I'm back from the Europa Focus Group meeting... |
I'm back from the Europa Focus Group meeting... |
Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Mar 1 2006, 07:33 AM
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#1
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Guests |
...which I decided to attend literally at the last possible minute, which is why I didn't alert you guys in advance. Very interesting -- both the discussions about the likely design of the mission (and how to retrieve it from cancellation), and many of the actual science presentations (which aren't on the Web yet, although they probably soon will be). I'll give you some more information tomorrow -- although I can't resist telling Alex that Tom Spilker's subgroup took my ideas about a Europa penetrator, and the printed information I gave them on the subject, seriously enough to recommend making further inquiries to NASA HQ on it. (And without my browbeating them, either. Nyaah.) The case for it, however, is still extremely far from certain.
As I say, more tomorrow. |
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Mar 5 2006, 05:57 AM
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#2
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Guests |
Well, you know, Bugs once stopped a crashing airplane just a few feet above the ground by putting on its Air Brakes. (This was after his previous attempt to stop the crash by activating the plane's Robot Pilot had failed when the Robot Pilot dashed out of a compartment in the cockpit wall, took one look at the situation, grabbed one of the parachutes and bailed out.)
If we're going to think along these lines, though, why not simply recruit a few of the Warner Brothers cartoon characters to personally pilot expeditions to other worlds? After all, they're virtually indestructible: they routinely survive swallowing lighted sticks of dynamite, having half-ton safes fall on their heads, etc. As such, they represent an invaluable national resource which has been sadly underutilized. (Their price is low, too: Sylvester would cheerfully lead an expedition into the bottommost depths of Hell for a canaryburger, and even the normally sensible Bugs, as we know, will do almost anything for a carrot.) |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 16th June 2024 - 08:56 AM |
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