DescentBB

I didn't want to look for the old thread, but for all you wondering about the fibers on Mars,

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotligh ... _Mars.html

Ah yes, I remember the threads on Mars and how NASA made that March post about...March, this is June...June - March = 3 months. 3...is quite the long time...ago..

You mean its not worms!?!?

why cant they just get some kind of retrieval device and bring those things back here and test them.

I've heard they were saying it was fibers from the airbag a few days after they found them.

AceCombat wrote:why cant they just get some kind of retrieval device and bring those things back here and test them.

"That Would Require Some Kind Of A Rebigulator, Which Is A Concept So Preposterous It Makes Me Want To Laugh Out Loud And Chortle.."

Retreval devices are an order of magnitude harder to pull off. You either have to carry enough fuel to get you there and back, instead of just there or carry equipment to harvest fuel (assuming there is some there to harvest). Also, you have to carry a much more complicated lander- it needs to be able to get itself off the planet. The result: over double the weight, just to start with.

(We should just send a monkey there to live in a space suit)

Has anyone else just learned to skip over Ace's posts now?

Sting_Ray wrote:Has anyone else just learned to skip over Ace's posts now?

No not really, But I have done a good job of ignoring posts that take Jabs at Ace(this one not included of course).

Some improvements over the "threadlike feature" - 3X zoom from Panaromic camera with color:

http://spherules.freewebpage.org/ucar/2 ... 56-SF1.png

The image http://www.lyle.org/mars/imagery/color/ ... 3608-6.jpg show the whole frame.

--
http://spherules.freewebpage.org/ucar/

snoopy wrote:Retreval devices are an order of magnitude harder to pull off. You either have to carry enough fuel to get you there and back, instead of just there or carry equipment to harvest fuel (assuming there is some there to harvest). Also, you have to carry a much more complicated lander- it needs to be able to get itself off the planet. The result: over double the weight, just to start with.

okay, so we get a vehicle there thats capable of landing and lifting off again. but have a larger mother ship with specialized scanning, probing, diagnostics, analyzers.....the works......it could then send back the data to us and we could comb through it and determine exactly what we just picked up off the surface of Mars. after we determine what we are looking at, we send the smaller retrieval ship back down to gather more materials.

Ace you have given me an idea.
(wow isn't it soooooo unheard of that people who are called "stupid" by people who can't think outside the square, often come up with the best ideas? /sarcasm)

think outside the square stingy.

you could use one of many ideas to get samples off mars.

perhaps deploying a laser that can create plasma under a small ship (more like a sample platform) to accelerate it outof mars' gravity. powered by solar energy.

like this thing


or perhaps once they find out more about this "methane" that is on mars, they may find a source of geothermal energy that they could harvest. or perhaps just utilise the source of the methane to create their own fuel for a traditional rocket launch.

or use a maglev rail to provide a large proportion of the thrust.

there's so many possabilitys.

it also pays to remember that we are talking about a SMALL sample here. and also mars has less gravity than earth, and a thinner atmosphere (less drag).

even on earth we can send off small hobby rockets. and we can also use powerful guns to fire bullets that break earth orbit.

Mobi, did you hack roids account there or what?

(pic added to previous post)

aww, comeon tri, mobi isn't the only space geek here

Tricord wrote:Mobi, did you hack roids account there or what?

Yeah, I thought that too. Went back to check who actually posted that, then double-checked. Heh.

All good ideas of course.

Hahahah! Great minds think alike!

Or is that; Fools minds seldom differ! o_O

They went as far as to make a slide show! That proves it's a conspiracy. What are they trying to hide!

Shutup Ace,
Shutup Roid,
and...

Its all about the anti-gravity (or harnessing nuclear/antimatter energy- the second gets you a whole of bang for your buck, I just wonder how one could possibly control something that powerful.)

not really. lasers and plasma is old tech.

think of it like this... it's like throwing a can up into the air, and then shooting at it (from the ground) with explosive bullets, sending it higher and higher until it leaves earth.

the bottom of the craft is specially shielded so that you can shoot at it without harming it.

see, it's simple.

roid wrote:not really. lasers and plasma is old tech.

think of it like this... it's like throwing a can up into the air, and then shooting at it (from the ground) with explosive bullets, sending it higher and higher until it leaves earth.

the bottom of the craft is specially shielded so that you can shoot at it without harming it.

see, it's simple.

but it also needs to be spun at a very high RPM which means cargo needs to be perfectly balanced and rules out any kind of human transport.

That, and everyone blames Bush for the multi-bazillion dollar deficit... wouldn't a trillion dollar+ mission to mars to retrieve fibers be kinda like shooting the other foot?

This is why I say lets get things square on earth before we begin seriously investing in another planet. Research is fine, but we're not leaving for a while...

[EDIT] I just assume America is going to be expected to foot the bill for something like this anyways. If you uks wanna do it, by all means. I won't stop yah [/EDIT]

Topher wrote:

roid wrote:not really. lasers and plasma is old tech.

think of it like this... it's like throwing a can up into the air, and then shooting at it (from the ground) with explosive bullets, sending it higher and higher until it leaves earth.

the bottom of the craft is specially shielded so that you can shoot at it without harming it.

see, it's simple.

but it also needs to be spun at a very high RPM which means cargo needs to be perfectly balanced and rules out any kind of human transport.

yeah i wasn't suggesting it for sending human "samples" from mars . just dirt etc.