MikeSharp01 Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 (edited) Though I would pop up and say cheerio to Cassini, now 385,000 miles away from Saturn and heading for it at some speed. Some amazing data and great engineering have given us the chance to get up close and personal with Saturn - did not spot any good building plots though. Any Cassini stories out there. Did you know Saturns rings are only 10m (meters) thick!!? Soon it will be no more 384,000 miles now. Cheerio Cassini. Edited September 14, 2017 by MikeSharp01 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 Given that these missions (Philae et all) take decades to come to fruition from concept to actual data, we seem to be living through a mini space exploration golden age. Must check and see what's coming up over the next few years of a similar ilk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 10 hours ago, Bitpipe said: take decades to come to fruition 10 hours ago, Bitpipe said: Must check and see what's coming up over the next few years Bogged down in the English planning system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 9 hours ago, Bitpipe said: Given that these missions (Philae et all) take decades to come to fruition from concept to actual data, we seem to be living through a mini space exploration golden age. Must check and see what's coming up over the next few years of a similar ilk. James Webb space telescope is finally launching next year. It's hugely ambitious, massively over budget, years behind schedule, and turned out to be a far more complex project than it first appeared. Something I'm sure many of us can relate to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivienz Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 It's incredible to realise that the original Voyager missions are still ongoing, too. It always puts me in mind of the early Star Trek film that had Voyager as a key part of the story, nearly 40 years ago now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 29 minutes ago, vivienz said: It's incredible to realise that the original Voyager missions are still ongoing, too. It always puts me in mind of the early Star Trek film that had Voyager as a key part of the story, nearly 40 years ago now. I had a book about space when I was a kid, bought through one of those school book clubs. There was a large section on the Viking and Voyager probes. I can still remember the pictures, although it must be 30+ years since I last saw them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 2 hours ago, Crofter said: James Webb space telescope is finally launching next year. It's hugely ambitious, massively over budget, years behind schedule, and turned out to be a far more complex project than it first appeared. Something I'm sure many of us can relate to Just watched the post launch deployment video here Fair to say that there will be a few squeaky bums at mission control while all those steps are carried out, a bit far away to call out the repair team as they did for Hubble. https://youtu.be/bTxLAGchWnA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 2 hours ago, jack said: I had a book about space when I was a kid, bought through one of those school book clubs. There was a large section on the Viking and Voyager probes. I can still remember the pictures, although it must be 30+ years since I last saw them! What's more impressive is that a lot of this kit is 40 years old and still works ...!!! Most new mobile phones have more processing power than one of those probes, yet have the lifespan of a moth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 4 hours ago, PeterW said: What's more impressive is that a lot of this kit is 40 years old and still works ...!!! Most new mobile phones have more processing power than one of those probes, yet have the lifespan of a moth... Indeed, modern smartphones have several (perhaps 3-5) orders of magnitude more processing power than those probes. From a brief search it looks like they used a 2.3 MHz processor with 18k of memory for the Viking lander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 Is the comparison between space probes and mobiles really relevant. They are designed to do different things, in different ways and in different places. I still have a working scientific calculator from 1979. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 2 hours ago, PeterW said: What's more impressive is that a lot of this kit is 40 years old and still works ...!!! Most new mobile phones have more processing power than one of those probes, yet have the lifespan of a moth... Many years ago I was doing some trials in a Nimrod MR2. At the time, I'd just bought myself a "state of the art" personal organiser, a Psion 3c. I'd written a retarded weapon trajectory prediction programme using the version of Basic that was on the Psion, and this took in the basic trajectory parameters, parachute opening time, release height, speed and direction, wind speed and direction and release point. It calculated the weapon splash point, taking into account all the above, plus Coriolis effect. For the trial, I was sat next to the Tactical Navigator, operating some instrumentation kit and bomb bay cameras. For a laugh, for one release I challenged the Tac Nav to see who could predict the water entry splash point the quickest, him, using the Nimrod Tactical Computer, or me using a handheld Psion 3c. The Psion won hands down, and afterwards I worked out that it had a massively greater level of computing power than the Nimrod! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSharp01 Posted September 15, 2017 Author Share Posted September 15, 2017 2 hours ago, JSHarris said: The Psion won hands down, and afterwards I worked out that it had a massively greater level of computing power than the Nimrod! I have still got my Psion, great little device, only use it now for machining calcs, again in BASIC, in the workshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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