31–40 of 78 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>To get a sense of how cold this is, Pluto's average surface temperature is seven degrees warmer. That doesn't give me a good sense because I have no idea how Pluto's average surface temperature compares to typical on-Earth temperatures that I have experienced. This gives me a better sense: 26 K = -247.2 C
Is that with the windchill?
This is a shame, but most people -- even in space programs -- don't appreciate how cold the Moon's shaded areas become. It's now estimated that these areas get to 26 Kelvins -- that's 26 degrees above absolute zero. To get a sense of how cold this is, Pluto's average surface temperature is seven degrees warmer . Also consider that, because of the specifics of the Moon's orbit, a given area stays shaded for just over…
>To get a sense of how cold this is, Pluto's average surface temperature is seven degrees warmer. That doesn't give me a good sense because I have no idea how Pluto's average surface temperature compares to typical on-Earth temperatures that I have experienced. This gives me a better sense: 26 K = -247.2 C
This is a shame, but most people -- even in space programs -- don't appreciate how cold the Moon's shaded areas become. It's now estimated that these areas get to 26 Kelvins -- that's 26 degrees above absolute zero. To get a sense of how cold this is, Pluto's average surface temperature is seven degrees warmer . Also consider that, because of the specifics of the Moon's orbit, a given area stays shaded for just over…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not surprised. He has been bashing China for a while, which is the trending topic in the mainstream media anyway. Though I do wish some of the media agencies strike out of the group-thinking, and examine what NASA has been up to for the past decade, and what needs to be improved in terms of space exploration.
I haven't seen any trend of bashing China, unless of course reporting honestly is bashing. NASA, despite its huge budget cuts, in the last decade has operated three rovers on Mars, landed one new one (via spectacular jet crane awesomeness). They've built new types of rockets, taken pictures of the universe, continued to do valuable research in science and space. Continued to be a major contributor to the ISS. And muc…
Well, this is a bit subjective, in my book selective reporting that focuses on negativity is bashing.
I am all for more budgets for NASA. Quite frankly, I don't follow NASA's missions very often. For the past decade I did hear from time to time that NASA sent rovers to some planets. Meanwhile, I kept hearing the flip-flop stories about the water on Mars. It gave me impression that NASA either went hugely under-budget on their Mars' missions or they spread themselves too thin. That was my point (admittedly I may need to soften my tone in my comment). Not sure if NASA had a vision problem, in my opinion, it may have made more impact and (hopefully) got more funding if they narrowed down their scope of missions and obtained more decisive results.
Chinese space program had come a long way. Interesting test would be how they handle this failure. Will they go assigning blame and scapegoats. Or will they learn from this mistake and improve quality control/redundancy for future missions.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't seen any trend of bashing China, unless of course reporting honestly is bashing. NASA, despite its huge budget cuts, in the last decade has operated three rovers on Mars, landed one new one (via spectacular jet crane awesomeness). They've built new types of rockets, taken pictures of the universe, continued to do valuable research in science and space. Continued to be a major contributor to the ISS. And muc…
I haven't seen any trend of bashing China, unless of course reporting honestly is bashing. Well, this is a bit subjective, in my book selective reporting that focuses on negativity is bashing. I am all for more budgets for NASA. Quite frankly, I don't follow NASA's missions very often. For the past decade I did hear from time to time that NASA sent rovers to some planets. Meanwhile, I kept hearing the flip-flop stori…
> either went hugely under-budget on their Mars' missions or they spread themselves too thin
I think that is a misread of the situation; the lack of a consistent narrative and publicity across NASA and its missions has more to do with the organizational structure of the PR and public education/outreach within NASA than the science or the mission management itself.
This is a shame, but most people -- even in space programs -- don't appreciate how cold the Moon's shaded areas become. It's now estimated that these areas get to 26 Kelvins -- that's 26 degrees above absolute zero. To get a sense of how cold this is, Pluto's average surface temperature is seven degrees warmer . Also consider that, because of the specifics of the Moon's orbit, a given area stays shaded for just over…
That said, temperature works differently in hard vacuum - with no air to conduct/convect the heat away, isolated objects don't actually get "cold" the way they would in a pool of liquid nitrogen or something. Notice you don't hear about the ISS freezing at night.
But speaking of that: how long is too long to spend at 26K in a vacuum? Are there any good articles/videos that talk about what happens to various materials at such extreme temperatures in a vacuum?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We, Chinese, do not know too much details either. It is hard for us to know details about the spending. I tried to google it with key words like "Chang'e budget", but found nothing useful. However, I did found an article about the history[0]. Here is some fact: Back to 90s, there were Chinese scientists suggesting for lunar exploration. But the projects requires a budget around 1.5B, which was declined by the prime m…
I wish the Chinese space program the best. Every success pushes mankind (all nationalities) forward in our understanding of the universe.