NASA's InSight Successfully Lands on Mars (theverge.com) 175
NASA's latest Mars lander, InSight, successfully touched down on the surface of the Red Planet moments ago, surviving an intense plunge through the Martian atmosphere. From a report: It marks the eighth picture-perfect landing on Mars for NASA, adding to the space agency's impressive track record of putting spacecraft on the planet. And now, InSight's two-year mission has begun, one that entails listening for Marsquakes to learn about the world's interior. After six and a half months of traveling through space, InSight hit the top of Mars' atmosphere a little before 3PM ET. It then made a daring descent to the surface, performing a complex multi-step routine that slowed the lander from more than 12,000 miles per hour to just 5 miles per hour before it hit the ground. To get to the surface safely, InSight had to autonomously deploy a supersonic parachute, gather radar measurements, and ignite its thrusters all at the right time. Altogether, the landing took just under seven minutes to complete, prompting the nickname "seven minutes of terror." "InSight's view is a flat, smooth expanse called Elysium Planitia, but its workspace is below the surface, where it will study Mars' deep interior," Nasa posted Monday, sharing the first photo after the landing.
Most important mission in years? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd say this has to be one of the most important missions in years in terms of space research.
This will open the doors to future Mars missions by showing the internal geometry of the planet, potentially leading to liquid water, caves for future colonies and underground chemistry.
Equally the Risk Assessment of space impacts to know for sure just how frequent they are.
But as a bonus, also a test of deep-launch cubesats, which can be used to help massively improve the Deep Space Network as well as do experiments around lesser bodies like asteroids since they are so disposable with their cheap(er) development prices.
I can only hope it doesn't go awry. It'll be crushing. Probably worse so than the Beagle2 failure.
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Agreed.
If you're not willing to say Tellusquake, don't say Marsquake either.
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Let's try to simplify it and call them all "planetquakes". But what about sub-planets like Pluto and Ceres? Okay, "big-ball-quakes". Wait, not all are round. Okay, "big-lump-quakes". That's awkward. BLQ? Bah! go with "quakes". Done!
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go with "quakes". Done!
And get sued by the Quakers? No thanks. I'll stick with "temblors".
This is how you do suspense (Score:5, Insightful)
I am glad the NASA commentators were not constantly talking during the 7 minute landing sequence. This is how you build suspense. By not talking and letting the time flow and the suspense build. Hollywood could learn a lot by watching this NASA landing event.
Well done.
Wish you were here? (Score:1)
That's a hell of a thing to say! It's a desolate frozen rock!
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That's a hell of a thing to say! It's a desolate frozen rock!
Not so bad. If you look in the photo, off near the horizon, there's a Starbucks.
K'Breel is gonna be pissed. (Score:1, Funny)
Whose gel-sacs will be ruptured this time?
Congratulations (Score:2)
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SpaceX shoots rockets to LEO and the Musk fanboys go nuts. NASA sends a probe to another fucking planet and you don't hear a peep from them.
Tautological.
Beyonce releases an album and Beyhive goes nuts. But when Yo Yo Ma wins the 2016 Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, you don't hear a peep from them.
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yes we do, idiot
TMRO and others who are spacex fans do celebrate NASAs missions, i mean JPL missions
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space, Denver, Colorado built the spacecraft.
This is really impressive (Score:2, Offtopic)
NASA seems to have got Mars landings down nearly pat. Although the article didn't exactly say, it seemed like this descent was similar to other recent landers, will have to look for exact details...
Also really cool to have two CubeSats orbiting Mars now as well.
Still not out of the woods yet, the craft has to deploy solar panels - hope that works out! Great work NASA!
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NASA seems to have got Mars landings down nearly pat. Although the article didn't exactly say, it seemed like this descent was similar to other recent landers, will have to look for exact details...
Yes, it was identical to the Mars Phoenix in overall landing technique, which itself was (nearly) identical to the Mars Polar Lander of 1998 ("nearly" accounting for some corrections made to avoid the fate of Polar Lander, which crashed).
different from Pathfinder and MER, which used the airbag technique, and from Curiosity (and the upcoming 2020), which used SkyCrane.
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Thanks - I was in particular wondering if it used SkyCrane, but I guess not.
Re: This is really impressive (Score:2)
Re:This is really impressive (Score:5, Informative)
The CubeSats are not in Martian orbit - they didn't have engines to slow down or a heat shield to bleed off energy (only small attitude thrusters). They just flew by Mars, and will be in an elliptical orbit around the Sun.
Aha! More details. (Score:3)
Oh well! Slightly less cool then, but still an interesting idea.
It looks like they won't last longer than a few weeks [wikipedia.org], after that just orbiting as you said in an elliptical orbit - it would be nice if they had planned that to just exit the solar system or hit the sun, you can't start worrying about deep space debris too early!
They do have tiny engines it appears, but just enough for small adjustments. Interesting the reason they have two was just for redundancy but it seemed both worked.
Greek Etymology (Score:1)
Geology - the study of inner structure of Earth. "Geo" from "Gaia".
Areology - the study of the inner structure of Mars. "Are" from "Ares".
Hesperology - the study of the inner structure of Venus. "Hesper" from "Hesperus"...
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Geology - the study of inner structure of Earth. "Geo" from "Gaia".
Areology - the study of the inner structure of Mars. "Are" from "Ares".
Hesperology - the study of the inner structure of Venus. "Hesper" from "Hesperus"...
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Late-Breaking News from the Council... (Score:5, Funny)
Earlier this afternoon the The Council of Elders announced in triumph that they have once again detected and deflected the efforts of the blue world to land upon our soil.
K'Nord, Speaker for the Council of Elders, told reporters in a lengthy and jovial press conference
Shortly thereafter, a junior analyst in the room was overheard suggesting that the vessel was in fact designed to be stationary, and that it furthermore contained a drilling device designed to penetrate deeply into the planetary soil. Quickly reiterating the victory at hand, K'nord then had the analyst's gelsacs extracted and pulpified, to be used as a cleaning solution for the Council members' glasses.
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K'Nord???? What happened to K'Breel?
Re:Late-Breaking News from the Council... (Score:4, Funny)
K'Breel retired after many glorious years of service. His gelsacs were ground into a fine tartare, which was enjoyed by all on the Council.
(Tackhead has since retied from Slashdot. The good news is that the Council of Elders has many speakers. Even K'Breel needed a rotation off now and then)
Not a Betting Man (Score:5, Funny)
I don't bet against NASA anymore. After Curiosity used the "Sky Crane" to land on Mars I had to sing the Star-Spangled Banner naked on the roof of an office building in Ohio. Which meant that it was just another day in Ohio, but I was certain that that thing was going to be a smoking hole in Mars...
American "naked", or actual naked? (Score:1)
American "naked", aka "wearing underwear" or even "showing more than your ankles, hands and head".
Or actually naked?
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Nuck baked.
Sky Cranes [Re:Not a Betting Man] (Score:1)
That sky-crane was crazy. It's hard to believe there were not simpler alternatives. It was done in part to test technology to be used for more accurate landings so that rovers don't have to waste time and wear getting to the best targets. In the future, a hover-craft may take the rover/probe to the prime spot and then lower it down via a sky-crane.
The traditional (Viking-esque) way has an error radius of roughly 20 miles.
F
Congrats (Score:1)
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more interesting to land on, other than Mars. Some of the moons of Jupiter, for example. I guess that's just too hard right now...
The problem with reaching the Jovian moons is that they lack atmosphere for aero-braking, which means you need to send not just a small probe, but a big rocket to stop it. A much better candidate for landing is Titan, the big moon of Saturn. Such a mission has already been done, launched 21 years ago, and landed in 2005:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
How soon we forget. And let's not also forget the Russian landings on Venus has some success.
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atmospheres, such as Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.
No. Near enough to vacuum. Mars atmosphere may be less than 1% of earth, but it is pea soup compared to those moons.
> The surface pressure of Europa's atmosphere is 0.1 Pa, or 10^12 times that of the Earth.[9]
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atmospheres, such as Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.
No. Near enough to vacuum. Mars atmosphere may be less than 1% of earth, but it is pea soup compared to those moons.
> The surface pressure of Europa's atmosphere is 0.1 Pa, or 10^12 times that of the Earth.[9]
A Pascal is 100th of a millibar or 100,000th of earth atmospheric pressure. So 0.1 Pa is a 1,000,00th of earth pressure, or 10^-6, not 10^-12.
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The surface pressure of Europa's atmosphere is 0.1 Pa, or 10^12 times that of the Earth.[9]
So 0.1 Pa is a 1,000,00th of earth pressure, or 10^-6, not 10^-12.
Slashdot swallowed the "mu" from 0.1 micro-pascals in my cut & paste. Sorry. Unicode .
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Obviously not a necessity, but aero-braking makes the delta-V budget a lot easier. See the chart.
It actually takes a much bigger rocket to get a given payload to the lunar surface than to Mars, using aerobraking.
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That's sort of correct, but the beauty of the Jovian moons is that they revolve around a planet that does have an atmosphere. So in principle they can use Jupiter's atmosphere to slow down to a speed that allows for slower passes around the moons (a la Galileo probe). I would think they'd be able to figure out how to get matched into a moon orbit so they can approach at a slow speed and only have to spend fuel to fight the moons gravity.
Jupiter's atmosphere is not as helpful as you might think. It will put you into a transfer orbit for a fly-by, but actually getting into a low orbit around those moons would require a huge rocket burn.
Its not the "moons gravity" that is the problem, but their velocity. Rocketry is all about the delta-V.
I'm no orbital mechanic, so I rely on reading the charts such as this one:
https://www.reddit.com/r/space... [reddit.com]
You can see that even with aero-braking (on sections marked with red arrows), it is still far easier
News Flash: Mars Defense Network! (Score:5, Funny)
From the desk of his Imperiousness Qwerrfygrum:
"Once again, the watery inhabitants of the Third Planet have assaulted our Beloved Homeland.
25 Years ago, their attacks began, first with a suicidal crash, second with a landing that our Illustrious General Grogooglebarg (may his essences swim forever) disabled only moments after touchdown.
We have managed over these years to maintain a strong success rate, with more than half their attacks being diverted, disabled, or destroyed before tainting our Red Fundament.
Recently, some of their attack craft have landed and continued to roam. Those responsible for disabling these craft have been sequentially sacked until we've found the right Tentacle for the job! I believe I can say with confidence they have all been terminated finally.
Unfortunately, however, the grim news of another lander cannot be refuted.
The only way this could possibly get worse would be if this new attack craft actually drilled into Mother Mars, violating her sacred surface.
STAY BRAVE, MARTIANS! We will triumph!"
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We will build a great wall, and the Terrans will pay for it!
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Seriously, what's your malfunction? Meds run out?
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Sensors (Score:3)
Hijacking that inane comment to ask another, likely inane question.
Would it be unreasonable to assume that they have been placing sensors on these spacecraft to register the various radiation levels experienced during the trip to Mars. This seems like it would be invaluable empirical data of what those anxious to get there in person will face on the trip.
Re:Sensors (Score:5, Informative)
This probe didn't have sensors, but that data is pretty well known. The radiation environment in deep space was measured throughout the Apollo years through Pioneers 6/7/8 were placed into Solar orbit to measure the radiation environment.
Additionally, most of the deep space probes (Voyager 1/2, Pioneer 10/11, all had particle/plasma detectors on them to detect the radiation environment.
So yes, there's pretty darned good data on the radiation environment of deep space.
Radiation environment detectors on Mars (Score:2)
Would it be unreasonable to assume that they have been placing sensors on these spacecraft to register the various radiation levels experienced during the trip to Mars. This seems like it would be invaluable empirical data of what those anxious to get there in person will face on the trip.
This probe didn't have sensors, but that data is pretty well known. The radiation environment in deep space was measured throughout the Apollo years through Pioneers 6/7/8 were placed into Solar orbit to measure the radiation environment. Additionally, most of the deep space probes (Voyager 1/2, Pioneer 10/11, all had particle/plasma detectors on them to detect the radiation environment. So yes, there's pretty darned good data on the radiation environment of deep space.
And, more specifically, the Curiosity rover had a radiation detector specifically designed to characterize the surface radiation levels: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/miss... [nasa.gov]
which is complementary to the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which characterized the radiation above the atmosphere: https://mars.nasa.gov/odyssey/... [nasa.gov]
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So yes, there's pretty darned good data on the radiation environment of deep space.
Yep. What will show progress towards a trip to mars will be testing of shielding on some such mission. There's a variety of things that will need to be protected again: X and gamma rays, ions and solar wind, cosmic rays in the form of fast neutrons, etc. All are blocked by different materials and will likely need a composite shielding to protect the human crew and one that will fit into the allowable mass. Some of that could be made up of the water that will needed for the mission anyway, but not all.
Re:Sensors (Score:4, Funny)
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You are a real hero. Think of the advances for humanity you will make by volunteering to die on Mars.
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So what? You are going to die on Earth.
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Radiation would be the *median* of their worries. If they make it that far, they may blow up when they light the rockets anyway. The LEAST of their worries has got to be space-fleas or running out of Diet Coke or something like that.
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Doesn't matter. No one is fucking going to Mars in the lifetime of anyone around today. Or, if they do, it'll be a one-way suicide mission, and radiation will be the least of their worries.
Comrade, this is why we beat you to the moon (and we'll beat you to Mars as well).
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For excellence in trolling, you have earned your extra ration of Vodka today.
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The term is in the quote from The Verge. You can complain to them that their article is using terminology that you don't like, but commenting about it here accomplishes nothing.
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Of all the available sources, why would /. drive traffic to such a lame site?
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We call earthquakes earthquakes.
Yes, because they occur on the Earth.
For some reason, earthquakes on Mars are now called Marsquakes?
Well, they certainly aren't earthquakes. Perhaps they should simply be called "quakes". But earthquake is definitely not correct.
If you have to make up a word and make it a proper noun for a really fundamental effect on a science and technology news website, something is seriously wrong.
I'd say marsquake is pretty accurate. Certainly more so than earthquake. "Earthquake" is simply two words put together to describe the ground on the earth shaking. If it occurs on Mars, then to say the Earth is quaking would be very inaccurate.
New words are made up all of the time and the meaning of some words change over time as well. If y
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Well that begs the question, is Mars' dirt called "mars" the same way Earth's dirt is called "earth"? And then also who's going to go back and adapt all the works of Literature for Martian perspective also?
And most importantly why the fuck are we wasting our time asking dumb questions like this instead of something interesting?
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well let's follow this to the logical conclusion: "Uranusquake" ... that won't be abused at all.
But really, there's geological phenomena that are not going to be unique to earth; coming up bespoke names for them on each planet/world we come into contact with is silly.
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Right. It's not like we've been measuring and talking about moonquakes since the 1960's... Oh wait, we have! Surprise, people use words in a way you personally don't like! English is a living language, the horror!
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well let's follow this to the logical conclusion: "Uranusquake" ... that won't be abused at all.
I don't think we need to worry about that on any of the gas giants.
Like I said in my previous post, they should simply call them quakes on any other planet/moon and be done with it.
Re:Marsquakes? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, because they occur on the Earth.
No, the word earthquake goes back to the 14th century, a century before the planet was first called Earth. It means ground, not the planet.
Which is rather obvious, because the entire Earth does not quake.
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Seriously... it really does. It rings like a bell as the P and S waves travel through and around the planet. This is actually the principle that allows InSight to work. The fact that a quake is detectable anywhere because it creates vibrations of the entire planet. The Sendai, Japan quake actually altered the axis of mass of the Earth by about 6.5 inches.
InSight will watch for P, S, and surface waves (a total of 5 types in all) and use that information to figure out the original position of the quake and ho
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Well, Merriam-Webster has an entry for moonquake [merriam-webster.com]. Oxford lists marsquake [oxforddictionaries.com]. The Free Dictionary has sunquake [thefreedictionary.com]. Dictionary.com lists starquake [dictionary.com].
While the 14th century usage may have meant something else, it's certainly well known that the entire planet Earth does in fact quake during an earthquake. Why do you think remote sensors can detect earthquakes half way around the planet? Definitions of words change over a couple of years, let alone several centuries. In this case, I'd say the term "earthquake" as in th
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I also believe the "earth", as in dirt, that was referred to in the 14th century was generally referring to cultivable topsoil. You're not going to find much of that on the moon, mars, or a star.
Well, not until we put it there...
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Earth does not only refer to the planet.
It also means: ground or soil.
So an earthquake on Mars makes the same sense as an earthquake on Earth.
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I'd call a worm on Mars a marsworm, it if was a worm native to Mars.
If it was an earthworm that someone sent to Mars though, it would still be an earthworm. Probably a dead one.
Re: Marsquakes? (Score:1)
This is a quibble, but an understandable one. We ânavigateâ(TM) in the air and do âgeology â on the Moon. Why the sudden need for a neologism for earthquake?
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We used to use words like seleneology and aresology, and then decided to simply to use geology, even when not on the Earth. Language evolves.
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OK, rereading the thread, I see what you mean.
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Congrats. Trolled like 15-20% of the posts on this topic. You should get credited for another 50 mills.
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Explain to me right this instant why you should not be banned with your idiotic posts?
Because since he posted as AC, that means would mean banning anonymous cowards?
(not that this would necessarily be a bad thing, considering the low signal to noise ratio of AC posts...)
So the war in middle east is WORTH WHILE? (Score:2)
6.5 trillion spent on middle east wars since 911.
While even 10% of that would be enough for a Mars colony, it IS NOT A WASTE.
The stupid fucking wars are a waste of time.
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Didn't THE scientific mind of our times, Bill Nye, just last week pontificate that Mars exploration is pointless?
B-but no he didn't.
Why the fuck was this post modded up?
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No, he said that manned missions to live on Mars were pointless. Which they are (at least with current tech.)
Re:B-but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why should taxpayers be saddled with more debt so the nerd class can feel good about itself.
Because without the nerd class, you'd still be driving around in a horse-and-buggy, without nifty things like mobile phones and GPS.
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Wrong.
Nerds invented the buggy too.
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Because without the nerd class, you'd still be driving around in a horse-and-buggy
You wish! Without the nerd class, you wouldn't even have a wheel to put on a buggy, much less fire to keep warm.
Bill Nye: in favor of Exploration (Score:2)
Didn't THE scientific mind of our times, Bill Nye, just last week pontificate that Mars exploration is pointless?
No, he didn't.
He did pontificate against human colonization and terraforming of Mars. (He didn't exactly say he was "against" it: was he said was that he thought it would never happen). But he said he was in favor of human exploration of Mars.
...
I value Mars exploration. We both get a vote. I vote for more space exploration.
Yep, I'm with you.
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No, he didn't.
He did pontificate against human colonization and terraforming of Mars. (He didn't exactly say he was "against" it: was he said was that he thought it would never happen). But he said he was in favor of human exploration of Mars.
200 years ago, some idiots were saying the same about Antarctica, that it was only good for explorers and scientific bases with temporary residents.
They could not imagine how our advanced technology would make vast greenhouses and permanent cities possible.
Also the terra-forming process is well under way, and should be showing substantial progress over the next century,
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He did pontificate against human colonization and terraforming of Mars. (He didn't exactly say he was "against" it: what he said was that he thought it would never happen). ...
200 years ago, some idiots were saying the same about Antarctica, ...
I'm with you there :)
https://hieroglyph.asu.edu/sto... [asu.edu]
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A hotel on Mars would be awesome.
Cynical though I am, I am surprised we have not seen more tourism in Antarctica.
Does not bode well for Mars. While there will be huge excitement for the first visitors (Amundsen and Scott were famous in their day), the interest may drop off very quickly.
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I am surprised we have not seen more tourism in Antarctica.
There is an international treaty against it.
And the amount of ships "allowed" to enter the waters per year is limited.
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Does this site have moderators any more? The new owners - hey, get them to do their job - this used to be a tech site, not a spammers' playground.
Set your browsing to +1 in the slider at the top and you'll miss most of the junk.
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