Forum: Space / Science

on Thu 08 of July, 2010 20:38 PDT, by Marcia

Last Shuttle External Tank Rollout at Michoud Assembly Facility.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/et138_rollout.html (external link)

Commemorating 37 years of successful tank deliveries, NASA and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company held a ceremony on Thurday, July 8, at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to rollout the final external tank for the last space shuttle flight.

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Very sad, very sad.... not good. We/US should go on.......

on Thu 08 of July, 2010 21:00 PDT, by Marcia

... you know, I'm disappointed. I'm very disappointed with NASA.

We should have dug deep unto Mars and SHOULD still do so.

The next generation rovers will not do so. I'm all for looking for extraterrestrial life. Aren't we all here? Heavent we all been pursung such here?

Core samples, DEEP CORE SAMPLES, anyone? Very sad if what it is that we are pursuing is for not in our lifetimes. Very sad and shame on those that believe the same but won't do the work that has to be done.

What is wrong with bringing core samples from Mars to be studied?

Isn't that what most space enthusasts want.... to find evidence of life outside of Earth?

I pity the fool/s.

on Fri 16 of July, 2010 21:48 PDT, by podrock

Sure, I'd love to see Cores from Mars. (Dibs on that as a SF title.) But really, the challenges are pretty daunting. Nicks right, how deep is deep? Especially since the deeper you go, the heavier the sample, which is important if you want to send it back here for study. And the wider the core, the more it weighs, natch, but the less it shows.

Suppose you drill ten feet down. For one inch core, that is going to be several pounds of rock. If you can only send back half that weight, how do you cut it in half, knowing that each cut, no matter the orientation, loses information?

Drilling hardrock on earth requires water. An auger can only go so deep in softer rock, but will not provide a core, only chips of the pulverized rock. Still usefull, sure, but not intact core.

Me, I'd rather see more advanced rovers than sample return. Something that can make a thin-section, perhaps, with a polarizing transmitted light microscope? A seismic line of geophones?

on Fri 09 of July, 2010 20:08 PDT, by Nick H

Neither are easy on a remote and poorly-known planet. How deep is "deep"? 50cm? 50m? 500m? 5km?

it gets astronomically more expensive to go ever deeper, especially when we don't understand the composition of the subsurface and it's resitance to drilling, and the nature of any voids and fluids.

I'm sorry that we can't get instant gratification but it's going to take a lot of effort, learning, and a few mistakes before we can drill deep on Mars.

But don't let that that stop us trying. A polar ice-penetrator is relatively easy, for instance. Good stratighraphy of the polar caps will result from that.

on Fri 16 of July, 2010 19:54 PDT, by Marcia

Regarding, "instant gratificaction":

"I'm sorry that we can't get instant gratification but it's going to take a lot of effort, learning, and a few mistakes before we can drill deep on Mars."

Dear, Nick, gratification regarding Mars has been anything but. You know that, BUT, gratification is what we're all striving for and you know what I mean... it means finding traces of water and even microbial life in our lifetimes.

on Mon 12 of July, 2010 13:13 PDT, by Marcia

I know, Nick, but you know, it's not just the "polar caps" that I'm interested in or better yet 'the so-called experts'. --~~Evidence of ancient water on Mars does not only exhist at the polar caps... please.~~------

Honestly, I'm glad that NASA will be looking at Mawrth.

We're not looking for instant gratification, just.... JUST gratification. Aren't you?

on Fri 16 of July, 2010 19:55 PDT, by Marcia

"Poorly known planet", hardly.

Forum: Space / Science

Last Shuttle External Tank Rollout.

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