Space - The Final Frontier

[M Paquette]

Their next launch is from Vandenburg AFB, and they don't have a landing area to use. The barge gives them a usable landing target. It can also be used for launches of heavier payloads that would leave the booster with insufficient fuel to make it back to the permanent landing area in Florida as Chuckanut noted.

 

[Chuckanut]

SpaceX has put a satellite into polar orbit. The attempt to land on the barge in the Pacific Ocean failed. Apparently, a landing leg broke on impact.

 

[Walt34]

Aw, bummer. They'll get it eventually.

 

[unclemick]

Aw, bummer. They'll get it eventually.

Yep. Never give up. The prize(game changer) is too big and they did it once on land.

heh heh heh - a truly low cost to space station can change the whole design approach and profile of even planet/out of orbit missions.

 

[mpeirce]

Looks like it actually landed OK, then fell over.

Musk mentions that one of the legs didn't snapped into place. Possibly because of ice.

I admire that they successfully deploy a satellite, then keep working on getting the landing details right. Iterative development without payload loss.

 

[Walt34]

heh heh heh - a truly low cost to space station can change the whole design approach and profile of even planet/out of orbit missions.

Once they get all the kinks worked out reliably I think you're right, it'll be a huge game changer and make space flight a lot cheaper. Not exactly cheap, but certainly more affordable.

 

[clifp]

Elon made a good blog posting about the physics behind the landings (complete with numbers for us geeks).

For a sea platform landing, the Falcon 9 figure of merit is therefore roughly 300 gigajoules (GJ) of kinetic energy and for a return to launch site landing, the number is about 120 GJ. These are fairly sizable by terrestrial standards. To put it into perspective, the city of San Francisco uses about 1 GJ per second of electricity, so the Falcon 9 booster transfers enough energy to power a city of almost a million people for five minutes.

Among the guy's many talents is he is very good at explaining how this stuff works.

 

[Chuckanut]

I am amazed at how they can land that rocket with such pinpoint accuracy. Then I see a bunch of young people in the SpaceX headquarters and I feel good about the future.

Can you imagine the excitement when they launch Dragon 2 with astronauts in it.

 

[Chuckanut]

Musk mentions that one of the legs didn't snapped into place. Possibly because of ice.

He also mentions that the parts were bigger this time.


The worst decisions are made when angry or impatient.

 

[mpeirce]

"Launch. Land. Repeat."

https://www.blueorigin.com/news/blog/launch-land-repeat

 

[Chuckanut]

"Launch. Land. Repeat."



https://www.blueorigin.com/news/blog/launch-land-repeat

Not bad for a little 'pop gun' rocket.


The worst decisions are made when angry or impatient.

 

[Walt34]

Sweet! So glad they're doing well at this.

 

[clifp]

Sweet! So glad they're doing well at this.

I tentatively have a low six figure sum budgeted for my ultimate bucket list item, a space flight. I really was hoping for SpaceX, since I trust Elon a lot more than the other billionaires. I also want an orbital experience, not a sub-orbital like Blue Orgin is offering.

However, it is promising to see what Bezo and team are doing.

 

[Free To Canoe]

NASA offers few details about what it learned from Scott Kelly’s mission | Ars Technica


Apparently, one is very sore all over when returning to Earths gravity. Also, one is more sensitive to touching. Then there is this:

Kelly only arrived back in Houston during the wee hours of Thursday morning. After some medical tests at Johnson Space Center, he went to his nearby home at about 4 am and jumped, fully clothed, into his swimming pool. There is no running water on the space station, he explained, and he really missed that.

It must be quite an ordeal. It doesn't sound like fun going to Mars.

 

[braumeister]

It must be quite an ordeal. It doesn't sound like fun going to Mars.

More than 40 years ago, one of the first attempts to learn about long term space living was a small space station called Skylab.

Among the many experiments on Skylab were efforts to understand the physiological effects of long term weightlessness on the human body. To the surprise of most, they were quite profound.

And among the studies conducted were some where volunteers on the ground were subjected to the same conditions as the astronauts, at the same time, as closely as possible to determine what differences there were between microgravity and Earth gravity. I was one of those ground-bound volunteers, and I can confirm that it was often extremely grueling.

I did that for a couple of years, off and on, just because I found it so interesting.

 

[Koogie]

Pretty cool story about two Russian emigres to Canada competing for the Google Lunar X Prize..

Vancouver father and son have their eyes on the Google Lunar XPRIZE - The Globe and Mail

There is apparently a documentary as well about them and the other teams. It'll be on Youtube this Thursday (called "Moon Shot")

 

[Free To Canoe]

Pretty cool story about two Russian emigres to Canada competing for the Google Lunar X Prize..

Vancouver father and son have their eyes on the Google Lunar XPRIZE - The Globe and Mail

There is apparently a documentary as well about them and the other teams. It'll be on Youtube this Thursday (called "Moon Shot")

I hope they are successful.

 

[REWahoo]

I was one of those ground-bound volunteers, and I can confirm that it was often extremely grueling.

I did that for a couple of years, off and on, just because I found it so interesting.

So you were a groundonaut?

 

[Totoro]

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the groundonaut Braumeister. His five-year mission, on and off: to stay here while others explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly endure what no man has endured before.


I'll go out for a walk now ..

 

[braumeister]

His five-year mission, on and off: to stay here while others explore

OTOH, I got to go have a beer after the sessions. Something the guys up there could only dream of.

 

[Koogie]

Pretty cool story about two Russian emigres to Canada competing for the Google Lunar X Prize..

Vancouver father and son have their eyes on the Google Lunar XPRIZE - The Globe and Mail

There is apparently a documentary as well about them and the other teams. It'll be on Youtube this Thursday (called "Moon Shot")

This documentary series is now live on YouTube and is really cool. 10 episodes, each focusing on a different team from around the world trying to win the Lunar X Prize... awesome stuff.

 

[ejman]

Here are the latest pictures from Ceres Those mysterious bright spots on Ceres? NASA finally got a close-up look. - Vox. Obviously, as anyone can see in the second picture, a long ago civilization built a dome as a last ditch survival effort and eventually the dome cracked and the atmosphere escaped and froze. Mystery? well not really duh!

 

[Chuckanut]

Here's a simulation of the calming noises aboard a starship.

Ultimate SciFi Spaceship Soundscape | Interactive & Free

 

[Totoro]

For those who have been following the new ninth planet hunt:

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...anet-nine-as-odd-celestial-alignment-emerges/

from the article:

... Such an alignment suggests that some unseen planet – 10 times as massive as Earth and four times its size – is shepherding them. While the culprit has still not officially been discovered, Batygin and Brown argued that the chance this was a random occurrence was as low as 0.007 per cent

 

[Chuckanut]

The CRS-8 launch is now being broadcast live.

http://livestream.com/accounts/142499/crs8

or

I have to say that SpaceX has put an end to the idea that engineers are nerdy, unattractive and socially inept people (not that they ever were in reality). What a great group of intelligent young people! They give me hope.