Octopus Overlords

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

Interesting outline that sounds superficially practical, even as it leaves out a lot of details (like developing a lander, figuring out radiation shielding, pre-positioning supplies in Mars orbit, etc). I gather that Obama's lunar asteroid rendezvous is officially dead at last. That felt dubious right from the start.

Has this been posted yet? SpaceX video of the launch and booster return from yesterday. Views from both on the rocket and ground based tracking.

Two things were impressive - that we can visually track something going 1000 m/s while 150 km away, and the whole return trip. From takeoff until landing was less than 10 minutes. Really, really impressive.

That landing must be some heavy G if they ever have a lander for people. I know this is just the first stage relanding but still. Wonder what the g on it is? Plus I wonder how all that heat from the engine hurts the ship and landing legs as its blown back up against it? And finally I wonder how much fuel they have to keep to land and whats left and its weight after landing. I know it needs to have enough to spare for safety but also instead of simply falling over on a failed landing it explodes.

stessier wrote:Has this been posted yet? SpaceX video of the launch and booster return from yesterday. Views from both on the rocket and ground based tracking.

Two things were impressive - that we can visually track something going 1000 m/s while 150 km away, and the whole return trip. From takeoff until landing was less than 10 minutes. Really, really impressive.

Best video I've seen yet documenting the booster return. So impressive! Thanks for the link.

I worked in the Cassini project on a most unusual job. Cassini was really really big, the biggest project JPL had ever done (and probably is still the biggest project JPL has done, as they've shrunk project budgets since then). You guys may or may not remember, but JPL's Galileo satellite almost got canceled because it was launching after the Challenger disaster with plutonium on board (not weapons grade a lesser grade). Environmentalists filed suit against NASA to stop the Galileo launch because of the danger of the shuttle exploding and basically killing off Florida. Well they didn't want that last second lawsuit for Cassini. My job was to watch the environmentalists using documents they'd published publicly (no bullshit, I wouldn't do that) and keeping an eye on the Savannah River plant, the K reactor, where the plutonium was being made. Well that plant was horrible. The people who were supposed to inspect it had to be decontaminated. There was plutonium on the walls and other places in the reactor. That facility was shut down in 1992 and JPL got the rest of the plutonium from Russia (something they can't do anymore and another reason for a lack of a large satellite project) and frankly you couldn't pay me to go within 100 miles of it. I did that for a year and then was laid off, as they really didn't need me and I wasn't a good fit for the job....way too isolated for me, I like to work in teams.

At any rate I thought maybe you guys would be interested given Cassini is in the news again. My dad by the way was the executive vice president equivalent (known as an Assistant Lab Director) over the engineering division, the main division at JPL then and now, he presided over the development of Cassini.

-Jennifer Schlickbernd
JPL 1981-2009

NASA Hubble

Other than the July 4th 1997 Mars mission I think Hubble is my favorite current NASA tech / missions still in use. In fact I would go far as to say that only Apollo ranks higher to me than Hubble. Hubble is just amazing still today. I remember when they went up to fix it's 'sight'. Truly awesome how to did after that.

Frontier Field pic from @NASAHubble - click for HUGE res pic


Video at site too.

Europe selects grand gravity mission

It is set to be one of the major science projects of the 2030s.

The European Space Agency has just given the green light to the LISA mission to detect gravitational waves.

This will see lasers bounced between three identical satellites separated by 2.5 million km.

By looking for tiny perturbations in these light beams, the trio hope to catch the warping of space-time that is generated by cataclysmic events such as the merger of gargantuan black holes.

Ground-based laboratories in the US have recently begun detecting gravitational waves from coalescing objects that are 20-30 times the mass of our Sun.

But by sending an observatory into space, scientists would expect to discover sources that are millions of times bigger still and to sense their activity all the way out to the edge of the observable Universe.

It should immeasurably advance our understanding of gravity and how it works; and perhaps even highlight some chinks in Einstein's so-far flawless equations.

"We have no idea what we will discover, but perhaps we can get closer to the line that divides gravity from quantum physics. This may take us there," said Esa's director of science, Prof Alvaro Giménez Cañete.

Crossing posting this from my YT video thread post. thought it might get some interest here from Space folk who dont visit the Yt thread.

Betelgeuse Supernova and Its Impact On Earth - Documentary

Sounds like its from 2011. I cant believe I watched it all. nice 45 min video if you want to waste some time and have an interest in space.

APL put out a bunch of planetary posters and other media recently. If you click on the Moon poster you'll see some images showing results from the Diviner instrument. I've been helping to process data from it and some of those images probably came out of the processing that I did.

May not have any glasses to view the eclipse with. The local library has given away all theirs. The approved stores from NASA dont sell anything but 50 pair at a time or so. WTF. And I dont trust ebay and stuff for this. And I will have to see what gas stations around here have if anything.

EDIT: Found some. https://explorescientificusa.com/collec ... sunglasses

Only $2.50 for a 2 pack and free shipping for now. They are approved with the correct rating it seems.

Found them through more approved sites here...

https://qz.com/1043773/solar-eclipse-20 ... l-society/

Daehawk wrote:May not have any glasses to view the eclipse with. The local library has given away all theirs. The approved stores from NASA dont sell anything but 50 pair at a time or so. WTF. And I dont trust ebay and stuff for this. And I will have to see what gas stations around here have if anything.

EDIT: Found some. https://explorescientificusa.com/collec ... sunglasses

Only $2.50 for a 2 pack and free shipping for now. They are approved with the correct rating it seems.

Found them through more approved sites here...

https://qz.com/1043773/solar-eclipse-20 ... l-society/

I talked to public affairs here and they have given out all their glasses. I am asking around to see if anyone has extras.

I'm planning on standing under a leafy tree for my eclipse observations.

I walked out the back door one day I think in the early 90s...maybe mid but think early. And the entire back yard was full of crescent shadows. Was freaky. Wasn't sure what was up for a moment or two then remembered there was to be some eclipse or partial one. Thought it was pretty cool.

Daehawk, I have 1 pair I can mail to you. Space Shop got more in today. PM me with your address if you want it.

Wow Lassr that would have been way cool but I already found a pair to order online for only $2.50 and free shipping.

Really appreciate the offer though thanks anyways

Daehawk wrote:Wow Lassr that would have been way cool but I already found a pair to order online for only $2.50 and free shipping.

Really appreciate the offer though thanks anyways

No problem.

The Voyager Team in the NYT. Great article.

I didn't know they did anything but drift.

The Meal wrote:The Voyager Team in the NYT. Great article.

Good read. I remember the launches and all of the encounters quite well...especially how technology changed from one to the next. I recorded "Neptune All Night" on VHS, for example, and being able to do that was an advance.

They missed one bit of trivia: Voyager 2 launched before Voyager 1. At the time that just seemed wrong.

I realize this is outside the scope of this article, but I'm curious how New Horizons relates to the V'gers. It's moving faster; when will it overtake them? Will it still be operating then? How does its trajectory into interstellar space compare -- is it blazing a whole new path or following its predecessors?

I expect Isg to answer these questions.

Never.

Sorry.

Though New Horizons will also reach 100 AU, it will never pass Voyager 1, because Voyager was boosted by multiple gravity assists that make its speed faster than New Horizons will travel. Voyager 1 is escaping the solar system at 17 kilometers per second. When New Horizons reaches that same distance 32 years from now, propelled by a single planetary swingby, it will be moving about 13 kilometers per second.

Unagi wrote:Never.

Sorry.

Though New Horizons will also reach 100 AU, it will never pass Voyager 1, because Voyager was boosted by multiple gravity assists that make its speed faster than New Horizons will travel. Voyager 1 is escaping the solar system at 17 kilometers per second. When New Horizons reaches that same distance 32 years from now, propelled by a single planetary swingby, it will be moving about 13 kilometers per second.

You go, V'ger!

I love this stuff. I was 8 when V1 left. Always loved hearing them in the news. Always thought the disk was cool then found out it was Sagan that had to do with them and was excited. I miss Carl.

I still thought once they left the system they were just floating away at speed. Didn't know people still listen to them.

Just think if all goes well humans will leave the system can come upon them still moving. Maybe bring them home for a museum.

Proof that the universe has a sense of humor.

Whats Curiosity been up to on Mars?

Daehawk wrote:Just think if all goes well humans will leave the system can come upon them still moving. Maybe bring them home for a museum.

Read this fun "what if" from xkcd


The launch vehicle needed to get it out there... vs. the fleet needed to go out and bring it back.

New Horizons' next target.

The New York Times wrote:This summer, scientists crisscrossed two oceans, braved wind and cold and deployed two dozen telescopes — all for five blinks of starlight that lasted a second or less.

For the team working with NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which made a spectacular flyby of Pluto two years ago, those smidgens of data provide intriguing hints about the spacecraft’s next destination, a distant frozen world that is believed to be a pristine, undisturbed fragment from the earliest days of the solar system.

New Horizons will fly past it on Jan. 1, 2019.

But the object is so far away — a billion miles beyond Pluto — and so small — no more than 20 miles wide — that almost nothing was known about it.

From the five blinks, obtained with exhausting effort, scientists now know that it has an odd shape.

Instead of round like a ball it appears to be more like a long, skinny potato — or maybe two objects in close orbit around each other, possibly even touching.

You can see it passing in front of a distant star (center) in this gif:

Space-X just had another successful launch and landing of the booster. I happened into the live stream 7s after launch. It's still so amazing to watch the booster come back home. The Dragon is on it's way to the ISS but is going to take 36 hours to get there.

Agreed. My daughter and I just watched. Never gets old. At least not yet, anyway...

Dragonfly, APL's newest proposal for a NASA New Frontier's mission to Titan. The presenter is Peter Bedini,who was the Program Manager for MESSENGER.

Massive solar flare last night, if aurora chasing is your thing, might be a good time for it. Largest X series flare in the last 15 years! Last X series flare was 2015. Large CME heading earthward, not bad for a low part of the solar cycle I'm hoping I'll see the Aurora Australis over the next few nights

https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/new ... olar-flare

OSIRIS-Rex takes a parting shot of the Earth-moon system. Click to embiggen

I'm sure it's a reflection of the influence of popular sci-fi culture or games or ...something, but it always amazes me to see the actual scale distance between the Earth and the Moon. It seems...too far I guess?

Kraken wrote:

OSIRIS-Rex takes a parting shot of the Earth-moon system. Click to embiggen

Where's my scale bar, damn it!

Yeah it seems really far away.

Redfive wrote:I'm sure it's a reflection of the influence of popular sci-fi culture or games or ...something, but it always amazes me to see the actual scale distance between the Earth and the Moon. It seems...too far I guess?

Yeah, I agree. There's an infographic somewhere that shows the gap between the Earth and the moon is big enough to hold all the other planets in the solar system.

**Found it. Probably already been posted either in this thread or others:

Happy 60th birthday, Space Age!

Max Peck wrote:Happy 60th birthday, Space Age!

You beat me to it. I was six months old when the Space Age began.

Long ago, during my militant atheist phase and while NASA was still racing to the moon, I used to argue for ditching the AD/BC numbering system and using 1957 as the new Year 1, since the dawn of the Space Age was a momentous event that actually happened...and, coincidentally, the year would match my age. Oct. 4 would have been New Years Day, and the various holidays throughout the year would commemorate notable space missions.

For some reason my Space Age calendar didn't catch on.