Nasa's next big thing? : Othor Games

» Tue May 20, 2014 9:11 pm

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tech/2014/05/16/morpheus-lander-nasa-big-idea-orig-nws.cnn.html

This is Morpheus, NASA's unmanned planetary lander and flying test lab

» Tue May 20, 2014 3:07 pm

Why do spacecraft always have to covered in tin foil?

» Tue May 20, 2014 5:45 pm

Radiations

» Tue May 20, 2014 6:07 am

Makes cooking Hot Pockets in space easier . I'd actually like to see NASA get back on it's feet and start redoing America's space program. This was one issue that made me hate---well I can't finish to political but you get the idea.

» Tue May 20, 2014 9:25 am

It is insulation used to reduce heat loss by thermal radiation. It isn't a good insulator on Earth though due to stuff like convection, but in space there is far less of that so it can be used.

» Tue May 20, 2014 2:11 pm

To protect them from conspiracy theories.

» Tue May 20, 2014 7:30 pm

has to do with protecting the spacecraft.

also, why must people always link these news stories to cnn or yahoo new, etc. so much fluff that takes a full minute to get to the point.

» Tue May 20, 2014 1:26 pm

Because NASA has the funding to be doing all this....

» Tue May 20, 2014 6:46 pm

http://s1337.photobucket.com/user/crippknottick/media/foil_enterprise_zps53d12ea6.gif.html

» Tue May 20, 2014 4:50 pm

Not sure, don't understand what the enterprise has to do with it

» Tue May 20, 2014 12:47 pm

Why do you think satellite is of a lower standard to other things sent into space? They are the most useful tool in space at the moment, I hope they build them with the highest standard.

The Enterprise doesn't have any relevance here as it is in a fictional universe where humans are clearly far more advanced. We don't know what kind of materials are at their disposal.

» Tue May 20, 2014 12:40 pm

Density is the mass of the object divided by the volume. Thus, a denser / more durable material is going to be heavier than a less dense / less durable material. And getting heavy things into space is expensive. Better to have something be light and get the job done than be heavy and get the job done.