Friday, November 14, 2008
Science Blast Off In Your Face
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Wanna see a live space shuttle launch? GO HERE NOW!!! IT STARTS IN THREE MINUTES!!!!
UPDATE: Shuttle Endeavor has launched. Here's some pics.
If you missed the launch, you can still tune in for an awesome play-by-play from Kennedy Space Center.
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1
I remember when I was a kid when we'd all gather around the tee-vee and it was EXCITING!
Now I'm all like...eh, that's cool...moving on.
Funny that.
Now I'm all like...eh, that's cool...moving on.
Funny that.
3
I just bought a biography of Wernher von Braun at borders last night prior to attending the symphony (Beethoven and Gershwin).
Fascinating.
Fascinating.
5
@2 yeah, like the whole JFK drama that boomers talk about -- i remember where i was when christa mccauliffe went explode, where i was when 9/11 tower 2 fell, where i was when i heard the first song off of the new Tullycraft THE NEUTRON -- it was off of Rainier Ave (dakota st?) the radio station was postKCMU (NOT that ripoff it turned into) and about 100 yards away, i could see Jonah handing to each of the 30 people in the foodbank line, one little peanut each. he's such a good little skater yuppie.
kisses, g
kisses, g
7
I live in Florida and can always watch a launch from my street. It was particularly cloudy tonight, so I tried to watch it on TV. I was saddened that I got to watch the actual take off, and then had my view shrunk down to the corner of the screen so that Mario Lopez could finish whatever he was squawking about on Entertainment Insider Crapfest. People used to care about the awe and wonder of space exploration and now we just want to make sure L.Lo is still a lesbian (which she is, thank god).
9
Watch a launch from inside the cabin. (It'll cost ya 10:58.) Someday, in another life...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwfsFtpAC…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwfsFtpAC…
10
In a thread like this, sooner or later someone bitches about the lameness of the manned space program. As I do R&D for next-gen weather satellites, I feel I am qualified to be that person.
Manned space is a complete waste of resources when you compare it to the developments and utility of unmanned systems. Unmanned systems explore the solar system and handle worldwide telecommunications and environmental monitoring. Manned systems let us work on toilet maintenance in low earth orbit. Seriously fund unmanned development, and we'll be doing robotic repair of critical infrastructure in no time.
The real use for manned space is PR and money. Star Trek + Nationalism = hot wet action for politicians and pork for the Cape, Houston, and Huntsville. Why on earth would these places have educated workers otherwise?
Addressing another argument: Some lament, "Oh, mankind will die if we don't reach for the stars! It's our DESTINY!" Fuck mankind if we can't learn to survive on Earth. Least we could do is not fuck up the galaxy.
We need to stop lofting the shuttle, let the ISS burn in, and concentrate on shit that matters: floods, drought, famine, hurricanes, forest fires, tsunamis, telecommunications, solar cycles, volcanoes, earthquakes, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and WAR.
This is science funding, people. Politicians treat it as a zero-sum game, and US corporations are too shortsighted to do anything badass anymore. Not like AT&T Bell Labs or Xerox PARC.
We Need To Set Intelligent Priorities.
Manned space is a complete waste of resources when you compare it to the developments and utility of unmanned systems. Unmanned systems explore the solar system and handle worldwide telecommunications and environmental monitoring. Manned systems let us work on toilet maintenance in low earth orbit. Seriously fund unmanned development, and we'll be doing robotic repair of critical infrastructure in no time.
The real use for manned space is PR and money. Star Trek + Nationalism = hot wet action for politicians and pork for the Cape, Houston, and Huntsville. Why on earth would these places have educated workers otherwise?
Addressing another argument: Some lament, "Oh, mankind will die if we don't reach for the stars! It's our DESTINY!" Fuck mankind if we can't learn to survive on Earth. Least we could do is not fuck up the galaxy.
We need to stop lofting the shuttle, let the ISS burn in, and concentrate on shit that matters: floods, drought, famine, hurricanes, forest fires, tsunamis, telecommunications, solar cycles, volcanoes, earthquakes, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and WAR.
This is science funding, people. Politicians treat it as a zero-sum game, and US corporations are too shortsighted to do anything badass anymore. Not like AT&T Bell Labs or Xerox PARC.
We Need To Set Intelligent Priorities.
11
Or we could give our kids something to dream about. And a reason to study all that math and science that can lead them into your field. and then they will run into a lame wanker like opticsdoug who can suck the life out of their dreams.
Thanks opticsdoug! You and yours really know how to suck the fun out of life.
Thanks opticsdoug! You and yours really know how to suck the fun out of life.
12
@10:
When robotic probes can do THIS:
"145:41:15 Scott: Okay. Now let's go down and...
145:41:17 Irwin: Get that unusual one?
145:41:19 Scott: Get that unusual one. (Pause) Here's some dense...And there's another unusual one; look at the little crater here, and the one that's facing us. There is a little white corner to the thing.
145:41:34 Allen: Okay, Dave. Get as many of those as you can, and you might be watching for a place where you think the rake might help you.
145:41:43 Scott: Yeah. I think we can probably do a rake here, Joe.
145:41:47 Allen: Okay, sounds like a good place....
145:41:48 Scott: Okay, there's a big boulder over there down-Sun of us, that I'm sure you can see, Joe, which is gray. And it has some very outstanding gray clasts and white clasts, and oh, boy, it's a beaut! We're going to get ahold of that one in a minute.
145:42:07 Irwin: Okay, I have my pictures, Dave.
145:42:10 Scott: Okay, let's see. What do you think the best way to sample it would be?
145:42:14 Irwin: I think probably...Could we break off a piece of the clod underneath it? Or I guess you could probably lift that top fragment right off.
145:42:23 Scott: Yeah. Let me try. (Pause) Yeah. Sure can. And it's a...a white clast, and it's about...
145:42:41 Irwin: Oh, man!
145:42:41 Scott: Oh, boy!
145:42:42 Irwin: I got...
145:42:42 Scott: Look at that.
145:42:44 Irwin: Look at the glint!
145:42:45 Scott: Aaah.
145:42:46 Irwin: Almost see twinning in there!
145:42:47 Scott: Guess what we just found. (Jim laughs with pleasure) Guess what we just found! I think we found what we came for.
145:42:53 Irwin: Crystalline rock, huh?
145:42:55 Scott: Yes, sir. You better believe it.
145:42:57 Allen: Yes, sir.
145:42:58 Scott: Look at the plage in there.
145:42:59 Irwin: Yeah.
145:43:00 Scott: Almost all plage.
145:43:01 Irwin: (Garbled)
145:43:02 Scott: As a matter of fact (Laughing) Oh, boy! I think we might have ourselves something close to anorthosite, 'cause it's crystalline, and there's just a bunch...It's just almost all plage. What a beaut."
- THEN you MIGHT be able to make a case for eliminating the human presence in space in favor of exclusive use of unmanned probes. But until then, human beings are still be BEST we have in terms of observation, analysis, discrimination and selection, not to mention, when was the last time you heard a robot describe their environment in terms bordering on poetic?
I'll take "magnificent desolation" over a string of binaries any day of the week.
More...
When robotic probes can do THIS:
"145:41:15 Scott: Okay. Now let's go down and...
145:41:17 Irwin: Get that unusual one?
145:41:19 Scott: Get that unusual one. (Pause) Here's some dense...And there's another unusual one; look at the little crater here, and the one that's facing us. There is a little white corner to the thing.
145:41:34 Allen: Okay, Dave. Get as many of those as you can, and you might be watching for a place where you think the rake might help you.
145:41:43 Scott: Yeah. I think we can probably do a rake here, Joe.
145:41:47 Allen: Okay, sounds like a good place....
145:41:48 Scott: Okay, there's a big boulder over there down-Sun of us, that I'm sure you can see, Joe, which is gray. And it has some very outstanding gray clasts and white clasts, and oh, boy, it's a beaut! We're going to get ahold of that one in a minute.
145:42:07 Irwin: Okay, I have my pictures, Dave.
145:42:10 Scott: Okay, let's see. What do you think the best way to sample it would be?
145:42:14 Irwin: I think probably...Could we break off a piece of the clod underneath it? Or I guess you could probably lift that top fragment right off.
145:42:23 Scott: Yeah. Let me try. (Pause) Yeah. Sure can. And it's a...a white clast, and it's about...
145:42:41 Irwin: Oh, man!
145:42:41 Scott: Oh, boy!
145:42:42 Irwin: I got...
145:42:42 Scott: Look at that.
145:42:44 Irwin: Look at the glint!
145:42:45 Scott: Aaah.
145:42:46 Irwin: Almost see twinning in there!
145:42:47 Scott: Guess what we just found. (Jim laughs with pleasure) Guess what we just found! I think we found what we came for.
145:42:53 Irwin: Crystalline rock, huh?
145:42:55 Scott: Yes, sir. You better believe it.
145:42:57 Allen: Yes, sir.
145:42:58 Scott: Look at the plage in there.
145:42:59 Irwin: Yeah.
145:43:00 Scott: Almost all plage.
145:43:01 Irwin: (Garbled)
145:43:02 Scott: As a matter of fact (Laughing) Oh, boy! I think we might have ourselves something close to anorthosite, 'cause it's crystalline, and there's just a bunch...It's just almost all plage. What a beaut."
- THEN you MIGHT be able to make a case for eliminating the human presence in space in favor of exclusive use of unmanned probes. But until then, human beings are still be BEST we have in terms of observation, analysis, discrimination and selection, not to mention, when was the last time you heard a robot describe their environment in terms bordering on poetic?
I'll take "magnificent desolation" over a string of binaries any day of the week.
13
@10:
The US space program is funded because the public is fascinated with manned spaceflight. The robotic probe programs are basically latched onto this interest. If manned spaceflight was killed, the lack of public interest would cause the unmanned programs to be scaled back to something on the order of the ESA's robotic space probe program (which launches only about one major probe per decade). And even in the US robotic space probe program, missions are tailored to the public interest, not for science. This is why we send so many probes to Mars. The worst example of this unscientific focus was the scaling back (and near cancellation) of the Voyager Grand Tour. A planetary alignment that only occurs every 180 years that allows a probe to tour all of the gas giants was only exploited by one of the Voyager probes on a mission extension (it wasn't officially designed to operate past Saturn). There should have been a fleet of probes sent. Instead, NASA devoted more resources towards getting the stationary Viking probes to land on Mars and act as weather stations. Even today the most interesting scientific missions pale in funding to the Mars program. For example, some really interesting probes you never hear about are MESSENGER, STEREO A/B, Dawn, and New Horizons. All of these probes put together would cost just about as much as the next major Mars probe (the Mars Science Laboratory). In any case, I realize that just as the robotic probe program has to latch onto the interest of the manned space program, the most useful scientific missions have to latch on to the interest in Mars exploration. The more money we put into manned exploration will likely result in more money being put into Mars exploration. And this will result in more money being put into exploring our Solar System.
More...
The US space program is funded because the public is fascinated with manned spaceflight. The robotic probe programs are basically latched onto this interest. If manned spaceflight was killed, the lack of public interest would cause the unmanned programs to be scaled back to something on the order of the ESA's robotic space probe program (which launches only about one major probe per decade). And even in the US robotic space probe program, missions are tailored to the public interest, not for science. This is why we send so many probes to Mars. The worst example of this unscientific focus was the scaling back (and near cancellation) of the Voyager Grand Tour. A planetary alignment that only occurs every 180 years that allows a probe to tour all of the gas giants was only exploited by one of the Voyager probes on a mission extension (it wasn't officially designed to operate past Saturn). There should have been a fleet of probes sent. Instead, NASA devoted more resources towards getting the stationary Viking probes to land on Mars and act as weather stations. Even today the most interesting scientific missions pale in funding to the Mars program. For example, some really interesting probes you never hear about are MESSENGER, STEREO A/B, Dawn, and New Horizons. All of these probes put together would cost just about as much as the next major Mars probe (the Mars Science Laboratory). In any case, I realize that just as the robotic probe program has to latch onto the interest of the manned space program, the most useful scientific missions have to latch on to the interest in Mars exploration. The more money we put into manned exploration will likely result in more money being put into Mars exploration. And this will result in more money being put into exploring our Solar System.
14
I WAS THERE!!!! I flew all the the way out there from Seattle just to watch the launch. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! I just got home and I've never been happier to see a slog post, ever.
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