Space and Science BS Thread

You might like John Ringo's Troy Rising Series - Live Free or Die, Citadel, and The Hot Gate. I don't want to spoil it, but it does touch on asteroid mining and gas refining in parts of the series.

 

Y'all need to read the Bobiverse.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/192752-bobiverse

Smart AF and based on 100% real physics.

 

Not sure if they’ll iterate to the same extent as with hulls and flight hardware, at least not actually IN those hulls. I’d be very surprised if they weren’t already neck deep in iterative designs with 3D modeling software to speed the process. Each system either will need to be integrated both within each level and from level to level and there are a lot of them. I think it’s more a case of what to put where than how to make things work. The guts they’ll be packing in will be vastly more expensive than the hulls so they’ll need to be a bit more careful with guts than they were with ships. It’s probably more like designing for a space station than for a capsule. Reusability will at some point have to allow for servicing so the problem with accessing the main power unit that Orion had won’t happen to Starship. They will have to do some iterating of hardware but will have only limited opportunities to flight test it before the ball drops. Refueling in orbit testing could increase the number of opportunities but I’d think those tests would be more likely to happen concurrently than successively but as with WDR’s and 33 engine static fire tests they’ll have to do it with the finished HLS ship eventually. Some of that could be done in conjunction with Starlink missions either after pezzing to reduce risk to the satellites or before to allow for different shells than can be reached from KSC(polar orbits are done from Vandenberg). I just don’t see them waiting for or risking HLS units to do initial refueling testing when other more barebones starships will be going up anyway.

 

Better science the shit out of (into) this, Watney.

 

Not sure if they’ll iterate to the same extent as with hulls and flight hardware, at least not actually IN those hulls. I’d be very surprised if they weren’t already neck deep in iterative designs with 3D modeling software to speed the process. I think it’s more a case of what to put where than how to make things work. The guts they’ll be packing in will be vastly more expensive than the hulls so they’ll need to be a bit more careful with guts than they were with ships. It’s probably more like designing for a space station than for a capsule. Reusability will at some point have to allow for servicing so the problem with accessing the main power unit that Orion did.

Depends on the depth of the greenhouse really. Some propose using existing cavern systems as a starting point. Those could be enlarged and made more uniform and then the interior surface sealed, insulated and partitioned. Use of the Boring Co will depend largely on subsurface geology but would allow for anything the same size to be inserted. A specific area in Texas was chosen because of the proximity of urban areas to ideal soils. That was one reason I mention gaining coverage by building with prefabs or inflatables in a crater and backfilling with stabilized regolith. Similar to the way we pulverize old concrete or blacktop and bind it into road base or new roadway. We already have machinery for that and it could be a byproduct of mining. The method used might depend on where a site was and why it was a desirable location.

 

Good question, my understanding is that things grow in response to the environment so both plants and people would tend to grow taller and more spindly in low gee and shorter and squatter in higher gee than normal.
I don’t think we’ll have the volume (and pressurized free air necessary) available for any large plants though I can’t imagine a sustainable, long term approach not planning for it eventually. The best approach will always be to make it (whatever “it” is) from locally sourced materials and that means developing water resources and mineral extraction instead of bringing bulk items from earth. Establishing a presence probably can’t prioritize it that way but it’s certainly one of those necessary associated industries that will need to be promoted and implemented ASAP.

 

So you're saying Elves are taller because they spend time in the low gees of the tree tops and dwarves are shorter because they spend time in higher gees near the core?
Suddenly fantasy makes sense.

Alright I'll see myself out.

 

It's exactly like this with each Starship having more interior volume than the ISS.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse_(novel_series)

Got to be the books…. The TV series is excellent but the books put the story in a whole different dimension..

 

https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/1583745222608945152?s=46&t=mkVW6m-uwVkInSQJDxnrWA

 

I think this is unprecedented…
https://twitter.com/jennyhphoto/status/1579940898237865985?s=46&t=mkVW6m-uwVkInSQJDxnrWA

 

Oh! I'm already all about both the books and the show, my dood.

 

Too bad you missed out-
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-expanse-syfy-then-prime-series-some-book-stuff-still-canceled.690790/

I’ll resurrect if it gets picked up again.

 

That seems a completely reasonable way to retire the oldest units first. Had Falcon heavy cargoes been ready in a more timely fashion these 3 would not have had to last this long. But it was good to find out they could.

 

https://twitter.com/rgvaerialphotos/status/1583979970292248578?s=46&t=jMB5PuCyAek6SwhKdPzSyQ

 

Must’ve missed this declassification back in 2015- wild stuff…
https://twitter.com/natreconofc/status/1583929949467000833?s=46&t=jMB5PuCyAek6SwhKdPzSyQ

 

This looks interesting…
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1584157532209090560?s=46&t=jMB5PuCyAek6SwhKdPzSyQ

 

This is cool to see, but I wish the second image would have been from the same angle.

 

Yeah, now that you point it out, is it even the same location? I’m looking at the curve of the road, natural markers, the site prep in the before and how it looks in the after.

 

Circled in red is a point of reference to line up the images. Same location but from a slightly different angle and distance.