I learned tonight about tidally locked planets, how they get that way and - the day side may be molten lava, some rock gets vaporized, it's carried to the night side by winds, cools and rains stone.
Also, Venus is so hot that some metals like bismuth and lead vaporize, get carried aloft, cool and then rain metal creating a white, snow-like covering on mountains.
I learned tonight about tidally locked planets, how they get that way and - the day side may be molten lava, some rock gets vaporized, it's carried to the night side by winds, cools and
That's one of the reasons why tend to dismiss recent popular stories about planets found in the habitable zones of red dwarf stars. Including Proxima, the closest other star to Earth.
Red Dwarves are the most common stars around us. But none are visible to the naked eye, because they're smaller and dimmer. For a planet to be in the habitable zone - in the temperature range of liquid water - it has to be right in close. That means the planet will become tidally locked, with the effects described above.
Another problem is that being in close, tidal forces will be constantly flexing the planet. Which is what gives Io it's massive volcanoes. And red dwarves have a lot of solar flares which would eventually blow away a close-in planets atmosphere.
I learned tonight about tidally locked planets, how they get that way and - the day side may be molten lava, some rock gets vaporized, it's carried to the night side by winds, cools and rains stone.
Also, Venus is so hot that some metals like bismuth and lead vaporize, get carried aloft, cool and then rain metal creating a white, snow-like covering on mountains.
Cool.
Didn't check to see if the links discussed it, but you may like reading about the Venera probes that Russia sent to Venus. The engineering challenges they had to overcome just to survive on the planet for an hour is amazing!
To be clear: This is not a decision to build it. It's a decision to study the idea, which has been around for a while.
The idea is that you can use existing spacecraft to send people to the station. From there it would be easy to send re-usable landers to the surface. If you want to built an outpost on the surface - including using that outpost to test hardware for colonizing Mars - this is a good low-cost first step.
Your letter will be delivered to the United States Senate:
I strongly urge you to oppose the nomination of Jim Bridenstine — a climate change denier with no formal scientific background — as the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
NASA must remain an independent scientific agency, and its critical earth science missions must continue.
Reject the appointment of anti-science ideologue Rep. Jim Bridenstine to lead NASA and insist on a true scientist or another qualified individual for the position.
This is where they launch a Cherry-red Tesla Roadster into a Mars transfer orbit (but not at Mars) AND land TWO boosters back at the Cape AND land a third booster on a barge out in the Atlantic AND glide the payload fairings to a soft-landing in the Atlantic for recover and reuse.
Elon Musk has downplayed expectations for the success of the maiden flight: "There's a real good chance the vehicle won't make it to orbit...I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage. I would consider even that a win, to be honest."
The Tesla - with an astronaut suit in the driver's seat - is in a parking orbit. A second burn in a few minutes will raise its orbit, and a later third burn will put it in a Mars transfer orbit. (But not to Mars.)
The two side boosters have landed at the cape.
The center core has *reached* the drone ship, but we're waiting for word on how hard. Given the delay it's not looking good.
Waiting for word on the payload fairings recovery. I believe they've successfully done that at least once before.
... The car faces considerable speed bumps before settling into its intended orbit around the sun, an oval circle stretching from the orbit of Earth on one end to the orbit of Mars on the other. It has to endure a cosmic bombardment during several hours of cruising through the highly charged Van Allen radiation belts encircling Earth. Finally, a thruster has to fire to put the car on the right orbital course.
If it weathers all this, the Roadster will reach the vicinity of Mars in six months, Musk said. The car could be traveling between Earth and Mars' neighborhoods for a billion years, according to the high-tech billionaire.
Musk acknowledged the Roadster could come "quite close" to Mars during its epic cruise, with only a remote chance of crashing into the red planet....
Comments:
Can we put that “flat Earth guy” on board?
Give Mr. Stark, I mean Musk anything he wants.
What a stunt. One day someone will retrieve it and auction it off at Barrett Jackson. "Ok, this one has a LOT of miles on it..."
