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Author Topic: Space Thread  (Read 509326 times)
Mandella
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Reply #1225 on: December 18, 2018, 09:42:39 AM

I always liked the design of the Russian Rockets. That 4 engine thing is very stylish. Space fashion wars are important.

And the Korolev Cross looks totes cool...

Bad news, looks like weather and technical glitches have scrubbed *everybody* today (as of this, I think the DIV Heavy has a twenty percent chance of go tonight). But all are rescheduled for tomorrow, plus an Indian launch!
MahrinSkel
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When she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back... she was bullshit!


Reply #1226 on: December 18, 2018, 01:04:23 PM

Getting awfully crowded in my sky.

--Dave

--Signature Unclear
Mandella
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Reply #1227 on: December 25, 2018, 06:33:19 PM

Haven't even has a chance to look at this yet, but for the hardcore planetary colonization geeks out there NASA just put out an extensive 3D sim of a hundred year into a future Mars colony on Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/224000/Project_Eagle_A_3D_Interactive_Mars_Base/

Not a game, apparently just a walkthough.


Edited after "playing:"

Well, that took longer to download than to check out. Even with low expectations I was expecting a little more -- maybe some popup building designs or actual calculations on life support and all. Maybe even some enter-able buildings.

Perhaps some enterprising modder will turn it into a DOOM level or something and make it a bit more interesting...
« Last Edit: December 26, 2018, 09:10:50 AM by Mandella »
Sir T
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Reply #1228 on: December 31, 2018, 08:09:35 AM

For those who still give a crap about the Moon.



Quote
China's Chang'e-4 probe changes orbit to prepare for moon landing


China's Chang'e-4 probe entered a planned orbit Sunday morning to prepare for the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.

The probe has entered an elliptical lunar orbit with the perilune at about 15 kilometers and the apolune at about 100 kilometers at 08:55, Beijing Time, said CNSA.

Since the Chang'e-4 entered the lunar orbit on Dec. 12, the ground control center in Beijing has trimmed the probe's orbit twice, and tested the communication link between the probe and the relay satellite Queqiao, or Magpie Bridge, which is operating in the halo orbit around the second Lagrangian (L2) point of the earth-moon system.

The space engineers also checked the imaging instruments and ranging detectors on the probe to prepare for the landing.

The control center will choose a proper time to land the probe on the far side of the moon, according to CNSA.

The Chang'e-4 probe, including a lander and a rover, was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket on Dec. 8 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The peoples glorious CGI Simulation.

Hic sunt dracones.
Mandella
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Reply #1229 on: January 04, 2019, 09:37:00 AM

Ultima Thule doing a little dance for you.


calapine
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Reply #1230 on: January 11, 2019, 12:09:40 AM

"How I look on Tinder vs Real Life"




 Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?
« Last Edit: January 11, 2019, 12:24:40 AM by calapine »

Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
calapine
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Reply #1231 on: January 11, 2019, 12:06:45 PM

I know there is a use for static, ground test models. But this feels like taking the piss:



Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
calapine
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Reply #1232 on: January 11, 2019, 05:27:12 PM

12 hours after the reveal, and on a Friday evening:

We are firing 10% of our staff!



Also, you can tell Elon is true humanist:



Fuck that guy.

Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
HaemishM
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the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring


WWW
Reply #1233 on: January 11, 2019, 08:27:46 PM

So Elon Musk is basically running his space program like a game developer?

Mandella
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Reply #1234 on: January 13, 2019, 09:45:49 AM

Nice panorama, lunar farside -- with rover!








Farside is important not just for bragging rights, but the other side of the moon is rather geologically different than the near side, so very interesting both from the science and future exploration/exploitation angles...

Looks like the mp4 isn't playing in an embed, so here is the nice rotating scan.

https://i.imgur.com/ckt5DI0.mp4
« Last Edit: January 13, 2019, 09:53:51 AM by Mandella »
Cyrrex
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Reply #1235 on: January 14, 2019, 05:04:26 AM

12 hours after the reveal, and on a Friday evening:

We are firing 10% of our staff!



Also, you can tell Elon is true humanist:



Fuck that guy.

There is no nice way to fire people, so really it's about showing respect.  Personally, would I rather be fired in this fashion?  Turns out....maybe yes?  Seems cowardly, but the net result might be better for some.

"...maybe if you cleaned the piss out of the sunny d bottles under your desks and returned em, you could upgrade you vid cards, fucken lusers.." - Grunk
Mandella
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Reply #1236 on: January 14, 2019, 10:02:50 AM

12 hours after the reveal, and on a Friday evening:

We are firing 10% of our staff!



Also, you can tell Elon is true humanist:



Fuck that guy.

There is no nice way to fire people, so really it's about showing respect.  Personally, would I rather be fired in this fashion?  Turns out....maybe yes?  Seems cowardly, but the net result might be better for some.

I've started to comment on this several times and ended up deleting it, not just because I'm sure Calapine writes me off as a Musk fanboi, but also because as an employer myself I know I know just enough to know that any speculation I have on what is going on business-wise inside of SpaceX is probably off the mark. (Coincidentally, we also recently had to let go about ten percent of our workforce -- although we only employ about twenty-five persons, not 6000.) I do know for a fact that there is no right way to lay people off that is not going to piss off somebody, but this "wait for the email" thing strikes me as a good way to piss *everybody* off -- not just the folks being laid off.

I also have no idea who was the architect of the process here. Did Musk jump in and demand it? Was it everyone's favorite Shotwell? Some (more likely really) unknown HR director? I do think that it would result in more people Monday morning going ahead and shopping around that resume that they prepared "just in case."

There are actually a lot of small rocket startups right now hiring, although how many of them will be around in a year or two is debatable.
Mandella
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Reply #1237 on: January 16, 2019, 10:30:46 AM

No pretty pictures, but I thought it was notable that China is quite happy with Chang'e-4, and plan to launch Chang'e-5 by the end of this year to do an actual sample return. They are taking the stance of evaluating every mission before deciding on the next one, but the overall plan is that these are the first steps to an international lunar base.

Will they actually do it? Who knows? The Chinese government is subject to just as much division and internal upset as anybody else's, so these plans might change tomorrow. One thing is probable though, that they have the actual economic might and technical acumen to carry their plans out at the moment -- unlike, say, Russia.


http://xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/14/c_137743306.htm
calapine
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Reply #1238 on: January 16, 2019, 02:22:22 PM

No pretty pictures, but I thought it was notable that China is quite happy with Chang'e-4, and plan to launch Chang'e-5 by the end of this year to do an actual sample return. They are taking the stance of evaluating every mission before deciding on the next one, but the overall plan is that these are the first steps to an international lunar base.

Will they actually do it? Who knows? The Chinese government is subject to just as much division and internal upset as anybody else's, so these plans might change tomorrow. One thing is probable though, that they have the actual economic might and technical acumen to carry their plans out at the moment -- unlike, say, Russia.


http://xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/14/c_137743306.htm

I reported this on Monday smiley


https://twitter.com/AuerSusan/status/1084855829537402880

That's not a dig at you Mandella, just plugging my space feed for people who really want to read a lot about, well, space.
I am already spamming this forum so much, so trying to reserve my space thread posts for important events or US-focused news (know your audience and all that).



Edit: Will they do it? Oh, definitely. Chang'e 5  is going to be based on Chang'e 4 with added requirements for sample return. Same as Chang'e 4 was initially built as an identical spare for Chang'e 3 and then adapted for the far side mission.
Technically it's totally in their reach.

Plus, Chang'e 6, 7, 8, are already in planning. The Chinese space programme is somewhat slow but very methodical: Gradatim Ferociter (That's Mandarin for 'Step by Step, Ferociously')
« Last Edit: January 16, 2019, 02:35:00 PM by calapine »

Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
Mandella
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Reply #1239 on: January 16, 2019, 02:53:38 PM

By "will they do that" I meant the eventual manned moonbase. Lots of Chang'e's between here and there, and while the nice thing about authoritarian dictatorships is the long term planning you can get, the bad thing is that sometimes folks get tired of the authoritarian dictatorships and plans change.

And yes, I do know that the US's system of changing everything up every four to eight years with no regard but keeping the pork flowing is also rather unreliable for the long term -- everything involving human planning is unreliable, and you enjoy your progress when you get it.
calapine
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Reply #1240 on: January 18, 2019, 04:42:28 PM

Oh something very nice

4k video of Alexander Gerst's mission to the ISS. Underlayed with him reading Jack London’s “White Fang” .

The wall of the world

Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
Mandella
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Reply #1241 on: January 18, 2019, 09:25:17 PM

That *was* cool, thanks for the link!

Space as the catalyst for the evolution of perception -- I do appreciate it when an astronaut finds a means of communicating that feeling, whether through the words of Jack London for Gerst, or the music of Bowie for Hadfield, or the original art of Alan Bean.
Mandella
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Reply #1242 on: January 19, 2019, 08:54:09 PM

First the disclaimer: I *know* that Chris Hadfield is not exactly reticent on speaking about his experience as an astronaut, and there is no need to sign up for Masterclass to hear him talk about it at length, and also that this has apparently been out since April of last year, BUT, tonight was the first I saw it, and damn if he isn't a good inspirational speaker and educator.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36xRVZDoJy0
calapine
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Reply #1243 on: January 20, 2019, 02:11:41 PM

Delta IV Heavy launch yesterday:



Slightly roasted. Delta IV, the emo "I cut myself" of launchers.
« Last Edit: January 20, 2019, 02:14:50 PM by calapine »

Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
Mandella
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Reply #1244 on: January 21, 2019, 09:55:29 AM

Yeah, the Delta IV Heavy is a majestic beast...




...once it leaves the pad. Before that, it reminds me of driving behind one of the old diesel logging trucks we have around here...





 awesome, for real
01101010
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You call it an accident. I call it justice.


Reply #1245 on: January 21, 2019, 06:40:25 PM

Rollin' coal! And rollin' O...2. I'll show myself out, thanks.

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
Mandella
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Reply #1246 on: January 23, 2019, 10:56:34 AM

Oh Noooeeess it fell over!!!!



 ACK!

 awesome, for real   awesome, for real


Okay, internet damage control here. Not as bad as it looks. The top of the hopper is just there to tweak Calapine (and to give the hopper some notion of cross wind drag for the tests). It's pretty much a dummy of sheet metal, the real guts are in the base which is fine -- much too heavy for anything short of a tornado to move.

Good place to point out too that the main thing being tested by Starhopper is not just their landing avionics, but way way more importantly the new Raptor engines. These things have never been fired outside of a test stand, have had recent radical redesigns, and it remains to be seen if Mueller and team can strike gold twice, enginewise.
calapine
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Reply #1247 on: February 04, 2019, 09:57:37 AM



Okay, internet damage control here. Not as bad as it looks. The top of the hopper is just there to tweak Calapine

Meh, I am good. Thanks.  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?


"Just a nice pic"
Second hot fire of P120C, which will double as a booster for Ariane 6 and the first stage of Vega C. The latter will have it's maiden launch later this year.





The image is an outtake from this video, showing more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZbWP9Z54tE
« Last Edit: February 04, 2019, 10:13:23 AM by calapine »

Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
Abagadro
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Reply #1248 on: February 05, 2019, 08:57:33 PM

I miss the static tests Thiokol used to set off around here regularly (despite one of their boosters blowing up the Challenger, they warned NASA after all).

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

-H.L. Mencken
Trippy
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Reply #1249 on: February 13, 2019, 11:54:47 AM

Sir T
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Reply #1250 on: February 13, 2019, 05:15:53 PM

https://www.theonion.com/spacecraft-travel-from-all-over-galaxy-to-honor-end-of-1832602862

Quote
MARS—Journeying thousands of lightyears to honor their fallen peer, spacecraft traveled from all over the Milky Way to attend a ceremony celebrating the late Opportunity rover’s life, sources close to the deceased reported Wednesday. “We came as soon as we received the gamma-ray transmission informing us of Opportunity’s demise,” said Zorunder X, a sentient interstellar ship from Kepler-442b, who reportedly joined the hyper-ion motorcade of his fellow AIs, unmanned shuttlecraft, and alien-machine hybrids traveling to Mars to mourn the loss of NASA’s longest-serving planetary rover. “It’s always a bit of a trek to get here, but we knew we had to come to the Red Planet and pay our respects. While we sometimes had our differences, at the end of the day, Opportunity and I always respected each other’s missions. It’s a sad occasion, of course, but it’s nice to see so many friends gathering together to say goodbye.” Reports confirmed the service concluded with a touching eulogy from Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who tossed the first ceremonial handful of red dust onto the rover’s grave before it was lowered into the ground.


Hic sunt dracones.
Mandella
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Reply #1251 on: February 17, 2019, 02:32:03 PM

Not exactly space, but you do see the Earth as a globe, and we don't have a general Science is Cool thread that I remember...

Anyway, here is a neat webapp that lets you plug an address in to see the way the continents and sea levels have shifted around over the eons. Goes back 750 million years.

So if you wanted to see what the old neighborhood was like when whales were stomping back into the sea (about fifty million years ago) you'll waste a few minutes on this...

http://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth#0
Cyrrex
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Reply #1252 on: February 18, 2019, 03:51:43 AM

That's cool.  Also kinds of sad to think that we are so diligently working our asses off as a species to reverse the trend where water is actually receding from the land masses.  Makes you wonder what that think will look like 20 million years from now.

Edit:  I realize I am oversimplifying.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2019, 04:09:26 AM by Cyrrex »

"...maybe if you cleaned the piss out of the sunny d bottles under your desks and returned em, you could upgrade you vid cards, fucken lusers.." - Grunk
Mandella
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Reply #1253 on: February 21, 2019, 12:30:40 PM

Wanted to raise awareness of this little bug:





This is SpaceIL's lunar lander, which should be launching tonight. A lot of publications are saying it will be Israel's first lunar lander, but that is not really right. It is a (mostly) privately funded venture from an Israeli company. Started as a Google X-Prize candidate, did not make the deadline but continued development anyway.

Honestly, there is a lot that can go wrong here, and I don't really expect it to succeed, but as far as cool projects go, this is one of them!
Mandella
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Reply #1254 on: February 21, 2019, 12:33:13 PM

That's cool.  Also kinds of sad to think that we are so diligently working our asses off as a species to reverse the trend where water is actually receding from the land masses.  Makes you wonder what that think will look like 20 million years from now.

Edit:  I realize I am oversimplifying.

I was looking at it the other way. Fifty million years ago it would have been a lot shorter drive to the beach for me.
Mandella
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Reply #1255 on: February 22, 2019, 01:46:23 PM

Well SpaceX managed to get the private lunar lander underway without blowing it up, and even managed to land their booster in high seas (3.5 meter swells) and the hottest re-entry yet.






Now the SpaceIL Lander has actual months of maneuvering to slowly extend its orbit to lunar intersection and hopefully a soft landing. Like I said before there is a lot of time for things to go wrong, but so far so good.

As for the booster above,  that was its third and last landing, since it is (IIRC) slated to be used next month for the Dragon Crew abort test, which involves deliberately destroying the booster. I am not recalling correctly. The inflight Dragon abort test is scheduled for early March, Elon said this one will fly again in April.

We'll see. It got pretty toasty on the way down.

Edit: Hopefully last correction -- there was a *lot* going on in space news today. But early March is the unmanned flight of crew Dragon to the ISS -- the in-flight abort test will come later. Got the two dates transposed in my head.

Anyhow, how about that Hayabusa2 shooting the asteroid?

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/hayabusa2-touches-down-on-asteroid-shoots-it/
« Last Edit: February 22, 2019, 08:37:01 PM by Mandella »
Mandella
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Reply #1256 on: February 28, 2019, 11:48:57 AM

Abagadro
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Reply #1257 on: February 28, 2019, 09:40:14 PM


"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

-H.L. Mencken
Mandella
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Reply #1258 on: March 01, 2019, 01:29:02 PM

Mandella
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Reply #1259 on: March 02, 2019, 10:30:32 AM

Beresheet, the little lunar lander that I hope can, is still truckin, albeit with issues.

Had a problem with its star trackers getting sun blinded, and then it missed an engine firing due to a computer reset.

Both issues have been worked around, and it is still on course for a landing in April.

I'm actually pretty excited about this thing, even more so than the recent Chinese lander.

https://www.space.com/israel-moon-lander-beresheet-engine-firing.html
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