NASA Dawn Asteroid Mission Told to "Stand Back Up", Reinstated! |
NASA Dawn Asteroid Mission Told to "Stand Back Up", Reinstated! |
Mar 28 2006, 07:58 AM
Post
#1
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Just 'cause I said I would...
Hopefully, though, this whole episode has made its point -- NASA isn't afraid to tell overbudget missions to stand down. I just *really* wish we could get the magnetometer back on the beastie, though... -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
|
|
|
Guest_Myran_* |
Mar 30 2006, 05:06 PM
Post
#2
|
Guests |
QUOTE dvandorn said: in space, no one can hear you yell... You havnt heard us two when we begin one argument and start yelling, its loud! So I worry that even 1 AU of vaccum would be a safe distance. Back to being serious and re BruceMoomaw & JRehling, yes it would be interesting to have a look at avariety of asteroids and lest one of each type to see if our ideas derived from meteorites found on earth are correct or not. Are these parts of a once larger 'moon sized' asteroid with a molten core that differentiated and broke up and gave us the various types. Yes moon sized meaning one smaller than Earths Moon, its unlikely it was larger, the total mass of the asteroid belt is to low to think a really larg object existed there. Or was it another process in smaller asteroids like heating from impacts that caused some asteroids to be carbenous and others to have a high nickel iron content? The latter is perhaps less likely but cant be ruled out. A good survey might settle the question, so Dawn are a good start on doing that. |
|
|
Mar 30 2006, 05:12 PM
Post
#3
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Are these parts of a once larger 'moon sized' asteroid with a molten core that differentiated and broke up and gave us the various types. Yes moon sized meaning one smaller than Earths Moon, its unlikely it was larger, the total mass of the asteroid belt is to low to think a really larg object existed there. The total mass of the main belt asteroids is less than the Moon, but it is still clear from meteorites (remember, we have tons of samples: in fact, some of the samples themselves weigh tons!) that there were larger parent bodies that were broken up significantly by impacts. I'd like to know how clear the picture is on which now-destroyed parent bodies may have existed. I know that it seems that Vesta is the (by far?) largest piece of a shatter event that has created some smaller named asteroids and no end of meteorites. And Vesta is large enough to have differentiated. But I don't know if we have a jigsaw-puzzle-solver's clue as to whether there were originally three such bodies, or five, or twelve, or ??? |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 26th September 2024 - 06:45 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |