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Official Space Exploration Coolness Thread
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-05-02, 13:48

If you think the Space Shuttle's cockpit is complex and a mess, how about Apollo's command module? There was so many switches and buttons, only two people knew about the SCE to Aux switch that saved Apollo 12..... Everyone else when ECOM suggested it went, " WTF is SCE to Aux?"

giggity

Last edited by Quagmire : 2012-05-02 at 21:33.
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Dorian Gray
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Paris, France
 
2012-05-02, 15:22

I think the whole Apollo programme was a near-miraculous achievement that could only have been pulled off by an unprecedented technological superpower at the very zenith of her confidence, and I doubt I'll witness something so spectacular in scope and ambition in my lifetime. The Apollo command modules were a mess, of course.
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Moogs
Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2012-05-03, 07:14

Don't screw the pooch, Gus.
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-05-03, 15:07

I just read that the SRB's for the SLS will not be recovered and will be allowed to sink in the Atlantic. So my reaction is, " WTF WHY!?!?" The only thing that is reusable on the SLS( since it is basically the Shuttle SRB with an extra segment) is not going to be reused?

giggity
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PKIDelirium
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Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2012-05-03, 19:20

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quagmire View Post
If you think the Space Shuttle's cockpit is complex and a mess, how about Apollo's command module? There was so many switches and buttons, only two people knew about the SCE to Aux switch that saved Apollo 12..... Everyone else when ECOM suggested it went, " WTF is SCE to Aux?"
Yeah, I remember that from the HBO series From The Earth To The Moon. It basically went like this:

EECOM: SCE to AUX!
Rest of MCC: WTF is SCE to AUX?!
CDR & CMP: WTF is SCE to AUX?!
Al Bean: I KNOW WHAT THAT IS!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quagmire View Post
I just read that the SRB's for the SLS will not be recovered and will be allowed to sink in the Atlantic. So my reaction is, " WTF WHY!?!?" The only thing that is reusable on the SLS( since it is basically the Shuttle SRB with an extra segment) is not going to be reused?
It's apparently cheaper to build all-new disposable ones than build ones with stronger reusable casings with flotation and recovery systems, and then go through the refurbishment process to ready them for flight again.

They've already repurposed one of the SRB recovery ships as a mobile tracking and observation platform for the SpaceX launches to the ISS.
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-05-03, 20:00

Quote:
Originally Posted by PKIDelirium View Post
It's apparently cheaper to build all-new disposable ones than build ones with stronger reusable casings with flotation and recovery systems, and then go through the refurbishment process to ready them for flight again.

They've already repurposed one of the SRB recovery ships as a mobile tracking and observation platform for the SpaceX launches to the ISS.
I hope the F-1 boosters get approved. SRB's need to be ditched.
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PKIDelirium
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2012-05-03, 21:17

I have no problem with SRBs for unmanned launchers like the Atlas 5 or Delta 4, but on a manned vehicle it's a recipe for disaster. Although they're far safer on a vertical stack booster like SLS than the parallel setup on the Shuttle, when an SRB goes wrong it goes wrong very fast and very violently with no way to cut it off. Back in the late 90s one of a Delta 2's solids had a tiny, unseen crack in the casing, and it blew the whole rocket to hell just seconds after liftoff.

With the liquid boosters, if one of them fails, you can cut it off. And if you've set up the fuel line plumbing to make it possible, re-route the failed booster's fuel supply to the other one for a longer burn to make up for the lost engine, instead of being absolutely forced into a launch abort. It happened a couple times on the Saturn V second stage, such as the center engine on the S-2 failing on Apollo 13 resulting in a longer burn of the remaining engines and also a longer S-4B burn. Can't do stuff like that with solids.
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Moogs
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2012-05-04, 20:03

Neil deGrasse Tyson had an awesome tweet today.

Someone asked what the obstacles to exploring Mercury are and is it mostly about temperature to which Neil replied "No, you need a space program too".

So true.

http://twitter.com/#!/neiltyson

...into the light of a dark black night.
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-05-15, 09:10

Always a nice site to see two Shuttle's together.....

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julesstoop
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2012-05-15, 13:16

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moogs View Post
Neil deGrasse Tyson had an awesome tweet today.

Someone asked what the obstacles to exploring Mercury are and is it mostly about temperature to which Neil replied "No, you need a space program too".
[/url]
Actually. The biggest problem is (has always been) to get something in a sufficiently similar orbit as Mercury. To go to Mercury directly would take a tremendous amount of fuel, which we don't want (shooting fuel and a spaceship with a large enough engine up is very expensive) so we have to make complicated detours through the solar system which take a long time and need more course-corrections.

A black hole is where god divided by zero.
http://settuno.com/
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-05-15, 14:36

Ares I rocket reborn..... ATK's proposed Liberty rocket using what looks to be a 5 segment Shuttle-derived SRB with a modified Ariane 5 upper stage attached that will compete against SpaceX, Boeing, etc for the commercial contracts. They say it will be ready by 2015 for a manned flight if rewarded the contract.


giggity
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PKIDelirium
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2012-05-16, 23:14

What could it win a contract for? There's no spacecraft associated with it, unless ATK is serious about the recent rumors that they're also developing a crew capsule. Sierra Nevada and Boeing are going to use a man-rated Atlas V/Centaur for their respective spacecraft, and SpaceX has their own Falcon series.
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-05-17, 20:50

Quote:
Originally Posted by PKIDelirium View Post
What could it win a contract for? There's no spacecraft associated with it, unless ATK is serious about the recent rumors that they're also developing a crew capsule. Sierra Nevada and Boeing are going to use a man-rated Atlas V/Centaur for their respective spacecraft, and SpaceX has their own Falcon series.
According to the article, yeah they are serious about making their own capsule.

And the Delta IV's upper stage has been chosen as the upper stage of the SLS for the first two flights while the J-2X finishes development.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1205/15slsinterim/

giggity
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-05-22, 09:44

SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule this morning on the way to resupply the ISS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkqBfv8OMM&
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Eugene
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2012-05-22, 23:07

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quagmire View Post
SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule this morning on the way to resupply the ISS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkqBfv8OMM&
Not only that, but they unintentionally demonstrated why launch vehicles with SRBs are inferior. SpaceX was able to abort the launch at T-minus 1 second after ignition of its 1st stage. This would not have been possible with ATK's proposed rocket.

Someone should find a clip of the solar arrays being deployed...they lady in SpaceX mission control sounded very excited...
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-05-25, 12:31



And Dragon is docked to the ISS.
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curiousuburb
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2012-05-25, 20:47

And there was much rejoicing... and eating of musicians.

Go SpaceX!
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Chinney
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2012-05-28, 23:07

Slate has an series of short excerpts from past news stories about space travel here.

This is my favourite - from the Washington Monthly in 1980, as it brought home just what an achievement the Space Shuttle was in its time:

Quote:
To truly grasp the challenge of building a space shuttle, think about its flight. The ship includes a 60-by-15-foot open space, narrow wings, and a large cabin where men must be provided that delicately slender range of temperatures and pressures they can endure. During ascent, the shuttle must withstand 3 Gs of stress--inertial drag equivalent to three times its own weight. While all five engines are screaming, there will be acoustic vibrations reaching 167 decibels, enough to kill an unprotected person. In orbit, the shuttle will drift through -250°F. vacuum, what engineers call the ’cold soak.’ It's cold enough to embrittle and shatter most materials. During reentry, the ship's skin goes from cold soak to 2,700°F., hot enough to transform many metals into Silly Putty. Then the shuttle must glide along, under control, at speeds up to Mach 25, three times faster than any other piloted aircraft has ever flown. After reentry, it cascades through the air without power; finally thunking down onto the runway at 220 m.p.h. The like-sized DC-9 lands, with power, at 130 m.p.h. Rockets are throwaway contraptions in part so that no one piece ever has to endure such a wild variety of conditions. The shuttle's design goal is to take this nightmare ride 100 times.
That the Shuttle program had trouble along the way fully meeting its objectives is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that it got off the ground at all.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
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Moogs
Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2012-05-31, 18:48

Put me in cryo-freeze and sign me up for the galactic Fireworks show in 3.75B years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18285583
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-06-05, 13:23

RIP Hubble.

Long Live Hubble Jr and III.....

http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...html?hpt=hp_t3
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curiousuburb
Antimatter Man
 
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2012-06-05, 16:40

Half an hour until the start of the last Transit of Venus this century… about 7 hours of a 1/32 size black dot (Venus) occulting the Sun… If you can't see it yourself directly* (curses clouds) - NASA has webcasts.

Http://venustransit.nasa.gov

Http://transitofvenus.org

And as for the news NASA got gifted a pair of mint KH-11 spy scopes to back up or replace Hubble... Can you say "kick-ass space binoculars"?

* OBLIGATORY WARNING: Don't stare at Sun. Project image onto card if needed.
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-06-06, 07:56

They can't seriously be thinking of leaving it like that. The paint has to be temporary just to hide the damage until the repair......
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torifile
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2012-06-06, 08:09

Quote:
Originally Posted by curiousuburb View Post
Half an hour until the start of the last Transit of Venus this century… about 7 hours of a 1/32 size black dot (Venus) occulting the Sun… If you can't see it yourself directly* (curses clouds) - NASA has webcasts.

Http://venustransit.nasa.gov

Http://transitofvenus.org

And as for the news NASA got gifted a pair of mint KH-11 spy scopes to back up or replace Hubble... Can you say "kick-ass space binoculars"?

* OBLIGATORY WARNING: Don't stare at Sun. Project image onto card if needed.
We went out to the Morehead planetarium yesterday. The whole family - me, my wife and our 5 year old and 2 year old kids. It was fun. And nuts! There were so many people out there. The weather was perfect. I don't know if my son saw the dot in the telescope but at least he can say he did it.

If it's not red and showing substantial musculature, you're wearing it wrong.
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PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2012-06-06, 16:17

Enterprise is safely sitting on Intrepid's deck, United Space Alliance techs are starting to work on removing the lifting harness.
http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/Live-Webcams.aspx

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quagmire View Post
They can't seriously be thinking of leaving it like that. The paint has to be temporary just to hide the damage until the repair......
Around the time that photo was posted, Intrepid tweeted #IntrepidShuttle has already been repaired! RT @samjwong: @intrepidmuseum Will the #Enterprise be repaired after barge accident yesterday?
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-06-06, 16:29

Pathetic..... Thank god they didn't get any of the space worthy Shuttle's..... What would they have done if they damaged those?

And it looks like they are leaving the tail cone on her for display.

giggity
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2012-06-06, 20:39

Transit of Venus.
You call it lame, I call it 'art'.


Transit of Venus by drewprops, on Flickr



...
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Dorian Gray
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Join Date: May 2005
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2012-06-08, 14:08

Not bad, drewprops.

The remarkable amateur astronomer Thierry Legault demonstrated similar skill in photographing not only the transit of Venus, but, simultaneously, the transit of the Hubble space telescope. I dread to think what kind of mathematics was needed to figure out where to stand (somewhere in Australia, apparently) and when (the whole thing took less than second).

He used a Nikon D4 shooting at 10 frames per second, which offers a maximum continuous shooting time of just a few seconds, showing the crazy precision needed to pull off this stunt.
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Foj
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2012-07-11, 21:46

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...200752158.html

A picture taken by Cassini on June 27th showing a vortex on Titan's south pole.


A knife and a fork, a bottle and a cork, that's the way to spell New York.
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-07-13, 16:19

The F-1 boosters are among the final candidates for NASA to replace the 5 segment SRB on the SLS.

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/syst...d_booster.html
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