One of the coolest things I have ever seen ...

[m0ds]

This is cool too
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7447942.stm

but it made me sick

[magintz]

Despite war, poverty and everything the human race is phenomenal!

[evenwolf]

magintz?  Wow!


Hey I didn't dig this thread up.... but you can bet I have more comments!

[Ryan Timothy B]

Yeah I was thinking about this thread today, wondering if there were any updates with that land rover.  <-- *cough* Evenwolf, this is where you jump in buddy.

[GarageGothic]

At least from a purely visual perspective, this is one of the coolest things I've seen - in fact it just became my desktop background:


(click image for hi-res version)

No, it's not the eye of Sauron. It's a lightning storm caused by a volcano erupting in Chile. Read more about it here and here.

[evenwolf]

Yeah I was thinking about this thread today, wondering if there were any updates with that land rover.  <-- *cough* Evenwolf, this is where you jump in buddy.

Haha, feel free to visit http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/newsArchive.php  for constant updates.

Right now its all about soil stickiness.


June 13, 2008 -- New observations from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander provide the most magnified view ever seen of Martian soil, showing particles clumping together even at the smallest visible scale.

In the past two days, two instruments on the lander deck -- a microscope and a bake-and-sniff analyzer -- have begun inspecting soil samples delivered by the scoop on Phoenix's Robotic Arm.

"This is the first time since the Viking missions three decades ago that a sample is being studied inside an instrument on Mars," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Stickiness of the soil at the Phoenix site has presented challenges for delivering samples, but also presents scientific opportunities. "Understanding the soil is a major goal of this mission and the soil is a bit different than we expected," Smith said. "There could be real discoveries to come as we analyze this soil with our various instruments. We have just the right instruments for the job."

Images from Phoenix's Optical Microscope show nearly 1,000 separate soil particles, down to sizes smaller than one-tenth the diameter of a human hair. At least four distinct minerals are seen.

"It's been more than 11 years since we had the idea to send a microscope to Mars and I'm absolutely gobsmacked that we're now looking at the soil of Mars at a resolution that has never been seen before," said Tom Pike of Imperial College London. He is a Phoenix co-investigator working on the lander's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer.

The sample includes some larger, black, glassy particles as well as smaller reddish ones. "We may be looking at a history of the soil," said Pike. "It appears that original particles of volcanic glass have weathered down to smaller particles with higher concentration of iron."

The fine particles in the soil sample closely resemble particles of airborne dust examined earlier by the microscope.

Atmospheric dust at the Phoenix site has remained about the same day-to-day so far, said Phoenix co-investigator and atmospheric scientist Nilton Renno of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

"We've seen no major dust clouds at the landing site during the mission so far," Renno said. "That's not a surprise because we landed when dust activity is at a minimum. But we expect to see big dust storms at the end of the mission. Some of us will be very excited to see some of those dust storms reach the lander."

Studying dust on Mars helps scientists understand atmospheric dust on Earth, which is important because dust is a significant factor in global climate change.

"We've learned there is well-mixed dust in the Martian atmosphere, much more mixed than on Earth, and that's a surprise," Renno said. Rather than particles settling into dust layers, strong turbulence mixes them uniformly from the surface to a few kilometers above the surface.

Scientists spoke at a news briefing today at the University of Arizona, where new color views of the spacecraft's surroundings were shown.

"We are taking a high-quality, 360-degree look at all of Mars that we can see from our landing site in color and stereo," said Mark Lemmon, Surface Stereo Imager lead from Texas A&M University, College Station.

"These images are important to provide the context of where the lander is on the surface. The panorama also allows us to look beyond our workspace to see how the polygon structures connect with the rest of the area. We can identify interesting things beyond our reach and then use the camera's filters to investigate their properties from afar."

[Emerald]

I know I should be impressed by that space picture... but I'm not.

Maybe it's because I'm not American, so the whole NASA space exploration thing isn't ingrained into me as something to be proud of (i.e. it's more like "Look at what the American's can do" rather than "Look at what we can do")

I know it's kind of hypocritical of me to preach acceptance and then draw lines between America and Ireland, but seriously -- of all the space missions conducted since NASA's inception, when has an Irishman ever left the atmosphere? It's hard to get excited when my potential of going into space is ultimately zero.

[Nacho]

I know I should be impressed by that space picture... but I'm not.

Maybe it's because I'm not American, so the whole NASA space exploration thing isn't ingrained into me as something to be proud of (i.e. it's more like "Look at what the American's can do" rather than "Look at what we can do")

I know it's kind of hypocritical of me to preach acceptance and then draw lines between America and Ireland, but seriously -- of all the space missions conducted since NASA's inception, when has an Irishman ever left the atmosphere? It's hard to get excited when my potential of going into space is ultimately zero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93kO14AWnOk

Your chances to go to the space are still 0, the same as the rest of the world population except a little group of fortunate men and women, but not because your country does not look to the skies.

[evenwolf]

Please do not turn the Mars Phoenix mission into motherfucking Loose Change, allright?


That topic will *explode* so can you guys please take that into another thread? I find it interesting that Ireland's history of space travel rests on the shoulders of 9/11.  I should ask my history teacher about the relevancy there that I had never realized.  Its always aliens or government coverups.   Never anything simple like the space race.    No no no.   

Again I ask, please start a new thread.

[Emerald]

Your chances to go to the space are still 0, the same as the rest of the world population except a little group of fortunate men and women, but not because your country does not look to the skies.

The point is that as long as you have money, American citizenship, and you're white, you could very easily buy your way onto a space craft in a few year's time. But the chances of them letting grubby foreigners touch their shiny buttons within the next century seem slim.

[Lionmonkey]

Your chances to go to the space are still 0, the same as the rest of the world population except a little group of fortunate men and women, but not because your country does not look to the skies.

The point is that as long as you have money, American citizenship, and you're white, you could very easily buy your way onto a space craft in a few year's time. But the chances of them letting grubby foreigners touch their shiny buttons within the next century seem slim.

My mom owns a sector of Moon and she's not American.

[evenwolf]

The point is that as long as you have money, American citizenship, and you're white, you could very easily buy your way onto a space craft in a few year's time. But the chances of them letting grubby foreigners touch their shiny buttons within the next century seem slim.

I'm fairly sick of these generalizations Emerald.    You seem to feel that American resentment and hate worldwide is a get-out-of-jail-free card to make any unfounded conspiracy you feel like.    American citizenship is a trend for Space Adventures, a private company.     So what does that have to do with NASA?   Or are you asking that NASA send foreigners to do the USA's government missions?

http://www.spaceadventures.com/

List of Space Adventures' Orbiting Clients:

Vladimir Gruzdev - Russian-born Russian

Sergey Brin - Russian-born American

Richard Garriot -  English-born American

Dr. Charles Simonyi - Hungarian-born American

Anousheh_Ansari - Iranian-born American

Greg Olsen - American-born American

Mark Shuttleworth - South African

Dennis Tito - American-born American

Exclusively rich? yes.   Its not even an issue of ethnicity or origin.  This is a private company that caters to whomever pays up.    Looking at the list you should see something remarkable about rich Americans.    Many of our most prolific citizens aren't white southerners, but immigrants.  In fact there's not one white southerner on the list.     The only 2 men born in the United States were born in New York City.  As space tourists, they are actually in a minority - and they make up your proposed conspiracy.    So  Find a new argument for hating white Americans besides space travel.  Knowing you it won't take long.

[Emerald]

Somebody explain what the hell just happened...

[evenwolf]

Nothing.   I'm just putting the history of space tourism on the public record.

You have a right to say whatever you feel, but if someone comes along and agrees with you they'll also have to ignore that the *only private space tourism company* has sent two native born Americans to space.  That's it.   Everyone else was born outside the U.S.   From looking at the history of Space Adventures alone, a non-native american has a bigger chance of going to space.

So Ireland or any other country that wishes can start their own space tourism companies.  If the U.S. has convinced you that we *own* space, then that's your burden to bear.  The U.S.  is competitive, no one denies that.   It was competition that drove Russia and the U.S. further and further out into space.

[Emerald]

I'm speaking with foresight. Let's face it -- the Russian space administration (whatever it's called) is not going to stay liquid for very long, which is quite probably why they started renting out a seat on their shuttles to the highest bidder.

Now America, being a soldily capitalist country, will inevitably see the value in space tourism, once it becomes more affordable. Which is a completely separate point from the way America treats immigrants and foreigners as second-class citizens, which is a totally different issue (keep in mind that someone who's 12.5% Irish is not an immigrant).


Anyway, I don't "hate" America, and I rather resent your ad hominem attacks against me. What is it with taking things so personally around here? It seems like it's become this kind of signature on these forums where people finish up an argument with "P.S. Who cares what you think anyway, because you're a dumbass LOL"

And I know one of you smartasses are dying to say something ridiculously lame like "Well, maybe that's 'cause you ARE a dumbass, Emerald. WOO! ZING! YEAH! PWNED!" -- please don't, it's embarassing. What happened to civil debates where people discuss the topic at hand, rather than flailing around, lashing out at people who don't think the same way they do...

[evenwolf]

Apologies are in order.   I was responding to more than your post above:   http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=34497.msg450571#msg450571

Sorry.   That was my fault because I just didn't see any reason for NASA to feel guilty over inclusion of Irishmen.  But I mean, NASA does work in unison with other countries.   NASA just last week transported a Japanese lab to the ISS.   Sure these are countries with space programs but I hardly feel that we are space bigots.

All I want are facts and snippets to go along with your bold statements, that's all.   Generalizations aren't always %100 harmless.    I removed most of my strong rhetoric in the post above.   I felt it was offbase.    But at the same time "Damn you Americans keeping the Irish out of space" is something that struck me as a statement with not only little foresight, but sight in general.

Space tourism future tense?.. well let's examine space tourism present tense.   

What's so uncivil and unreasonable about that.  I read your statement in combination with Nacho's as "the only people who go to space are Yale or Harvard graduates"... you know the same argument that people say about 9/11 and illuminati, and about everything else evil about the U.S.   So again, I apologize for lashing out but that was the image I drew in my head about your assumptions.

[Emerald]

You're shaping the argument into something you obviously want to get off your chest, which is racism towards Americans. Which I agree is totally and utterly wrong.

The original point is that space exploration is something wholly American. Sure, the Russians tried to beat them out, but the Americans won in the end. It's one of those matters of pride, along with Dr. King, D-Day and Independence from the British. Growing up in Ireland, we were told different stories, about Wolftone, and Yeats, and... Independence from the British

I'm not saying the Americans should come to Ireland ('cause everyone knows how brilliant at astrophysics we are...) to pick their astronauts, I'm just saying that as an Irishman, I'm less likely to care about that stuff, because it's less talked-about (not to say it isn't talked about and that there aren't any Irish astronomers)

[evenwolf]

You're shaping the argument into something you obviously want to get off your chest, which is racism towards Americans. Which I agree is totally and utterly wrong.

I just misunderstood.   Your first comment was buried by nacho's youtube link.

I'm not saying the Americans should come to Ireland ('cause everyone knows how brilliant at astrophysics we are...) to pick their astronauts, I'm just saying that as an Irishman, I'm less likely to care about that stuff, because it's less talked-about (not to say it isn't talked about and that there aren't any Irish astronomers)

Point taken. Again I blame Nacho    And to those Irishmen who WOULD hope to be next in line at NASA, may I suggest a degree in either Geology or Fighter Plane Pilotology? *

*ok, not an actual a degree. But flying fighter jets gives you the best edge, traditionally.

[Emerald]

I just misunderstood.   Your first comment was buried by nacho's youtube link.

Point taken. Again I blame Nacho

Yeah, I didn't really get why he slipped that in there either, but I figured he was simply adding to the array of "coolest things" in parallel to the rest of the post.

It might sound terribly un-PC, but the Twin Towers collapsing was quite possibly one of the most awe-inspiring things I've ever witnessed (in a bad way, obviously). I wasn't there or anything, but just watching it on a TV screen and knowing that it really happened is enough to make me think "Wow. I wonder how loud it was... how the air tasted... what the different reactions were like"

I guess it's the writer in me, but I always have this detached fascination going on in the back of my head when something intense is happening which often gives me a pang of guilt. It's not a lack of empathy, really, but more a little voice saying "this would make such a brilliant story -- you have to memorise every detail"

[evenwolf]

OK I'm going to start a skyscraper thread but not to be a dick.   I actually have googled alot of pictures recently and think there's alot of cool things to discuss, including 9/11.