SPACE - random thread about space stuff

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Nov 13, 2021 4:45 pm

I once took a sub-orbital flight in a 747.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:24 pm

Jaymann wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 4:45 pm I once took a sub-orbital flight in a 747.

Did you reach outer space?

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:40 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 4:29 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:05 pm Ar least he got to orbit the Earth before he died.
Sub-orbital flight.

Who said anything about spaceflight? Technically the Wright Brothers first flight was a sub-orbital flight.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:43 pm

Jaymann wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:40 pm
jztemple2 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 4:29 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:05 pm Ar least he got to orbit the Earth before he died.
Sub-orbital flight.
Who said anything about spaceflight? Technically the Wright Brothers first flight was a sub-orbital flight.

Technically then when I hop in the air it's a sub-orbital flight.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Nov 13, 2021 6:11 pm

I went suborbital on an elevator the other day. Exhilarating..

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sat Nov 13, 2021 6:13 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 6:11 pm I went suborbital on an elevator the other day. Exhilarating..

Did you get to wear a cool jumpsuit? I like their cool jumpsuits

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Nov 13, 2021 6:48 pm

Noooo. So disheartening. I really wanted my own personal AC/heater too. Tang was made available to me through my own purchasing power though.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Nov 15, 2021 12:08 pm

More of a story about the little guy's journey.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:18 pm

Dont forget the longest lunar eclipse in 580 years starts Friday. Earths shadows will cover the moon.

Hrdina · Post by **Hrdina** » Tue Nov 16, 2021 1:20 am

Daehawk wrote: ↑Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:18 pm Dont forget the longest lunar eclipse in 580 years starts Friday. Earths shadows will cover the moon.

It will only cover about 97%-99% of the moon, depending upon which sources you read.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:30 am

I wish these things weren't always at nope o'clock.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:53 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:30 am I wish these things weren't always at nope o'clock.

Funny how those lunar eclipses always happen at night!

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:41 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:30 am I wish these things weren't always at nope o'clock.

Funny, I was think I'll have been up by hours at that point.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:23 am

Big news yesterday--Russia is reckless.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:12 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 6:13 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 6:11 pm I went suborbital on an elevator the other day. Exhilarating..
Did you get to wear a cool jumpsuit? I like their cool jumpsuits

I sometimes take suborbital walks during lunch.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:13 pm

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:23 am Big news yesterday--Russia is reckless.

I heard 1,500 pieces of trackable debris.

edit; sorry, 1 too many zeros.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:15 pm

We have a thread on shootdowns.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:27 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:18 pm Dont forget the longest lunar eclipse in 580 years starts Friday. Earths shadows will cover the moon.

To me it is so amazing that the discs of the earth, moon and sun, as seen from earth, are all almost the exact same size. If it is not cloudy I will definitely wake the grandkids for this.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Mon Nov 22, 2021 6:09 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:34 pm There are over 300 ways that the new James Webb Space Telescope could fail, NASA says

was this one of them

The launch readiness date for the James Webb Space Telescope is moving to no earlier than Dec. 22 to allow for additional testing of the observatory, following a recent incident that occurred during Webb’s launch preparations.

The incident occurred during operations at the satellite preparation facility in Kourou, French Guiana, performed under Arianespace overall responsibility. Technicians were preparing to attach Webb to the launch vehicle adapter, which is used to integrate the observatory with the upper stage of the Ariane 5 rocket. A sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band – which secures Webb to the launch vehicle adapter – caused a vibration throughout the observatory.

A NASA-led anomaly review board was immediately convened to investigate and instituted additional testing to determine with certainty the incident did not damage any components. NASA and its mission partners will provide an update when the testing is completed at the end of this week.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Nov 22, 2021 7:36 pm

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Nov 22, 2021 7:43 pm

It's a shame they can't deploy it near the ISS so that astronauts could hop into a Dragon and service it if something goes wrong, and then move it to its operational point after everything unfolds and latches properly. But that's not how orbits work, and we no longer have a vehicle or spacesuits capable of supporting a non-ISS spacewalk anyway. Webb is on its own when it leaves the pad.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Nov 22, 2021 9:34 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 7:43 pm It's a shame they can't deploy it near the ISS so that astronauts could hop into a Dragon and service it if something goes wrong, and then move it to its operational point after everything unfolds and latches properly. But that's not how orbits work, and we no longer have a vehicle or spacesuits capable of supporting a non-ISS spacewalk anyway. Webb is on its own when it leaves the pad.

Dragons also, AFAIK, are not designed for EVA operations, although it would be surprising if SpaceX wasn't already on this. As far as AWS260's question, I'm not sure if that was one of the 300. Sounds rather embarrassing.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Nov 22, 2021 9:42 pm

NPR

NASA is about to launch an unprecedented mission to knock an asteroid slightly off course.

In the first real-world test of a technique that could someday be used to protect Earth from a threatening space rock, a spacecraft is scheduled to blast off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday at 10:20 p.m. PST.

The golf-cart-size spacecraft will travel to an asteroid that's more than 6 million miles away — and poses no danger to Earth — and ram into it. Scientists will then watch to see how the asteroid's trajectory changes.
...
The asteroid targeted by DART isn't a danger to the planet now, and Chabot says there's no chance this mission could make it one. "There is absolutely no way that the DART test is a threat to the Earth," she says.

After the DART spacecraft launches, it will spend about 10 months traveling out toward an asteroid called Didymos, which is about 2,500 feet across. This asteroid is orbited by a smaller asteroid called Dimorphos, which is about 525 feet across.

It's the small asteroid, Dimorphos, that will get smacked by the spacecraft. "So it's like a small golf cart running into a Great Pyramid," says Chabot — only this "golf cart" will be going 15,000 miles per hour.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:12 pm

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:48 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 9:42 pm NPR

NASA is about to launch an unprecedented mission to knock an asteroid slightly off course.

In the first real-world test of a technique that could someday be used to protect Earth from a threatening space rock, a spacecraft is scheduled to blast off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday at 10:20 p.m. PST.

The golf-cart-size spacecraft will travel to an asteroid that's more than 6 million miles away — and poses no danger to Earth — and ram into it. Scientists will then watch to see how the asteroid's trajectory changes.
...
The asteroid targeted by DART isn't a danger to the planet now, and Chabot says there's no chance this mission could make it one. "There is absolutely no way that the DART test is a threat to the Earth," she says.

After the DART spacecraft launches, it will spend about 10 months traveling out toward an asteroid called Didymos, which is about 2,500 feet across. This asteroid is orbited by a smaller asteroid called Dimorphos, which is about 525 feet across.

It's the small asteroid, Dimorphos, that will get smacked by the spacecraft. "So it's like a small golf cart running into a Great Pyramid," says Chabot — only this "golf cart" will be going 15,000 miles per hour.

Woohooo! Anyone else staying up to watch the launch? I'm staying up, getting some DART work done, so I figured I'd stay up until launch.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:46 pm

Ill just wait on it to come and hit Earth later on .

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:59 pm

raydude wrote: ↑Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:48 pm Woohooo! Anyone else staying up to watch the launch? I'm staying up, getting some DART work done, so I figured I'd stay up until launch.

Past my bedtime, unfortunately.

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission page

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Nov 28, 2021 3:27 pm

Messier 101

This is a HUGE pic.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 4:38 pm

From spaceexplored.com, Elon Musk says SpaceX could face ‘genuine risk of bankruptcy’ from Starship engine production

In an email sent to SpaceX employees, obtained by Space Explored, Elon Musk addressed the ‘crisis’ of Starship Raptor engine production and said the company could face a ‘genuine risk of bankruptcy’ if the company is unable to achieve a Starship flight rate of once every two weeks next year.

SpaceX is currently developing its next rocket, Starship, down in Boca Chica, Texas. Starship is the vehicle that Musk plans to take humanity to Mars with, and first, it will return humans to the surface of the Moon as the lunar lander for the Artemis program. But before Starship can carry humans anywhere, SpaceX will need to resolve its engine production issues.

The company is having trouble with the production of its Raptor engine – a full-flow staged combustion Methane engine – for the Starship vehicle. The production issues have become even more pronounced, as Musk outlined in a recent email that has been obtained by Space Explored.

The reputed email from Elon to his employees, supposedly send just before Thanksgiving weekend:

Unfortunately, the Raptor production crisis is much worse than it had seemed a few weeks ago. As we have dug into the issues following the exiting of prior senior management, they have unfortunately turned out to be far more severe than was reported. There is no way to sugarcoat this.

I was going to take this weekend off, as my first weekend off in a long time, but instead, I will be on the Raptor line all night and through the weekend.

Unless you have critical family matters or cannot physically return to Hawthorne, we will need all hands on deck to recover from what is, quite frankly, a disaster.

The consequences for SpaceX if we can not get enough reliable Raptors made is that we then can’t fly Starship, which means we then can’t fly Starlink Satellite V2 (Falcon has neither the volume nor the mass to orbit needed for satellite V2). Satellite V1, by itself, is financially weak, while V2 is strong.

In addition, we are spooling up terminal production to several million units per year, which will consume massive capital, assuming that satellite V2 will be on orbit to handle the bandwidth demand. These terminals will be useless otherwise.

What it comes down to, is that we face a genuine risk of bankruptcy if we can’t achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year.

Thanks,

Elon

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:21 pm

Gee what a shame.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:38 pm

So you want his Mars missions to fail?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:40 pm

Not a lot of interest as I dont think they are near ready. Maybe in 50 years or more IF we support space programs and invest in a moon base. You cant give up all of space except near Earth orbit and think suddenly you can fly a manned mission to Mars.

As for musk I HATE Starlink. Its a big mission to put too much more junk into orbit and make a rich guy richer and inflate his ego. If he loses money over his own stupid decisions then I find it good. Poor super billionaire.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Wed Dec 01, 2021 1:28 pm

I didn't even know this was a thing but I guess since the radio waves are just flying around for anyone to grab:
Decoding DART telemetry

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:43 am

Something pretty for those in the space work field. Low pass at LAX. I used to have the diecast set of them as a kid. Wish I knew where they were.

Hrdina · Post by **Hrdina** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:47 am

I always love the composite images of the moon passing through earth's shadow. Here's one from APoD for the November near-total eclipse.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:38 am

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:43 am Something pretty for those in the space work field. Low pass at LAX. I used to have the diecast set of them as a kid. Wish I knew where they were.

I have one of those diecast shuttles on the carrier plane on my memorabilia shelf:

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:01 am

While cool, that is some serious dust going on there....

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:16 am

TheMix wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:01 am While cool, that is some serious dust going on there....

That's historic dust

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:37 pm

Moon dust.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:36 pm

A couple of notable news stories. From our local news outlet, SpaceX rideshare mission begins busy month of space launches on the Space Coast. Looking at a possible seven launches in December.

With 24 days and counting to Christmas, the Space Coast is getting the gift of several launches for its viewing pleasure.

The lion’s share of the launches this December will be conducted by SpaceX, beginning with the launch of a rideshare mission on one of its Falcon 9 rockets scheduled for Thursday evening.

Somebody please let Daehawk know that tonight's launch is another Starlink mission with more than 50 of their satellites, two ride share satellites, plus a half-dozen shredded Buicks and the entire leftover collection of Pet Rocks from a warehouse in Dubuque

Also, another company has joined SpaceX in trying to harness methane as a rocket propellant, Neutron switches to methane/oxygen, 1 Meganewton Archimedes engine revealed

Rocket Lab has provided a significant update in the progress of their Neutron rocket, a vehicle aimed primarily at the small-scale interplanetary and low Earth orbit mega-constellation markets at first.

Among the major updates announced by Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck were a complete switch of propellants, a firm Return To Launch Site landing plan with the elimination of down-range ocean landings, reveal of the building materials, and introduction of the new 1 Meganewton Archimedes engine.