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Thread: What's NASA Up To And Other Space Stuff

  1. #481
    New study with a Drake Equation style estimate of current technological civilizations in our galaxy. It concludes there should be 36 civilizations about as advanced as ours at any given time, but they should be, on average, 17k light years apart. The assumptions in the estimate, by necessity, are all based on our own world, life, star, etc, so, its a big swag.

    https://phys.org/news/2020-06-intell...fe-galaxy.html
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  2. #482
    So, according to my reading of the abstract, what that paper is actually saying is there should be 36 civilizations in the milky way at approximately our technological level, give or take a 100 years or so. It should therefore follow from that that there are approx 36 civilizations 200 years more advanced than us, 36 more 300 years more advanced and so on for 8 billion years and 36 civilizations 200 years or so behind us to five billion years.

    Which is (technical term) a lot.
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  3. #483
    Quote Originally Posted by Steely Glint View Post
    So, according to my reading of the abstract, what that paper is actually saying is there should be 36 civilizations in the milky way at approximately our technological level, give or take a 100 years or so. It should therefore follow from that that there are approx 36 civilizations 200 years more advanced than us, 36 more 300 years more advanced and so on for 8 billion years and 36 civilizations 200 years or so behind us to five billion years.

    Which is (technical term) a lot.
    Their semi-explicit assumption for why we don't have civilizations knocking at our door all the time is that they don't last much longer than ours has (at least on a cosmic scale).

    There also might be upper limits on the total number of civilizations based on their assumptions - I frankly don't know how many star systems meet the criteria they established now or in the past, but it might be a relatively small number on the galactic scale; so even if there are a lot more than 36, they might still be sparsely distributed.

    But honestly I find this whole line of investigation to be rather pointless given how incredibly limited our dataset is.
    "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." - Werner Heisenberg (maybe)

  4. #484
    Quote Originally Posted by wiggin View Post
    But honestly I find this whole line of investigation to be rather pointless given how incredibly limited our dataset is.
    To be fair to them, the impression I get is that the purpose of the paper was simply to map out the upper and lower bounds based on a couple of different models of life/civilisations forming, not make any actual definitive statements about what's out there. The rest is just press hype.
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  5. #485
    Related research, newest estimate is up to 6 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way. I didn't notice if the new civilization estimate included a factor representing planet population estimates. I remember the old days before anyone ever discovered an exoplanet and literally it was a guess how unique our solar system was. More and more we are seeing that small rocky planets are pretty common...

    https://phys.org/news/2020-06-billio...ts-galaxy.html
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  6. #486
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  7. #487
    Meanwhile, 300 light years away in the constellation of Musca (head straight down and slightly coreward):



    So, what you're looking at here is an image of a star of comparable mass to our sun with most of the light filtered out, which reveals....

    Two dots which are giant exoplanets. The first has a mass of 14x Jupiter and orbits at 160 au. The second has a mass of 6x Jupiter and orbits at 320 au.

    In terms of our solar system, this would place them well beyond the Kuiper belt and out into the further reaches of the scattered disc.

    What the fuck are they doing orbiting all the way out there? I just don't know, all I do know is that we can take pictures of exoplanets now, and that's cool.
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  8. #488


    Not exactly what they're up to now, but something awesome I just learned yesterday from a friend in the freight industry: When Apollo 11 came back and they brought the capsule and astronauts to Hawaii, NASA filled out a customs declaration form.
    "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." - Werner Heisenberg (maybe)

  9. #489
    Quote Originally Posted by Steely Glint View Post
    Meanwhile, 300 light years away in the constellation of Musca (head straight down and slightly coreward):

    So, what you're looking at here is an image of a star of comparable mass to our sun with most of the light filtered out, which reveals....

    Two dots which are giant exoplanets. The first has a mass of 14x Jupiter and orbits at 160 au. The second has a mass of 6x Jupiter and orbits at 320 au.

    In terms of our solar system, this would place them well beyond the Kuiper belt and out into the further reaches of the scattered disc.

    What the fuck are they doing orbiting all the way out there? I just don't know, all I do know is that we can take pictures of exoplanets now, and that's cool.
    14X Jupiter, that's like a brown dwarf star. I'm guessing the only reason they were spotted is bc they are so big and so far away from their parent star...

    For reference:
    A brown dwarf is a type of substellar object that has a mass between those of the heaviest gas giant planets and the least massive stars, i.e. about 13 to 75–80 times that of Jupiter ( M J), or about 2.5×1028 kg to 1.5×1029 kg.
    And that customs declaration is awesome. Have to follow the rules...
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  10. #490
    It's borderline.
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  11. #491
    That photo and that customs declaration are both very cool!
    Quote Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer View Post
    ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

  12. #492
    Ha! Isn't that awesome!
    Quote Originally Posted by Steely Glint View Post
    It's actually the original French billion, which is bi-million, which is a million to the power of 2. We adopted the word, and then they changed it, presumably as revenge for Crecy and Agincourt, and then the treasonous Americans adopted the new French usage and spread it all over the world. And now we have to use it.

    And that's Why I'm Voting Leave.

  13. #493
    Senior Member Flixy's Avatar
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    Keep on keepin' the beat alive!

  14. #494
    Just been reading about the Artemis program and its launch date of October 2024 for Artemis III (first 21st century manned [and womaned] landing on the moon). Seems rather ambitious given the lack of anything lunar for so long, there's been so much talk of a return to the moon for the last two decades now it seems almost like vaporware. Or this time should it be taken seriously?
    Quote Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer View Post
    ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

  15. #495
    They're going to do it, probably. But it almost certainly won't be in 2024, given delays to SLS and Orion.

    My daughter watched the splashdown today, she enjoyed.
    "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." - Werner Heisenberg (maybe)

  16. #496
    Yeah I'm sure it'll eventually happen but 2024 seems overly ambitious.

    Good to have splashdowns back.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer View Post
    ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

  17. #497
    It wouldn't be surprising if a Biden administration changed NASA strategy again, going back out to an asteroid or something. But yeah, 2024? Not likely.

    Regarding splash downs, the original SpaceX proposal was to have the capsule make a powered landing on rockets, kinda like the boosters do. NASA said nope, too risky.
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  18. #498
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  19. #499
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    Yeah, did you read any of the Ceres conclusions? Same thing - salty ocean, too.

    I'm wondering if these many oceans make these worlds easier to colonize? The water is useful, frozen or not, of course, but the oceans are a source of energy too. They are relatively warm and they are under pressure. Energy could be generated by putting a kind of turbine over a geyser, as at Enceladus and likely Europa. Or by creating a geyser by boring a hole. And that much water is good for radiation shielding, either by mining chunks for building material or by sinking a base into the world's surface.
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  20. #500
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54133538

    Posphine has been detected in the atmosphere on Venus, considered a possible indicator of life in the upper atmosphere.
    Last edited by Steely Glint; 09-15-2020 at 12:14 PM.
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  21. #501
    Quote Originally Posted by Steely Glint View Post
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54133538

    Posphine has been detected in the atmosphere on Venus, considered a possible indicated of life in the upper atmosphere.
    I saw this too. Wow. Expect a probe to Venus in the next ten years or so.
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  22. #502
    Confirmation of 4 lakes under the Mars south polar ice cap. Woo.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02751-1
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  23. #503
    Why would there be liquid water under what is mostly frozen CO2?
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  24. #504
    Senior Member Flixy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Being View Post
    Why would there be liquid water under what is mostly frozen CO2?
    High salt content, high pressure, high temperatures?
    Keep on keepin' the beat alive!

  25. #505
    Quote Originally Posted by Flixy View Post
    High salt content, high pressure, high temperatures?
    According to the article, salt is suspected. It didn't say anything about pressure, which was something I would have guessed. And the assumption was temperature was low, hence the salt requirement.
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  26. #506
    I thought this interesting. I guess it sort of relates to space stuff... could make a good power source on Mars, I suppose. Even Luna, though you'd have to bring fuel, I think.

    Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is ‘Very Likely to Work,’ Studies Suggest

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/c...n-reactor.html
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  27. #507
    Quote Originally Posted by Flixy View Post
    High salt content, high pressure, high temperatures?
    Okay, but my understanding is that most of the ice is CO2 not H2O. That is why I question the existence of liquid H2O under the ice.
    Faith is Hope (see Loki's sig for details)
    If hindsight is 20-20, why is it so often ignored?

  28. #508
    Faith is Hope (see Loki's sig for details)
    If hindsight is 20-20, why is it so often ignored?

  29. #509
    LOL, I thought the same thing. I mean, my assumption was any base on the moon, or Mars for that matter, is going to need lots of radiation shielding. What are all those articles about building in lava tubes about, if not for radiation shielding?
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  30. #510
    Quote Originally Posted by EyeKhan View Post
    I thought this interesting. I guess it sort of relates to space stuff... could make a good power source on Mars, I suppose. Even Luna, though you'd have to bring fuel, I think.

    Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is ‘Very Likely to Work,’ Studies Suggest

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/c...n-reactor.html
    Actual title should be:

    'Researchers publish some papers arguing that their theoretical design will produce energy in 15 years. World yawns.'
    "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." - Werner Heisenberg (maybe)

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