LGP Science Thread

[viva la ben]

NASA mission to explore Europa for life now a go

http://news.discovery.com/space/alien-l ... 150202.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[stopper40]

NASA mission to explore Europa for life now a go

http://news.discovery.com/space/alien-l ... 150202.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[count2infinity]

Big image is big... 2 things that blew my mind. One: a living thing survived being -273 C and two: there is an "absolute hot". I knew about absolute zero, but an absolute hot was something new to me.

Spoiler:

[dodint]

Tardigrade? Crazy eight-legged water dwelling microbear. That will be the coolest new thing I learned today.

[tifosi77]

Tardigrade? Crazy eight-legged water dwelling microbear. That will be the coolest new thing I learned today.

They were featured on a couple episodes of 'Cosmos', and they nearly stole the show from Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

[dodint]

I didn't watch that version of Cosmos, NDT grates on my nerves. I mentioned this to a friend and he said Cosmos as well.

[redwill]

Hey c2i,

Uranus is -216°C.

Har Har Har.

[count2infinity]

lol, that made me laugh more than it should have.

[Shyster]

if all goes according to plan, SpaceX will be launching NASA's DSCOVR satellite at 6:10 p.m. today. This satellite will primarily study the "weather" of space, with a secondary focus on Earth's climate. DSCOVR is being launched to the L1 Earth-Sun Lagrange point; a Lagrange point is a position at which the gravitational attraction of two bodies balance out so that a third body at that point always stays in the same position relative to both other bodies. SpaceX will again attempt recovery of the first stage on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship. So we should either have the first-ever recovery of a rocket stage or another sweet crash/explosion video.

SpaceX has created a comedic Twitter account for the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, and this was posted earlier this weekend:

SpaceXDrone @TheDroneShip
Getting ready for this weekend... anyone know where I can find sunscreen that's SPF Exploding Rocket? You know....just in case....

[Shyster]

SpaceX had to scrub for today due to a telemetry problem. Next launch opportunity is tomorrow at around the same time.

[dodint]

Neil Armstrong was a pretty reclusive kind of guy so it's not super surprising that his widow found a bag of Apollo 11 parts in the back of his closet that she knew nothing about.

[stopper40]

More kewl stuff from science

http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists- ... its-tracks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Shyster]

Weather is a no-go today for anyone wanting to go to space from Florida. SpaceX will try tomorrow for the DSCOVR launch. While there was a malfunctioning video transmitter on the Falcon 9, that wouldn't have stopped the launch (although it might have disappointed the people watching the webcast). The reason for the scrub on Sunday was a failure in the Air Force's tracking radar.

The Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship has been officially christened: "Just Read The Instructions." I understand the name comes from a spaceship in the series of "Culture" novels by science fiction writer Iain M. Banks. The second landing barge currently under construction will be named ""Of Course I Still Love You," which comes from the same source. Apparently Elon Musk is a big fan of those books.

[count2infinity]

http://phys.org/news/2015-02-big-quantu ... verse.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting. It'll be neat to see how/if this could explain cosmic microwave backgrounds (left over radiation from the big bang) or red shifts in stars, but I love that people are still thinking about and working on this kind of stuff.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

not anything specific but just a general thought: is anyone really interested in like the science of dreams and what not?

Honestly, if I could do my life over, I would try to become some sort of neuroscientist and specialize in dreams. I probably dream every other night and for the life of me can't figure out why the hell I'm dreaming about what I'm dreaming about.

what evolutionary purpose do they serve at all? it's just so weird

[tifosi77]

Dogs dream, too. That's cool.

[tifosi77]

A trip through our solar system at the speed of light.

[youtube][/youtube]

45 minutes, but super cool.

[Shyster]

Not looking good for a SpaceX launch today. Upper-atmosphere winds are over the limits for launch. Final decision on weather at T-13, but the winds have been at no-go levels for most of the day.

Edit: Scrub. Upper-level winds are 151% of the maximum limit. it's windy enough up there that it could actually tear the rocket apart. Will try again tomorrow.

[PensFanInDC]

http://m.phys.org/news/2015-02-big-quan ... verse.html

The universe may have existed forever, according to a new model that applies quantum correction terms to complement Einstein's theory of general relativity. The model may also account for dark matter and dark energy, resolving multiple problems at once.

Interesting

[count2infinity]

yeah... was interesting when I posted it yesterday too.

[dodint]

Maybe he is temporally displaced and hasn't seen it yet.

[Shyster]

Everything green so far for going to space today. Unfortunately, while the weather is now fine at the launch site, it stinks out in the Atlantic where the SS Just Read The Instructions would be trying to recover the first stage. They're talking about 10-foot waves on the NASA TV broadcast. So it looks like SpaceX is not going to try to recover the stage. It will land in the ocean.

[PensFanInDC]

yeah... was interesting when I posted it yesterday too.

I try and stay out of this devil infested thread!

[Willie Kool]

The universe may have existed forever, according to a new model that applies quantum correction terms to complement Einstein's theory of general relativity. The model may also account for dark matter and dark energy, resolving multiple problems at once.

Interesting

Indeed. If the universe has existed forever, there was no Creation and therefore no God the Creator.

I try and stay out of this devil infested thread!

[PensFanInDC]

Ya got me WK. That's all the evidence I needed