Cyber Planets: Building Virtual Worlds to Explore 31
core plexus writes "Space.com has an interesting article on 'Cyber Planets': NASA plans to create
hundreds of 'synthetic planets' that might represent real worlds orbiting faraway stars. Also tells about the Planetary Finder Mission, and an interview with one of the creators. Doesn't describe what software they're using, though."
Correction... (Score:2)
And at home .. (Score:4, Insightful)
Other planets are cool. So is ours.
Re:And at home .. (Score:2)
Re:And at home .. (Score:2)
(This blatant ad has not been paid for, hint, hint, nudge, nudge)
What about building physical virtual worlds... (Score:1)
Seems like building dropping these landers from high altitudes and landing in these land scapes might be just the thing they need to do before sending the next lander to its doom.
Wait a second... (Score:1)
Point 1:
If you want more information on virtual worlds technologies and lander prototyping applications, check out the Sense8 [sense8.com] product line. They have a good virtual world program that the astrophysicists use to model, design, and test mars landers. I've used WorldUp, WorldToolKit, and World2World, and can vouch that these are really good products. I think they have a user group on Yahoo. This, however, is probably not the kind of virtual world that NASA is going to be building for this project.
Point 2:
Also, you may want to check out the Laboratory for Advanced Space Research [uchicago.edu], at the University of Chicago, for information on the kind of data modeling that they are doing. They run a laboratory down at the Enrico Fermi Institute, where they build the nuclear powered satellites and nuclear powered space probes which they launch. Anyhow, I used to work down at the Enrico Fermi Institute, and I'll tell you this: 1. A whole lot of work goes into building a nuclear powered space probe or satellite. 2. NASA would very much build a hundred virtual worlds to help support those kinds of projects.
Specifically, as the article mentioned, there are certain and specific things which the astronomers and astrophysicists look for. These metrics include intensities, spectra, arrival directions, nuclear and isotopic composition of galactic cosmic rays, anomalous components, solar energetic particles, and particles accelerated in solar winds and planetary magnetospheres.
You see, the purpose of these virtual worlds isn't really to make landscapes for gamers to play Quake on. Rather, they are developing heuristics for space probes which are going to be launched in the future.
So, the virtual worlds which they are describing are summations of matrices, probably expressed in a quantum mechanical notation, utilizing a many-worlds interpretation. These matrices correspond to minimum and maximum values of ranges of the above mentioned metrics which the astronomers and astronauts are looking for.
Betcha? (Score:2, Interesting)
Old project (Score:2, Funny)
Yeow (Score:2, Insightful)
Which means that this project is inherently very limited in its abilities. They'll have to work on averaged and estimated behaviors for the biota and they can't investigate detailed niches. Most disturbing from a biological perspective is that they are really only investigating "live as we know it", since we have no idea how other life forms might exist. So in a very real sense they aren't really learning a whole lot that is new.
This is just my impression and interpretation, though. If they can do more detailed models, I'd be deeply, deeply impressed.
Re:Yeow (Score:2, Informative)
Alien planets... (Score:3, Funny)
It's "Elite II - Frontier".
These are great news, but... (Score:1)
These are great news, for people interested in science (I read about it some time ago), however I am afraid it will give new arguments to all of those people, who believe, that the landing on the Moon was a hoax. These people, as well as everyone, who believes in the, so called, "conspiracy theories," are usually so ignorant (some people say they are "stupid," but, as a man of science, I have to respect even those points of view, which I don't agree with, or which are simply wrong, so I refuse using the term "stupid" to insult these people--after all, people tend to believe in many strange theories and religions, which, in my opinion, doesn't automatically make them "stupid"), that they will not listen to our explanations that this technology is very new and that we had no such computers in 1969, which would be even comparable with what we have today. This, however, can start the argument all over again. I hope NASA has already thought about counter arguments in that discussion.
Who needs simulated planets... (Score:1)
Not only will we create a new planet, then we can take Venus and make it into Rura Penthe [tos.net], thus finding a place for the RIAA executives to live.
VPL vs TPF (Score:2, Informative)
The great question (Score:1)
Of course, one of those NASA scientists must, just MUST, create a planet for the express purpose of finding the answer to the great question:
What do you get if you multiply six by nine?
Re:The great question (Score:1)
Re:The great question (Score:2)
Re:The great question (Score:1)
Re:The great question (Score:2)
What software? (Score:2)
And this will do.....? (Score:1)
They appear to be generating/creating virtual worlds which may be orbiting stars and then look for life on the artifical planet (which may be modified to produce outcomes).
Technology (IMO) isn't sophisticated enough to make evolutionary decisions from a (possibly) multi-million dollar waste of money (not mine, I don't live in the US). That's what TV is for
It's called Pure Science (Score:2)
I'll put a small quote from it here;
The classical example, often cited, is the discovery of x-rays by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in 1895. Within a year of their discovery, x-rays were being put to practical use in medicine, and in time became of enormous value in medicine, industry, and scientific research. Roentgen's discovery resulted from experimenting with electron beams in evacuated tubes. Had he been directly seeking something of value for the medical profession, he would most likely have put away his electron beams and taken up some more "practical" line of investigation, and the discovery of x-rays would have been postponed.
If you demand a guarentee of payoff for scientific investigation, virtually all research would stop. There just isn't anything that's a sure thing.
Planetary modelling just might allow us to have some idea of how fast we are burning this biosphere out, or get a solid handle on weather patterns, floods, and droughts.
Or who knows it might lead to self tieing shoe laces.
Check out his book The Pinball Effect [howstuffworks.com] for history on how unrelated inventions created almost everything we associate with modern civilization.
VPL's home page (Score:2, Informative)