5ms @ 17km/sec - 85 metres.

2 x 2 WAC - 3m/pixel - still HUUGEEEE ammounts of blur - BUT - on the way in and the way out again, NA should be able to get some spectacular images.

Doug

My word - 17km/sec to an altitiude of 25km...that's FAST. What are the typical exposure times for ISS NA and WA using clear filters?

We're talking a 150 metre footprint for the NA - so 14.6 cm/pixel - but wow - an exposure of, say, 1 second - would blur the image by 116,000 pixels Take a zero off the end for the WA

Doug

Not sure how accurate Celestia is...but here's what it produces.

Basically, in the 1970s, there was an abortive attempt to make America metric, but a few things did change and have stayed. My understanding is that something similar happened in the UK, but got a lot farther. I know the whole Celsius thing has been a point of confusion when I am on that side of the puddle (which collectively over the course of my life would total up to about a year), because, well, 40 degrees instinctively sounds cold to me, even though I know that it isn't on the Celsius scale.

I'm reminded of a rather foul song I co-wrote for a laugh whilst a teenager...I'll share it with you next time I see you - not suitable for forum consumption

John the Grocers life fell through the ground,
When he got nicked for selling apples by the pound.....

Doug

Wouldn't you rather have a litre

Doug

When I started searching on Digiguide - it had the earlier time...but the first time it appeared on the BBCs listings - it was 0005 UK time

AND an episode of Top Gear as well Good nights TV!

Doug

If the UK would switch to KM, I'd be very happy.

Doug

I saw those frames come down - a stunning stunning late-afternoon mosaic - perhaps tied in to an Odyssey pass or something?

01063 p2354.09 12 0 0 12 1 25 pancam_postcard_4cx1r_L2

Doug

What's a mile?

(well - it's a European spacecraft after all )


Doug

Updated the times - it's being put on a 0005 - a couple of hours later than the previously advertised.

Doug

Planning of such extensions is going to take a long time - if you leave the decision making process until September, there may not be the time required to design, validate, test and retest the sequences and trajectory planning involved - from the PDF previously cited...

•Segmentation + tour data products May -Jul 2007
•Reference trajectory delivery in May 2007
•Final tour tweaks, navanalysis Feb -May 2007
•Final tour selection by Feb 2007

Cassini can't do everything. It's a limited resource. Stretch it too thin and you don't answer ANY of the questions. Focus on a few targets and at least you have all the information you need about them. I would rather see an extension focused on more flybys of fewer targets to get better coverage than sparse coverage of more targets. There WILL be another spacecraft to visit the Saturnian system. Cassini can't answer all the questions. Maybe not in the next 20 years....but 'now or never' simply isn't true.

Personally - I think the poll results of the start of this thread get things about right - Titan and Enceladus are so important. Iapetus is fascinating - no doubt about it - but there are other bigger questions to be answered imho. If a further extension, or a do-and-die opportuinty for investigation at Iapetus exist, I'd be all for it.


Doug

Yes - the Phoenix website has been totally redesigned.

It's here - http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/videos.php

Doug

Probably just the attitude of the spacecraft when imaging - it doesn't really matter Perhaps there is some sort of alignment involved for the other instruments to sweep across the disk?

Doug

I think the pics from Dave's simulator are a master stroke. Whoever thought of adding those is a genius.

In all seriousness - it takes Johns XLS, and makes it suitable for public consumption - great work.

I don't know how good the New Horizons trajectory is for Celestia, but if it's any good - I'll do a movie of it.

Doug

That should read

"Stu throws swear box through the f****** window"

Doug

Blah Blah is so much better than the random Latin text that egomaniac typesetters and marketing experts use

Doug

I would have thought there would be left-over fuel and oxidiser in the storage on the platform as well. A hazardous job to clear up.

Doug

A scale bar - 10 pixels then 50 pixels. (i.e. 1m then 5m)

Doug

You can see something of a shockwave heading out to the left ( I think ) - not a detonation, but still fairly destructive. The main structure itself would be fine I would think - but the 'superstructure' of the thing....I don't know.

Doug

It looked a bit like those crazy early US launch attempt vids where it just crumpled 'down'.

Doug

http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m313/Sm...SSExplosion.flv

I can't imagine Odyssey getting out of that without significant damage...it's got a large hangar, a platform for bringing the LV to the vertical, large fuel tanks etc etc. How long did it take to convert it from an oil-rig into a launch platform...because it might just take that long again.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...nch-Odyssey.jpg

If I had a vehicle to launch this summer, I'd be on the phone to ILS to book a Proton or begging ULA for something in the Autumn. The damn thing looked like instead of launching, it just dropped off the platform - and that was going to be a very large, very hot, very powerfull fireball before the producer ran over to the wall and pulled the plug out.

This is what it should have looked like
http://www.boeing.com/special/sea-launch/m...SAT-wide-lg.jpg


Doug

Don't argue with him. He's an admin - and he looks angry.



Doug

Go find the MOC DEM animation fo Victoria crater or just look at the images from the rim.

Yeah - Bottomless Bay is a possible ingress point - but the SE quadrant of Victoria is a MUCH MUCH easier slope to drive down.

Doug

http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/wspace?t...=1&showsc=1

The view at the time of the picture ( roughly )

Doug