Space and Science BS Thread

That’s a bit disturbing.
A more appropriate analogy might be the progression from cloth to pull-up diapers.

 

Do tell.

My layman’s thoughts were:
1) Is at the max i.e 110% ; and
2) Is it gonna melt itself?

 

I presume so and hope not. But if it does they’ve identified a weak link to improve. Whether they keep pushing the extreme once they get to good enough to do the job is anyone’s guess. Personally I’m hoping the rotating detonation engine will dramatically increase thrust and reduce the fuel load to achieve orbit but who knows how long that could take if ever. The process seems fraught with chaos.

 

Raptors ingesting themselves has been a design flaw from the beginning. It doesn’t get much press but SpX is at the forefront of research to develop an alloy that’ll work.

I hadn’t heard of this before but just now became a google expert. I think if there was any chance of this being viable in the near future, SpX would’ve trailblazed the tech.

Terrific name for a punk album

 

One of, if not, the coolest looking Saturn V launch:
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/50th-anniversary-of-the-skylab-1-launch

 

Isn’t that the case for any new engine? And Raptor uses a new fuel, an unproven cycle and operates at or above its design limits. Pushing those limits is how Musk aims to raise them. Unlike the BE-4 which proposes to operate at a reduced output to sacrifice performance for reliability but does little to raise the bar other than the same new fuel.
I think the RDE is probably where aerospike was in its infancy, great promise but still highly theoretical and certainly not advanced to the point you can build a rocket around it yet. Some ideas never bear fruit and others need time for necessary components or materials to become available. Some like TP tiles are so necessary that they get used even with known shortcomings. My hope is that the surge in interest and commercialization will lead to more basic research at all levels as companies compete for nitches and universities try to prepare students for these jobs.

 

Here’s a decent video on the development of GRcop42, it’s use in 3D printing, rotating detonation and its combination with aerospike output. Decades of work. I’m curious what Spacex is doing to come up with an even better alloy. So much becomes possible with better material science.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BHRfj-QLS8Q

 

Huh…
https://twitter.com/LauraForczyk/status/1658170139873796098?s=20

 

No big surprise here:
https://www.space.com/spacex-hires-nasa-human-spaceflight-chief-kathy-lueders

 

https://twitter.com/axiom_space/status/1658433250572869634?s=46

 

https://twitter.com/StephenClark1/status/1658225823655116800?s=20
https://twitter.com/StephenClark1/status/1658226012306526208?s=20

 

The pics and science from this flyby should be amazing:
https://twitter.com/nasajpl/status/1658209370797404160?s=46

 

NASA would have to give up its requirement for a launch escape system as well as the plan of having a semipermanent station in lunar orbit. Besides, I don’t think Starship is the long range plan for a lunar lander even though it win out the first round.

 

I can see HLS becoming the Moon base cargo ship. 150 tons to the Moon per go, at 2 launches per day? That's a no brainer!

 

Or, the human rated launch from Earth Starship has an equivalent already designed for it.

As for Gateway, there’s not much support due to it’s impractibility, beyond the politicians (yes, I concede they control the $$)

 

If that were the only objection I could see them bringing up the crew on a dragon especially since then they wouldn’t need to be around during all of the refueling. Personally I feel there’s likely to be things learned and unpredicted benefits from Gateway as well as those that come from its unusual orbit. I agree with MNIR that Starship might best be used as a lunar freighter until such time as it’s fully developed for human transport. The HLS is unique in that it’s intended for only a handful of astronauts and a relatively short hop and doesn’t seem to have a plan for it’s future use.

 

NASA people are involved in the materials research where they found that a dusting of yttrium at each pass during 3D printing process improved an alloy's stress response a good bit. Wonder if it is related to specific engines you all are talking about.

https://phys.org/news/2023-04-3d-printed-alloy-resistant-stress-alloys.html

 

I like the idea of Gateway, I just don't know why it's so small?

 

Maybe not yet but soon I would hope. They would need to produce and test specific parts first. I’d guess not a replacement for GRcop42 but for other pieces maybe in/around the turbo pumps? I wonder if they’ll be able to integrate different formulas into the same print fabrication process using multiple injection nozzles simultaneously.

 

The next few years summed up