Cool science stuff

I need advice in graphene futures. Where's Ragu?

 

After seven months silence, the feared-to-be-dead Philae comet lander phones home:

Philae: Alive and well!

 

Saw that this weekend. That is awesome. Can't wait for the new pictures. I think they're putting a priority on drilling into the comet to find out more about its composition.

 

Did Philae come equipped with a drill? My understanding was that it was just going to take atmospheric measurements and send pictures.

 

Yes, it has a drill.

New scientific dawn may beckon for Europe's comet lab - Yahoo News

One of Philae's star instruments is a drill designed to penetrate to a depth of 25 centimetres (9.8 inches). But after landing, the probe perched at a 45-degree angle against a rocky wall and its instrument "drilled" uselessly into space.

"What we hope to look at now is whether we can rotate the body of Philae... and maybe put the drill into a place where we might be able to then actually go into the surface," said McCaughrean.

 

I wonder if rocket scientists secretly hope a bunch of stuff goes wrong during the mission, just so they can play around with the spacecraft and see what it can really do.

 

Generally, no, no, hell no. Lots of things are put in to spacecraft design, like circuit redundancy, to try to prevent the loss of a mission. The fact that scientists sometimes overcome failures speaks toward their intelligence and creativity, as well as the flexibility and reprogrammability of these systems. But you don't hope for things to go wrong. A catastrophe could prevent the funding of your next project and ruin your career.

One interesting technology currently being developed is to have circuits and systems being able to self diagnosis and self repair.

This will be another step forward along the way to machines becoming self aware and the development of SkyNet.

 

After 9 1/2 years, New Horizons is four days away from Pluto and we're starting to get some pictures back. Who knew it was red?
When the Voyagers were doing their thing when I was a kid, I thought it was just the absolute coolest thing ever, and was disappointed that they weren't able to visit Pluto. This is awesome to finally get there almost 30 years later. I hope it sparks some interest in planetary exploration again.





http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Multimedia/Science-Photos/search.php?form_keywords=42

 

Pluto has a heart:



Pluto's 'Heart' Spied by New Horizons Spacecraft (Photo)

 

Pluto and moon Charon coming into better view. Chasms, impact craters, etc.

Point of closest approach is tomorrow morning.

pluto.jhuapl.edu

 

We're able to transmit photos from 3 billion miles away? Seriously, how is this possible? I could understand if something like a really long extension cord was involved, but lacking that . . .

 

Relax. It's all a hoax.