# What is this thing? \[Strange grid ball\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989 "2013-01-12T20:37:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/81 "2013-01-14T12:50:05Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > [ul] > [li]Limitations of equipment - i.e. no facility for casting or machining large sections[/li][li]To provide flexibility - this could be a proof of concept for some sort of erector/meccano style universal construction kit[/li][li]For visual effect - if it’s a piece of art[/li][li]If it’s a scale model[/li][/ul] I thought of another possibility: Some complex bit of kit needs to be installed inside the chamber, and may require tinkering from any angle of access. (although even so, I think that could still be achieved without making the individual panels so small). ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/82 "2013-01-14T13:58:20Z")
Come on, it can’t be for fluid containment or exclusion with all those joints. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/83 "2013-01-14T14:05:57Z")
a giant dryer ball for the nuclear plasma dept? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/84 "2013-01-14T14:21:10Z")
I’m thinking an experimental form of [targeting chamber](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=ubuntu&hs=YTR&tbo=d&channel=fs&biw=1360&bih=552&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=target+chamber+design&oq=target+chamber+design&gs_l=img.3...83941.85291.0.86037.7.7.0.0.0.0.339.970.4j0j2j1.7.0...0.0...1c.1.A4yAY9M7XPg) for laser fusion experiments, similar to the National Ignition Facility. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/85 "2013-01-14T14:32:23Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > [Here ya go](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV7Qz640OeM). (Don’t put your lips on it.) Pah ha ha I’ve been following this thread and reading the updates for a couple days, and hearing each poster say “Whut t’hell is that thing?” “Ahhh, I know what _that_ is…” ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/86 "2013-01-14T16:31:02Z")
A physicist friend to whom I just showed the photo says “I recently saw some of the inside of the core of the national ignition facility. This looks like a very low key prototype of the sphere there.” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/87 "2013-01-14T16:41:23Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > A physicist friend to whom I just showed the photo says “I recently saw some of the inside of the core of the national ignition facility. This looks like a very low key prototype of the sphere there.” I suggested as much, near the beginning of the thread. I worked on some of the support equipment for NIF and had plenty of drawings and photos of the unit at hand. I am checking with some of the likeliest department heads and senior professors to see if I can get a lead. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/88 "2013-01-14T16:56:08Z")
Whatever it is, _don’t taunt it_. This is going to turn into the next mystery rebus or “14 k of g in a f p d”, isn’t it… ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/89 "2013-01-14T17:15:26Z")
Wow! It’s an [Interociter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interocitor)…paging doctor Meacham! ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/90 "2013-01-14T18:59:43Z")
It’s beautiful is what it is. Other than that, I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/91 "2013-01-14T19:41:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Ogilvy, the astronomer, assured me we were in no danger. He was convinced there could be no living thing on that remote, forbidding planet. Just make certain that it hasn’t ‘unscrewed’ when you approach it. [Ulla!] ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/92 "2013-01-14T20:08:14Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Come on, it can’t be for fluid containment or exclusion with all those joints. True, those are a lot of joints - an unreasonably, seemingly unnecessarily large number of them… but those things attached to it are pipes. Pipes are usually for fluids… So unless it’s an art piece (and I confess, it is beautiful), what else is there? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/93 "2013-01-14T20:37:45Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Is it a spherical Luneberg lens? > > [http://www.google.com/patents?id=PXFTAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA2&dq=SPHERICAL+LUNEBERG+LENS&source=gbs\_selected\_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q=SPHERICAL%20LUNEBERG%20LENS&f=false](http://www.google.com/patents?id=PXFTAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA2&dq=SPHERICAL+LUNEBERG+LENS&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q=SPHERICAL%20LUNEBERG%20LENS&f=false) Nope. I’ve seen Luneberg lenses (and wrote about them recently). Despite that patent drawing, they look nothing like the picture linked by the OP. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/94 "2013-01-14T20:38:45Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Wow! It’s an [Interociter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interocitor)…paging doctor Meacham! it’s not an Interociter, either. Didn’t you see MST3K the Movie? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/95 "2013-01-14T20:39:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Pipes are usually for fluids… Or microwaves. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/96 "2013-01-14T20:42:41Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Or microwaves. Yeah, or hamsters. I dunno. This one is a puzzle. Also: why is there snow on the ground, but not on the sphere? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/97 "2013-01-14T20:47:56Z")
Interociter: [http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;\_ylt=A0PDoQ3VbvRQwRYA1WeJzbkF;\_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F\_adv\_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Dinterocitor%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D2&w=462&h=347&imgurl=www.interocitor.us%2Fimages%2Finterocitor\_sm.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.interocitor.us%2F&size=50.1+KB&name=incorporating+greater+advances+than+hitherto+known+in+the+field+of+...&p=interocitor&oid=e9d3689c60ba7e48c58da41682f60560&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=incorporating%2Bgreater%2Badvances%2Bthan%2Bhitherto%2Bknown%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bfield%2Bof%2B...&b=0&ni=200&no=2&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=10quturqv&sigb=139m0al4q&sigi=11cnc1dtl&.crumb=G.kSrW0OssH](http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoQ3VbvRQwRYA1WeJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Dinterocitor%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D2&w=462&h=347&imgurl=www.interocitor.us%2Fimages%2Finterocitor_sm.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.interocitor.us%2F&size=50.1+KB&name=incorporating+greater+advances+than+hitherto+known+in+the+field+of+...&p=interocitor&oid=e9d3689c60ba7e48c58da41682f60560&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=incorporating%2Bgreater%2Badvances%2Bthan%2Bhitherto%2Bknown%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bfield%2Bof%2B...&b=0&ni=200&no=2&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=10quturqv&sigb=139m0al4q&sigi=11cnc1dtl&.crumb=G.kSrW0OssH) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/98 "2013-01-14T20:51:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Interociter: > > [http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;\_ylt=A0PDoQ3VbvRQwRYA1WeJzbkF;\_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F\_adv\_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Dinterocitor%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D2&w=462&h=347&imgurl=www.interocitor.us%2Fimages%2Finterocitor\_sm.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.interocitor.us%2F&size=50.1+KB&name=incorporating+greater+advances+than+hitherto+known+in+the+field+of+...&p=interocitor&oid=e9d3689c60ba7e48c58da41682f60560&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=incorporating%2Bgreater%2Badvances%2Bthan%2Bhitherto%2Bknown%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bfield%2Bof%2B...&b=0&ni=200&no=2&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=10quturqv&sigb=139m0al4q&sigi=11cnc1dtl&.crumb=G.kSrW0OssH](http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoQ3VbvRQwRYA1WeJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Dinterocitor%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D2&w=462&h=347&imgurl=www.interocitor.us%2Fimages%2Finterocitor_sm.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.interocitor.us%2F&size=50.1+KB&name=incorporating+greater+advances+than+hitherto+known+in+the+field+of+...&p=interocitor&oid=e9d3689c60ba7e48c58da41682f60560&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=incorporating%2Bgreater%2Badvances%2Bthan%2Bhitherto%2Bknown%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bfield%2Bof%2B...&b=0&ni=200&no=2&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=10quturqv&sigb=139m0al4q&sigi=11cnc1dtl&.crumb=G.kSrW0OssH) Leonard Rossiter: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Leonard\_Rossitor\_as\_Reggie\_Perrin.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Leonard_Rossitor_as_Reggie_Perrin.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/99 "2013-01-14T21:03:54Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Leonard Rossiter: > [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Leonard\_Rossitor\_as\_Reggie\_Perrin.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Leonard_Rossitor_as_Reggie_Perrin.jpg) I’ve seen him! In many movies and TV shows, including **2001: A Space Odyssey** , where he was a Russian. But he won’t allow you to contact Metaluna, even if you turn him 3/8 to the right. And I’m pretty certain he’d make a _terrible_ concrete mold. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/100 "2013-01-14T21:12:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Also: why is there snow on the ground, but not on the sphere? Because the snow fell 3 weeks ago and has mostly melted except for a few ground drifts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989.md?page=6)