* Posts by Malc

49 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Oct 2007

SpaceX's used flight-proven rocket to loft Euro satellite this year

Malc
Trollface

SpaceX - making Orbit cheaper

...because I for one would prefer to go up in a certified 'new' rocket.

Would you trust a 2nd hand parachute? (One previous owner, slight blood-staining)

Star Trek Beyond: An unwatchable steaming pile of tribble dung

Malc

I may have read too much into that...

I was imagining why a robot, replete with 3 laws, would make such a dangerous device as a car. It may even have considered the assembly line a safer place for the fleshy than the actual road!

Ultra-cool dwarf throws planetary party

Malc
Mushroom

Re: How old is that system / how long does an ultra cool dwarf last?

You do realise that cold, small stars burn for a lot longer? Or not so much burn as smoulder and eventually cool. They're lifetimes could be measured by the trillion years, not the 10 or so billion our little yellow dwarf star can look forward to.

Blighty gears up for first UK Robotics Week

Malc
Go

Mass Surveillance attached to cars....

More likely is that the first minor bump will reveal that the fleshy meatbag was driving to fast or on their mobile. The self-driving cars will obey the road rules and auto-clype any fleshy's actions which contravene regulations. This could have a major impact on road safety once we realise we have to stick to our own rules. I for one welcome our zealous rule militating driving overlords!

Ben Nevis embiggened by a metre

Malc

The Earth is flat.

I've been doing a lot of research on Youtube and actually the Earth is flat. Clearly this re-measurement has omitted this fact.

On a side note, having been up Ben Nevis more than a few times, I actually conclude that the Earth is mostly Uphill! Given a grant I could conduct more experiments somewhere sunny.

China wants to bring home moon rocks in moon vacuum

Malc

Vacuum Pump

How do they get the vacuum in there?

NASA: 'Closest thing yet to ANOTHER EARTH' - FOUND

Malc

Re: Back of Envelope Calculations

I got 1.6 from an alternative source, erm the BBC.

Mines the one with the big hood and dark sunglasses in the pocket (let's not tell anyone about this)

edit: Checked NASA's page "Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth "

Malc

Back of Envelope Calculations

Surely with a radius 1.6 of Earth's, its volume is nearer 8 times that of Earth. And guessing a similar average density gives a Surface Gravity of around 3.3G.

Hmm, reaches for calculator and old dusty Astrophysics book...

Methinks to call it Earth 2.0 they've taken the lower limits of their measurements to produce the most Earthlike qualities. Unfortunately, they've ditched the overlarge, molten Iron core of Earth to reduce the average density. (Our little planet is the avg. densest body on our solar system bar the occasional asteroid made of pure platinum)

GAZE upon our HI-RES DWARF PICS of Pluto, beams proud NASA

Malc

I for one...

Has anyone welcomed our new (slightly) higher rise pics overlords yet?

Just thought I'd check.

DARPA unTerminators gather for Robotics Challenge finals in Hell*

Malc

Mystery Task

/kill all humans

Boffins have devised TERMINATOR style LIQUID METAL – for an antenna

Malc

Re: Fillings...

Consider Phlebas, Ms Balveda finished the story minus one of her teeth.

ALIEN LIFE drenched in HOT FLUID on Jupiter's Ganymede – is that so?

Malc

Re: What's lurking...?

Does my moon look big in this?

Bigger than our moon.

Ganymede's just under half of Earth's radius, giving it about a tenth of the surface area.

Hope that helps.

It was space vs boat at Orion launch. The boat won

Malc
Trollface

Elon Musk

...spotted sailing away whilst stroking White Cat.

Wind farms make you sick claims blown away again

Malc
Happy

Re: I once lived near a wind farm

How high did he raise them? Inquiring minds...

Voyager 1 now EIGHTEEN LIGHT HOURS from home

Malc

Voyager's coming back

It has not escaped the Sun's pull, just as the Sun is not escaping the Milky Way. Voyager 1 is actually heading in the same direction as our Sun, but Voyager 2 turned left (about 48deg) at Albuquerque.

Human spacecraft dodge COMET CHUNKS pelting off Mars

Malc

Definitely made up though...

As are all acronyms, non-acronyms, words...

Come off it, Moon, Earth. We know you're 60 million years older than we thought

Malc
Trollface

Years or revoltions around the Sun?

Wasn't the Earth's orbit a little shorter back then?

Evidence of ancient WORLD SMASHER planet Theia - FOUND ON MOON

Malc

Re: Named by whom?

And what was the 'name' of the proto-Earth before the collision that went on to form the Earth and Moon? Maybe us commentards could have a poll? (It is thought that Theia gave a large amount of core-stuff to proto-Earth and left a lot of mantle/crust stuff in orbit, hence our oversized core and large moon)

On reading the BBC's poor telling I came to The Reg in hope of a more fulfilling story, which will in turn make me search out other more-sciencey websites, like wikipedia, but alas my search continues...

E-cigarettes help you quit – but may not keep you alive

Malc

Re: 'vaping' == drug paraphernalia

Because drugs are bad, m'kay.

NASA preps flying saucer ballocket flight

Malc

Re: Mach in Earth's or Mars' atmospheres?

Having asked this question before, I've found answers:

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/atmosphere/q0249.shtml

Hope that helps :-)

NASA finds first Earth-sized planet in a habitable zone around star

Malc

Men are from Mars...

If our system for detecting planets was based at Kepler-186, how would the Sol system look? 3 similar planets in or close to the Goldilocks zone, but which one is life habitable?

Surf's up near Saturn as boffins spot waves on Titan

Malc

Re: Announcing the bleeding obvious

I'm afraid so. The slight vagaries of chaotic aerodynamics have a greater effect on lighter objects which slows them further than heavy objects. Try it with an empty box of matches and a box full of 2 pence pieces.

GRAV WAVE TSUNAMI boffinry BONANZA – the aftershock of the universe's Big Bang

Malc

Re: Science: Eleventy Billion! Religion: 0

The picture looks more like a 'fingerprint' left by the Noodely Appendage.

Rise of the (tiny) machines: US boffins make nanomotor breakthrough

Malc

Re: How is a rod a motor?

Could be a Hot Rod?

Mars Orbiter spots FRESH IMPACT CRATER

Malc

Beagle 2 Found

see title

NASA probe orbiting Moon sights ANOTHER SPACECRAFT

Malc

1600ms-1

Relative to what exactly? Each other? At the same time? Please, a little science in your science stories.

NASA's Opportunity rover celebrates 10 years on Mars with a FILTHY selfie

Malc

Re: Poor dusty rover

Mars' atmosphere is less than 1% of Earth's, so a fan would need to be one hundred times bigger.

Kepler data yields Earth-mass 'gas giant'

Malc

Surface Gravity

It's surface gravity wouldn't be that far off our own, if it had a surface.

Lifesize, driveable AIR-POWERED LEGO CAR hits the road

Malc
Pint

Cold Beer anyone>

One advantage of a compressed air engine would be that it could cool your beer on the way home from the shops!

Suffering SPITZER! Boffins discover Milky Way's MISSING ARMS

Malc

Re: How do they know that they're arms and not legs?

Or Noodley Appendages?

Our TINY flying robot moves like a JELLYFISH, say NYU boffins

Malc

External Power Supply

Why not have the wire come out of the top, then when you turn the power off it will still 'fly'!

To the MONEY RING: Musk's SpaceX to attempt boldest mission yet

Malc

Re: bhound562

Orbit is as much to with how fast you're going as what altitude you're at. The sat's final geosynchronous position doesn't depend on where it was launched from.

Play some Kerbal Space Program for a better explanation.

Flying 360° panoramic camera poised for lift-off

Malc

Go Pro already does this

1) Set Timer or Set to Multiple Images

2) Throw

3) ...

4) Catch (or drop as I have, they're quite robust)

5) Repeat

6) Edit/Delete useless images

7) Profit?

Can't stand the heat? Harden up if you want COLD, DELICIOUS BEER

Malc

Does this mean?

That frozen meals would heat faster?

Fleet of driverless pods to take over Milton Keynes town centre

Malc
Terminator

Rise Of The Machines

Fleshies ensconced within, possibly not paying full attention to where they're being taken, what could go wrong?

Hard-as-woodpecker-lips MOUSE GOBBLES live scorpion, LAUGHS off stings to face

Malc
Pint

Hair of the mouse?

Can Boffins not take this research further and produce an effective hangover cure?

Young blokes blinded by video-game addiction: THE FACTS

Malc

Re: RealLife(tm)...

RealLife (tm) - Graphics are great, gameplay poor

Under cap-and-trade, flying is greener than taking the bus

Malc
Happy

Re: What a scam.

A stake farmed from a managed, renewable source obviously

Boffins propose satnav tracking for 'KILLER KOALAS'

Malc
Holmes

Gummy Bears

Too much Gummy Juice,

that is all

The ‘subversive adult Disneyland’ where iPods track your every move

Malc

Pron

How come bit.fall never mentions pron?

Fish skin points to better LEDs

Malc
Trollface

Conceal or Reveal

'conceal them from predators, such as dolphin'

or if these new fish-fangled LEDs were to be used on bicycles...

'reveal then to predators, such as buses'

If any of you have ever driven (or cycled) along dark roads and come across a cyclist using powerful 'offroad lights' you'll have noticed that brighter, more efficient LEDs are sorely needed.

Boffins: VAMPIRE stars are PREYING on their companions

Malc

Re: You may call them "vampire stars"

Surely the smaller star has more mass, and a stronger gravitational force?

SpaceX does what it HASN'T done before: Dragon in close ISS flyby

Malc

"made a close pass within 1.5 miles of the station"

Surely that's 2.4km?

China turns on the sprinklers with ambitious rain-making plans

Malc

Want rain?

Plan to hold a BBQ, works in Scotland every time.

Actively cooled rocket primed for easy re-entry

Malc

Elite

Anyone else reminded of the vector-graphic drawn ships in Elite?

Sky boffins: The Moon is not Earth's only natural satellite

Malc

Shurely some mishtake

Is it just me, or does the mini moon's path not seem to hit Earth on its way out?

(Just after it turns a darker orange)

Mars attacks! Morocco pelted with rocks from the Red Planet

Malc

FTFY

In short, Mars is the only known candidate.

Game developer's lost electric buggy FOUND ON MOON

Malc

37km?

Anyone know the surface distance travelled/final displacement of the Mars rovers?

In the standard El Reg unit of course.

Plan for 20mph urban speed-cam zones touted

Malc

Speed kills

Don't think anyone's ever died from being hit with a stationary object, not even sure if it's possible.

Oh, and to all the posters who reckon cyclists run reds, just watch as the lights cycle from Amber to Red; how many cars continue through the junction when amber means stop?