DARPA's robots may not be earthbound anymore

MikeDYur

This site keeps track of cutting-edge tech.



http://digital.militaryaerospace.com/militaryaerospace/201606/m2/Page.action?lm=1465791656000&pg=6

Buck Rogers

Oddly enough Mike we've had robots working in space since the first active satellite found herself hanging around our planet.

By active I mean one like Vanguard, (who despite having gone silent after a few weeks in orbit, is still up there), is indeed one. Oh and comsats need not apply.

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erco what are all of your robots doing watching "Perry Mason" on a telly in CT?

MikeDYur

Hello Buck,
I seen a short clip once, (probably NASA generated) of all the man made satellites and space junk orbiting the planet. I can't comprehend just how they keep track of it all, one slight miscalculation could cause a collision, and set off a catastrophic chain of events, and would take years to recover from. The smooth sailing ISS seems to cover most of the planet, and i'm sure it has NASA's highest priority, and modern satellite's can adjust their own orbit, but the old non-opperational and outdated one's should be collected some how, to clean a path for future endeavor's.

Mike

GordonMcComb

Buck Rogers wrote: »

By active I mean one like Vanguard, (who despite having gone silent after a few weeks in orbit, is still up there)

As Mike says, it's not necessarily a good thing. I believe all three successfully launched Vanguards are still there. (They tried to launch more, but the Vanguard rocket was very problematic, with far more failures than successes). Also bunches of final stages and other debris. All this junk has to be constantly tracked to minimize the risk to other satellites.

In any case, derelict space objects aren't the kind of success story NASA wants to emphasize. In modern missions, they try to design things so they can come down after use.

Buck Rogers

Also true.

However the original Vanguard happens to be in a perfect orbit. Won't reenter until next century......

Buck Rogers

MikeDYur wrote: »

Hello Buck,
I seen a short clip once, (probably NASA generated) of all the man made satellites and space junk orbiting the planet. I can't comprehend just how they keep track of it all, one slight miscalculation could cause a collision, and set off a catastrophic chain of events, and would take years to recover from. The smooth sailing ISS seems to cover most of the planet, and i'm sure it has NASA's highest priority, and modern satellite's can adjust their own orbit, but the old non-opperational and outdated one's should be collected some how, to clean a path for future endeavor's.

Mike

Remember the film "Wargames"? That location does a lot more then watch for World War Three starting. It also tracks space junk. Plus there are plans to clean things up.

MikeDYur

Remember the original Star Trek episode, "The Doomsday Machine"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doomsday_Machine_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)

If we could create somthing like that on a small scale, to survive on, or just recycle space junk, it could drop the recycled materials into designated areas for recovery. I know that won't work because atmospheric friction. Maybe we could just collect the junk in a pod for re-entry, we will need a robot to gather the stuff.

MikeDYur

This is a little old news, and hopefully not a copy of another post but...

Does anyone know what "LGM" stands for?

No time for any cleanup, we must press on with real science, Got milk?

How will cows survive on the Moon? One of the most vexing questions asked about space, scientists have spent decades debating this key issue. Finally, after extensive computer modeling and over a dozen midnight milkings, engineers have designed, built, and now tested the new Lunar Grazing Module (LGM), a multi-purpose celestial bovine containment system. By now, many of you will not be surprised to be wished a Happy April Fool's Day from APOD. To the best of our knowledge, there are no current plans to launch cows into space. For one reason, cows tend to be large animals that don't launch easily or cheaply. As friendly as cows may be, head-to-head comparisons show that robotic rovers are usually more effective as scientific explorers. The featured image is of a thought-provoking work of art named "Mooooonwalk" which really is on display at a popular science museum.