Alien oceans could be detected by telescopes

[Albatross]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11218802
:thumbsup:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope
This is the telescope.
Other monsters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Extremely_Large_Telescope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OWL_telescope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Magellan_Telescope
Such imaginative names....
I`d like a poster with some alien world

 

[FelixDeCat]

It would be nice to see this get built, but since we are nearly $14,000,000,000,000 (14 trillion) in debt another country needs to step up because we cant afford it. :'(

 

[Nik]

It would be nice to see this get built, but since we are nearly $14,000,000,000,000 (14 trillion) in debt another country needs to step up because we cant afford it. :'(

Lies. Of course we can afford it.

 

[Jeff7]

Lies. Of course we can afford it.

faith_in_humanity--;

 

[spidey07]

Isn't it pretty much proven that there are under ice oceans in some jupiter/saturn moons?

 

[Nik]

Isn't it pretty much proven that there are under ice oceans in some jupiter/saturn moons?

If Mars gets just a little closer to the sun or something specific (I forget) happens to the atmosphere to raise it a few degrees (it's happening, just too slowly for our generation to witness), the ice caps would melt and we'd see liquid CO2 filling in the landscape. Some generation not too long from now will look at Mars and see rivers, lakes, and oceans.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Isn't it pretty much proven that there are under ice oceans in some jupiter/saturn moons?

Yes, but we need wallpapers and screensavers!

 

[l0cke]

Lies. Of course we can afford it.

NASA can double it's budget it if just starts making porn. :wub:

 

[sandorski]

We'll have a few prospective second homes before we can even begin to imagine going there.

 

[Jeff7]

Isn't it pretty much proven that there are under ice oceans in some jupiter/saturn moons?

Jupiter has Europa, with a hypothesized subsurface ocean.
Saturn has Titan, with oceans of liquid methane. Enceladus also may have small sections of slushy water beneath its surface.

Problem with exploring there: Cost.
1) Jupiter presents a strong radiation environment, requiring that any electronics be hardened against it.
2) No idea how to make a robot that can drill through a few miles of ice that's hard as rocks on Earth and still get a signal back to Earth.
3) Power: Not enough sunlight to make solar panels viable, and they killed off Project Prometheus awhile ago, which would have allowed for fission reactors in spacecraft, providing a lot more energy than any current spacebound power source can manage. Cassini's got 3 RTGs, and they put out a total of 880W at launch. We're talking 100x more power in a spacecraft.
And seriously, doesn't this thing just look goddamned awesome?
4) Propulsion. Fuel would be needed to slow the spacecraft and land it, as there's no atmosphere on two of the three locations mentioned, and so no parachute can be used. Parachutes are of course a lot cheaper and lighter than a sophisticated retrorocket system and its fuel.
5) Damn cold. This affects the basic properties of a lot of common engineering materials. For a Titan rover, if you wanted to use metal and ceramic, you could use mercury and water.


Nothing saying we can't look elsewhere though.