| Author | Message |
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MontysDouble
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 13 Mar 2010, 15:58 · [Salvaged from Archive]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/14/2845192.htm
Astronauts angry as moon plans on hold
Two United States astronauts have criticised president Barack Obama's shelving of American lunar missions.
Speaking in London, the Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell described the move as potentially catastrophic.
The last man on the moon, Eugene Cernan, said it was "disappointing".
"I'm quite disappointed that I'm still the last man on the moon," he said.
"I thought we'd have gone back long before now. But I am absolutely committed to the fact that we will go back sometime, hopefully sooner than later."
Mr Cernan, who made his final lunar landing mission in 1972, says the US has a responsibility to seek knowledge, and maintain its leadership in technology.
"The technology we enjoy today was given birth to 40 years ago," he said.
"I think America has a responsibility to maintain its leadership in technology and its moral leadership in the world, to explore, to seek knowledge."
Mr Obama cancelled plans to send astronauts back to the moon as part of cost-saving measures announced last month.It looks like manned space exploration is going nowhere for the forseeable future, at least as far as NASA's contribution to it. Yes, I know that's hyperbole but FFS, it's been almost forty years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17) since anyone has gone beyond low Earth orbit. :(
To anyone who thinks that manned or unmanned spaceflight is a complete waste of time and money, consider this:
Integrated circuits (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit) were conceived as early as 1949, with the first one demonstrated in 1959. In the early '60s, the main drivers for IC R & D were Nasa's Apollo and the Minuteman ICBM. It's arguable that IC development was put ahead ten years from where it would have been otherwise; thus today we would have the computers of ten years ago. |
silenthill22
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 13 Mar 2010, 16:07 · [Salvaged from Archive]
I say we start WWIII. The last one really advanced our technology. Let's bring back the Nazis and then kick their asses again. |
ceehound619
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 13 Mar 2010, 16:44 · [Salvaged from Archive]
getting health care for illegal aliens is more a priority for obummer. |
Raidenator
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 14 Mar 2010, 17:31 · [Salvaged from Archive]
We don't exactly have the money to spend on space flights... At the expense of sounding like a hypocrite, we don't have the money to spend on universal health care either.
So fuck it. |
ceehound619
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 14 Mar 2010, 18:53 · [Salvaged from Archive]
We don't exactly have the money to spend on space flights.
So fuck it.
we gonna have plenty ov moneyz ta spend on illegal aliens like obamas aunt.... wheter u lyke it or not. |
MontysDouble
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 23 Mar 2010, 09:30 · [Salvaged from Archive]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/23/2853436.htm…
Maiden flight for Branson's SpaceShipTwo
Updated Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:33am AEDT
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2320/2214840601_703d292ccb…
Virgin Galactic's experimental SpaceshipTwo, an aircraft designed to one day carry paying customers into space, had its maiden flight in the California desert on Monday, company officials announced.
The spacecraft, brainchild of British entrepreneur Richard Branson, took off nestled under the wing of its mothership White Knight Two (WK2).
"Virgin Galactic announced that its commercial manned spaceship, VSS Enterprise, this morning successfully completed its first 'captive carry' test flight, taking off at 7:05am from Mojave Air and Space Port, California," the company said in a statement.
The British magnate lauded the innovative design for Virgin Galactic delivered by Scaled Composites in Mojave.
The design was unveiled December 7 and dubbed Virgin Space Ship (VSS) Enterprise.
In the future, WK2 will carry SpaceshipTwo to an altitude of around 50,000 feet (16 kilometres) before dropping the smaller spaceship and allowing it to fire up its rocket motor to launch into space.
The two craft did not separate on Monday's test flight, which lasted just a few minutes.
The test flight was carried out 130km north-east of Los Angeles.
Virgin Galactic aims to become the world's first commercial company to promote space tourism.
It hopes to start test flights in 2010-2011, with tourists able to pay $US200,000 per person.
Virgin Galactic has already collected $US45 million in paid deposits from more than 330 people who have reserved seats aboard the six-person craft.
"This is a momentous day for the Scaled and Virgin Teams," Scaled Composites founder and senior manager Burt Rutan said.
"The captive carry flight signifies the start of what we believe will be an extremely exciting and successful spaceship flight test program."
Richard Branson was not shy about voicing his satisfaction.
"Seeing the finished spaceship in December was a major day for us but watching VSS Enterprise fly for the first time really brings home what beautiful, ground-breaking vehicles Burt and his team have developed for us," he said.
"It comes as no surprise that the flight went so well. The Scaled team is uniquely qualified to bring this important and incredible dream to reality.
"Today was another major step along that road and a testament to US engineering and innovation."
- AFP
I couldn't find a clip of the captive carry flight, but here's an earlier White Knight II flight without Spaceshiptwo Enterprise attached:
ax2s7L_ZNZw
Oh yeah- IMHO the article should have been titled Maiden flight for Rutan's Spaceshiptwo... credit where credit is due and don't fuck around with inappropriate capitals; it's an Ipod, not an iPod damn it! :p |
boo_cocky
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 23 Mar 2010, 10:00 · [Salvaged from Archive]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/14/2845192.htm
It looks like manned space exploration is going nowhere for the forseeable future, at least as far as NASA's contribution to it. Yes, I know that's hyperbole but FFS, it's been almost forty years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17) since anyone has gone beyond low Earth orbit. :(
To anyone who thinks that manned or unmanned spaceflight is a complete waste of time and money, consider this:
Integrated circuits (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit) were conceived as early as 1949, with the first one demonstrated in 1959. In the early '60s, the main drivers for IC R & D were Nasa's Apollo and the Minuteman ICBM. It's arguable that IC development was put ahead ten years from where it would have been otherwise; thus today we would have the computers of ten years ago.
Agreed.
Plus, it's cool.
...and even cooler if you're high! |
MontysDouble
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 23 Mar 2010, 10:09 · [Salvaged from Archive]
Yeah, it's pretty fucking amazing what we can do now.
Sometimes I reckon I'd willingly give up ten years of my life just to see where we'll be in, say, the year 2500. :smokin: |
HeyBuddy
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 23 Mar 2010, 15:50 · [Salvaged from Archive]
You will be happy to know that NASA's Earth and Climate Science budget was increased $382 million this year to $1.8 billion, and will increase by $1.8 billion compared to 2010 over the next 4 years. By then, it will constitute the majority of Nasa's budget. |
mousewallrat
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 23 Mar 2010, 16:26 · [Salvaged from Archive]
I'm surprised the release point for the Orbiter is so low: 50,000 feet. Some jets will go to 70,000 feet, so why not hump it that high? Curious thing. |
Raidenator
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 24 Mar 2010, 00:41 · [Salvaged from Archive]
I'm surprised the release point for the Orbiter is so low: 50,000 feet. Some jets will go to 70,000 feet, so why not hump it that high? Curious thing.
Maybe it's just more efficient to do it at 50k. Maybe by 50k it's less energy expensive for the shuttle to get itself into space without assistance from 50 than 70ish.
*shrug* I'm not a rocket scientist. I imagine they have a good reason for it. |
Afronaught
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 24 Mar 2010, 02:27 · [Salvaged from Archive]
I'm surprised the release point for the Orbiter is so low: 50,000 feet. Some jets will go to 70,000 feet, so why not hump it that high? Curious thing.
It could be they are testing Flight Dynamics. there is more airflow oveer the craft at 50K than at 70K. |
MontysDouble
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 24 Mar 2010, 07:11 · [Salvaged from Archive]
I'm surprised the release point for the Orbiter is so low: 50,000 feet. Some jets will go to 70,000 feet, so why not hump it that high? Curious thing.Probably a diminishing returns thing. Jet engines are most efficient at a certain air pressure (altitude)... anyway, the big deal with a boosting aircraft like White Knight Two is that it releases the 'spaceship' (which is no more capable than a Mercury/Redstone craft from 1960) high enough that it is beyond the thickest atmosphere.
Sure, it'd be possible to take a leaf out of the Lockheed U-2's book and make WK2 go higher, but it would need to be bigger to enable the same Spaceshiptwo launched at 70 000 feet to reach maybe a few dozen kilometres higher, still suborbital.
The previous was pure conjecture, marginally informed. I think the basic thrust of the argument is in the ball park though.
Good question MWR- I'm sure that Rutan's team thought long and hard over the trade-off between separation altitude and do-ability. :thumb:
[edit]
Maybe it's just more efficient to do it at 50k. Maybe by 50k it's less energy expensive for the shuttle to get itself into space without assistance from 50 than 70ish.
*shrug* I'm not a rocket scientist. I imagine they have a good reason for it.
It could be they are testing Flight Dynamics. there is more airflow oveer the craft at 50K than at 70K.
Yeah, this and that Raid and Afro.
Succinctly put. :thumb:
I'm such a waffler and nowhere near as amusing as Josh is when on a rampage. :o |
MontysDouble
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 24 Mar 2010, 07:39 · [Salvaged from Archive]
You will be happy to know that NASA's Earth and Climate Science budget was increased $382 million this year to $1.8 billion, and will increase by $1.8 billion compared to 2010 over the next 4 years. By then, it will constitute the majority of Nasa's budget.
Yes, I'm happy to know this. Two billion extra is nothing in the grand scheme of things. That's six bucks for every person in the US.
The data from earth science missions could prove pretty damn useful... 'oh noez! Teh warmist is about to go on a silly rant!'... well, not now but I'll throw in a couple of cents worth of something that completely gobsmacked me when I heard it.
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE- damn these boffins like to shoehorn their acronyms) is a pair of satellites launched in 2002. GRACE is a collaboration between several entities, JPL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPL) included.
Here's the gobsmacking bit: Two satellites, one trailing the other by 220 kilometres in the same orbit, are subtly effected by changes in gravity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Recovery_and_Climate… Works), pointing to differing densities between water and rock. Water is heavier, thus when passing over glaciers or whatnot, the lead satellite accelerates. The satellites measure this acceleration -thus the amount of water beneath them- by the measuring the distance between them to an accuracy of ten microns- the thickness of a red blood cell.
That's a precision of one part in twenty two billion. :eek: |
HeyBuddy
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 24 Mar 2010, 12:26 · [Salvaged from Archive]
It's the single largest budget item in the NASA budget, and it is to collect data on a matter that our leaders tell us is a settled matter. They've told us over, and over again that, "The debate is over".
If I see a car in my driveway, and I want that car out of my driveway, I'm not going to spend a third of my income collecting data on the car in my driveway. If they're so damn certain that CO2 is the cause of global climate change, and they're convinced that this change is going to cause the destruction of the human race, then take those billions and put solar panels and windmills on every government building in the United States. Trade in the presidents SUV motorcade for Ford Escape Hybrid SUV's.
Quit spending my money to justify legislation that will force me to do what you consider the right thing. You need to lead by example if you're that passionate about it. I can't even get a permit to put up a wind mill, and I have to get permission for a solar panel on the roof. Who's standing in the way? The same people trying to shove it down our throats.
Sorry, the entire thing pisses me off. It especially pisses me off when the schools, who can do whatever they want with the blank checks that we give them (including claim any land that looks like a good spot for the new athletic field), holds a meeting to ask the public if it would be okay if they purchased wind turbines to generate their own power, and sell the surplus to the public. FUCK OFF! SHUT UP AND DO IT ALREADY! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU REALLY CARE WHAT WE SAY! |
MontysDouble
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 17 May 2010, 17:44 · [Salvaged from Archive]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/17/2902053.htm…
Japan to launch Venus probe and 'space yacht'
Japan was set to launch its first Venus probe Tuesday, using a rocket that will deploy an experimental "space yacht" propelled by solar particles bouncing off its kite-shaped sail.
The H-IIA rocket was positioned at the Tanegashima space centre in southern Japan in fair weather for its lift-off 6:44am (local time Tuesday), said the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
It will blast off with the "space yacht" Ikaros - an acronym for Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun - which moves thanks to the pressure of sunlight particles hitting its square sail.
Ikaros, which has cost 1.5 billion yen ($18.6 million) to develop, will be the first use of the technology in deep space, as past experiments have been limited to unfolding its sail in orbits around the Earth.
The experimental spacecraft's sail, thinner than a human hair, is also equipped with thin-film solar cells to generate electricity, creating what JAXA calls "a hybrid technology of electricity and pressure."
The technology could enable space travel without fuel as long as there is sunlight, its developers say.
JAXA plans to control the path of Ikaros by changing the angle at which sunlight particles bounce off the silver-coloured sail.
Ikaros will initially be a short cylindrical shape when it is released into space, when it will extend its sail, which measures 14 metres on each side and 20 metres diagonally.
Its name alludes to Icarus, the figure from Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun and fell into the sea, but a JAXA official has promised that "this Ikaros will not fly into the sun."
The H-IIA rocket - Japan's primary space launch vehicle, developed by JAXA and manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - will also launch Japan's first satellite bound for Venus.
The Venus Climate Orbiter PLANET-C, nicknamed Akatsuki, which means "Dawn" in Japanese, will work closely with the Venus Express, a satellite sent earlier by the European Space Agency.
The box-shaped probe with two solar array paddles is expected to arrive at Venus in December and observe the planet in an elliptical orbit, from a distance of between 300 and 80,000 kilometres.
Venus rotates around the sun like the Earth but is closer to the sun.
It is sometimes referred to as the Earth's sister planet because it is believed to have been born in a similar process to the Earth's formation about 4.6 billion years ago and is similar in size and mass.
But the planet has a far hotter climate, around 460 degrees Celsius, with clouds of sulfuric acid and large amounts of carbon dioxide, which is also the primary greenhouse gas on Earth.
Scientists believe a probe of the climate of Venus will help them deepen their understanding of the formation of the Earth's environment and its future.
The H-IIA will also carry four other small satellites, developed by Japanese universities and other institutions.
- AFPArthur C Clarke wrote a reasonably good short story about solar sail powered spacecraft in 1964, Sunjammer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunjammer) AKA The Wind from the Sun.
Fingers crossed that Ikaros is successful. :thumb: |
