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Old 03-April-2005, 04:45 PM
Vega115 Vega115 is offline
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Default Speed of A Spacecraft for this to Happen?

Ok, so today i was online, as i am now, watching music videos that aren't on TV.

Specifically, i was watching 'Sing for Absolution' by Muse.

in the video, which can be found here: (just scroll down till you see 'Sing For Absolution') http://www.microcuts.net/uk/multimedia it takes place in the future, in which a new ice age has happened, and it seems that they are sending out astronauts to search for other planets, as when the spacecraft takes off, we see not only a biiiig electronic billboard in space, but lots of space junk from presumably other spacecraft. So they dock with the 'cryo module', which sends them into a 'wormhole' (? - only because it might be a wormhole, might be traveling faster than the speed of light - whatever, its a music video, lets not try and critique it..its the music that counts) which gets them to a very Mars-like looking planet with a pretty impossibly dang crowded asteroid belt, so they have to do some nifty manuveurs, but they skid one, damaging te cryo unit, so that seperates. The "crew" vehicle descends at a REEEEEAALLLLY fast speed, looking like a fireball, going down towards the planet in a downward spiral, and you can see the g-forces on their face. At about 4:00 minutes into the video, as they are descended, the 'air brakes' (?) are opened, and the force generated by the speed that they are traveling causes teh air brakes, and basically the back 'wings' to just sheer clear off. (<--I'd be officially scared at that point) So they somehow are able to straighten out right before they become pancaked to the planet, and skid along the ground for a couple hundred meters. The spacecraft is for lack of a better word - totaled, so they go out and explore and they look across what seems to be a dry riverbed with a natural bridge looking thing and realize that they are looking at a destroyed....


London?!

That part just kinda threw me for a loop.

Anyways, my question is: For any spacecraft, if they are made from the same materials as the shuttle, how fast would they have to be traveling in order for parts to sheer clear off from the force? This is assuming there is no damage to the aircraft.


Also, did the wormhole sequence kinda look like a modern version of the scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey when they go 'Beyond the Infinite' to anyone else? I thought it did!
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Old 03-April-2005, 05:55 PM
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Saluki Saluki is offline
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There are too many variables to calculate a speed. It would depend on the density of the atmosphere, the angle of entry, the materials/construction of the "air brakes", the surface area of the brakes, the drag coefficient of the brakes, etc.
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Old 03-April-2005, 07:16 PM
Omicron Persei 8 Omicron Persei 8 is offline
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Default Re: Speed of A Spacecraft for this to Happen?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vega115
Also, did the wormhole sequence kinda look like a modern version of the scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey when they go 'Beyond the Infinite' to anyone else? I thought it did!
First of all I have to say that's actually a pretty badass video. Second 2001 was also the first thing I thought of during the wormhole scene.

So did they go into the future to escape the ice age only to find the world a tattered mess?
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Old 04-April-2005, 11:15 AM
doltish doltish is offline
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Default Re: Speed of A Spacecraft for this to Happen?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vega115
London?!

That part just kinda threw me for a loop.
Maybe they never went very far in the first place. Maybe their intent was not to travel through the wormhole to find someplace, but to timetravel to find the same Earth in a different state. Somebody punched in the wrong date :-)
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