Beagle 2, Life in the univerese etc...

[Furr]

Resist the Americanism's call him Father Christmas.... ok i admit Santa is easier to say

 

[SFXman]

Joulupukki, that's the one
He "lives" in Finland so might as well call him by the finnish name.

 

[dysfunction]

Joulupukki, that's the one
He "lives" in Finland so might as well call him by the finnish name.

I'm not Finnish so....No!

 

[Luribomb]

One theory, I think, said that the universe is not infinite, but expands with the speed of light, making it impossible to ever get behind that line.

 

[Delboy]

Its impossible to visualise infinity, in the same way as its impossible to visualise being dead with no afterlife.


For me that's easy to imagine. Plenty of films hint on it too.

 

[dysfunction]

One theory, I think, said that the universe is not infinite, but expands with the speed of light, making it impossible to ever get behind that line.

But the thing that really messes with the brain is whats beyond that line that the universe is expanding into??

 

[moomin]

But the thing that really messes with the brain is whats beyond that line that the universe is expanding into??

maybe it's warping in on itself or expanding into other universes


muff said

 

[dysfunction]

maybe it's warping in on itself or expanding into other universes


muff said

I cant get over the concept that everything has an outside edge....and therefore something has to be beyond that edge...

 

[moomin]

I cant get over the concept that everything has an outside edge....and therefore something has to be beyond that edge...

maybe it has no edge you remember super mario 3 when you were on 2 player mode and you jump from one side of teh screen to the other


that's what I mean

 

[Tom]

Its impossible to visualise infinity, in the same way as its impossible to visualise being dead with no afterlife.


For me that's easy to imagine. Plenty of films hint on it too.

Elaborate then.

 

[Krunch-X]

I find it quite intriguing as to what Beagle 2 will find, if it even succeeds in landing (pff, the english ) and if there even is anything of interest on the red planet.
Can't wait to read the news on christmas day.

Pff... you got it all wrong, Finland my boy, Finland.

*If* it succceeds in landing ?! =)

Once it jettisons it's thermal protection and fires the seconday shute, as it approaches the ground, it'll inflate it's giant airbags and we'll all pray for a sucessfull 'bounce' ... approximately 6 of them in fact.

It's been targetted at a nice flat area of Mars for landing, and hopefully once it has come to rest, it will be able to fully open it's solar cell lined 'flaps'.

I think the biggest concern is not the landing, but more the orientation with regards to the 2 satellites orbiting Mars. If Beagle2 can't talk to them, and the backup plans fail, then it's a wasted trip ...

As for the guy talking about bringing jobs to a British company, it's more than one ... I work for a company called Scisys and we were tasked with creating the control software for the device. I'm just really chuffed to see people talking about it =)

And and to Stimpy ... if you're looking forward to your alien ... erm ... violation, then just imagine what the aliens on Mars would think if they saw the impulse driven probe that Beagle2 uses !!!

We won't know about life though, Beagle2 is a rock-sample-taking-thing, although it does have a camera (look out for the first ever panoramic shot of the surface of Mars, from it's surface, a couple of days after landing).

We've got a model of Beagle2 sat in one of our conference rooms atm, it's quite neat. Shame it's not functional though

Don't ask me a ton of questions about it ! I'm not part of the software team for Beagle2, I just work in the same division (although that's not to say I can't relay the odd question to them ).

Take it easy ! Merry Christmas

KcX

 

[Vasquez]

As for the guy talking about bringing jobs to a British company, it's more than one ... I work for a company called Scisys and we were tasked with creating the control software for the device. I'm just really chuffed to see people talking about it =)

I don't think I implied just one, I meant Astrium (as the prime contractor) would sub-contract out different modules & tasks to different companies. The important thing here is that the vast majority of work that was contracted out, went to companies within Britain... and this is a very good thing.

I'm aware of Scisys's contribution to the project and am very jeleous you work for a company that has been involved in a project such as this, am desperate to get into that line of work myself.

Tell the guys they did a sterling job, best of British and all that

 

[Delboy]

http://esa.capcave.com/esa/marsexpress/

http://www.spacenow.org.uk/beagle2.cfm

 

[Shadow_Xj5]

Aye, there was an interesting article on "Infinity Upstaged" in News Scientist. It talked about different infinities, e.g. the set of real numbers.

Real numbers between 0 and 10 is infinite, but so is the set of real numbers between 0 and 1.......so what is infinity?

not ture, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, 1.0000000000....00001 isn't a real number its a float

Anyway! I will be watching the feed very soon, hope it lands well, and I hope they do find something, like the red weed from War of the Worlds or something, that would be great

As for the size of space? BIG.

 

[xane]

Completely, especially as it's a known fact that we only utilise a small portion of our brains true power.

http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm

 

[dysfunction]

http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm

Thats a bit of a lame argument by snopes....they dont discount the fact that we dont use our brains to their full potential....which is quite likely.

 

[worMatty]

Full potential how? Maths is just remembering stuff, innit?

 

[Mellow]

But the thing that really messes with the brain is whats beyond that line that the universe is expanding into??

Pot Pourri.

 

[Delboy]

Full potential how? Maths is just remembering stuff, innit?


If only....

 

[Panda On Smack]

If we are the only ones then I suppose my question is why ?

Read the bible

 

[Eternal]

Since I was a kid, Ive been fascinated by the fact that everything is made of molecules which are made of atoms which are made of protons and electrons which are made of something even smaller..... and it seemed to me that theres no limit to how small things could be.
Why not the other way?

Imagine the earth as being the size of a red blood cell, running through the bloodstream of some ordinary but HUGE lifeform, going about its daily humdrum business, and that we, to it, would be just atom sized,and that this huge lifeform itself is just atom sized to something even larger.

Helps me cope with the concept of infinity


Mind you, the thought of sentient beings coursing through my blood stream is rather unnerving

 

[Tom]

Actually, this is quite cool: http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/