Jump to content

More space news!


tkdguy

Recommended Posts

Re: More space news!

 

Multiverse?

 

I know a few skeptics of this theory.

Dude! Warnings! That article was cool, but there was a link on that page that sucked Sanity like I was a Call of Cuthulu character!

 

 

Seth McFarlane to produce "Cosmos" sequel for Fox

 

Ann Druyan can kiss any chance she ever had for a Nobel Prize goodbye.

 

NOT cool! So not cool!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Re: More space news!

 

Stupid.

 

So, so, fricken stupid!

 

Skylab, Mir, now the ISS, spend $BILLIONS to create a scrap of infrastructure in LEO, then throw it away rather than maintain it.

 

A species this stupid DESERVES to be confined to a single planet!

 

Agree.:mad:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: More space news!

 

Stupid.

 

So, so, fricken stupid!

 

Skylab, Mir, now the ISS, spend $BILLIONS to create a scrap of infrastructure in LEO, then throw it away rather than maintain it.

 

A species this stupid DESERVES to be confined to a single planet!

 

They've revised the article to note that the ISS mission may be extended to 2028. Then they'll crash it into the ocean.

 

But it'll be how old then? At some point, when it's too old to use any longer, it pretty much has to be de-orbited. Leaving it up there presents a risk of other objects colliding with it, potentially producing tons of hazardous orbital debris. There's already too much of that stuff up there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: More space news!

 

They've revised the article to note that the ISS mission may be extended to 2028.

At which time construction will be just a few weeks from completion.

 

But it'll be how old then? At some point' date=' when it's too old to use any longer, it pretty much has to be de-orbited. Leaving it up there presents a risk of other objects colliding with it, potentially producing tons of hazardous orbital debris. There's already too much of that stuff up there.[/quote']

What's too old? You have modular construction. Add new modules, scrap ones that are not cost effective to maintain, find ways of using the "junk" to make needed things more cost effectively that boosting them from the ground.

 

or it could be bought by an eccentric billionaire and sent to a lagrange point so he can retire there ( :) )

 

I'm not sure a billion dollars would provide him with the energy delivery system he'd need to chuck that thing into a lagrange orbit' date=' or even a geosynchronous one.[/quote']

LEO is halfway to anywhere in the solar system. A small continuous boost (ion engine) could tow it to Clarke orbit or a Lagrange point. Or a solar powered rail gun shooting pelleted "junk" from no-longer-serviceable modules.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: More space news!

 

Over in the Champions forum Steve has a thread asking about the consequences of Super Tech on the world. See: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/86694-Repercussions-of-mass-producing-comic-book-technology

 

One of the speculated technical "jumps" is efficient, small fuel cells. With that on my mind, an article in New Scientist about new battery technology caught my eye. I'm a cheap loser who only leeches news items and that article is pay-pe- view so I went off to Google to see what was up. I found this article from late 2007 talking about research that extends the life of a Lithium Ion battery tenfold: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html

 

Note that Mr. Cui is thinking about forming a company to make money off this dicovery. Another article (amongst several on the subject) has the charge life estimates down to +40% though: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/23893/page1/

 

Note that Mr. Cui has now formed his company, I take this to be a good sign that the article isn’t about something that costs $10Bil and has only been seen under clean room lab conditions. More recently we see this from August 2, 2011: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/38205/

 

Hopefully this means battery technology is about to step up a substantial amount to the point where small consumer electronics (phones, iPods, etc) will be able to operate for weeks between charges. Converge your tablet computer, your music player, and your phone into a single device, power it off of one of these batteries, and you'll have one of those Sci-Fi handhelds that do everything and never run out of power. Or at least a close approximation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...