I have the JPL "NASA TV" Real feed open now, and is that a Sound stick that the Mission Manager Has on the top part of his desk? Near the blue "Mission Manager" Sign
Spirit has landed on Mars!
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Originally posted by ironknee: woo hoo! any news on the beagle2? |
The last I heard they figured out it went in too fast. The Telegraph had a cute line:
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| In space, they say, no one can hear you scream, but 60 million miles from Earth, somewhere over the crater-pocked Isidis basin, you might have heard a faint Kerrrunch!! |
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Originally posted by Aiglos: Sounds awesome, too bad for Beagle. I hope a miracle opens up for them. The data collected from 2 probes would be better than 1. It's beyond me why America doesn't do this more often, rather than wasting money on stupid wars. Congrats to NASA. |
What I don't get is why these missions have such a short life span? Can anyone answer that?
I heard on the news this is only supposed to last 3 months. That seems awfully short. Couldn't they have built a sturdier vehicle? It's powered by solar so why can't it just roam indefinitely?
Same questions I've always had for the Hubble. Why can't it just stay up there indefinitely?
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Originally posted by vmpaul: Same questions I've always had for the Hubble. Why can't it just stay up there indefinitely? |
Where'd you hear that it was coming down any time soon?
Someone would probably need to do some orbital corrections every now and then (don't know if it has any means of thrusting itself around), but otherwise it should be able to stay up there for quite some time, at least until solar radiation fries some vital peice of silicon.
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Originally posted by Oneota: Where'd you hear that it was coming down any time soon? Someone would probably need to do some orbital corrections every now and then (don't know if it has any means of thrusting itself around), but otherwise it should be able to stay up there for quite some time, at least until solar radiation fries some vital peice of silicon. |
I'm pretty sure I heard it was scheduled to come down. I'm not sure when but it's not far off (3-5 years?). It was on a program that was discussing the next large telescope going up. I forgot the name.
Anyway, there's a bit of discussion because some want to allocate enough resources to keep Hubble active till the new one is in orbit but NASA (or whoever is in charge) wants to go whole hog with the new because of the advancement it will bring. Sorry I don't have more info.
In terms of the longevity of HUbble, it migt be that the internal systems are geting old in their age. I don't think it was meant to be up their indefinitely anyways.
But yah, it's too bad that they couldn't gather data for as long as they could. But I'm pretty sure there's a good reason for it.
I'm surprised why they don't visit the moon, it's not too far off and it would be good to have some high res photos of the lunar surface.
But yah, it's too bad that they couldn't gather data for as long as they could. But I'm pretty sure there's a good reason for it.
I'm surprised why they don't visit the moon, it's not too far off and it would be good to have some high res photos of the lunar surface.
I have two beagles and if Beagle 2 is alive and resembles a real beagle in any way I can guarantee this: if there is anything edible on Mars, the Beagle will find it!
The Hubble has a limited life span in space because of radiation, space debris, thermal shock, etc. Think of it as a car that gets driven in the rain, snow, sun, hot, cold, etc. It wears out. Components fail like an iBook logic board!
The hubble can't exactly go get an oil change anywhere. Or for that matter, have a hard drive or CPU replaced.
Hubble has far exceeded its original intended lifespan. It spent 10 years on the ground unintentionally aging, shortening its useful lifespan. And the mirror problem? Luckily, that was fixable and fixed.
I'd like to know what happened to the first Mars rover. Is it dead? Can it still take pictures or move?
Tune in to Tuesday's Nova on PBS (check local listings) for more info on Spirit. It is supposed to have updates on the latest pictures, etc. from the high-res camera.
The hubble can't exactly go get an oil change anywhere. Or for that matter, have a hard drive or CPU replaced.
Hubble has far exceeded its original intended lifespan. It spent 10 years on the ground unintentionally aging, shortening its useful lifespan. And the mirror problem? Luckily, that was fixable and fixed.
I'd like to know what happened to the first Mars rover. Is it dead? Can it still take pictures or move?
Tune in to Tuesday's Nova on PBS (check local listings) for more info on Spirit. It is supposed to have updates on the latest pictures, etc. from the high-res camera.