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SpaceX Hid a Second, Secret Payload Aboard Falcon Heavy

Rogue Valley said:
I believe the universe is teeming with life. But intelligent life could be a bit more problematic.

The famous Fermi Paradox comes to mind ... "Where is everybody [extraterrestrial life]?"
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Actually, I like to think due to the age of the universe, we are some of the first on the scene. And any others currently at our level or beyond is so far away, their light hasn't reached us yet. I know it will be a long long while before our signals for the last 100 years reach anywhere near a place that could potentially carry life. Before 100 years ago, you wouldn't be able to tell we were intelligent unless you came here and looked at us up close. An extremely daunting task.
 
soylentgreen said:
My apology, you are correct i was under a misunderstanding. But as far as i am concerned that makes it even worse. Just what we need, not happy with polluting the earth we now start trashing the universe.
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soylentgreen said:
How long does plastic last in rubbish tips or the ocean? Now we start dumping crap on space to last a million years, wonderful makes me proud to be a part of the human race.
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soylentgreen said:
It was an allegory not a prediction.
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Where I come from it's three strikes and yer out. All the same New Zealand is both surrounded by the void of vast oceans and very close by to the frigid Antarctica so the views expressed might also be somewhat removed. Considerably isolated one might think. When discussing the universe there's often a store of value in that of course. Philosophically speaking. Yes, when it's winter up here it's summer down there. And vice-versa. It's on the crystal no doubt.
 
soylentgreen said:
Yes, so what? You do realise i am arguing about industries that pollute without care and not about which country does it.
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You are picking a nit about something utterly inconsequential. And along the way your ignorance about the space industry gets more and more noticeable.
 
Just to put the Earth into perspective once again:

img-woj-blog-belief-in-the-pale-blue-dot.png


Denizens of the pale blue dot aren't going to pollute space.
 
Tangmo said:
Where I come from it's three strikes and yer out. All the same New Zealand is both surrounded by the void of vast oceans and very close by to the frigid Antarctica so the views expressed might also be somewhat removed. Considerably isolated one might think. When discussing the universe there's often a store of value in that of course. Philosophically speaking. Yes, when it's winter up here it's summer down there. And vice-versa. It's on the crystal no doubt.
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It's a modern world which is only an internet click away. I am no more isolated than any american. Nice try but completely useless.
 
I promise you that car is doing far less ecological damage in space than it would be had it remained on Earth. Where do you suppose it would have eventually ended up had it not been launched?
 
soylentgreen said:
No, litter is throwing things away without concern for the environment. Space is also an environment.
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Then you proved my point for me, the test payload wasn't "thrown away" or else that data disc would not be included.
It was put into orbit intentionally, to serve a purpose. You may not agree with the purpose but it was a purpose, a stated purpose. You don't get to have your own Humpty Dumpty definitions.
 
Northern Light said:
Wait... they stored the libraries on a quartz crystal? I was not aware that we had this technology?

A small quartz crystal could store an unfathomable amount of data.

Is this available to consumers yet?
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I'm wondering the same thing.

What we may be missing here is the launch of a new technology and this is the greatest product launch (pardon the pun) in history.
 
Dittohead not! said:
[h=1]SpaceX Hid a Second, Secret Payload Aboard Falcon Heavy[/h]


Sometime, somewhere, a civilization might find this tiny object and be able to open it. Imagine their wonder at a civilization from millions of years in their past, wondering if we still exist and what we may have discovered since.

Imagine us finding such an object left by another civilization that existed millions of years ago.

Or, is the rest of the universe simply void of life, only this one little mote we call Earth somehow having life? That's even more unimaginable.
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So much speculation.....

Maybe, maybe it IS a publicity stunt and what they haven't announced is that they are gathering information on tat crystal and intend to retrieve it somewhere down line. From what I've seen of these guys I wouldn't be surprised if they BUILT a black monolith on the moon.
 
soylentgreen said:
It's a modern world which is only an internet click away. I am no more isolated than any american. Nice try but completely useless.
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That is the standard crutch and glib reply from down under. In this case NZ which exists on two main islands and calls itself the "long white cloud" borrowed from the natives youse shoved aside then made peace with to stage shows for ya.

You don't know I spent 20+ years north of youse in that region so I met lots of folk from each of the two lands down under -- it wuzn't pretty overall in either case. Hark cause NZ and Iceland are the only two countries in OECD not to have a space agency. NZ is still working on its first astronaut while Oz are still working on their first astronaut since the shuttle Endeavor. Indeed, in the space business NZ and Oz are known as "freeloaders" cause they use the facilities of other nations by hauling in our satellite and vehicle data to solve your primary issues of industry and environment. For free, yes. That's Gratis. All the while so many down under one by one go face to face with their principal benefactor the USA to holler we're the worst thing since Attila and forever. ****ed up most of youse are down there, yes indeed. Either envious or bitter. Or both. NZ, Oz and USA were founded at the same point in history yet lookit what happened eh. We don't hear Iceland hollering about it either.
 
Tangmo said:
That is the standard crutch and glib reply from down under. In this case NZ which exists on two main islands and calls itself the "long white cloud" borrowed from the natives youse shoved aside then made peace with to stage shows for ya.

You don't know I spent 20+ years north of youse in that region so I met lots of folk from each of the two lands down under -- it wuzn't pretty overall in either case. Hark cause NZ and Iceland are the only two countries in OECD not to have a space agency. NZ is still working on its first astronaut while Oz are still working on their first astronaut since the shuttle Endeavor. Indeed, in the space business NZ and Oz are known as "freeloaders" cause they use the facilities of other nations by hauling in our satellite and vehicle data to solve your primary issues of industry and environment. For free, yes. That's Gratis. All the while so many down under one by one go face to face with their principal benefactor the USA to holler we're the worst thing since Attila and forever. ****ed up most of youse are down there, yes indeed. Either envious or bitter. Or both. NZ, Oz and USA were founded at the same point in history yet lookit what happened eh. We don't hear Iceland hollering about it either.
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You are so behind the times. Another great advertisement that americans really do not have a clue about what happens outside their own country. And i am only assuming you have any understanding of what happens inside your own country.

That makes New Zealand the smallest country, by population, ever to launch a rocket into space.

Chief executive Peter Beck said the race was now on to commercialise the rocket, which carried smaller satellites.

"We are ahead of the pack by a number of years, we are obviously the first to get there and what we offer with respect to technology and product is quite significantly advanced compared to what others are working on," he said.

Mr Beck said his company was now working to increase the frequency of the launches to once every two weeks in 2019.

Increasing the number of launches and decreasing the satellite size would dramatically reduce the cost of putting a satellite into space. Mr Beck expected it to cost less than $10m each.

He said this would establish New Zealand as a leader in space business.
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Dittohead not! said:
[h=1]SpaceX Hid a Second, Secret Payload Aboard Falcon Heavy[/h]


Sometime, somewhere, a civilization might find this tiny object and be able to open it. Imagine their wonder at a civilization from millions of years in their past, wondering if we still exist and what we may have discovered since.

Imagine us finding such an object left by another civilization that existed millions of years ago.

Or, is the rest of the universe simply void of life, only this one little mote we call Earth somehow having life? That's even more unimaginable.
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I call it pre-psychohistory...
 
soylentgreen said:
My apology, you are correct i was under a misunderstanding. But as far as i am concerned that makes it even worse. Just what we need, not happy with polluting the earth we now start trashing the universe.
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Do you realize the furthest reaches of the universe that we have been able to detect so far is 93 billion light years in any direction you can point? The universe isn't even aware of this little speck of dust that we call Earth.
 
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Nap said:
Or an alien race hell bent on dominating the universe could find it and use it to locate earth and kill us all.
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Unless that race has eternal life that they would be hard pressed to dominate even a fraction of their own galaxy. As to locating earth, read up on the Voyager that left our solar system and is headed into deep space, it contains a golden disc with pictures of earth life, music and an illustration a nude man and woman with an indication of the time and location of our civilization, just for a few on it. An open invitation for ya'all come, ya hear?
 
soylentgreen said:
You are so behind the times. Another great advertisement that americans really do not have a clue about what happens outside their own country. And i am only assuming you have any understanding of what happens inside your own country.
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The private project is by a California company and the launch was in December -- it was assisted by a spanking new NZ space agency which employs all of ten people..."Politicians are rushing through new space laws and the government has set up a boutique space agency, which employs 10 people."



Rocket Lab, a California-based rocket company, has successfully put three small satellites into orbit via a rocket launched from New Zealand.

Rocket Lab is backed by a host of US companies including Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Lockheed Martin, Promus Ventures and Data Collective. Rocket Lab CEO and founder Peter Beck, a New Zealander, said the successful launch marks the beginning of a new era in commercial access to space.

"This success should instill confidence in Rocket Lab's customers, starting a busy 2018 launch schedule," said Kris Walsh, a former director of NASA launch programs for Boeing. New Zealand has never had a space program but officials hope regular launches could change perceptions of the South Pacific nation and generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year in revenue.

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/20...d-rocket-launch-scrubbed-again/9431513025873/


Nope. Or not much anyway.

Ten people is the full population of an entire town in NZ ne c'est pas -- or close to it in some of 'em. NZ population is 4 million which is the same as Singapore. Hong Kong has 7 million fast moving people in somewhat more concentrated conditions. So methinks youse still got more sheep than people down there eh.

Continued good luck to youse.
 
Sabre said:
Do you realize the furthest reaches of the universe that we have been able to detect so far is 93 billion light years in any direction you can point? The universe isn't even aware of this little speck of dust that we call Earth.
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What does that have to with anything. If you litter then you are littering. It does not matter the size of the litter or the size of the area you litter. This is a moral problem not a geographical one.
 
Tangmo said:
The private project is by a California company and the launch was in December -- it was assisted by a spanking new NZ space agency which employs all of ten people..."Politicians are rushing through new space laws and the government has set up a boutique space agency, which employs 10 people."



Rocket Lab, a California-based rocket company, has successfully put three small satellites into orbit via a rocket launched from New Zealand.

Rocket Lab is backed by a host of US companies including Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Lockheed Martin, Promus Ventures and Data Collective. Rocket Lab CEO and founder Peter Beck, a New Zealander, said the successful launch marks the beginning of a new era in commercial access to space.

"This success should instill confidence in Rocket Lab's customers, starting a busy 2018 launch schedule," said Kris Walsh, a former director of NASA launch programs for Boeing. New Zealand has never had a space program but officials hope regular launches could change perceptions of the South Pacific nation and generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year in revenue.

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/20...d-rocket-launch-scrubbed-again/9431513025873/


Nope. Or not much anyway.

Ten people is the full population of an entire town in NZ ne c'est pas -- or close to it in some of 'em. NZ population is 4 million which is the same as Singapore. Hong Kong has 7 million fast moving people in somewhat more concentrated conditions. So methinks youse still got more sheep than people down there eh.

Continued good luck to youse.
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You do love to dwell on the inconsequential. We may have more sheep but you and your ilk do make a convincing argument for the fact that america has way more sheeple.
 
soylentgreen said:
What does that have to with anything. If you litter then you are littering. It does not matter the size of the litter or the size of the area you litter. This is a moral problem not a geographical one.
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Well it's new to me that if one litters they are immoral. I will leave you with this comment: You lack of understanding of the vastness of space and the impossibility of any thing we do having any effect on it is simply astronomical.
 
soylentgreen said:
You do love to dwell on the inconsequential. We may have more sheep but you and your ilk do make a convincing argument for the fact that america has way more sheeple.
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Rocket Lab Inc. is in California and it is funded by American corporations and almost entirely resourced by Americans and American space expertise and experience. The rocket was launched from NZ soil down there because USA was the significant and decisive factor. That would be progress, i.e., USA establishing a NZ Department of space exploration.

Welcome Aboard.

Because the CEO is from NZ and he's in California. The NZ guy came to USA to make his significant contribution to society and to its positive future in the ways he could never do in his native country NZ. This is a familiar story that's been repeated infinitely by many people born abroad and who left their land of birth for a better place, better times, better circumstances and a better life for himself and for all. You meanwhile and forever remain one of the many angry guys Down Under.
 
Sabre said:
Well it's new to me that if one litters they are immoral. I will leave you with this comment: You lack of understanding of the vastness of space and the impossibility of any thing we do having any effect on it is simply astronomical.
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As i said it has nothing to do with geography. A small cigarette but dropped in a large mall is also insignificant when comparing space but it still litter. Allow one to do it and you allow many.

If you are unaware that littering is a moral issue then that demonstrates your lack of understanding about humanity far outways my understanding of space.
 
Tangmo said:
Rocket Lab Inc. is in California and it is funded by American corporations and almost entirely resourced by Americans and American space expertise and experience. The rocket was launched from NZ soil down there because USA was the significant and decisive factor. That would be progress, i.e., USA establishing a NZ Department of space exploration.

Welcome Aboard.

Because the CEO is from NZ and he's in California. The NZ guy came to USA to make his significant contribution to society and to its positive future in the ways he could never do in his native country NZ. This is a familiar story that's been repeated infinitely by many people born abroad and who left their land of birth for a better place, better times, better circumstances and a better life for himself and for all. You meanwhile and forever remain one of the many angry guys Down Under.
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Your ability to point out the completely irrelevant is unsurpassed by anyone else.
 
You must really hate all that junk we left on the moon then.
 
soylentgreen said:
Your ability to point out the completely irrelevant is unsurpassed by anyone else.
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New Zealand's first and only astronaut is out of a job already. The company that hired him to pilot space tourism went bust.


One small step, one big stumble

hamish_fagg18dec13.jpg

New Zealand would-be and wannabe astronaut Hammish Fagg meets Astronaut Buzz Aldrin in Florida, 2013. Aldrin walked on the moon, Fagg flew back to New Zealand.


Hammish Fagg of New Plymouth NZ was 21 and right out of college when he was selected in 2013 as the one and only astronaut of the space tourism private company XCOR Aerospace. The one and only NZ astronaut also, Fagg wuz to be the pilot of the two seat Lynx suborbital reusable launch vehicle with a tourist passenger. It wuz never to be however. Last year XCOR went bust in a flameout and now the company exists no more. So the unhappy stark truth is that the one and the only Kiwi astronaut never got off the ground. No soap I'm afraid.

We wish youse Down Under better luck going forward. Or which ever way youse go. Or don't go. Indeed, a great positive in this for NZ is that the young Fagg has a whole career ahead of him. Fagg has a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics from Down Under.
 
Rogue Valley said:
I believe the universe is teeming with life. But intelligent life could be a bit more problematic.

The famous Fermi Paradox comes to mind ... "Where is everybody [extraterrestrial life]?"
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I think the most logical conclusion is the saddest one unfortunately:

Einstein wasn't wrong. The speed of light is an absolute limit. FTL is impossible, and interstellar travel at sublight speeds is simply unfeasible due to the time scale involved. Even when a fluke of statistics puts two intelligent civilizations in close proximity at the same time of development, they never make contact.

Everyone dies out alone, in the dark.
 
ThoughtEx. said:
Actually, I like to think due to the age of the universe, we are some of the first on the scene. And any others currently at our level or beyond is so far away, their light hasn't reached us yet. I know it will be a long long while before our signals for the last 100 years reach anywhere near a place that could potentially carry life. Before 100 years ago, you wouldn't be able to tell we were intelligent unless you came here and looked at us up close. An extremely daunting task.
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The age of the universe leads me to the opposite conclusion.

In even 100 years, we've come pretty far. That's not even a blink in terms of the universe. Let's say another planet developed life on more or less our timeframe, with one difference: they didn't have an asteroid wipe out most of the planet 65 million years ago. Some dinosaur-era species figures out pointy sticks.

At even one percent of our growth rate and one percent of our rate of technological advancement, they'd be galaxy-spanning by now.
 
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