The thread for space cadets!
- Thread starter hobbsyoyo
- Start date
Breakthrough Starshot has a plan to seed the galaxies oxygen rich but barren planets with life. Using lasers to accelerate the craft, and a superconducting magnetised solar sail to decelerate it it could reach TRAPPIST-1 in 12,000 years with a 1.5 tonne craft. This would have autonomous toolkits for life that would grow genes (?) and cells from chemical ingredients. I wonder if humanity is ready for real long project timescales?
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
Not if there isn't a profit motive involved, in my opinion.
Berzerker
Deity
PBS Nova has a 6 part miniseries coming after taxes in late April 
The subjects will vary but they'll be delving into new research
The subjects will vary but they'll be delving into new research
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
New Zealand joined the small club of countries capable of launching spacecraft into orbit on Saturday!
https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/01/...es-orbit-on-historic-launch-from-new-zealand/
It's also the first rocket to use electricity to drive its turbo pumps. The second stage actually jettisons 2 of 3 battery packs during ascent to save weight which is neat.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/01/...es-orbit-on-historic-launch-from-new-zealand/
It's also the first rocket to use electricity to drive its turbo pumps. The second stage actually jettisons 2 of 3 battery packs during ascent to save weight which is neat.
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
The USAF cleared SpaceX of doing anything wrong with the Zuma launch. They stated that after reviewing the data, the launch will not affect SpaceX's certification status. What this means is that SpaceX has to complete a certain number of launches under certain conditions in order to be allowed to bid on certain military launches. If there had been anything wrong with this launch, that would have negatively impacted their efforts to achieve this certification. That the status wasn't affected is a clear indication that whatever went wrong (if anything went wrong), it wasn't a problem with the Falcon 9.
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
Arianespace had a launch anomaly - there first in 82 launches and 16 years. It's still unclear exactly what happened but telemetry was lost after the second stage ignited. They have indicated that the two satellites it carried were deployed and are in contact with ground stations but it's all very confusing. For one, the launch livestream continued playing the pre-canned animation for long after contact with the rocket was launched. For another, the actual companies have not said anything about their birds. I suspect that in the next day or two they will be declared lost at worst. At best they are in very low orbits and likely unsalvageable.
This is really bad news for the space industry. Arianespace has grabbed ~50% of the global commercial launch market and was considered one of the most reliable launch service providers ever.
This likely means that the James Webb Space Telescope will be further delayed.
This is really bad news for the space industry. Arianespace has grabbed ~50% of the global commercial launch market and was considered one of the most reliable launch service providers ever.
This likely means that the James Webb Space Telescope will be further delayed.
Lexicus
Deity
waaaaaaaaaaack
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
Yeah it's pretty sucky. There was resistance in Congress to flying JWST on a European rocket (it was bartered in order to guarantee European access to the telescope) and one of the biggest selling points in favor of the plan was the Ariane 5's stellar launch record.
Oh and the Ariane 6 - which is mean to replace the Ariane 5 beginning in 2020 - well it's essentially a cost-optimized Ariane 5, so that development will also be delayed. Hopefully they sort things out quickly.
Oh and the Ariane 6 - which is mean to replace the Ariane 5 beginning in 2020 - well it's essentially a cost-optimized Ariane 5, so that development will also be delayed. Hopefully they sort things out quickly.
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
So there has been confirmation that both payloads made it to orbit, but no confirmation on which orbit they are in. I suspect they made it to where they were supposed to go because trying to find a satellite in the wrong orbit is a fools game generally speaking. That said, if they are in the wrong orbit, one of the satellites will likely be ok (though with a dramatically reduced service life) thanks to electric propulsion. The other satellite will be screwed.
Here's hoping it's just an easily fixable communications issue and not a bigger problem.
I'd really love to see their flight rules - a lot of other rockets would have shut down if ground contact was lost (like Rocket Labs flight 1).
Here's hoping it's just an easily fixable communications issue and not a bigger problem.
I'd really love to see their flight rules - a lot of other rockets would have shut down if ground contact was lost (like Rocket Labs flight 1).
Perfection
The Great Head.
onejayhawk
Afflicted with reason
Who is looking up tonight? Starting about 5:30 AM EST, there is a very rare lunar event. As with most recent full moons, this is a super moon. It is also a blue moon, a blood moon and an eclipse. So, a super blue, blood moon eclipse. It's the first since 1866.
The bad news is that it will occur near moonset for most of USA and Canada, so look low on the western horizon.
J
The bad news is that it will occur near moonset for most of USA and Canada, so look low on the western horizon.
J
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Aaaawwwww, my forecast is clouds with snow flurries.....
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
Falcon Heavy is set to fly on Tuesday, February 6th. Be sure to tune in for a great show - one way or another.
------------
A British company is teaming up with a Ukrainian firm to create their own suborbital and small-sat orbital launch vehicles. This makes sense given Ukraine still has a relatively large contingent of rocket engineers, technicians and productive capacity and has been looking for work to maintain this industry since the collapse in relations between it and Russia ended a lot of their rocket ventures.
The weird thing is that they are going to use high-test hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizer which will incur a serious performance penalty. I do not know why they went with this route other than to avoid the toxicity of the various nitrogen-base oxidizers and the complexity of cryogenic oxygen. Well, those are two obvious reasons but I guess I'm more confused by the public reasoning they gave. They say it is somehow better for the environment but that's nonsensical on the face of it. Someone in the comments section suggested this is because of British experience with the peroxide-fueled Black Arrow carrier rocket but that was like 50 years ago.
http://spacenews.com/uk-ukrainian-l...er-skyrora-to-establish-smallsat-launch-site/
------------
A British company is teaming up with a Ukrainian firm to create their own suborbital and small-sat orbital launch vehicles. This makes sense given Ukraine still has a relatively large contingent of rocket engineers, technicians and productive capacity and has been looking for work to maintain this industry since the collapse in relations between it and Russia ended a lot of their rocket ventures.
The weird thing is that they are going to use high-test hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizer which will incur a serious performance penalty. I do not know why they went with this route other than to avoid the toxicity of the various nitrogen-base oxidizers and the complexity of cryogenic oxygen. Well, those are two obvious reasons but I guess I'm more confused by the public reasoning they gave. They say it is somehow better for the environment but that's nonsensical on the face of it. Someone in the comments section suggested this is because of British experience with the peroxide-fueled Black Arrow carrier rocket but that was like 50 years ago.
http://spacenews.com/uk-ukrainian-l...er-skyrora-to-establish-smallsat-launch-site/
Lexicus
Deity
http://www.ou.edu/web/news_events/articles/news_2018/ou-discover-planets.html
Very cool
Such science
Very cool
Such science
