Jump to content

Kerbin Dallas Multipass

Members
  • Posts

    251
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Kerbin Dallas Multipass

  1. On one hand we have ASAT weapons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon

    Note the relatively recent proof-of-concept missions by China and USA.

    On the other hand whe have the Kessler syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

    We know from the cold war that things occasionally got pretty hot. For example when the Russians shot down a US U2 spyplane. There were numerous incidents of airspace provocations between the superpowers, sometimes causing a certain trigger happiness with tragic results http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007

    It appears that countries do not wish to be spied on from above by their enemy in a cold war situation.

    Let's just hypothetically assume that we see tensions rise between two space powers sometime in the next decade or two. Do you think we will see ASAT skirmishes?

    Why am I asking this?

    The general public and the media did not take much notice of the most recent missions listed in the wiki article. I don't think anyone is aware of the Kessler syndrome and nobody really wants to know the mid-term effects of an ASAT skirmish. Blowing up several dozens of satellites might render manned and unmanned spaceflight in certain orbits impossible or terribly expensive - For generations. It would throw our communication/navigation networks back to where they were in the late 70s. But ask any John Doe on the street and he'll be in favor of blowing up **** at no cost of human lives.

  2. What I don't get is that you normally pay for the website server a year in advance... Does the US government get a daily rate instead?

    nasa.gov is a big site and therefore needs an admin (-team), not just hosting.

    If all your admins are temporarily fired you might have nobody to shut down the site even if you wanted to (like a hacker attack as someone suggested).

    Could be that the guy who opens the gate for the employees is not coming to work anymore because of the shutdown, or the building insurance wouldnt pay if the janitor is not on duty for more than 24h... just making this up ofcourse.

  3. Interestingly enough, it looks like the JPL website is still online: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/hijuno/

    Hm yea interesting.

    jpl.nasa.gov shows:

    Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not being updated. We also cannot respond to comments/questions. We sincerely regret this inconvenience.

    but the site is still online.

    Not sure how to interpret the difference between this and the NASA main site. Could be that the JPL site is run by a subcontractor. Or JPL got someone doing admin jobs who is excempted from the shutdown

  4. Well, the forum rules are not enforced fully anyway, since roleplaying in the form of pretend companies is common and a lot of conversation about (wanting to go to) space is ideologically inclined.

    I have seen two posts about the subject being locked for violation of forum rules, so all posters please keep it as unpolitical as possible.

    I do hope the forum mods understand that this is political headline news but is also affecting NASA, spaceflight and science, hence on-topic.

  5. See also

    http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/49778-Other-life-in-the-Solar-system

    and http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/49266-Where-in-the-solar-system-would-you-like-to-see-a-sample-returned-from-most

    In the latter I also voted for Enceladus:)

    EDIT: Oh you asked why:

    Yes we know there must be large amounts of liquid water. Do we know that about any other celestial body except earth?

    We know there's an water ice cover and hot water below, so it sounds very likely that there might be nice and temperate warm water zones. Conditions might be similar or even more habitable than what we find on earth around black smokers at the bottom of the ocean.

  6. @K^2p

    Hm. Nice speech.

    You may find life on Mars, or Europa, or Enceladus. But that will tell you next to nothing. It's like finding a new way to demonstrate that gravity works.

    Nah, sorry, you are falling for wishful thinking here instead of being rational. It would obviously tell us A TON if we found traces of past or present life on these bodies.

    Your reasoning is that of a gambler. If we find life in the most unlikely spots we hit jackpot. True, but is that a reasonable approach?

×
×
  • Create New...