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STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 21st 17, 03:36 AM posted to talk.politics.misc,sci.space.policy,alt.politics,alt.politics.trump,soc.culture.usa
Mr. B1ack
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Posts: 7
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

As was well publicized, the Cassini Saturn Orbiter was
deliberately crashed into the planet a couple of weeks
ago. It's supply of maneuvering fuel was about exhausted
and scientists didn't want to risk it "contaminating" one of
Saturns interesting moons in a crash.

But ... ya know ... the rest of the spacecraft was apparently
in very good condition - the full array of scientific instruments
still operational, and would have remained so for quite a long
time to come.

So ... don't tell me the clever people and AIs at the JPL
couldn't have come up with a nice safe, essentially
perpetual, orbit for the thing - maybe a wide orbit around
Titan or just out between moons.

The whole "contamination" thing was a pretty big reach
as well ... Cassini was a relative fly-speck and space is
chock-full of radiation FAR more intense than anything
in its power pak.

What we did was throw away a perfectly good long-term
science/observation resource in the expensive-to-reach
corner of our solar system. That was just STUPID. It
was a huge waste of taxpayer money and a waste of
an unknown quantity of useful information the thing
could have been returning for decades if the power
was properly managed.

Let's NOT repeat such idiocy. NEVER throw away
an asset.

  #2  
Old October 21st 17, 05:25 PM posted to talk.politics.misc,sci.space.policy,alt.politics,alt.politics.trump,soc.culture.usa
SteveGG
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Posts: 163
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

I couldn't agree more !

The contamination issue would be totally laughable, if it wasn't so
sad and ridiculous, but that's the official "reason".

What a waste. It could have been parked in a stable orbit and made
available for future science, historians, etc.
  #3  
Old October 21st 17, 06:07 PM posted to talk.politics.misc,sci.space.policy,alt.politics,alt.politics.trump,soc.culture.usa
Mr. B1ack
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Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

On Sat, 21 Oct 2017 12:25:38 -0400, SteveGG
wrote:

I couldn't agree more !

The contamination issue would be totally laughable, if it wasn't so
sad and ridiculous, but that's the official "reason".

What a waste. It could have been parked in a stable orbit and made
available for future science, historians, etc.


Hey, it's got some memory space onboard ... it could
be instructed to save up periodic observations so
every once in a while we could download the stash.
Doesn't hurt to have an eye way "out there" either in
case something interesting happens.

The "contamination" thing is one of the worst excuses
I've ever heard. MIGHT, under some circumstances,
have some merit for Mars if we were worried about
mold spores or whatever, but Saturn ... nah. A nice
safe orbit was possible.

I think somebody said "Hey, let's CRASH it into
Saturn, that'd be like SO cool !" ... and there
went a taxpayer gigabuck.

Hmm ... Pence is now nominally the top dog of the
US space effort so it might not hurt to complain to
him about this sort of thing. Policy CAN change.
Gigabuck probes should not be considered part
of a first-person-shooter game by JPL nerds. If
it still mostly works, KEEP it around.

  #4  
Old October 21st 17, 07:31 PM posted to talk.politics.misc,sci.space.policy,alt.politics,alt.politics.trump,soc.culture.usa
SteveGG
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Posts: 163
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe


Hmm ... Pence is now nominally the top dog of the
US space effort so it might not hurt to complain to
him about this sort of thing.

What ?! Tell me it isn't true.

Sanctimonius, evangelical, stupid turd ! Doesn't even believe in
evolution. Universe is really only 6,000 years old, and was created in
7 days. All those fossils were put there by the devil to mislead man.
God presides over everything and His thoughts and actions travel
instantly across many millions of light years. Pence and all mankind
were made in God's image and likeness ...
  #5  
Old October 21st 17, 08:46 PM posted to talk.politics.misc,sci.space.policy,alt.politics,alt.politics.trump,soc.culture.usa
Mr. B1ack
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Posts: 7
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

On Sat, 21 Oct 2017 14:31:33 -0400, SteveGG
wrote:


Hmm ... Pence is now nominally the top dog of the
US space effort so it might not hurt to complain to
him about this sort of thing.

What ?! Tell me it isn't true.

Sanctimonius, evangelical, stupid turd ! Doesn't even believe in
evolution. Universe is really only 6,000 years old, and was created in
7 days. All those fossils were put there by the devil to mislead man.
God presides over everything and His thoughts and actions travel
instantly across many millions of light years. Pence and all mankind
were made in God's image and likeness ...


Hey, I voted for him ... because the alternative
was even worse in its own way :-)

Still, he's a conservative ... so appeal to the
penny-pincher aspect you usually see with
conservatives. Crashing Cassini was A BIG
WASTE OF MONEY. I don't know if he thinks
the universe is only 6000 years old, but he
WILL understand WASTED $$$.

BTW, most 'religious'/conservative people are
NOT young-earth/no-evo ultra-fundies. The few
that are tend to get all the press, makes them
SEEM like a bigger bloc. Like viewing stars and
planets, more local 'truths' often depend on
what wavelength filter you view them through :-)

  #6  
Old October 21st 17, 10:00 PM posted to talk.politics.misc,sci.space.policy,alt.politics,alt.politics.trump,soc.culture.usa
Fred J. McCall[_3_]
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Posts: 10,018
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

Mr. B1ack wrote:

On Sat, 21 Oct 2017 12:25:38 -0400, SteveGG
wrote:

I couldn't agree more !

The contamination issue would be totally laughable, if it wasn't so
sad and ridiculous, but that's the official "reason".

What a waste. It could have been parked in a stable orbit and made
available for future science, historians, etc.


Hey, it's got some memory space onboard ... it could
be instructed to save up periodic observations so
every once in a while we could download the stash.
Doesn't hurt to have an eye way "out there" either in
case something interesting happens.


How much memory do you think it has on board? How do you think we
normally talk to it. It was already extended for NINE YEARS.


The "contamination" thing is one of the worst excuses
I've ever heard. MIGHT, under some circumstances,
have some merit for Mars if we were worried about
mold spores or whatever, but Saturn ... nah. A nice
safe orbit was possible.


Not Saturn. The moons. Which we might decide to inhabit some day. In
some ways they're better than Mars. You can't just park it and forget
about it.


I think somebody said "Hey, let's CRASH it into
Saturn, that'd be like SO cool !" ... and there
went a taxpayer gigabuck.


I think you should let someone else do the thinking. That's a
preposterous notion.


Hmm ... Pence is now nominally the top dog of the
US space effort so it might not hurt to complain to
him about this sort of thing. Policy CAN change.
Gigabuck probes should not be considered part
of a first-person-shooter game by JPL nerds. If
it still mostly works, KEEP it around.


Policy CAN change but this one wouldn't have. A number of studies
were done to figure out a 'safe' way to dispose of or park the thing.

--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn
  #7  
Old October 21st 17, 10:24 PM posted to talk.politics.misc,sci.space.policy,alt.politics,alt.politics.trump,soc.culture.usa
M.I.Wakefield
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Posts: 1
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

"Mr. B1ack" wrote in message
...

Still, he's a conservative ... so appeal to the penny-pincher aspect you
usually see with conservatives. Crashing Cassini was A BIG WASTE OF MONEY.
I don't know if he thinks the universe is only 6000 years old, but he WILL
understand WASTED $$$.


No, Cassini was well into bonus time ... the original mission was supposed
to end in 2008.

NASA tends to over-engineer ... Opportunity is closing in on 14 years on
Mars ... a mission that was scheduled for 3 months.

BTW, most 'religious'/conservative people are NOT young-earth/no-evo
ultra-fundies. The few that are tend to get all the press, makes them SEEM
like a bigger bloc.


They tend to be loud about it.

Like viewing stars and planets, more local 'truths' often depend on what
wavelength filter you view them through :-)


Speaking of which ... if you have the right combination of binoculars and
darkness, you can try and see the planet Uranus ... a blue-green dot
currently in the constellation of Pisces ... the first planet discovered
after the Babylonians looked up.

https://in-the-sky.org/skymap.php

  #8  
Old October 21st 17, 11:05 PM posted to talk.politics.misc,sci.space.policy,can.politics,alt.politics.trump,soc.culture.usa
Exeter!
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Posts: 1
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

On 10/21/2017 3:24 PM, M.I.Wakefield wrote:
No, Cassini was well into bonus time ... the original mission was
supposed to end in 2008.


And there you go again, JUST as I predicted!

Wow, you are totally ADDICTED to American politics, you empty-nation'd
hoser Canucklehead.

You ignore your own nation, absorb your mind into ours.

Literally you dismiss your own walk-in beer cooler of a country as
insignificant to the point you refuse to even engage in commentary or
analysis of your own politics.

You evince the classic Canuck "widdle brudda" mentality, always chasing
after the USA in a desperate attempt to coattail on OUR national affairs.

You demonstrate how bereft Canucks are of any national pride and how
desperately you need to use the USA as a whipping post to excuse
yourselves from your own national blunders and dearth of presence on the
global stage.

it must SUCK to be a Canuck, for sure!
  #9  
Old October 22nd 17, 03:02 AM posted to talk.politics.misc,sci.space.policy,alt.politics,alt.politics.trump,soc.culture.usa
Mr. B1ack
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Posts: 7
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

On Sat, 21 Oct 2017 17:24:52 -0400, "M.I.Wakefield"
wrote:

"Mr. B1ack" wrote in message
.. .

Still, he's a conservative ... so appeal to the penny-pincher aspect you
usually see with conservatives. Crashing Cassini was A BIG WASTE OF MONEY.
I don't know if he thinks the universe is only 6000 years old, but he WILL
understand WASTED $$$.


No, Cassini was well into bonus time ... the original mission was supposed
to end in 2008.


Irrelevant ... the only "problem" was the fuel supply. It could
have been put in a parking orbit and continued to return lots
of good data for many more years.

NASA tends to over-engineer ... Opportunity is closing in on 14 years on
Mars ... a mission that was scheduled for 3 months.


And they made use of it the whole time. Even its relatively
limited data was STILL useful/interesting data. Don't bitch
when your craft delivers dividends. And who knows, the
winds may eventually free Spirit. If so, USE it. Hell, let
some college use it, train tomorrows space-probe drivers.

BTW, most 'religious'/conservative people are NOT young-earth/no-evo
ultra-fundies. The few that are tend to get all the press, makes them SEEM
like a bigger bloc.


They tend to be loud about it.


They like to thump their bibles really loud as if that's
proving something ....

But it ain't. Ignore them. Starved of fame they'll slowly
wilt and die, become the mulch of history like the flat-
earthers.

Like viewing stars and planets, more local 'truths' often depend on what
wavelength filter you view them through :-)


Speaking of which ... if you have the right combination of binoculars and
darkness, you can try and see the planet Uranus ... a blue-green dot
currently in the constellation of Pisces ... the first planet discovered
after the Babylonians looked up.

https://in-the-sky.org/skymap.php


  #10  
Old October 22nd 17, 03:06 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Scott M. Kozel[_2_]
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Posts: 160
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

On Saturday, October 21, 2017 at 5:01:02 PM UTC-4, Fred J. McCall wrote:
Mr. B1ack wrote:

Hmm ... Pence is now nominally the top dog of the
US space effort so it might not hurt to complain to
him about this sort of thing. Policy CAN change.
Gigabuck probes should not be considered part
of a first-person-shooter game by JPL nerds. If
it still mostly works, KEEP it around.


Policy CAN change but this one wouldn't have. A number of studies
were done to figure out a 'safe' way to dispose of or park the thing.


The thruster fuel tank was almost empty. Once the fuel runs out
there is no way to align the spacecraft so that its antenna can
point to Earth, meaning that no data can be sent to and from Earth.

So the spacecraft would effectively be dead.
 




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