Georgia Fiero Club Forum

General Discussion and Announcements => General Discussion => Topic started by: TopNotch on June 21, 2018, 09:08:34 pm

Title: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: TopNotch on June 21, 2018, 09:08:34 pm: A Japanese robotic spacecraft is currently on it's way to a mysterious asteroid, which has a strange cubic shape...

Maybe they'd better stay away, unless they have phasers...
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: GTRS Fiero on June 21, 2018, 09:29:26 pm: Not the Borg.
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: GTXVette on June 22, 2018, 06:38:34 am: In 2 day's time it tripled in size in those pics. How close is it and how close is it supposed to get.
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: TopNotch on June 22, 2018, 08:45:46 am: The pictures were taken by the Japanese Hayabusa 2 spacecraft, which is approaching the asteroid. The purpose of the mission is to take a sample from the asteroid and return it to Earth.
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: Raydar on June 22, 2018, 06:05:32 pm: Quote from: TopNotch on June 22, 2018, 08:45:46 am
...The purpose of the mission is to take a sample from the asteroid and return it to Earth.

Anyone besides me think that sounds like a potentially bad idea?
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: GTRS Fiero on June 22, 2018, 06:07:36 pm: If they can sample things on Mars, and report remotely on the results, why not with the asteroid?
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: GTXVette on June 22, 2018, 10:25:11 pm: I See it..... what you are questioning is the Bring it back part.
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: GTRS Fiero on June 22, 2018, 10:29:14 pm: Surely, it should be decontaminated, first. We don't even know what we don't know about what could be on that thing. Expose some rats and cockroaches to it for a few years, before bringing it here.
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: TopNotch on June 22, 2018, 10:41:01 pm: Quote from: Raydar on June 22, 2018, 06:05:32 pm
Quote from: TopNotch on June 22, 2018, 08:45:46 am
...The purpose of the mission is to take a sample from the asteroid and return it to Earth.
Anyone besides me think that sounds like a potentially bad idea?

It's not the first time it's been done. Nothing bad has happened so far.

Quote from: GTRS Fiero on June 22, 2018, 06:07:36 pm
If they can sample things on Mars, and report remotely on the results, why not with the asteroid?

An asteroid (or comet) has almost no gravity, so it's much easier to return a sample to earth from those objects, than from Mars.
The Russians tried a few years ago to do a sample return from Mars' moon Phobos, but that mission failed.
The US has done a sample return from a comet's tail, the Japanese did a previous asteroid return with Hayabusa 1, and the US has a current asteroid mission underway to return a sample from a "carbon rich" asteroid named Bennu (Will they find diamonds?).
And then, of course, there's all those moon rocks the Apollo astronauts brought from the Moon.
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: GTRS Fiero on June 18, 2019, 09:43:21 pm: I wonder what happened. I wasn't assimilated. Maybe some people were.
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: TopNotch on June 18, 2019, 10:58:51 pm: Japanese mission Hayabusa 2 touched down on asteroid Ryugu on June 13 and grabbed a sample, and is currently in orbit around the asteroid. Controllers are debating whether to touch down again for another sample.
NASA mission OSIRIS-REx is currently in orbit around asteroid Bennu, looking for a good place to grab a sample. Below is a picture of Bennu taken by the spacecraft. The boulders on the top right horizon are over twice as tall as a person, so it's pretty rugged down there.
Just to the left of a big dark boulder near the center of the picture is a curious fuzzy edged square shape. I think they should grab that.
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: GTRS Fiero on June 18, 2019, 11:22:09 pm: Interesting.
Title: Re: Star Trek, for real?
Post by: GTRS Fiero on September 09, 2019, 06:17:28 pm: Rdcently, an asteroid unexpectedly crashed into Esrth. Apparently, the Borg could come to Earth, without the people who are paid to watch being any the wiser.