RE: [Utah-astronomy] BB and Mars "thingy" updates
Patrick, before you get too excited about bombing the desert, do you want to take measurements of the salt crust and make this a "scientific" endeavor?
From my experience I don't think the surface water will be gone until mid-summer.
-----Original Message----- From: Patrick Wiggins [mailto:paw@trilobyte.net] Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 5:29 PM To: utah astronomy listserve Subject: [Utah-astronomy] BB and Mars "thingy" updates Bowling Ball Drop I flew over the "approved" bowling ball drop zone today and am happy to report the designated area is very big and devoid of obstacles. It will be hard to miss. There's still a lot of snow out there and the ground that has no snow on it looks pretty muddy so chances are this is not going to happen for a few weeks, at least. After landing I spoke with a guy at the FAA who assured me they only needed to get involved "if something goes wrong." And then after getting home I called the land owner and reconfirmed we have permission (actually she said she really wants to see it happen). "Thingy" On Mars I just spoke with my contact at NASA. She had not heard of the object but said that she'd passed my query on to someone who works with the imaging team. More on that when I hear more. Patrick _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com
Hi Kim, Kim Hyatt wrote:
Patrick, before you get too excited about bombing the desert, do you want to take measurements of the salt crust and make this a "scientific" endeavor? From my experience I don't think the surface water will be gone until mid-summer.
Right you are. As I mentioned last night, when I flew over the site yesterday there was still a lot of mud out there so the drop is not going to happen any time soon. As for taking measurements, I figured we'd do that after the drop. Patrick
On Sat, 7 Feb 2004, Patrick Wiggins wrote:
Right you are. As I mentioned last night, when I flew over the site yesterday there was still a lot of mud out there so the drop is not going to happen any time soon.
Is there no interest in finding out what happens when "meteorites" impact mud? Would not a "scientific" meteorite impact research program want to control for soil/salt viscosity? Besides, if the ground moisture content is high enough, the impact dynamics (i.e. the "splash" or "splat") might be spectacular. :-) Chris
The "Letterman Effect". --- Chris Clark <cpclark@xmission.com> wrote:
Besides, if the ground moisture content is high enough, the impact dynamics (i.e. the "splash" or "splat") might be spectacular. :-)
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You may have been joking but I did some consulting for him a couple of years ago so I know he's interested in astronomy. Suddenly the PR person in me just thought "call Dave Letterman". Hmmm, Patrick Chuck Hards wrote:
The "Letterman Effect".
--- Chris Clark <cpclark@xmission.com> wrote:
Besides, if the ground moisture content is high enough, the impact dynamics (i.e. the "splash" or "splat") might be spectacular. :-)a
CALL HIM! Letterman will latch onto this almost certainly! There's your corporate sponsor! Heck, you'll be dropping Steinways! C. --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote:
You may have been joking but I did some consulting for him a couple of years ago so I know he's interested in astronomy. Suddenly the PR person in me just thought "call Dave Letterman".
Hmmm,
Patrick
Chuck Hards wrote:
The "Letterman Effect".
--- Chris Clark <cpclark@xmission.com> wrote:
Besides, if the ground moisture content is high enough, the impact dynamics
(i.e.
the "splash" or "splat") might be spectacular. :-)a
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Have you figured out terminal velocity for the ball yet? -Michael
To be honest I don't know if we want that much attention. But then Kim is the one heading up the project and who has done most of the high profile PR so what's say we leave it up to him?
Patrick
Chuck Hards wrote:
CALL HIM!A
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Michael Carnes wrote:
Have you figured out terminal velocity for the ball yet?
Everyone that I've heard from that has calculated the velocity has come up with different number. All number, however, exceed those of a flat, stable, face to Earth skydiver. I'd still like to try chasing one but now that the skydiving drop zone has moved from the wide open spaces down near Cedar Valley where we could have dropped balls safely to a residential area in Erda that's probably out. The one glimmer of hope would be if someone comes forward willing to sponsor the event. That way we could pay the drop zone to hold the drop in the boonies and supply a freefall videographer to capture it all on tape. Patrick
Not to belabor a point, but DAVID LETTERMAN Look, once the story gets out (again!) everyone is going to think we're all nuts (the hangers-on and wannbes like myself through association) so we may as well go for the big-time. If the science is solid then there's nothing to fear. Letterman may be able to realize that this is not just a "Jackass" stunt, that there is valid science behind it and nobody wants to do it just to see something go splat in the desert. I think it's worth a try to contact him, lay it out straight, and see what he says! C. --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote:
The one glimmer of hope would be if someone comes forward willing to sponsor the event. That way we could pay the drop zone to hold the drop in the boonies and supply a freefall videographer to capture it all on tape.
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I'm now not so sure if he'd really be interested. If he's really into dropping things from great heights mere bowling balls wont be good enough. Remember that Skydive Arizona routinely drops things like motor vehicles, boats and huge rubber balls out of airplanes complete with skydivers sitting in and on them. What we want to do would be pretty boring... Patrick Chuck Hards wrote:
Not to belabor a point, but
DAVID LETTERMAN
OK, here's another fun train of thought. Now I don't want to be branded a nut, but I am intrigued by the spherical things that are all over parts of the Opportunity landing site. While NASA says there are any number of natural processes that can explain them, I'm having trouble imagining what those are -- other than hailstorms. These things appear to be on more compact soil, not loose finer dust, and usually not on rocks. They do not seem randomly distributed. Sometimes they're in rows evenly spaced, and they usually aren't in a big heap, the way you'd expect to find mineral balls -- you would expect them to roll into a cavity and pile up there. I found iron nodules in southern Utah that were not evenly distributed. In fact, these seem to be more on the crests than the little depressions in the soil. What really got my interest going is that I looked at a pair of views of a soil close-up, studying them in 3D. These objects do not look round. Instead, they seem somewhat elongated. The smaller objects seem more elongated than the big ones. Also, they have seems and the seems run toward the ground. So here's my thought, which I would like people to take pot shots at or tell me what you think. What if they are some Martian analog to growing plants or fungus? What if they poke out of the soil in a sort of elongated stem and then puff out into more of a ball shape as they grow? It's possible that the seems of elongation is just a distortion caused by some fault in the perspective of the 3D images, but I can't tell that. I have put together a 3D version, cropping parts that were in too much sunlight and making both of the views cover approximately the same territory. I also brightened everything. Anyone who would like to see this, please drop me a note and I can email the image to you individually. Chuck, I know you can view items in 3D by free-base looking. Would you take a look at this and tell me what you think? Everybody, is it even possible that these are some kind of growing life form? Am I goofy for even suspecting that? Thanks all -- Joe
I had heard that small spheroids had been found, but in the absence of details I assumed volcanic glass like on the moon. These don't strike me as similar to the lunar spheroids, but I'm no expert. They could also be crystals that form in-situ, perhaps even carbonates. I think any liquid particles at microscopic scales would be ellipsoidal or spheroidal, this could account for the shapes, before the water evaporated out of the structure. I think it premature to speculate on a biological explantion. On the other hand, forget plants. These are obviously just the droppings of a higher form of life... C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
Thanks, Chuck -- they are sure strange.
Looks like you are reading my mind. After I sent that message I got to wondering what would happen if the ground was wet. So, like I just replied to Jim, I would be interested in different objects at different times (wet, dry, frozen). Patrick Chris Clark wrote:
Is there no interest in finding out what happens when "meteorites" impact mud? Would not a "scientific" meteorite impact research program want to control for soil/salt viscosity? Besides, if the ground moisture content is high enough, the impact dynamics (i.e. the "splash" or "splat") might be spectacular. :-)
participants (6)
-
Chris Clark -
Chuck Hards -
Joe Bauman -
Kim Hyatt -
Michael Carnes -
Patrick Wiggins