"Thule" was named by the Greek navigator Pytheas from Massalia around 330 BC. Historians think it refers maybe to the Faeroe islands, Greenland, or more probably Iceland. From this point the name stuck to refer as the farthest place in the North, some cold unknown. In medieval times, "Thule" being Iceland, "Ultima Thule" referred to Greenland.
New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
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Re: New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spending on space exploration has been in debate and protested since the 60's, and probably even earlier than that. Not to say that it isn't worth discussing, only to counter the comment about being rarely acknowledged.
Is that right? I hadn't seen much discussion of that.
It would be very easy to figure out via few simple searches.
For example: "About 164,000,000 results" in Google for popular search "is space race worth it?"
And 41 million of search results for "space race economic impact", and so on.
This question has been discussed almost on every single forum I've been registered in my life, including multiple times on HN.
Re: New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Vast lebensraum and resources for colonization Well 'vast', yes, but not much else. Mainly rock and ices.
Which are more valuable than metals.
Certainly the ices. No need to go so far out for that though. Bennu likely has a fair bit of water as hydrates and there is a fair bit of water ice in Saturn's rings.
Re: New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
#44Wow. Scrolling backwards through the entries, how had I not seen this before? There’s a 3D movie exploring Pluto, I’m on my phone and it took me a minute to realize as I moved my phone around I could look all over at the scenery. Really great stuff!
It's unbelievably cool to have a device in your hand that opens up the gates to the rest of the universe. Something for us all to remember the next time we're tempted to bash the evils of technology.
Re: New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
#45I found this thread by Alex Parker very informative and fascinating. https://twitter.com/Alex_Parker/status/1077986070128668674
amazing how much exciting work there is to do in planetary science (let alone anything having to do with Space).
Re: New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
#46Has there been any talk of further fly-by targets? I seem to recall there were a number of possible candidates after the Pluto fly-by, but I suppose the Thule visit might have ruled some or all of those others out.
The long range camera may help them see another.
Lets hope.
Re: New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have no objection at all to spending one's own money or money given with consent. Of course, some of the money SpaceX spends isn't given with consent (like NASA).
It sounds like you just don't like taxes? I'm not sure what this has to do specifically with space? Nobody personally signs off on everything their tax dollars are spent on.
Nor can they. The cost of that would exceed the potential benefits.
Re: New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
#48Not sure why it wasn't more prominent, but for anyone else like that was wondering, "reaches" "zips by" and the other adjectives are indicating a distance of 2,200 miles.
As a computer vision/imaging person, that's a pretty far look for a 75mm (~3 inch) mirror. It's like trying to take a picture of the Empire State building in NYC from Las Vegas with a tripod telescope.
Re: New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
#49Not sure why it wasn't more prominent, but for anyone else like that was wondering, "reaches" "zips by" and the other adjectives are indicating a distance of 2,200 miles. As a computer vision/imaging person, that's a pretty far look for a 75mm (~3 inch) mirror. It's like trying to take a picture of the Empire State building in NYC from Las Vegas with a tripod telescope.
At least there is no pesky atmosphere in the way.
Re: New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule
#50Not sure why it wasn't more prominent, but for anyone else like that was wondering, "reaches" "zips by" and the other adjectives are indicating a distance of 2,200 miles. As a computer vision/imaging person, that's a pretty far look for a 75mm (~3 inch) mirror. It's like trying to take a picture of the Empire State building in NYC from Las Vegas with a tripod telescope.
At least there is no pesky atmosphere in the way.
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