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09-06-2013, 07:44 PM
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#101
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 8,765
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt34
Speaking of launches, NASA is launching LADEE this evening and it should be visible along large portions of the east coast. See NASA's LADEE Mission | NASA
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Yep, should be a good one. The weather is perfect, so unless there's a mechanical problem it should be a go. 45 miles SW of me, so I should have a great view from the driveway. I've really been enjoying watching the Wallops Island launches since I moved out here.
__________________
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
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09-06-2013, 09:07 PM
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#102
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,331
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I am near Betheny Beach tonight so I plan to watch the launch.
__________________
Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
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09-06-2013, 09:33 PM
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#103
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,331
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Wow! Very cool. We could clearly see al the stages light off. Much better view than I expected.
__________________
Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
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09-06-2013, 09:37 PM
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#104
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 8,765
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Yeah, really cool! It was so bright at take off it was hard to look at. Then we saw both stage separations. The first one looked like it would drop straight down on the Ocean City Boardwalk. But probably not. This one was much brighter than the Antares rocket I watched a few weeks back. I guess because it's going to the moon instead of just high orbit. Totally cool.
__________________
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
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09-06-2013, 10:12 PM
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#105
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,994
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Chuckanut We got on the NASA's video link for the Ladee Mission. After lift off, we ran outside were able to see it in the night sky off the coast of Virginia. Saw the second boosters go off too! Shortly after we couldn't see it anymore. It was very cool to see!
You are right though, there wasn't a lot of media coverage on it or at least it wasn't front and center until today. I'm sure a lot of people who may have wanted to watch it, missed it.
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09-07-2013, 04:28 AM
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#106
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,346
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckanut
This reminds me of Asimov's books where robots did most of the space exploration. However, unlike the books, I hope we don't decide to just hang out on Earth and let the robots take the risks.
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I think that's what is going to happen, driven not by lack of desire, but cost. And nobody except those involved in the mission gets upset if a robot is lost in space.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
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09-07-2013, 07:02 AM
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#107
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 8,765
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt34
I think that's what is going to happen, driven not by lack of desire, but cost. And nobody except those involved in the mission gets upset if a robot is lost in space.
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Perhaps from a gov't perspective. But I think private companies are the future of manned space flight and resource mining. I'm sure robots will be used to save human life, but I think men will be out there.
Also, just so nobody can say they didn't know, there's another launch from Wallops Island in a couple of weeks. NASA robotic explorer runs into trouble after launch (nothing serious, though).
Quote:
Wallops will be back in the spotlight in less than two weeks. The Virginia-based Orbital Sciences will make its first delivery to the International Space Station, using its own Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule. That commercial launch is scheduled for Sept. 17.
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__________________
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
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09-12-2013, 02:55 PM
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#108
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Cooksburg,PA
Posts: 1,874
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PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun.
"Now that we have new, key data, we believe this is mankind's historic leap into interstellar space," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "The Voyager team needed time to analyze those observations and make sense of them. But we can now answer the question we've all been asking -- 'Are we there yet?' Yes, we are."
How do you know when your space ship has entered a plasma field? Read on for the explanation. Also a good review of Earth's oldest operating spacecraft.
NASA Spacecraft Embarks on Historic Journey Into Interstellar Space | NASA
__________________
Free to canoe
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09-12-2013, 07:19 PM
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#109
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 9,343
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Free To Canoe
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun.
"Now that we have new, key data, we believe this is mankind's historic leap into interstellar space," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "The Voyager team needed time to analyze those observations and make sense of them. But we can now answer the question we've all been asking -- 'Are we there yet?' Yes, we are."
How do you know when your space ship has entered a plasma field? Read on for the explanation. Also a good review of Earth's oldest operating spacecraft.
NASA Spacecraft Embarks on Historic Journey Into Interstellar Space | NASA
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Although I am a neophyte on subject matter this fascinates me who remembers as a student in grade school the launch. Just think how much technology has changed and evolved since the launch over 35 years ago. And yet it still works and are able to communicate with it. And it travels at over 30,000 mph. Amazing stuff to me.
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09-12-2013, 07:35 PM
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#110
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,266
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It helps to have a plutonium reactor for power.
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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09-13-2013, 05:54 PM
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#111
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Portland
Posts: 4,946
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Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.
- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 - 2001)
I watched the original launches of the Voyager spacecraft when I was 23 years old. Now, I'm retired and about to turn 60, and these craft are just now leaving the Solar system.
It's bigger than the SF movies make it out to be...
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09-13-2013, 07:07 PM
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#112
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 23,041
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The nearest star to our own is alpha centauri, at just over 4.37 light years away. Even after all these years of traveling, Voyager I is just 17 light hours away. Very big indeed.
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Living an analog life in the Digital Age.
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09-13-2013, 11:38 PM
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#113
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,266
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gumby
The nearest star to our own is alpha centauri, at just over 4.37 light years away. Even after all these years of traveling, Voyager I is just 17 light hours away. Very big indeed.
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We need a more powerful propulsion system. 17 years to get out of the solar system and 6 months to get to Mars is not going to work well.
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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09-14-2013, 06:37 AM
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#114
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,346
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This is why we need warp drive. Can't leave home without it.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
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09-14-2013, 08:36 AM
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#115
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Pasadena CA
Posts: 3,346
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No current science for anything like warp drive, too bad. Until then the best we can do is CA (continuous acceleration) using ion thrusters. Good wiki on spacecraft propulsion: Spacecraft propulsion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Just need to figure out how to break those laws of physics.
__________________
T.S. Eliot:
Old men ought to be explorers
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09-14-2013, 08:37 AM
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#116
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 11,078
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt34
This is why we need warp drive. Can't leave home without it.
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The vendor withdrew 'Warp' from marketing years ago.
MRG
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09-14-2013, 12:49 PM
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#117
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,266
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yakers
Just need to figure out how to break those laws of physics.
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I am sure the Quantum physics crowd is busy working on it as we speak.
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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09-14-2013, 06:29 PM
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#118
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 10,725
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckanut
I am sure the Quantum physics crowd is busy working on it as we speak.
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Sticking to 4 dimensions when there are 7 more to be had is pretty limiting.
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09-18-2013, 02:35 PM
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#119
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,266
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Orbital Science has launched its first spacecraft to the ISS today.
Private Cygnus Spacecraft Launches on Maiden Space Station Voyage | Space.com
Looks like SpaceX has some competition. The Orbital Science craft can only make a one way trip. It burns up upon re-entry, unlike the Dragon from Space X which returns in one piece and can carry things in both directions. Orbital Science also recently launched the LADEE moon probe earlier this month.
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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09-18-2013, 04:30 PM
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#120
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 23,041
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I read that the payload is also smaller than the SpaceX vehicle.
__________________
Living an analog life in the Digital Age.
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