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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 05:10 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016 ... hbour.html

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Out of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way and the many multiples beyond it, one, the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, is our closest stellar neighbour.

On Wednesday, a team of astronomers announced they had discovered a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri — and that the planet is rocky, has a mass similar to Earth’s and sits in the “goldilocks” zone where liquid water could exist on its surface...
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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 05:46 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Yeah, I read about this. Very cool stuff.

With all these exoplanets they're finding, I wonder if they're teaming up with other groups, like SETI, to point our satellite arrays at these newly found planets. Instead of SETI blindly pointing their satellites at stars that may or may not have planets, they could be pointing them at systems that are confirmed to have planets, especially earth like planets. It just makes sense to share information and resources, to heighten our chances of finding something...
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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 06:09 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


The much less appealing part of the story is that the planet is probably bathed in x-ray or other harmful radiation that could have stripped all the liquid water off already, or otherwise prevented life from forming. It would need a magnetic field like Earth's, from a molten iron core.



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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 06:23 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


But isn't the point of a planet of our size that it's large enough to maintain a molten core ?



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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 08:11 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Partially, but there are a lot of variables to consider before getting too excited, is my point. We don't even know if it has an atmosphere.



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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 08:34 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Transient wrote:
Partially, but there are a lot of variables to consider before getting too excited, is my point. We don't even know if it has an atmosphere.


But that's why we've been searching for a planet our size within the goldilocks zone, to limit the variables.

We think mars is dead cos it was too small to maintain a molten core (but likely had one when it was closer to the sun), venus / mercury are too close to the sun to be habitable with the rest being made of gas.

All our planets in our solar system have some form of atmosphere n all, a planet our size being a similiar distance from the sun is highly encouraging as it means temps and pressures >could< be just right for liquid water and the most comparable to our own so far. The whole point of it is to try and maximise our chances of finding life as we know it.



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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 09:09 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


You're clearly getting too excited.



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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 09:21 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Yep, not for reason you think though. Ya see, I fully understand that we probaly won't even know what the surface even consists of until long after I'm dead, we can't even work out if other planets in our solar system have molten dynamos at their centre.

This is exciting because we can gather data through other means and possibly give us new clues or nods to what is or isn't possible. This is huge, we've been searching for a planet like this for as long as I have been alive and the whole reason for Keplar in the 1st place.



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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 10:41 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


losCHUNK wrote:
Yep, not for reason you think though. Ya see, I fully understand that we probaly won't even know what the surface even consists of until long after I'm dead, we can't even work out if other planets in our solar system have molten dynamos at their centre.

This is exciting because we can gather data through other means and possibly give us new clues or nods to what is or isn't possible. This is huge, we've been searching for a planet like this for as long as I have been alive and the whole reason for Keplar in the 1st place.

Uhh, we've found a bunch of potential Earth-like planets, this is just the closest one.



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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 11:37 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I hope we're getting more public interest in space travel. In the 60's, it was quite the thing with the space race and all. Going to the Moon was a goal that was inspiring to people.

After the Apollo missions, not a whole lot of stuff happened that captured people's hearts. NASA lost it's focus (still hasn't really found it yet) and space travel became impossible to unify with people's ideas that we had too many problems down here on Earth to warrant space travel.

What we're getting now is companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic making rapid steps in space flight. Especially the stuff that SpaceX is doing really excites me and I hope that once they start sending actual people up with their Dragon V2 capsule, more people will get excited about it as well.

I think it's very safe to assume that a manned mission to Mars will take place during our lifetimes, probably even within the next 15 years. When that happens, I hope the entire world will be glued to their TV screens to watch the landing live on TV. And when the lander sets down, a roar of excitement and applause will spread across the globe.
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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 11:42 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Transient wrote:
losCHUNK wrote:
Yep, not for reason you think though. Ya see, I fully understand that we probaly won't even know what the surface even consists of until long after I'm dead, we can't even work out if other planets in our solar system have molten dynamos at their centre.

This is exciting because we can gather data through other means and possibly give us new clues or nods to what is or isn't possible. This is huge, we've been searching for a planet like this for as long as I have been alive and the whole reason for Keplar in the 1st place.

Uhh, we've found a bunch of potential Earth-like planets, this is just the closest one.


The next smallest is 4x larger in terms of mass, I believe these are called super Earths. None are the size of Earth, which is an important bit - nor this close, which was part of the point I was making.

This guy seems to get it



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PostPosted: 08-24-2016 11:55 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Eraser, you're a lot more optimistic than me n all mate.

NASA were doing good work imo, the lack of interest in space and the lack of useable research accumulated VS cost shut them down though. The only viable way that companies such as Space X and Orbital survive is through government funding and are seeking to run the business through commercial means rather than scientific.

NASA was a completely different breed during the Space Race n all.



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 01:02 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


NASA has a plan to have astronauts on Mars in the 2030s already. :up:



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 01:25 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


There's too much politics involved with NASA for them to be anything other than a slow moving behemoth that spends too much money on too little results. Their SLS is a money sinkhole and I doubt it'll do things better or more efficient than SpaceX's Falcon Heavy or BFR.
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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 01:28 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Transient wrote:
NASA has a plan to have astronauts on Mars in the 2030s already. :up:


You seen that plan though ?

http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars

Seems a bit optimistic, iirc part of the plan relies on developing new propulsion.

I'd argue the NASA politics stem from those things I mentioned n all (cost vs reward), the extremely depressing thing is that if NASA was still under military funding I doubt many would care of its cost, imo. I think (when I went looking last) the SLS payload was quite a bit larger than the Falcons n all, I don't think it's designed to compete with Space X who has geared the business for LEO pending BFR / SHLV stats.



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 04:20 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


At the end of September Elon Musk will reveil his plans for the BFR and their mission to Mars. They aim for 2018 for a first unmanned mission using the Red Dragon capsule.

So nope, they're not limiting themselves to LEO at all. That's just to keep the money rolling in.
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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 04:34 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Been there... Planet is as dead as Mercury... Move on chumps...
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Eraser wrote:
At the end of September Elon Musk will reveil his plans for the BFR and their mission to Mars. They aim for 2018 for a first unmanned mission using the Red Dragon capsule.

So nope, they're not limiting themselves to LEO at all. That's just to keep the money rolling in.


on a related note: anyone read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson?

can recommend for people interested in space stuff that's grounded in real science
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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 04:58 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


scared? wrote:
Been there... Planet is as dead as Mercury... Move on chumps...


NASA are naming it Planet Testicle in your honour
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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 10:14 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


losCHUNK wrote:
You seen that plan though ?

http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars

Seems a bit optimistic, iirc part of the plan relies on developing new propulsion.

If you'll remember, the Curiosity rover was a pretty optimistic plan, too.



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 10:16 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


seremtan wrote:
on a related note: anyone read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson?

can recommend for people interested in space stuff that's grounded in real science

I loved that book! They're turning it into a movie. :up:



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 10:26 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Eraser wrote:
At the end of September Elon Musk will reveil his plans for the BFR and their mission to Mars. They aim for 2018 for a first unmanned mission using the Red Dragon capsule.

So nope, they're not limiting themselves to LEO at all. That's just to keep the money rolling in.


***Pending BFR stats. The LEO + money rolling in was kinda my point.



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 10:28 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Transient wrote:
losCHUNK wrote:
You seen that plan though ?

http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars

Seems a bit optimistic, iirc part of the plan relies on developing new propulsion.

If you'll remember, the Curiosity rover was a pretty optimistic plan, too.



Aye, but they were refining tech and taking it to the next level. Inventing a new propulsion, well I doubt it always works out. We've heard stories of landing men on Mars before, along with moon bases and refuellers in orbit from both private and government run institutions.

With that said, when I had seen the initial plan for Curiosity when it was still in the planning stage I balked at the idea.

With Proxima B though, I neglected to mention that if we can get light from the planet using the transit method then we should be able to break the atmosphere down. If we can detect traces of things like Oxygen or Methane then that would be a big marker for alien life. Highly unlikely, but that's why 'we' need to maximise our chances but whatever happens it gives us a target planet to examine and compare it to our own. Is it tidally locked ?, does it have a Moon ? etc.

I'm also desperately wanting to see more of moons like Titan and Europa. I thought NASA or someone would be throwing money at projects to get back to celestial bodies holding liquid methane / water.



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 10:33 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Maybe they find Batman Dentist´s lost ball too...



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 10:41 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


FWIW I think a private venture will get a manned mission to Mars first, but NASA's not a bunch of chumps. They have 20 years to figure it out.



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 10:52 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Transient wrote:
seremtan wrote:
on a related note: anyone read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson?

can recommend for people interested in space stuff that's grounded in real science

I loved that book! They're turning it into a movie. :up:


no fucking way! it's a mini-series, not a fucking movie

at least if ron howard is involved it won't suck... too much?

https://deadline.com/2016/06/seveneves- ... 201769130/
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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 10:58 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Transient wrote:
FWIW I think a private venture will get a manned mission to Mars first, but NASA's not a bunch of chumps. They have 20 years to figure it out.


:up:

I've been impressed with Space X mind, particularly in recent years which is a change in opinion for me. I just don't think private ventures will help fuel science if only because of what happened to NASA during the lunar missions, and I don't think Elons pockets run deep enough for that. All funding thus far is from government. We also need to consider that the government are funding projects (such as Orbital) that have pretty slim chances of a viable company (I think Orbital actually use obsolete refurbished, 2nd hand engines). Seems like a waste of funds that can be directed somewhere else. I'm not saying it's hugely damaging, I havn't looked much into how the funds are appropriated, I just think it's a point of interest.

The BFR rumoured figures puts it at 6x the payload of the Saturn V to Mars, if that's achievable then the forces involved with launching that thing is gonna be incredible, maybe enough to rip a hole through space :p . 250 tons to Mars ! :eek:

I've heard many good things about Seveneves n all, the plot sounds epic. I look forward to the show :up:



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 02:37 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


seremtan wrote:
no fucking way! it's a mini-series, not a fucking movie

at least if ron howard is involved it won't suck... too much?

https://deadline.com/2016/06/seveneves- ... 201769130/

Last I had heard, it was potentially going to be a trilogy.

I fucking love hard science. :up:

If you're a fan of Adam Savage from Mythbusters, he did a podcast about the book last year with Will Smith (not that Will Smith).



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 02:40 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Apologies if I missed someone else mentioning this, but have you seen the plan from this Russian billionaire?

http://www.businessinsider.com/starshot ... net-2016-8
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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 03:26 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Was briefly mentioned in that vid I posted, was the 1st I heard about it :up: . I think I'm right in saying with it being 4ly away it would take 4 years for signals to reach us ?. Cool as cucumber yo.

No one else concerned about a Russian billionaire building space lazers ? :owned:



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losCHUNK wrote:
Was briefly mentioned in that vid I posted, was the 1st I heard about it :up: . I think I'm right in saying with it being 4ly away it would take 4 years for signals to reach us ?. Cool as cucumber yo.

No one else concerned about a Russian billionaire building space lazers ? :owned:

Ground based lasers shooting an ever decreasing in size target? I don't know about that :smirk:


The Earth spins too :confused: :confused:

EDIT: Increasing to decreasing :smirk:



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xer0s wrote:
Apologies if I missed someone else mentioning this, but have you seen the plan from this Russian billionaire?

http://www.businessinsider.com/starshot ... net-2016-8

The article mentions another book I read and loved from last year, because they used lasers to propel a generation ship to Tau Ceti, like Milner's Startshot plan does. It's another really good hard science novel. :smirk:



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PostPosted: 08-25-2016 11:29 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Interesting read re the generation ship space travel Transient :up:

The possibility of breakdowns in social structures but the bit about Technological progress especially the Wait Calculation where travelers expect to be overtaken by later travelers who have faster speeds :eek:

Quote:
If a generation ship is sent to a star system 20 light years away, and is expected to reach its destination in 200 years, a better ship may be later developed that can reach it in 50 years. Thus, the first generation ship may find a century-old human colony after its arrival at its destination.


I am hoping that at least someone got there :smirk:



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PostPosted: 08-26-2016 07:47 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Whiskey 7 wrote:
losCHUNK wrote:
Was briefly mentioned in that vid I posted, was the 1st I heard about it :up: . I think I'm right in saying with it being 4ly away it would take 4 years for signals to reach us ?. Cool as cucumber yo.

No one else concerned about a Russian billionaire building space lazers ? :owned:

Ground based lasers shooting an ever decreasing in size target? I don't know about that :smirk:

The Earth spins too :confused: :confused:

EDIT: Increasing to decreasing :smirk:


Lol aye, I thought I shit on enough private ventures in this thread :smirk:

Earth spinning I don't think is much of an issue compared to things like penetrating our atmosphere, or - protecting a little biddy robot from radiation. The Curiosity rover lost half its memory and very nearly fired a thruster (ending the mission) thanks to radiation bursts and something called 'bit flips', that was before reaching Mars. Over 20 years this things gonna look like my over microwaved noodles.

I know NASA has invested a shit ton of time and energy trying to think of new ways to protect craft n all.



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