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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

#81

Post by drzaiusapelord »

gambiting wrote: post #67
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?).

It would be fitting I think if aliens found his ashes considering he's was something of an ET evangelist and eventually claimed some of his mysterious sightings (green fireballs and glowing rectangles moving in unnatural ways) were probably of ET origin and its unscientific to dismiss this out of hand. Wiki:

Although our own solar system is believed to support no other life than on Earth, other stars in the galaxy may have hundreds of thousands of habitable worlds. Races on these worlds may have been able to utilize the tremendous amounts of power required to bridge the space between the stars..." Tombaugh stated that he had observed celestial phenomena which he could not explain, but had seen none personally since 1951 or 1952. "These things, which do appear to be directed, are unlike any other phenomena I ever observed. Their apparent lack of obedience to the ordinary laws of celestial motion gives credence."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh#Interest_in_UFO...

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#82

Post by mattlutze »

"Jingoism: the feelings and beliefs of people who think that their country is always right and who are in favor of aggressive acts against other countries." [1]

Can we please stop comparing a success chant with "aggressive acts against other countries"?

Unnecessary nationalism, sure. Jingoism is hyperbole.

1: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jingoism

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#84

Post by bargl »

gambiting wrote: post #67
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?).

They will probably have a lot of really cool flybys before that happens.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#85

Post by vilmosi »

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'll be rapidly overwhelmed by bragging from Europeans, about how they're superior.

Very few of those people are actually European. For one, nobody introduces themselves as European :)

I heard they're just American teenagers trying to troll people.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#86

Post by saiya-jin »

rimantas wrote: post #63
saiya-jin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

well if they care, you shouldn't be then surprised that this approach would go against the fur of quite a few people (safe to say more than 1000% of US population?). and since even people with different mindset, like me, find it a bit distasteful and unnecessary, not-so-positive reactions are to be expected. btw welcome to the internet, where people complain about stupid things, all the time :)

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#87

Post by andor436 »

scrollaway wrote: post #76
andor436 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you never attended a European football match?!

Have you never attended any football match? I'm not sure this counters my point in any way. If I were to listen to my local club, the east side of my city is just so much better than the west side.

I've been to plenty, and at the national level there is ample patriotism for one's country, regardless of nationality. I do agree with your point. I just don't think it's quite as clear-cut as you suggest.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#88

Post by TeMPOraL »

thatsone wrote: post #55
pavlov wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine they do that embarrassing routine so that American TV channels would report on their achievements. If they stick to science, Fox News won't mention it. And if Fox News never mentions NASA, then people get upset about spending their tax dollars on an organization that seemingly does nothing... In Russia, you have to remember to thank Putin. In USA, you have to remember to wave the flag with sufficient enthus…

I remember reading that this spacecraft would not have been launched without a Russian rocket engine, and that the plutonium fuel also came from that country.

Well, to be honest, if we were to treat vendors as contributors to projects, the entire world would owe almost everything to China.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#89

Post by kartikkumar »

Quote from a friend of mine on the team:

"After 9.5 years and 6 billion km, we made it to Pluto 72 seconds ahead of schedule."

Amazing!

The views of Pluto and Charon already reveal how incredibly fascinating this system is. The dichotomy of their surface colours will most definitely lead to further insight into formation processes in the Kuiper Belt.

Just such a shame that we can't land this time around. With the volume of discoveries generated by MESSENGER and Cassini, and the wealth of knowledge that New Horizons is going to generate, it's such a shame that my favourite planet, Uranus, is likely not going to be visited in my lifetime. I spent my PhD studying the mysterious outer ring system of Uranus, and I'm 100% positive that a close-up view of the entire system would blow our minds.

Somebody who solves/disrupts science communication deserves a Nobel Prize.

EDIT: Fixed typos

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#90

Post by moron4hire »

pavlov wrote: post #19
whatshisface wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's true that all of humanity will benefit, but it's also true that a very specific subset of humanity payed for it. Look at it from a purely practical perspective - it is absolutely unnecessary for anyone outside of America to like this program! The American voting public took on all of the downsides of this program (the expense, mainly). They hold complete control over its existence, and the existence of many miss…

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…

Barely gets mentioned? WTF news outlets are you reading that you got New Horizons but not Rosetta/Philae?
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