LordFerret

I posted in the original thread. That's what I did today.

That must have been one vicious fart. Was Jeb eating bean burritos again?

These people, plain and simple, are over-educated useless loons... zealots.

Was testing ladder placement on a new lander version out on the launchpad, and the game crashed on me. First time KSP has crashed on me since v0.23.5!

Accompanied my dad to NASA for a visit (while he was still alive - RIP), he had special area passes related to his involvement in a communications project. We were in the VAB, and I watched for a while as they assembled and prepped the Leonardo module for the ISS. Walked through a shuttle mock-up (I wasn't impressed, wanted to see the real deal, but no way). We were also out to the launch complex/pads, LC-39. I can tell you a 1-day visit isn't nearly enough time. I have pictures, including some standing beneath the Saturn V in the visitors center, but I'll have to dig them up and scan them. Nice pictures The Yellow Dart, thanks for sharing.

Might I suggest for you "Before The Golden Age" by Isaac Asimov ... it's actually a collection of science fiction stories from the 1930's by various different authors. That should give you a good taste of some of the creative minds from back then. Your local library indeed should have it, and if not I'm sure they can order it for you from another branch.

Agreed! Unfortunately, people being people, any nation which planned and enacted a program to colonize the Moon, build a base on Mars, etc etc etc, would find politics globally howling over the act. The UN, which thinks it's in control and going to govern such things (like the internet too) will merely be laughed at by whatever entity that takes that first big leap... and then you will see a new space race unlike anything before. For example, I know many who dislike the idea of China building a base on the Moon because their belief is that it would be use for 'military' purposes. I know many also who hold the opinion that space programs which are popping up are because of the future wealth to be obtained/plundered ... methane fuel/Titan, water/Europa, other such ideas. So who will be to control this? ..... The first ones out there.

This I knew. I think however the closeness to that configuration was the argument of 'the author' whose article I can't find. Sorry. :/

It's just something passed on to me from a friend. Wherever it came from, I laughed so hard I almost pee'd my pants.

Next time you've got a launch that goes awry, I've found the perfect soundtrack for it... If you didn't laugh, there's something wrong with you.

'perfmon.exe' is a Windows process... the programs you're trying to open use it. You need administrator privileges to run some of these things, that's why you're being asked.

I wish I could remember where I'd read/heard this, so I could cite it, but I recall a discussion of the 'more likelihood' of our encountering life silicon-based... because it was the next most feasible compared to carbon-based. All had to do with molecular structure and bonding.

You'd probably enjoy Dancing Wu Li Masters then.

And, while I'm thinking about it... for something different, you might find The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav interesting!

I've not read in a while, but many years back I couldn't get enough Sci-Fi. Arthur C. Clarke was my favorite, I've read practically every book and novelette he's ever written... and many of his technical journals as well. A few names outta the hat: Asimov (Foundation Trilogy - of course), Heinlein, Herbert, Niven & Pournelle (Ringworld / Mote In God's Eye), Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker seriers), Poul Anderson, H.G. Wells, Vonnegut, Jules Verne, Le Guin, Fredrick Pohl, Harlan Ellison (I'm Looking For Kadak), David Gerrold (When Harlie Was One), Haldeman (Mindbridge). There's just too many to name... many, the author I can't remember, but only the title... and even more only the plot and story. I had/still have a special love for authors of the 1930's & 40's ... so many great books, and as was popular back in that era - short novelettes. I wish I still had my library. I had close to maybe 500? books (hardcovers & paperbacks), yes, belonged to a book club for many years. They were all sold off at a flea market back in 1984. (Yea, big dummy me.) Nice to know people still read Sci-Fi books!

Yes, perhaps something did go awry with the install? I'm glad you got it fixed though! Have fun!

If you put an Mk1 on the launchpad with a Kerbal in it, with nothing else, you can do a crew report. However, you would need an antenna and battery/solar power to transmit the report.... or..... simply recover the capsule and receive the science for the report. If you took that same Kerbal and also did an EVA, there are several (many!) areas around KSC that you could walk to - you could then do an EVA report, and gather a sample. You would then return to the capsule and recover it for all 3 pieces of science - crew report, EVA report, surface sample.

Not necessarily to be taken in a politically negative sense, but just for being a fact: The one thing I've learned my lifetime, is that China pretty much does as China feels like doing no matter the rest of the global consensus. If they feel manned missions to the Moon would be of benefit to their program, it will happen... especially if the Moon is seen and found as a way to be a resource for a base of operation..... and the UN and all those in 'space treaties' would be left holding their hands on their butts. Same with Mars. I'm sure they'll consider asteroids and comets out of scientific curiosity, but their history and track record always seems to be one of longer-range plans. Just my opinion.

Understood. The absolute guarantee of such is the thing I'm not so sure we can bank on - all things considered. We would need to somehow manage total decontamination, or at least expect to see and account for such contamination in the samples... (This rings a bell with me in past experiences with applied liquid and gas spectrography/chromatography.) Europa was the initial target/topic. Callisto was brought up after the fact (by Bill Phil), as an alternative option place to seek, and as a good option to base Europa tasks from.

Considering we've not yet encountered any lifeforms other than those our own world presents us, I'd think you'd have a hard time finding any such 'proof' for either argument. As far as personal opinion, I can't help but see and acknowledge that much of everything we know of the universe seems to lean towards things (shall I say) 'bipartite' in nearly all matters.

Agreed with KerikBalm. Perhaps something other than water, like maybe ether, or liquid nitrogen?

The list of microorganisms that can survive the conditions of space is short. Many have been tested on the ISS and other programs. We were discussing the Jovian system... a high radiation environment. The everyday common bacteria we face are not something I would think will be an issue, I doubt they would survive the trip. On the other hand, I'll acknowledge that life is very persistent. I've no doubt we've carried a number of things to the places we've been. In that light, I guess it doesn't matter much as we've then already contaminated half the bodies in our solar system. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_landings_on_extraterrestrial_bodies

I'm actually thankful you posted that and not me... because I was going to. LOL! Well, we know where the face is, don't we.

Let's not forget the harsh radiation all spacecraft are exposed to out there in space. It's an issue to such a degree that special 'hardened' computers are used on such missions. I would think anything hitch-hiking a ride out there would be toast by the time of arrival.