This is pretty cool. A white dwarf that didn't get absorbed completely by its binary companion moved far enough away for its dead core to be re-classified as a planet. The core, under super high pressure, has likely crystallized as diamond.
^^ I watched it a little while ago from an *online source* and was disappointed. Really never grabbed me. I also doubt the very premises of never ending exponential growth of anything.
Announcement is a new launch system scheduled for 2017.
NASA is ready to move forward with the development of the Space Launch System -- an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new national capability for human exploration beyond Earth's orbit. The Space Launch System will give the nation a safe, affordable and sustainable means of reaching beyond our current limits and opening up new discoveries from the unique vantage point of space. The Space Launch System, or SLS, will be designed to carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, as well as important cargo, equipment and science experiments to Earth's orbit and destinations beyond. Additionally, the SLS will serve as a back up for commercial and international partner transportation services to the International Space Station.
If this thing didn't go ahead, it would have been a MASSIVE step back. It is the logical step up from Hubble. That whole 1 chance to get it there, and no way to service it kinda scares me. But apparently they may be able to resolve images of some of the closest extrasolar planets with it.... how nuts is that?
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Are they getting any closer to feasible space elevator technology, or any method that would reduce the amount of rockets needed to put things into orbit?
Planet-hunters say they've detected the first world that's absolutely known to circles two stars, like Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine in the fictional "Star Wars" saga.
"Once again, what used to be science fiction has turned into reality," said Carnegie Institution astronomer Alan Boss, a member of the team for NASA's Kepler mission and a co-author of a paper on the discovery in the journal Science.
Both of the two suns are smaller and dimmer than our own sun, and they orbit each other once every 41 days. The Kepler-16b planet is in a nearly circular orbit around both stars. It takes 229 days to make one circuit at a distance of 65 million miles — which is similar to the parameters for Venus' 225-day orbit. Because the twin suns are dimmer, Kepler-16b is colder than Venus, with an estimated surface (or cloud-top) temperature of -100 to -150 degrees Fahrenheit (170 to 200 Kelvin).
Planet-hunters say they've detected the first world that's absolutely known to circles two stars, like Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine in the fictional "Star Wars" saga.
"Once again, what used to be science fiction has turned into reality," said Carnegie Institution astronomer Alan Boss, a member of the team for NASA's Kepler mission and a co-author of a paper on the discovery in the journal Science.
Both of the two suns are smaller and dimmer than our own sun, and they orbit each other once every 41 days. The Kepler-16b planet is in a nearly circular orbit around both stars. It takes 229 days to make one circuit at a distance of 65 million miles — which is similar to the parameters for Venus' 225-day orbit. Because the twin suns are dimmer, Kepler-16b is colder than Venus, with an estimated surface (or cloud-top) temperature of -100 to -150 degrees Fahrenheit (170 to 200 Kelvin).
not a big surprise really, considering how common binary systems are.
Are they getting any closer to feasible space elevator technology, or any method that would reduce the amount of rockets needed to put things into orbit?
i saw a bit on space elevators on Nat Geo's Known Universe series, and while they're still a good 20-30 years away they're getting closer. the big hurdle to overcome was finding a material to build a cable out of what was both strong enough but light enough to not collapse under it's own weight. the scientists on the show seem to have figured it out though with nano-tube threads, but it's still in the early stages of research
Its going to be nano tube technology, but until we can manufacture it 100 times more efficiently than we currently do its definitely anywhere from 20-50 years away.
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I think both of your estimates for a space elevator are WAAAAAY off.
It might be physically possible for us to build something like that in the next 50 years, meaning we may have the materials to theoretically do it, but looking at how space exploration has stagnated in the last few years, I'd be willing to bet pretty heavily that I'll never see anything like that built in my lifetime.
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The thing is there is a convergence of all kinds of technology coming to a real important point in the next 50yrs in various fields of science, allowing us to build cheaper, live longer and make starting a real presence on say the moon or hopefully Mars.
But yeah we might be totally off base, its so hard to predict these things.
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Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that it will be possible in the next 50 years, I think that's a real possibility. I don't however think it will be feasible, or desirable.
For example, right now it would be entirely possible for us to go to Mars, or build a semi permanent base on the moon, but it's just not happening. We've been able to go to the moon for more than 40 years and how often are we flying there right now?
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Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that it will be possible in the next 50 years, I think that's a real possibility. I don't however think it will be feasible, or desirable.
For example, right now it would be entirely possible for us to go to Mars, or build a semi permanent base on the moon, but it's just not happening. We've been able to go to the moon for more than 40 years and how often are we flying there right now?
you can build a base sure, but no one will be able to live there economically since you would need to bring all of your supplies with you from earth. and shipping even the basics like food and water would end up costing billions for any moon or Mars base. that's why you need an efficient way to transport goods and materials from the Earth to space, like a space elevator
what will and is currently driving the current moon landing programs of the US, Russia, and China though is there will be actual money to be made there now. throw a few thousand solar panels on the side of the moon that always faces the sun, send the energy collected back to Earth via microwaves, and you have the potential for a lot of cheap energy after the initial investment. or the fact that the moon's soil is rich in helium-3, which is very rare on Earth and required for nuclear fusion (which is just starting to develop)
we haven't gone back to the moon since the 60's because there was no point, it is extremely expensive to send humans there and until recently there were no incentives to spend that kind of money. now that we know what's up there and are starting to develop the technology to harness those resources, there will be a massive push in the next decade to get a permanent human presence there
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