NASA Messenger Got A Surprise On April 1 - Mariner 10

reply to post by Illustronic


Good catch!

This article came from Universe Today. A legit site. I don't really understand why they would do this.

www.universetoday.com...

They say in the title "no foolin" but this is obviously a prank.

When you can't trust reliable sources anymore, what next.


Here is the original. If you just rotated to the same angle as the fake picture, it's a match.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e93b5bce5c6a.gif[/atsimg]


pds.jpl.nasa.gov...

Crapolla... Universe Today is a blog.

Phyorg.com should be ashamed.

edit - I tried to leave a comment on the blog -

They jacked my wordpress password. BEWARE!

They should be brought up on charges!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm amazed at the amount of people that believed this

reply to post by Red_xi

As I said. I got it physorg.com originally. I use that site all the time.

When legitimate sites start running pranks, they lose a lot of credibility.

Even if it is April Fools.




I asked the mods to move it hoax. It never was.

This BS story keeps getting flagged and I don't want people to believe it.

reply to post by timewalker


If this is an April fools day HOAX then it is being picked up by other sites. I did a search and found a couple of sites that copied the same article.
This one from Universe Today had a link to this Messenger site...
messenger.jhuapl.edu...

reply to post by Devino

Something is very strange here. I don't get it.

The image was obviously cropped, I checked myself, and found the original.



From the Messenger link you provided. - John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Encounter with the Ancient Mariner
(April Fool's Day)
Release Date: April 1, 2011

Professor Rom suggested that Mariner 10 may have remained in place as of the time of its last signal:

“Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.”

Guidance and control lead E. C. Shaughn offered that the effect of solar radiation should have substantially altered Mariner 10’s orbit over the past 36 years as a result of solar sailing:

“With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail;
Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail! a sail!”

Propulsion lead Brecht Engel added that some residual propellant after Mariner 10’s last propulsive maneuver may have outgassed, and that multiple outgassing events may also have contributed to trajectory changes:

“A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it neared and neared:
As if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tacked and veered.”

As MESSENGER passed into eclipse behind Mercury, Prof. Rom had the last word:
“The sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:
At one stride comes the dark;
With far-heard whisper o'er the sea,
Off shot the spectre-bark.”

linky

Riddle me not.....

reply to post by timewalker

Yes, I don't understand the obvious cropped looking photo nor the poem in that article (I also adjusted the contrast to see the vertical line for myself).
The poem is called, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", for whatever it's worth.

Originally posted by timewalker
reply to post by Illustronic

 

Good catch!

This article came from Universe Today. A legit site. I don't really understand why they would do this.

www.universetoday.com...

They say in the title "no foolin" but this is obviously a prank.

When you can't trust reliable sources anymore, what next.


Here is the original. If you just rotated to the same angle as the fake picture, it's a match.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e93b5bce5c6a.gif[/atsimg]


pds.jpl.nasa.gov...

edit on 5-4-2011 by timewalker because: (no reason given)

Yep, an exact match. lol

If you read any of the individuals at Universe Today in the members comments, a guy called Lawdog left this;

Professor S. T. Rom sounds a lot like Professor Strom who really has worked on both missions. Project scientist Mack Knott sounds a lot like real project scientist, R. L. McNutt. Mission Systems Engineer E. Finn Again is most definitely Mission Systems Engineer E. Finnegan. Mick Adams would be J. McAdams, E. C. Shaugn is a play on D. O’Shaughnessy, and finally Propulsion Lead Brecht Engel is Propulsion Lead C. Engelbrecht.

reply to post by Illustronic


I posted the precession of images on my blog. Kudos for bringing it to the forefront.

I don't know why this upset me, I just feel some institutions should not play jokes.

It's not even a big deal, but just that they did it.

I guess you really can't trust a thing you see or hear on Apr 1st.

I'll just turn everything off next year for a week.