SPACE - random thread about space stuff

[Kraken]

Habitability is highly speculative because the system is so different from ours and all of these worlds are probably tidally locked. Still, how cool would it be to live in a star system that has seven inhabited planets? As unlikely as that is, the mere possibility is mind boggling.

[malchior]

Yeah - interesting - I was really hoping they'd be announcing atmospheric information. That apparently is an area that a few of the named astromers are actively working on. Still it is pretty amazing we are able to pick out planets now 40 LY out (assuming it isn't all wrong).

[Paingod]

It's fascinating work. Shadows, light spectrums, and gravitational movements of things we'd never - ever- be able to see ourselves tell us so much about them. I say we should launch a probe now so we can find out what they're really like in 1,000 years when the probe goes past and the message is broadcast back. Maybe the people living there then will celebrate the "quaint nature" of their ancestors as the probe flies by...?

[The Meal]

Still, how cool would it be to live in a star system that has seven inhabited planets?

Imagine their immigration policies. I'm guessing they'd get really good at making weapons.

[Kraken]

Still, how cool would it be to live in a star system that has seven inhabited planets?

Imagine their immigration policies. I'm guessing they'd get really good at making weapons.

Assuming that they all followed similar evolutionary pathways (unlikely, since there's probably a lot of variation between worlds), and further assuming that any of those paths led to technology...the first species to develop spaceflight would quickly colonize all of the worlds, most likely subordinating or extinguishing their native populations (aggression and expansionism are probably linked). And in that kind of neighborhood, they'd have a huge incentive to develop spaceflight.

Fun to think about anyway. I've read sf stories involving two sentient species sharing a system, but seven? Wow.

[Kraken]

NASA released a 360-degree artist's conception of the surface of one of these planets. Obviously the surface details are pure conjecture, but the appearance of the sky might be realistic, particularly the dim red daylight and apparent size of the sun and other planets.

[Holman]

Still, how cool would it be to live in a star system that has seven inhabited planets?

Imagine their immigration policies. I'm guessing they'd get really good at making weapons.

Assuming that they all followed similar evolutionary pathways (unlikely, since there's probably a lot of variation between worlds), and further assuming that any of those paths led to technology...the first species to develop spaceflight would quickly colonize all of the worlds, most likely subordinating or extinguishing their native populations (aggression and expansionism are probably linked). And in that kind of neighborhood, they'd have a huge incentive to develop spaceflight.

Fun to think about anyway. I've read sf stories involving two sentient species sharing a system, but seven? Wow.

Even more likely is that one lucky species would develop space-faring technology before the others developed spinal cords (or whatever).

The leap from rock-sharpening to spaceflight is the blink of an eye in evolutionary time. It must be very uncommon for two intelligent species to exist at the same time in the same system.

[Daehawk]

Probably killed each other already so its 7 free real estates for us when we get there.

[Daehawk]

Was taking the garbage out and noticed a bright something in the western sky. Is that Venus? Its VERY bright.

[Smoove_B]

No other object as been misidentified as a flying saucer more often than the planet Venus. Even the former leader of your United States of America, James Earl Carter Jr., thought he saw a UFO once ...but it's been proven he only saw the planet Venus. I wouldn't flaunt your ignorance by telling anyone that you saw anything last night other than the planet Venus, because if you do, you're a dead man.

[Holman]

Swamp gas!

[Kraken]

Still, how cool would it be to live in a star system that has seven inhabited planets?

Imagine their immigration policies. I'm guessing they'd get really good at making weapons.

Assuming that they all followed similar evolutionary pathways (unlikely, since there's probably a lot of variation between worlds), and further assuming that any of those paths led to technology...the first species to develop spaceflight would quickly colonize all of the worlds, most likely subordinating or extinguishing their native populations (aggression and expansionism are probably linked). And in that kind of neighborhood, they'd have a huge incentive to develop spaceflight.

Fun to think about anyway. I've read sf stories involving two sentient species sharing a system, but seven? Wow.

Even more likely is that one lucky species would develop space-faring technology before the others developed spinal cords (or whatever).

The leap from rock-sharpening to spaceflight is the blink of an eye in evolutionary time. It must be very uncommon for two intelligent species to exist at the same time in the same system.

As closely as these worlds are bunched together (the whole system would fit within Mercury's orbit), they must exchange a lot of material. If one world burgeons with life, then they should all receive genetic infusions on a fairly regular basis. Local conditions would determine what happens to it, but two similar worlds could develop in tandem. Unlikely, sure, but in another 10-15 years we should be able to detect their atmospheric compositions and get a better idea of whether we need to start drawing up invasion plans.

[Bakhtosh]

As closely as these worlds are bunched together (the whole system would fit within Mercury's orbit), they must exchange a lot of material. If one world burgeons with life, then they should all receive genetic infusions on a fairly regular basis. Local conditions would determine what happens to it, but two similar worlds could develop in tandem. Unlikely, sure, but in another 10-15 years we should be able to detect their atmospheric compositions and get a better idea of whether we need to start drawing up invasion plans.

Or defensive plans...

[Daehawk]

Annular eclipse this Sunday

A ring of fire in the sky.

[Max Peck]

The race is on: SpaceX vs NASA. Maybe.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to fly two private citizens around the moon by late next year

SpaceX said Monday it plans to fly two private citizens on a mission around the moon by late 2018 as part of a lunar journey that would last about a week and travel deeper into space than any human has ventured before.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk would not name the two individuals, who he said approached the company and would pay for the flight.

The announcement is yet another bold declaration by SpaceX, the leader of a host of other entrepreneurial commercial space ventures that have ended governments’ long-standing monopoly on space.

Musk is famous for laying out ambitious timelines and goals—he ultimately plans to colonize Mars, for example— that often get pushed back. SpaceX has never flown people before, and has had two of its rockets blow up in the last two years. Some think this mission, aboard the Falcon Heavy rocket, which has yet to fly, could be delayed as well.

But Musk has also had a string of successes that have upended that traditional space industry. The company has had a long running partnership with NASA, which has pumped millions of dollars into SpaceX, hiring it to fly cargo and eventually crews to the International Space Station.

While President Trump has yet to name a new NASA administrator, there are signs that his administration also wants to continue to work with the private sector, and companies are sensing a huge opportunity on a potential lunar mission.

In a call with reporters, Musk said he is not in competition with the government space agency, and that if NASA wanted to partner on the lunar mission that would take priority over the two private individuals.

“What matters is the advancement of space exploration and exceeding the high-water mark that was set in 1969 with the Apollo program,” he said. “And having a really exciting future in space that inspires the world.”

[Daehawk]

Ya Im sure that wont cost much and all us 'normals' can afford our own flights within a year..

[Alefroth]

Ya Im sure that wont cost much and all us 'normals' can afford our own flights within a year..

What should they do instead?

[Paingod]

Ya Im sure that wont cost much and all us 'normals' can afford our own flights within a year..

What should they do instead?

Make the next flight a lottery (with a weight limit).

[Combustible Lemur]

A similar article noted that his intention is for space tourism to in large part fund his Mars mission development.

Wait but why did an extensive look at Musk's intended economic plan. I wouldn't recognize the validity or not.

[Paingod]

I'm not sure what the long goal is, but what is the consensus on settling Mars? If Musk is able to put together enough missions and backing, and sends off colonists that land and establish before any country ... who "owns" it and sets the rules?

[The Meal]

I'm not sure what the long goal is, but what is the consensus on settling Mars?

It'll happen.

If Musk is able to put together enough missions and backing, and sends off colonists that land and establish before any country ... who "owns" it and sets the rules?

Right now it's the UN. But realistically it'll be whomever has feet on the ground.

[stessier]

If the Red/Green/Blue Mars tells me anything, it is that at least at first it will be boots on the ground. Later it will be whomever has the weapons.

[Alefroth]

Ya Im sure that wont cost much and all us 'normals' can afford our own flights within a year..

What should they do instead?

Make the next flight a lottery (with a weight limit).

And do it free? Why should a private company do that?

[Combustible Lemur]

I'm not sure what the long goal is, but what is the consensus on settling Mars? If Musk is able to put together enough missions and backing, and sends off colonists that land and establish before any country ... who "owns" it and sets the rules?

The stated long goal for Musk is a multiplanetary species. Starting with a million + colony on mars. Fully self sufficient colonies spread across the system, and potentially the nearby galaxy.
I haven't read anything about governance. That would be a fun read. I figure if space-x really is the spearhead it'll start as a corporate structure.


Good summary of the basic plan with links to even more Musk spacex/tesla stuff.

[Daehawk]

https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/11/nas ... rappist-1/

An 11x11 pixel video of Trappist - 1.

Just think , someone there may be saying "We've detected a scan from a nearby system. Prepare the doomsday machines"

[Paingod]

Ya Im sure that wont cost much and all us 'normals' can afford our own flights within a year..

What should they do instead?

Make the next flight a lottery (with a weight limit).

And do it free? Why should a private company do that?

I'd pay $50 for a ticket, a chance, along with a million other people. Then it would be a test of my mettle to turn down the multitudes of offers to buy out my place on that ride for millions of dollars from people who can't afford $50m, but maybe could afford $10m.

I'm not sure what the long goal is, but what is the consensus on settling Mars? If Musk is able to put together enough missions and backing, and sends off colonists that land and establish before any country ... who "owns" it and sets the rules?

The stated long goal for Musk is a multiplanetary species. Starting with a million + colony on mars. Fully self sufficient colonies spread across the system, and potentially the nearby galaxy.
I haven't read anything about governance. That would be a fun read. I figure if space-x really is the spearhead it'll start as a corporate structure.

Good summary of the basic plan with links to even more Musk spacex/tesla stuff.

This is very much the direction humanity needs to take and follow. We're too much about settling in and casting hostile glares at our neighbors. I really like that he wants to achieve this and has a grand design that I may actually see start in my lifetime.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/11/nas ... rappist-1/

An 11x11 pixel video of Trappist - 1.

Just think , someone there may be saying "We've detected a scan from a nearby system. Prepare the doomsday machines"

I wish I knew more. I see an 11x11 pixel image and try to figure out how the hell they extrapolated all this data from that and my head starts to hurt.

[stessier]

https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/11/nas ... rappist-1/

An 11x11 pixel video of Trappist - 1.

Just think , someone there may be saying "We've detected a scan from a nearby system. Prepare the doomsday machines"

I wish I knew more. I see an 11x11 pixel image and try to figure out how the hell they extrapolated all this data from that and my head starts to hurt.

That is just the image from the telescope being point at the target for an hour. As the article says, NASA just released this so scientists can put together proposals for future research. All the planet data was extracted from other scans - not this one.

[Paingod]

The data they're working with is equally small in scale; still makes my head hurt. They have to aim at a tiny dot in the sky and stare at it for hours, day after day, to pull together enough data to make calculations. Somehow, based on wobbles and wiggles and 11 pixels of data, they say "Planets!" ...

[Daehawk]

Our solar system may soon have 110 planets

[Isgrimnur]

Stephen Hawking to fly

Stephen Hawking is going to go to space.

The cosmologist and physicist will leave the Earth on board Richard Branson's spaceship, he has said.

Professor Hawking told Good Morning Britain that he'd never dreamed he'd be able to head into space. But "Richard Branson has offered me a seat on Virgin Galactic, and I said yes immediately", he said.

[Max Peck]

Atmosphere found around Earth-like planet GJ 1132b

Scientists say they have detected an atmosphere around an Earth-like planet for the first time.

They have studied a world known as GJ 1132b, which is 1.4-times the size of our planet and lies 39 light years away.

Their observations suggest that the "super-Earth" is cloaked in a thick layer of gasses that are either water or methane or a mixture of both.

The study is published in the Astronomical Journal.

Discovering an atmosphere, and characterising it, is an important step forward in the hunt for life beyond our Solar System.

But it is highly unlikely that this world is habitable: it has a surface temperature of 370C.

Dr John Southworth, the lead researcher from Keele University, said: "To my knowledge the hottest temperature that life has been able to survive on Earth is 120C and that's far cooler than this planet."

[Max Peck]

NASA finds ingredients for life spewing out of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus

The geysers of Saturn's moon Enceladus are gushing food for life, scientists say.

Researchers report Thursday in the journal Science that the jets of ice and gas coming from the moon's south pole contain molecular hydrogen, a chemical characteristic of hydrothermal activity. On Earth, hydrogen provides fuel for communities of organisms that live around vents on the seafloor. Its presence on Saturn's icy moon suggests that this alien world, which harbors a saltwater ocean encased in a frozen crust, has the right conditions to give rise to microbial life.

“For a microbiologist thinking about energy for microbes, hydrogen is like the gold coin of energy currency,” said Peter Girguis, a deep sea biologist at Harvard University who was not involved in the research. “If you had to have one thing, one chemical compound, coming out of a vent that would lead you to think there’s energy to support microbial life, hydrogen is at the top of that list.”

“It makes the Enceladus ocean seem a heck of a lot more habitable than we were thinking yesterday,” agreed Ariel Anbar, an astrobiologist at Arizona State University. “And wouldn’t we like to know, is there life living there?”

Everything scientists know about biology on Earth suggests that life is irrepressible. It thrives in clouds, in caves, in lakes of meltwater buried half a mile beneath the ice sheets of Antarctica, in boiling water plumes that gush from the ocean's deepest, darkest depths. Almost no environment is too extreme, as long as water, organic molecules and a bit of energy are available for organisms to exploit.

Enceladus (pronounced “en-SELL-a-dis”) provides all three. It's looking more and more like the most habitable spot in our solar system beyond Earth, and scientists' best target yet in the search for alien organisms.

And it might not be alone. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that plumes much like those on Enceladus are also spewing from Jupiter's moon Europa, NASA announced today.

Like Enceladus, Europa harbors a subsurface saltwater ocean and could contain organic molecules. NASA hopes that Europa's geysers are likewise connected to the moon's watery interior. In the coming decade, the space agency will send a probe called the Europa Clipper to seek signs of life on Jupiter's moon by flying through those plumes.

[Holman]

NASA finds ingredients for life spewing out of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus

In the coming decade, the space agency will send a probe called the Europa Clipper to seek signs of life on Jupiter's moon by flying through those plumes.

That's the most significant thing I've read today. If the world order weren't falling apart, I'd give it the year.

[Daehawk]

Can we hitch a ride and go?

[Max Peck]

Life-Enabling Plumes above Enceladus

Does Enceladus have underground oceans that could support life? The discovery of jets spewing water vapor and ice was detected by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft in 2005. The origin of the water feeding the jets, however, was originally unknown. Since discovery, evidence has been accumulating that Enceladus has a deep underground sea, warmed by tidal flexing. Pictured here, the textured surface of Enceladus is visible in the foreground, while rows of plumes rise from ice fractures in the distance. These jets are made more visible by the Sun angle and the encroaching shadow of night. A recent fly-through has found evidence that a plume -- and so surely the underlying sea -- is rich in molecular hydrogen, a viable food source for microbes that could potentially be living there.

[Daehawk]

That pic makes the moon look so tiny.

[Max Peck]

That pic makes the moon look so tiny.

It is on the small size (diameter ~504 km) for being such a potentially important moon.

[Kraken]

It's an intriguing finding because while the molecular hydrogen is a key building block for life, its abundance hints that it is not being consumed. In earthly hydrothermal vents it gets gobbled up quickly with little left over.

If it does have all the prerequisites for life (as it seems), then life's presence or absence on Enceladus will help answer the question of whether the universe is infested with life wherever it can possibly arise, or if life is a rare phenomenon. Because Enceladus' ocean is so isolated, life is unlikely to have been seeded there from elsewhere -- it would almost surely have arisen independently.

It will take decades, at least, to answer those questions definitively. But we might get further hints even within my rapidly dwindling lifetime.

[Moliere]

NASA releases 140,000 images, videos, and audio files in a searchable database.

[malchior]

Approach for NASA Mars mission detailed. Target date is 2033 with additional feature of the construction of a space station around the moon.