17 ms·
NASA ‘Snoopy’ lunar module likely found 50 years after being jettisoned
- stcredzero 7y agoThis sounds bad, but it's a serious question: Was there any poop aboard Snoopy? It sounds silly, but it's at least an issue of comfort and dignity when people first enter the historic craft after recovery.
- waiseristy 7y agoIt'd be completely frozen through. Anyone who has a dog in a cold climate knows frozen poo is infinitely easier to deal with
- gus_massa 7y agoNot exactly what you asked, but more information than you even wanted to know: (Scott Manley) "Space Poop Challenge - Floaters Are Way Worse in Space" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5y0mTqK54k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5y0mTqK54k
- m463 7y agoThey can take one of those giant canadian arms to pick it up and put it in a ... wait, to throw it into the sun.
- stcredzero 7y ago... wait, to throw it into the sun. Okay, nice try there! Everyone on HN should know the Canadarm can't achieve the approx 29 km/s needed to cancel orbital velocity around the sun in the vicinity of Earth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHvR1fRTW8g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHvR1fRTW8g 'doh, you got a reaction out of me anyhow!
- m463 7y agoBut what if it was startled after it realized what it was holding? :)
- BurningFrog 7y agoIf there is, that means there is still a repository of Earthly life around, even if Earth itself somehow perishes. Might be pretty serious indeed!
- mirimir 7y agoSky News: https://news.sky.com/story/snoopy-lunar-module-from-1969-apollo-10-mission-may-have-been-found-11738299 https://news.sky.com/story/snoopy-lunar-module-from-1969-apo...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- protomyth 7y agoSad you got downvoted given the TechCrunch article links to the Sky News article while providing less information. [edit: I see the TechCrunch brigade is out in force]
- mirimir 7y agoHey. What's really funny -- and why I posted the link -- is that TFA doesn't actually point to the Sky News article. The Sky News link in this sentence ... > The effort to discover its location began in 2011, undertaken by a group of amateur U.K. astronomers led by Nick Howes — the same who now claim they’re “98 percent convinced” they’ve discovered where it ended up, according to Sky News. ... actually points to https://www.newsweek.com/nasa-snoopy-lunar-module-space-1443091 https://www.newsweek.com/nasa-snoopy-lunar-module-space-1443... . Some editor wasn't paying attention, I guess. If they still have editors, anyway.
- protomyth 7y agoWow, when I went to the article it had an actual link to the Sky News article. I wonder what they have going on, because that is just wrong. It really looks like they decided they didn't want to point to Sky News and then switched to Newsweek without changing the actual text.
- mirimir 7y agoHuh. That's even stranger. I mean, why would they switch from a primary source to a secondary source? I wonder if there's some sort of relationship between TechCrunch and Newsweek.
- toddsiegel 7y agoI just learned about this mission on Saturday, while visiting the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA. They have small display with pictures, and the audio from the mission. I often think of NASA as exceptionally serious people, but it never seems to stop them from adding a bit of humor and fun to their work. https://schulzmuseum.org/ https://schulzmuseum.org/
- trsohmers 7y agoWell Apollo 10 was the last time NASA let the astronauts name the CM and LM, precisely because they named it Snoopy. I think it is well known that in general the early astronauts had a pretty good sense of humor (along with balls of steel), but ground control, not so much.
- WalterBright 7y agoWW2 air crews named and painted their airplanes crazy fun things. There were some complaints about it, but the brass had enough sense to let the crews do what they wanted. It was a way for them to take a bit of the edge off of the terrible strain they were under. (Very high death rates.) My dad was a bit superstitious, all his combat rides were named "Round Trip Ticket". It worked :-) https://imgur.com/zuY1vGA https://imgur.com/zuY1vGA https://imgur.com/QqlYM https://imgur.com/QqlYM
- tomcam 7y agoThat is brilliant on so many levels. Kudos to him!
- WalterBright 7y agoThank you. Above his funeral, another P-51 driver gave him a spectacular sendoff.
- kijin 7y agoWhat's with the dozen swastikas in the first picture? Number of enemy planes he shot down?
- pryce 7y agoAn impressive achievement if they did manage to locate it, certainly. On the other hand, proposing that it merits retrieval is staggeringly vain- only the tiniest fraction of human enterprise has ever operated outside our planetary system (the Earth and our moon). Consider the mind-blowing opportunity cost of any mission sent to 'retrieve Snoopy', and take a moment to think of just some of the incredible projects one could do instead.
- cesarb 7y ago> Consider the mind-blowing opportunity cost of any mission sent to 'retrieve Snoopy', and take a moment to think of just some of the incredible projects one could do instead. For an opposite point of view, think of all the technological advances that would be necessary for a safe "retrieve Snoopy" mission. Even if the mission itself is pointless, all the developments leading to it could be useful. That is, what matters might be the journey, not the destination.
- tantalor 7y agoBroken window fallacy.
- naikrovek 7y agoAre you sure? The Broken Window Fallacy only applies if the technical gains from such a mission could be used on nothing else afterward, which is obviously not the case. The fallacy is a fallacy because the money spent fixing a broken window can't be spent again by the same person. He's spending money he would have spent anyway, so there is no net gain. In a technological progression caused by, say, a public works project such as the mission to the moon, technology developed for the sake of that project can indeed be used on other things, and definitely was in the case of the moon landings, so it's not a fallacy when talking technical advancement.
- avmich 7y agoHere we can possibly have an underestimation of how much value the module has. Having real historical artifact available in a museum over decades if not more could help provide inspiration to more generations of space explorers - and others.
- melling 7y agoThe BBC has a podcast about the moon landing: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48232627 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48232627 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csz4dj https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csz4dj Apple podcast url: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-minutes-to-the-moon/id1459657136 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-minutes-to-the-moon...
- rjmunro 7y agoIt's one of the best podcasts I have ever listened to. RSS feed: https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/w13xttx2.rss https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/w13xttx2.rss Program page (with link to RSS etc.): https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2/episodes/downloads https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2/episodes/downloads
- seniorsassycat 7y ago> Notably, the fuel tanks used in this mission weren’t provided enough fuel to return from the Moon’s surface — an intentional limitation imposed in case the astronauts flying the test run were tempted to jump the queue and become the first people to walk on the lunar surface I wish we lived in a universe where NASA didn't have the forsight to short fuel Apollo 10. Imagine a joyride to the lunar surface.
- cyberferret 7y agoConversely, I am glad I live in a universe where professional crew members stick to the flight plan and don't go glory hunting at the first opportunity. AFAIK, "Snoopy" was too heavy to land and take off anyhow, the astronauts didn't have EVA capable suits, and there wasn't enough oxygen to replenish the LM cabin should they have opened the hatch to perform EVA. Any ride to the surface would have been suicidal folly, regardless of fuel quantity.
- dmurray 7y agoI thought Apollo 10 was meant to be a dry run for Apollo 11, so it was set up identically. Why would they have differed on something so important as the weight of the LM?
- cyberferret 7y agoAlmost every LM on every mission was completely different. I don't believe any two were the same. Each mission had different requirements that necessitated major redesigns to the LM. For instance, the later missions that used the Lunar Rover had significantly bigger and heavier LMs to accommodate the vehicle.
- rbanffy 7y agoFrom a cursory look, they all look the same. I remember the LM went through lots of iterations before it was practical (and it's entirely possible Snoopy was too heavy) but it's hard to see too many differences between the versions that actually flew. What changed seemed to be landing weight and life support for the crew (later versions allowed multiple EVAs and remained landed much longer than Eagle). Still, no EVA suits is one thing, but having no operable ascent engine is really terrible because, if something goes wrong with the descent engine (which is the thing being exercised here) the crew has no backup whatsoever in case they have no option but landing (maybe a guidance issue that requires the LM to stop - in general emergency landings in places with no breathable atmosphere are a mistake).
- tamaharbor 7y agoWhere exactly would an orbit “around the sun beyond the moon” be?
- evanweaver 7y agoSo, where is it, and how was it found? The article and even the source it links are extremely vague.
- protomyth 7y agoIt is apparently in an orbit that "won't make a close pass to our planet until 2037". https://www.iflscience.com/space/apollo-10-lunar-module-snoopy-may-have-been-found/amp.html https://www.iflscience.com/space/apollo-10-lunar-module-snoo...
- ahazred8ta 7y agoThe object is 2006-RH120, which was closer than the moon (0.002 au) in 2007 and will come within 0.025 au in 2028. It is currently on the far side of the sun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_RH120 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_RH120 -- https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=3403148;orb=1;old=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=3403148;orb=1;old=0;c...
- ahazred8ta 7y agoThe 'Apollo 10 Lunar Ascent Stage' is listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Derelict_satellites_in_heliocentric_orbit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Derelict_satellites_i...
- ornel 7y agoThis is the closest to a primary source I've found: https://twitter.com/NickAstronomer/status/1137791377050394627 https://twitter.com/NickAstronomer/status/113779137705039462...
- supernova87a 7y agoIs it me or is this article so poorly written that the main point of the article -- where the thing is -- is not even described coherently?
- cyberferret 7y agoI was disappointed in the lack of details too (as well as the mis-spelling of Gene Cernan's name). Is the LM in orbit around the sun? In an extended orbit around the Earth's orbital plane? Trapped in orbit around another solar body? That was what I was looking for from the article...
- RawChicken 7y agoThe lack of knowledge in news articles regarding space topics is astounding. If you want to learn more about Snoopy, Scott Manley makes a great video about it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXVYZm9epmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXVYZm9epmU The orbit description starts at 3:30 but the rest is worth a watch, full of interesting footage and data!
- keyle 7y ago- Make this headline get clicks! - I have no idea what I'm doing <labrador>
- codewritinfool 7y agoAgree. I was screaming inside my head the whole time, "Where is it?" IMO, this article is very poorly written.
- stcredzero 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_amnesia_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_amnesia_effect As noted below, Scott Manley does a much better job covering it. YouTube is a much more efficient tool for connecting the knowledgeable and passionate with the interested learner. If anything the "imprimatur" granted by legacy media brand names gets in the way on topics where the public is generally badly informed, or where there is a lot of false knowledge floating around the culture. The downside, is that knowledge has to compete with falsehood, so the complete elimination of falsehood is problematic, and it may take some time for the real knowledge to rise. I think it's better overall, more democratic and pro-freedom, if people participate by making their own choices to find the truth.
- salutonmundo 7y agoI feel like it's kind of ironic that a probe named "snoopy" was hard to find.
- warrenm 7y agoIt wasn't a probe - it was part of Apollo 10