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Official Space Exploration Coolness Thread


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Official Space Exploration Coolness Thread
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-04-19, 08:29

Quote:
It is an experimental craft designed by NASA, tasked with establishing a precedent for future flight on other planets, with differing atmospheres and gravitational pulls than our own. (On Mars, the atmosphere is 1% as thick as Earth’s, and the pull of gravity there is about one-third what it is on Earth.) Ingenuity just passed that test with flying colors and has at least four more flights in its docket before the $85 million machine is retired.
That is one expensive drone! So glad we were able to do it though. It is amazing when you thing about propellers moving a vehicle in a less dense atmosphere. I mean, 1% of our own is a massive difference.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2021-04-19, 10:48

$85million? I bet SpaceX could have done it for a tenth as much!
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Dr. Bobsky
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: UK's most densely packed city. It's not London...
 
2021-04-20, 08:16

Well that’s what they’d tell the investors anyway
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kscherer
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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2021-04-20, 10:28

Well, it isn't much, but it did happen on the other side of forever. So, congrats!
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2021-05-05, 18:12

Guys a Starship prototype is still standing on the landing pad.

They did it!
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kscherer
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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2021-05-05, 18:13

I was just getting ready to link!

Awesome!

I caught it late, but had no spoilers and found myself fist-bumping the air!

Congrats to everyone working on this thing. You guys are rocking it!

And that isn't even everything. In the last two weeks:

- Crew Dragon 2 successfully launched and docked with the ISS, as well as bringing home crew;
- 2 successful Starlink missions (180 satellites);
- SN15!

Holy cow!

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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-05-05, 20:50

I missed the launch, that is why it landed right.

Glad to hear it went well. I'll catch the reruns.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2021-07-12, 06:05

I watched Richard Branson fly up to touch the face of space in his rocket plane, and I was embarrassed.

Funny how the tech from Space X has outpaced the Virgin Galactic spaceplane.

...
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kscherer
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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2021-07-12, 11:11

It's all gotta start somewhere.

And when you have an ego the size of the moon, you're gonna stick yourself in there so you can say you've "been to space".

- AppleNova is the best Mac-users forum on the internet. We are smart, educated, capable, and helpful. We are also loaded with smart-alecks! :)
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Mat 5:9)
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2021-07-12, 11:22

Better than Bezos, IMHO. Branson seems to have a more genuine passion for space so I have no issues with him being one of the first people to do it.

Then again Bezos did go retrieve an F1 engine so can't discount that either.

People seem to take issue with them placing themselves into the first mission, but I don't. It's not like they ( directly) took our money for the development and then took themselves up for a ride. They spent their own money to aid in development so why shouldn't they be one of the first?

giggity
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2021-07-12, 13:28

I am not begrudging any of them for making the trips, and it's cool that they're using private funding, but it just felt so HOKEY.

That's all

...
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kscherer
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2021-07-12, 13:45

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quagmire View Post
People seem to take issue with them placing themselves into the first mission, but I don't. It's not like they ( directly) took our money for the development and then took themselves up for a ride. They spent their own money to aid in development so why shouldn't they be one of the first?
Yes. He didn't spend tax money to do it, so if he wants to ride his own rocket, power to him.
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Kickaha
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2021-07-12, 16:58

Other than the 200M$ spaceport built with municipal money, of course.

Don't kid yourself, these fuckers are heavily subsidized by taxpayer money, end to end.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2021-07-12, 17:20

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kickaha View Post
Other than the 200M$ spaceport built with municipal money, of course.
Damn.


...
  quote
psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2021-07-12, 17:30

Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops View Post
I watched Richard Branson fly up to touch the face of space in his rocket plane, and I was embarrassed.

...
Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops View Post
I am not begrudging any of them for making the trips, and it's cool that they're using private funding, but it just felt so HOKEY.

...


I missed it all, what happened? Did he try to rap or something?
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2021-07-12, 18:48

No, but they did play music from a rapper on the way down and announced who they were listening to, exactly in the way that NASA doesn't.



...
  quote
Frank777
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Toronto
 
2021-07-12, 21:49

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kickaha View Post
Other than the 200M$ spaceport built with municipal money, of course.
Yeah, space exploration is a taxpayer money pit.

Although I do think there are valid scientific and business cases for it. And the USA had lost their leadership in this area and have had to throw money at Russia to send people up to space. How embarrassing for the entire West.

But the current strategy of unleashing a spirit of enterprise into the sector has been largely successful. Musk is a very loud self-promoter and taxpayer subsidy king. What he and the others are doing, however, has regained America's leadership in spacefaring. (I honestly have no idea who is ahead right now in the space-based weapons side of things.)

We all grew up watching space shuttles take off and land, but I will never forget reading how the Shuttle worked with 5-inch floppy drives while my Mac at home was several generations ahead in technology.

That kind of nonsense must not happen again.
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Ryan
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Promise Land of Trustafarians
 
2021-07-12, 22:52

The planetarium at the university here is doing a Pink Floyd astronomy laser show this Saturday.

...I might show up stoned.
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PB PM
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Join Date: Oct 2005
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2021-07-13, 08:51

The whole, rich people going to space is funny. They didn’t go to space, they were still in the atmosphere. When a company spends money to get researchers into space to do something that matters, I might be interested. Till then, meh.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2021-07-13, 09:37

Was there weightlessness and did they enter dark/black space (like you see in Star Wars or Apollo 13)?

Because, right or wrong, that’s my yardstick for space: my keys are floating in front of me and the absence of blue sky. If both of those aren’t met, I’ve not been to space. I’ve just been really high up in the sky. I require at least 20 seconds of legit “pew pew pew!!” surroundings.

In fact, how high do you have to go to enter blackness? What’s the official, agreed-upon line for “okay, you’re in space”?

There was that beautiful scene at the end of The Right Stuff where Yeager briefly punches through and everything changes.

Because if I paid $11M to go up and I never lost blue (and I can still see the highways below), I’ll be disappointed (and some billionaire is going to get a kick to his balls when we land).
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2021-07-13, 09:59

That's what Bezos was getting all bent out of shape for on Twitter last week. According to the FAI space begins at the Kármán Line, 100 km (~62 miles) up. The US military (and NASA) define it at 50 miles up. SO, while Branson achieved 'space' according to the US, he didn't according to the rest of the world. So sayeth Bezos anyways.

Whatever. I'm with you on the definition. If it's black and I'm weightless I'm in space, Billionaire Dick Measuring Contests be damned.

So it goes.
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kscherer
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2021-07-13, 10:38

Quote:
Originally Posted by 709 View Post
Whatever. I'm with you on the definition. If it's black and I'm weightless I'm in space, Billionaire Dick Measuring Contests be damned.
  quote
psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2021-07-13, 12:48

Forgive a stupid question (I don't follow space stuff the way I did in my yoof).

What's mission control for these guys? Their own crew/supporters? I assume even billionaires can't rent out Johnson Space Center like we could rent out Chuck E. Cheese for a Saturday afternoon?

Or is a just a small group of techs and communication? Or is there a big room somewhere tracking it all like you see in movies? How "big" of an operation is this?
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Kickaha
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Join Date: May 2004
 
2021-07-13, 13:11

https://www.spaceportamerica.com

NM, 200$M taxpayer money thrown into it.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2021-07-13, 13:25

Oh wow. When you talked about $200M space port upthread, I thought it was something up in space. A space port. So this is in the on-earth facility. I'm surprised it's that affordable.
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kscherer
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2021-07-20, 15:00

Well, if we're going to congratulate one, we need to congratulate the other. That said, congratulations to Blue Origin are a perfect 1st crewed flight.

I watched the flight from launch to landing and it was spot-on!

Space? I guess, but that they hit their goal and that they landed all of the bits back on Earth says a lot. These private companies are pushing the boundaries with very different business models, and power to them.

- AppleNova is the best Mac-users forum on the internet. We are smart, educated, capable, and helpful. We are also loaded with smart-alecks! :)
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
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2021-07-20, 15:39

I didn't realize how short the "zero-g" portion actually was. You know, the Tower of Terror (or whatever they call it now) gets you longer "weightlessness" I think and it is a heck of a lot cheaper.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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kscherer
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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2021-07-20, 16:37

Apparently, Apple is funding a show in which Jon Stewart roasts the billionaires space club. And, for FWIW, they deserve a bit of roasting. However, these guys are investing a lot in their respective ventures (yes, they get some gubmint money, but they're still putting a lot on the line). And the work they're doing is advancing space travel faster than at any point in history, and for significantly less money than government projects cost.

I'm onboard with all three ventures (and I'm sure there are more that I don't know about). We need arrogant, ego-maniacs like this to push tech forward. Without their personal insight and deep pockets, there just isn't enough free capital to make projects like this work. There might be lots of minds available, but without the money and drive to unite those minds into one room and inspire them to push the boundaries, none of these companies would even exist, the Shuttle would still be long-gone, the SLS would be way more expensive and behind schedule, and American astronauts would still be riding Russian rockets to space.

Bring on the egos!

- AppleNova is the best Mac-users forum on the internet. We are smart, educated, capable, and helpful. We are also loaded with smart-alecks! :)
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Mat 5:9)
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2021-07-20, 16:59

They're sending the wrong people up there. Branson and Bezos have never worked my nerves.
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kscherer
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2021-07-20, 17:10

Oh, they're the "wrong" people alright, but they're also the "right" people, because they're well-known and getting a ton of free press which, like it or not, provides them with a lot of free advertising notifying the world of their incredible success, that they're work is "safe" and that they're open for business. All of that is driving the R&D into advanced rocket systems that will eventually pave the way for lesser-knowns, and then moon landings, and Mars, and so on.

- AppleNova is the best Mac-users forum on the internet. We are smart, educated, capable, and helpful. We are also loaded with smart-alecks! :)
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Mat 5:9)
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