TiME |
TiME |
May 5 2011, 08:48 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 613 Joined: 23-February 07 From: Occasionally in Columbia, MD Member No.: 1764 |
Ahoy mateys!
NASA announces Discovery mission selection for Phase A. Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) is among them. Har! |
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May 5 2011, 09:01 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
Long may this thread live! To 2023 and beyond!!!
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May 5 2011, 09:09 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
Whatever floats your boat!
Congratulations! That is terrific news! -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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May 5 2011, 09:20 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
And a hearty cheer from me. I worked at sea for 17 years and nothing in solar system exploration excites me more than the prospect of sailing an other-worldly sea with the prospect of a huge science payoff.
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May 5 2011, 11:57 PM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 293 Joined: 29-August 06 From: Columbia, MD Member No.: 1083 |
Congratulations, Ralph, and also to your team!
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May 6 2011, 12:00 AM
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#6
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Wow, Ralph, MAJOR congrats!!! This promises to be one of the most exciting missions ever!!!
-------------------- 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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May 6 2011, 12:25 AM
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#7
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Member Group: Members Posts: 708 Joined: 1-April 08 From: Minnesota ! Member No.: 4081 |
Excellent! Something to really look forward to.
Read the NASA press release here: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/may/H...e_Plantary.html |
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May 6 2011, 02:11 AM
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#8
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Member Group: Members Posts: 540 Joined: 25-October 05 From: California Member No.: 535 |
I hope TiME gets chosen in 2016. Outer Planet mission > Inner Planet mission
-------------------- 2011 JPL Tweetup photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_jpltweetup.html
http://human-spaceflight.blogspot.com |
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May 6 2011, 02:27 AM
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#9
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Member Group: Members Posts: 813 Joined: 8-February 04 From: Arabia Terra Member No.: 12 |
I also prefer TiME to the other candidates. METNET can do some Martian geophysical studies and Rosetta/Philae can investigate a comet nucleus. But when's the next chance we'll get to see Titan up close other than this?
Edit: Oops, I forgot METNET was 100% meteorological! For some reason I thought it had a few geophysical instruments as well. |
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May 6 2011, 03:47 AM
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#10
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1592 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
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May 6 2011, 05:00 AM
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#11
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Member Group: Members Posts: 399 Joined: 28-August 07 From: San Francisco Member No.: 3511 |
I'm on TiME's side, Ligeia Mare, here we come, don't forget your wellies
Targeted landing on moon so far... awesome undertaking... really hope she goes -------------------- 'She drove until the wheels fell off...'
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May 6 2011, 07:12 AM
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#12
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Member Group: Members Posts: 316 Joined: 1-October 06 Member No.: 1206 |
I like all the selected missions, but TiME seems special in so many ways. The science, given the budget, seems compelling, but the public outreach!
I know the bandwidth will be low, but there is at least a simple imager on the mission isnt there? (yes, I know, all that may be nothing but a flat horizon all round and a dim cloudy sky, but to drift into view of a coastline before she gives out...(and she must be a she!)! Actually has there been any work done on the possible entry ellipse and targeting accuracy yet? Is the desired target deep water....hydrocarbon...whatever....or a more littoral location? Getting ahead of myself here...Congratulations Ralph and crew! P |
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May 6 2011, 10:03 AM
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#13
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Member Group: Members Posts: 796 Joined: 27-February 08 From: Heart of Europe Member No.: 4057 |
Congratulations Ralph and whole TiME team.
It's right time for TiME! -------------------- |
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May 6 2011, 01:37 PM
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#14
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
But when's the next chance we'll get to see Titan up close other than this? The real beauty of TiMe is that it's instrument package and environment would be perfectly scientifically complementary (synergistic with) all the other currently proposed Titan missions (baloon, JET, AVIATR airplane, future orbiter, etc.) So if TiME is selected, it shouldn't hurt the chances of other proposed Titan missions from a purely scientific viewpoint. -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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May 7 2011, 03:20 PM
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#15
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Member Group: Members Posts: 204 Joined: 29-June 05 Member No.: 421 |
I agree: of the three announced candidate missions, TiME really excites the imagination. I expect the images we get back would be pretty underwhelming : I picture something like the myopic postage stamps from the Huygens landing, except with the only visible scenery being a few ripples on a calm lake surface. But the idea of going to such a distant, alien location, and exploring in a way that has never been done before... That is exciting. This mission is about Exploration in the truest sense. I grew up thinking about space from the Star Trek perspective: "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." That is exactly what the TiME mission sounds like to me Well, minus the new civilizations, and probably [thought not quite certainly!] minus the new life forms. But certainly exploration of a strange new world. Contrast to the other mission proposals, which are more mundane planetary science. That is science with a small 's' : filling in details, trying to add a little bit onto the big pile of knowledge. Still interesting stuff, but not nearly so inspirational.
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