Hopefully NASA works to make certain the launch area is clear of small critters in the future. It's really not good PR to be blasting frogs (or anything) with a few hundred thousand pounds of rocket exhaust.
Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
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Re: Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
#12Why the heck are we launching rockets on top of a wildlife refuge? https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=nasa&data=!1m4!1m3!1d...
Read the description of the photo on Instagram; they go into that.
That sounds extremely iffy to me. The "disturbance" may be short lived, and the space they take up may be a small portion of the island, but I find it hard to believe that the degree of disturbance caused by a rocket launch can be canceled out by its brevity.
Re: Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
#13[deleted]
Re: Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Read the description of the photo on Instagram; they go into that.
That sounds extremely iffy to me. The "disturbance" may be short lived, and the space they take up may be a small portion of the island, but I find it hard to believe that the degree of disturbance caused by a rocket launch can be canceled out by its brevity.
It can be put into other terms: The refuge gets a lot of money because of the NASA station there.
Re: Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Read the description of the photo on Instagram; they go into that.
That sounds extremely iffy to me. The "disturbance" may be short lived, and the space they take up may be a small portion of the island, but I find it hard to believe that the degree of disturbance caused by a rocket launch can be canceled out by its brevity.
Why not? The latest statistics I could find say that about 22 launches per year happen there. At each launch pad there are probably only a fraction of those. But even if the disturbance is approximately 2 minutes long (a slowly rising rocket), that's less than 1 hour per year. I find it hard to believe that wildlife cannot cope with that.
Re: Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
#16Why the heck are we launching rockets on top of a wildlife refuge? https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=nasa&data=!1m4!1m3!1d...
I remember reading that launch sites are often nature reserves because they're launch sites. An exclusion zone enforced by armed guards does wonders for biodiversity.
The artillery training ranges I grew up near to were similarly lush.
Re: Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
#17what if one of it's ancestors once thought, i would like to fly like one of those things. a few generations of evolution later you have a flying frog. sadly that's not how evolution works.
(macro!)evolution doesn't work anyway.
Re: Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
That sounds extremely iffy to me. The "disturbance" may be short lived, and the space they take up may be a small portion of the island, but I find it hard to believe that the degree of disturbance caused by a rocket launch can be canceled out by its brevity.
Why not? The latest statistics I could find say that about 22 launches per year happen there. At each launch pad there are probably only a fraction of those. But even if the disturbance is approximately 2 minutes long (a slowly rising rocket), that's less than 1 hour per year. I find it hard to believe that wildlife cannot cope with that.
My understanding is that the noise from a rocket launch is so loud, even 10 miles away, that you have to shout over it to be heard. One mile from the launchpad, it's loud enough to damage your ears.
Wallops Island is 6 square miles.
Re: Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
#19Why the heck are we launching rockets on top of a wildlife refuge? https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=nasa&data=!1m4!1m3!1d...
I remember reading that launch sites are often nature reserves because they're launch sites. An exclusion zone enforced by armed guards does wonders for biodiversity. The artillery training ranges I grew up near to were similarly lush.
True, oddly enough. As is, famously, the demilitarized zone in Korea.
Re: Flying frog discovered during NASA rocket launch
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Read the description of the photo on Instagram; they go into that.
That sounds extremely iffy to me. The "disturbance" may be short lived, and the space they take up may be a small portion of the island, but I find it hard to believe that the degree of disturbance caused by a rocket launch can be canceled out by its brevity.
If it wasn't a launch area it would probably not be a wildlife refuge, especially since there is already an existing refuge, Assateague Island, right next door.
It would most likely be packed with vacation homes, just like the rest of the Mid-Atlantic shoreline.
Disclaimer: I saw this launch from Assateague and it was awesome. I was too far away to see any flying frogs, but the mosquitos and bats did not seem too upset where I was.