Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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The French nearly had theirs. I was working at CNES in the 90s, and they were still modelling it. It got cancelled just when I left.
Hermes (spacecraft) - Wikipedia
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The Astronomy Thread
- Thread starter Araxen
- Start date
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Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Oldbased
> Than U
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The funny part is not how he switched it up, but somehow he assumes everything I say applies to just him, when I don't believe in my postings that I even thought of him, let alone targeted him. I wish I was that vain honestly. The only time I feel self important around here is when my cats jump in my lap to bitch the shitters full.You andOldbased deserve each other.
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Edaw
Parody
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Oldbased
> Than U
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It really is all about dicks in the end-Sir Dick millions of years ago on a rampart
Fucker
Log Wizard
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How was it superior? It made a single flight and performed no useful missions at all. Silly Russians. Complete Xerox copy of ours and they still couldn't get it to work. It was another blazing failure like the Tu-144...whuch itself was another Xerox copy they couldn't get to work.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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Not sure if the TPS was done in house or contract but appears the QC oversight had tons of concerns and issues and many tiles are being replaced. Damaged tiles, cracks too wide, not flush fitted, loose and so on. That's going to cost a week easy.
Also initially BN4 was to be lowered off the orbital launch tower( OLT ) to install fuel arm to the main tower but now will be sent back to production site for swap of various things and going to go ahead and upgrade some parts to BN5+ system. I can probably dig up more on this as it is vague but not intentionally, sources very not very specific and I think NSF had the same source as it parrots just that.
This video also came out today and is a good watch on all the thermal stuff specifically for SpaceX.
Also initially BN4 was to be lowered off the orbital launch tower( OLT ) to install fuel arm to the main tower but now will be sent back to production site for swap of various things and going to go ahead and upgrade some parts to BN5+ system. I can probably dig up more on this as it is vague but not intentionally, sources very not very specific and I think NSF had the same source as it parrots just that.
This video also came out today and is a good watch on all the thermal stuff specifically for SpaceX.
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Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Its as i said, it had 100% autonomous flight capability from lift off to landing along with having a jet engine which gave it incredible flexibility which it demonstrated on its only landing. Not only that but the engines developed for its boosters are what ULA uses today on it's Titan rockets.
Obviously who knows what the long term success rate would have been with it but remember the Space Shuttle suffered 2 complete hull losses with all crew. Seeing as how the Shuttle was a shit design that shouldnt have ever have been built it wouldnt have been hard to be better than it. The whole reason it only flew once was because the USSR was in the middle of disintegrating when it was finalized. That sealed its fate regardless of how well it performed.
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Fucker
Log Wizard
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100% of the astronauts who died at NASA was due failures of management, not engineering. There wouldn't have been any loses if management listened to the people who designed and built them. Shuttles were examples of pretty fine engineering and performed their missions admirably despite being kept in service for far longer than they were designed to.
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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I wonder how many of those tiles were basically trash tiles they threw on because they didn't want to waste new ones or something. I also wonder how much they were directed to yeet those bitches on ASAP and not try to triple check that they were properly fitted.
Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Mismanagement aside, the Shuttle is a god awful design that had fundamental safety flaws and was an incredibly efficient launch platform.
The design of the Shuttle precluded any form of an escape/abort mechanism aside from ejection thats wherent really designed to be used and would have had major ethical implications(there was only 2 or 4 ejection seats iirc so half the crew didnt have any) if you did use them. Basically once the Shuttle launched the crew was strapped in with zero abort options until the SRBs dropped and even then they where high risk. Challenger exploded long before the SRBs dropped. Contrast this with conventional crewed rockets which have small rockets designed to extract the crew cabin if it looks like the rocket is going to fail, a system thats proven to work as the Russians found out a few years ago.
Then you had the incredibly fragile thermal tiles. Due to the design of having the massive liquid fuel tank on the side of the Shuttle ice/insulation falling off was always a big danger and as we saw with Columbia it was only a matter of time until falling ice/insulation would cause fatal damage to the tiles.
Finally it was just insanely inefficient. The Shuttles required months of maintenance and inspection after every flight. The SRBs where basically reusable in name only as the logistics of recovering them made any cost savings moot. The key design requirement of being able to capture a object in polar orbit and bring it back down was never once used. That huge delta wing was 100% useless in space and just reduced payload capacity and ability to maneuver in space. It carried no fuel so it had zero ability to ever leave LEO.
Yes it was a marvel of engineering especially when you consider it was designed in the 1970s but it was still an awful design that severely setback our space program. It was built because it sounded like a sleek forward thinking program, and politicians love that kind of stuff. Reality is post Apollo NASA became 100% a jobs program and the Shuttle is the result of that.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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No doubt they were under extreme pressure to get it covered enough for the fitting and photo op, especially given Elon said exactly when he was bringing select media in. I still laugh that he has been practically living on site at Starbase in his 50k house. Guy is a mini Tony Stark.
Back on to the TPS I think even Elon may be at fault, not only the pressure but the acceptance level. I think prior to BO's rubbing he didn't care if reentry suffered issues as much as a launch, separation and a orbit. Then BO started memeing it all and suddenly he is going for the gold. Not suggest they cut all the corners, just some goals last month were more important than others and now all goals are with the BO stuff and FAA dragging. He was coasting good after SN15s success but success only buys euphoria for so long until reality crawls back in.
"Just a few" observations from QC and marked tiles overnight. Not sure which color is which problem but I think it was broken, loose, gap
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Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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Would be super interesting to see how well Starship can deorbit with a bunch of botched tiles
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Oldbased
> Than U
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As I said, I don't think it was priority at the time. Success would have been launch and separation and orbit and then data collection on reentry as the goal was soft water landing anyways. I still think that bar of success is the same but if it is going to get all dressed up, might as well be for a show. If they can manage to do all the checks on the list, they can skip all sorts of testing and design theories and incorporate it into the next one saving many millions and overall, time.
meStevo
I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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In the second video with Tom Dodd he basically said that if it doesn't explode on the pad the first launch would be a success. They spoke a bit about the tiles and detecting failures and stuff (sounds like they'd rely on internal cameras observing steel getting white hot, but something still being worked out perhaps). They also said they make the TPS themselves in a big factory in Florida.
Ultimately, they can replace BN4 / SN20 many times over, they don't want to destroy the launch facility. Clearing area a win for the stack, though certainly everyone hoping for much more.
Ultimately, they can replace BN4 / SN20 many times over, they don't want to destroy the launch facility. Clearing area a win for the stack, though certainly everyone hoping for much more.
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Mudcrush Durtfeet
Hungry Ogre
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Boeing scrubbed Starliner spacecraft’s launch after 13 valves failed to open
Boeing still does not know what caused the problem, which forced yet another delay in a program that has been plagued by serious issues for years.
www.seattletimes.com
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Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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With a single photo, SpaceX sent a not-so-subtle message to FAA regulators
Holding back Starship means holding back this progress, Musk was saying.
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Aaron
Goonsquad Officer
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I hope Musk dose what NASA did in the 60s and hires some Hollywood directors to find good camera angles and shit to make the launch look amazing. Even though I'm not an American, the camera angles of the Apollo 11 launch, especially when the U S A slowly scroll up, still sends shivers down my spine.
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Gavinmad
Mr. Poopybutthole
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My favorite part was when the Silence ordered us to kill them on sight.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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Falcon heavy has launched 3 times and dethrones it as well. SpaceX don't build no compact car. It's all SUVS baby