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New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

bbc.co.uk

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Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#61

Post by hashmymustache »

dingaling wrote: post #4

That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.

When universities celebrate their faculty member winning a nobel prize, is that an appalling eclipse of the work's broader contribution to humanity?

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#62

Post by pygy_ »

adventured wrote: post #44
saiya-jin wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh please, no american-style patriotism here in europe. I respect our american friends, but please, just... no. to give reasons would mean insulting probably more than few, so I refrain from that. let's say we're not all the same, we've grown up in different environments, and there are quite a few things I personally don't like in current US, and would not see many reasons to be proud. that we have our own issues is…

You already have that exact same patriotism there. Enter any thread, on any major forum online, and bring up any of the following topics: healthcare, crime rates, gun control, two party systems, standard of living, inequality, conservative religiousness. You'll be rapidly overwhelmed by bragging from Europeans, about how they're superior. You can't get away from the boastfulness out of Scandinavia, Germany, France, t…

Usually, national pride > Euro pride.

Regarding the specific issues you raised, I may mention it, not out of pride, but just as concrete examples of things that work fine elsewhere and could work in the US, despite what some conservative folks would want you to believe.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#63

Post by rimantas »

saiya-jin wrote: post #35
happyscrappy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are Europeans so hypersensitive that the we should ban celebrations at NASA?

patriotism in such things as space exploration is laughable, however reasonable commercial reasons behind it are (well described in another post). seeing logic "usa reached pluto" instead of "mankind reached pluto" is a bit sad, and i don't care if it's US, China, India or Monaco spacecraft. it just feels as wrong and antiquated view of the world... but maybe typical to generic US person? (no clue really)

Maybe you don't care, but I am sure that people in US, China, India or Monaco care a lot. And this is a normal view of the world.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#64

Post by scrollaway »

adventured wrote: post #44
saiya-jin wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh please, no american-style patriotism here in europe. I respect our american friends, but please, just... no. to give reasons would mean insulting probably more than few, so I refrain from that. let's say we're not all the same, we've grown up in different environments, and there are quite a few things I personally don't like in current US, and would not see many reasons to be proud. that we have our own issues is…

You already have that exact same patriotism there. Enter any thread, on any major forum online, and bring up any of the following topics: healthcare, crime rates, gun control, two party systems, standard of living, inequality, conservative religiousness. You'll be rapidly overwhelmed by bragging from Europeans, about how they're superior. You can't get away from the boastfulness out of Scandinavia, Germany, France, t…

> You can't get away from the boastfulness out of Scandinavia, Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands - about how they're all superior to America on any given topic. I've yet to find a major forum where this doesn't occur.

You do realize all these "boasts" tend to come from people who don't live, and usually have never lived, in said countries, right? Not to mention the whole Scandinavia deal which comes 99% from americans talking about it like it's the true land of the free, or something. Scandinavia's pretty great for a lot of reasons, don't get me wrong, but unless you're frequenting very nationalistic forums, poeple tend to complain about their country rather than boast it. The grass is always greener in the other country. (Except for Scotland. The grass is greenest in Scotland.)

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#65

Post by andyjohnson0 »

There's a detailed and informative article about the design of the New Horizons probe on the British Interplanetary Society site at [1]. An even more detailed description of the science payload can be found at [2].

[1] http://www.bis-space.com/2015/07/13/14875/inside-new-horizon...

[2] http://www.boulder.swri.edu/pkb/ssr/ssr-payload-overview.pdf

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#66

Post by saboot »

lmorris84 wrote: post #59

Does anyone know how they colour correct these images? I'm guessing there isn't a robotic arm holding up a test card in front of the camera :-)

Briefly reading online the main imaging instrument on board, the RALPH camera, includes a visible light CCD with color channels.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#67

Post by gambiting »

Arjuna wrote: post #52

In honor of Clyde William Tombaugh [1], the astronomer who discovered Pluto, a canister [2] containing his ashes is on-board the New Horizons space probe. It reads: "Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the Solar System's 'Third Zone.' Adelle and Muron's boy, Patricia's husband, Annette and Alden's father, astronomer, teacher, punster, and friend: Clyde W. Tombaugh (1906…

It's interesting that by sending his remains on that probe we basically guaranteed that at least some human remains will survive millions of years in interstellar space, unless of course, New Horizons collides with something(which I guess it will, given enough time?).

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#68

Post by jasonkostempski »

dingaling wrote: post #4

That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.

I'm American and I cringed the second I heard that too but I noticed they stopped pretty fast, I suspect the few people that did it got caught up in the moment and then quickly realized they might sound a little foolish. Or someone in the crowd gave them a dirty look.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#69

Post by tptacek »

dingaling wrote: post #4

That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.

Thank you. Thanks to your insightful comment, instead of discussing Pluto and New Horizons, we have an entire thread dedicated to discussing whether "U-S-A!" is toxic jingoism, and because you got so many replies, no amount of downvoting will fix it.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#70

Post by andor436 »

scrollaway wrote: post #57
pavlov wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rosetta/Philae was a European achievement paid by the EU public, yet that barely gets mentioned. It's really a shame that the endless churn of downbeat economic news has overshadowed everything good that European countries are able to do together... Maybe Europe would benefit from having a bit more American-style "rah-rah" patriotism around the good old "12 stars on deep blue" EU flag. Nowadays it seems that we Europ…

> Maybe Europe would benefit from having a bit more American-style "rah-rah" patriotism around the good old "12 stars on deep blue" EU flag. Something most americans don't understand is how repulsive blatant patriotism is. A lot of europeans, along with their nationality, have a sense of being "european", just like most americans have a sense of being "american" (rather than just "Californian" or what have you). Ther…

Have you never attended a European football match?!
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