Space shuttle damaged on the way to space station...

[Shenrien]

they need to let tony stark build the space shuttles, this shit is getting silly now

ohh.. you just didn't...

[Mizango]

Ya the article I read said that currently the astronauts would either die getting there or on their way back. I'll try and find it later.

Please find that article for me plz. A proposed 10 month flight is hardly suicide. Extremly taxing yes but hardly the death wish it's being potrayed as.

[Jotaru]

While I agree Earth isn't going to last us (or the future us's) forever, reading stuff like Cephius' quote is kinda a downer to me... so many things we take for granted now (that just 'happened') would be gone; grass, going outside, not worrying if your house would spring a leak and you would die, air travel... most conventional forms of transportation, really... all gone. Living on a blank white sheet with dark black expanse overhead all the time. Bleh.

Please find that article for me plz. A proposed 10 month flight is hardly suicide. Extremly taxing yes but hardly the death wish it's being potrayed as.

I've heard this too, but I'm thinking it was a TV documentary on Discovery or something of the sort.. maybe tied to an article or something, idk. Cosmic Rays for the duration were the main concern

[Aerin]

Found it, I may have remembered part of it wrong. I know I remembered it because I was thinking it was a horrible way to die lol. Here's parts of it, if I get the chance I'll go to school tomorrow and check out the whole article.

Cosmic ray threat, sasquatch DNA, geochemist cook: Scientific American Podcast

Parker: Well! The cosmic rays are mostly protons—i.e., the nucleus of a hydrogen atom with a few nuclei of heavier atoms thrown in. They are moving nearly the speed of light so that when they hit some matter they go right on through leaving behind a trail of atoms with electrons ripped off them and chemical bonds broken. While we are biological organisms made up of complicated molecules and chemistry, and this just does enough damage that it's unhealthy if you get a very intense dose, you can be sick just from the fact that there is so much damage right at that moment; if you get a less intense dose, something spread out over more times then it breaks a lot of DNA, too, and even though you might not feel sick, the accumulation of broken DNA is not good. You tend to be prone to cancer in later years and so forth.

It's in this issue (March 2006)
Shielding Space Travelers

[ClarkSammich]

I don't mean to be rude, but Discovery Channel/History Channel etc have really lost their base in recent years. I wouldn't take most of what they broadcast seriously, it all seems like it's purely entertainment.

Also thanks for the Neil DeGrasse Tyson links (to whoever posted them), that guy is my new hero.

[Cephius]

While I agree Earth isn't going to last us (or the future us's) forever, reading stuff like Cephius' quote is kinda a downer to me... so many things we take for granted now (that just 'happened') would be gone; grass, going outside, not worrying if your house would spring a leak and you would die, air travel... most conventional forms of transportation, really... all gone. Living on a blank white sheet with dark black expanse overhead all the time. Bleh.



I've heard this too, but I'm thinking it was a TV documentary on Discovery or something of the sort.. maybe tied to an article or something, idk. Cosmic Rays for the duration were the main concern

Eh, I don't think it's a bleak picture at all. This kind of thing excites me. It's depressing that I'll probably never see it in my lifetime, but the idea of having thriving human colonies across the solar system is pretty cool. Philosophically speaking, I think something like that is something we all can rally around and take some focus off all the racial/geographical/etc issues that we have on Earth. Anything that puts the human race in context would be a positive, IMO.

Not to mention the huge advantages to science, astronomy, etc that would come with getting out there. I see what you mean with not seeing green grass and all that, but imagine being able to look at a full starry sky all year round

[Atreides]

It's not just the atmosphere, its also the EM field of the planet that protects against all the radiation. I'm honestly not sure if the moon rotates within the Earth's EM field, but if it doesn't, it provides the same issues that Mars would for radiation purposes. It would actually probably be worse.

I'm going to assume that since Mars still has an atmosphere, it probably has a decent EM field since otherwise the cosmic winds/rays/laz0rs/whatever would have been slowly stripping it away over millions and millions of years. Getting there would still be a huge issue though, the craft would require some serious insulation.

I was under the impression that Mars has no magnetic field, actually. At least not one that's ever been detected.

[Eliseos]

Yeah, according to Wiki, Mars doesn't have a magnetic field, though the surface rocks are magnetized. Though I doubt that the field from the rocks would be powerful enough to deflect cosmic rays.

[Mizango]

While I agree Earth isn't going to last us (or the future us's) forever, reading stuff like Cephius' quote is kinda a downer to me... so many things we take for granted now (that just 'happened') would be gone; grass, going outside, not worrying if your house would spring a leak and you would die, air travel... most conventional forms of transportation, really... all gone. Living on a blank white sheet with dark black expanse overhead all the time. Bleh.

Well it's not as bleak as you make it seem, you should read up on artificial atmospheres, Hydroponics, Biodomes etc. We have plants and organism living here on Earth that are live in conditions hundreds of times worse and more inhospitable that planets like Mars. There are ways around this, its not like we hope to colonize and then live on a baron rock reading books and telling tales of civilizations passed or anything.

We know what we face if we are ever to colonize space believe it or not and what is why we seek solutions to these issues. Michio Kaku and other Theoretical Physicists have lots of ideas, books etc.. on the matter. Ill see if I can find you some if you're genuinely interested.

I've heard this too, but I'm thinking it was a TV documentary on Discovery or something of the sort.. maybe tied to an article or something, idk. Cosmic Rays for the duration were the main concern

We'll of course, cosmic rays and Coronal mass ejections are always a threat to any mission. Even to the crew on the ISS and always has been, luckily have have tons of instruments and observatories in space that can predict fairly well when these bursts are about to occur. I mean even the Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity had to overcomes the exact same challenges that an Astronaut would. Hell, we aren't even safe on Earth with out Atmosphere, our shanty town homes and clothes, if a CME were to shoot this way we would be in big trouble. It's a chance we take every single day as is just living on this Planet. Space would be no different, except being closer and dying faster if you were to take on the full brunt.

A flare or CME could have destroyed the sensitive instruments on both rovers had one occurred. But being worries about CME is the equivalent of not wanting to drive to California because you are afraid an Earthquake will strike and kill you while on the interstate, the chance is there and it is remote but you cant let 1 in a million odds scare you from your dream.

I would go to the moon in a heartbeat, I know the risk involved as do current astronauts that embark on that journey, the difference that separates you and I is I can and am more than willing to die doing what I love instead of looking at the negative and being overly cautious. (That was a generalization btw) You just have to look at it for what it really is, its not the cosmic rays that will do you in, infact Shuttles, the ISS and transporters all have a system where that is we detect a MCE or any other burst from our Parent star we can simply turn and shield ourselves from it.

A maneuver in which we had to use when we launched the Sojourner rover back in the 90's when we went to Mars. Shields worked beautifully then, the Physics of space makes things like that possible. There are lots of neat misconceptions about space, like you'll freeze instantly or explode if you were to get ejected without a space suit. All of which are 100% false. Or that space is completely silent etc, No.

[TummieGaruda]

Speaking of the moon, we are coming up on the 40 year anniversary of landing on the moon. I think it's funny that people believe that it was a hoax by NASA that was filmed on a sound stage at Area 51.

[Mizango]

Speaking of the moon, we are coming up on the 40 year anniversary of landing on the moon. I think it's funny that people believe that it was a hoax by NASA that was filmed on a sound stage at Area 51.

Exactly, people are fucking tools simply put. What's funny is India recently did a mapping project on the moon and ran across the flag which is STILL there and the reflective plate we use to study the moons orbit.

Oddly enough this plate is what we use to know that the moon's orbit is getting wider and it is moving away from us at roughly 4 cm a year. Which is minute, but over billions of years like our Universe is this is exceedingly fast.

Back to my original point, if we had faked anything Russian Cosmonauts, India, China and Japans space programs would call bullshit on this and have pointed it out years upon years ago. Again, arm chair Astronomers give me migraines. Could not manage to get a GED yet understand the Cosmos enough to predict whats real and whats fake? Give me a fucking break lol.

Again, familiarity breeds contempt. It's the essence and science behind sippin' haterade.

[Cephius]

Oddly enough this plate is what we use to know that the moon's orbit is getting wider and it is moving away from us at roughly 4 cm a year. Which is minute, but over billions of years like our Universe is this is exceedingly fast.

Does that mean in a few million years the moon will escape our gravitational field and head off on a tangent (presumably towards the Sun)?

[Jotaru]

Awesome. Slingshot that sucker into the firey ball in the sky.

Mizango + Cephius: I agree, the concept is exciting to me as well, I just.. i donno. Seems bleh to me, living under the surface of the moon, haha. I'd also go as well- my dad has been urging me to join the air force almost my entire life due to my fascination with space, flying, so on so forth.. with the hope that I could one day perhaps become an astronaut.

Scares me to death, but I so would. We did the simulators for a shuttle launch and all that good stuff at the kennedy space station so many times... Just watching a shuttle launch gets my heart racing.

[Mizango]

Does that mean in a few million years the moon will escape our gravitational field and head off on a tangent (presumably towards the Sun)?

Hypothetically yes, although not towards the Sun per se. It may just drift far enough out to where it can have its own orbit or it may perhaps just break loose and shoot straight towards the Kuiper belt in which case it would get swallowed up by the immense gravity of of sentinel Jupiter.

[Mizango]

Scares me to death, but I so would. We did the simulators for a shuttle launch and all that good stuff at the kennedy space station so many times... Just watching a shuttle launch gets my heart racing.

Same, every single time.

[sephir]

anyone ever see this clip YouTube - Buzz Aldrin Punches Bart Sibrel ?


Im a little disappointing in NASA's decision to not bring back the Hubble when its life ends in the next few years. Its rather unfortunate because it is such a wonderful piece of human history.

Anyone got some literature on the Constellation program after the shuttles expire? Im kind of curious as to what NASA is planning to do with rockets, because I thought the choice of shuttles over rockets was that it was cheaper? Maybe they are going back to rockets in preparation for the moon/mars trips.

NASA's is a very interesting organization, they do a lot of great work but are certainly underappreciated. Its always interesting to read up on what their next big plan is.... just no more training ants to sort screws in space.

[Mizango]

Im a little disappointing in NASA's decision to not bring back the Hubble when its life ends in the next few years. Its rather unfortunate because it is such a wonderful piece of human history.

That's because the James Webb Telescope is a part of the 2014 revamping that will blow the doors off of the cosmos as we know it. The mirrors are MUCH larger in the web telescope than what Hubble has, its going out for something far larger and a wider spectrometer range.

I too am sad to see Hubble go, but the Webb telescope is light years ahead in technology!

The James Webb Space Telescope

Anyone got some literature on the Constellation program after the shuttles expire? Im kind of curious as to what NASA is planning to do with rockets, because I thought the choice of shuttles over rockets was that it was cheaper? Maybe they are going back to rockets in preparation for the moon/mars trips.

NASA's is a very interesting organization, they do a lot of great work but are certainly underappreciated. Its always interesting to read up on what their next big plan is.... just no more training ants to sort screws in space.

I will post some goodies regarding the Constellation program and 2014 here in a few mins.

[Cephius]

That's because the James Webb Telescope is a part of the 1024 revamping that will blow the doors off of the cosmos as we know it. The mirrors are MUCH larger in the web telescope than what Hubble has, its going out for something far larger and a wider spectrometer range.

I too am sad to see Hubble go, but the Webb telescope is light years ahead in technology!

The James Webb Space Telescope





I will post some goodies regarding the Constellation program and 2014 here in a few mins.

BUT THE WORLD ENDS IN 2012, WE MUST MOVE FASTER

[Mizango]

BUT THE WORLD ENDS IN 2012, WE MUST MOVE FASTER

lol

[TummieGaruda]

BUT THE WORLD ENDS IN 2012, WE MUST MOVE FASTER

Every time I hear about the Galactic Alignment and how the world is going to end, I can't help but to laugh out loud.

The movie 2012 is not going to help and will probably make people buy into the whole doomsday bs.

Also, about the JWST, it's supposed to out much further than the Hubble, about 1 million miles past the moon. The telescope is a beast, and I hope those Beryllium mirrors hold up to micrometeor impacts like they did in their earlier lab tests.