To remain on the dark side, it would actually have to “co-orbit” the earth with the moon. And it would need to be at a distance beyondthe moon, which when squared, is proportional to the moon’s mass. Communication with it would be problematic.
“It is lucky for rulers that men do not think.” — Adolf Hitler
Okay one simple basic question, is anything FORMERAGENT said, even remotely possible?
I mean is he off his rocker that far, or are we talking of technology theoretically possible, but as far as we know uncreated yet.
Its neat to watch you all start to pick this whole thing apart, cause so much is being shared and learned.
(chuckle) Okay, let’s see what his claims are. About him personally:
He is working from a secure line which only sends in all caps.
-Possible.
He is sending email to a public bulletin board from this secure line.
-Probably not possible, and definitely a security violation that will get him fired.
He is doing this from his car, implying a cellular modem with a secure satellite uplink.
-I don’t know for sure. Such technology may well exist.
He is doing so while actively driving.
-Entirely possible, yes. Stupid and dangerous, yes.
He works for a branch of NSA at Langley.
-Quite possible. I don’t know where all of the branch NSA offices are.
He was trained in intelligence as an Army Ranger.
-No idea what sorts of intel training Rangers may get.
He studied at DLI.
-Quite possible.
There’s more, but I don’t feel like going into them. As for his claims about the secrets he knows:
There are two (or three, depending on how one counts such things) secret space stations: one orbiting earth, one orbiting the dark side of the moon, one hanging out in the asteroid belt.
-Orbiting earth: Impossible, per previous discussions on this and other threads. It is remotely possible that a second space station could be built, using parts subverted from the international space station that we all know is being built. However, that such a space station has been launched, manned, and is being supplied?
Back side of the moon? Impossible.
In the asteroid belt? Remotely possible.
Space station on the dark side of the moon? Impossible.
Anybody else want to take a crack at debunking?
Felice
“Everything, once understood, is trivial.” -WES
Bravo Felice, Im starting to think i want to join your gang. Damn good work for people who have day jobs. I just wonder though if the guy knows something for real or not.
i am making it my lifes mission to check, ookay not life, ummm day mission.
(woodchuck to gray squirrel, im heading to the library on campus, over.
attempting to find evidence either way.over
bye for like 30 mins.out.)
Felice:
First, you’ve gotta figure out a way to get those cups up there. Then it should be clearer. You might try to find FORMERAGENT–I’m sure he knows a way to pop those puppies into orbit…and you can get The Finger to go find him for you. Oops. The Finder.
'scuse me. i will jump in here for just a sec.
stark, i agree what i said sounds confusing now that i have a chance to look back at it. i was posting from work & i think i started at least a couple of those sentences w/ one thought & was distracted before i got to the end. however, for another thing, i don’t know you or your educational level & there are a lot of kids w/ new toys posting here the past week. mea culpa.
anyway, yes, i was referring to radio waves & not sound per se, which, of course, needs an atmosphere to be propagated. no noise in outer space.
as for the sentence about the earth bending sound (when i should have said radio waves) i think i started to say something about gravity’s effect on e-waves & mixed that up w/ refraction off the ionosphere.
sorry it was so confusing. that’s what i get for not playing at multi-tasking.
and back to our regularly scheduled de-bunking . . .
I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!
Felice wrote:
The answer is:
Yes, it IS possible for a satellite to orbit the moon in such a super-wide orbit that its orbital period is 28 days (the same as the moon’s rotational period).
However, such an orbit works out to be at an altitude of around 90,000 kilometers (50,000-60,000 miles) above the moon. That’s over a quarter of the Earth-moon distance. The Earth’s gravitational contribution, even though it’s 1.25 x the Earth-moon distance away, cannot be ignored for a satellite orbiting that far away from the moon. My guess is it would cause pretty substantial orbital perturbations, requiring either a higher-altitude orbit than I’ve indicated or constant orbital-correction burns. But it could be done.
Incidentally, what FORMERAGENT was suggesting was an orbit around the “dark side” of the moon, not the back side of the moon. These are NOT the same thing. The back side of the moon is the side that’s always facing away from the Earth. The dark side of the moon is whichever side the sun isn’t falling on at this moment. During a new moon, the “dark side” of the moon is the side facing TOWARD the Earth.
Orbiting the dark side of the moon would require your satellite to always be on the side of the moon facing away from the sun – and it could only accomplish THAT if its orbital period were 365.25 days!
The truth, as always, is more complicated than that.
Felice:
Partially correct. The current generation of MBTs in the arsenal are equipped with a Laser Rangefinder, and its data is fed directly into the Fire Control Computer, from which trajectories are calculated and the appropriate elevation is automaticaly induced (other factors are calculated as well).
There was talk for a while of adding a Laser Designator like the GLD-3, but the plan was scrapped because [GLD-equipped] tanks in combat would be working closely with with frontal aviation assets already epuipped with this gear, making this an unecessary (and expensive) redundancy. At least that was the Army’s line; I thought GLD-equipped tanks and IFVs was a good idea, personally.
FORMERAGENT:
While it is certainly theoretically possible to make tanks with powerful lasers as their main armament, power source constraints and power transmission (room-temperature superconductors) make this currently unfeasible. Note: I did not disagree with your claim that laser technology was being tested at Aberdeen.
We’re still a long way from the Supertanks of David Drake’s “Slammers” or Keith Laumer’s “Bolos”.
<FONT COLOR=“GREEN”>ExTank</FONT>
<FONT COLOR=“BLUE”>“Hovertanks with AI and particle cannons. Cool!”</FONT>
hehehe. Oh, funny funny stuff. FormerAgent, or MikeyLikesIt as he is now called, is a funny guy. I wouldn’t invite him to parties or let him within a mile of my daughter, but I don’t mind him posting on the internet to distract him from hurting people. You guys might want to be careful, as paranoid delusionals can get violent when their delusions are challenged. So let him believe there is a fully manned and operational satellite on the far side of the moon [snicker] and that the government knows about everything but his little attempt at insurrection (off a government computer no less [giggle]). I can assure you that if he HAD security clearance as of three days ago, he no longer has it (any encription he had, the government had also and, therefore, could break) because he’s been attempting to spout off about government secrets. However, the guy seems pretty unstable and the only job in the government I HOPE he could get would be disgruntled postal worker (he’s qualified for disgruntlement, right?).
Everything he’s talked about is theoretically possible, if you killed all of the people designing and building the satellites and the families of the newly-enslaved astronauts and if government technology is a lot higher than I think it is.
Oh, and someone put up some numbers for that other-side-of-the-moon satellite’s orbital distance. Is it possible, at that distance, to see the satellite from the Earth?
Oh, and I disagree with FormerAgent’s very first post, too.
Dear educated and ASSuming reader;
Are you the only fucking moron left who hasnt figured out that I am not Fucking FORMERAGENT.
I have spent the last 2-3 days giving credentials and everything short of my address as proof, and fortunately everyone else seems to have figured out, he is not I, and I am not him. So get a damn clue, and stop trying to create mystery and distract the conversation away from your own inability to function and contribute as anything more than a shit disturber ASSHOLE.
Thanks
The Management
Get paid for hurting yourself while pleasuring yourself at work!
Or you can make a mess [ahem] on the floor, slip on it and fall!
Ahhh the words of a truly respectable genius.
manhattan
http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/004722.html
tracer
That’s approximately the position of the L2 lagrange point, on the opposite side of the moon. A satellite can stay there, but it needs some station keeping.
That’s a little less than one-quarter of the Earth-moon distance. Since the moon’s diameter is a quarter of the Earth’s, you would not be able to see it from Earth (to answer Surgoshan’s question). Earth would be five times farther away from it than the moon. You could see it from geostationary satellites though, so you’d be able to communicate with it.
.
Primarily by looking for perturbations in the positions of stars likely to be caused by the tug of a planet from side-to-side as it orbits the star. This system, unfortunately, restricts itself to locating/deducing only certain types of planets, namely those of high mass whose orbits are edge-on as seen from Earth. Once astronomers discover these perturbations and their magnitude and frequency, they can deduce a range of sizes and distances for the planets in question, then apply the current base of planetary science to tell you something about the properties of the planet. So gar all the extrasolar planets discovered probably are gas giants.
“It’s my considered opinion you’re all a bunch of sissies!”–Paul’s Grandfather
Interesting response, Mikey, though in some parts inapplicable. What did my response to the MPSIMS thread on a woman who got carpal tunnel syndrome from masturbating excessively while at work have to do with this? It was for laughs. Shits and giggles, you know.
Just calm down, dig? Is it really that important? If you say you’re not FA, then I’ve no choice but to be really skeptical.
Given the pretty universal response to this, should it be moved to MPSIMS or the Pit? It might deserve to stay here, I dunno. shrug. Whatever David B. feels is best.
Oh, and try not to swear so much, Mike, it doesn’t look good.
Have a nice day!
Some guy.
Great place to get a tan, I suppose, but not exactly earthlike.
Seems like there is no way to detect small planets- earth-size, I mean, or anything other than a gas giant. Am I correct?
Pretty much; selection bias limits us in that regard. IIRC, though, some astronomers are looking at using some optical interferometry methods as well as some light-blocking methods to try to locate smaller, rockier planets.
“It’s my considered opinion you’re all a bunch of sissies!”–Paul’s Grandfather
Finally back on topic.
So where is FORMERAGENT/The Fumbler, anyway?
Pariah
I guess I’m lost, I thought this topic was
GOVERNMENT REFORM- TOTAL SWEEPING CHANGE
Now, I gotta go find it.
.
The only question that arises for me is, if the planet is question is that close to its primary, it seems close to impossible for it to be a gas giant, unless the planetary system is extremely young. Wouldn’t a gas giant have been dissipated in the stellar wind at such a near distance, within a few million years at most? Even allowing for an occasional replenishing stellar prominence?