Defiance of Science » Space

Hey wanna pretend to go mars for 520 days?

Glucid — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:09:01 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP7pni7AZGk

Deep above the earths atmosphere brave astronauts are pointing downwards laughing at the crew of the mars 500. They will boldly go, well, nowhere. Scientists are currently monitering the crew, which make up scientists from Russia, France, and China for signs of physiological and psychological changes due to the extreme isolation to simulate a mission to mars. The crew members shower once every 10 days to conserve water and all supplies are onboard the “station”. In essence a bunch of scientists will be stuck in a pod for 520 days with nothing but stink and wii fit to keep em busy. halfway through the mission they will land and be released into a “simulated” mars area where they are to conduct experiements. Even radio communications will be delayed 20 minutes. All I know is that all work and no play make jack a dull boy…

via:popsci,esa

Nasa thinks “radiation + monkey’s what could go wrong?”

Glucid — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:06:03 +0000

In an attempt to study radiation NASA has decided to mess some monkeys up to see what happens! 18-28 naive squirrel monkeys volunteering for what they believed to be a poo throwing contest will be exposed to types of radiation commonly experienced by astronauts. They will then make them play various stupid games and see if the radiation makes them even more idiotic. The animals will then be moved from NASA’s Space Radiation Laboratory in New York to McLean Hospital where they will be pitied by various staff and veteranarians as they suffer from potentially the following: nausea, headache, weakness, hair loss, infections, vomiting blood, bloody stool, Diarrhea, High fever Dizziness, Disorientation, Low blood pressure, and finally anger, severe severe monkey anger, Oh and Death.All the same maybe we should have been exposing monkeys to radiation a long time ago, the human race hasn’t seen a crazy zombie like virus or extremely intelligent time travelling monkeys in a while and maybe its about time.

[source]

NASA 17.6 Billion vs. $150 MIT student budget

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:25:28 +0000

Septemper 2nd, Students from MIT launched a balloon with a styrofoam payload including a prepaid phone which relayed GPS coordinates as well as a 7.1 megapixel camera designed to take pictures every 5 seconds and recorded images like the one on the left. If I bought a ladder for that much money I’m sure the best view I would get is my neighbour’s beerbelly and a potential restraining order.

After floating for about 4 hours it reached an estimated 28,350 metres above the Earth’s surface.the budget was around $150. NASA’s reported budget for fake moonlandings and radio controlled hot wheels is $17.6 Billion dollars. What have you done lately with your money besides buying that last season of battlestar galactica get off your ass and build that backyard spaceship already.

(Image: 1337arts.com/Oliver Yeh/Justin Lee)