NASA scientists advisors on new "Star Trek"
- Thread starter Admiral Buzzkill
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I believe that several of the covers of the Star Trek - Vanguard book series incorporate real images captured from space telescopes.
GodThingFormerly
A Different Kind of Asshole
Oh, this is beautiful. Porco is the despicable cow who screwed astronomical artist Jon Lomberg out of rightful credit for the "Diamond Disk" message plaque he designed for the Cassini orbiter, and which was ultimately abandoned by NASA due to the ugly squabble going public(*). How utterly appropriate that somebody like that should be involved in a film project like this. 
TGT
* Gregory Benford gave a detailed account of the sleazy episode in his non-fiction text, Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia (Avon Books, 1999).
TGT
* Gregory Benford gave a detailed account of the sleazy episode in his non-fiction text, Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia (Avon Books, 1999).
Too bad the CBS-D team hasn't got one (a Nasa scientist) - the digital abominations they dare to call "planets" sure could need a little brush-up from reality! 
And yet they remain massive improvements over the original TOS planets.
It's good that the new film actually has some scientists as advisors on the visuals. Of course ST:TMP had a couple of NASA types on board as well...the less said there, the better.
It's good that the new film actually has some scientists as advisors on the visuals. Of course ST:TMP had a couple of NASA types on board as well...the less said there, the better.
Not so much.
Starship Polaris said:
And yet they remain massive improvements over the original TOS planets.
Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that the new planets could look a lot better. Why settle for cheap beer when you can get expensive wine? Because the beer tastes better than water?
Starship Polaris said:
Of course ST:TMP had a couple of NASA types on board as well...the less said there, the better.
One man's opinion....which cannot be appreciated unless he explains. What exactly didn't you like?
That's OUTSTANDING news. I'm not familiar with the lady in question, but it's good to see that someone on the team is going to be "fact-checking" the science, like Jesco Von Puttkamer (sp?) did for TMP. That's been my single biggest beef with post-TMP Trek... the tendency to make the "treknology" in contradiction, in some ways, to real, known science.
With her, if she has any voice, at least we'll know that the E will have a real parabolic dish for the main deflector, complete with spike! :thumbsup:
I agree that the whole Lomberg/Porco disagreement was an awful event that led to the exclusion of the Cassini Diamond Message (although I think Simon Bell's photo showed us humans a bit TOO idyllically anywayThe God Thing said:
Oh, this is beautiful. Porco is the despicable cow who screwed astronomical artist Jon Lomberg out of rightful credit for the "Diamond Disk" message plaque he designed for the Cassini orbiter, and which was ultimately abandoned by NASA due to the ugly squabble going public(*). How utterly appropriate that somebody like that should be involved in a film project like this.
TGT
* Dr. Gregory Benford gave a detailed account of the sleazy episode in his non-fiction text, Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia (Avon Books, 1999).
).However, personal feelings aside, she is no doubt a very capable scientist and is regarded among her peers as quite a visionary in the realm of planetary science. One would need to weigh the negatives (the fact that some find her despicable, whether that be an accurate perception or not) with the positives (she certainly knows her stuff).
I worked with several people in my lifetime whom I found personally reprehensible for one reason or another, but that did not preclude me from seeing that they were very adept in their fields, and I would welcome the chance to work with them, based on the fact that we all have a job to do and our final product would be that much better because of their inclusion on the team -- which is ultimately the important thing.
...i.e. I don't have to like someone to work with them or to respect their ability and talent, nor does J.J. Abrams need to like everything about Ms. Porco to work with her to or respect her ability and talent.
OT:
TGT - I always found it ironic that the reason that photo of a group of humans sitting on the beach in a pastoral setting -- all getting along splendidly -- was ultimately not included on the spacecraft was due to the fact that two humans could NOT get along well enough to agree who should get credit for the Diamond Message. Ironic indeed.
Trekmovie.com has an exclusive interview with Porco here:
http://trekmovie.com/2008/02/11/interview-with-star-treks-new-science-advisor/
http://trekmovie.com/2008/02/11/interview-with-star-treks-new-science-advisor/
GodThingFormerly
A Different Kind of Asshole
Perhaps, although admittedly my own interest in the planetary sciences is restricted to developing ultra high-precision relativistic Solar System ephemerides employing techniques developed by - amongst others - Soffel and Brumberg. Anyhoo, if I may quote a couple of paragraphs from page 131 of Deep Time:
Don't you think it somewhat suggestive that the unnamed Voyager PI would specificaly invoke incompetence when choosing an example to illustrate the issue of Porco's job security? In an event, she may very well be able to select the correct composition, color and opacity of a fictional exoplanet's atmosphere for ST:XI, but I have my doubts when it comes to her ability to generate a sense of technological verisimilitude by backporting relevant real-world concepts into Trek's 1930s space opera universe on subjects ranging from speculative astronautics to life on 23rd century Earth.
TGT
No, it just means that deflector shield plating will fall of the Enterprise, hit the nacelles on its lift-off from San Francisco fleet yards causing a breach in the starboard power coupling, effectively destroying the ship. THAT is why the TOS Enterprise looks different from this one.
Continuity problem solved. Thank you NASA! I knew they were good for something.
Agreed. With the exception of the god-awful pajama-uniforms, I preferred the presentation of the ship and the presentation of the science and technology, as well as the effects, in TMP to anything seen later.
If only there'd been a compelling STORY to go along with all of that...
Cary L. Brown said:
Agreed. With the exception of the god-awful pajama-uniforms, I preferred the presentation of the ship and the presentation of the science and technology, as well as the effects, in TMP to anything seen later.
If only there'd been a compelling STORY to go along with all of that...
Yeah, I agree there. Pajama-uniforms were bad, story was weak, but the rest was amazing. I thought the Engineering set was great.
Of course, the refit Enterprise was the best!
Arlo said:
^ Apparently she is a "despicable cow"
That's udderly bad news.
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