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Pillars of fire at night

BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
in Zocalo v2.0
The ESA's new spacecraft is on its way. :)

[url]http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/1/121[/url]

Comments

  • MessiahMessiah Failed Experiment
    Pretty!
  • sinclairsinclair Ranger
    Damn, I missed my flight ;/
  • sataicallistasataicallista High Priestess of Squeee!
    That was pretty cool. Impressive little machine. ;)
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    It looks even better in motion, a short clip of the launch: [URL="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/resource/1/242"]http://webservices.esa.int/blog/resource/1/242[/URL]

    Makes it all look so easy and insignificant... as it should be.
  • ChaosedChaosed Ranger
    I feel sorry for the camera man filming the rocket ignition.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    [QUOTE=Chaosed;170772]I feel sorry for the camera man filming the rocket ignition.[/QUOTE]

    Why? It's not like there's anybody close to the flame pit when the rocket launches. The cameras are operated from a safe distance. I believe the guys who work there know how dangerous the situation can be, as there are plenty of catastrophic incidents to look back on to be very careful. :D

    If memory serves, even NASA's cameras that follow shuttle launches are operated from within armored vehicles. As far as I know, the exhaust clouds from the solid rocket boosters are toxic and corrosive, so it's not so much the heat they are worried about.
  • ChaosedChaosed Ranger
    So it isn't the last film that person will ever take.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    No it's not, there are more cameras set up to follow each launch and there is more footage being recorded than we are shown. In case something does go wrong, they need that footage to help figure out what went wrong and why.

    So no camera men or women have been hurt in the making of those films. :D
  • ChaosedChaosed Ranger
    I was thinking people on death row or with fatal diseases took the film.
    So only Cylons die in the filming. No wounder they got mad.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    That's an interesting world you live in. :D
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Better than living in the dull real world.
  • sataicallistasataicallista High Priestess of Squeee!
    Yeah no kidding. I get enough reality every damn day.
  • sleepy_shadowsleepy_shadow Ranger
    I somewhat like it.

    Sure, it ain't an ion propellant driven, solar+laser powered always-in-orbit space tug of the sort I'd like to see (and the sort I'd think would be useful)... but it hopefully gets there, proves itself capable of safe maneuvering, and docks in early April.

    It may also prove a worthwhile platform to build other applications on.
  • ChaosedChaosed Ranger
    I herd it is going to fly into a geyser on one of the moons of Saturn.
    25 Km from the surface.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I think you're getting it confused with another mission. The ATV is a cargo transfer vessel. It takes cargo to the International Space Station, then is loaded up with rubbish and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere.
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Perhaps they should call the next nine Zathras? Slightly different pronunciation for each one, of course.
  • ChaosedChaosed Ranger
    In that case your correct B. Wrong planet. Saturn vs Earth.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    You're thinking of Cassini, which is going to fly through one of the plumes of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, at an altitude of 50km.
  • ChaosedChaosed Ranger
    Yep. Some wish it was farther though. Saying this is too close for the benefit.
    Risk vs benefit.
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