Space Exploration,astronomy & Cosmology

Discussion in 'Taylor's Tittle-Tattle - General Banter' started by StuBoy, May 26, 2020.

  1. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    :D What took you so long. They will have a launcher to retrieve the samples taken by Perseverance into orbit.
     
  2. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    They have but being alone for so long he's virtually w@nked himself to death, so not suitable.
     
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  3. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    First images of Mars coming through.

    Is that Vydra in the background?

    [​IMG]
     
  4. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    Im optimistic to a fault, but I cant help pondering if they find signs of life that has evolved separately to Earth, the implications for humanity are huge.
     
  5. StuBoy

    StuBoy Forum Cad and Bounder

    You can say that again! Can't wait to hear what the microphones recorded and any video footage as well. 2 out of 2 for the sky crane now!
     
  6. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Several years of research and data collection including sounds of Mars. The mission to Titan will have a remote autonomous flying vehicle as with the helicopter here. The data collated here is vital to future manned missions. Wonderful to see so many youngsters enthused as well and turned onto engineering, exploration and science. Landed almost exactly on time. Listen to that train companies. :D Let it sink in. A tremendous achievement for humanity as a whole.
     
  7. StuBoy

    StuBoy Forum Cad and Bounder

    Can't wait for that Titan mission, and to see what this helicopter does on Mars. Amazing times in some ways at the moment.
     
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  8. It's interesting that the future of exploration has become robotics
     
  9. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Any place with enough radiant energy, liquid water, organic molecules can promote organic chemistry and synthesis of new molecules. Such a shame Mars did not have a higher mass, lost magnetic fields generated by it's dead core aside from leaving traces of magnetized crust as you see in new crust magnetized by the prevailing magnetic field at oceanic ridges. I am pretty certain given basic organic molecules exist in space that primitive forms of bacteria similar to archaeaic bacteria and perhaps using chemosynthesis to power themselves. There are several sites of interest elsewhere in the solar system and future missions are planned to analyze the atmospheric composition of exoplanets.
     
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  10. StuBoy

    StuBoy Forum Cad and Bounder

    @hornmeister might be worth renaming this thread Spaceflight Discussion or something similar? Not always about manned missions as you can see...
     
  11. Considering there are several possible sites for life in just our little solar system I've always believed the universe is teeming with life
     
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  12. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Indeed. As mentioned before with advances in several scientific fields combining we can see more and more intelligent semi-autonomous and in time autonomous vehicles sent around our planetary system to lay the groundwork for colonization in the deep future. Which makes it a shame we have such ephemeral lifespans. Advances for example in semi biological-mechanical intelligences for instance.

    I think those on the more intelligent side of science fiction, futurists and mission planners have always seen it that way in terms of safety, costs and having to create the infrastructure for long term human settlement outside of Earth. With advances in raw computing power, nanotechnology, materials science, understanding of the complexity of the human brain we will not be too far off in creating autonomous learning semi-organic brains to control future missions in situ. People say this is far fetched or is still science fiction but science is advancing rapidly in all sorts of areas with great speed.
     
  13. StuBoy

    StuBoy Forum Cad and Bounder

    Looks like the helicopter Ingenuity will be switched on at least tomorrow, not sure when it will fly though.
     
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  14. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    If we take the premise that there are roughly equivlant ( for easy metaphor) the same amount of earth sized planets in Universe as there are grains of sand on Earth, to consider that this is the only place where life has existed seems so anthrocentric, that it feels like a concept created from human arrogance and naievety more than anything else.
     
  15. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Likewise. We can discuss the Drake equation and the Fermi paradox. One that gives an approximate number of civilizations in the galaxy and the other why have we not encountered intelligent life. The reasons have been discussed pretty much in depth.


    There are several other great lectures on this channel from the RI regarding the cutting edge of knowledge about the universe, how it is constituted on the largest and smallest of scales and it's fate. This for instance is another lecture about the universe in our skull and trying to understand it. Quantum mechanics has now been shown in recent years to influence biological structures which should not be of any surprise. Mathematics describes the universe and things that seem disparate are all subject to basic principles underpinned by it. This is a wonderful lecture mixed with the numerous philosophical musings on what is consciousness. It's just at the moment our mathematics cannot describe all conditions seen in the universe.

     
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  16. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    Hope they don't. Remember how the Native Americans got on when Europeans turned up, importing all our diseases among other things. Bacteria are much cleverer than us, as well as being invisible to us, and I don't fancy meeting alien bacteria against which we have no natural defences.
     
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  17. GoingDown

    GoingDown "The Stability"

    As long as we stay away from Europa, we should be alright.
     
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  18. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    Who is to say we are not just vehicles created for bacteria to exist within using us as hosts, and bacteria are actually the main goal of evolution ?
     
  19. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team


    I like the thinking behind the Drake equation but the quantatative value of most of the inputs are so unknown and wide in their possible parameters, that you can tweak any of the values either way and make the equation result whatever you want it to be.
     
  20. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    In relation to the Fermi Paradox, I tend to towards the theory that life is so prevalent and advanced beyond our imagination that we really arent of any interest at all to advanced species. Just like a specific ant nest in the middle of the remote desert doesnt really present any novelty to a human biologist.

    But thats more based upon my feeling that life is more interesting if we ponder and speculate that life is a natural expression of the Universe and is prevalent, rather than some kind of miracle that happened on our little backwater of the Milky Way.
     
  21. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    Amazing sights watching all that tonight. I can't even begin to imagine where we'll be with space exploration in 100 years from now
     
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  22. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    I’m torn between the wonder of seeing the surface of another planet for one of only a few times ever and wondering why it’s this weird porthole type shot.

    I presume that’s because there’s a fair amount of unpacking after any long journey and the high quality shots will follow soon as Perseverance’s cameras deploy.
     
  23. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    We can always vote to leave if we don’t like it.
     
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  24. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    True. The last thing we need is a pandemic.
     
  25. Cassetti's Beard

    Cassetti's Beard First Team

    I've seen the Expanse, we should definitely maintain control over Mars.
     
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  26. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    True but there is no guarantee that microbial life is compatible with terrestrial DNA, therefore it could be completely benign. Having said that, as sith the first two moon landings, the astronauts were quarantined for a few weeks, any microscopic life has to be kept out of our ecosystem.
     
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  27. GoingDown

    GoingDown "The Stability"

    Da inyalowda won't keng keting hit imalowda bosmang
     
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  28. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    I would imagine , like when first arriving on any holiday , you dump the suitcases in the room , get your swimmers on and do a running bomb into the swimming pool and then tuck into the free bar, not actually getting round to unpacking your suitcase until the last day.
     
  29. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team


    Smudger you may know this, but was wondering what the timeline for the MSR is ? When will we get results back from samples returned to Earth.

    Also , are they planning to also do some limited tests on Perseverance so we may get some immediate feedback on any likely samples ?
     
  30. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    Yup. The mast is being put up later today apparently. Plus they hope to show HD camera footage of the landing.
     
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  31. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    These MSR plans are still in a planning stage I think. The plan is to send a lander equipped with a search rover to pick up samples then transfer them to a launch module. This enters Martian orbit for retrieval. Not sure about the orbital mechanics between the Earth and Mars but it was estimated to take place in 2028. That is launching the lander and ascent modules to return samples by 2031. Some have argued for a later return date but there are continual worries about the nature of the planetary dust storms on Mars which eliminated Opportunity. If it was to be later then they might have to include a radioisotope thermoelectric generator to keep the lander powered. Then there are cost considerations.

    Russia and China are also considering MSR plans but the samples will provide as with the lunar rocks and regolith so much material to study for decades. The samples will return in a shielded parachute capsule with appropriate measures of biohazard control. Perhaps a new Biosafe Lab for quarantine purposes although the risk from pathogens is very small. There is this theory proposed that viruses emanate in deep space which has been discounted by most and is extremely unlikely. The source of viruses is endemic in evolutionary history on this planet.

    What is sad to see on the video comments is more nutters claiming they know everything. It's a hoax. Why do they need a parachute. How can the helicopter fly ? And the god botherers as well. Unfortunately it reinforces the idea there are plenty of deranged mentally weak thickos out there whose understanding of even basic science is non existent. Why believe in logic and rationality. Their own is completely twisted. Only the other day there was a god botherer trying to claim a geological formation is the site of Noah's Ark. Sad really. Here is one example. These idiots don't seem to have crawled out of the cave.

    Unfortunately there are NO other life forms in any other galaxy! NO aliens - NO UFO’s - NO forms of life in any form anywhere! There is NO space program- The universe is TOO vast - God has got it out there to confound those that would rather believe a lie and myth than allow a divine foot on the door! We are unique and alone because the creator made it that way! The ONLY hope of Salvation is The Lord Jesus Christ- NOTHING else will save! NO building colonies on other alleged suitable planets - WILL NOT HAPPEN! God through Christ is THE ONLY hope!

    :rolleyes:

    what a waste of taxpayers money......when u got people who cant pay their rent then u got these bafoons wasting taxpayers money so they can induldge their fantasies......what a waste of money. :rolleyes:
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
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  32. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

     
  33. Arakel

    Arakel First Team

    I really don't see how it couldn't be.

    We know it's happened once: Earth. Since we know it's possible, in a universe as vast as the one we now know we live in the chances of it not having happened elsewhere have to be zero.

    I think the question is less "is there life on other planets?" and more "what does life on other planets look like?".

    Non-carbon based lifeforms, anyone?
     
  34. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    My hunch is that life is vanishingly rare across the universe. It certainly has not left its calling card in the form of high energy signals that we can easily find.

    There is no Sub-Etha waveband Zaphod.

    I’m surprised there is the hoohah about looking for it on Mars. I don’t think there will be any, but if there is it is either like that on Earth, so commonly evolved, or unlike it suggesting a multitude of different pathways are possible. But I think not, because life leaves big structures, like limestone. For it not to it would need to have been cut off very early in development and in that case will now be indistinguishable from the other red dust.

    So for me it’s the geology and morphology that is of most interest.
     
  35. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Presumably they have to wait for the installers to pop round and put the mast up. Did they specify an am or pm visit?

    Hope they used the right calendar or it will be nine months before another engineer can get out even if they have ‘homecare’.
     

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