Dawn is now in orbit around Ceres

[aaronvan]

It's the first spacecraft to orbit two different celestial bodies and the first to orbit dwarf planet.

http://www.space.com/28754-nasa-dawn-ceres-dwarf-planet-arrival.html

Pluto flyby occurring later this year. Good times.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Very interesting, thanks. My imagination always sticks to the idea of subsurface oceans. So much mystery...

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It's the first spacecraft to orbit two different celestial bodies and the first to orbit dwarf planet.

http://www.space.com/28754-nasa-dawn-ceres-dwarf-planet-arrival.html

Pluto flyby occurring later this year. Good times.

Very interesting, thanks. My imagination always sticks to the idea of subsurface oceans. So much mystery...

Extremely interesting and the sort of story that always fires my imagination.

Great story and thanks for posting it.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Pluto flyby occurring later this year.

This is what I'm really excited to see.

 

[Huntn]

I feel like we are on the edge, but disappointed after spending the last 30 years imagining we'd have an orbiting commercial space and moon station 14 years ago (2001).

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[aaronvan]

I feel like we are on the edge, but disappointed after spending the last 30 years imagining we'd have an orbiting commercial space and moon station 14 years ago (2001).

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I can remember in the mid-70s I was absolutely confident that we would land a man on Mars no later than 2000. What a letdown.

NASA wasted 30 years screwing around with the Shuttle and the ISS.

 

[Huntn]

I can remember in the mid-70s I was absolutely confident that we would land a man on Mars no later than 2000. What a letdown.

NASA wasted 30 years screwing around with the Shuttle and the ISS.

Ultimately, the Shuttle while a feather in the US's dominance of space was prohibitedly expensive. For science research, remote drones seem more of a bargain, while knowing manned flight eventually has to happen.

 

[juanm]

I feel like we are on the edge, but disappointed after spending the last 30 years imagining we'd have an orbiting commercial space and moon station 14 years ago (2001).

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The mind boggles when you think that the SR-71 was designed more than half a century ago, not long after the sound barrier was broken, and not long after World War II. Then, the advent of computers allowed mankind to concentrate on what's really important: decent in-flight entertainment systems.

Breakthrough technologies? Who wants that?

 

[Huntn]

The mind boggles when you think that the SR-71 was designed more than half a century ago, not long after the sound barrier was broken, and not long after World War II. Then, the advent of computers allowed mankind to concentrate on what's really important: decent in-flight entertainment systems.

Breakthrough technologies? Who wants that?

I imagine the breakthrough is when space starts generating more wealth than cost and there is a lot of up front cost to be absorbed.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

There was a terrific article in the Sunday edition (March 15) of the Observer (the oldest extant Sunday newspaper in the world, they reported the death of W. A. Mozart in 1791, and are sort of the Sunday sibling of the Guardian) about the individuals, and devoted crew - some of whom have spent their entire professional lives working on Voyager, and others who have turned down promotions to other, more current, or what could be considered sexier space stuff in order to remain with Voyager - who still keep the two Voyagers afloat and flying 35 years after they were first launched in the late 1970s.

 

[decafjava]

There was a terrific article in the Sunday edition (March 15) of the Observer (the oldest extant Sunday newspaper in the world, they reported the death of W. A. Mozart in 1791, and are sort of the Sunday sibling of the Guardian) about the individuals, and devoted crew - some of whom have spent their entire professional lives working on Voyager, and others who have turned down promotions to other, more current, or what could be considered sexier space stuff in order to remain with Voyager - who still keep the two Voyagers afloat and flying 35 years after they were first launched in the late 1970s.

Yes, I read that article, absolutely astounding. Quite a few of my colleagues (recent graduates or students working part time) were not even born when they were launched.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Yes, I read that article, absolutely astounding. Quite a few of my colleagues (recent graduates or students working part time) were not even born when they were launched.

I was at school when they were launched, and I remember watching the story of thief respective launches being covered on the news, with the projected fly-bys explained.

I was absolutely fascinated by the story, the ambition, the grand exploratory vision behind the construction, launch and mission of these craft, and, all these years later, still am.

The Observer article was a wonderfully warm tribute to the whole endeavour, and was, as you say, astounding, and an extraordinarily interesting read.

 

[mobilehaathi]

A possible active ice plume has been spotted on Ceres. Link

 

[chaosbunny]

I feel like we are on the edge, but disappointed after spending the last 30 years imagining we'd have an orbiting commercial space and moon station 14 years ago (2001).

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Well, we might not have fancy space stuff, but we have 24/7 access to an unlimited collection of porn on tiny computers! No one in the 70ies imagined that!

 

[Huntn]

Well, we might not have fancy space stuff, but we have 24/7 access to an unlimited collection of porn on tiny computers! No one in the 70ies imagined that!

The joy of technology....

 

[chown33]

Well, we might not have fancy space stuff, but we have 24/7 access to an unlimited collection of porn on tiny computers! No one in the 70ies imagined that!

Yes, they did. There just wasn't a Federal agency created for it.

[Place smilie here if needed.]

 

[bobob]

These new pics of Ceres north and south poles are mesmerizing me and scaring the bejesus out of me - HELP!

 

[Tomorrow]

It's the first spacecraft to orbit two different celestial bodies and the first to orbit dwarf planet.

Did not several of the Apollo craft orbit both Earth and the Moon?

 

[vkd]

A small amount of seratonin was orbiting one neuron in my brain earlier today. It was a pleasant and rare sensation, as my normal condition is to be Brain Dead.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

These new pics of Ceres north and south poles are mesmerizing me and scaring the bejesus out of me - HELP!

Absolutely fantastic photographs - amazing stuff. And, yes, agreed, @bobob they are mesmerising. Thanks for sharing these pictures. Extraordinary.

 

[bobob]

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

NASA wasted 30 years screwing around with the Shuttle and the ISS.

I am quite sure if they had funding, they would have done sooo much more.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I can remember in the mid-70s I was absolutely confident that we would land a man on Mars no later than 2000. What a letdown.

NASA wasted 30 years screwing around with the Shuttle and the ISS.

Actually, I think that they learned quite a few invaluable lessons from the ISS, the main one being how the human body - which has evolved to deal with the precise conditions found on our home planet, - could cope with the sort of extended time in a zero gravity environment that a trip to Mars would entail.

Those long periods, or rotations, - months, even years, at a time - in orbit around Mother Earth experienced by both astronauts and cosmonauts posted to the ISS have taught us some very valuable lessons about the limits of our (human) form, and what an extended period in space actually does to the human body.


While the technology hasn't moved on hugely since the 50s in terms of rocket science, in truth, we are the weak link; as things stand, I am not sure that anyone who managed to travel to Mars would be able to - physically - do an awful lot once they arrived, as the journey would have taken so much out of them.

 

[bobob]

I can remember in the mid-70s I was absolutely confident that we would land a man on Mars no later than 2000. What a letdown.

NASA wasted 30 years screwing around with the Shuttle and the ISS.

Ultimately, the Shuttle while a feather in the US's dominance of space was prohibitedly expensive. For science research, remote drones seem more of a bargain, while knowing manned flight eventually has to happen.

Are you sure about that?

I'm with aaronvan with how confident I was in 1969 that humans would be on Mars by 2000 at the latest. Bit now, here we are almost 50 years later with still no firm plans. I wouldn't be surprised to see these type of projects perpetually put off so we can spend our money where it's really needed: endless war.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Are you sure about that?

I'm with aaronvan with how confident I was in 1969 that humans would be on Mars by 2000 at the latest. Bit now, here we are almost 50 years later with still no firm plans. I wouldn't be surprised to see these type of projects perpetually put off so we can spend our money where it's really needed: endless war.

No, as I have already mentioned, prolonged exposure to a zero gravity environment takes an enormous toll on the human body. A week away - as with the Moon flights - is easily enough dealt with.

Months and years - which is what a Mars flight would entail at current levels of space flight and rocket development - a lot less so.

However, the stress on the body of extensive (meaning months and years) rotations in a weightless environment is very punishing, even if you exercise frenetically on a daily basis. Through their time on the ISS, the Russians have done some extraordinary research on such matters, - and how it effects the organs of the human body (badly, for the most part) - and, I suspect, the general conclusion is that - for now - it simply isn't worth it. Physically, we might not be able to cope with the effects of such long journeys.

By the time someone got to Mars, even allowing for the difference in gravity, they'd barely be able to crawl out of the lander.