Space and Science BS Thread

Sounds good, but I would imagine that rough seas would be a problem. And the regulatory issues with a stationary barge.

 

Aren’t they towed by Bob or Doug already so it would need to have a crane to get them into a cradle and have deck space and stability to do it at sea. Seems like a much bigger ship would be required in addition to the tugs that already bring them to the area. A ship to ship transfer at sea as well as ship to shore that also adds another even bigger ship doesn’t seem to be an upgrade in tactics.

 

Falcon Heavy next week
https://x.com/nasa_lsp/status/1802786454344552494?s=46

LZ-1 & LZ-2
https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/6837

 

FH9 on my birthday?!?!

 

I wonder how realistic this crash render is...


https://youtu.be/GXoU7DV2mwE?t=654

 

Big candles!

 

At least Suni & Butch are getting more time on station??

 

At the risk of Starliner crapping out completely and them needing a rescue boat...

 

The reason(or excuse) given is that the service module is jettisoned and burns up on reentry so this is their last opportunity to collect data from it. Unsaid is that the inability to sustain a protracted stay in orbit is another data point that might be getting collected. They’ll either run out of reasons not to launch or keep piling them up until they no longer can. It’s supposed to be able to last several months so we’ll see. After so many delays could it be getting stale mate?

 

Wouldn’t it be 44 engines? 35 & 9.

 

OLIT2 seems to be moving along nicely at the Starship launch site.

 

Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg just after sunset last night. Looks cool when the trail is high enough to be sunlit in an otherwise dark sky.

 

Kind of cool, my pics above are from Santa Barbara, CA. Below is the same Falcon 9 flight as seen by a buddy in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This is from around 1000 mi south. In my pics above I only got the trail after it was out of sight when I noticed it and photographed through the sun roof while driving. He caught the actual rocket while at a restaurant.

 

I came here for UFO's

 

Yup, this would be the place if they show up

Unrelated and hidden in the news this week. Good the US space program gets closer to India while the Russian space program gets more distant and closer to China:
https://x.com/payloadspace/status/1803787589763166558?s=46

 

Except they aren't getting more distant, they are closer to the Florida coast then ever before.

 

Quoted post edited

 

Some light reading for you fiscal folks….
https://x.com/usgao/status/1803820134269636654?s=46

 

I see they poured concrete on some of the new platforms on the right side of the (High Bay?) I hope this is in furtherance of getting infrastructure readied for Starlink launches. Will we see something similar but more favorable to Boosters for chine and raceway work in either of the Mega Bays? I’m wondering if smaller cranes mounted underneath more widely spaced levels could help installing CO2 copv’s, chines, etc where the bridge cranes no longer have overhead access. Much less weight than multiple ring segments or complete stacks. Obviously the scaffolding is a temporary measure for ships since a finalized heat shield would revert to just finishing up at the welds with most of the work again being done before stacking. I suppose they could continue putting it up and taking enough down to move ships in/out while they use up the next 3 ships. I get the sense that the heat shield(I should say reentry instead since it’s many factors involved) might take quite some time to get first to reusable and then progress to rapidly reusable. The ablative layer would indicate prioritizing the first. As fast as they churned out ships working in tents, production might outstrip iterating designs over the next year or so. That would incline me to again focus on the orbital goals with reentry/reuse playing catch up.

Anyone know how long they allow the concrete used to fill the steel segments to cure before stacking the next level? Also, will they make up the connections from level to level as they go while that curing takes place or do they stack&pour&stack&pour…. and do the connections later? I know in earthquake country they’d wait 28 days for each level to cure before stacking which is why freeways take so effing long to build in CA though I’d rather it take longer than have it drop on my head like the Cypress structure did(not for lack of cure but for lack of rebar coiling).

 

I am by no means a structural engineer, but I imagine that they may just wait for the concrete to set before the next section is stacked. Obviously, the concrete is there for a reason, but a lot or most of the weight will also be supported by the steel structure. That can allow them to stack quicker, but again, just me talking out my