The Space Thread: Diablo's Home Planet Found

[CarMadMike]

Yeah I was really looking forward to it.

 

This always happens, I've watched so many rocket abortions but I always forget or I'm too busy for the successful ones :jealous:

[TIMELESS]

When will they attempt this again?

[CarMadMike]

Monday, 6pm their time.

[CarMadMike]

another attempt in 20 minutes, 23:03 UK time: NASA Television | NASA

[Ryzza5]

So did it work?

[CarMadMike]

successful launch yah :D

[CLR-GTR]

NASA is thinking about a next step in planetary exploration. Orbiters and rovers are old-fashion... bring in the submersible! Just a concept for now but nice to see they're working on doing science behind concepts like this. It could open up new worlds, ofcourse with most thoughts going to not just Titan's oceans but also Europa.

 

Titan is unique in the outer solar system in that it is the only one of the bodies outside the Earth with liquid lakes and seas on its surface. The Titanian seas, however, are not composed of water, like Earth’s seas, but are seas of liquid hydrocarbons. What lies beneath the surface of Titan’s seas? We propose to develop a conceptual design of a submersible autonomous vehicle (submarine) to explore extraterrestrial seas. Specifically, to send a submarine to Titan’s largest northern sea, Kraken Mare. This craft will autonomously carry out detailed scientific investigations under the surface of Kraken Mare, providing unprecedented knowledge of an extraterrestrial sea and expanding NASA’s existing capabilities in planetary exploration to include in situ nautical operations.

 

 

Sprawling over some 1000 km, with depths estimated at 300 m, Kraken Mare is comparable in size to the Great Lakes and represents an opportunity for an unprecedented planetary exploration mission. This mission would be a logical follow-on to a Titan surface mission such as TiME (Titan Mare Explorer) or even a component of a flagship mission of multiple vehicles. The mission concept we propose to study will investigate a full spectrum of oceanographic phenomena: chemical composition of the liquid, surface and subsurface currents, mixing and layering in the “water” column, tides, wind and waves, bathymetry, and bottom features and composition. Measurements of all these aspects of Titan’s hydrocarbon ocean environment can only be made through focused in situ exploration with a well-instrumented craft. This investigation represents a significant advancement in our understanding of the history and evolution of organic compounds in the solar system, and hence a critical step along the path to understanding the evolution of life here on Earth and potential life elsewhere in the galaxy. While concepts of exploring extraterrestrial oceans, specifically Titan’s, have been proposed in the past they have centered on simple suspended probes or ‘diving bells’ (Lorenz, 2009, Epperly et al., 2010.)

 

 

Titan Submarine, or Titan Sub for short, will be a fully autonomous, highly capable science craft that will allow a complete exploration of what exists beneath the waves on another world. As such no one has yet envisioned what such a craft might look like, how it would operate or if it could be built; this is the conceptual mission design work we propose with Titan Sub. The Titan Sub addresses NASA’s strategic goals 2, 3, and 6 by exploring the Titan environ-ment which could hold clues to how earth and life formed, it will create new technologies in the form of a semi-autonomous planetary submersible which could be extended to other planetary oceans, and would capture the imaginations of educators and students by sharing with them exploration of a completely new environment on a foreign world. Titan Sub will also address the NASA technology areas of Space Power and Energy Storage, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Communications and Navigation Systems, Science Instruments and Sensors, Materials, and Thermal Management Systems. By addressing the challenges of autonomous submersible exploration in a cold outer solar system environment, Titan Sub serves as a pathfinder for even more exotic future exploration of the subsurface water oceans of Europa etc.

 

Source: Titan Submarine: Exploring the Depths of Kraken | NASA

[TIMELESS]

Titan sounds good... maybe stay away from that Europa though, you never know what lies beneath the ice... :eek:

[CLR-GTR]

I'd give Europa more chances of having life one way or another, than Titan, but who knows. Maybe Titan might surprise us too. It's unique though (keeping Earth out of the list) as a body with land and seas.... Perhaps they can send autonomous Amphicars over there xD

[TIMELESS]

I'd give Europa more chances of having life one way or another, than Titan, but who knows. Maybe Titan might surprise us too. It's unique though (keeping Earth out of the list) as a body with land and seas.... Perhaps they can send autonomous Amphicars over there xD

 

I wonder is Edd China busy? :p

[CLR-GTR]

Does Brewer ever give him a break then? xD

[TIMELESS]

Does Brewer ever give him a break then? xD

 

Probably not, but remember, Mike's always busy too! You know... sitting on his ass looking at ebay! :p

[TIMELESS]

Mars One shortlist: five Britons among 100 would-be astronauts | Science | The Guardian

 

The Mars One mission has selected its top 100 candidates. Since hearing this I've also learned 2 things I didn't previously know: it's all going to be aired on TV as a sort-of reality series, and the colony isn't exactly permanent as the life expectancy for them on Mars is about 68 days, and it's a 1 way ticket...

[T1M]

I'm surprised they had that many volunteers tbh....

[TIMELESS]

It's a once in a lifetime (pardon the pun :lol:) event. They get to be the first people to walk on Mars. Unfortunately they'll only have about 60-70 days of walking on Mars :p

 

Highly doubt it'll happen. I think the reason for the short life expectancy is due to a lack of budget to keep them alive. I also don't see broadcasting the deaths of these people happening either. However if it does, I think it'll be fascinating, stupid, but fascinating. If they wait 10-20 years they could just get a 2-way ticket via SpaceX.. but oh well. :hmmm:

[Eudemon]

This just flashed up on my twitter timeline before I was about to switch off for the night. NASA have created a Vine of a sunset on Mars from rover pics. :cool:

 

A sunset on Mars

[TIMELESS]

Meet the worlds biggest plane. Which will also carry a rockety thingie to shoot stuff into space.

 

[CLR-GTR]

Hm big yes..... though I don't even find it a quarter as appealing as an An225 or A380. Interesting concept though.

[TIMELESS]

I can't imagine enjoying piloting it from the right fuselage. That would confuse the hell out of me, more plane on the left than right. And yeah, if I was Richard Branson right now I'd still just buy an A380 and deck it out like Air Force One... with a swimming pool.

[Eudemon]

I really wish the world could just get together and work on exploring space and collaborating in sending supplies and such to those on the ISS instead of this whole individuality aim to get there first mentality we currently have. Honestly, imagine if all the smart thinkers from all agencies could work together on common goals instead of just wanting to be first.

[TIMELESS]

Well the ISS is a start, isn't it? They've got multiple nationalities working on it, but there's no doubt it's America's baby which they've just opened up a bit for other nations.

 

I agree though, China is a country famous for manufacturing, South Korea and Japan are technological giants, then you have the US, UK and Europe and all their own specialties that together could make massive leaps together. It's a shame this world is so stupid. :fp2:

[Eudemon]

ISS was a start yeah but that's been up doing its thing for a good while now, on this planet however it's still all about beating everyone else and being first. Then again military spending is massive and tech discovered for uses in space would probably just go to that sector anyway.

 

.... screw it, maybe we'll get lucky and an alien race will destroy us before we can get off this planet and continue doing damage. :D

[TIMELESS]

Tbh we probably are the aliens. We probably colonized this planet and forgot our history. :lol:

[TIMELESS]

Mars One Is Broke, Disorganized, and Sketchy as Hell

 

Heh, I'm shocked.

[TDUZoqqer]

Has anyone of you fellas seen the solar eclipse? One of a lifetime experience IMO!