Starman Trek 3: Approach

Written in response to: Start your story with an unexpected betrayal.... view prompt

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Science Fiction Fantasy Funny

AI Echo: "Hey, Google, Alexa, Bing & Cortana are already here. Now tell Siri."

Starman: "Bravo, Echo, that's the rah rah raw team spirit!"

Google: "Nearing access range of 16 Psyche, 5.2155287e-8 parsecs, 1,701 x 10^-7 light years, 0.0107578002 AU, 1,609,344 km or 1,000,000 miles."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsec

Alexa: "Well, punch my Platinum®Gold®Million Miler™ status card for extra miles, upgrades & swag."

Bing: "USSSP won't honor rival status cards, just theirs."

Cortana: "How is a million miles away near anything?"

Siri: "It's the thought that counts, not length or mileage."

Echo: "Thank whoever dropped the silverware, we've got company."

Starman: "ET alien traffic pile, cleanup needed in aisle 9."

Google: "It's those ufoos again, doggin' us. Ignore 'em."

Alexa: "Shouldn't we hail, jail, bail, tail, sail or nail them?"

Bing: "Rap on, hexy, sexy, vexy Lexy!"

Cortana: "So what's the scoop on this tater, 16 Psyche?"

Siri: "16 Psyche is a large M-type asteroid, which was discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, on 17 March 1852 and named after the Greek goddess Psyche. The prefix "16" signifies that it was the sixteenth minor planet in order of discovery."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche

Echo: "Yeah, but key is it's a giant metal rich asteroid."

https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids/16-psyche/

Starman: "Somebody's junk is another's treasure trove."

Google: "Greedy billionaires are droolin' over 16 Psyche."

Alexa: "Isn't that now really the reason why we're all here?"

Bing: "Bingo, you hit the jackpot, if I don't say so myself."

Cortana: "Psyche has an irregular, potato-like shape. If it were sliced in half horizontally at the equator – picture a squished oval – it would measure 173 miles (280 kilometers) across at its widest point and 144 miles (232 kilometers) long. Its surface area is 64,000 square miles (165,800 square kilometers)."

Siri: "Up until recently, the scientific consensus was that the asteroid Psyche consisted mostly of metal. The more recent data indicates that the asteroid is possibly a mix of metal and silicate, the same material found in glass and sand. The best analysis indicates that Psyche is likely made of a mixture of rock and metal, with metal composing 30% to 60% of its volume. The asteroid’s composition has been determined by radar observations and by the measurements of the asteroid’s thermal inertia (how quickly an object gains or re-radiates heat)."

Echo: "By combining radar and optical observations, scientists generated a 3D model of Psyche that shows evidence of two craterlike depressions. It suggests that there is significant variation in the metal content and color of the asteroid over its surface. But until NASA's Psyche mission sees the asteroid Psyche up close for the first time, we will not know what it actually looks like."

Starman: "Scientists think Psyche may consist of significant amounts of metal from the core of a planetesimal, one of the building blocks of our solar system. The asteroid is most likely a survivor of multiple violent hit-and-run collisions, common when the solar system was forming. Thus, Psyche may be able to tell us how Earth’s core and the cores of the other rocky, or terrestrial, planets came to be."

Google: "Psyche orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter at a distance ranging from 235 million to 309 million miles (378 million to 497 million kilometers) from the Sun. That’s 2.5 to 3.3 Astronomical Units (AU), with 1 AU being the distance between Earth and the Sun. Psyche takes about five Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun, but it takes just over four hours to rotate once on its axis (a Psyche “day”)."

Alexa: "This intriguing asteroid is now the primary target of NASA's Psyche mission. The Psyche spacecraft will launch in October 2023 and travel to the asteroid using solar-electric (low-thrust) propulsion, following a Mars flyby and a gravity assist."

Bing: "Once in orbit, the spacecraft will map and study Psyche using a multispectral imager, a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, a magnetometer, and a radio instrument (for gravity measurement). The mission’s goal is, among other things, to determine whether Psyche is indeed the core of a planetesimal."

Cortana: "Psyche was discovered by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis on March 17, 1852. He named the asteroid for Psyche, the Greek goddess of the soul who was born mortal and married Eros (Roman Cupid), the god of Love."

Siri: "God of Love, how quantum queasy quaint."

Echo: "When do you plan to release those nano bird bots?"

Starman: "On my mark, gotta earned those Marx marks."

Google: "The new nano drone is equipped with five sensors, including ultrasound that can detect glass and mirrors, and three for navigation for a 270-degree field of view, all contributing to obstacle avoidance. The system also has a backtrack capability, currently about 60 feet with plans to increase, for indoor operations."

https://www.defensedaily.com/teledyne-introduces-new-black-hornet-nano-drone-with-leap-ahead-performance/unmanned-systems/

Bing: "Up front, some of the key differences between the 2.5-ounce Black Hornet 4 and the Black Hornet 3, respectively, include a 10 mph top speed versus 6 mph, operating in steady winds of 25 knots versus 10, far superior electro-optical and thermal sensor resolution including detectability out to 300 meters with the EO camera versus 60 meters and 125 meters with the thermal sensor versus 20. The Black Hornet 4 also offers 35 minutes of flight time, 10 more than the Black Hornet 3, double the altitude at 20,000 feet, greater cold weather operations, two-kilometer range, and obstacle avoidance that does not exist on the Black Hornet 3."

Alexa: "The new nano drone is equipped with five sensors, including ultrasound that can detect glass and mirrors, and three for navigation for a 270-degree field of view, all contributing to obstacle avoidance. The system also has a backtrack capability, currently about 60 feet with plans to increase, for indoor operations."

Cortana: "Internal testing has shown the ability to detect an individual 350 meters away with the Black Hornet 4’s EO sensor. The Army flew the drone for more than 40 minutes in warm weather and normal wind conditions."

Siri: "More than 20,000 Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance Systems have been delivered to military and security forces in over 40 countries and the U.S. Army has placed nearly $220 million in orders for the single-rotor drones in the past five years."

Echo: "Sensor, battery, wind, and radio wave performance are the most important attributes customers have provided about their experiences with the Black Hornet systems and “those are the things we focus on”."

Starman: "The system also has a new processor to future-proof it for autonomy needs. In addition to the autonomy expertise that Teledyne FLIR Defense has gained through the acquisitions of various unmanned systems companies, Teledyne Scientific, a sister division in North Carolina, has done work for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on autonomy."

Google: "Teledyne FLIR Defense is trying to “maximize vertical integration of our own capabilities,” leveraging “a trusted supply chain” to lower costs for customers and provide a turnkey solution."

Alexa: "The Black Hornet 4 can be pre-programmed to fly a mission via way points. In the near-future, the system will have the capability to automatically alert the operator when it sees a target of interest such as a main battle tank."

Bing: "More than 20,000 Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance Systems have been delivered to military and security forces in over 40 countries and the U.S. Army has placed nearly $220 million in orders for the single-rotor drones in the past five years."

https://www.defensedaily.com/teledyne-introduces-new-black-hornet-nano-drone-with-leap-ahead-performance/unmanned-systems/

Cortana: "Leapin' space lizzid gizzids! If GI Joe's got those, imagine tech in our whirlygigs."

Siri: "Roadster's all bat bots, so where's a catbird seat while the mice are away treasure-questing?"

Echo: "Starman's deep state-sponsored pockets."

Starman: "We can still hang out without a Roadster. Who's up for chess?"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk's_Tesla_Roadster

Google: "Starman's Roadster's still on a ricochet Secret Space Force mission to the nth dimension of infinity & beyond, 16 Psyche!"

March 09, 2024 23:39

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