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Post by Warrigal on Nov 26, 2018 18:30:27 GMT -5
NASA has managed a very tricky landing of a new kind of probe. It is designed to study the internal structure of the planet. Previously attention has been confined to the surface conditions.
Key points: •InSight will be the first to study Mars' inner secrets •Spacecraft is equipped with instruments to detect planetary heat and seismic rumblings •InSight marks the 21st Mars mission launched by United States
More here: www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-27/nasa-insight-lands-on-mars-after-six-month-journey/10557080
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Post by keith on Nov 27, 2018 0:13:56 GMT -5
Dust killed one of the Mars rovers (Spirit). It looks like they solved that problem. Here's a dusty lens sending back a pic right after landing:
This is what it showed an hour later: Attachment DeletedThe machine is drilling down 16' (4.87m) in hopes of determining the planets history and possible evidence of ancient life.
This stuff has always fascinated me. I was a big scifi buff for years.
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Post by Warrigal on Nov 27, 2018 0:38:48 GMT -5
I heard on the radio that the solar panels are now self cleaning. They shake off the dust.
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Post by keith on Nov 27, 2018 1:36:26 GMT -5
I heard on the radio that the solar panels are now self cleaning. They shake off the dust. You listen to the radio? It's been so long since I've tuned in a radio other than in a car. Nowadays, the TV is tied to the computer and supplies exactly what music I wish with no commercials. I stopped listening to radio news decades ago but your culture is likely different...you are Aussie. Radio in America is quietly dying, dominated by talk shows and born again revivals...no one's listening.
I'm kind of surprised at the attention Mars is getting as a permanent alternative human settlement. The Moon will certainly qualify for that first...or maybe Ceres with its lower gravity and water deposits found in the New Horizons probe. The idea is to permit human survival beyond planet wide destruction caused by natural or unnatural means. We can be self sustaining on the Moon or Ceres. Where there's water coupled with intelligence...there's the potential for life. Rather sad to think we will abandon Earth but the way we are poisoning her...there will be no choice.
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Post by Warrigal on Nov 27, 2018 7:42:05 GMT -5
I heard on the radio that the solar panels are now self cleaning. They shake off the dust. You listen to the radio? It's been so long since I've tuned in a radio other than in a car. Nowadays, the TV is tied to the computer and supplies exactly what music I wish with no commercials. I stopped listening to radio news decades ago but your culture is likely different...you are Aussie. Radio in America is quietly dying, dominated by talk shows and born again revivals...no one's listening.
We have a national broadcaster that broadcasts 24/7 without commercials. They have multiple digital and FM radio channels that deliver all kinds of programs. I particularly like three of them - ABC News, Radio National and ABC Fine Music. They have other music channels and regional channels for country listeners. They do a great job letting people know of imminent danger from bushfires and where to go for safe sanctuary.
Overnight I keep the radio playing softly beside my bed. It acts a white noise to muffle the sound of hubby's CPAC machine. Through the wee small hours, if I wake, I can listen to the BBC and sometimes I hear NPR or Deutche Welle. In the morning I often wake to the latest news. This is how I learned of the attack on the Twin Towers and the death of Princess Diana. Sometimes I start the day listening to some Schumann, Hayden and Debussy. I love my radio and often carry it with me as I do the laundry or take a bath.
I hope that one of the lessons we learn from off world exploration is that we absolutely must look after our precious planet and that one way not to do this is to be engaged in constant rolling warfare. Peace depends on fair sharing of resources which should be used sustainably for the good of all. Greed and aggression are actually crimes against the planet and against the life forms that depend on it.
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Post by chinadoll1981 on Nov 27, 2018 9:45:12 GMT -5
Go NASA!! In these days of listening to Foolish Donkey’s stupidity it is so good to hear really good news!!!
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Post by formerlyme on Nov 27, 2018 12:20:53 GMT -5
In Canada, we have the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). It is commercial-free and has a variety of good programming all around the clock. It's the only radio station I listen to, mostly in bed late at night or having a lay-down during the day.
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Post by Kady on Nov 27, 2018 13:20:59 GMT -5
Go NASA!! In these days of listening to Foolish Donkey’s stupidity it is so good to hear really good news!!! Yes, I agree....good news is rare with this administration.
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Post by tnthomas on Nov 27, 2018 17:07:58 GMT -5
Mars is getting as a permanent alternative human settlement. Way before humans are sent to Mars there should be a contingent of highly autonomous robots getting the human habitat and infrastructure ready. May take decades, but so be it.
Medical science doesn't even have a decent pain reliever, and has only primitive orthopedic 'solutions', so until medicine gets up to speed, no humans should be going beyond the orbit of the moon.
Oh, the Moon! Why no activity there? Was collecting a couple hundred pounds of moon rocks 40 years ago the only thing anybody had in mind?
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Post by keith on Nov 27, 2018 20:23:26 GMT -5
Peace depends on fair sharing of resources which should be used sustainably for the good of all. Greed and aggression are actually crimes against the planet and against the life forms that depend on it. Just so...unfortunately (as far as sharing goes), both Christianity as a philosophy and Socialism as a political tool have failed miserably. The experiments of early Christianity have long been perverted and abused. Socialism as a governmental approach, has worked in Europe but is now failing under economic and political stress. The way things are going, I don't see enough action on the environment to save it in this present form. Technology can pull us through much of our problems if we can use it in concert with all other countries. Considering the current state of world affairs...I don't see that either. I'm afraid the Earth will be sacrificed in our bid to leave her...along with all the unlucky life forms that won't be able to leave.
I fervently hope I'm wrong. I love this world and feel shame and disgust with our treatment of her. Our tribal instincts have led us to near extinction in the nuclear age...we must transcend them or perish. What do you think the odds are against all five permanent members of the U.N. security council agreeing to end war and unite for the good of humanity?
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Post by Warrigal on Nov 27, 2018 20:57:16 GMT -5
The romantic in me clings to the scenario depicted in Star Trek - First Contact (1996).
After a devastating global war, humanity has been set backwards and Earth is in very bad shape. Then the aliens arrive and they are Vulcan. The people of Earth realise that they are one people and choose peace.
However, we cannot look to rescue or salvation from outside. We must save ourselves if we want to save the planet. To choose life, we must first choose peace.
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Post by keith on Nov 28, 2018 6:34:36 GMT -5
The romantic in me clings to the scenario depicted in Star Trek - First Contact (1996).
After a devastating global war, humanity has been set backwards and Earth is in very bad shape. Then the aliens arrive and they are Vulcan. The people of Earth realise that they are one people and choose peace.
However, we cannot look to rescue or salvation from outside. We must save ourselves if we want to save the planet. To choose life, we must first choose peace. Right, Gene Roddenberry: “We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.” ...
“If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures."...
Arthur Clarke (Childhoods End), H.G.Wells (War of the Worlds), and Harry Bates Hiram Gilmore "Harry" Bates III (October 9, 1900 – September 1981) was an American science fiction editor and writer. His short story "Farewell to the Master" (1940) was the basis of the well-known science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and (2008). This last cinematic incarnation (with Keanu Reeves) spelled it all out...shape up and stop killing the planet or we'll dust you. I'm a romantic too...I understand (and agree with) their logic and motives.
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Post by Warrigal on Nov 28, 2018 8:39:03 GMT -5
Stories that capture the imagination are sometimes very powerful. I believe that we shape the thinking of any society or nation, for good or ill, by which stories we tell ourselves and our children.
Virtue and moral principles have their roots in our stories whether they be secular or religious.
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Post by chinadoll1981 on Nov 28, 2018 16:28:36 GMT -5
Mars is getting as a permanent alternative human settlement. Way before humans are sent to Mars there should be a contingent of highly autonomous robots getting the human habitat and infrastructure ready. May take decades, but so be it.
Medical science doesn't even have a decent pain reliever, and has only primitive orthopedic 'solutions', so until medicine gets up to speed, no humans should be going beyond the orbit of the moon.
Oh, the Moon! Why no activity there? Was collecting a couple hundred pounds of moon rocks 40 years ago the only thing anybody had in mind?
Moon was just jumping off point for space exploration sort of practice. As we gain technical knowledge we will branch out to other worlds and maybe one day break out from solar system to beyond. If we can survive
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Post by smitty45 on Nov 30, 2018 17:55:22 GMT -5
so we sent anothher thing to Mars,, for what?. Too see where we came from? or to settle the planet, and make it like the earth, crime, crime crime. Death and mayhem. Each year that passes, the human condition gets worse and worse. Settleing Mars will change noghting. Rape and Murder, Kidnaping, death death death. Those who don;t see the change live in a F*cking bubble.
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