The maths and engineering required to even get there is mind boggling. This could be the first step towards a solution against asteroids; without a doubt one of the largest threats (long term) to human life. Just a shame how much NASA's budget has been cut.
i'm sure bruce willis will help us out
Absolutely, after all it's much easier to teach oil drillers to be astronauts than teach astronauts to drill a big hole.
Fascinating stuff, this, though - it's incredible how far we've come in what is a relatively short space of time - 100 years ago we were struggling to get what were effectively tents with engines off the ground, now we're landing on moving objects millions of miles away.
The maths and engineering required to even get there is mind boggling. This could be the first step towards a solution against asteroids; without a doubt one of the largest threats (long term) to human life. Just a shame how much NASA's budget has been cut.
i'm sure bruce willis will help us out
Absolutely, after all it's much easier to teach oil drillers to be astronauts than teach astronauts to drill a big hole.
Fascinating stuff, this, though - it's incredible how far we've come in what is a relatively short space of time - 100 years ago we were struggling to get what were effectively tents with engines off the ground, now we're landing on moving objects millions of miles away.
And yet South Eastern trains will still not be able to get the 6.39 out of Charing Cross on time!
The maths and engineering required to even get there is mind boggling. This could be the first step towards a solution against asteroids; without a doubt one of the largest threats (long term) to human life. Just a shame how much NASA's budget has been cut.
i'm sure bruce willis will help us out
Absolutely, after all it's much easier to teach oil drillers to be astronauts than teach astronauts to drill a big hole.
Fascinating stuff, this, though - it's incredible how far we've come in what is a relatively short space of time - 100 years ago we were struggling to get what were effectively tents with engines off the ground, now we're landing on moving objects millions of miles away.
And yet South Eastern trains will still not be able to get the 6.39 out of Charing Cross on time!
it will take many more years of space exploration til the greatest minds on earth find a way to ease "congestion in the london bridge area".
Now we have put a robot on a rock. What happens now? Was the point to show it could be done or is this just the start?
Just the start. The data it is hoped it will supply could give us huge insights into the origins of the solar system and ultimately life on Earth.
How will it do that ?
on board computers, analysing minerals etc found on the rock. Essentially we can find out the building blocks of how planets come to be and more about the formation of the universe as it's generally accepted asteroids were formed through the chaos of the big bang. Fascinating stuff.
I think it's an amazing thing. The missus thinks it's doomed to failure and will crash.
It actually doesn't matter if it crashes on landing. The fact we have been able to get this close to landing a man made object on a small rock (in galactic terms) that far away is an incredible achievement.
Let's not forget that the tech being used up there is now getting on for twenty years old and the lessons learned today will stand us in very good stead for the future. I'm getting sweet FA done today as I'm spending way too much time following this. IMHO it's right up there with the lunar landings,although I am a science geek and a sucker for spavce.
Excellent attitude JW. I spend most of my time reading up on all things astronomy and space. There are numerous things happening at the moment that could give us a very precise understanding of the universe and its origins. Of course the age old problem for physics of unifying all of the known forces still exists, and unfortunately, as soon as we think we have got closer to an answer, inconsistencies appear.
Imagine how much discipline and patience those that dedicate their professional lives to the subject must have. To produce a paper or theory they believe is correct, only for it to be disproved.
I've just been smashing through Brian Cox's Human Universe and the remake of Carl Sagan's Space Time Odyssey on Discovery Channel (I think). Both excellent shows. What I wouldn't give if I could go back and tell my younger self to have studied all the sciences properly at GCSE so that I could now be working in that field
You and me both Cabbles. I do however have a son who actually listened to me and is currently studying physics at Uni, he wants to specialise in particle physics and do his Phd. I could not be prouder though my bank balance keeps telling me to tell the lazy soapdodging git to get a job!
Cox is a bit of a hero of mine and I am loving the way some of the younger scientific community are becoming "celebrities", in the right way. the more interest we can generate in the yoof for science, engineering etc the better and frankly if Dr Alice Roberts can't get a young man interested in science what hope is there? She's certainly got this old man's interest.
Did you ever see the original Sagan Odyssey? The remake was good but the original was amazing, probably due to the Carl Sagan himself although De Grasse Tyson does a good job.
Well I think that is excellent that your son has chosen such a path. I also like particle physics, but I have greater difficulty in getting my head around the specifics for a number of reasons. One, I am terrible at maths and invariably any books I read on the subject include formulas/numbers etc. I can just about get my head around the Planck length, but the way they talk of the instrumentation being used to carry out experiments is mind boggling.
Two, the infinitesimal distances they are talking about are so extreme that scale plays a huge role. I think the human brain and the size we are makes it very hard to comprehend such 'matter' on a minuscule scale (it almost becomes philosophical).
I know that the LHC is starting up with their next round of experiments in Jan, where they are upping the speed and acceleration of the atoms they are testing to 14tev (whatever that means), from 7tev. My general understanding is that the faster they set the collisions, the more data and knowledge they seek to gain about matter/antimatter and everything that goes with it, ie how particles pop in and out of existence.
This will also be the key in understanding dark matter and what role that plays in the Universe. I don't mean to go on, but I do love all this stuff. I'd say I prefer astrophysics out the two.
At least you know the level of maths your son will acquire should certainly make him sought after in the world of trading and investment banking where algorithms are all the craze at the mo.
Fantastic achievement. Good to see a large UK involvement in the project. Shame this time next week all the media will be talking about is celebrities eating gonads in the jungle.
Fantastic achievement. Good to see a large UK involvement in the project. Shame this time next week all the media will be talking about is celebrities eating gonads in the jungle.
Now, if they could dump a few of those "z" listers on that rock... I'd watch that!
The organisation I now work for - The Open University - had a massive input into this project from research through to some of the experiments. Yesterday everyone who works for the OU had the opportunity to tune in live via a 'live'-link' to follow the landing. We also had the opportunity to ask questions to the team about how, what next etc......I found it absolutely fascinating and was tuned in for 90 minutes which also covered the landing. The UK should be proud of their input into this, being able to land an object the size of a small washing machine on rough territory at speeds of up to 40,000 mph and sorting all this out 10 years ago.................just amazing.
I think it's an amazing thing. The missus thinks it's doomed to failure and will crash.
It actually doesn't matter if it crashes on landing. The fact we have been able to get this close to landing a man made object on a small rock (in galactic terms) that far away is an incredible achievement.
Let's not forget that the tech being used up there is now getting on for twenty years old and the lessons learned today will stand us in very good stead for the future. I'm getting sweet FA done today as I'm spending way too much time following this. IMHO it's right up there with the lunar landings,although I am a science geek and a sucker for spavce.
Excellent attitude JW. I spend most of my time reading up on all things astronomy and space. There are numerous things happening at the moment that could give us a very precise understanding of the universe and its origins. Of course the age old problem for physics of unifying all of the known forces still exists, and unfortunately, as soon as we think we have got closer to an answer, inconsistencies appear.
Imagine how much discipline and patience those that dedicate their professional lives to the subject must have. To produce a paper or theory they believe is correct, only for it to be disproved.
I've just been smashing through Brian Cox's Human Universe and the remake of Carl Sagan's Space Time Odyssey on Discovery Channel (I think). Both excellent shows. What I wouldn't give if I could go back and tell my younger self to have studied all the sciences properly at GCSE so that I could now be working in that field
@cabbles You might be interested to know the Royal Observatory in Greenwich host an adult GCSE Astronomy evening course, run by our in-house astronomers. It's popularity has certainly soared since the likes of Cox's TV appearances.
The UK should be proud of their input into this, being able to land an object the size of a small washing machine on rough territory at speeds of up to 40,000 mph and sorting all this out 10 years ago.................just amazing.
Especially when you think that the guy I bought my washing machine from couldn't land it in my kitchen at speeds faster than 10 miles in 5 days.
Right now, someone is landing a robot on a comet 4 billion miles away at 40,000 mph! Anyone else following this?
Fascinating stuff!
yeah incredible. i'm not a fan of mankind but all the people who worked on this for 25 years what an amazing achievement. truly epic, hats off to them.
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Fascinating stuff, this, though - it's incredible how far we've come in what is a relatively short space of time - 100 years ago we were struggling to get what were effectively tents with engines off the ground, now we're landing on moving objects millions of miles away.
The pure time/space thing is mind-boggling.
Let's hope we can all move there soon
Two, the infinitesimal distances they are talking about are so extreme that scale plays a huge role. I think the human brain and the size we are makes it very hard to comprehend such 'matter' on a minuscule scale (it almost becomes philosophical).
I know that the LHC is starting up with their next round of experiments in Jan, where they are upping the speed and acceleration of the atoms they are testing to 14tev (whatever that means), from 7tev. My general understanding is that the faster they set the collisions, the more data and knowledge they seek to gain about matter/antimatter and everything that goes with it, ie how particles pop in and out of existence.
This will also be the key in understanding dark matter and what role that plays in the Universe. I don't mean to go on, but I do love all this stuff. I'd say I prefer astrophysics out the two.
At least you know the level of maths your son will acquire should certainly make him sought after in the world of trading and investment banking where algorithms are all the craze at the mo.
I'll check out the lady you mention ;-)
Shame this time next week all the media will be talking about is celebrities eating gonads in the jungle.
How long does it take for the module generated 'signals' to travel back to earth ?