Comments on: Better To Burn Out, Or To Fade Away? http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/ Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:24:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Lab Lemming http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-5043 Lab Lemming Sat, 18 Nov 2006 23:06:58 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-5043 Brown: The key word is "accidentally." While many people may be in favor of seeding other planets, I think they'd like to actually know if it will work, and what they're using. Simply crashing a spacecraft that may or may not have any microbes, with no way to measure whether it worked or not doesn't really help anybody. Brown:
The key word is “accidentally.”

While many people may be in favor of seeding other planets, I think they’d like to actually know if it will work, and what they’re using.

Simply crashing a spacecraft that may or may not have any microbes, with no way to measure whether it worked or not doesn’t really help anybody.

]]> By: John Branch http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4898 John Branch Fri, 17 Nov 2006 23:06:39 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4898 I vote for sending Cassini out of the system to pursue the Pioneer anomaly. Although the Wikipedia entry that Clifford linked to indicates a reason to doubt Cassini data on that score, I'm still fond of the idea. I vote for sending Cassini out of the system to pursue the Pioneer anomaly. Although the Wikipedia entry that Clifford linked to indicates a reason to doubt Cassini data on that score, I’m still fond of the idea.

]]> By: Warren http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4396 Warren Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:42:42 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4396 At first I thought the title referred to physicists.Would have been more interesting. At first I thought the title referred to physicists.Would have been more interesting.

]]> By: Amara http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4370 Amara Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:57:19 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4370 If you Google on "Planetary Protection", you can see some of the issues. For bodies that are 'protected', each are assigned a protection category which must be considered in the decision process for ending a mission. Enceladus and Titan are at or near the highest category of protection for Cassini mission designers, so those two objects will be avoided to the nth degree. If you Google on “Planetary Protection”, you can see some of the issues. For bodies that are ‘protected’, each are assigned a protection category which must be considered in the decision process for ending a mission. Enceladus and Titan are at or near the highest category of protection for Cassini mission designers, so those two objects will be avoided to the nth degree.

]]> By: Ambitwistor http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4290 Ambitwistor Sun, 12 Nov 2006 18:05:48 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4290 Why would we crash it into a planet at all if not for the scientific knowledge gained? Why would we crash it into a planet at all if not for the scientific knowledge gained?

]]> By: brown and not nerdy http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4270 brown and not nerdy Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:13:20 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4270 Not obvious to me at all. You act as if a pristine experimental environment should be mankinds primary interest. That our search for scientific knowledge should trump all else. I would bet that a signifigant fraction of the "deciders" would disagree. Not obvious to me at all.

You act as if a pristine experimental environment should be mankinds primary interest. That our search for scientific knowledge should trump all else.

I would bet that a signifigant fraction of the “deciders” would disagree.

]]> By: Clifford http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4265 Clifford Sun, 12 Nov 2006 15:03:08 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4265 I don't know. It would be awfully nice if we could. For interested parties, see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly" rel="nofollow">here</a>. -cvj I don’t know. It would be awfully nice if we could. For interested parties, see here.

-cvj

]]> By: Aaron F. http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4185 Aaron F. Sun, 12 Nov 2006 03:19:36 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4185 <blockquote>Hurl it out of the solar system</blockquote> Ooooh! Can we test the Pioneer anomaly, or does Cassini's acceleration-determining equipment not roll like that?

Hurl it out of the solar system

Ooooh! Can we test the Pioneer anomaly, or does Cassini’s acceleration-determining equipment not roll like that?

]]> By: Clifford http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4152 Clifford Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:38:12 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4152 Why would you want to contaminate that which you wish to study? Let's say we contaminate mars (or some more fluidly active body, like a suitable moon of Saturn) with bacteria form earth..... then later on we go there on a mission to look for bacteria, in order to understand cases of life elsewhere... to better understand our own life on earth. Would this not be awfuly confusing? Same goes for anything we touch that we don't understand.... we want our touch to be as light (or as clearly distinguishable) as possible. -cvj Why would you want to contaminate that which you wish to study?

Let’s say we contaminate mars (or some more fluidly active body, like a suitable moon of Saturn) with bacteria form earth….. then later on we go there on a mission to look for bacteria, in order to understand cases of life elsewhere… to better understand our own life on earth. Would this not be awfuly confusing? Same goes for anything we touch that we don’t understand…. we want our touch to be as light (or as clearly distinguishable) as possible.

-cvj

]]> By: brown and not nerdy http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4151 brown and not nerdy Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:30:03 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4151 <blockquote>-We don’t want to be accidentally seeding planets and other bodies with our life</blockquote> You seem pretty sure of this statement?? Almost like it's blatently obvious to everyone.....It's not at all obvious to me.

-We don’t want to be accidentally seeding planets and other bodies with our life

You seem pretty sure of this statement?? Almost like it’s blatently obvious to everyone…..It’s not at all obvious to me.

]]> By: Amara http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4144 Amara Sat, 11 Nov 2006 22:57:25 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4144 Charmashanti- Not anytime soon. The extended mission (another 4 years) seems guaranteed. Beyond that (2012?), I guess is up in the air. The reason that Cassini spacecraft planning needs so many years in advance is because there is no spinning portion of the spacecraft holding all instruments, like what existed with previous space missions such as Galileo. Such a spacecraft with a spinning portion gave all of the instruments equal access to the object at nadir. For example, the dust instrument and the camera on Cassini are mounted at opposite sides of the spacecraft, but if only one can observe the object and both teams have an interest in taking measurements of the same object, then how are observations managed? Carefully and with much time, since every measurement must be negotiated between the instrument teams. I would guess that the other factors making future long-term planning difficult is the sheer number of instruments and their different maintenance requirements and perhaps different lifetimes. Charmashanti- Not anytime soon. The extended mission (another 4 years) seems guaranteed. Beyond that (2012?), I guess is up in the air.

The reason that Cassini spacecraft planning needs so many years in advance is because there is no spinning portion of the spacecraft holding all instruments, like what existed with previous space missions such as Galileo. Such a spacecraft with a spinning portion gave all of the instruments equal access to the object at nadir. For example, the dust instrument and the camera on Cassini are mounted at opposite sides of the spacecraft, but if only one can observe the object and both teams have an interest in taking measurements of the same object, then how are observations managed? Carefully and with much time, since every measurement must be negotiated between the instrument teams.

I would guess that the other factors making future long-term planning difficult is the sheer number of instruments and their different maintenance requirements and perhaps different lifetimes.

]]> By: Dharmashanti http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4118 Dharmashanti Sat, 11 Nov 2006 22:04:18 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/11/better-to-burn-out-or-to-fade-away/#comment-4118 It's sad to see such an extraordinary project as Cassini meet its demise. Such amazing photos. It’s sad to see such an extraordinary project as Cassini meet its demise. Such amazing photos.

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