Space and Science BS Thread

B1051.9 was a success! Here’s a wild pic from the SpX twitter..




Also, Tuesday for SN 11?

https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/1370841954569707522?s=20

Considering SpaceX puts a shamrock on all their mission patches, I’m surprised they wouldn’t be looking at Wednesday..

 

Starship orbital with SN20???

And other interesting info:

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/03/starship-sn11-spacex-orbital-flight-summer/


And for the fun of it:

https://twitter.com/jdeshetler/stat...3/starship-sn11-spacex-orbital-flight-summer/

 

So.. which one does a lunar circumnavigations (unmanned) first, SLS or Starship?

 

Sls, I don't think spacex will bother with it. Next year's they will most likely start launching starlink on starship to get the landing down to the reliability of falcon 9. If they send a rocket to the moon they will most likely be landing it to proof out their mid engine lander design.

 

I’d put $20 on Starship.

There’s many items to check off on a circumlunar test, including the most stressful reentry assuming a free return...

But as I write that, wondering if Starship would do a re-entry burn to slow down a bit, soften the forces???? Like on The Expanse’s lengthy decel burns..

That would be wild to see

 

Dear moon is scheduled for 2023
https://dearmoon.earth/

 

Assuming the Green Run goes OK on Thursday, and funding does not get cut, SLS should be flying by the end of this year.

Should be.

Let's hope...

 

Have you seen "The Right Stuff" on Disney+? Pretty good show too. I made the mistake of watching it right before "For All Mankind" so it got a little confusing since some of the astronauts are the same but the actors are all different lol.

 

I literally finished TRS before starting season 1 of FAM. It looks like second season will get deeper into the further missions, Grissom and Glenn.

I missed the stuff that was in the book, like "shenanigans in fast movers" and the Chuck Yeager stuff.

 

I'll admit that I haven't read the book but I would certainly like to get my hands on a copy. I've always been interested in the space race (I'm a 90's baby) but glad to see such enthusiasm around it again now.

 

We read it in High School (back in the 80s) as part of a non-fiction course. I had to write a paper about how Wolfe's storytelling style made the material relatable to audiences.

 

With the Booster being about a third taller than Starship, anyone hear how they’re going to mount it on top?

Does Tankzilla have more extensions?

Edit: Apparently so

Spoiler

https://twitter.com/BocaChicaGal/status/1372539543853924353?s=20

Is there a Tankzilla Sr.?



On a side note, seems a bit inefficient they way they move Tankzilla between the launch and production sites...

 

No but I’ll check that out next once I finish mankind.

 

Well except for the Dear Moon thing for a paying customer.

 

The general consensus is they are starting the loading crane build now. It's doubtful that they will get much more than a base built until they land Starship a few times successfully and probably the booster as well. For now it is cheaper and faster to move tankzilla than it is to tear down the wreckage and rebuild a custom crane structure in the event of a rapid unscheduled disassembly.

 

I can see the benefit of dry running the mission, but honestly I don't think it is THAT important. The most important aspects are a safe launch and a safe landing. I'm betting they'll get those down with starlink. If they're gonna send an empty rocket to the moon however, i think they'll get more data from a landing. They could probably do mostly the same trajectory, do a few orbits, land, and if it lands successfully, launch and return to earth orbit. My understanding is the lunar lander version is just supposed to be a shuttle to and from the moon anyways. But my money is on them making a few craters in the moon too.

That said, and seeing as how they intend to refuel in space, they could send the lunar lander, do a loop around the moon, return to earth orbit, refuel, and then do another trip to the moon for a landing. That's the beauty of Starship.

 

This family in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire UK is extremely generous by donating this meteorite to the national collection held by the Natural History Museum in London, to Studying its chemistry and what it can tell us about the conditions that went into building the planets.

Here: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56337876

I remember an article a while ago about a family in Indonesia finding a hole in their tin roof made by a meteorite and selling it to a collector for millions of dollars.

 

NASA is targeting a two-hour test window that opens at 3 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 18, for the second hot fire test of the core stage for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

The agency plans to begin live coverage on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app approximately 30 minutes before the hot fire. The team will refine the timeline as it proceeds through operations. NASA will provide updates on the operations and the target hot fire time at @NASA and the Artemis blog.

On test day, engineers will power up all the core stage systems, load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or supercold, propellant into the tanks, and fire the rocket’s four RS-25 engines at the same time to simulate the stage’s operation during launch, generating 1.6 million pounds of thrust.

A post-test briefing will follow on NASA Television approximately two hours after the test. Media can ask questions during the briefing by phone. To participate, reporters must contact Kathryn Hambleton at kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov by 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 17, for dial-in information.

The hot fire is the eighth and final test of the Green Run series to ensure the core stage of the SLS rocket is ready to launch Artemis missions to the Moon, beginning with Artemis I. The core stage includes the liquid hydrogen tank and liquid oxygen tank, four RS-25 engines, as well as the computers, electronics, and avionics that serve as the “brains” of the rocket.

The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA is working to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon to pave the way for sustainable exploration at the Moon and future missions to Mars.

For more information about the Green Run test series, visit:


https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram/greenrun

 

But Orlando still has Skycraft Surplus!

https://skycraftsurplus.com/