Recent comments in /f/space

FlingingGoronGonads t1_jab0duk wrote

Reply to The Case for Callisto by MoreGull

OP, it's nice to see someone thinking about the Galilean moons, and Callisto in particular. All of these worlds are interesting and they fly under the radar quite a bit, so I'm happy to see this post. There was even an announcement last week about Callisto seeing aurorae, which I never saw coming.

I want to first ask about your last point - what do you mean by "the future is in orbit around..."? I understood the second half of the sentence, but not the first.

Re: point #5: Mars is much closer than the Jovian system to the Main Belt, and the vast majority of known asteroids in the inner system. There are some interesting asteroid groups closer to Jupiter (e.g. the Hilda family, or the Trojan clouds that the Lucy mission will be investigating), but Mars has the advantage there in terms of proximity.

Re: point #2: Yes, Callisto is pretty undifferentiated, but not completely so - from what I understand (see papers like this or this) it does have some internal structure. I mention this because I don't think we know enough about weird objects like Callisto (or Ceres, to give the only other remotely comparable example I can think of) to speculate on the ease or difficulty of finding minerals in accessible quantity near the surface. All of our detailed geology experience is from well-structured/differentiated worlds (Earth/Luna/Mars), and we don't know that undifferentiated/messy mantles like Callisto's won't be worse at concentrating ores. I'd be speculating if you asked me about magmatic or hydrothermal processes in such places.

All of that being said, I would humbly like to add one point to your set of arguments: Callisto's location in the Jovian system seems like a huge advantage to me. Jupiter is a fantastic source of magnetic energy and light elements, and the other moons in the system are excellent targets for exploration, especially if you've a base camp on reasonably stable Callisto. Science aside, I wonder if there are resources available on the other Galileans that Callisto may lack, bolstering the overall case. I personally imagine Callisto would be part of a "second wave" of solar system bases/international scientific villages, but this is interesting to think about, for sure. Sign me up for the first expedition!

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rocketsocks t1_jaaxtzr wrote

Reply to comment by Stardustquarks in China unveils lunar lander to put astronauts on the moon by kevindavis338

People need to get out of the Space Race mindset. It doesn't fit what's going on right now and it's also not a good model to follow in terms of robust space exploration and human spaceflight.

The "omg, a Space Race! how lovely!" reactions remind me of this tweet:

https://twitter.com/afraidofwasps/status/1177301482464526337?lang=en

> Guy who has only seen The Boss Baby, watching his second movie: Getting a lot of 'Boss Baby' vibes from this...

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ChrisARippel t1_jaauuzv wrote

Reply to help in creating a space and board game by Dexters_Network

Game name: Orbital Mechanics.

Board: Eight planets orbiting counter clockwise around the Sun. Their orbits are the correct number of astronomical units from the Sun. (The exact number of centimeters would be based on the size of the board. The orbits would be marked as circles on the board.

The board are tiny squares. Spacecraft move from one square to another.

Board Set Up: Planets would randomly placed on their orbits. Spaceships for of all players are placed on Earth at the start of the game. Though there is no reason players couldn't start on/orbiting another planet. There is no reason players couldn't start on/orbiting different planets.

Numbers 1 through 8, but not including 3, are placed in a box. Each player draws a number from the box. 1=Mercury, 2=Venus... 8=Neptune. This becomes their target planet. The first player reaching their target planet is the winner. One obvious issue is that reaching Mars should be easier than reaching Neptune. I haven't figured out how to deal with this.

Play Movement: Players take turns moving diagonally toward their target planet.

Their first move is 1 square. Their second move is 2 squares. Third move 3 squares. Each move is more squares. But halfway to their target they must start moving 1 less square so the spacecraft allows down.

After each round of play all planets are a number of squares along their orbit. Neptune is moved one square. Uranus two squares. Saturn three squares. ... Mercury 8 squares.

A spaceship sitting within 2 squares behind the planet when it moves will add the number of the planet's move to the spacecraft's future moves. For example, if a planet moved 5 squares on the move putting it on Jupiter's orbit. When Jupiter moves 4 squares along its orbit, the spacecraft moves 9 on its next move and adds 9+6 moves on the next move.

A spaceship sitting within 2 squares in front of a planet when it moves will subtract the number from the spacecraft's future moves.

When a spacecraft reaches the halfway point in the trip, the spaceship needs to move one less move on additional moves to slow down the spacecraft. The spacecraft can only land on the target planet in one move. If spacecraft are moving too fast when reaching the planet, spacecraft must orbit the planet slowing down one each move, until spacecraft can land in one move. First, spacecraft to land on the target planet in one move wins.

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