Space and Science BS Thread

https://twitter.com/kscartist/status/1553173829266046978?s=21&t=rVTkV3e6kt02WI3XTGYJ1w

Flying cars

 

Hardly. Look at the career numbers for astronauts and they don’t add up to that much time in space for any of them. If prolonging the use of rockets is necessary to make it feasible then the same should be the case for those that spend years training for a career that at present ends after 2. Longer deployments will leave our most experienced people grounded before they’ve hardly begun. Up til now with turnover it took a career lasting decades to burn through 2 years of actual time in space. It will still be some time yet before this occurs but using that time to develop the means has to be part of what Elon meant when he said it would take more than just Spacex to do this. To me there’s very little reason to set up camp on the surface of the moon and a great many of them for going underground, quickly, and deep. Most of the surface work(and underground too)should be done by drones anyway which can be built immune to vacuum without needing expensive suits that can’t last much more than a full day let alone months of deployment. We’ll need the suits, rovers, etc but they shouldn’t be the primary means of getting things done.

 

I wonder if the drones could be piloted from Earth using VR? We're already doing it with excavators here, it would just be a point to point laser coms signal. Plus, if we can get the NRHO thing figured out, we wouldn't have any coms blackouts anyway!

 

Too far, I think the delay would be too great unless they were essentially autonomous and while the goal might be forwarded by their presence getting us there and developing the techniques and infrastructure is the real mission.

 

I think a 1-2 second delay could be compensated for by the controlling computers. They do that with television broadcasts

 

Maybe so but like I said getting us and not machines there is the goal. If resource extraction were the only goal it would be different but I think that’s going to be a byproduct of us already being there not the other way around. Those skills will still be needed in the asteroid belt and wherever we push the envelope because it will be by far the riskiest work environment ever but one we need the master to move on. To that end we need to develop the methods and technologies that allow us to travel, build, stay, and be productive enough to sustain the effort and move outward. Some research is done after the fact with materials and data brought back but eventually we’ll need to transition from penny packet experiments like those on the ISS to larger scale projects and teams overseeing different aspects of growing from a completely dependent transitory presence to one able to support itself and pass the baton. For those we need the kind of normal habitation and work space(volume) you can’t realistically get by shipping habitrails around the system. On any planetary body that offered even some of the protection we needed it would be different but both Luna and Mars require it.

 

Having this would help vs solar wind but not against cosmic radiation.
https://physicsworld.com/a/magnetic-shield-could-protect-spacecraft/

 

https://twitter.com/donasascience/status/1554104668439121920?s=21&t=UE67wIeE5F1gK_DDlzRqlw

 

Polaris Dawn looking at a December launch:
https://spacenews.com/december-launch-planned-for-polaris-dawn/

 

Somehow, I missed the part where Polaris Dawn isn't going to the ISS. Which, is amazing!

 

2 years ago https://twitter.com/nasahistory/status/1554467065217556482?s=21&t=ReyYwX6QeqxzTwMSn_OYmw

 

https://twitter.com/rocketlab/status/1554359961429217281?s=21&t=ReyYwX6QeqxzTwMSn_OYmw

 

Really curious what their spacesuit for the spacewalks is going to look like, especially given they'll be going to whole-cabin-vacuum. From promotional materials it just looks like an upgraded version of SpaceX's current suits, but with an umbilical, but I'm curious how much they'll have to add for thermal management, and how flexible they'll actually end up being.

 

Find a more ballsy GIF, I dare ya
https://twitter.com/nasahistory/status/1554527475161595905?s=21&t=b287bYiD7TCFkIH2Gihkyw

 

More pics from Webb:
https://twitter.com/nasahubble/status/1554527614152617985?s=21&t=b287bYiD7TCFkIH2Gihkyw

 

I think Kikina will be the first Russian to fly on a US vehicle since STS-84 (mission dates 5/15/87-5/24/87) during the Shuttle/Mir Program (Mission Specialist Yelena Kondakova)
https://twitter.com/nasa_astronauts/status/1554541265408217088?s=21&t=b287bYiD7TCFkIH2Gihkyw

I will stand corrected if someone finds a more recent mission

 

Now that I can say Artemis I may launch this month, I'll resume posting a few pictures I've taken during my time working on that program and later in support of that program. If I've posted any of these before I apologize.

This was the day they moved the Core Stage into the VAB.




This was the day the Core stage arrived on the barge.

 

You seriously have THE coolest job!

 

Just thankful to be employed out at KSC and both the Kennedy and the Cape side to be booming. The future is bright here.

 

+1 on @My Name is Rahl ’s assessment of your job

Speaking of Artemis I:
https://twitter.com/shaunthesheep/status/1554436856883716096?s=21&t=lYspg7RdvLSXfEc0VPwbUw