[QUOTE=Jeff Gilchrist;270154]Planet made of diamond discovered
[url]http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/08/26/science-diamond-planet.html[/url][/QUOTE]

Cool. Now we just need to find a planet of gold to stop the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberman"]Cybermen[/URL]. :grin:

You diamond-hunters are so materialistic...but maybe you could take a cue from these folks and find a way to 'nudge' that rock our way:

[url=http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27112/]A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit[/url]: [i]Chinese scientists have discovered a near Earth asteroid that, with a slight push, could enter Earth orbit[/i][quote]Most of the discussion about near Earth asteroids focuses on whether they represent a threat to Earth and what to do take if they turn out to be heading our way.

But today, Hexi Baoyin and pals at Tsinghua University in Beijing offer a different take. The question they ask is how to place an asteroid in orbit around the Earth.

Their conclusion is a little surprising. They say it's relatively straightforward to nudge a small asteroid in our direction. They've even discovered a number of candidates nearby that we might want to bring as little closer.

Their inspiration is a phenomenon that astronomers have noticed with Jupiter. Every now and again, the gas giant captures a nearby object, which hangs around for a few years and then wanders off into space.

A good example is the comet Oterma which went into orbit about Jupiter in1936 before heading off into the Solar System two years later.

Could a similar thing happen to Earth, ask Baoyin and co. Having studied the orbits of the 6000 known near Earth objects (NEO), they say the short answer is no. None of them will come close enough for Earth to capture.

However, a few of these objects will come maddeningly close. So near, in fact, that a small nudge would send them into Earth orbit. "When such an NEO approaches Earth, it is possible to change its orbit energy...to make the NEO become a small satellite of the Earth," they say.

A particularly good candidate is a 10-meter object called 2008EA9 which will pass within a million kilometres or so of Earth in 2049. 2008EA9 has a very similar orbital velocity as Earth's. Baoyin and co calculate that it could be fired into Earth orbit by changing its velocity by 410 metres per second. That's tiny.

This nudge should place the asteroid in an orbit at about twice the distance of the Moon. From there it can be studied and mined, they say.

Just like Oterma's, this orbit is likely to be temporary so 2008EA9 will probably wander off into the heavens after a few years.

Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?[/quote]

[QUOTE=Jeff Gilchrist;270154]Planet made of diamond discovered
[URL]http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/08/26/science-diamond-planet.html[/URL][/QUOTE]

Nice comment I just found on your linked page:

Past news: Diamonds are a girl's best friend.
Current news: Planet made of diamond discovered.
Future news: Women find a way to circumvent the laws of physics to travel faster than speed of light.

A new moon, for our studying and mining pleasure? At lunar distances?

What could go wrong? For one, assume, at a random moment, the thrusters (of your preferred variety, rockets, ion drive, mass drive, whatever) quit working, permanently. Where does the object land, or end up?

For two, the orbit of the moon is pretty high up....it might end up in L5 orbit. We could reduce the altitude of the object, by using your favorite solar-powered thruster, but as we do so, we have to get much more careful that it doesn't enter the atmosphere in an uncontrolled way. Is there anything of enough value on that rock to make it worthwhile, beyond hunting it for fossils, or life itself? Very expensive to get there, and very expensive to get materials from it to earth.

Maybe the value is in terms of a human habitat to go to mars with? 10 meters of rock makes a nice cosmic ray shield, and a good source of mass in a very convenient high place, orbit. Maybe we can make a bunch of ablative re-entry shields from it.

[url]http://ca.news.yahoo.com/space-junk-reaching-tipping-point-report-warns-205439704.html[/url]

In more space news...

The Star That Should Not Exist
[url]http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110831155340.htm[/url]

[url]http://ca.news.yahoo.com/video/canews-22424922/possible-cancer-treatment-breakthrough-26482811.html[/url]

2 concerns when reading someone else comment:

it would be cool if they : 1) have a way to take it out if it goes rogue after defeating the cancer ( though it takes out it's own home then). 2) if they can learn to evolve it so it still works against cancer in the long run.

[url]http://ca.news.yahoo.com/stemcell-zoo-could-save-endangered-species-study-213843222.html[/url]

New pics of [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14813043"]Apollo 17 Landing Site[/URL]

or a sandpit at JPL or someplace. :loco: :max:

does this fit : [url]http://ca.news.yahoo.com/philippines-catches-largest-crocodile-record-071040561.html[/url] 1075 Kg crocodile.

[url]http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/09/08/science-sediba-hominin-fossil.html[/url]

and yes I know more towards the evolution thread.