quote: Remember that Stardust mission that was going to do a really close flyby of a comet? It was successful, happily.
quote: The mission's primary objective was the capture of pristine particles from the comet. These were caught in the pores of a lightweight glass foam, itself held in a framework resembling an oversized tennis racket. The samples will be dropped to a desert landing site in Utah in two years and then detailed laboratory analysis will begin.
I got this from Noemen's space thread, and it got me to thinking, about those particles caught and brought back to earth. Sounds like the beginning of a sci fi/ horror film doesnt it? Kind of an 'Andromeda Strain' sort of thing. The particles come back to earth and become whatever horrible thing and humans have to fight them off whatever it/they might be in order to ensure our survival.
But then i got to thinking, what if it wasnt neccesarily a BAD thing, but a really GOOD but equally weird thing that was brought back? some kind of chemical or metal or secret to life that has wonderful ramifications that ripple out and change the planet for the better somehow?
Then i took it a step further and thought, what if that wonderful thing actually, ultimately, ended up being abused by all of us wonderfully selfish and violent human beings into something just as horrid and destructive as the original bad thing?
Just some thoughts i gleaned from the thought of spacedust being caught and brought back to earth.
Anyway, back to work with me.
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
I'm putting my money on frozen snot particles.
Posted by odouls268 (Member # 2145) on :
man, now im thinking of that scene in Joe Dirt.
Posted by odouls268 (Member # 2145) on :
SHAMELESS BUMP
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
I guess they'll eventually get around to remaking The Andromeda Strain.
Now the plagues just come from Earth. How boring.
Posted by Sarcasm (Member # 4653) on :
quote:Kind of an 'Andromeda Strain' sort of thing.
Yeah, except that Andromeda Strain sucked.
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
Well, that's a little strong, I think.
It wasn't the best movie ever made, for sure. But it had some moments. The novel was quite good, but flashy.
Posted by jehovoid (Member # 2014) on :
My guess it'll turn out to be a huge waste of time and money, and thousands of years from now when they're actually doing meaningful space exploration they'll look back on stuff like this and laugh. Not that we're not doing the best we can, it's just that it seems like we're going way out of our way just to get some dust.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
What they will discover is that this dust, when snorted, is the most mind altering drug in the universe. As a result, Columbia and Afghanistan will start their own space race to see which Drug Cartel will control this new addiction.
The British will win.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Oh, come on. The virus spontaneously mutated from something that attacked blood vessels to something that attacked rubber. Then the book ends. I can hardly call that a good book.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I rejoice in my utter ignorance of either the book or the movie of Andromeda strain. Though I did once think of a story where a horrible plague is isolated to Salt Lake City. You know. Cause it's surrounded by impenatrable desert. Which is why they test biological weapons and stuff here. And no doubt why they are landing the cosmic tennis racket in Utah.
Posted by Starla* (Member # 5835) on :
I watched half The Andromeda Strain in high school biology. I was really miffed cause we only watched half, and I hate that. Even if a movie sucks, I have to watch the whole thing.
We all laughed when the pilot flew into it and he started to vomit green stuff. Or did he turn into green stuff?