The thread for space cadets!

[hobbsyoyo]

Discussion of Atlantis is not welcome here.

 

[Michkov]

The island or the Stargate spin off?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The island. The context being that Berzerker has a thread for discussion of extraterrestrial mythology and I do not wish that to spread here.

 

[Berzerker]

I posted the link in the Ley Lines thread, we're discussing Atlantis there if anyone has an interest

 

[hobbsyoyo]

A Russian satellite has maneuvered to intercept an American surveillance satellite. It has an excellent view from about 100-200 km away. They cleverly selected an orbit which allows it to see both sides of the American satellite. It's somewhat provacative, but they've been up to this sort of thing for the last 5 years at least. The particular Russian satellite in question has already deployed sub-satellites and they have all performed similar interceptions of other satellites.

Boeing has put aside $410 million to finance a second test flight of their Starliner craft. In addition to the timing error that we all knew about, apparently the propulsion system itself began failing during flight. Several thrusters overheated and were shut down and then could not be reactivated.

 

[Berzerker]

Star Wars has begun

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Basically yes. There's been experiments like this in the past but the scale of these incidents is trending up at a steep angle. And these are just the incidents that have been disclosed - as I mentioned in the Space Force thread, the generals have often complained that a culture of over-classification has left them unable to talk about the things that their adversaries are doing in space. Congressmen in classified committees echo this complaint.

And of course this is only reporting on what other countries are doing to the US in space, not what the US is doing to them. I have not seen any news reports on that stuff myself but it seems rather likely that the US's activities are extensive given the massive budget for space operations and capabilities.

 

[Berzerker]

it wont take long before its unsafe to send rockets up with all the chunks of metal zipping around the Earth

 

[hobbsyoyo]

That is certainly a potential outcome. The entire world needs to come to grips with what a congested near-Earth environment means for economic, military and civil exploitation of outer space. For starters, the world needs to build a ton of radars and telescopes in short order to track all the stuff that is being sent up there. There is a lot of talk about different ways to clean up the space environment but so far it's mostly talk. There are regulations that strongly encourage a short lifetime in orbit but they are not really far-reaching or highly enforced. And of course, taking down the junk is helpful but it's a small problem next to the 10's of thousands of satellites that SpaceX, OneWeb and Amazon are launching.

 

[red_elk]

A Russian satellite has maneuvered to intercept an American surveillance satellite. It has an excellent view from about 100-200 km away. They cleverly selected an orbit which allows it to see both sides of the American satellite. It's somewhat provacative, but they've been up to this sort of thing for the last 5 years at least.

The Russians are doing surveillance of your surveillance satellites?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yes. They have also spooked a lot of commercial operators with similar unwelcome rendezvous.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

SpaceX is doing a hard about face on the small satellite market. SpaceX got its start there with the Falcon 1 but quickly moved up the value chain and began focusing on launching larger satellites to the point of exclusion of CubeSats and the like. It just wasn't a profitable exercise for them and it took a lot more effort to coordinate rideshares with multiple companies than they thought it was worth.

Then the market entered a protacted slump for big GEO satellite orders while the small satellite market took off. In that same time frame, Rocket Lab and others entered the market targetting small satellite launches. Faced with this shifting market and new competition, SpaceX is offering a bus-like service for small sats that has rock bottom pricing. The only advantage that the small launchers like Rocket Lab can offer now is more targeted orbital delivery. They just can't compete with SpaceX on cost because of economies of scale.

Long term though, SpaceX is partnering with the taxi-like service offered by Momentus that can take a small satellite from SpaceX's orbital drop-off point to a specific orbit. Time will tell if this approach is cheaper than a Rocket Lab et al launch - if it is, then most of those other companies will fail.

 

[r16]

another month , another Boeing destroyed . Much of a team effort , too . Am getting used to a Boeing accident on a day ı post ; Feb 5th was an ordinary thing ı didn't even call Trump the lizard god . Notable thing being a Civ III unit request which led me to comment about no known North Korean Kamikaze unit but South Koreans were converting F-86s to cruise missiles . With one of the pilots in the Istanbul accident being Korean , ı naturally remember the valiant efforts of the pair of South Koreans that ran the very first 777 accident to the ground .

so , it's this famous Lodos , southwesterly warm and strong wind that inevitably changes direction and brings rain . Two planes before the accident pass , too much tailwind , beyond limits . The tower still allows the accident one to land . Quickly buried are the claims that the required runway heading (for a safe landing) interferes with the movement pattern at the PM's airport , causing delays which then are reported by the Opposition as to how the PM's airport is only about making money . And they are 2 and a half years late (as of now) to finish a second runway for the accident airfield , because they might have cut down flights to PM's airport . Then the company that owns the accident plane , this is the third time they are skidding out of the runway since January 2018 , all 737-800s and two of them definitely destroyed . ı think it's owned by the brother of the hotel owner who is the secretary for tourism in the palace cabinet , so ı would expect creative financing would be available to replace any losses during the money making affairs . Because before it would be never heard again there was this talk that the company fines pilots who pass . Pilots are also comparatively new beginners so that they will be cheaper and kinda more afraid of being fired . The Korean is supposed to be paying the company for gaining flight experience . So , this guy , the Turkish captain , gets told there's 20 knots wind with gusts up to 35 and 737's limit is said to be 15 with such off axis angles . So he increases his landing speed from 160 to 190 . And he misses the most of the runway , making contact in the middle , at 1300 or 1400 of a 3000 meters length . There might even be windshear that kicked out lift in some moment to cause too hard a contact for the nosewheel . News footage shows like a 10 meter long mass of flames , before it fell off some inclined area , said to be 30 to 40 meters in height . Oh , did ı forget to say the runway was also wet ?

the plane gets into 3 pieces , said to be normal in such conditions . Except the aviation expert of the former pinnacle of yellow journalism in the country says , the plane broke up in an unnatural style ! Just a comma after saying planes break up into 3 pieces . The radio says FAA and Boeing are sending people over , you know , to investigate whether a production fault exists . The fake economy is fake and there is ever decreasing amount of money and Boeing must buy a new fleet for the brother of the secretary of tourism of the palace cabinet , who do you think who is defending the European Democracies from the Russian threat , me ? The company CEO is perfect for the job , a vulnerable sounding sound and tears welling in the eyes . Regular for New Turkey , they are super criers .

moments of thanking God , because plane crashes are always global news and you are conditioned , just like ı like it when bus accidents have no one killed . So , it's a good thing that the plane didn't catch fire . 177 passangers , 6 crew , only 52 in hospitals , no deaths , very good . Except it's the standart New Turkey . The wounded increase over time ! 120 ! 150 ! 3 dead and all 180 survivors are being treated ! How can this be ever possible if the closest hospital received 32 and already had released 9 ? There were just 4 wounded with a moderate condition . When it will turn out 14 are actually in intensive care . No , it's 175 passangers and 2 babies ! So , those babies are not passengers ? They are maybe crew , mascots or maybe they are to be loved by the passangers as pets during the flight ? 5 policemen in a car have a road accident so maybe this is why the Army of Petrol sends troops with faces painted in commando green ? New Turkey is in control , man ! Just like they have it under total control with the avalanche situation . One kills 5 in the East with 2 missing . 5 buried , they are looking for the two and the PM's advisor might ot might not have ordered a road cleared for her to re-appear at the site . Actions which might or might now have caused another avalanche that killed 36 more . Now that they are all college graduates from the US , the symbol of the affair is the photo of the soldier that cries after his friends under the snow .

this is where fear of God takes you . Because you wouldn't . Perhaps Boeing could , but it's not France and Germany and why would Boeing would add them to the list , to cure this curse of how in the tech savvy 21st Century all the airplane accidents are Boeings ?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The European-American satellite internet constellation called OneWeb had their first launch of a large group of satellites. They launched 34 satellites out of Baikonaur on a Soyuz rocket. The satellites are being produced at a new factory in Florida run by AirBus and OneWeb has said they are going to slow down production a bit to allow them to make updates to the design. This is the first of 21 launches that OneWeb has contracted with the Russians for. They are even saying now that they will consider flying on SpaceX rockets, which had previously been a big no-no for them.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I'm going to be honest, I think Sergei Korolev (pronounce koralyuav I think) is one of the smartest, hardest working people to have ever worked in aerospace. I am nearing the end of his biography (written by a prominent American aerospace historian in the mid 90's) and I had expected it to show how much his prominence was overblown by Soviet propaganda. Nope, Korolev was the real ****ing deal.

Plus, unlike Von Braun, he was never a Nazi or any kind of war criminal. He was actually wrongly persecuted and thrown in gulag by Stalin's thugs during the 30's and then still came back to serve his country without reservation or hesitation. Really he was a remarkable fellow. I have a notion that one day I'll take a pan-European vacation and if I make it to Moscow, I'd like to bribe a guard to be allowed to put a wreath on his spot in the Kremlin burial wall.

 

[red_elk]

I'm going to be honest, I think Sergei Korolev (pronounce koralyuav I think) is one of the smartest, hardest working people to have ever worked in aerospace. I am nearing the end of his biography (written by a prominent American aerospace historian in the mid 90's) and I had expected it to show how much his prominence was overblown by Soviet propaganda. Nope, Korolev was the real ****ing deal.

Korolyov, with the stress on last syllable.

I have a notion that one day I'll take a pan-European vacation and if I make it to Moscow, I'd like to bribe a guard to be allowed to put a wreath on his spot in the Kremlin burial wall.

The entrance is free. Just check the visiting days, the Mausoleum and Kremlin necropolis open 3 days a week IIRC.
Unless you consider bribing a guard necessary part of your adventures in Russia Better not to try.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Unless you consider bribing a guard necessary part of your adventures in Russia Better not to try.

No, not at all, this is good news! The author mentioned that he had to bribe a guard to be let in back in the 90's. I had hoped this had changed but I had no other information.

The interesting thing about the book is that it was written right when all of the relevant archives were declassified. He has one of the earliest accurate portrayals of the N-1 moon rocket system in Western media that I've ever come across. He keeps mentioning that he hopes that additional archives (that he knows exist but cannot access) will be unlocked in the future. Unfortunately, I cannot think of any additional revelations that have come out since the 90's because archives were locked down again in later years, or at least so I've read.

Edit: Also, if anything, Soviet propaganda hurt his prominence. They kept him a state secret until he died, then Breznev decided to throw a huge funeral for him, the kind reserved only for the absolute cream of Soviet society. Then they went back to burying his work under a deep cloud of secrecy. He is now an openly celebrated hero but there is still an awful lot about his involvement in specific programs that we don't know about.

 

[red_elk]

No, not at all, this is good news! The author mentioned that he had to bribe a guard to be let in back in the 90's. I had hoped this had changed but I had no other information.

As far as I remember, nothing changed much in that regard, at least we visited the necropolis in the 80-s and 90-s without any problems. It could be temporarily closed for renovation or something.
One inconvenience is that you have to go to the Mausoleum first and there is usually a line. Sometimes you have to wait 30 minutes or so, but usually less.

Edit: Also, if anything, Soviet propaganda hurt his prominence. They kept him a state secret until he died, then Breznev decided to throw a huge funeral for him, the kind reserved only for the absolute cream of Soviet society. Then they went back to burying his work under a deep cloud of secrecy. He is now an openly celebrated hero but there is still an awful lot about his involvement in specific programs that we don't know about.

People didn't know his name, but knew about his existence and some details of his biography.
The movie "Taming of the Fire" was made in 1972 and Korolev was a prototype of lead character.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The author of the biography I'm reading points out that the spelling chosen by the Library of Congress for the transliteration of his name was problematic. This was before he was widely known in the West and the author pointed out that the spelling of Korolev would make people mispronounce it pretty bad. But even at this early point in openness, the Library of Congress's convention had already taken hold. They chose that spelling because if you use their transliteration standards, Korolev will translate back into Королёв correctly.

And here with 30 years of hindsight, he was right. Everyone in the US now knows him by Korolev. It's a trivial detail but I have such a high opinion of him that I'm mildly offended on his behalf.

 

[r16]

a natural progression of things . The guy who was the chief instructor in the accident company tells the press he certainly taugh them to pass in situations of danger , tells of how Airbus once changed one of the blackboxes and the accused captain spent 10 years in court to prove it / save his reputation, talks laying concrete is not the only thing in the world . He is shut up on TV , gets fired . The wife of the secretary of tourism in the palace cabinet puts a view of hers that supposedly shows her singing / dancing on a touristic voyage for EU ambrassadors wives(?) on the day there were like 40 dead . There's going to be a police investigation on why the previous two planes passed , because they will be telling everything was OK with the runway but criminal enterprises or Congregation or Zionists discovered the secretary for transportation of the palace cabinet had said the accident airport's single runway was "tired" a night before . ı don't think they would go to the extent of arresting the crews of the previous two , because if one of them had crashed , maybe the leader of the splinter group from the almost racists might have been out of the game and stuff ...