If they'd let me out there I'd go into the west desert to watch it go boom.

The article said "Sunday morning", but there's nothing on CNN about the canister making it down successfully.

Since I slept through this article last night, is the plunge through the atmosphere something I might be able to see (from San Francisco) tonight??

Way ahead of you. I try and steer clear of Utah every day of every year of my life. It's worked out well so far.

Maybe the Mormons will get a new set of instructions from somebody?

So farking cool.

I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it. . . I DON'T GOT IT!!!!

Rumor has it the space dust has caught teh ghey, so Utah said they don't want it landing there.
Sorry for the inconvenience!

our congress is always looking out for us...this benefits us how?

Yes, I will STEER clear

Isn't this how The Andromeda Strain started out?

We're gonna be turned into dust.

I wonder if they'd let me snort some of that.

DUkskkEA

Off the top of my head, by researching the density of comet material so that if there's ever one headed our way, we have a better idea of what to do about it.

Ice moving in the 100,000 mph range could do some damage.

madgonad:My thoughts exactly. Good job.

DUkskkEA: our congress is always looking out for us...this benefits us how?

Exactly. We know everything we need to know about the universe and should stop learning.

ihyln -- Read your bio.

"someone help me"

Is she cute?

/i keed, i keed

DJLunchBox Try again next week.

Fascinating article, but useless with telling me exactly where to look. Living in New Mexico, which sort of neighbors Utah, if you count touching it at a mathematically infinitesimal point. I need a time and a direction -- time is of the essence, since the direction is fairly obvious: Northwest.

I liked the part in the article about the crash of the last probe (bottom of page 1) and how scientists recovered enough solar wind atoms to study. Vision of them combing over the wreckage with tiny tweezers, electron magnifying glasses, and little bitty jars.

/Good luck to them.

madgonad: Isn't this how The Andromeda Strain started out?


Shhhh! I'm sure everything will be just fgaaaaaaccckkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!

/thud

The thread where everyone watched the last probe slam to the ground is one of my all time favorites on Fark.

Maybe I'm jaded, but I just don't feel like we'll ever recapture that magic again when it comes to watching NASA's failings unfold before our very eyes.

this sounds familiar

/chute fails to open, probe diggs itself a hole in the hardpack soil
/hopes it is more successful than the last one

Hello.

This is going to happen next Sunday 1/15 .

There is alot of info on the JPL web site.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

Ok... while NASA has had some good screw ups, how many successes have they had? And let's think about what they're doing. They're not driving down to the local store to get a gallon of milk, they're trying to hit a moving target over a million miles away, and now they're actually getting someting to come back. That is way cool. Next time you are critical of NASA, go double check what the grades you got in physics and calculus.

As long as they didn't pack the wadding too tight, and used talcum powder on the 'chute, they should be all right...

2006-01-08 06:45:38 PM Ika7734
Next time you are critical of NASA, go double check what the grades you got in physics and calculus.

Spoilsport.

As long as the Blob eats the Mormons first, I'm happy.

I for one welcome our new space dust overlords.

Ditto on the thread where the last one crashed being one fun read. Can't find it in the farkives, but, well, i am lazy and actually didn't look. Can someone with less slack than me help?

For those playing at home,



pwned.

Why don't they send it to the ISS? I thought that thing was up there for science....doesn't it have a lab? That way, you can just bring it (the collected specimens) down with the next crew!

LineNoise: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1114207

"you might want to steer clear of Utah next weekend"

Well duh, that's pretty much good advice on any given weekend.

Unhip1: Why don't they send it to the ISS? I thought that thing was up there for science....doesn't it have a lab?

The impactor, er... "return capsule" is designed to scream into the atmosphere and let Earth slow it down. There are no rockets to decelerate it.

The ISS debris shield isn't quite up to that.

Unhip1: Why don't they send it to the ISS? I thought that thing was up there for science

Just to clarify: It's not there for science, it's there for politics. That's why the orbital inclination (~56') is designed for access from Russia and not Cape Canaveral (~23'), why Shuttle required a new and lighter external tank (to reach the new orbit) and why Columbia wasn't in the same plane as Station (too heavy to get to ~56', so it did science at ~23').

Now then, wasn't that a wonderful combination for "science"?

Faster, Better, Cheaper!

Lots Gooder too.

As a space nerd, I must say as well, that the ISS is a worthless piece of crap. Could've done better science with a different design at half the cost. And what's the point of a station when they best launch vehicle that humanity can muster is a metal sphere?

/???

Wait, wasn't the last failure of a probe like this caused not by NASA, but by one of the people they're pretty much forced to subcontract to? (After all, if NASA built and made everything themselves, then certain companies that they're forced to subcontract to couldn't get money from them! And that would make our congresspeople sad. Or poorer).

Wasn't it some idiot at Lockheed-Martin (SP?) that installed a switch in upside-down that caused the parachutes to fail to deploy?

The impactor, er... "return capsule" is designed to scream into the atmosphere and let Earth slow it down. There are no rockets to decelerate it.

So how do they guarantee it'll hit in a remote desert and not in the ocean or a major city? They must have some guidance controls in there someplace, no?

Odds are the Ogdru Jahad, the Seven Gods of Chaos, will be released. We'll need this guy to stop them:

This guy isn't involved with this one (He was involved with Genesis and Beagle 2), so this one will land successfully.

Is the guy's name "Photos"? And did he just shoot the prankster who dumped 2 cans of cat food on his head?

/hee hee

Qermaq: They can make course adjustments to the return spacecraft, then they give it instructions to release the sample capsule once they know the trajectory is right.

I thought the rule is nationwide to ALWAYS stay clear of Utah.

What difference does this make?

If NASA is aiming for Utah whouldn't that make Utah the safest place to be?

Aw man, I was really enjoying all the stuff I have that's made of plastic, too.

Not plastic....it's polycron. Got a lot of the same characteristics of human skin.

How is it going to glow like venus if it only spikes 365 degrees?

oh. glad I'm not flying anytime soon, least.

I've heard that comets are just alien spy satellites in disguise. They just cruise by every so often and see how things are going here.

In fact, I think I might have even read it on the internet.

Cdn_Nrrd: Faster, Better, Cheaper!

As we often say in response to that: Pick two.

Oh, and Ika7734: Next time you are critical of NASA, go double check what the grades you got in physics and calculus.

Not to brag, but 4.0. I'm somewhat quailified.

Frozen_Nanook

If NASA is aiming for Utah whouldn't that make Utah the safest place to be?

\Yes, and you would not have to worry about getting the "wrong message" from a gay cowboy movie.
\\Thread combo complete

Yossarian Lives!: As we often say in response to that: Pick two.

Yup. Hard to believe that's the name Dan Goldin gave to his new management philosophy for NASA back in 1992:

"More missions for less money!"

Of course, he didn't say anything about any of those missions actually working. Who needs system tests, face-to-face meetings and adequate staffing anyhow?

With today's NASA Mission-By-PowerPoint philosophy, an infinite number of missions can be launched with 100% success at each interminable management meeting.

/go China
//beat 'em back and shock some sense into the West.