Comments for The Zingularity

Comment on Late afternoon on Mars by heddle

heddle — Fri, 25 May 2012 01:38:39 +0000

Fantastic! Absolutely spectacular. I wanna go there.

Comment on ISS flyby by Trebuchet

Trebuchet — Fri, 25 May 2012 00:47:08 +0000

It seems they decided to switch from helium to nitrogen for the pressuriser a few days before the test, and as I understood it then, they need better piping to pressurise the tanks for full power burn.

That sounds reasonable. Helium has the smallest molecule, by far, of any gas. Being a noble gas it’s monatomic, while hydrogen (and nitrogen) are diatomic. That gives helium a great propensity to leak, where other gasses can be contained.

Comment on Late afternoon on Mars by Stephen "DarkSyde" Andrew

Stephen "DarkSyde" Andrew — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:21:37 +0000

I think I fixed it, I meant to do a stack there but got confused in edit, thanks! BTW, I remember when those images were first streaming in, Mark Sumner, aka DevilsTower at Dkos is a geologist in real life. He took one look at it and said “That’s frost heaving”. That’s when we all knew there would probably be water hiding under the surface.

Comment on Late afternoon on Mars by mikeinohio

mikeinohio — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:04:10 +0000

If you go to the Wiki site for that last picture of the patterned ground it says it was taken on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic, on Earth. Not on Mars.

Comment on ISS flyby by Palle Raabjerg

Palle Raabjerg — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:57:28 +0000

I’m quite enthusiastic about SpaceX as well. Liquid engine rockets does seem to be the way to go. Copenhagen Suborbitals, who was initially betting on hybrid engines for their project has actually switched tracks. And just a few days before the Falcon-9 launch, they successfully tested what is so far allegedly the biggest amateur built (for some definitions of “amateur”) liquid powered rocket engine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRyh66zPy5U

Fuelled by LOX and alcohol. (It burned 300 litres of alcohol in that test. So it’s a faster drinker even than most Danes.)
At the test, it was apparently running at half power. But it should be capable of 65kN at full power. It seems they decided to switch from helium to nitrogen for the pressuriser a few days before the test, and as I understood it then, they need better piping to pressurise the tanks for full power burn.

Comment on Late afternoon on Mars by StevoR

StevoR — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:45:31 +0000

Beatiful compilation. Cheers! :-)

Comment on Late afternoon on Mars by Gregory in Seattle

Gregory in Seattle — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:01:26 +0000

I know why they do it — to increase contrast and make subtle differences more visible — but damn it all, Mars does not have entire valleys of turquoise blue! When I look at images from the Red Planet, I want to see a red planet!

Comment on Late afternoon on Mars by Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:40:32 +0000

XD Thanks for making me giggle, Stephen.

Comment on Late afternoon on Mars by amenhotepstein

amenhotepstein — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:16:37 +0000

This! This is why I’m a humanist. No gods did this – we did it all on our own. We certainly have some serious problems, and nothing is for sure, but every time I see a photograph like this I gain back a little bit of hope for our species.

Comment on Late afternoon on Mars by Stephen "DarkSyde" Andrew

Stephen "DarkSyde" Andrew — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:10:49 +0000

Sending people your way Katherine, you shoulda played ball …