New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto • Hacker News Board

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#91

Post by snowwrestler » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:29 PM UTC

scrollaway wrote: post #57

pavlov wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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. Something most americans don't understand is how repulsive blatant patriotism is. A lot of europeans, along with their nationality, have a sense of being "european", just like most americans have a sense of being "american" (rather than just "Californian" or what have you). Ther…

People chanting "USA" are literally not saying "in your face, my country is better that yours." I think if that's what you're hearing, you're bringing some personal interpretation to your hearing.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#92

Post by brlewis » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:29 PM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #18

dingaling wrote: post #4

That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.

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…

319 million people spending $650 million[1] amounts to $2.03 per person. I probably paid more than average taxes, but I don't feel like I can claim more credit than, say, the Yuan dynasty of 13th-century China and its contributions to rocket science.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons#Mission_profile

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#93

Post by benkuykendall » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:29 PM UTC

fit2rule wrote: post #46

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…

>The American voting public took on all of the downsides of this program. True. But the rest of the world bears the brunt of American liabilities.

Sorry, could you explain this a little further? As an American, my income taxes seem to be pretty solid evidence that I am bearing American liabilities. Especially in a case like space exploration, where the only cost is monetary, I don't see how a burden is being placed on anyone save the taxpayers.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#94

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:31 PM UTC

Is the clip at the top just audio with a black screen? That seems like the least useful thing; I'd wager that any blind visitors have screen readers.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#95

Post by bargl » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:33 PM UTC

mattlutze wrote: post #82

"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

Your comment confused the heck out of me. Can you clarify a little more? Did I miss something in the article?

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#96

Post by pavlov » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:34 PM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #56

pavlov wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Rosetta/Philae was all over the news a few months ago. Not sure what news sources you read but I saw it everywhere, including cool animations about their lander

Sure. But did you think of it as a European achievement? That's what I was getting at.

When news media talks about European integration, it's always with the "Greeks are lazy, Germans are stuck up" style angle that tries to play up national stereotypes.

Rarely do we get to read about Europe as a group of people that get together to put spacecraft on comets, and the EU as a project that has brought 70 years of peace to Central Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#97

Post by e0m » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:34 PM UTC

Traveling at 16km/s for 9.5 years would dilate time by almost 300 minutes! Not only is there a 4.5 hr delay because of the speed of light, there's an extra 300 min of relativity correction.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#98

Post by esusatyo » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:34 PM UTC

blakecaldwell wrote: post #83

It kills me we're not gonna orbit Pluto.

It actually makes me hopeful that New Horizons will have a chance to look further on things in the Kuiper Belt. It's a very interesting area that doesn't get much attention.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#99

Post by pavlov » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:35 PM UTC

moron4hire wrote: post #90

pavlov wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

It's the European angle that barely gets mentioned; see my reply to oh_sigh.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#100

Post by rootbear » Tue, Jul 14, 2015, 2:35 PM UTC

stygiansonic wrote: post #58

As a child, I loved reading about space and astronomy. I think I pretty much read every book about these topics my local town's library. (It wasn't a large {town, library}) Isaac Asimov's non-fiction books were among my favourites. I never imagined that now we'd be getting the level of detail seen in these photos of Pluto (level of detail akin to a Moon shot), which until now, only existed in my mind from various art…

Amen. I work at NASA and I'm gobsmacked at the beauty of the New Horizons imagery. I can't wait to see the good stuff.

Isaac Asimov's science essay collections had a profound effect on me. I learned physics years ahead of when I would have in school by reading these essays and learning how to do calculations involving kinetic energy, mass, acceleration, etc. Even more important, those essays helped me learn how to think like a scientist. Asimov's secular humanist world view also influenced my own world view greatly. I met him several times at various SF conventions and I miss him.