Mission Could Seek Out Spock's Home Planet 173
An anonymous reader wrote with a link to the official Planet Quest site. Planet Quest has the goal of exploring the galaxy via sophisticated instrumentation for another habitable planet. NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is working to plan out missions for the project, and researchers are now theorizing that the instruments may be able to explore the system of 40 Eridani. Hardcore Trek fans may know 40 Eridani as the star associated with the planet Vulcan. "The SIM PlanetQuest instrument will be so accurate, it could measure the thickness of a nickel at a distance from Earth to the moon. Using a set of mathematical models based on Newton's Laws, Tanner was able to conclude that SIM would be able to definitively determine whether there is an Earth-mass planet orbiting in the habitable zone around 40 Eridani A, and could also determine its orbit. This is quite an exciting prospect, since NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission, planned for launch after SIM, would not only be able to take a rudimentary 'picture' of the planet, but also could search for signatures of life such as methane and ozone."
Is this SETI 2.0? (Score:2)
meh (Score:5, Funny)
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*eyebrow raise* (Score:5, Funny)
Space. The final frontier. (Score:5, Funny)
These are the voyages of the starship Doogan.
Her five year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisation.
To boldly go where no man has gone before.
You can just picture the comm message as Scotty tells the captain they won't leave earth orbit and will have to search for spock in New Mexico.
Re:Space. The final frontier. (Score:5, Funny)
Don't many of us owe our very existence to mistakes that our parents made?
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Using today's technology, 1,000,000 year mission (roundtrip).
If you don't run out of food.
Methane and ozone, huh (Score:5, Funny)
So we're only interested in flatulent life, then.
Re:Methane and ozone, huh (Score:4, Funny)
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Everyone poops. [cue book cover pic]
Re:Methane and ozone, huh (Score:4, Funny)
or the catholic version, "You're a Naughty Child and that's Concentrated Evil Coming Out of the Back of You"
Re:Methane and ozone, huh (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Methane and ozone, huh (Score:5, Funny)
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"The trick is to convince the [females] that farts are a sign of great social standing and virility. Make 'em feel inadequate due to their lack of [being able to control your] ability."
We women already feel inadequate at being able to control the horrendous things that come out of the average man (from any hole). The only thing left to do is convince us that the copious amounts of gas seeping (or exploding) from your goatse-h
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Only eggheads would look for Vulcan... (Score:5, Funny)
Not all Star Trek fans wouldn't look for Vulcan (Score:2)
Purists would want to maintain the storyline and have Vulcans be our first contact.
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First Vulcan /. post (Score:2)
Re:First Vulcan /. post (Score:5, Insightful)
GP's phrase was used by another Vulcan in the actual Star Trek series. Both are valid.
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that is illogical, captain ! (Score:2)
I'll be impressed... (Score:1)
Please cancel the mission (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Please cancel the mission (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Please cancel the mission (Score:4, Funny)
My timeline got screwed up when I found the long lost "Restraunt at the End of the Universive" game in a close out bin at Egghead during the Win95 launch, after Microsoft had merged with Sirus Cybernetics Corporation. The game cost $9.99, along with $10 for some good British ale, leaving me with 1 penny in my Beezer bank account.
After leaving Egghead, I noticed the sky was....
Drinking 3 beers and waiting for the end, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A spaceship. Except, it looked more like a restraunt than a spaceship. Everyone else, was ignoring the spaceship. Just running around it, pretending it wasn't there.
Slartbartfast came out of the ship, and said "Arthur Dent, we have been waiting 11 years for you to get the game. We need your help. The Restruant at the End of the Universe forgot to patch their time servers with the DST patch. As it turned out, one of the End of the Universe time-shifts occured during the DST switchover. Thus, The Restruant is exactly one hour in the future, after The End. With The Restruant after the End, then entire space-time continuim of the universe is unraveling. Our only hope is if you can find the patch, get to the Restruant, and apply it."
You get into the ship and take off, the powerful Bistromathics drive getting you to Magrathea in seconds. You attempt to download the patch from the Sub-Etha-Net using your Guides newfangled "Sub-Etha-Net Explorer", but all it tells you is
This page cannot be displayed
There is an icon which looks like a paperclip on a piece of paper. It is winking at you...
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Same thing different Star System (Score:4, Funny)
We'll probably see a Vulcan in a skyscraper with a telescope looking back at us.
Outpost? (Score:3, Informative)
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Slashunits! (Score:2, Funny)
The SIM PlanetQuest instrument will be so accurate, it could measure the thickness of a nickel at a distance from Earth to the moon.
Yes, but how many football fields away can it measure the width of the Library of Congress from?
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The article writer is indeed an idiot. If he is an American idiot, his "nickel" is (according to Wikipedia) 1.95mm thick. If he is a Canadian idiot, his "nickel" is 1.76mm thick.
I have never seen either of these coins and probably never will. Why can't these morons just say "about 2mm"? Oh, I forgot: if we use the metric system, the terrorists have won.
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If the general sort of size of any coin was what was intended, then he should have put "coin", not "nickel". And the use of real units would still be preferable. Fake units are appropriate only for the chronically uneducated.
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Nobody says "coin" colloquially anymore. They pick a random coin, and use that instead.
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Why do we have to have Spock? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why do we have to have Spock? (Score:5, Funny)
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Anything is cooler when you integrate Star Trek into it.
Not really. Anybody who confuses the coolness of real accomplishment with a childish fantasy like startrek really needs to get out more.
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Don't be a programmer-bureaucrat; someone who substitutes marketing buzzwords and software bloat for verifiable improvements.
Communicators, fool (Score:3, Insightful)
Also dawns on me that only people 35+ years old would have any association between a flip-phone and Star Trek's original communicators. Defines the generation that designed these phones as well as (apparently) Slashdot's demographic.
Is it just me, or is it getting OLD in here??
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Maybe not, but it helps! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T'Pol [wikipedia.org]
Re:Why do we have to have Spock? (Score:5, Interesting)
But....
1: Are a bit dim at times (average IQ of 100 apparently!
2: Are going to be paying for it either through taxes or by buying the products that have adverts plastered across the side of the spaceship.
You've got to get the money from somewhere, and "cool" gets money these days.
For the REAL future of space missions, see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN3JjUUdjWU [youtube.com] - a bunch of British TV presenters decide to make a rocket...out of a 3 wheeled car. And it ends up being the largest non-commercial European space launch ever...now that's cool.
Pedant police strike again (Score:2)
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Another pay-load and a trillion in debt
Say Vulcan don't ya call me 'cause I can't go,
Until I can build me a warp drive core....
neeer, neeer, neeer, neeer, nee-ne-neer neeeeeeer
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Just 16 metric tons and it is currently the largest we can do?!
What the hell happened to Energia's blueprints? That baby could place 100 metric tons [wikipedia.org] into LEO!
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Though the mainstream media lapped that one up too.
It seems "Star Trek/Wars" is the Paris Hilton of Slashdot. Any story that can be linked to the phrase gets a headline. The sad thing is when, like this one, the story is inherently important. Still 95% of the comments are going to be lame Trek jokes.
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ut I'm totally confused by this constant recent desire to tie every space mission to popular sci-fi.
Some of these story submissions and associated comments are likely to be SF marketing parasites. It gives them mindshare and by associating their fiction with real world accomplishment they give themselves legitimacy. /. is likely to be an primary SF demographic.
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Marketing talk is not just cheap, it has negative value. Free speech can be compromised just as much by too much noise as too little sign
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Is it just me... (Score:2)
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While I would see some benefit to finding a planet and sending a probe to monitor the alien climate and whatnot, I disagree that simply knowing that a rock is floating around a star is that interesting. When we have the means to get there,
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"Right now, I want a real probe to go to Titan."
We had one not long ago, it's autonomous mothership is
"SIM PlanetQuest..." (Score:2)
If we hurry... (Score:1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pon_farr [wikipedia.org]
Which nickel is it? (Score:3, Insightful)
Is that a hot nickel, or a cold nickel?
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TPF, SIM cancelled (Score:2)
eh (Score:3, Funny)
Last I heard the boys still had issues dealing w/simple math. It might be best to hold off on such parlor triks as this until the tutors come back with a reasonable report...
Re:eh (Score:4, Funny)
Why wait. I'm thinking it might be a lot easier to just measure the nickel right here on Earth. In fact, you don't even need to measure it, as someone has done it [google.com] for us
Fictional (Score:2, Flamebait)
Re:Fictional (Score:5, Funny)
-Mike
Epsilon Eridani (Score:5, Informative)
I must admit that I'm old enough to remember when Vulcan was supposed to be a planet of Epsilon Eridani, not 40 Eridani. Epsilon is much more Sun-like.
Of course, the Vulcans would have to argue with the Comporellon folks, who also live in the Epsilon Eridani system. :-)
...laura
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MARRY ME!
Finally! An end to the controversy! (Score:2, Interesting)
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Wow, am I going to get burned for this, but... (Score:2)
Oh, great, more units (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, great, another metric unit we have to memorize: Moon-Earth distance nickel thicknesses. How many Libraries of Congress is that?
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Not green.
Green-blooded.
Re:lol (Score:5, Interesting)
Star Trek helped DEFINE cool for you non geeks.
Without Star Trek, many of the scientists who developed those pieces of equipment never would have even gone INTO science and the vast majority of those cool gadgets YOU rely on to get laid with wouldn't even exist and you would have to rely on your complete lack of charm to try to be a success with women.
To paraphrase William Shatner: "Get A CLUE!"
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The SIM PlanetQuest instrument will be so accurate, it could measure the thickness of a nickel at a distance from Earth to the moon.
This is quite an exciting prospect
"quite"?! This is seriously cool... I'm no expert in such things but I am totally amazed by the ability of people to put together such a project. This is the real world, not science *fiction*. Hats off to them and I seriously hope they log into /. to fill us in on their progress.
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Re:lol (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I can easily imagine somebody anonymously flaming Star Trek nerds on a Friday night beatin the hotties off with a stick.
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Star Trek nerds, lol. Your hobby is the cause of your virginity.
Or maybe their virginity is the cause of their hobby. Or maybe their virginity and their hobby share the same cause. Or maybe the two are unrelated. Or maybe Star Trek nerds aren't as virgin as their cracked up to be.
Anyways, I don't care, I don't feel concerned, I'm neither a Star Trek nerd nor a... I'm not a Star Trek nerd..
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...oh, wait, wrong franchise.
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What? Next thing you'll be telling me is that my Kryptonite pendant won't actually disable any passing superhumans!
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That'll teach you to stay away from controversy...
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Maybe not. For all you know, Earth might be the Mexico of the galactic community...
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in fact Grissom, White and Chaffee were killed in a fire during the test.
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