Space and Science BS Thread

I expect it will be different on the surface or in a lunar cave with all the dust as opposed to the clean room environment of a man made vacuum chamber or in orbit. If water ice is plentiful it might be that concrete plays a significant role and dismantled lander shells are used as forms or lining. Large scale boring machines already use prefab concrete panels to line tunnels. Shielding, insulating, and pressurizing will take a layered approach I think. Might also need a self sealing layer as well.

 

I didn't think about robot welding. We've pretty well perfected that by now, so that probably makes more sense than a clunky box.

 

Love the tradition…
https://twitter.com/space_station/status/1519569847126007808?s=21&t=ghwNKGlxRjEej8XlcGpTYg

 

I really liked the idea in Seveneves of instead of having a suit, basically give a person a comfortably-human-sized fully pressurized cylinder with a nice big viewport on top, and give them some sort of remote-control arms on it, so they're not having to fight pressure to just hold on to things. Obviously this is an on-orbit tool, not something usable on the surface of moon or Mars.

 

So, a small coffin sized space ship?

 

Basically, yeah. Just give up on the fiction that a spacesuit is not just a small spaceship, and stop worrying about trying to make them look person-like. Maybe make it big enough for the pilot to bring their knees up, move their arms around, etc. so they can spend more time in it comfortably.
EDIT - current Quest airlock hatch is 4ft x 4ft, right? Make the pod 3 ft diameter, have the pilot seated, maybe makes it 4 ft, 4 1/2 ft 'tall'? That should work. Or you can give it a hatch and have it dock to a module, so you're not having to depressurize a space.

 

Or gel type interior with VR/brain interface.

 

Maybe any ship fitted out with Waldos and a variety of camera feeds for that environment.

 

Welding in space is easy. The only reason you need gas for mig and Tig is because earth has atmosphere and the gas displaces that atmosphere so that the weld can cool in an inert atmosphere. In a vacuum there is no atmosphere so it's already inert.

Cold welding is cool, but getting 2 large panels flat enough to cold weld an air tight seam would require a ton of work. Flatness is king, and getting large things flat is tough.

Robots are cool, and yes they can weld, preprogrammed welding paths. The biggest problem with robots is they are incapable of critical thinking. That said my bet is along the lines of humanoid/ish robots with vr/esque control

 

Neat gif on Artemis 1 journey
https://twitter.com/lmspace/status/1519730711686754304?s=21&t=-DE9qYhO1zzgz0pWQoSHfw

 

It’s not the welding as much as the difficulties that arise from where it’s happening. Arc welding assumes a sufficient energy source that needs to be up and running first. Both robotic welders for assembly line work such as tunnel linings and ROV welders for non standard operations will need it. One thing a boring machine could provide is the cubage for shop space for machining & repairs and simply the elbow room to stay sane for larger groups.

 

Getting closer….

https://twitter.com/northropgrumman/status/1519757143297118210?s=21&t=epqCm3GCwcqmAOIPNEyYXw

 

https://twitter.com/space_station/status/1519763723019341824?s=21&t=epqCm3GCwcqmAOIPNEyYXw

 

This

is

wild:
https://www.axiomspace.com/news/axiom-space-and-mbrsc-uae-astronaut

 

That's awesome, really.

Just a practical thought, however. How is he going to face Mecca 5 times a day when they are zipping about in LEO?

 

Another month delay….
https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1520019136268718080?s=21&t=epqCm3GCwcqmAOIPNEyYXw

WTF

 

Can't imagine it's that hard to compute the best orientation towards an arbitrary point on the surface of the earth.

 

Something to look forward to this afternoon - watching RocketLab try to catch a 1st stage with a helicopter!

EDIT - not today, bumped out to Sunday for better weather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74sXa2qySPM

 

I suppose not, but I guess I don't know how strict that is. Like, what if he's upside down in comparison to the plane of the earth?

 

SpaceX has a launch from the Cape this evening