Space and Science BS Thread

I should know today because we are all set for hydrazine skirt de-servicing on Friday if they are proceeding towards a launch.

 

That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me

 

Got curious what a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit looked like, and found this, good quick visualization:
https://youtu.be/X5O77OV9_ek

 

Deservicing the skirts is pushed to Monday 2nd shift, sounds like they are trying to push forward. Wdr5 up in the air at this point. Questionable on weekend support I see this getting pushed.

 

Are the other tanks pumped down?

 

They are supposed to static fire saturday so I'm going with no.

 

An expensive endeavour now days.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/27/global-helium-shortage

Helium for trimix SCUBA fills is currently around $4.00 per cubic foot.

 

Starship tower going up.

 

They're going to use a little more than a scuba tank. Good thing they don't have to pay for it....

 

Be interesting to see if they do it quicker than the BC tower.

 

I figure they will, they tend to do things quicker and with less components on the subsequent iterations.

I can't wait to see either tower with the black clading.

 

Pretty cool day today, I got to watch X fairings get mated, I've got a Nilesat 301 patch coming to me and I think I'll be getting a Hangar X tour in the next few weeks.

 

I heard there was actually more stuff pre fitted on this tower. Maybe I’m mistaken.

 

There are some blast shields preinstalled on this one that were added after the fact on the first. Probably quite a bit more too. SpaceX likes doing revisions. It's arguably one of their strongest traits.

 

That, and being willing to step away from old/obsolete hardware. One of the craziest things about the space shuttles was that each was slightly different, with their own quirks and capabilities depending on when/how they were manufactured.

 

But only slightly different. There weren't any major changes because they were too scared to make them. It'd be like still rocking an original iphone and saying the new case makes it new.

 

Watch Live Launch Coverage of the CAPSTONE Mission to the Moon

Tune in Monday, June 27, to watch the launch of CAPSTONE, our first mission testing a unique flight path around the Moon that Gateway, our future lunar space station, will also use.

CAPSTONE will launch aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company's Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. Once released from Rocket Lab's Photon satellite bus, the microwave-sized spacecraft – which is owned and operated by Advanced Space for NASA – will embark on a four-month journey to its target destination: the Moon. CAPSTONE will spend at least six months testing an unusual orbital path around the Moon, helping reduce risk for future spacecraft and demonstrating navigation technologies that would allow future spacecraft to determine their location in space without relying exclusively on tracking from Earth.


The instantaneous launch opportunity is at 6 a.m. EDT (10:00 UTC) on Monday, June 27. Live coverage will begin at 5 a.m. on NASA Television, the agency's website, the NASA app, and our social media channels.

Members of the public are invited to join the virtual NASA Social to get a behind-the scenes look at CAPSTONE, learn what makes CAPSTONE unique among NASA’s missions, meet the rocket launching CAPSTONE, and more.

And after the launch, you can follow CAPSTONE’s journey live using NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System interactive real-time 3D data visualization. Starting about one week after launch, you can virtually ride along with the CubeSat with a simulated solar system view. NASA will post updates in the visualization on the agency’s Ames Research Center home page as well as Twitter and Facebook.
Watch the Launch Online

 

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/06/spacex-making-progress-toward-orbital-starship-test-flight-later-this-year/

Manufacturing 4 Raptors a week

 

Suppose it's done concurrently? Or sequentially?