Posts by JaffaMan

Ice cliffs found on Mars and NASA says they’re a tap for astronauts

My thoughts exactly!

"Come on Cohaagen! You've got what you want. Givee theeez peeepel aiiiihrrr"

Elon Musk wants to launch 4,000 satellites and smother globe with net connectivity

Errr, excuse me?

"SpaceX has yet to achieve anything notable that hasn’t already been done by state-backed space agencies."

Really? Really!?

Did you miss the landings of an orbital class rocker first stage which many state-backed space agencies said couldn't be done? From a company that was founded only 14 years ago. Who are currently developing some of the most powerful engines and launch systems out there, in a fraction of the time and costs of rivals.

Wow. Not easily impressed are you?

It's ALIVE: Juno back online after reboot

Re: Figures sound wrong

Agreed. Has someone got some units wrong somewhere?

ExoMars update: Schiaparelli probe's parachute malfunctioned

Time for getting boots on there

Can we throw the Exo Mars money into a pot to get a human there please? 1 hr EVA with a geological hammer and hand auger would probably tell us more about Mars' geological past than we've learnt to date!

ISS 'nauts to inflate pump-up space podule

Why does it have to have a fiery death? Surely it could just stay up there as extra storage space for non-cirtical stuff. Seems such a waste to bin what is likely to otherwise be a perfectly adequate bit of space hardware.

Jeez, stick a big screen and a couple of speakers in there and have it as a bit of cinema/games room/isolation booth/chill out room.

SpaceX Falcon 9 set for fourth launch attempt

Please launch tonight!!

There's only so many late nights in quick succession I can cope with.

I missed the landing on land when that happened so have watched each (attempted) launch live since then!

I think I must be cursing them as my live track record thus far is 3 aborts and one KABLAMO on the barge.

Fingers crossed for tonight!

After eight years, NASA's Dawn probe brings Ceres into closest focus

Re: Ceres has been colonised

It's been hollowed out as part of the mining (with large chunks accelerated off to create the spin), and yes they're effectively standing on the ceiling.

I too wondered how Ceres hasn't just flown apart given its new spin...?

NASA's Cassini probe skims icy moon Enceladus

Park it in the rings?

Could NASA not park it in and among the rings? As far as i'm aware, we've still never had a decent close up view of the material in the rings. Or is the material surprisingly spread out so there's not much to see close up?

NASA briefing in HOURS: 'We are upon the CUSP of finding ANOTHER EARTH'

I can't help but feel I might be a tad disappointed with this.

It will most likely pan out to be;

Sun like star.

Earth mass planet.

Habital zone.

"We don't know if there's liquid water but there could be".

End of conference.

I would be delighted if it was the above and;

"Spectrographic analysis of reflected light or light passing through the atmosphere during occulation has identified water vapour, methane and CFCs (or other gases only possible by artificial means)."

and

"we've pointed a huge radio telescope at it and detected signals consistent with being artificially generated".

and

"it's only 5 light years away so a conversation within our lifetimes is potentially feasible should we choose to go down that route".

ROBOTS in sinister public-relations push ahead of coming WAR ON HUMANS

A fascinating area which shows how far we have come, yet how far we still have to go!

The BBC has a little "fail" compilation here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33045713

Bless their little tranistors - they're trying soo hard!

DEEPENING MYSTERY of BRIGHT LIGHTS on dwarf world Ceres

Reflected Light

I think that's a bit of a puzzling statement with regards reflected light. It almost implies that previously they thought it wasn't reflected?!

What we do have to consider in all of the photos is that the bright spots are massively over exposed and as such, their apparent brightness won't be altering across the sequence of images as it probably is doing in reality.

Absolutely fascinating though! I hope it doesn't turn out to be a chunk of ice. Would love to see a spectrographic interpretation though.

Spotty Ceres baffles boffins with bright patches

Re: please be something supremely interesting!!

its 'scope.

Damn my enthusiastic use of apostrophes.

please be something supremely interesting!!

My spine is tingling about this. It could be really really exciting!

I'm not quite sure how it could be ice be it CO2 or water. It's doesn't look like a deep well sheltered crater. Surely anything there like that would sublimate very quickly when exposed to the sun?

I hope this is something major, I really do!

All those mega pixels and it's 'scope should sure as heck resolve it though. No more mysteries soon!

KUSHINIKIZA! Google Translate SAVES BABY in Irish roadside birth

Google translate once helped me out massively when my dad got taken ill in Majorca (brain tumour). None of the doctors/nurses spoke much in the way of English. I spoke even less Spanish. Google translate (on the hospital's free and very good wifi) did the trick. Even down to "MRI scan" which is virtually the same in Spanish so I don't know why they couldn't understand me - perhaps my Yorkshire accent.

Oh and the nurse was an absolute stunning cute little brunette!

Mars rover 2020: Oxygen generation and 6 more amazing experiments

Why bother collecting samples for later?

I really don't see the point in collecting rock samples, particularly if they are going to be collected by man later, for return to earth.

Surely any manned mission would include rock coring/sampling gear for subsequent return to earth with the crew (assuming it's not a one way mission!). I see no real reason for Curiosity 2.0 to core the samples years in advance with a difficult, slow, costly automated drill when man will turn up with a slightly less difficult, slow and costly manually operated drill.

I'd like to see the space on the new rover occupied by some other wizz bang kit not storing rock samples.

It's a bit different if they're going to take samples for collection by another robot, but a bit pointless in my opinion if they will be collected by man.

Lifesize, driveable AIR-POWERED LEGO CAR hits the road

Hmmmmm

I'm not convinced.

The website doesn't show any photos of the construction or the interesting techy drive shafty bits. Where is the compressed air stored?

There's not really a proper explanation of how the engine works and how drive is transferred to the wheels.

Something just doesn't seem right to me. A bit like the wii-mote-flapping-arm-man-powered-human-flight thing the Reg fell for a while back. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/21/flying_man/

Mystery robot-bringing UFOs sighted by Indian troops on Tibet border

@ Lee Dowling

"Film, or it didn't happen.

And high-quality, focused, blur-free, still film with proper focus on that amazing object that you couldn't believe was there. Because I fail to believe that if I was seeing a UFO or similar, I wouldn't zoom in and get as much detail from the damn thing as I can in order for ME to tell what it was myself."

I could not agree more! Considering the aleged frequency of these events across the world I'm astonished in this day and age with the proliferation of camera phones, video cameras, CCTV, DSLRs etc that not one person has manage a coherent, stable, clear, focused video.

Like Lee said, if it were me filming it I'd like to think i'd be able to get focused zoomed and wide angle shots, with something in for scale, time of day etc and if I were videoing it be able to give a verbal description of what I could see and what settings, zoom length etc I was using.

I want to believe I really do, but you've got to question why this hasn't been accomplished yet!

Pics/vids or STFU.

Curiosity scoops up SHINY BITS from the RED SANDS of MARS!

Looks like a tooth

Kinda looks like a tooth! I hope it's a tooth! That would be the most exciting discovery ever1

Consider if we had actual people on Mars this "is it isn't it?" issue with man made debris would have been resolved almost instantly.

Keep rolling curiosity. Hope you're still rolling when human feet finally touch down.

NASA gets funding for Mars InSight mission in 2016

Pedestrian

Hmmm - after rocket crane dropped, laser cannon equipped SUVs this seems a little pedestrian.

The next mission should surely be actual pedestrians - human feet on Mars!

If NASA doesn't do it I hope the Chinese do soon!

US flags from the 1970s SEEN ON MOON

We Surrender?!

So, basically, on our nearest natural neighbour, once visited and long since deserted by man, we have several flags which, if they are still standing, have likely been bleached white to kingdom come by UV.

So one of the first thing any ET's will be a bunch of white flags, next to deserted equipment and territory, signalling our unconditional surrender!

I'm off back to my bunker now....

Rogue kangaroo floors broom-wielding 94-year-old

Ladies and gents of the jury, I present exhibit A) MF'ing HUGE SPIDER

I never want to go to Australia because of the above reason. Man is not number 1 on the food chain there!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3353693/Giant-spider-eating-a-bird-caught-on-camera.html

Higgs Boson hiding place narrows

Hidden Higgs

Some say his hair is so dark and lush because he washes it with dark matter, and that no-one has found the Higgs Boson because he keeps them all in a jar in a cupboard under his stairs, all I know is - he's called Professor Brian Cox!

600 tonne asteroid in low pass above Falkland Islands - TONIGHT

lastminute.com?

Anyone else a little concerned that they only spotted this coming our way a few days ago? Probably a bit late to have a lobbed a nuke at it by then to alter its course/vapourise it. I don't think there's any other alternative feesible given it was so close to us when detected.

You don't have to think hard what would've happened if it was a little bigger and could've come down in a popluated area/city, Hollywood has done it for you!

.

Solar panel selling scam shown up by sting

Drilling permit?!

Drilling permit?! What's that? Coming from someone who drills hundreds of holes a year, the only permit you need to drill is from the Coal Authority if you're drilling into coal measures.

Unless of coarse you're talking about regulator approval for abstracting/dumping heat into an aquifer and making sure it doesn't get over done in a local area....

Hadron Collider 'could act as telephone for talking to the past'

we are moving!

But we are moving throught the universe. The cosmic background radiation is commonly used as a reference point which we are moving relative too.

I'm not an expert but.....

Assuming these singlets were produced, would the present day LHC not be required to be in the extact point in space that the future singlet generating LHC would be in, in order to detect them?

Since, the earth, solar sytem, galaxy etc are moving at a fair old lick across the universe (~1.3 million miles per hour ), would these singlets from the future not just appear somewhere in space in our time frame as the future LHC that generated them would be well away from where the present day LHC is to detect them?

Danish rocketeers poised to reach for the skies

head 1st?

Judging by the photograph there's no nose cone where parachutes would typically deploy.

Assuming this follows a ballastic profile and comes down nose first, is the poor petrified guinea pig going to spend half the flight effectively standing on his head before landing head first?

Solar plasma aurora storm ongoing debate

will try again then!

Thanks all!

In that case then, i'll be booking another holiday to Iceland!! Faith restored somewhat.

I think the guide wanted us to feel like we'd got out moneys worth as she said it was quite a good display (it really wasn't). But it did leave me thinking that it was all a bit of a con!

Any good?! Not sure

Has anyone actually seen the Northern Lights? I'd like your opinion.

I have, in Iceland, earlier this year (before the unpronouncable erupted). They were frankly......rubbish (however, it was a full moon which may have swamped the lights a bit). It was a faint grey smudge to the naked eye. However, with a 30 second exposure on an expensive DSLR, the chap next to me got your typical postcard picture of a beautifull green shimmering cloud!

Now, every photo I've seen of the lights, if you look carefully, you can see over exposed street lights, house lights, lights on cars etc indicating a long exposure. The link given in the article shows some photos - with 30s exposures!

Could someone tell me, under the right conditions, are the northern lights/aurora really as spectacular to the naked eye as all the pciture postcards suggest? I feel somewhat conned to be honest!

Sony pledges 'affordable' 3D TV experience

ow my brain/eyes/wallet!

I got up close and personal with several 3D TVs at the recent Gadget Show Live. Yes, it's quite impressive. But most manufactures are going with the active shutter system. To me, I could just perceive the flicker of the glasses and after watching some demos (Sony was playing 3D videos via a PS3 btw, Wipeout and Motorstorm looked awesome!) after only a minute or so, my eyes/brain hurt!!

Not to mention so would your wallet. £100 for a paid of active shutter glasses!! So if you've a family of 4 and invite another couple over, that's £600 just in glasses. And how many pairs do you reckon you'll sit on/the dog will chew/drop in a pint glass over the year?!

LG were the only one with a passive (polarised) display. Much more eye friendly but only 720p (oh diddums, looked good enough to me and my eyesight is top notch).

Passive or not at all for me

Giant solar-powered aircraft takes to the skies

check your sums!

Very quick maths check only accounting for ground distance covered around the equator, no stops, constant speed etc.

24,000m/44mph = 545.5 hours non-stop flying time

/24 = 22.7 days or just over three weeks.

So yes, it would be just less than a month if you include a few stops.

Blighty surrenders to Street View

Yep

And mine, and my parents!!

Brit kids failing to fall out of trees

Crap weather

Could this be linked to the fact that the last 3 'summers' have been complete washouts, thus resulting in kids staying indoors?

Have injuries from jumping in puddles correspondingly increased?

'Tightly bound' stars seen locked in 'diabolic strip waltz'

Image is NOT real

From common sense I can tell you the image isn't real and is entirely an artists impression. Shame the article fails to mention this!

If it were real, it would be headline news world over. The first direct image of a black hole! Eating a neighbouring star!!! Emitting jets!!!!! *explodes*

Earthquake-squelching, sonar-invisible 'active cloak' unfurled

That far away?

"According to Milton, the method isn't applicable to visible light as it requires the use of unfeasibly small active emitters. Even if these could be built, it would only be possible to cloak very very small things.

"It is very difficult to build antennas the size of light waves," says the prof. "We're so far from cloaking real-sized objects to visible light that it's incredible.""

I think these people, need to speak to these people who've already built lasers the size of the wavelength of visible light!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/17/worlds_smallest_laser