If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.
Fark SearchWeb Fark

         more options... Create account

(TED) Spiffy Watch an explorer rappel with a rope in a waterfalls several miles underground, develop equipment for NASA to explore the underground ocean of Europa, and talk about his plans to mine water for fuel on the Moon   (scienceblogs.com) divider line 67
More: Spiffy  

67 Comments   (+0 »)


Archived thread
First | « | 1 | 2 | » | Last | Show all
 
433 [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 10:44:12 AM  
That guy sounds fascinating, the kind of driven individual to whom we owe credit for scientific advance. While mining lunar ice sounds a little loony if not unnecessary, I support this guy getting much funding.

I couldn't stick through the whole video, but I did bookmark it for later.

 
kronicfeld [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 11:14:35 AM  
The monolith is going to be pissed.

 
SpinStopper [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 11:21:20 AM  
I am impressed. I too will have to watch the whole thing later ;)

 
FF Mac [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 12:15:38 PM  
This guy's a bit of an underachiever, don't ya think?

 
Megain [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 01:47:11 PM  
FF Mac: This guy's a bit of an underachiever, don't ya think?

i think he had to pee

 
UberDave [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 01:49:12 PM  
kronicfeld: The monolith is going to be pissed.


That's not a big deal. When it gets pissed it just starts with that crazy music...

 
Sandwyrm 2008-01-13 02:34:00 PM  
Wonder how they're going to tunnel through that ice shell that can withstand meteor impacts and such.

... and how are they going to transmit signals through all that water and ice?

 
JohDHJ [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 02:34:44 PM  
Sandwyrm: Wonder how they're going to tunnel through that ice shell that can withstand meteor impacts and such.

... and how are they going to transmit signals through all that water and ice?


Magic.

 
SilverDagger 2008-01-13 02:37:05 PM  
Sandwyrm: Wonder how they're going to tunnel through that ice shell that can withstand meteor impacts and such.

... and how are they going to transmit signals through all that water and ice?


Two cans with strind between them. Now where is my pez.

 
SilverDagger 2008-01-13 02:38:24 PM  
SilverDagger: Sandwyrm: Wonder how they're going to tunnel through that ice shell that can withstand meteor impacts and such.

... and how are they going to transmit signals through all that water and ice?

Two cans with stringstrind between them. Now where is my pez.

 
radioman_ 2008-01-13 02:41:16 PM  
There's an ocean under Europe? Isn't the Atlantic enough for those greedy bastidges?

 
buzzvert [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 02:42:44 PM  
In a waterfalls?

/grammar light going off, head asplosion imminent

 
Ashtrey 2008-01-13 02:43:02 PM  
So where do I send my application to work with this guy?

 
ultraholland 2008-01-13 02:43:40 PM  
It's going to be a very long, long time before we are prepared to explore Europa's subsurface.

 
ceejayoz 2008-01-13 02:45:19 PM  
Sandwyrm: Wonder how they're going to tunnel through that ice shell that can withstand meteor impacts and such.

Well, first, it doesn't so much 'withstand' as it 'absorbs'. A meteor hitting Europa will make a dent and melt a hole, but the hole will quickly freeze.

As for how we'd get a probe through, it's pretty easy. All it takes is a warm probe. It'd most likely be nuclear powered - all you have to do is heat the outside surface of the probe enough and it'll melt a hole. As the hole gets melted, the probe sinks until it hits ice again, which starts melting. After a while, you hit ocean.

... and how are they going to transmit signals through all that water and ice?

It'd be tethered to a base station on the surface. As it melts through the ice, it unrolls a cable behind it.

 
thalidomide new and improved 2008-01-13 02:46:41 PM  
kronicfeld: The monolith is going to be pissed

I was gonna say, "I recall the last trip we took to Europa."

 
aerojockey [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 02:47:19 PM  
Sandwyrm

Wonder how they're going to tunnel through that ice shell that can withstand meteor impacts and such.

Melting it.

... and how are they going to transmit signals through all that water and ice?

Acoustic transmission.


/at least that's how we designed it in AERSP 402

 
SilverDagger 2008-01-13 02:47:27 PM  
ceejayoz: Sandwyrm: Wonder how they're going to tunnel through that ice shell that can withstand meteor impacts and such.

Well, first, it doesn't so much 'withstand' as it 'absorbs'. A meteor hitting Europa will make a dent and melt a hole, but the hole will quickly freeze.

As for how we'd get a probe through, it's pretty easy. All it takes is a warm probe. It'd most likely be nuclear powered - all you have to do is heat the outside surface of the probe enough and it'll melt a hole. As the hole gets melted, the probe sinks until it hits ice again, which starts melting. After a while, you hit ocean.

... and how are they going to transmit signals through all that water and ice?

It'd be tethered to a base station on the surface. As it melts through the ice, it unrolls a cable behind it.


Ha, I was right. Two cans with string between. AND WHERE IS MY PEZ.

 
ultraholland 2008-01-13 02:47:37 PM  
ceejayoz: All it takes is a warm probe.

with a dimly-lit room and a few drinks.

 
EwoksSuck 2008-01-13 02:48:15 PM  
Europa's sea people are going to come here and probe our asses.

 
CitizenjaQ 2008-01-13 02:48:58 PM  
img.photobucket.com

LEAVE EUROPA ALONE!
ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE!!

 
d'art 2008-01-13 02:49:05 PM  
Mine was, "What part of 'All these worlds are yours EXCEPT EUROPA' do these guys not understand?"

 
Richard Saunders 2008-01-13 02:50:20 PM  
Silly man. Everyone knows the moon is made of cheese.

/Like Ali, I'm doin' the europa-dope

 
Ceph 2008-01-13 02:52:23 PM  
Sandwyrm: .. and how are they going to transmit signals through all that water and ice?

IIRC, the probe releases tiny self-powered pebbles that get suspended in the ice as it re-freezes. Each has enough power to transmit data to and from the next-closest pebble in the shaft.

 
bob4pres 2008-01-13 02:56:02 PM  
UberDave: kronicfeld: The monolith is going to be pissed.


That's not a big deal. When it gets pissed it just starts with that crazy music...


Just watch out for monkeys. That music puts them in a bad mood.

 
WorldCitizen [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 02:58:00 PM  
It's things like this that give me hope for humanity. This is the very best of what we are.

 
Oznog 2008-01-13 03:00:21 PM  
www.wonkette.com

I would totally have submitted this with "plans to go whaling on the moon."

/we carry a harpoon
//but there ain't no whales
///so we tell tall tales
////and sing out whaling tune

/weeee're whalers on...

 
Ask 2008-01-13 03:03:31 PM  
Did we ever get told why Europa was banned?

 
Richard Saunders 2008-01-13 03:08:46 PM  
Finished watching the video... interesting conjecture.

/I won't live to see it happen though
//carry on

 
Oztemprom 2008-01-13 03:11:49 PM  
For a moment I thought I accidentally logged in to Slashdot.

/Tis spiffy though...

 
skatedrifter [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 03:20:37 PM  
Ted for President!

 
WFern 2008-01-13 03:21:56 PM  
Ask: Did we ever get told why Europa was banned?

From the article "Jupiter's moons in fiction" on Wikipedia:

"...Super-advanced aliens aiding the development of life take an interest in the primitive life forms under Europa's ice and transform Jupiter into a star to kick-start their evolution. The aliens grant humans the other three Galilean moons of Jupiter to settle, but the humans are specifically instructed not to land on, let alone colonize, Europa in order to give the local life time to develop. There is an implication of unpleasant consequences otherwise. In 2061: Odyssey Three (1988), Europa has become a tropical ocean world..."

 
dbirchall [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 03:23:06 PM  
Watch an explorer rappel with a rope in a waterfalls several miles underground into a cave

FTFY. ("Several miles underground" is easily misread as meaning straight down. It'd be some new kind of record.)

 
WFern 2008-01-13 03:26:58 PM  
CitizenjaQ: LEAVE EUROPA ALONE!
ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE!!


This, for what it's worth, had me laughing better than I've done all day.

 
Xarkuri 2008-01-13 03:34:30 PM  
Ashtrey: So where do I send my application to work with this guy?

THIS

 
serial_crusher [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 03:37:49 PM  
Oznog: I would totally have submitted this with "plans to go whaling on the moon."

/we carry a harpoon
//but there ain't no whales
///so we tell tall tales
////and sing out whaling tune

/weeee're whalers on...


This. I'm going to build my own fark. With hookers. And blackjack.

 
serial_crusher [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 03:47:01 PM  
A robot that scans for life and collects it? You know who else built that kind of robot....

echosphere.net

 
yelmrog 2008-01-13 03:58:42 PM  
Sandwyrm: .. Wonder how they're going to tunnel through that ice shell that can withstand meteor impacts and such.

and how are they going to transmit signals through all that water and ice?


Jesus?

 
Yucca 2008-01-13 03:59:53 PM  
This would work just fine until the locals realize that they're going to run out of water. Then they start throwing rocks...

/TANSTAAFL

 
TheGreyPiper 2008-01-13 04:00:35 PM  
Greg Laden? His middle name better not be 'Ben'.

 
bbbbbb 2008-01-13 04:05:22 PM  
From website:

Fark.com has green-lighted a link to this blog entry.

/Summon Bevets.


Posted by: Some farker | January 13, 2008 10:48 AM

Wow, I've been farked. Is that good?

Posted by: Greg Laden | January 13, 2008 2:59 PM

Hope you have alot of bandwidth.


YES INDEEDLY DO!

 
BlorfMaster 2008-01-13 04:11:59 PM  
Why can't we use water for energy NOW? I mean, I do not have to fly to the moon. I just turn on my sink and I get all the free energy I want.

Am I missing something?

 
burndtdan 2008-01-13 04:19:55 PM  
Sandwyrm: Wonder how they're going to tunnel through that ice shell that can withstand meteor impacts and such.

scifipedia.scifi.com
send in the experts

 
EMPulse_of_KC 2008-01-13 04:30:49 PM  
.


ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA.
ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.



.

 
theorellior 2008-01-13 04:48:58 PM  
WFern: In 2061: Odyssey Three (1988), Europa has become a tropical ocean world..."

You are mistaken. That book never existed. Arthur C. Clarke never wrote anything after "2010".

 
SilverDagger 2008-01-13 04:52:28 PM  
BlorfMaster: Why can't we use water for energy NOW? I mean, I do not have to fly to the moon. I just turn on my sink and I get all the free energy I want.

Am I missing something?


Umm, yeah. The water from your sink is not free. Unless you have a well, but you still need a pump.

 
Bucky Katt [TotalFark] 2008-01-13 05:02:11 PM  
theorellior: WFern: In 2061: Odyssey Three (1988), Europa has become a tropical ocean world..."

You are mistaken. That book never existed. Arthur C. Clarke never wrote anything after "2010".


www.cruisingholidays.co.uk

 
Oznog 2008-01-13 05:06:55 PM  
Ask: Did we ever get told why Europa was banned?

Posting non-edited pictures to a Photoshop thread?
Posting potentially NSFW images?
Infringing on FARK's copyright of the term "NSFW"?

 
theorellior 2008-01-13 05:17:05 PM  
Well, Bucky Katt, I know for a fact there won't be anything by Gentry Lee on that cruise.

 
somamoons 2008-01-13 05:35:33 PM  
I saw the "Jim Cameron" movie he showed a clip from - they did say in it (and in his clip) that the missile that drills through the Europan ice would be nuclear powered.

His idea sounds pretty plausible to me - but then again, I'm not a rocket scientist.

 
Displayed 50 of 67 comments

First | « | 1 | 2 | » | Last | Show all


[Continue Farking]