Somebody is planning to put a giant banana in near orbit over the lone star state. Part of me thinks that is is cool and interesting and part of me wonders why there are people who can not afford…uh lots of things. ,
geostationarybananaovertexas.com/
Thank goodness the Canada Council for the Arts has donated 15 grand to this worthwhile endeavor.
I guess I’m just in a bad mood.
“Modern art” at its finest.
We need a geostationary corn cob over Taiwan. Mmm, corn. :homer:
ya how come all Taiwanese seem to love corn. and does staying in taiwan infect you with CORN LOVE? ( i know that i seem to like corn a lot and so does my taiwanese cat, who always wants to gobble up some of the corn if i open up a can)
oh you want a geostationary corncob over taiwan to rain corn down on the populace? what a great idea ! they already have supertankers full of “thousand island” dressing parked somewhere (thats the usual salad dressing you get in taiwan in CASE you havent noticed…)
It’s more fun if you think about what geostationary objects you can out over OTHER countries and cities. 
I’d like a big “Have a COKE and smile” sign put right over Saudi Arabia.
And a NY Yankee symbol with the words, “You ALL my bitches” over the city of Boston.
I wonder what large object we could have flying over Jamaica? I guess that would give a new meaning to spaced-out.
Satellite Spliffy mon…irie…irie…
2.5 years and I still hate corn. So if the corn love is contagious, I haven’t caught it yet.
I also hate corn, but my Taiwanese wife loves it. Corn love among the Taiwanese is my running joke with her. Yep, she loves it. After 1.5 years in Taiwan, I can’t even stand the smell of it in the house anymore.
How’s this thing going to stay in position?
It’s not in orbit, it’s an airship and it’s subject to high speed winds.
Engine?
Fuel?
It’s a spoof. It’ll never happen.
they’ll use banana power…
if it get’s a little heavy over time then they’ll just simply peel a little off and then lighten the load.
[quote=“jdsmith”]It’s more fun if you think about what geostationary objects you can out over OTHER countries and cities.
I’d like a big “Have a COKE and smile” sign put right over Saudi Arabia.
And a NY Yankee symbol with the words, “You ALL my bitches” over the city of Boston.[/quote]
I think that’s a large part of the motivation for this project – that Texas IS another country. Bunch of good ole’ redneck conservative warmongering truckdriving cow rasslin’ NRA republicans and the grand poobah hisself out on his ranch. The Site alludes to that somewhere when it also notes that the banana is the perfect object to orbit over the state, as it’s phallic but also totally silly, nonthreatening, and gently mocking the macho state. I think it’s a great idea.
[quote=“tmwc”]How’s this thing going to stay in position?
It’s not in orbit, it’s an airship and it’s subject to high speed winds.
Engine?
Fuel?
It’s a spoof. It’ll never happen.[/quote]
I agree. The Site has some explanation of how it will stay in place, based on gyroscopes and other nonsense, but I agree it seems to be only a spoof. Too bad. I’d love to see it happen.
[quote=“tmwc”]How’s this thing going to stay in position?
It’s not in orbit, it’s an airship and it’s subject to high speed winds.
Engine?
Fuel?
It’s a spoof. It’ll never happen.[/quote]
Apparently it will have a system of gyroscopes to take advantage of the high speed winds. Check out the “Proposed Technologoies” section of that website.
But I agree…it sounds like BS to me and I find it hard to believe that they would even be allowed to do such a thing if it is true. There will be hell to pay when someone loses a satellite during initial launch because it collided with a giant geostationary banana.
They can actually tether it to the Earth, that way they run it up and down and change it when it goes brown. Is “tether” a word? Too lazy for a google.
That reminds me of an awesome show I saw once on Discovery, or the like, about a solar powered remote control airplane that can fly in huge giant circles, gradually going higher and higher till it’s 80,000 ft high and the goal is for them to replace communications satelites, because satelites are extremely expensive and have only a limited lifespan before they’re pretty much useless and are abandoned, but with these things one can fly the wing up there for a few months or a year or whatever, before bringing it back down and replacing it with another one. Unlike the flying banana, I believe this is totally for real.
early design
more recent
I would think that having it tethered to a line and anchored to the Earth would pose a significant threat to any airplanes travelling in the area (even if its not in direct flight paths), and would not be allowed.
So why not a solar-powered airship?
All the energy goes towards thrust, instead of being wasted on lift.
And, guys, anybody who throws around words like ‘orbit’ and ‘geostationary’ without knowing what they mean is plainly not going to achieve geostationary orbit.
A useful primer on orbital mechanics, written in simple English.
I think somebody will eventually put a giant cross or statue of Jesus up there for all our edification. Maybe we’ll start seeing fund-raising drives for this on TV. Or better yet, a “space race” with the Buddhists.
I would think that having it tethered to a line and anchored to the Earth would pose a significant threat to any airplanes travelling in the area (even if its not in direct flight paths), and would not be allowed.[/quote]
So are mountains. We seem to miss most of them though.
Actually I read years ago about having the space station tethered on a cable that would shoot junk up to them and bring junk down. Cheaper in the long run than shuttles. It would be hooked to the earth at sea on an oil rig type thang.
I prefer this over whevever I happen to be. It’s comforting to me. The hell with the rest of you.
when it goes brown and spotty they can move it over north jersey.
