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  1. #26
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Hey, we're getting close now.

    Curiosity is due to touch down at 06.31 our (BST) time on Monday morning.

  2. #27
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    Another try for the dreamchaser jpg.



    See my post on page 1 for more.

  3. #28
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    Astronomers detect cries of a dying star



    For the first time astronomers have detected the last gasps of a star being torn apart by a previously dormant giant black hole.

    The signals, which came from a galaxy 3.9 billion light years away, were x-rays generated by matter heated to millions of degrees and torn apart as material from the star crosses the black hole's event horizon.

    Known as quasi-periodic oscillations, they are a characteristic feature of stellar black holes, which have about 10 times the mass of the Sun.
    Dr Rubens Reis from the University of Michigan is the lead author of the paper published today in the journal Science.

    Dr Reis says the findings confirm the constancy of black hole physics.
    "This is telling us that the same physical phenomenon we observe in stellar mass black holes is also happening in black holes a million times the mass of the Sun, and in black holes that were previously asleep," he said.

    Dr Reis and colleagues first detected the event with NASA's Swift Gamma Ray Burst Telescope last year, but did not pick up the oscillations at that time.
    The blips in the signals were detected in follow-up observations using the joint Japanese-NASA Suzaku and the European Space Agency ZMM-Newton orbiting X-ray observatories.

    "You can think of it as hearing the star scream as it gets devoured," said University of Michigan astronomy professor Jon Miller, who co-authored the paper.

    Professor Joss Bland-Hawthorne from the University of Sydney says it is the closest we have ever seen material to the event horizon of a distant super-massive black hole.

    "If this material was any closer, it would pass beyond the event horizon and you presumably wouldn't see it," Professor Bland-Hawthorne said.

    "This is where the effects of general relativity become extreme."

    Astronomers detect cries of a dying star - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

  4. #29
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    For those who would like to hear one:

    http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/lea...6-03-03-01.wav

  5. #30
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    Great stuff, keep it up takeovers!

  6. #31
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    Fingers crossed for the Mars landing. It looks to be the biggest exploration of the planet to date. I still don't think they are telling us all they know about either Mars or the Moon.

  7. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Big Fella
    Fingers crossed for the Mars landing. It looks to be the biggest exploration of the planet to date.
    Very much so. The Curiosity Rover is a marvellous piece of equipment and if the landing goes well it will provide a huge amount of information. It is after signs of life on Mars plus geology and what water did on mars. I will be at my computer looking NASA TV to catch the info life.

    BTW NASA provides live streams of all important events in a large variety of resolutions to fit the internet speed of your line.

    Quote Originally Posted by The Big Fella
    I still don't think they are telling us all they know about either Mars or the Moon.
    Care to explain? Conspiracy theory?

  8. #33
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    What is it with people that immediately label someone a " Conspiracy theorist " or " Conspiracy Nutter "
    There is lots of people out there who are highly intelligent and doubt what NASA tells the world
    Just Google Mars anomalies or Richard C Hoagland and have a look for yourself.
    Even NASA's own video feeds shows winds which means there is an atmosphere there which they deny ?
    Governments have a record of lying to the public. it is what they do. The day I believe everything the government tells me is the day I run up the white flag and become a fully paid up member of the Sheeple club !
    Treat everyone as a complete and utter idiot and you can only ever be pleasantly surprised !

  9. #34
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    I can see why Nasa would lie about there being wind on Mars. After all,......., erm........, .......... .


    Actually, no I can't. WTF is that all about?

    Oh right, this is a human skull.



    This is a colossal head with animal monuments.



    This is proof of a cover up of a huge artificial structure.



    And this is a big roll of aluminium foil.

    Last edited by harrybarracuda; 04-08-2012 at 02:43 PM.
    The next post may be brought to you by my little bitch Spamdreth

  10. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Big Fella
    What is it with people that immediately label someone a " Conspiracy theorist " or " Conspiracy Nutter "
    I didn't, I just asked you.

    NASA does not deny an atmosphere and wind on mars. If you follow the Spirit and Opportunity infos they give out daily info on how transparent or opaqe through dust the atmosphere is, how much dust was settled on the solar arrays, when winds did blow away that dust so energy production increases again.

    If you look at the Opportunity thread there is detailed description about the landing procedure including air braking and parachute deployment. The atmosphere is just not dense enough to allow reasonable parchute landing like on earth. And the atmosphere is not at all earthlike with CO2 being a major component and only the smallest trace of oxygen if at all.

    But I don't want to discuss these things on this thread further. It is about space exploration and space technology.

  11. #36
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Curiosity is due to touch down in about one day and 25 minutes......

    Blimey, I've finally seen an animation of how it's all supposed to work.

    What are the odds against that?
    Last edited by harrybarracuda; 05-08-2012 at 12:20 PM.

  12. #37
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    Should we switch the discussion to the dedicated Curiosity thread ("DARE MIGHTY THINGS" - August 5 - new Mars Landing!!!)?

    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    What are the odds against that?
    That is why they call it the 7 minutes of terror.

    A hugely complex process and no margin of error. They have done what they can but will know if it was enough only after receiving signals from the ground.

    Very little information on the cause of error if it fails. Only a signal coming during descent and they know roughly at what stage the failure occured because then the signal stops.

    They are very confident that their approach is sound. But can never be sure about any mistake they may have made thrashing out the details.

  13. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Takeovers View Post
    Should we switch the discussion to the dedicated Curiosity thread ("DARE MIGHTY THINGS" - August 5 - new Mars Landing!!!)?
    Agreed, thanks for that. I'll delay my departure from the house to the office tomorrow and hope one of the major news networks picks it up live.

  14. #39
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    Gale Crater – Curiosity's final destination – was created when an asteroid or comet slammed into the planet between 3.5bn and 3.8bn years ago. Rising 5km from the floor of the crater is a mound of rock called Mount Sharp which appears to be made from ancient sediments deposited when Mars still had water on its surface



    The Mars Science Laboratory is enclosed in its protective fairing last year at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The blocks on the fairing's interior helped shield the payload during liftoff by dampening pressure waves from the Atlas V rocket






    Liftoff on 26 November



    The disc-shaped cruise stage is on the left, attached to the conical aeroshell, shown in this artist's impression during the 300m mile journey to Mars. Inside the aeroshell are tucked the Curiosity rover and descent stage



    Ten minutes before the spacecraft arrives at the surface, it will jettison its cruise stage and fire thrusters to swing the probe's heat shield into a forward position. At this point the probe will be hurtling towards the ground at more than 8,000mph. Friction with the Martian atmosphere will slow its descent, achieving nine-tenths of the required deceleration and in the process heating the shield to more than 2,000C



    After entering the atmosphere the spacecraft will use the largest parachute ever built for a planetary mission – with a diameter of nearly 16 metres – to further slow its descent. The parachute is designed to survive deployment at Mach 2.2, generating up to 65,000 pounds of drag



    The smaller ellipse marks the target landing area, about 20 kilometres by 7 kilometres, close to Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, which is about 154 kilometres across. Mount Sharp contains geological layers that Curiosity will study to reveal the planet's history and provide clues about whether it has ever been habitable



    After cutting loose the parachute, the craft will begin controlling its own descent with four of its eight rocket engines, then lower Curiosity on a bridle. The rover will dangle from the descent stage by three nylon tethers and an umbilical will provide a power and communication connection. The bridle will extend to about 7.5 metres



    When touchdown has been detected, the bridle will be cut at the rover end and the descent stage will fly off to crash-land at a safe distance



    This view of the head of Curiosity's remote-sensing mast shows seven of the 17 cameras on the rover. On either side of the head are two pairs of Navigation Cameras (Navcams), which serve as the rover's 'eyes' for stereo colour viewing of surrounding terrain and material collected by the arm. On the top are the optics of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument, which includes a telescopic camera and a laser to vaporise material on rocks up to 7 metres away. The Mast Camera (MastCam) instrument includes a 100mm camera (square aperture, right) and a 34mm camera (left



    These are test images of the same boulder taken by four cameras on Curiosity at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory before launch. The image on the left shows a view from one of the black-and-white navigation cameras, looking down at the ground. The Navcams have a wider field of view (about 45 degrees) than the mast cameras (15 and 5 degrees) (centre), and Mars Hand Lens Imager (23 degrees) (MAHLI, right). The outlines of the Mastcam and MAHLI images have been superimposed on the Navcam image



    Curiosity will check for water-bearing minerals in the ground beneath the rover using the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument (DAN), which has two major components: a Russian-built 'neutron gun' or pulsed neutron generator (marked with a red outline) on the starboard side of the rover, and the detector and electronics module on the port side. The pulsed neutron generator will shoot high-energy neutrons into the ground. If there are hydrogen atoms beneath the surface, the injected neutrons will bounce off them with a characteristic decrease in energy



    An artist's impression of Curiosity examining a rock with a set of tools at the end of its arm, which extends about 2 metres. A drill collects sample material and a scoop picks up samples of soil. The arm can sieve the samples and deliver them as a fine powder to instruments inside the rover for analysis. 

The mast rises to about 2.1 metres above ground level ('about as tall as a basketball player', says Nasa on its website)

  15. #40
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    [quote=The Big Fella;2177347]
    Even NASA's own video feeds shows winds which means there is an atmosphere there which they deny ? /quote]

    BigFella, without an atmosphere, Curiosity would not have been able to slow down.......

    Last edited by harrybarracuda; 06-08-2012 at 02:03 PM.

  16. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Big Fella View Post
    What is it with people that immediately label someone a " Conspiracy theorist " or " Conspiracy Nutter "
    There is lots of people out there who are highly intelligent and doubt what NASA tells the world
    Just Google Mars anomalies or Richard C Hoagland and have a look for yourself.
    Even NASA's own video feeds shows winds which means there is an atmosphere there which they deny ?
    Governments have a record of lying to the public. it is what they do. The day I believe everything the government tells me is the day I run up the white flag and become a fully paid up member of the Sheeple club !
    There is a brain etched into Uluru (Ayers Rock) in central Australia.


  17. #42
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    Of course Mars has winds. It also has an atmosphere, albeit a very thin one. That fact has been known for years.

  18. #43
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    Mars landing























    Nasa Chief Charles Bolden called the landing a historic moment



    The voyage to Mars spanned 352 million miles


  19. #44
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    A HD video of the descent taken by Curiosity straight down to the landing spot is coming. However due to the restrictions of data transmission volume it will take some time. The data however are stored in Curiosity ready to transmit. Other immediate tasks are more important. Some single frames in lower resolution will be available soon.

  20. #45
    The Pikey Hunter
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    Late-Breaking News from the Council: VICTORY!

    The Council of Elders has confirmed the interception and destruction of the latest mechanized terror from the blue world.

    K'Breel, Speaker for the Council of Elders, addressed the planet thus:

    Citizens, it is with great joy that I announce to you the destruction of the invader from the blue world!

    The blueworlders' latest robotic instrument of terror was powered by a Pew-238 nucleowarming device which was equipped with a point defense mechanism consisting of a light source so powerful that it could blast away the very red soil upon which we thrive.

    Yet at the last moment, when all seemed lost, our forces fired upon the thin umbilical cord connecting the flying invader with its power source and associated optical weapons system. Its connection to its power source severed, the invading vessel flew off in a dizzying spiral and crashed spectacularly into a nearby hillside.

    Rejoice, podmates! Our red world is once again safe!

    When a junior combat reporter pointed out that the link between the carrier vessel and the mechanized invader may have been designed to be broken at the moment of landing, that the actual threat was the so-called "power source" and not the flying invader, and suggested that if the Martian Defense Force had just waited just a few seconds longer, the squibs holding the skyhook to the skycrane might have failed, resulting in the carrier vessel crashing down upon the invader, thereby destroying both, K'Breel had the combat reporter's gelsacs placed directly in front of the dormant invader's photonic weapons.

    "If the blue-shirted denizens of the blue world seek evidence of organic matter so strongly," mused K'Breel, "then let them have their fill of it!"
    You, sir, are a God among men....
    Short Men, who aren't terribly bright....
    More like dwarves with learning disabilities....
    You are a God among Dwarves With Learning Disabilities.

  21. #46
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    A most amazing photo has been published by NASA. The photo was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during descent of Curiosity with the High resolution camera HIRISE.

    You can clearly see Curiosity on the parachute.






    As I understand months of calculations and fiddling with the orbit and orientation of the satellite have gone into getting the orbiter in just the right position at the right moment to get this photo. Possible only because it was so exactly planned and executed at which moment Curiosity would arrive. This precision was necessary to get the rover in exactly the place where they wanted her to be.
    Last edited by Takeovers; 06-08-2012 at 11:41 PM.

  22. #47
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    moved to mars thread

  23. #48
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    Just think, 50 years from now, Brits will be telling the world how they were responsible for exploring Mars.

  24. #49
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    More likely the Germans.

  25. #50
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    New pictures from the Mars rover Curiosity include the first panoramic view of the Red Planet.

    The first pictures from the best cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover document a Martian landscape so Earthlike it reminds scientists of home.
    "The first impression that you get is how Earthlike this seems, looking at that landscape," said Caltech's John Grotzinger, chief scientist for the $2.5 billion mission. "You would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you, and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture."
    California's Mojave Desert is less than 100 miles away from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, where Grotzinger and his colleagues are poring over each batch of images sent back by the car-sized rover.
    Mission manager Jennifer Trosper said 100 megabytes of data had been received from Curiosity as of today, and that figure is sure to grow rapidly once the spacecraft's high-gain antenna gets up to speed.

    The day's biggest milestone was the raising of the rover's 3.6-foot-tall (1.1-meter-tall) camera mast on Curiosity's deck, which provides a vantage point 7 feet (2.1 meters) above the Martian surface. The mast houses Curiosity's high-resolution navigation camera system, also known as Navcam, as well as the two-camera Mastcam imaging system — and a laser-zapping rock analysis experiment known as ChemCam.



    Curiosity rover scientists Justin Maki, John Grotzinger and Michael Malin discuss Martian imagery showing a Mojave-like scene on Wednesday.






    This Picassoesque self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover is based on images taken by the navigation cameras on the rover's mast. The camera snapped pictures all the way around the rover while pointing down at the rover deck, up and straight ahead. Those images are shown here in a polar projection.



    The first image taken by the navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the shadow of the rover's now-upright mast in the center, and the arm's shadow at left. The arm itself can be seen in the foreground. The position of the shadow helps confirm the sun's location. The rover's name and a simplified smartphone tag are emblazoned on a piece of hardware in the foreground.



    Mike Malin, a member of the Mars Curiosity rover science team, unveils imagery showing where the rover's ballasts hit the surface — as well as a high-resolution view of the rover's heat shield flying away during descent.



    This stereo image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the view looking out toward the rim of Gale Crater on Mars. Put on red-blue glasses to get the 3-D effect.

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