The Space Thread: Diablo's Home Planet Found

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NASA's Orion Test Flight Gets Us Closer To Mars

 

NASA is launching its boldest test flight in decades this week. An unmanned capsule will head off on Thursday to reach a distance of 3,600 miles from Earth—the farthest space mission with a craft designed to accommodate humans since the final Apollo 17 trip to the moon in 1972.

 

On its first flight Thursday, the Orion capsule will orbit earth twice, carrying 1,200 sensors. After a flight of four hours and 24 minutes, Orion will drop into the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles from San Diego, slowed to about 17 miles per hour by large parachutes. The USS Anchorage will collect the capsule.

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On phone so can't sauce but it's been pushed back 24 hours due to winds, misfiring valves and "encroaching boats".

[Eudemon]

I think that may be the one my kid brother's name is on with that Boarding Pass thing they did.

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I think that may be the one my kid brother's name is on with that Boarding Pass thing they did.

 

Haha really? I don't think I've heard about that before. That's pretty cool though!

[Eudemon]

Yeah here's the link: Send Your Name to Mars (closed now obviously)

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*flaps* The time zones must have confused me because it's already happened :lol:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7VQWRuex_s

[Eudemon]

Yep there's been a really good amount of shots from multiple locations such as the ISS, the craft itself and the ground. They even have a drone flying over the landing zone to catch it's return to earth.

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Yep there's been a really good amount of shots from multiple locations such as the ISS, the craft itself and the ground. They even have a drone flying over the landing zone to catch it's return to earth.

 

Any idea when it returns? I clearly haven't got a clue here :lol: Would really like to see a live stream of it this time :p

[CLR-GTR]

Wiki:

 

the mission will be a multi-hour, two-orbit test of the Orion Crew Module featuring a high apogee on the second orbit and a high-energy reentry at around 20,000 miles per hour (32,000 km/h; 8,900 m/s)

[CLR-GTR]

Philae entered hibernation, but we have something else floating around that has woken up:

 

 

On Pluto's Doorstep, NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Awakens for Encounter | NASA

 

Quite an important bit of equipment, because it will be the first one to deliver footage from ''near by'' of Pluto. So far all imagery that exists of Pluto is either generated on very rough composition data from other probes and earth-based observations, or it's simply an artistic impression. Nice little touch: New Horizons carries a portion of the ashes of its discoverer, Clyde Tombaugh.

[Eudemon]

We'll get better pics than even Hubble of Pluto and it's surroundings due to this thing.

[Ryzza5]

Must have good wifi over there

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Great Scott!

Yes?

Curiosity Rover Drills Into Mars Rock, Finds Water - Yahoo News

 

 

Evidence has now been found that helps fill in the gaps about Mars' past and when it lost it's water.

The [NASA Curiosity] rover drilled into a piece of Martian rock called Cumberland and found some ancient water hidden within it. Researchers were then able to test a key ratio in the water with Curiosity's onboard instruments to gather more data about when Mars started to lose its water, NASA officials said. In the same sample, Curiosity also detected the first organic molecules it has found.

 

Curiosity measured the ratio of deuterium (heavy hydrogen) to "normal" hydrogen. This D-to-H ratio can help scientists see how long it takes for water molecules to escape, because the lighter hydrogen molecules fly toward the upper atmosphere more freely than deuterium does.

 

The D-to-H ratio in Cumberland is about half the ratio found in the Martian atmosphere's water vapor today, NASA officials said. This suggests that the planet lost much of its surface water after the Cumberland rock formed, space agency officials added in the same statement.

 

But the water sample is also about three times "heavier" than Earth's oceans. This means that if Mars' surface water started off with a D-to-H ratio like Earth's, then most of the Martian water likely disappeared before Cumberland formed about 3.9 billion to 4.6 billion years ago.

[Eudemon]

Yeah I read this along with the farting the planet does too.

[CLR-GTR]

You still think there's no way there can be other life than on earth?.......

 

Think again...

 

Because NASA's Kepler telescope, permanently observing a relatively minuscule patch of universe, has passed the 1000 mark in terms of verified exo-planets, with a total of more than 4000 planet candidates discovered.

 

[Eudemon]

I claim Kepler-62f in the name of cheese crackers!

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I claim Kepler-62f and name it... Kepler Sixty Too E!

[Eudemon]

Hey get away from my exoplanet. Guards Guards! Seize Him!

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God damn it, you brought the squirrel mafia with you?! :bsad:

 

 

All I have is my bananas. And they only do one thing...

 

:bparty:

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SpaceX supply ship arrives at space station with groceries

 

SpaceX Supply Ship delivered goodies to the ISS, food and belated Christmas presents :lol:

[Eudemon]

Better late than never I always ....always say!

[CLR-GTR]

Good that Elon Musk won't give up and do another test with landing those rockets next month! :D

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Better late than never I always ....always say!

 

S**n is the word... :p

[CarMadMike]

SpaceX To Attempt Rocket Landing For Second Time

 

7 mins until another attempt for the SPACEX.

 

However they've got 5 mins to fix 2 issues, so I'm doubting it'll happen.

 

Edit: Launch aborted, how fun, lulz.

[Eudemon]

Was watching, had the popcorn and the big bag of Milky Bar Buttons ready and then they aborted. :bdown: