Philae touches down on Comet

[Backward Galaxy]

Humans landed a probe on a comet. You know, no big deal:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/world/comet-landing-countdown/index.html

Except that it's kinda awesome.

[jon-el87]

Great, lots of money spent on sending some more crap into space.

Governments: "We have this money... How should we spend it?"

Doctors: "Well, you could spend it on us. Allow us to build more and bigger hospitals, along with hiring more staff. We wouldn't, for example, have to send home teenage girls, who cuts themselves, early due to lack of room and staff."

Scientists: "NO!! They should give it to us! We'll send some rubbish into space and have it land on a comet!"

[Backward Galaxy]

Great, lots of money spent on sending some more crap into space.

Governments: "We have this money... How should we spend it?"

Doctors: "Well, you could spend it on us. Allow us to build more and bigger hospitals, along with hiring more staff. We wouldn't, for example, have to send home teenage girls, who cuts themselves, early due to lack of room and staff."

Scientists: "NO!! They should give it to us! We'll send some rubbish into space and have it land on a comet!"

Yes, you're right. You're 100% absolutely right. Because we've never learned anything by going to space, or advanced science, or invented anything that became useful on Earth or in everyday life. None of that has ever happened. Ever. Even once. Especially in the field of medicine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off_technologies

http://www.design-laorosa.com/2012/11/26-nasa-inventions-that-we-take-for.html

http://www.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/top-5-nasa-inventions.htm#page=1

Here are just a few of the many medical advances that came at least in part from NASA:

• Digital imaging breast biopsy system, developed from Hubble Space Telescope technology
• Tiny transmitters to monitor the fetus inside the womb
• Laser angioplasty, using fiber-optic catheters
• Forceps with fiber optics that let doctors measure the pressure applied to a baby's head during delivery
• Cool suit to lower body temperature in treatment of various conditions
• Voice-controlled wheelchairs
• Light-emitting diodes (LED) for help in brain cancer surgery
• Foam used to insulate space shuttle external tanks for less expensive, better molds for artificial arms and legs
• Programmable pacemakers
• Tools for cataract surgery

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

Humans landed a probe on a comet. You know, no big deal:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/world/comet-landing-countdown/index.html

Except that it's kinda awesome.

I followed the live coverage on NASA's page. This was great news.

Some instruments on the lander were made in Finland so this was a particularly big news in my country. Also, those instruments cost like 5 million and were paid in the 90's to Finland's weather research facility. Yes, the Rosetta mission cost a lot but it created a lot of a work and a lot of jobs to people all over the world.

If there's ever a comet in a collision course to Earth then Philae's findings might help us save our planet and it's species from another extinction. Not to mention the data we'll receive might answer a lot about the origin of water and life itself on our planet.

[Backward Galaxy]

They say in the article that she launched 10 years ago. We live in a world where instant gratification has become key, where you can order your groceries online, drive to the store, and have an associate pack them into your car for you. If you don't know something, you can look it up online by reaching into your pocket and pulling out a smartphone. You can buy anything you want and have it delivered the next day. These folks waited 10 years before they could even contemplate whether or not their mission was a success.

Mind-boggling.

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

My local news already say Philae has gathered data & pictures and the mission can indeed be called a success despite the fear of the lander detaching from the comet. Two of the four legs haven't attached.

[Backward Galaxy]

My local news already say Philae has gathered data & pictures and the mission can indeed be called a success despite the fear of the lander detaching from the comet. Two of the four legs haven't attached.

I don't know why, but now I have an image in my head of Philae surfing the comet in a bathing suit with its hair blown back by the wind, tongue out... "Hang ten, from space, b****es!"

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

[DA_Champion]

Great, lots of money spent on sending some more crap into space.

Governments: "We have this money... How should we spend it?"

Doctors: "Well, you could spend it on us. Allow us to build more and bigger hospitals, along with hiring more staff. We wouldn't, for example, have to send home teenage girls, who cuts themselves, early due to lack of room and staff."

Scientists: "NO!! They should give it to us! We'll send some rubbish into space and have it land on a comet!"

Just because you can't see a use for it doesn't mean that there isn't a use for it.

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

I know KSITE isn't really about science but you'd think more people would have commented on this thread by now.

If you think this was trivial and a waste of time & money just remember that the dinosaurs didn't have a space program. Didn't work out so great for them.

[DA_Champion]

Well, there are not as many posters as there used to be.

[Backward Galaxy]

i know ksite isn't really about science but you'd think more people would have commented on this thread by now.

If you think this was trivial and a waste of time & money just remember that the dinosaurs didn't have a space program. Didn't work out so great for them.

lmao!