JediDefender.com Forums
Community => Watto's Junk Yard => Topic started by: DSJ™ on July 1, 2004, 12:32 AM
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(http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~madler/cassini.jpg)
NASA's Cassini probe has threaded through a gap between two of Saturn's rings and fired its engine in a critical maneuver towards becoming the first spacecraft ever to orbit the giant planet about 930 million miles (1.44 billion km) away from Earth (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/06/30/cassini.orbit/index.html)
Cassini-Huygens Home Page (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm)
Cassini Engine Burn Complete at Saturn (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/)
(http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/61515main_pia06077-516-385.jpg)
Congrats to all those involved in the program. It's been along 7 yrs. but well worth it. Looking forward to more pictures. 8)
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Very cool. Can't wait for the pictures to start coming in.
One question - and the answer might be in those articles, but since I don't have time to read them all tonight I'll ask anyway.
Why does it have to thread a gap in the rings to settle into orbit? Seems there's a whole lot of Saturn that doesn't have rings around it that they could approach from.
Or does it have something to do with gravity? Or, did they just want to take pictures from close to the rings?
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You sir have answered your own questions. ;)
This will be the only chance they have to get pictures & data that close to the rings plus arcing through that gap provides the proper angle to achieve the orbit. There will be more data on the rings in it's 4 yr, mission but that flyby is the closest.
The next big event:
Dec. 25, 2004: 02:00 UTC Huygens probe separates from the Cassini orbiter and begins its 21 day journey to Titan. Dec. 25 counts as day one and Jan. 14 is day 21.
Jan. 14, 2005: Huygens begins its descent through Titan's cloudy atmosphere, where it lands on the surface about two and half hours later. The probe is scheduled to encounter the upper fringes of Titan's atmosphere at 09:00 UTC.
Other highlights of the Saturn Tour include close encounters with Saturn's moons Enceladus, Titan, Hyperion, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus.
Awesome success that has been made with the The Little Rover's that could on Mars (Spirit & Opportunity) that still provide excellent data & pictures on there extended mission & now Cassini, that will open new doors on the mysteries of Saturn, it's Rings & her Moons.
Not to mention that the door has also been opened by Burt Rutan/Paul Allen with SpaceShipOne, the first private manned mission to space piloted by Mike Melvill, the first civilian to receive astronaut wings! 8)
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Its a good time to be a geek ;)
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Geekiness is a state of mind man...
err, yeah.
Anyway, I'm really resisting all urges to make "Klingons on Uranus" jokes... Anything that ever happens in our own solar system just brings that out in me for some reason.
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Very cool - my teacher has me doing a set of illustrations for a fictional magazine article titled 'Space.... Where No Man Has Gone Before,' so lately I've been browsing alot of space stuff - specifically satellite/deep space related.
Which one of the moons of Saturn is possibly habitable?
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None of them...Titan does have an atmosphere though which is mostly Nitrogen (like ours is)
Maybe a few hundred years from now after ruining Mars humans might be able to try terraforming Titan by initiating reactions to make Oxygen
I would guess both places would be cold, Canadians wouldn't mind living there I would guess
Can't wait to see more pics either. Me and my best buddy in 4th grade did a project on a Spaceship that took us to Titan. We set up a base there and battled aliens from outside the galaxy.
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None of them...Titan does have an atmosphere though which is mostly Nitrogen (like ours is)
Maybe a few hundred years from now after ruining Mars humans might be able to try terraforming Titan by initiating reactions to make Oxygen
Kinda like Total Recall????
I can see it now, Arnold Schwartzeneggar saying: "Getcha ass to Titan."
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Yeah exactly like Total Recall. The basic idea is you start plant life growing which makes oxygen from the CO2 present. And as long as you keep watering it could happen.
I'm almost done with Dune right now and they are experimenting with the same idea on their desert planet
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(http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040701/capt.la10107011352.saturn_cassini_la101.jpg)
My Precious
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Meh... I expected Farrah Fawcett and Kirk Douglas.
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One of the NASA guys called Saturn the 'lord of the rings.' Little corny, but how apt. This is great, and I can't wait for all the amazing pictures.
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The pics are getting clearer. MULTIMEDIA - Images - Raw Images - Results (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-list.cfm?browseLatest=0&cacheQ=0&storedQ=0)
(http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/rings/images/SOI8.jpg)
Wonder if they will find one of these floating around Saturn! :P
(http://www.telusplanet.net/public/djustus/Valley%20Forge%201.jpg)
IO, IO, it's off to the moon we go!
Thats for all you SCI-FI geeks out there! :P ;)
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Awesome images.
Can't wait for better ones. ;D
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Some new images of various moons of Saturn are now up...
Cassini-Huygens Home Page (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm)
(http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/rings/images/PIA05417.jpg)
Wow.
Jeff
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There's a lot of neat picture on the site. I found this Quick Time short of Saturn, very impressive.
Saturn Movie (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi?path=../multimedia/videos/movies/PIA06082.mov&width=500&height=300&type=movie)
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Forgot to add, on the Scaled Composites site about SpaceShipOne, there's a really neat Media Player clip of SpaceShipOne firing off into space & a great view of the earth & Mike Melvill, the pilot releasing M&M candies in the cockpit. 8)
B-Roll footage courtesy of Vulcan Productions / Discovery Channel showing the rocket ignition and ascent from a chase plane, cockpit footage of Mike Melvill and the M&Ms, and external camera footage from SS1. (no audio) (http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/video/SS1-B-roll-sm2.wmv)
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35 yrs. ago. July 20, 1969: Man lands on the moon (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/16/moon.landing/index.html)
Yikes! I was like 8 yrs old! :o
I remember watching it, it was a long time ago... :D
If you have not seen this Moon Landing clip, you have to check it out! ;D
A clip that appears to show that the first moon landing actually took place in a film studio -- not on the moon. Conspiracy theorists will love this one. May take a bit to load.
Apollo Moon Landing (http://www.punchbaby.com/media/gitfakt/clips/cool/moontruth.mpg)
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That's so BS.
Seriously, what are the chances of the light falling down during the most recognizable part of the footage? It's obviously a staged clip.
For a nice debunking of the Apollo Moon Landing Hoax Theory, go to www.badastronomy.com.
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That's so BS.
Seriously, what are the chances of the light falling down during the most recognizable part of the footage? It's obviously a staged clip.
For a nice debunking of the Apollo Moon Landing Hoax Theory, go to www.badastronomy.com.
Ummm, that clip is from www.squizzle.com it was made to be funny! ;)
I guess I'll just stick this in here.
NASA cuts back plans for space station (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/23/space.station.reut/index.html)
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Cassini found the Death Star! :D
That's No Space Station (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05423)
Cratered Moon Mimas (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi?path=../multimedia/images/large-moons/images/PIA05423.jpg&type=image)
Rutan has set a date for the $10 million Ansari X Prize!
Next space race: Private craft prepare to launch (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/27/x.prize/index.html)
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(http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/large-moons/images/PIA05423.jpg)
This will be a day long remembered
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Private spacecraft explodes in test launch (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/09/bc.privaterocket.ap/index.html)
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Private spacecraft explodes in test launch (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/09/bc.privaterocket.ap/index.html)
Sounds like they need to hire Homer Hickam
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It's called Sputnik! We know, sit down!
We could launch a pod. A pot? ;D
JIMP? Well what the HELL is a jimp? (http://www.telusplanet.net/public/djustus/rofl.gif)
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Not sure if anyone watch's Meteor showers but this week is one of the biggest of the year, the Perseids on August 12th.
2004 Perseid Meteor Shower (http://skytour.homestead.com/per04.html)
Should be some good viewing. 8)
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Cassini spies 2 new Saturn moons (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/16/saturn.moons.ap/index.html)
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Another mission well done! 8)
Huygens has arrived. (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/14/huygens.titan/index.html)
ESA Portal (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html)
(http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/TECH/space/01/14/huygens.titan/vert.huygens.titan.art.nasa.jpg)
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I can't wait to see pics. Mars we've seen before, a couple of times now. This is something totally new and Alien with an Atmosphere. Me and my buddy wrote a Sci-Fi story in 3rd grade about our Titan Explorer Team (sappy, I know)
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I can't wait till later this afternoon when those pictures start coming in too Scott. 8)
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This raw image was returned by the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer camera onboard the European Space Agency's Huygens probe after the probe descended through the atmosphere of Titan. It shows the surface of Titan with ice blocks strewn around.
(http://www.esa.int/images/landing01_L2.jpg)
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First raw images returned by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe during its successful descent to Titan. It was taken at an altitude of 16.2 kilometers.
(http://www.esa.int/images/landing03_L.jpg)
Updated the pics as the other server is getting jammed with hits.
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HELL. YEAH. ;D
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Hmmm, an atmosphere and water? Life? Inhabitable?
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New pictures coming out. 8)
This composite was produced from images returned yesterday, January 14, 2005, by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe during its successful descent to land on Titan. It shows a full 360-degree view around Huygens. The left-hand side, behind Huygens, shows a boundary between light and dark areas. The white streaks seen near this boundary could be ground 'fog,' as they were not immediately visible from higher altitudes.
(http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA07230_modest.jpg)
This image was returned yesterday, January 14, 2005, by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe during its successful descent to land on Titan. This is the colored view, following processing to add reflection spectra data, and gives a better indication of the actual color of the surface.
Initially thought to be rocks or ice blocks, they are more pebble-sized. The two rock-like objects just below the middle of the image are about 15 centimeters (about 6 inches) (left) and 4 centimeters (about 1.5 inches) (center) across respectively, at a distance of about 85 centimeters (about 33 inches) from Huygens. The surface is darker than originally expected, consisting of a mixture of water and hydrocarbon ice. There is also evidence of erosion at the base of these objects, indicating possible fluvial activity. The image was taken with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, one of two NASA instruments on the probe.
(http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA07232.jpg)
This composite was produced from images returned yesterday, January 14, 2005, by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe during its successful descent to land on Titan. It shows the boundary between the lighter-colored uplifted terrain, marked with what appear to be drainage channels, and darker lower areas.
These images were taken from an altitude of about 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) and a resolution of about 20 meters (about 65 feet) per pixel. The images were taken by the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, one of two NASA instruments on the probe.
(http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA07231.jpg)
2 1/2 hour descent to the surface and only a 30 minute lifespan to take pictures, it only had 3 hours of battery life. Still pretty impressive. 8)
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Sounds of an alien world.
(http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEM85Q71Y3E_0.html)
You can hear the winds buffeting the craft as it makes its descent, plus the radar thingy too.
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those were some interesting sounds, though i had made instant earthbound connections to them.
the winds sound much like they would if you were driving fast down an expressway with one of your windows slightly opened and the rest closed. the winds buffeting your car and getting thru that small opening make that noise.
the radar sound, had me thinking of the racecar in the atari classic pole position revving up and increasing speed. :P
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That does sound like Pole Position
"Prepare to Qualify"