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From: zemogle
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  • The United States of Europe, mostly one currency, once in Europe you can fly between countries like in the states as domestic flights, European parliament & European Laws, might as well be one country :)

  • ur an idiot.

    So in that sense are we like the American union?

  • You just proved how stupid americans are

  • not everyone here is a dumbfuck.

  • Coming out of a country that never landed on the moon I guess it's okay. I think a sliding mechanism might have been better.

  • since when was europe a country? :S lol

  • Ok....what are you even talking about?

  • ...and it would have failed, most likely. You don't want anything that may become stuck out there, unless you're there to kick it (which you are *not*).

  • The inside of the telescope is a vacuum to keep the instruments cold and prevent contamination during assembly. Using a hinged door mechanism which opens outwards prevents the door from opening when the pressure outside the telescope is greater than the pressure inside;. so a door can only be opened once safely in the vacuum of space.

    A sliding mechanism can be opened regardless of pressure inside and outside of the telescope, so if opened too early air could enter and ruin the mission.

  • That would make sense but apparently the insides of the telescope had to be guarded against residues of gases & contaminants whilst actually in empty space over a long period of time. So what you are basically saying is that the pressure differential issue applied at liftoff but not particularly long after that.

  • Bottom line ... the design worked  .... up there very far away. Getting it to work first time is paramount. Imagine the design engineering team's relief. A great success and we'll all get to benefit from it.

    Now, the design argunments on this thread are all great ...they are important and all the better for future designs ... "No such thing as a dumb question ... there IS such a think as a dumb answer however.

    Thanks to those on topic ... sadly there is always too much off topic !!!

  • Actually the hatch door is a good low risk of failure design. The latch releases the hatch door that is on a spring. Simple mechanics but works. Using motors and circuitry add more complications and risk of failure is increased. The hatch opening once the latch was released was almost a dead cert and succeeding. The hatch was just bouncing on it's sprung loaded hinge would come to rest in the open position. Without the hatch open the telescope would be about as useful as tits on a bull.

  • Precisely, that is what I thought. The spring is supposed to be quite weak compared to the inertia of the hatch, that's OK, we don'ŧ want to shake the whole thing like mad. The friction damping could be higher, but I also see nothing out outright wrong with it - what if it were too high for any reason and the thing didn't move at all?

  • Look people, why are arguing (well some ) over a test of a hatch? grow up !

  • Was I referring to you or are you paranoid or just sensitive? you seem to attract negative responses as I can gather from your page. 'a pointless collecton of meanignless rubbish - if you came here for any reason you have been misled' says it all really...

  • What kind of mechanism is THAT?

    It looks so badly designed....the lid almost bounced back to its original position...and what if you want to close it again?

    Crap design.

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  • It's not worth more thab 100,000 euros.

  • for 1 billion euros i expected it to be more fascinating :P

  • Beautiful stuff. If I had something closed for 2 years at my house, I'd need a big can of WD40 and a crowbar to open it

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  • Who cares who invented what? In this day and age our similarities are far outweigh our differences. The exploration of space as a species underlines that.

  • i wonder , scince this is a infa-red telescope will it show us what really is at the coodanance 13h 48m 0s -- -8degee's 24' 25", it is blocked from view by most country's

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  • And are those coordinates not in space ?

  • Right, so this is where I point out how you improperly used the English word gyroscope by shortening it into slang gyro. Now according to your colleagues methodology, I will proceed to label most British as idiots for you having used a variation on the English language.

  • "gyroscope" is not an English word,

    neither "telescope" is

  • How about we sit the next one out and see who you do. I would start learning Russian or German, both of them had you in the last war.

  • the Russians liberated europe, just as the americans did !

    incredible ! how dare you ?

    Aushwitz for example was discovered by russian soldiers who saved a few thousand prisoners.

    don't u learn that at school ?

  • No, Americans learn that U.S. troops made the discovery of the concentration camps, freed all the prisoners, etc....

    At least that was the correct answer on the state-standardized testing.

  • I suppose you were also taught that the US captured the fiirst enigma machine and that NASA invented velcro etc etc. It is well known that US schools do not teach fact, preffering to make things look as if the US was the good party. The first concentration camps were "discovered" by British survelillence planes. Russia liberated the first camp on the 24th July 1944. The first camp liberated by the yanks was on the 11th April 1945. Look it all up on the internet.

  • To add to that. the US is also taught that E=MC2 is not correct, Newtons laws of motion are wrong and the US has its own version of the periodic table. Fascinating stuff. You can find it under the reference "complete idiots" section of the new Clinton library and soon in the Bush library. Its of note that the Bush library will provide evidence that the Native American Indians were terrorist and attacked when the first pioneers claimed the country as there new home.

  • Actually, E^2=p^2c^2+m^2c^4, so E=mc^2 is only correct for a particle at rest.

    And Newtons Laws are wrong, have you not heard of special relativity?

  • newtons law start to be noticeably wrong at around half the speed of light. since we haven't reached those speeds yet, newton mechanics are still right in almost everyday life.

  • Both laws are quite familiar to me, however non explain facts given. A particle at rest or in motion behaves in a predictable mathematical model as you described above, it does not disappear, "Special relativity" expands on newtons basic laws of gravity, it does not negate them. As for the periodic table? well thats a question everyone ignores..

  • Well, the Russians freed eastern europe, and the Americans + English + Canadians etc... freed western europe.

    Most camps were in eastern europe.

    The russians weakened the german army to such an extent that the D-Day became possible.

    I'm tired of hearing that because the USA freed europe, we have to be so grateful that we have to agree with everything.

    those same americans are NOT grateful towards the French for helping them to gain their independence from the british.

  • yes don't you know Al Gore invented it! you fools

  • Hmmm?? The US military invented the internet which is an indisputable fact. Tim Berners-Lee was British but he was at MIT (a US university) when he invented the World Wide Web... So where does Europe fit into the equation?

  • The Internet was a US invention, yes; but you're incorrect about the World Wide Web, which is generally accepted to have been "invented" whilst Tim Berners-Lee was working in CERN (France/Switzerland), not whilst at MIT :s

  • They got a few computers hooked up together. Big whoopsie. No wonder they never patented it.

  • @das7282 stupid dumb world wide web had be create by CERN at geneve ... stop smoke grass stupid fools

  • U.S of Europe,it took a long time,but we've always been better,just financially exhausted by Yanks joining wars too late and claiming the rewards...

  • Without gyros,neither america would not be in space or flying t planes ,missiles or guiding their ships around the world...Start there...a simple mechanical instrument..,stabilizes all, without it and it's mechanical orientation ,no plane ,no missile would reach it's target,no ship or specifically submarine would know where they*re at and no spacecraft could be launched ,nor sighted towards the universe....invented 200 years ago...not in America

  • Umm...what? Okay, all the inventions coming out of Europe and the end-all invention to this conversation that you come up with is the Gyro? Neat, I guess this is where I will say that the US invented slurpees and then we can call it a tie.

  • hahaha nice one.....you really got them with that one, im sure they feeling the burn...

  • There are very large springs on the lid that are keeping it open. I think that explains the violent recoil it had, those springs forced the hatch open and will keep it against the back supports.

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  • im sorry but I believe the first Internet experience between two computers was made in Schweiz. Correct me if I am wrong.

  • I think you shot yourself in the head with the first sentance you wrote. Do not every equalise domination with positive attributes. Thats a dangerous, false and narrow-minded assumption.

    'utilizing the internet, an American invention' - just lol at that one - what u see in front of you today aint anythin that the US invented - it took someone else (Berners-Lee) to put it to practicality. In other terms, you may invent the wheel but that doesnt mean youve invented the bicycle.

  • The British invented America..shame on us!

  • Yet here you are, using English, on your European-invented computer on the European-invented web. Well over half of all modern inventions are European.

    Get a life, maybe after that you don't have to try to claim part in inventions made by people you've never even seen.

  • The internet? An American invention? Tim Berners-Lee was British, thank you very much! :P

    But point made, America has contributed alot, especially in regard to space exploration.

  • Colonial prick!

  • Rule Britannia over all those plebs !!!!

  • God bless America,now use your biased Google and read history!

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  • Uh, Lincolnshire, we have a problem.

    The hatch obviously won't stay locked open.

  • Neato.

  • neat-o

  • Stop discussing the stupidity of Americans, it's a cultural thing to have pride in the inaccuracy of language. Yeah I think it's annoying, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter and it doesn't reflect intelligence.

    It also seems the loudest are the most stupid, as with all groups of people, it just happens there are more people in America.

  • You = Fool

  • I'm not insulting Americans, I'm just saying that there pretty much is more freedom in how they choose to speak.

    Example:

    "I'm doing good" would be "I'm well" because literally "doing good" means they are undertaking activities which are good. We interpret it is "I'm well" but it's inaccurate.

  • Starchilde2006,

    Absolutely. This is what I also said in a previous comment. The hatch would definitely rock the boat so to speak.

  • Well, I'm one American who truly appreciates what Herschel (and Planck) will do for Astronomy. Bravo ESA, bravo! Though I am curious about something - the mass of the hatch must be fairly high by the amount it bounces (and shakes the hull), does that need to be dampened by gyros or thrusters once it's opened? Seems like it would cause a lot of unnecessary and unwanted vibration in the spacecraft.

  • I know what you mean Bry850, I think this is the first comment I've ever made here on youtube.

    And it's all about a stupid video... I was just trying to clarify to many watchers that this isn't the actual footage of the Herschel Space Observatory as the title suggests.

  • no sweat bugsize, its kool ;P I think I just broke my record for # of comments on any one video. and this one at that! how exciting!!! zzzz....

  • There are a lot of dumb asses out there but you don't have to be an American to be one - take a straw pole in any country and you'll get the same result. So I hope this is not a "us euros are of course smarter than everyone else..." comment. Take a trip down to a bar in London or Paris or Rome...

  • the purple flavoured kool-aid tastes even better when you add a little prussian blue and a dash of HCN (hey! firefox changed my spelling to the British variant, guess us Uhhmericans cain't spell worth a durn)

  • sorry bry850,

    When you mentioned faked, I thought you were trying to say something to me. This would explain why your comment didn't make sense to me. ;)

    I don't believe all Americans are dumb, but there are allot that are.

    I truly am sorry for my confusion. hope you can understand why I jumped the gun here.

  • There is 1:30 of my life I'll never get back...

  • Springs and explosive bolts store potential energy - so they are self powered and hence self contained. Compare that to a battery (that could lose its charge - where a spring would have to break to lose its energy) connected to a servo (that has wires and many moving parts). The reliability of the spring + bolt is far better.

  • ptw - take the hair out of your ass

  • ANDY the moron needs to get a life. How sill and immature...

  • wtf, pretty lame

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  • That's right, cuz us awl 'mericans are jest a buncha dumb rednecks that ain't got half a none edumacation.

    You're a stereotyping hypocrite. Maybe a glass of Kool-Aid will make you feel smarter?

  • Bugsize, that was meant to be a reply to st1cklebr1ck, whose comment regarding the moon landing made no sense. Mine posted as a new comment however. Glad you can tell I'm American based on YOUR perceived lack of context :) As far as your blabbering is concerned: yes it is test footage, not the real deal. Yes the headline is misleading. Go pat yourself on the back.

  • oh - yes - I was dropped as a small child too - do I get a badge?

  • Explosions are cooler. What would have been even cooler would have been a robot who would have pushed the door open - is R2D2 available - he is French right?

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  • There are allot of dis informants who are trying to make you think this is the actual footage of the Herschel Space Observatory hatch opening, as the video title and video comment suggests.

    It's not the actual Herschel Space Observatory that is out in space.

  • WHO CARES ???

  • This video has been slowed down approximately one zillion times. HA.

    You came here from the BBC didn't you? Go back and watch the Iran videos.

  • I see the American education system is working, making americans the dumbest nation on earth.

    ROFL

    Yup keep drinking that kool-aid

  • Question, why did they not use a motor to open the lid? Are explosive bolts that more reliable?

  • Yes. This is standard operating procedure. This is how the solar panels are deployed on satellite.

    I would wager that reliability and also weight factor into this.

  • stfu fgt

  • Have you forgotten to take your medication? Who cares?

  • uhhh... the hubble telescope is already in space??

  • uhh yeah, i guess they fooled us in 1990 with Hubble, oh and have you heard of Sputnik? Do you believe nothing has gone into space or do your theories only apply to telescopes? When you put "faked" in quotation marks it A) seems you don't believe that they were faked (you know sarcasm doesn't work written in comments) or B) you... blah blah blah.

  • Yeah sure, it's all a big giant conspiracy and everyone's involved except you. Oh yeah, that conspiracy about the world not being round must be true too. It's really flat, and we're all pawns in this big game of hidden facts. Every time someone gets smart and acquires a degree in Astrophysics, Quantum Physics or friggin' Rocket Science they're just trained to be liars, not scientists who actually discover how to bend the rules of physics.

    You're a moron.

  • Thank you for picking up my sarcasm. The way I started it of with " Isuppose this is..." as a reply to the comment.

    I am an astrophysisist working on galaxy formation. I for one cannot wait to get my hands on the data that this satellite is going to give us.

  • "There is a YouTube video that shows what would have happened - in slow motion. "

    From the BBC article. Nobody is claiming this is the actual event, just a test firing.

  • warum reden obige Kommentatoren alle in einer Sprache, die nichts mit dem ehrwürdigen Herrn Herschel zu tun hat? Zurück zur europäischen Größe, meine sehr verehrten Dame und Herren...

  • youtube keeps blocking my replies when I post the news article from BBC, so you'll have to look it up for yourself, but they do not claim this to be a simulation.

  • SILENCE! IMBECILE! What are you babbling about? Why would anyone want to fake a slow motion replay of a lid opening? Are you completely nuts?

  • huh ?

    there is no camera up there man !

    this is just a test on earth.

    does it mater ?

  • your an IDIOT! This has already been discussed, but I guess you can't figure that out, huh?

    Maybe you should reed all the comments before replying!

  • hehe, the irony :)

  • the BBC wrote:

    "There is a YouTube video that shows what WOULD have happened - in slow motion."

    learn to read !

  • Try this article - it explains all...

  • It would be pretty hard to keep the end of the world a secret.. :/

  • Gee, what gave it away? The comment that this was a simulation?

  • Just because it's a video of the same lid mechanism doesn't mean it's on Herschel. ESA and BBC are both linking to this video as a demonstration.

  • Where is there any implication that this is in space? I would not expect a video from space. I would not expect the telescope would have a video camera and lighting to record the opening of the hatch in space. The video was no doubt shot during a test in the lab on earth.

  • 60% of Nasa's overt budget is military. God knows how much is covert. I'm no big fan of the bureaucrat scientists in their cush jobs, but this is far better than all the money the US wastes on Romanesque conquest and domination.

  • NASA had nothing to do with this. This is the European Space Agency's mission.

  • This is a European project so has nothing at all to do with NASA or the USA.

  • I think he knows this, i think its figuratively spoken.

  • I was expecting something a little more "hi-tech"!

  • That was one small lid release for a man, one great lid release for mankind. I can't wait for the pictures. This research is the best investment for our future. We need more telescopes up in space.

  • The bit that costs the money is the rocket, the security measures, the rules to prevent contamination, the designs to reduce weight, the incredibly expensive lenses, the list continues,

  • Nice user name child. Not.

  • If that's your most constructive argument then you're the child.  Also, I'm 18 so by definition I'm an adult.

  • age is just a number. your maturity level is what truly defines you as an adult, not what a countries definition of adult age. by your arguement you are still the child

  • When you learn to spell argument come back and call me a child. Also, I'm mature, nothing I've done has indicated otherwise.

  • to congo bill, try it or shut up

  • You could juice a whole watermelon in that bad boy.

  • well, 5 seconds for the opening, the other minute and a half watching the slow motion lid oscillation... Rock on

  • Oh be quiet. Firstly, 26% of the American budget goes on the Iraq war. A HUGE percentage of the worlds budget has gone on saving us from a global recession. 1% of the Americans budget goes on NASA. If you want to point the blame somewhere, point it at the banks, the politicians and most importantly the people who lied about WMDs in Iraq.

  • Just thought I'd clarify I know this is a European telescope but my point still stands about your perception of how much 1.5billion really is.

  • ESA mission

  • The use of springs was far simpler, more reliable (and lighter) than the use of servos. The bouncing of the lid was detected by the craft's accelerometers as a successful opening event. I think the lid's design was superbly based on the KISS principle... and common sense...

  • Why don't they use a slide lid? Or, why is there no mechanism to keep the lid locked so that it won't bounce back? What if the lid falls back half way, which will block some of the light from the telescope?

  • Lol, its a shame these genius scientists didn't consult you before they commisioned this 1.5billion dollar telescope.

    I think they know what they are doing.

  • yes, but now we want to know what they are doing.

    melan is just asking a question, not suggesting this should have been done otherwise.

  • No, he was trying to outlin possible faults. Possible faults that would never exist.

  • Why was there no damping mechanism on the hatch axle?? ... having the hatch slam back and forth seems like a liability.

  • "Next time jim, i think we should use servos to lift the cover instead of springs... whose idea was that anyway?

    @ rafterman123: i dont think this is time-lapse, it just seems that way due to inertia in a gravity-free vacuum (a.k.a. space).

  • were you dropped as a child

  • It isn't gravity-free.

  • Man that is a dumb-ass comment...

  • i meant zero-gravity. just a quick translation error, and suddently the spelling police and qiuck judges are all over you.. jeez.. its a comment, not a forum. discuss the matter at hand, and let "peronal" matters be.

  • i agree but,one has too stroke the New Worlds ego.............:D

  • how boring was that!!!

  • As exciting as a opening a bin.

  • Is this actual video of the opening or a computer simulation or done on earth before the sending?

  • This is a spare they have on earth that was kept shut at cryogenic temperatures (and in a vacuum I imagine) for two years, just so they could test the mechanism.

  • Thanks for the answer!

  • How does that pyro command / release work? How is it triggered?

  • some1 pushes a button :|

  • Um, and I see it was held at cryogenic temperatures most or all of that time - more sticktion to defeat. All the more impressive engineering.

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  • "Come on, that's pathetic."

    For a lid that was safely closed against atmosphere leaks for two years, and at an atmosphere differential at times, it was a robust opening. These things stick!

  • This technique was probably chosen because it was the most reliable and robust. It would have been sealed very well for the launch and so using pistons or a mechanical bolt may not have had the force to open the lid. Also, there have been many problems in past where parts shift during launch and cause the mechanics to seize up. Using brute force on millions of dollars worth of equipment is sometimes the only way no matter how precisely it is engineered

  • This technique was probably chosen because it was the most reliable and robust. It would have been sealed very well for the launch and so using pistons or a mechanical bolt may not have had the force to open the lid. Also, there have been many problems in past where parts shift during launch and cause the mechanics to seize up. Brute for on millions of dollars worth of equipment is sometimes the only way precisely it is engineered

  • Also, it is shown here in slow motion. Therefore it may look flimsy, however shown at this timescale most mechanics do this at high stress levels. You can see the metal warping like this all the time at this timescale and it is factored in to the design, probably... I'm no rocket scientist

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  • Is That the worlds most complicated and expensive latch?

  • No, the one on the Orchid station in Lost is. This is the second most complicated.

  • Thank you for your comments Emanuel -

    I wonder why go to all the trouble of this elaborate release system, but there doesn't seem to be a way to reverse it - what if you want to put the thing back on (to protect instruments from some potential hazard) ? If you never want to put it back on then the release system does seem over the top - why not just hold it with a spring mechanism and put a charge across it to spring it ?

  • It's bouncing around like it is in zero grav quite impressively. How long will the liquid helium last and what happens to it when the gas finally boils off?

  • Herschel is expected to remain operational for about three years, which is presumably the timeframe that the machinery will be able to remain usable for.

  • Nevertheless, it is going to take images of the whole sky several times in these 3 years.

  • Hubble was expected to finish operations many years ago.

  • True. But:

    1) Hubble is in a near earth orbit and is thus servicable

    2 ) Hubble is in a stable orbit and doesn't require the constant powered adjustments that Herschel will need in its L2 orbit (if it was released at even a slightly less optimal trajectory when Ariane sent it off, it could take months off of its lifespan)

    3) Hubble doesn't require liquid helium to keep its components cool. The He will boil.

  • Being a few hundred thousand miles away causes difficulty. I wish I caould find somewhere that explained how L2 works, the BBC was innadecuate.

  • If you consider that the Earth orbits the sun as it does because the gravitational attraction of the sun is equal to the centripetal force of the Earth's orbit, the L2 point is a point beyond the Earth where a satellite's centripetal force balances with the gravitational attraction of both the Sun /and/ the Earth. Thus we also find that at this point, a satellite has the same period as the Earth.

    For no doubt a better explanation, check Wikipedia.

  • I'm going to have to have a look at centripetal force. Probably a good thing to keep me thinking physics until I get into university, exam results allowing. Coincedentally I had my last exam today.

  • it has an expected lifetime of 2 years after which either they refill it or they discard it

  • do you reckon they checked that the lid ends up out of shot? it's so annoying when you find your finger in the picture isn't it?