The end of Hubble.
Just saw this pop up on Slashdot. http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/02/07/aids-human050207.html to quote: /"The famous but troubled camera is heading for a "robotic de-orbit mission," the space agency said Monday in its budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.' 'That means the Hubble, which hovers about 600 kilometres above the Earth and circles it every 95 minutes, will be guided into the ocean once it has worn out. "The timing and content of the de-orbit mission will be a result of activities conducted in 2005," NASA said."/ Is this the end of our quests to the farthest reaches of space? Or just a new chapter. IMHO, this is a sad day for one of my fondest childhood memory makers. Cheers, James H.
As much as I'll hate to see HST go, I'm trying to convince myself that ending Hubble is like ending Mercury for Gemini or Gemini for Apollo or Apollo for...well you get the idea. Regardless, I'm going to miss HST. Patrick James Helsby wrote:
Just saw this pop up on Slashdot. http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/02/07/aids-human050207.html
to quote: /"The famous but troubled camera is heading for a "robotic de-orbit mission," the space agency said Monday in its budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.'
'That means the Hubble, which hovers about 600 kilometres above the Earth and circles it every 95 minutes, will be guided into the ocean once it has worn out. "The timing and content of the de-orbit mission will be a result of activities conducted in 2005," NASA said."/
Is this the end of our quests to the farthest reaches of space? Or just a new chapter.
IMHO, this is a sad day for one of my fondest childhood memory makers.
Cheers, James H.
Hi all, I'm curious about what you make of the "cat scratches" that have shown up on radar images by Cassini, taken during close swings by Titan. Here is one of the views: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA07009_modest.jpg Actually, it's not the long streaks themselves that have me scratching my head, so to speak. I can imagine some sort of Titanian plate tectonics that would stretch and rupture the terrain -- I've seen maps of undersea deformations that have stretch lines like that, where Earth's crust is pulling apart. What is strange to me is the amazing regularity of the small hatch marks that show up at right angles to a few of the scratches. Are these things artifacts of the scanning or radar or transmission? Or are they really on the ground? What could make them so evenly spaced? One of the scratches looks like a ruler with 1/16 inch marks! Just wondering what you think -- Thanks, Joe
Oops, I may have sent that out too fast. They must be artifacts. Here's part of NASA's caption that I had not seen: "Seams between radar segments are visible as horizontal, sawtooth-shaped lines." And I guess NASA thinks the long scratches are wind-blown features. Sorry! -- Joe
participants (3)
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James Helsby -
Joe Bauman -
Patrick Wiggins