Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:41 pm
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SPAAACE
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Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:57 pm
Aye!
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Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 3:14 pm
I've watched Opportunity since its launch. I really hope it'll make it through this one. I think it has what it takes to pull through, as long as its solar panels stay clean. If they don't... well... 
Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:45 pm
I just read this news a little while ago. Wow.
Apparently these instruments are the only ones that have been able to detect this buried southern polar lake, so this conclusion needs to be replicated independently before we get too excited.
If it can be replicated, though, there are some crazy implications here: Could some kind of life survive in the sort of brine this "water" must be? Are space agency planners already thinking up missions to go drilling? Will they be able to do so, or will any such missions be blocked by those who want no Earthly bacteria contaminating possible Martian ecologies?
Interesting times.
Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 3:00 am
If the top is ice all the way through, they could build a rover with an drop-drone on a cable with a (radioactive decay) powered "melting-head".
The cable needs to be heated too, to keep sliding down / or is released from the drone itself (probably easier).
Sounds much more doable than a similar mission to Europa.
The cable needs to be heated too, to keep sliding down / or is released from the drone itself (probably easier).
Sounds much more doable than a similar mission to Europa.
Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:41 am
When S2 passed by the black hole at a distance just 120 times that of the Earth from the Sun, it reached an astonishing orbital velocity of 8,000 km/s. That corresponds to about 2.7% of the speed of light.
Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:51 am
Very cool on both counts. 
Personally I'd rather see a mission to Europa. Much more water there means, I think, much higher chance of finding something particularly interesting. Realistically a mission to Mars to check the lakes is probably a better choice, though, assuming we can confirm there's actually liquid water there.
Personally I'd rather see a mission to Europa. Much more water there means, I think, much higher chance of finding something particularly interesting. Realistically a mission to Mars to check the lakes is probably a better choice, though, assuming we can confirm there's actually liquid water there.Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 3:20 pm
An icemelter mission to Mars would make a good "field test" of the concepts needed to complete a similar expedition on Europa.
Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:08 am
The only problem: I dont see another way than using a nuclear heater to power the melt down.
Anything powered electrically or mechanical would require a huge (mobile) platform. (cost) Might only be viable when humans can land there and operate the drill.
But having a nuclear probe left behind is probably not the nicest approach, possibly contaminating the site.
Anything powered electrically or mechanical would require a huge (mobile) platform. (cost) Might only be viable when humans can land there and operate the drill.
But having a nuclear probe left behind is probably not the nicest approach, possibly contaminating the site.
Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:43 pm
It's only a little nuclear.Damocles wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:08 amThe only problem: I dont see another way than using a nuclear heater to power the melt down.
Anything powered electrically or mechanical would require a huge (mobile) platform. (cost) Might only be viable when humans can land there and operate the drill.
But having a nuclear probe left behind is probably not the nicest approach, possibly contaminating the site.
And we've left RTGs all over the place already.Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2018 4:51 pm
0111narwhalz wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:43 pmIt's only a little nuclear.
Heh. True. RTG tech is pretty well developed at this point.
Clearly what we really need is a high-powered orbital laser platform that burns a hole in the southern polar ice cap, which a specially-designed rover can then crawl down and back up again to transmit its results.
I see no way in which this plan could go wrong.
Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:09 pm
*Cthulhu rises from polar cap of Mars*
Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 6:10 am
Re: SPAAACE
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 1:23 pm
Breaking the icecap itself would be improper.Cornflakes_91 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 6:10 am(And if it wasnt able to break a measly ice cap it sure cant get off mars)