Space and Science BS Thread

I'm still waiting to hear more about those power plants that can superburn trash to spin a steam turbine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy_plant

I think we'll see a lot more of those before we see fusion plants.

 

We use the produced waste methane from landfills but as far as burning trash goes, I think that horse has left the barn. Emissions from fluidized boilers are still emissions.

 

I think of it as a Bugatti Vayron type car. Nice to look at and think about but way to $$$$$$ and unattainable for us mortal beings.

 

Nah I'm at work and I actually just talked to a Safety Engineer buddy about what bringing the Orion capsule back to KSC looks like.

First the ML is fine structurally. It's pretty beat up cosmetically, but bottom line is the design functioned properly. It blew the tower elevator doors off hundreds of yards away which were bolted closed(hinge failure) and those elevators are non-operational going forward until they get parts.
My 3/8" od breathing air tubing was fine because my engineers had enough foresight to have blast plates welded in place. Other 1" and larger tubing open with no blast plates were bent and twisted. We facilitated multiple operations post launch using our ML equipment. They were pressure washing and blasting the entire 0' level area early last week and everything that looked scorched last week has a fresh coat of paint right now.

As far as the trek back across country for Orion, it should take at least 3 weeks. My safety buddy said no permits have been pulled, very little foresight into what taking a wide, hazardous commodity load across the country would look like. Should be in West Texas around Christmas, I should have eyes on around Jan 11th.

 

That's cool that your equipment is fine!

I wonder why they don't fly the Onion capsule in a C-130 or the NASA Super Guppy?

 

Orion still has plenty of mono-methyl hydrazine loaded. You cant just vent that to atmosphere. It has to be off loaded, sampled for purity to see how it aged.

 

I got this mental image of you cracking it open like a whiskey barrell.

 

Maybe they want it seen. With a turn around measured in years

I’m leaning towards Mr McGoo myself.

 

Captain Positivity leading the charge. How many deep orbit bound rockets have you been involved in launching?

You will see the launch cadence pick up.

 

Please don’t be insulted. That was not my intent(I reserve that for upper level management, not the crews of technicians and support staff that do all the work). But it cannot be denied that there is a publicity aspect to NASA and public support is necessary, similar to the highly publicized transports of the Shuttle. The Two year turn around is a fact and is independent of the teams doing the work and stems from a decision made years ago on how many block 1 missions would be made and how many flight computers to have available. That’s what I’ve heard and I’ve yet to see any evidence that Boeing and McDonnell Douglas will be able to change that or would even try. Sorry but that’s the reputation they’ve earned and what taxpayers have come to expect. I appreciate your work and your presence here but I will express my doubts and concerns as well as my enthusiasm. I’ve said it before but it appears to need repeating, I believe we need success, not just from Spacex and yes even Blue Origin but more importantly from NASA since they are the ones promoting programs and issuing major contracts.
I’m here to learn and when I have questions or concerns (as with the fondag and how long it wasn’t allowed to cure) I’ll ask or state them.

 

For Orion/SLS?
With all due respect

Spoiler

Artemis II - 2024,
Artemis III - 2026/7 if they’re lucky

 

We are talking deep space here, not kicking satellites into low earth orbit. Falcon and SLS are not the same.

 

Understood. Remember I’m an Orion/SLS fan but I’m also a realist.

And Apollo sent humans to the Moon 9 times in 5 years.
Edit: and they started to build human space flight capability from scratch 6 years earlier.

 

https://twitter.com/astro_wakata/status/1602784653278158848?s=46&t=KORVzUpCUpJVtWSozHX4sQ

 

Perseverance inside a dust devil on Mars, microphone on.

https://jirafeau.isae-supaero.fr/f.php?h=2JWSkdJR&p=1

 

60 years in the making. It’s exceedingly rare for us as a species to stick with something as ephemeral and elusive as this for so long but until this one tiny step of crossing the positive output barrier was made it remained the stuff of fiction and dreams. Now it’s real. Other programs still have to prove their merits as competitors but we now know there’s at least one viable way forward. Success is akin to space travel in that it’s both exceedingly difficult and requires technological and metallurgical innovations that must be accomplished to make even minimal headway through unknown obstacles. As big a deal as Sputnik?

 

If the entire OLM side face of the tower gets cladding before an orbital launch attempt that gives a visible timescale for the process leading up to it. I would think that as with most things they’ll speed up as it goes along but that would allow for a much more significant amount of cure time for the replacement pad. Since ship 24 has one new Raptor will that get a test as well? Will they now move S24 off the suborbital mount in order to replace its pad as well before a final static fire test? Since ships that follow will need such testing and with the tower needing to be fully clad before a launch attempt it seems to me to be the best time to get that pad repair work done if it’s going to happen.

 

I think they will SF Ship 24 one more time, with only minimal repairs to the fondag beneath it before the test. I think we might get one more layer higher on the cladding for the OLIT, but that will be it until after the OFT. Then the rest of the tower will be clad.

 

Geminid meteor shower tonight (Northern California) starting 8pm

 

Good stuff. Welcome to the thread


Have you come across this thread yet?
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/any-star-gazers-and-amateur-astronomers.424790/page-10