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A comment on Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 light years from Earth. Parent comment

Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by vkou on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @02:44PM (#13708556)
Voyager spent most of the first season looking for deuterium, so that they could keep the ship moving forward.

Presumably, at some point around episode ~15, someone in either engineering, or the writing team realized that it is the third most abundant element in the universe.

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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by CamperBob2 on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @08:36PM (#13710903)
Well.... the most abundant element in the universe is "Nothingium." Just because hydrogen is common doesn't mean it's always around when you need it, especially in heavy form.
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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by sputknick on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @03:44PM (#13708971)
It's been a long time since I laughed out loud at an HN comment! Well played. Thank you for that.
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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by mjevans on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @05:13PM (#13709712)
It doesn't just have to be common, it has to be worth harvesting.

It could be that it took them this long to locate and get to such a supply, or that they had to repair / construct equipment that normally wouldn't be expected to be used.

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