51–60 of 91 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google Fiber really needs to step up the interplanetary deployment!
Imagine you need to ping google.com from mars. The round trip would be at least 40 minutes. Put a whole new meaning into the word lag. Seriously though, the current TCP/IP protocol is not designed to deal with that kind of distance.
Ignoring all the fascinating stuff about Jupiter, let me point out this gem: The download of six megabytes of data [...] took one-and-a-half days I sometimes like to scare kids by telling them about the time when I surfed the Internet with 14.4 kbit modem, but even that looks incredibly fast compared to the speed of interplanetary data transmission (back then, 6 MiB would have taken me about 2-2.5 hours). (NB that I…
> On the HGA we expect ≥18 kilobits per second (kbps) (≥12 kbps during Grav passes due to power required for carrier signal), and ≥10 bps on the MGA.
HGA = High Gain Antenna, MGA = Medium Gain Antenna. HGA activity is limited to when the spacecraft is precisely aligned towards Earth:
> Due to the nutation of the spinning spacecraft following any maneuvers, we will need to allow several hours for nutation damping following Earth-point maneuvers before using the HGA.
> Currently we allow 8 hours prior to most DSN tracks and 16 hours prior to the 6-hour MWR or Grav perijove science passes that start at PJ – 3 h.
So it's not necessarily any slower than your modem once it gets going, it just has terrible latency and dialing the connection can take the better part of a day.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to Wikipedia, the world's average energy consumption is 12.3Tw. Given that the Earth is gets 1366 W/m² of solar power at 149,597,870km, this means Mercury gets 9190 W/m² at 57,910,000km. Plugging these together, this tells us that a 12.3Tw solar array of 100% efficiency in Mercury's orbit would have a surface area of 1338 km². Realistically, you'd at least double that, to produce the same power, as solar pa…
Brilliant, thanks. So how long before we start putting solar panels in close, direct orbit around the Sun?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We know basically nothing about the details of cloud structure on exoplanets.
Then it's kind of a stretch to call Jupiter "truly unique" in this respect, isn't it? "Wow, only a quarter of known gas giants are like this!"
The usage has deviated from the original meaning. Making a big deal out of it doesn't make you look smart; it makes you look out of touch.
Ignoring all the fascinating stuff about Jupiter, let me point out this gem: The download of six megabytes of data [...] took one-and-a-half days I sometimes like to scare kids by telling them about the time when I surfed the Internet with 14.4 kbit modem, but even that looks incredibly fast compared to the speed of interplanetary data transmission (back then, 6 MiB would have taken me about 2-2.5 hours). (NB that I…
It's also fascinating to think about how TCP is ineffective at that distance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Internet is a good starting point to learn more.
> “Saturn has a hexagon at the north pole,” said Bolton. “There is nothing on Jupiter that anywhere near resembles that. The largest planet in our solar system is truly unique. We have 36 more flybys to study just how unique it really is.” Eh? Jupiter is 'truly unique' because it doesn't have an extremely puzzling feature that only one other planet is known to have?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then it's kind of a stretch to call Jupiter "truly unique" in this respect, isn't it? "Wow, only a quarter of known gas giants are like this!"
It's a common use of the word "unique". The usage has deviated from the original meaning. Making a big deal out of it doesn't make you look smart; it makes you look out of touch.
> “Saturn has a hexagon at the north pole,” said Bolton. “There is nothing on Jupiter that anywhere near resembles that. The largest planet in our solar system is truly unique. We have 36 more flybys to study just how unique it really is.” Eh? Jupiter is 'truly unique' because it doesn't have an extremely puzzling feature that only one other planet is known to have?
Why are people getting bent out of shape about the word "unique"? It is unique because Jupiter has features that we have not observed on any other planet, some of which are mentioned in the article (different types of storm systems, high altitude clouds casting shadows etc). From context, he is clearly not only talking about Saturn's hexagon. This pedantry is ridiculous.
Personally, I don't understand the people defending the usage here. As far as I have experienced in my life, when people say "unique" in good faith they mean "one of a kind" and those people who don't use it that way are considered to have done a bait-and-switch.
That said, perhaps there's been a lingustic shift I haven't yet noticed.
“Saturn has a hexagon at the north pole,” said Bolton. “There is nothing on Jupiter that anywhere near resembles that. The largest planet in our solar system is truly unique. We have 36 more flybys to study just how unique it really is.” This is the first I've heard of Saturn's hexagon, very interesting: http://www.space.com/30608-mysterious-saturn-hexagon-explain...
> “Saturn has a hexagon at the north pole,” said Bolton. “There is nothing on Jupiter that anywhere near resembles that. The largest planet in our solar system is truly unique. We have 36 more flybys to study just how unique it really is.” Eh? Jupiter is 'truly unique' because it doesn't have an extremely puzzling feature that only one other planet is known to have?
Why are people getting bent out of shape about the word "unique"? It is unique because Jupiter has features that we have not observed on any other planet, some of which are mentioned in the article (different types of storm systems, high altitude clouds casting shadows etc). From context, he is clearly not only talking about Saturn's hexagon. This pedantry is ridiculous.
No, the article is actually saying that the lack of a hexagon is important. Combined with such insights as "some clouds are higher than other things", the mentioned items really don't add up to a breathless "truly unique". The things we already knew about Jupiter - the vibrant bands and the red dot as obvious starters - are far more interesting and worthy of a discussion about what makes the planet unique.