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Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

theguardian.com

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Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#301

Post by ksp-atlas »

shermantanktop wrote: post #198
Onawa wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The order of adjectives was never taught in K-12. It seems to be followed naturally by native English speakers without much thought until the order isn't followed. Then it sounds weird but most native speakers wouldn't be able to tell you why.

That’s why learning foreign languages is useful. You can’t really understand grammar if your native language never requires you to think about it.

Indeed, learning German helped me notice some features of English that I haven't noticed before, it helps that both are West Germanic languages

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#302

Post by fusionadvocate »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #79
4b11b4 wrote: post #73

Imagine we spent this much effort on projects on the Earth.

We spend vastly more on projects on Earth, any way you measure. Time, money, manpower. The US Federal Govt spent $6.9 Trillion last year, Nasa's budget was $25 billion, so about 0.3% of spending. https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/nasa-budget

Every cent counts.

"An estimated 63,600 deaths were attributable to air pollution in the United States in 2021."

0.3% means 190 lives were lost because we prioritize moon toys over cleaning our own environment.

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#303

Post by jordanb »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #269
jordanb wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The invasion of China wasn't successful. It was a quagmire. Japan didn't have the men or resources to conquer China and Chiang could just retreat whenever he had to.

> Japan didn't have the men or resources to conquer China Historically that doesn't take much. Having almost no men or resources didn't stop Nurhaci. What was going wrong with the occupation?

I recommend reading Eri Hotta's Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy

It's a book about how Japan decided to go to war with the united states. It details how China was a quagmire for Japan that was sucking up all the empire's resources. They could conquer land but they couldn't hold it. They could achieve tactical victories against Chiang but could not erode his ability to stay in the field and fight.

The story of how the leaders in Tokyo decided to double down on a war they were slowly losing in China, by starting a war they would more quickly and apocalypticly lose against the United States is a fascinating one.

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#304

Post by [deleted] »

gerdesj wrote: post #246
smithkl42 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I first tried to write a story when I was about seven. It was about a dragon. I remember nothing about it except a philological fact. My mother said nothing about the dragon, but pointed out that one could not say “A green great dragon,” but had to say “a great green dragon.” I wondered why, and still do." - J. R. R. Tolkien

Vocal language is not a solved problem and hopefully never will be. I think it is important that we all maintain our respective languages. Let them flow and change and never fetter them. Co-opt words, phrases and more as you like but cherish your roots. Mr T invented an "Elvish" script and language and I think he also did so for Dwarves too. I'm pretty sure he was a prof at Oxbridge with a focus in languages, mostly…

[deleted]

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#305

Post by jmyeet »

astar1 wrote: post #280

These 2 failures could have been easily avoidable both times. I really wish there was a push in the US government to create and stockpile plutonium-238 and ensure it's readily available, subsidized, and offered for all US probes/rovers/other scientific instruments in space (whether it be for NASA's use who currently has to ration because of how little they have left, or for private use after approval). Like, why aren…

Historically, PU-238 was a byproduct of (fissile) Pu-238 production for nuclear weapons. That need kinda went away with arms reduction treaties beginning in the mid-to-late Cold War. IIRC the US nuclear weapons stockpile is about 10% of what it was at its peak. AFAIK there is no current Pu-239 production in the US.

The need for Pu-238 was recognized years ago as the stockpile of consumed by various space probes and I believe Oak Ridge now products Pu-238 fuel pellets. I'm not sure if this production could be ramped up.

But Plutonium use has various risks associated with it. Aside from the obvious security risks, you're strapped it to a rocket that may explode while launch and come back to Earth. This is effectively a dirty bomb if the RTG containment is breached.

Solar panels are really the right choice for anything out to at least mars. Here we had a probe fall over. Would that be recoverable with RTG? Maybe. Maybe not.

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#308

Post by vulcan01 »

gerdesj wrote: post #243
stouset wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s more emergent than official. It’s not something I think is ever taught in school and yet everyone intuits it with high accuracy. Even crazier is that we intuitively mix this rule with another implicit rule, where “I” sounds go before “A” sounds go before “O” sounds in similar words, so “big, bad wolf” violates the normal adjective ordering rule but would sound weird any other way because of… reasons. Language is…

You use the word intuit as a verb where I would go old school and use "understands it intuitively". You slap a letter s on the end to make the word sound correct to your ear. I will eventually use the word intuits in the same way you do but it will jar for a while. However it is concise and conveys the same meaning as "understand intuitively". As you say, language is insane. Now, adjective ordering. I think there is…

> I would go old school and use "understands it intuitively"

I wonder if this is a regional difference. The OED claims that intuit as a verb has been in continuous use since the 1860s (at least) and I've heard it used as a verb my entire life (various areas in the US).

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#309

Post by workbench1_3 »

K0balt wrote: post #223
Jun8 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For (1): except, of course, if you’re the Mongol army. They preferred attacking in the winter (swamps and rivers are frozen so easily passable). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Kievan_Ru...

Mongol spacecraft do tend to have a rather high center of gravity, but they land with sufficient velocity to imbed the landing spire of their spear-like ships deep into the crust for stability and dramatic effect.

Ha! Mongols don’t need spacecrafts to reach the Moon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXRcemSSI78

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