Mars Sheikh Nazim 30 Nov 2011 http://www.saltanat.org/SaltanatTV/tabid/210/Default.aspx Topic of Mars from 8 minutes. In English. Choose English subtitles if you wish.
According to this website " The Value of the Space Program " : 1 Personal Computers 2 Colorization of black and white movies 3 Solar powered calculators 4 Aluminized bags for snack food 5 Weather satellites 6 Halogen lights for cars 7 Sports domes 8 Microwave Ovens 9 Pocket calculators 10 Phone calls by satellite 11 Laser guided missiles 12 "Mylar" balloons 13 "Blue Blocker" sunglasses 14 Digital watches and thermometers 15 "DirecTV", "Dish Network", etc 16 "Kevlar" for bullet proof vests 17 "Mini Mag" flashlights 18 Fishing line 19 Fiber optics for phone calls 20 "Vortec" engines in GM cars 21 "Ovation" guitars and helicopter blades 22 Medical scanners 23 Electronic ignition in automobiles 24 Laser scanners in stores 25 "Bulb Miser" devices for long life light bulbs 26 Weather Maps on television 27 Juice boxes for "Hawaiian Punch", etc 28 "The Patch" medical device 29 Breathing systems for Mt. Everest climbers, Scuba divers and firefighters 30 “Flexon" eyeglasses and dental braces 31 Cellular phones and beepers 32 Cable Television, H B O, Showtime, etc 33 Pens that write upside down and under water 34 Anti corrosive paint for bridges, boats & Statue of Liberty 35 Scratch resistant coatings on sunglasses 36 Football helmets for the NFL 37 Pacemaker batteries that last 20 years and can be recharged through the skin. 38 Compact Disks 39 GPS Navigation Systems (40 Cold War)
An interesting article. However I think the pros of using nuclear-powered spacecraft far outweigh the potential dangers. For a start nuclear powered ships --either fission (as now) or fusion powered (in the future) are the only ones with the necessary potential acceration required to get to the planets in a reasonable amount of time. The other advantage is that they provide practically unlimited power. Though solar sails in theory could also propel any future starships at good speeds the size of the sails needed are far beyond current engineering technology. We are talking of sails the size of multiple football stadiums. Of course antimatter drives would be the best option and provide almost 100% efficiency in energy terms but we currently don't have the technology. As far as cost is concerned, the amount spent on these missions is a tiny fraction of what the US military spends annually so this objection is just a red herring.
is it necessary to spend so much on sending such missions to mars? it is potentially very dangerous: http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/09/nukes-in-space/
frankly, no. --- but don't you marvel at the One who created humans and gave them that intelligence? between the person who can draw a line diagram and the person(s) who can make a working robot - who is more praiseworthy? and indeed, the Creator who bestowed that ability to the person(s) who could make a working machine - and they were born, helpless and ignorant. ---- o human! what has deluded you (and thus are heedless) of your Gracious Lord? who Created you, and made you exquisite and fine. And He created you in the likeness of whatever He Willed. ----
We are not even on the stage of creating a successful solution to the problem of making a controller that can solve for frequency dependent disturbances within automobile systems. [recent controls conference in Atlanta, Georgia] We are just on the verge of pioneering work on space arms operating on satellites and the russian space station.How can we even imagine accomplishing the task of controlling a robot on another planet with so many variables? Its such an impossible task for current technology. This is the Rover Control Team. There is an 'Iraqi Sunni in it. His name is Ghanim al-Jumaily http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/roverctrlnav/rovercntrlnav.html
people do not have a problem with interpolation and induction in scientific theories, which are used to build furthermore explanations and in their final form, presented as 'facts'. but if one even talk of analogies or induction in religious topics, suddenly they are not convinced by 'unscientific' evidence and they need to 'see' it to believe it. scientists can extrapolate and speak of 'millions of years ago' and flesh up skeletons and bones and even put moles on the cheeks of such dug up skulls - and they will swallow it without batting an eyelid. still, they condescendingly look at the religious muslim as a blind follower.
i know about the enhancement done on it sidi AH but it is still remarkable as its based on a series of actual images taken from the surface by the robotic rover Opportunity. these are images from another world...think about that... think of the steps: humans design and build a robotic vehicle which can survive on Mars on its own--they then send it via a mothership rocket to Mars--the robotic vehicle enters the martian atmosphere--lands precisely at the chosen spot--turns itself on using sunlight for power--then switches on its systems and responds to telemetric commands from Earth, 100s of millions of miles away, --doesn't that leave you with a sense of awe?
The sun descends to the Martian horizon and sets in this 30-second movie simulation using images from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The movie includes images that have been calibrated and enhanced, plus simulated frames used to smooth the action. The rover team uses the Pancam to view sunsets a few times a year, when rover power is adequate, as a way to monitor distribution and variability of dust in the lower atmosphere. This movie builds on 17 individual photos of the sky around the sun taken through the Pancam's 440 nanometer-wavelength (blue), and 864 nanometer-wavelength (near infrared) filters, every 7.5 seconds during about 17 minutes of sunset on Opportunity's 2411th Martian day, or sol (Nov. 5, 2010). The sun's glare saturated parts of those images and so the moviemakers removed the glare and inserted a non-saturated image of the sun from the previous day's imaging using Pancam's special solar filter. They then supplemented this non-glare snapshot with interpolated frames to simulate the smoother motion of the setting sun. The end result simulates watching the sun set on Mars using a good pair of dark sunglasses, with the whole event sped up to about 35 times the actual speed.
Brother maybe you'll like this (if you haven't seen it already). Stellarium See the screenshots for a general idea.
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/video/opportunity01.html#2010sunset now THAT is amazing. Allah has given humans so much 'aql...