Michael Meyer, about Phoenix and MSL |
Michael Meyer, about Phoenix and MSL |
Jun 23 2007, 07:15 PM
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#31
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Member Group: Members Posts: 540 Joined: 25-October 05 From: California Member No.: 535 |
MSL will still have a battery, as all other RTG powered spacecraft have - to allow for peak power useage over and above the RTG output. Doug New Horizons doesn't have a battery...which is why I think it actually has to dissipate the excess RTG power that it doesn't need to run its systems and instruments QUOTE (mchan @ Jun 23 2007, 01:16 AM) SOne can count on the hardcore anti-nuke folks to be at the MSL launch. Which is pretty funny...considering that all the recent RTG flights have provided some kind of significant discovery during their missions. Not to state the obvious: Galileo (A possible ocean on Europa) Cassini (Possible water activity on Enceladus, and maybe Dione) New Horizons (the first flight to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt) Not to jinx anything, but if these anti-nuke folks want to stop looking like a bunch of schmucks with lots of free times on their hands, try waiting for something to go wrong on the next RTG launch...and then protest the RTG launch that comes after that one. They'll look less foolish. -------------------- 2011 JPL Tweetup photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_jpltweetup.html
http://human-spaceflight.blogspot.com |
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Jun 23 2007, 08:12 PM
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#32
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8783 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Well, the good thing, as Ed observed, is that UMSF RTGs are obviously drifting off the radar screens of these groups: the sky hasn't fallen, nor does such an event seem likely based on past performance. The entire issue is no longer a plausible casus bellum for them, and therefore also no longer a focus item except in token terms; good news.
Let's keep it that way...low visibilty has many advantages! -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Jun 24 2007, 12:47 AM
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#33
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Member Group: Members Posts: 809 Joined: 11-March 04 Member No.: 56 |
The entire issue is no longer a plausible casus bellum for them That seems very likely, but you've just hazarded the fury (ira) of the North American League of Latinists by incorrectly using the term casus belli, and their is not a power to be scorned (non contemnendum). |
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Jun 24 2007, 08:16 PM
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#34
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Well, the good thing, as Ed observed, is that UMSF RTGs are obviously drifting off the radar screens of these groups: the sky hasn't fallen, nor does such an event seem likely based on past performance. The entire issue is no longer a plausible casus bellum for them, and therefore also no longer a focus item except in token terms; good news. Let's keep it that way...low visibilty has many advantages! You really think UMSF use of RTGs, et al, has been successful and uneventful enough to push them off the anti-nuke crowd's radars? I will remind you that, in their last gasp at trying to look important to themselves, these same people INSISTED that Cassini be crashed in Saturn upon arrival instead of placed into orbit, since (they insisted) anything else meant that Cassini would eventually return to near-Earth space and pose a COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE RISK of a collision. I'm not kidding. -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Jun 25 2007, 05:35 AM
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#35
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Member Group: Members Posts: 599 Joined: 26-August 05 Member No.: 476 |
Something I had always wondered about regarding use of RTG on Earth flyby. If I recall correctly, the Europa Orbiter that was cancelled (c. 2001?) had to deal with tight launch mass contraints because it could not use an Earth flyby gravity assist. The EGE proposals in more recent OPAG studies have reverted to allowing an Earth flyby gravity assist.
Was there an edict from NASA HQ on no Earth flyby's for the earlier Europa Orbiter, and, if so, has this been rescinded so proposals like EGE are feasible from a launch mass constraint perspective? Furthermore, if there had been such an edict, how did it come into being, and how did it get rescinded? (Mod: How about moving all RTG posts to a separate thread?) |
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