Less than 8 hours to Mars landing by Curiosity Mars Rover
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html
<iframe sandbox width="626" height="386" src="http://www.ustream.tv/embed/recorded/24496015" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: 0px none
transparent;"> </iframe>
<br /><a href="http://www.ustream.tv/" style="padding: 2px 0px 4px; width: 400px; background: #ffffff; display: block; color: #000000;
font-weight: normal; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Video streaming by Ustream</a>
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Twospoons
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Its going to be at about 5:30 pm, New Zealand time - I will be watching!
Workmate just showed be a short vid by Neil deGrasse Tyson . It had some interesting remarks about NASA's budget. The one that got me was the fact
that the recent bank bailout cost more than the entire 50 year running budget of NASA. Food for thought.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbIZU8cQWXc
[Edited on 5-8-2012 by Twospoons]
Helicopter: "helico" -> spiral, "pter" -> with wings
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Rosco Bodine
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Success 
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watson.fawkes
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Great landings come from happy nerds.
Happy nerds come from California.
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phlogiston
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| Quote: | | budget. The one that got me was the fact that the recent bank bailout cost more than the entire 50 year running budget of NASA.
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Similarly, for the money we are spending to save Greece from bankruptcy alone, we could have built the Large Hadron Collider 30 times over.
Oh, If you could only spend 10% of that lost money on exploring Jupiters moon Europa and it ocean.
I wish so badly we could spend all that money wasted through corruption, war, lazyness, stupidity on intriguing science.
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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
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Endimion17
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Isn't posting about Curiosity on Phoenix thread off topic?
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neptunium
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dont forget the olympics! its so important to blow money on entertaining the masses...live!
Sadly ,space explorations doesnt inspired too many people theses days im affraid.
just us geeks and weirdos..
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Twospoons
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Spending money on international sporting events is fine by me. Bailing out greedy and corrupt bankers is not.
Congrats to NASA on a successful landing. If this mission is even half as good as Spirit and Opportunity it will be money well spent. Those two little
rovers - what marvellous engineering to have so far exceeded their design life.
[Edited on 6-8-2012 by Twospoons]
Helicopter: "helico" -> spiral, "pter" -> with wings
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Magpie
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This a great engineering achievement and will no doubt add to our understanding of Mars, our solar system, and cosmology in general. What bothers me
is the media's obsession with trying to find out if there is, was, or ever could be life, or support for life, on Mars, or anywhere else for that
matter. NASA also seems to pose that question as a major justification for space exploration. Why is the answer to that question so important?
[Edited on 7-8-2012 by Magpie]
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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Rogeryermaw
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science fiction has people convinced we will be colonizing other planets within the next generation when the current generation seems completely
uninterested in science.
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Rosco Bodine
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Here we have history repeating itself with another money shot by the Mars orbiter capturing an image of Curiosity hanging on its chute and the heat
shield falling away below in the distance. Tell me those JPL boys aren't good
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neptunium
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Quote: Originally posted by Magpie  | This a great engineering achievement and will no doubt add to our understanding of Mars, our solar system, and cosmology in general. What bothers me
is the media's obsession with trying to find out if there is, was, or ever could be life, or support for life, on Mars, or anywhere else for that
matter. NASA also seems to pose that question as a major justification for space exploration. Why is the answer to that question so important?
[Edited on 7-8-2012 by Magpie] |
finding life or traces of passed life would mean that life is not uncommon in the universe . if it could have appeared twice in one star system, then
it must be everywhere in the cosmos, and is not a rare isolated event.
also it allows scientist to understand why life has dissapear (or not ?) on mars and was succesful here . its the biggest bio chemistry anyone could
hope for!
It will tell us where to look for life and what to expect from its chemistry. DNA, compatibility etc..
no matter what the answer to our questions may be , other suprises and question will arise! thats what so fascinating about science!
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Magpie
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| Quote: Originally posted by neptunium |
finding life or traces of passed life would mean that life is not uncommon in the universe . if it could have appeared twice in one star system, then
it must be everywhere in the cosmos, and is not a rare isolated event.
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Agreed. But of what use is that information?
| Quote: Originally posted by neptunium |
also it allows scientist to understand why life has dissapear (or not ?) on mars and was succesful here . its the biggest bio chemistry anyone could
hope for!
It will tell us where to look for life and what to expect from its chemistry. DNA, compatibility etc..
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Life exists in some very harsh environments on earth, eg, miles down undersea, in undersea volcano vents, and in arctic areas. But I presume that
these life forms were adaptations that spread from more temperate places. Finding life in the harsh environment of Mars would indeed be a surprise to
me.
| Quote: Originally posted by neptunium |
no matter what the answer to our questions may be , other suprises and question will arise! thats what so fascinating about science!
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I agree.
-----------------------------------
Long before we had moon landings we had meteorites and spectrographic information that indicated that the universe was composed of the same elements
of the periodic table that we find on earth. Still many people were not entirely sure that the moon was not composed of green cheese until rock
samples were brought back for analysis.
Also there was speculation that we could be invaded by creatures from Mars, or that there could be enemies hiding on the back side of the moon. I'm
just rambling here....
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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watson.fawkes
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| Quote: Originally posted by Magpie | | Also there was speculation that we could be invaded by creatures from Mars, or that there could be enemies hiding on the back side of the moon.
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Well, there's always Iron Sky.
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AJKOER
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| Quote: Originally posted by Magpie | ....
Life exists in some very harsh environments on earth, eg, miles down undersea, in undersea volcano vents, and in arctic areas. But I presume that
these life forms were adaptations that spread from more temperate places. Finding life in the harsh environment of Mars would indeed be a surprise to
me.
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I agree with the above comment but this discussion would be more interesting if we included some views for the Christian Right. My attempt at
presenting their views:
"Well, there is no need for any scientific missions to Mars as per the Bible intelligent life, meaning man, was created in the image of God. So if
there are Martians, there basically have to all look like us (but, I guess it would be OK if they all happened to looked like Mitt Romney). Also, the
Bible is the highest authority or else why would the Texas school board (which sets the content of school textbooks in many states, what a standard)
ban the theory of evolution as it contradicts the written word of God?"
[Edited on 9-8-2012 by AJKOER]
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woelen
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There is no need to derail this thread with a discussion steered towards the young earth creationist point of view. If certain schoolbooks ban the
theory of evolution from biology or geology courses, then just replace these books by other books. I cannot believe that a country like the USA has
not developed any alternative course material which has a more realistic view on these matters. So please let's not start that discussion again. It is
clear that earth is old and that there has been an evolutionary process on earth and I think that most (if not all) people over here agree on this
basic assumption. The written word of God is not a science book, it tells about the 'why' and not about the 'how' of creation.
The argument that mankind is created in the image of God and hence no other intelligent life can be found according to right wing christians is a
fallacy. What is the 'image of God'? I am a christian, but I believe that the image of God is more diverse than one could ever imagine, so that leaves
space for other life forms on distant planets who have had their own evolutionary development.
I very much like the idea of C.S. Lewis about intelligent life. This same idea also makes me somewhat sad about this, because it implies that the
chance that we will ever find intelligent life is amazingly small, even if it has developed thousands of times in our galaxy.
Lewis' argument is that evolution is a process of hundreds of millions or even a few billions of years. The speed of evolution and the starting point
of evolution need not be the same as we had on Earth. So, if there is any intelligent life, then this intelligent life will either be millions of
years ahead of us, or it will still be millions of years before it will appear. Lewis states that two intelligences only can interact over huge
distances if they are sufficiently close in their technological development (e.g. both need to use radio waves for communication, they need to have
similar interests in their environment and so on). A place, which even just is 100 years behind of us cannot be detected by us. A place, which is
millions years ahead of us will be so far that their technology cannot be detected by us. Given the huge time spans (a few billions of years) needed
for evolution of the first life forms to something intelligent and the short time (a few thousands of years) which it takes to develop technology like
we have from a starting point where people just develop self-conscience, what can be expect from a technological development over millions of years?
So, for the time being, I think it is an interesting quest to look for traces of life on places like Mars, Europa, Io. If any life is found or remains
of life, that would be a giant discovery. it does not tell anything, however, about intelligence.
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Rosco Bodine
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There is a difference between the scientific theory of evolution and the philosophical theory of social Darwinism. Just because some people confuse
science with philosophy and / or antithetical to religion does not mean that their confusion represents truth or the only truth worth knowing. One
thing known is that religion of some sort is prehistoric in its origins and was essential in the foundation of civilization, Civilization did not
come first and invent religion, religion was prerequisite to civilization and without it there would likely be no civilization because it was shared
beliefs which established a code and morality that allowed social order and organization of society at the inception of civilization emerging from the
stone age and transitioning from roaming bands of hunter gatherers into villages and larger settlements which engaged in farming and domestication of
animals. It was not a secular enterprise which made possible civilization but it was some kind of primitive religion. Exactly what sort of primitive
religion is unknown but it definitely existed because the relics prove that it did.
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neptunium
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| Quote: Originally posted by woelen |
Lewis' argument is that evolution is a process of hundreds of millions or even a few billions of years. The speed of evolution and the starting point
of evolution need not be the same as we had on Earth. So, if there is any intelligent life, then this intelligent life will either be millions of
years ahead of us, or it will still be millions of years before it will appear. Lewis states that two intelligences only can interact over huge
distances if they are sufficiently close in their technological development (e.g. both need to use radio waves for communication, they need to have
similar interests in their environment and so on). A place, which even just is 100 years behind of us cannot be detected by us. A place, which is
millions years ahead of us will be so far that their technology cannot be detected by us. Given the huge time spans (a few billions of years) needed
for evolution of the first life forms to something intelligent and the short time (a few thousands of years) which it takes to develop technology like
we have from a starting point where people just develop self-conscience, what can be expect from a technological development over millions of years?
. |
ithat point of view was raised during a lunch break in the Manathan project near the end of WW2 by Enrico Fermi in his now famous paradox.
I very much agree with this logical approach
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Morgan
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Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165513016/big-news-from-mars-r...
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SM2
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Roscoe, I see your point, but then it just disappears. But it was close to being %100 authentic. De-bunkers usually aren't after the truth, rather,
they find a creative perspective, and just hammer it to death.
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