Discovery

In the novels of Arthur C. Clarke, the American spacecraft used in the historic first manned mission to Jupiter in 2001. Physically, Discovery was a long, slender white spear shape, with a spherical pressure hull at the forward end, a large ion drive module at the aft end, and a large antenna complex atop the ship, near its midpoint. The pressure hull contained the ship's flight deck, a pod bay with three space pods (indended for EVA use), a small emergency airlock, and a large centrifuge to provide artificial gravity, in which were located the crew quarters, galley, and the ship's hibernation facilities. The vessel was assembled in Earth orbit, tested in a translunar flight, and launched on its mission from lunar orbit.

The crew of the Discovery consisted of Mission Commander David Bowman, Astronaut Frank Poole, and a three-member exploration team kept in suspended animation. Acting almost as a "sixth member" of the crew was the ship's artificially intelligent onboard computer, HAL 9000, which handled the ship's automated functions and could, in an emergency, run the entire mission unaided.

The planned mission would have had Bowman and Poole fly the Discovery to Jupiter, where the exploration team would be awakened and spend several months in observations of Jupiter and its moons. Thereafter, the entire crew would enter hibernation, to await rescue five years later by the planned spacecraft Discovery II. For various reasons, mostly centering around the discovery of the TMA-1 monolith in Tycho Crater on the Moon, the mission objectives were changed prior to launch; the three exploration team members were briefed on the new objectives, but placed in suspended animation before the Discovery's departure. Bowman and Poole were kept unaware of the mission's changes; HAL was given information about the true mission objectives, but was instructed to conceal this information from the flight crew. This decision would later prove disastrous.

During the mission, HAL reported a failure in a portion of the antenna control system, threatening to break communications with Earth. Poole, in the process of attempting to diagnose and repair the failure, was killed by HAL during an EVA. Bowman left the ship to attempt to rescue Poole, but was denied access to the ship by HAL upon his return. Meanwhile, HAL had sabotaged the hibernation systems, causing the death of the three other crew members. Bowman managed to reenter the ship, and he subsequently disconnected HAL's higher functions, rendering the computer harmless.

Upon arrival at Jupiter, Bowman discovered a larger monolith, at the Lagrange point between Jupiter and Io. Leaving the ship in orbit around Io, he took a space pod to investigate the monolith, but did not return and was presumed dead. Discovery continued to orbit Io, though her orbit gradually decayed due to electromagnetic influence from the flux tube between Jupiter and Io.

Discovery was eventually reactivated by the crew of the Russian spacecraft Leonov, which embarked on an expedition to Jupiter in 2010. Three crew members of the Leonov were Americans, sent on the mission expressly for the purpose of reactivating Discovery and especially HAL. A mysterious warning from Bowman, given to Dr. Heywood Floyd, would result in the use of Discovery and her remaining fuel supply as a "first stage" to propel Leonov homeward prior to the opening of the launch window for return to Earth. This allowed Leonov to escape the cataclysmic explosion, caused by the monolith, that turned Jupiter into the star Lucifer. Discovery was destroyed in that explosion, but the Leonov crew, as well as mission controllers on Earth, received one final message from the spacecraft before its destruction: "All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there."

Source: Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: a space odyssey, 2010: odyssey two; movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010

Discovery
Edwin Arlington Robinson

We told of him as one who should have soared
And seen for us the devastating light
Whereof there is not either day or night,
And shared with us the glamour of the Word
That fell once upon Amos to record
For men at ease in Zion, when the sight
Of ills obscured aggrieved him and the might
Of Hamath was a warning of the Lord.

Assured somehow that he would make us wise,
Our pleasure was to wait; and our surprise
Was hard when we confessed the dry return
Of his regret. For we were still to learn
That earth has not a school where we may go
For wisdom, or for more than we may know.

The second album from french electronica duo Daft Punk.

Quite different from their ground-breaking Homework album, this album takes a few listens to fully appreciate, a feeling I remember having after I first listened to Homework.

For starters, the tracks are structured very differently. The first three, including the new single One More Time (wicked video, bad song edit), all sort of flow together, with what goes from cheezy to amazing use of the now cliche'd vocoder, but hey, the Punk /always/ used vocoders. By track four, they're using vocoder-type effects in ways which would make Madonna blush, and make Cher return to her acting career.

The tracks all have a clubby, house feel not as minimalist as Homework, which has already infuriated a lot of people who expected the post-Homework evolution to take Daft Punk in a completely different direction.

If you listened to and fell in love with "Music Sounds Better With You" by nearly-Daft Stardust.

The song-lengths range from 1:44 to 10:00, but average around 3:45. Some of these tracks are quiet, almost experimental instrumentals, and other are straight-ahead DiscoTech dance tunes.

I can't believe I just used experimental as a genre. Warped Records is Sub-Pop. Cornwall is Seattle. Richard D. James is Kurt D. Cobain. That's the subject of an entirely different node.

The band goes on to use synth-guitars in amazing solos that completely blew me away. Speaking as a guitarist and an electronic musician, Daft Punk has not softened up. They've replaced their stark minimalism with a complicated and involved sound, which is equally interesting and addictive.

Apparently the boys in robot helmets have tried to add an "emotional" element to their music, and I'm not sure if it really comes through all that clearly, but there is certainly a progressive sound which permeates the album.

And to make things even better, they have, as Radiohead sort of touched on with Kid A, tried to make the CD purchasing experience more of an -ahem- Discovery. Opening the CD I discovered my membership card for the newly launched Daft Club. After installing some stuff on my PC, I was treated to an unreleased tune, the decidedly clever-titled "Ouverture". Sure, it's a way for me to buy future Daft Punk stuff easily but there's nothing really wrong with that. If the quality persists, I welcome the new method of selling me things.

So if you liked Homework, get it. If you were obsessed with Homework, give it a listen first. Love a "different" (aka French) spin on disco/house/techno, then it's guaranteed to make you shake your ass. It can get a little boring, but it's techno, dude, chill out.

Here's a tracklist:

1. One More Time (5:20)
2. Aerodynamic (3:27)
3. Digital Love (4:58)
4. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (3:44)
5. Crescendolls (3:31)
6. Nightvision (1:44)
7. Superheroes (3:57)
8. High Life (3:21)
9. Something About Us (3:51)
10. Voyager (3:47)
11. Verdis Quo (5:44)
12. Short Circuit (3:26)
13. Face to Face (4:00)
14. Too Long (10:00)

Discovery
Orbiter OV-103
See also Space Transportation System and space shuttle
This orbiter is currently active.

Entered service August 30, 1984.

Flights:
    STS-41D    08/30/84
    STS-51A    11/08/84
    STS-51C    01/24/85
    STS-51D    04/12/85
    STS-51G    06/17/85
    STS-51I    08/27/85
    STS-26    09/29/88
    STS-29    03/13/89
    STS-33    11/22/89
    STS-31    04/24/90
    STS-41    10/06/90
    STS-39    04/28/91
    STS-48    09/12/91
    STS-42    01/22/92
    STS-53    12/02/92
    STS-56    04/08/93
    STS-51    09/12/93
    STS-60    02/03/94
    STS-64    09/09/94
    STS-63    02/03/95
    STS-70    07/13/95
    STS-82    02/11/97
    STS-85    08/07/97
    STS-91    06/02/98
    STS-95    10/29/98
    STS-96    05/27/99
    STS-103    12/19/99
    STS-92    10/11/00
    STS-102    03/08/01

Discovery was the third active orbiter in the fleet.

Discovery was also the first orbiter built with design enhancements learned from previous vehicles. Enterprise was a test vehicle, and so had no predecessors, Columbia was the first active orbiter, and Challenger was built from a modified static test article. Discovery, however, was built completely new after these initial vessels, and was able to take advantage of several design improvements. One of the results of this is that Discovery weighed in at 6,870 pounds less than Columbia at rollout.

Discovery was one of two orbiters to be modified to carry a Centaur launch vehicle upper stage in its payload bay. This involved adding extra fuel piping into the bay, since the Centaur upper stage has a liquid-fuel rocket engine, as well as controls in the aft deck to control and monitor the rocket. Challenger was the other orbiter with this modification. This has since been deemed to risky and there are no plans to use this functionality.

At the time of this writing, Discovery is awaiting launch STS-105, scheduled for August 9, 2001.

The rest of the orbiter fleet:
Enterprise * Columbia * Challenger * Atlantis * Endeavour

In the legal field, discovery is the exchange of information between parties. In general, it consists of interrogatories, production, and depositions. All of this information is exchanged between all parties to a suit, i.e. between Plaintiff and Defendant, between Plaintiff and 3rd Party Plaintiff, etc.

In most states, discovery is referred to by its corresponding statute in the jurisdiction of the court. For example, in Illinois, interrogatories are pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 213, production is Supreme Court Rule 214, and so forth. The rule numbers naturally vary from state to state. Each statute explains exactly what information can be requested, and in what format the request may be made.

INTERROGATORIES
Written questions that are sent out and then answered by the other party. These are generally standardized questions asking for specific disclosure. For example, if a lawsuit is brought against McDonalds for coffee burns, an appropriate interrogatory may ask: At what temperature do you brew and store your coffee? These questions must be answered under oath, and objections may be made.

PRODUCTION
Request for the disclosure of physical evidence. For the most part, the request is for the production of documents like medical bills, tax returns, warning labels on equipment, photographs, DNA, black gloves, ...really any physical evidence. All evidence must be shared between parties if a request is made, but if that request is not made, there are ways to keep evidence secret.

DEPOSITIONS
This is virtually the same question and answer session as the written interrogatories, but this is done in person. Witnesses and parties to a lawsuit will be asked to come into an office (or depositions can be taken over the phone, from a jail cell, etc.) where he/she will meet with attorneys involved in the suit. Each attorney will ask questions quite similar to those in the interrogatories, and a court reporter transcribes the meeting. Depositions sound similar to testimony, but it's not a formal session, and no judge or jury is present.

Discovery is how parties exchange information, and it is beneficial to settling out of court. If a case does make its way into a courtroom, discovery affords the parties the privilege of predictable evidence being presented.

Dis*cov"er*y (?), n.; pl. Discoveries ().

1.

The action of discovering; exposure to view; laying open; showing; as, the discovery of a plot.

2.

A making known; revelation; disclosure; as, a bankrupt is bound to make a full discovery of his assets.

In the clear discoveries of the next [world]. South.

3.

Finding out or ascertaining something previously unknown or unrecognized; as, Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood.

A brilliant career of discovery and conquest. Prescott.

We speak of the "invention" of printing, the discovery of America. Trench.

4.

That which is discovered; a thing found out, or for the first time ascertained or recognized; as, the properties of the magnet were an important discovery.

5.

Exploration; examination.

[Obs.]

 

© Webster 1913.