Category: Space


Well in those days computers were apparently 1-4Mhz on the server end of things. Doing wireframe perspective matrix transformations quick enough to rotate things in real time was a big deal. I mean… I wasn’t born yet – but the literature clearly indicates there were parties in the streets. LOL

Is this kind-of like a Rickroll?

Who is Edward Lorenz? Well he’s known in scientific circles as the father of chaos theory. Chaos theory explores the relatioships between tiny changes in a dynamic system and the vast impacts these changes can have.

For me this is a somber day as I fondly remember reading about chaos theory in my school library – discovering this theory for the first time.

Edward Lorenz was apparently a humble, kind man who stayed active up until he died of cancer. Ninety years is nothing to sneeze at, either. Living for that long is probably due in part to his lifestyle. I hope I get to live that long in good health, even if that thought is far off for now.

In 1972 he wrote the study, “Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?” His work had impact in all areas of science. It was this theory and it’s implications which drew connections between the various disciplines and shed light on the interactions between these complex systems.

Radar image of Mars polar ice capsWell this is news to me, anyway.

Mars seems to hold enough water to bury the planet in about 11 meters of water. That’s not a vastly deep ocean by any means but that’s if it covered the whole surface. One might assume that it’s depth would vary while it flooded around land masses.

I think this is pretty much the expected result of our now extensive Mars studies. All we need now is that alien reactor to melt the Mars ice caps and create an instant atmosphere. ;)

It’s all science fiction… yeah.

Now, this story comes from a site called, “Enterprise Mission.” Something about that name discredits it just about right away.

I found it fascinating, however. Apparently by plunging Galileo into Jupiter to avoid causing damage, NASA managed to ignite the Plutonium 238 fuel and create a nuclear explosion.

The article argues that this explosion atomized some of the atmospheric contaminants including carbon, which formed elementary carbon creating a dark soot spot on Jupiter that had not been there before.

There’s even a little intrigue because it’s all supposedly only documented by the hobbyist community. That seems a little shady to me as well. I think I’ll look into the details if I have the time but it’s an interesting read nonetheless.

Original Story: http://www.enterprisemission.com/NukingJupiter.html

Galileo Info.: http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/