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Name that probe! And 3 more years of duty for Mir 98
Cerb writes
"NASA seems to be
in need of a few good names for soil-penetrating probes
that they plan on launching Jan. 3rd." Unfortunately
the pair of people need to be related and dead, which
reduces means we can't name them Linus and Alan. In related
news,
humanity's only tried and tested space-station, which
was to be decomissioned this June, will get
a new lease of life: an anonymous international investor
will provide funds for another 3 years of service. (subject
to Russian Gov't approval)
Some comments say Salyut and Skylab were first. True, but they
aren't currently functionnal in Space.
Re: Louis and Clark .... (Score:1)
It can't be BillG funding the Mir... (Score:1)
Plus, he'd insist that all the station's computers be upgraded to use Windows NT 2000(R)(C)(TM). But that'd probably do more damage to the station than that Progress did when it slammed into Spektr...
Given the choice between accepting BillG's money and decommissioning the station, I would hope the Russians would opt for the Big Slam-Dunk into the Pacific. Not that I wouldn't be sorry to see it go, but it's the principle of the thing, you understand.
Eric
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Porn Names (Score:1)
Good deal (Score:1)
it seems to me that the way to keep folks in orbit
safe is to have more places in orbit that they can
flee to. Decommissioning MIR seems purely
political, if they can afford and practically keep
it operating after all.
The US is just looking to validate the
overly-expensive ISS. We would have been better
off spending the money on a Mars mission or
elsewise going where No One Has Gone Before, and
the dipshits at NASA know it. $50 billion is way
too much money for a simple space station.
Go MIR!
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Wow! ISS backup! (Score:1)
Names for probes (Score:1)
Yeah (Score:1)
Some may say that using the MIR modules would require significant reworking - true. It would also give us valuable experience in space construction. I'm also in favor of using spent main feul tanks from the shuttle to make section of usable material for station parts. We could use them as raw material for a factory in space.
Since the probes are doing actual prospecting... (Score:1)
not a chance (Score:1)
True. I was working for a large non-profit and Microsoft "donated" a whole pile of software. They gave them the software, but rather pointedly did not give them any updates. They had to pay for those retail. So Microsoft was able to write off the whole retail value of the software in question, which of course only cost them the actual expense of the media. And they aquired another customer...one who cannot afford the expense.
Can you say "drug pusher"?
Lewis and Clark .... (Score:1)
What's funny...I actually DID suggest it, when the link showed up at CNN's website...it seemed appropriate, to me anyways. (Just as a side note--Lewis and Clark actually were surveying the new territory, so it really DOES fit. :)
Not sure on the 200th anniversary bit, but (oddly enough) the planned new US dollar coin will have Sacagawea on the reverse, which makes it cool in its own way too. :) Lewis and Clark for the little survey probes, and a strong woman on the money to pay for 'em [which is properly silver dollar sized this time :)]. :)
Now to see just HOW many other folks submit it... :)
First? (Score:1)
Look at Salyut or Skylab.
Both of them were up and running a decade before Mir.
First? TRIED AND TESTED (Score:1)
It came down years after NASA was done with it.
Yes the Salyut were temporary things...so was Skylab. And someday people will say that Mir was a "temporary thing".
Good deal (Score:1)
Ron Jeremy lives (Score:1)
--
rickf@transpect.SPAM-B-GONE.net (remove the SPAM-B-GONE bit)
What a great idea! (Score:1)
names for tunnelling probes!
But is there any evidence that NASA scientists have
a sense of humour?
got one (Score:1)
Louis and Clark .... (Score:1)
Good deal, MIRS simple and usable(& v.old) (Score:1)
Roman dudes (Score:1)
perfect pair... (Score:1)
think about it, just throwing those names together, would make it an historic smash!
just hope one of them doesn't stop working...
heehee
I hope MIR stays in use, it is a very good project, and i am sort of mad with the folks who are incharge of the international station, because i know that the "captain" of the ISS won't be a russian, even though some of the russian cosmonauts (is that spelt right?) have logged more space time, and have more experience than almost anybody else. Its sick how its international, but americans will be running the show.
Its true that america will be bearing the finiancial brunt of the station, but if they want to have control of it, they should not call it "international."
Don't play political games with science...
The end result will mean doom.
Well it is a bit past it (Score:1)
Mir has been up for a lot longer than was originally intended. It is a fantastic piece of engineering but it's definately showing it's age a tad - remember the crash? and the fire? and the problems with the computers? and the power failures?
The ISS is an expensive solution but it is about time the old thing was retired.
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Megs
I dunno (Score:1)
oh well
Hadden (Score:1)
Bohr and Oppenheimer (Score:1)
Smallpox == Mass murderer (Score:1)
And in the small favors department, at least the Catholics decided the natives were human and merely enslaved them. The Protestants up north decide they were devilspawn, and began a lowkey genocide campaign.
Since the probes are doing actual prospecting... (Score:1)
search of precious metals.
2. I wish I remembered the name of the 1st serious
geologist. Name one after him, and the other after
the canal-obssessed astronomer.
(blanking out here... )
3. H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs, the
first folks to write Mars sci-fi novels?
I was a tad facetious with those two. (Score:1)
Mir, not MIR. (Score:1)
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Mir, not MIR. (Score:1)
And yes, I'm aware of the language's grammar, I speak it fluently.
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Good deal (Score:1)
I don't know the numbers so I can't tell.
name them after dead astronauts, dumbass (Score:1)
Misplaced Space Station (Score:1)
Na.. it's Bill Gates III Jr. (Score:1)
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Two good names but.... (Score:1)
Anyhoo, the two names that keep calling me are:
Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking
These two were/are definitely pioneers in certain fields of 'space science', so IMHO, they should be the names
Why must they be related anyway? Seems more fitting if both names came from the (relatively) same field of study.
-Dude, I flaked.
What about a Canadian, eh? (Score:1)
Agreed! Moonbase = good idea (Score:1)
Another advantage of Luna over Mars is that you're close enough to Earth for a lot of the work to be done using teleoperation (waldoes). You keep the balance of your workers down on earth, and have them remotely operate the machinery using TV links, robot arms, and etc. Mars is way too far away for this to be feasible: the time-lag on communications is too long.
Lastly, the Moonbase is close enough to Earth that the inevitable problems with getting a self-sustaining biosphere started can be helped out with shipments from Earth in a timely fashion.
I really don't see what a base on Mars gets you, besides a 50 billion dollar Martian trailer park. The moonbase will give you a real lasting advantage.
Jon
Wright (Score:1)
Related and appropriate.
Misplaced Space Station (Score:1)
On a different note I think ISS should be placed at L1 instead of earth orbit. If you are unfamiliar with L1 it is a position 1 million miles away where the forces of gravity between the Earth and the Sun are balanced. This would be the perfect place to launch expeditions to anywhere in the Solar System. Just to get there we would have to develop special spacecraft. And if you can get a spaceship to launch off the Earth and then turn around and stop you can go anywhere in our Solar System...all that you would need would be more similar space stations.
Misplaced Space Station (Score:1)
In conclusion: No, neither Venus nor Mercury will have any considerable affect upon a space station at L1.
I dunno (Score:1)
Of course.. If you want to be paranoid, just think what kind of damage a satellite would do to a city. Especially considering if it was loaded with anthrax. Hmmmm... Iraq? Anyone? Keep it in air for just a little bit longer to control where it lands, and bye bye major American city. (Just in time for the year 2K crisis when America doesn't have any capital to spend on it.)
"Mr. President -please don't forget about that."
(The sounds of major re-arming can be heard in the background)
I'm serious Mr President! If you fuck this one up *we* all go down with you, and I'm not sure you really want that, do you?
(sorry) off-topic post. preacherism. shoot me. I'll come back.
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern!!!! (Score:1)
Linus and Alan (Score:1)
Then again.. why kill gods when we could murder Bill Gates and pair him up with Satan? (They're related, aren't they?)
No, Mars first (Score:1)
How did Zubrin put it..."The moon is like a beautiful siren beckoning the unwary explorer toward her rocky shore". If you read up on it, that is a very accurate statement.
Lagrange points... (Score:1)
Think of them as gravitational eddies where the gravity wells interact and produce a 'dead spot'. As for other planets, yes they do have an effect on the actual location of the Lagrange points, but they don't nullify them. The actual L points (theres more than one) tend to float around a bit as the gravity wells shift in relation to each other. Objects located in those points only require occasional thrusts to keep them centered in the phenomena.
There are plenty of famous siblings... (Score:1)
I could go on forever.
No Subject Given (Score:1)
The only thing I'm wondering is their human rights record... anybody going to object? (What was their relationship with Native Americans?)
Shoemaker, Mr & Mrs Gene (Score:1)
Shoemaker/Levi-9, tragically killed while
searching for impact craters in Australia.
He was after all a member of NASA and USGS.
Ice on the moon? (Score:1)
Perhaps someday if we set up a Skyhook, we can more efficiently lift material into orbit, from where they can be sent to the moon to be assembled and launched cheaply.
Misplaced Space Station (Score:1)
I don't see how a space station placed at a Lagrange point would help either. It isn't any easier to reach from earth. And if you launch from a station in Earth orbit instead, you get the benefit of easily using Earths gravity to accelerate.
Names from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri would do (Score:1)
They are related, Garland will be dead by March for sure and I kill Zakharov virtually every single day.