Boomerang Works In Space

[superplough]

Boomerang works in space, says astronaut (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23412011-13762,00.html)


IN an unprecedented experiment, a Japanese astronaut has thrown a boomerang in space and confirmed it flies back much like on Earth.

Astronaut Takao Doi "threw a boomerang and saw it come back" during his free time on March 18 at the International Space Station, a spokeswoman at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

Doi threw the boomerang after a request from compatriot Yasuhiro Togai, a world boomerang champion.

"I was very surprised and moved to see that it flew the same way it does on Earth," the Mainichi Shimbun daily quoted the 53-year-old astronaut as telling his wife in a chat from space.

The space agency said a videotape of the experiment would likely be released later.

Mr Doi travelled on US shuttle Endeavour on the March 11 blast-off and successfully delivered the first piece of a Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station.


Crazy huh?

[CrossboneGundam]

Not really. There's air in a space station. It's not a vaccuum.

[Tuna]

Yeah...why would they think it wouldn't work? What's the surprise here?
:huh:

[Caster13]

Upon seeing the title of this thread I thought that someone through a boomerang in ACTUAL SPACE and it worked.

[seba_boi]

The article says it was thrown in space....

[Leader Desslock]

The article says it was thrown in space....
It was, but the space in which it was thrown was inside the presurized confines of the ISS. It's not like he donned a space suit, stood on the hull, then flung a boomerang and watched it return.

If he'd done that, it simple would have continued straight along the path he threw it until it either hit something or burned up in reentry. The most efficient wing in the world doesn't work in a vaccuum.

[seba_boi]

It was, but the space in which it was thrown was inside the presurized confines of the ISS. It's not like he donned a space suit, stood on the hull, then flung a boomerang and watched it return.

If he'd done that, it simple would have continued straight along the path he threw it until it either hit something or burned up in reentry. The most efficient wing in the world doesn't work in a vaccuum.

They should've been more precise with their report and said "boomerang thrown in a zero-gravity environment"...

[Delta-Pheonix]

Yeah that kind of disapointed me, kinda funny though.

[Trefellin]

So this is what they are spending billions on?

[KatayokuのTenshi]

Damn, I thought that it was in actual space too. I'm a little disappointed (it might also have meant the end of the universe as we know it but it would have been cool)

I suppose you don't get as much attention if you say "Boomerang Works in Room!"

[Leader Desslock]

^^ Well, maybe the idea of a space boomerang makes sense. How do you return soil samples from other planets or asteroids? You throw a probe out there, and it comes back. Maybe they're just trying out a new design.

[Tidusauron12]

(it might also have meant the end of the universe as we know it but it would have been cool)

:lol:

Yeah, everything we thought we knew about space would've been ****ed. :lol:

[Trefellin]

If he'd done that, it simple would have continued straight along the path he threw it until it either hit something or burned up in reentry. The most efficient wing in the world doesn't work in a vaccuum.

^^ Well, maybe the idea of a space boomerang makes sense. How do you return soil samples from other planets or asteroids? You throw a probe out there, and it comes back. Maybe they're just trying out a new design.

Kay. :)


(Mcfiller)

[Tidusauron12]

^Didn't get it. ;)

[Leader Desslock]

^ Not sure if he thought there was a contradiction between the serious post (1st) and the silly post (2nd). Maybe?

Perhaps it'd be more obvious if I elaborated on the new booster stage design: The Space Pogo.

[Fobb]

I can't even get it to come back to me on Earth...

[Leader Desslock]

^ I have, and trust me, you don't want it to come back. Its only in the last second before impact that you realize that's it's coming at you edgewise at exactly the speed you originally threw it.

[Fobb]

Ouch. I'll stick with frisbee's then.

[Tidusauron12]

Heh, Desslock, you remind me of a story my father told me. When he was in the military, stationed in Australia, he said there were lots of guys who got severely injured or killed because they made mistakes while using them in the field. He also said there were a lot of accidents while he was stationed there because somehow, a lot of the guys who got there hands on them were pretty inexperienced at using them.

When he explained the nature of the injuries to me... well... let's just say I never plan on using a boomerang (also, he said some of the ones back then had sharp edges, for cutting and such, so I imagine the situation was much worse).

[Haro!]

Boomerang.. in SPACE!

Anyway, Desslock has killed any interest in me using a boomerang.

[superplough]

Sorry to be dissapointing. I think I read it wrong. -_-;

[Meson]

A boomerang in zero G! That is news actually. It means gravity has no effect, which has applications on other planets.

[goddessofanime]

So this is what Japan's Space Agency is up too......

[germanturkey]

lame. misleading title. it would not work in space space. you know, the real thing.