quote: NASA's Spirit rover stopped transmitting data from Mars for more than 24 hours, mission managers said Thursday, calling it an "extremely serious anomaly."
It just cracks me up whenever I hear the word "anomaly" used to describe anything. I learned the meaning of the word from Star Trek years ago.
So -- it just hits me as SO "star trekky" to hear NASA say this...
((I think the Martians zapped it. They kill all our probes in order to stay hidden))
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Kind of a stupid seeming primary mission--littering, basically--(althought the photos will probably be useful), but there is a commercial space venture slated for launch later this year.
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Remember that ion engine powered space craft that the European Space Agency is testing out in anticipation of using something like it to send a probe to Mercury? The engine is having trouble with flame-outs.
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Basically, Glen, they just screwed up with they were building the thing, and didn't put in capacitors in certain key circuits. As a result, when the thing gets bombarded with high energy protons from the sun there's an energy spike, which causes the computer to shut the engine down. They're writing a software fix to take care of the problem by having the computer also switch the engine back *on*.
Yep, if they rigged two of the things up, it'd sound *exactly* like a TIE fighter. It'd also blow up really easily, unless they bent the top and bottom of the wings at about a 45 degree angle (in which case it would become indestructible).
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OK, the two rovers are doing their thing on Mars, digging into the rocks and soil and taking pictures. Big goal is to look for evidence of past water on the planet.
How many besides me have this kid inside them that is hoping the rovers surprise everyone by sending back a photo of a fossil?
I tell the kid inside he's foolish, but he's really stubborn. Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Yes, it would be cool. Fortunately, the kid calmed down - originally he was rooting for photos of Martian artifacts.
I know I should be linking to stuff here, but I wanted to throw something else out. It's pretty obvious that the Mars agenda as Bush spelled it out is unrealistic - it's just not something we can afford to commit to in the near future.
But are our choices really limited to embracing a nationalistic, chauvinistic goal of Mars and abandoning the dream altogether? Why couldn't we throw in with the European Space Agency (if they'll have us and our money)? We could be a participant in a broader dream that an increasing proportion of humanity invests in. Our share in the project would probably be both manageable and justifiable. We'd just have to give up the goal of having it be a solely American dream.
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If you want to really get your inner child excited, how about photos of human remains on Mars? Hmmm...shades of...whoever it is that wrote Gentle Giants of Ganymede and the other books in that series.
I agree that it makes the most sense for us to try to reach Mars as a multinational cooperative effort. That pretty much goes against every fiber of Bush's being though; anything like that would have to wait until he left office, I think.
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When people say we can't afford it, I only know that we can't afford NOT to do it. I do think that NASA is mostly an ineffectual money-waster, but some way must be found for us to do it, or our species most likely won't make it through the next few centuries. Whatever it costs, we really have to do it. There isn't any doubt in my mind about that.
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Whoa, cool! Largest volcano in the solar system! I wonder what that would compare to on earth? Like, how much bigger is it than, say Mt. Ranier?
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quote: Olympus Mons is an extinct volcano and the largest known volcano in the solar system.It rises about 16.5 miles above the surface of the planet -- that's 3 times higher than commercial airliners fly. It is 372 miles from edge to edge at the base -- that's larger than the state of Washington! The crater in the center is 40 miles wide from rim to rim. Olympus Mons is an extinct volcano and the largest known volcano in the solar system.
Apparently the reason why the volcanos get so big on Mars is because Mars doesn't have plate tectonics like the Earth.
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I remember when I flew out of Seattle once, and we had been climbing through clouds for a long time, we were WAY up in the air, and I looked down and saw something white that didn't look like clouds, but it was just right below us not very far away, and it turned out it was snow on Mt. Ranier. That is one freakin big mountain.
They should have named Olympus Mons Fist of God like in Ringworld. Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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quote:NASA's Opportunity rover sent back new images from Mars showing that small spheres previously found on the surface also exist below, in a trench the rover dug. Hints of salty water were also found in the trench, but much more analysis is needed to learn the true composition.
Meanwhile Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, is about to dig a trench of its own in order to investigate soil that sticks to its wheels, suggesting the fine-grained material might be moist.
Opportunity made this close-up images of spherules embedded in the wall of a trench it dug with one wheel. These spheres are more reflective than those previously found on the Martian surface.
In a press conference today, officials said the soil at both locations could contain small amounts of water mixed with salt in a brine that can exist in liquid form at very low temperatures.
So if there's brine, can shrimp be far behind? Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I always thought there was something Martian looking about Sea Monkeys!
I tried to post the article about moon sized oxygen-carbon crystals in dying stars the other day, when the story first broke, but Hatrack seemed to be having some trouble, and it didn't go anywhere.
I've got one for you sndrake, just give me a minute to find it...
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I've mentioned my friend who is getting her PhD in Planetary science.
Anyway she's fallen in love with another planetary science PhD.
So they have ordered the ring.
What is the rock? No, not diamond, though it is equivalently expensive. It is from a Martian meteorite that hit Earth. They know it is from Mars due to isotope analysis and the fact that Mars rocks can hit Earth but Earth rocks don't spin out and hit Mars.
I think it is pretty cool and totally appropriate!
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Ah, the inner child is telling me "I told you so."
I'm trying, as gently as I can, to explain to him about the Weekly World News.
Don't know why I bother - he still keeps me up on Christmas Eve listening for Santa on the roof - and we don't even have a chimney. Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Even bigger - hopefully - is the NASA press conference in DC today scheduled for 2pm ET. They have promised to report on "significant findings."
OK, I know this is for space-related news, but what are the chances the administration specifically picked today for whatever NASA is going to announce to upstage coverage of the primaries?
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[Edit: I'm excited about the announcement. I have no opinion on the timing of the announcement, as I am trying very hard to stay cheerful while I can. ]
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I understand that too, sndrake. My comment wasn't meant as a rebuke, but more of an apology. It's a luxury to be able to afford ignoring politics, and that's a luxury which few have.
I've just got this tremory happy-vibe thing going, and I am a sucker for being happy. Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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My guess is that NASA will be announcing positive proof of water on Mars. That seems the most likely. I'd love for there to be a photo of a Sea Monkey in a reverse diving suit tapping on the lense of one of the rovers though.
As for the timing, it'd have to be pretty big news to upstage the primaries, but I wouldn't be surprised if you're right.
It'd be cool if they were announcing that SETI had received a clear signal from a sentient alien race, wouldn't it (that's my inner child getting worked up--take him with a grain of salt)?
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Since then, I found one link that actually announced the time of the press conference, which will be 2 pm ET.
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sndrake, it is very hard for me to hold on to my starry eyed idealism when I get too involved in politics, too. I refuse to let go of it, though. Whenever I catch myself with cynical thoughts popping into my head as my first reaction (and this applies to politics, and on the job, and everywhere) I just have to back up and take a wider view.
I think about Heidi on her mountain in Switzerland with her goats, and Frodo and Sam in Mordor, and the civil rights protesters on the road from Montgomery to Selma, being turned back at the Edmund Pettus bridge, and I remember that the people who made things happen in history were the ones who kept their heads clear of that sickness of cynicism.
I am willing to rethink my methods or my goals, but I'm not willing to quit believing in the existence of good, whether it be among my companions or my adversaries.
Anyway, not that there's anything I can possibly teach you about fighting the good fight, I'm sure. On the contrary, you are an inspiration to me. But I guess it sounded like you could use a little affirmation. Posts: 5509 | Registered: May 1999
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Wow, that's frustrating! I watched CNN and even during the introduction, before they really got to showing the specific findings, they cut away saying it was obviously too technical and they would listen and translate it into something us stupid masses could understand later.
Okay, so I see that they have concluded the crater was once full of water. I can't get Nasa TV because I only have an old cruddy laptop with not much disk space left, and no media player even for audio.
I guess I'll have to wait for the text articles and read them then. Grrrr at tv! When you turn to it for news, it lets you down! Posts: 5509 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:Scientists examining what NASA's Opportunity is showing them about Mars rocks are seeing into the past, and what they're seeing indicates water once flowed there.
The outcrop right next to where Opportunity landed holds evidence that the rocks have spent time drenched in liquid water.
Members of the Mars Exploration Rovers' international science team presented that evidence to news reporters at NASA Headquarters in Washington on March 2.
quote:Anyway, not that there's anything I can possibly teach you about fighting the good fight, I'm sure. On the contrary, you are an inspiration to me. But I guess it sounded like you could use a little affirmation.
Anna Kate,
thanks, but I really am cool. Just aware that most people don't analyze things from my perspective. At least I had the good sense to keep my thoughts to myself (for the most part) during all the "gay marriage" threads. Most of what fascinated me concerned tactics, strategy, and the probable effectiveness of tactics on both sides - in terms of both attitudes and laws.
Probably would have ended up with partisans on both sides hating me.
/thread derailment...
So, is there a possibility that Spacefaring Sea Monkeys could be developed into a delicacy like "popcorn shrimp?" Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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LONDON - The information coming in from the Mars rovers is exciting for NASA (news - web sites), but it's ending some of the action for bookies in Britain.
The bookmaking firm Ladbrokes announced it's stopped taking bets on the question of whether there was ever life on Mars.
NASA scientists said yesterday that the rover Opportunity found strong evidence to suggest at least part of the Red Planet once had a wet enough environment to sustain life.
A Ladbrokes spokesman says the latest odds in favor of past life on Mars were 16-1. Back in the '70s, when the first bets were placed, the odds were 1,000-1.
He says he expects that scientists will find evidence of past life on Mars within the coming years.
Trust a bookie to know when it's time to cut losses. Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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How did I miss all of the updates to this thread over the past month?
You know, sndrake, the Weekly World News accepts submissions. Maybe Hatrack should put together an article about spacefaring sea monkeys and submit it? Maybe we could work up some angle by which their fondest desire is to become part of an Earth entre?
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Kind of a "we come to be served up to mankind" sort of angle?
A subsequent article could reveal that investigative reporters - at great personal risk - have discovered that a light sautee is actually an optimum incubation temperature for alien larvae. The gourmet treat is actually the new invasion of the pod people! Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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