Space and Science BS Thread

Not saying anyone here has anything to worry about…
https://x.com/nasaoig/status/1717998383158145338?s=46

 

Be nice if BO did more than make pretty mock ups and snazzy web pages. At some point this penchant for not finishing will come back to bite them. (re Orbital Reef). Demanding a seat at the table will eventually fall on deaf ears if you keep leaving partners hanging.

 

Funny how when they’re paid billions and billions under cost plus, they get the job done:
https://x.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1718375584017854502?s=46

 

I hope it solves whatever problems they had and doesn’t contribute to more:
https://x.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1718339580800139737?s=46

 

Anyone know how a US regulatory agency, the FAA, has jurisdiction in Māhia, New Zealand? Is it just RL being a registered company? What about any New Zealand agency?
https://x.com/rocketlab/status/1717274974724186521?s=46

 

I’d expect a partnership arrangement exists with NZ and the FAA, at least as far as oversight of a US based company. In any case RL IS a US company and any anomaly from any launch sight will trigger an FAA investigation.

 

Stuff of sci-fi right here:
https://x.com/nearspacenet/status/1718945849613648230?s=46

 

Would that require the GPS satellites utilized to be reoriented or reposition their antenna direction to accomplish?

 

It’s a pretty cool experiment.

From the article- the lander will access the US GPS system as well as the separate EU gps system.

It doesn’t seem like any maneuvers are planned for either system.

“Onboard: the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE)payload will investigate whether signals from two GNSS constellations can reach the lander and provide precise navigation on the Moon for future missions.”

Edit: it’s about a 5 second trip for radio waves to get from Earth to moon and back.

 

I guess it’s what constitutes a hatch at the top of B9. Even for normal checks/operations it has to come off.

 

I don’t think it works that way, i think instead it measures the signal time difference between satellites and your location to compute it so the satellite signal isn’t really targeted. And it’s the device rather than the satellite that does the computing. The problem I see is that the moon is so much farther away that the triangles in triangulation get extremely long and narrow so the signal time differences diminish drastically. The good news is you'd have many more signals available. There’s also the signal delay. If It’s a neat idea but at least initially I would expect better results by using previous mission(or previous orbit) radar mapping to provide the necessary data to use terrain following radar into an lz. Something we probably have a lot more experience with than most. We still have to deal with the moons irregular gravitational fields which will just take time to map and until then require some extra fuel to make adjustments. Or so I understand it.

 

Gps utilizes the delay of broadcast to tell how far it is from each satellite and triangulate position. It should work on the moon, but the timings are going to have to be exact since all the satellite signals are coming from the same spot in the moon's sky.

 

https://x.com/nasasolarsystem/status/1719104971139154431?s=46

 

Look closely, you’ll see Raptor #398…
https://x.com/astro_pam/status/1719078233306513757?s=46

Can’t help but wonder how many BE-4s are out there?

 

Yup, knew the math is done on the GPS receiver's end/that the satellites are just broadcasting. My wondering was more of thinking they directionally broadcast in a cone facing Earth vs omnidirectional. In my mind, it wouldn't make sense to expend energy w/ the omni route. And thus my earlier Q. That make sense?

 

Would it take more energy to broadcast omnidirectional or to keep the craft oriented towards earth continuously?

 

Ooo good point. Idk but something to chew on until someone smarter (not difficult to achieve) than myself can chime in.

My initial thought would be reaction wheels would maintain orientation but idk if all satellites have them and that would require less energy than omnidirectional broadcasting.

 

Check the last chunk of info here:
https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/gps.html

Says the GPS III has a 3D printed omni directional antenna…

The Wiki page for Galileo is moot on antenna directionality.

 

Sure does, in which case only satellites on the opposite side from the moon but not occluded by it might be available making the distance, triangulation, and lag even greater. One of the biggest issues is lag which forces autonomous piloting rather than remote from earth whether the vehicle is manned or not. Using gps signals that far away tells the vehicle where it was over a second ago and closer to a second and a half if the satellites are opposite the moon. Taking an Apollo CSM orbit as an example(2days, 60 miles) even with the lower gravity of the moon that’s still more than a 200’ minimum error. Not exactly the standard we’ve become accustomed to from our Garvins. Use of terrain following radar that’s real time might represent a step back but at least it’s a well established step. My guess is that the weight savings using gps INSTEAD of radar would be significant but if you have to have the radar anyway that benefit us erased.