The Astronomy Thread

khorum

khorum

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Ok furry is voicing a fairly common opinion amongst aerospace ppl but they overlook the entire reason for spacex's reusability project.

The reason spacex's dragon booster and its entire infrastructure is reusable is because spacex's wants to get to a place where they are doing 5 launches a week in a commoditized space cargolift market.

That's why the barge is autonomous, the entire retrieval system is autonomous and why everything from the gantry to fuelling is designed to be eventually be fully autonomous. Instead of the prevailing aerospace market where launching cargo into space takes 6 months to a year, spacex is looking to absolutely disrupt that market and drive the costs of bringing materials to orbit within reach of more industries and smaller economies.
 
LachiusTZ

LachiusTZ

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Yeah, that part of SpaceX I knew, just hard to think that taking something up and bringing it back down with a damn rocket is more economical than some of the other ideas that have always floated around . . . but then again, I am not an aero engineer, so not claiming to have ANY idea of actual numbers for amt of thrust req'd, how to store it, ability to carry, efficiency of all that etc etc.

I guess getting something up to escape velocity is still outside of current tech, so gotta burn those rockets.
 
I

Itzena_sl

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This launch failed because the second stage oxidiser tank decided to oxidise the second stage, so it's not like the planned landing was relevantanyway.
 
Jysin

Jysin

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Latest Ceres shot.

APOD: 2015 June 30 - An Unusual Mountain on Asteroid Ceres

What created this large mountain on asteroid Ceres? No one is yet sure. As if in anticipation of today being AsteroidDay on Earth, the robotic spacecraft Dawn in orbit around Ceres took the best yet image of an unusually tall mountain on the Asteroid Belt's largest asteroid. Visible at the top of the featured image, the exceptional mountain rises about five kilometers up from an area that otherwise appears pretty level. The image was taken about two weeks ago from about 4,400 kilometers away. Although origin hypotheses for the mountain include volcanism, impacts, and plate tectonics, clear evidence backing any of these is currently lacking. Also visible across Ceres' surface are some enigmatic light areas: bright spots whose origin and composition that also remain an active topic of investigation. Even though Dawn is expected to continue to orbit Ceres, officially dubbed a dwarf planet, for millions of years, the hydrazine fuel used to point Dawn's communications antenna toward Earth is expected to run out sometime next year.
Click to expand...
rrr_img_101648.jpg
 
Khalan

Khalan

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Another reason for the rocket landing you all missed, is they are also trialing technology for a mars landing, you cant exactly build a pool there.
 
meStevo

meStevo

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So most of the New Horizon science will be recorded by 7/20, but it will take 16 months to receive all the data from the encounter with Pluto.
 
LachiusTZ

LachiusTZ

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Define significant payload? We managed to put something the size of a small car on there with a nuclear reactor, and it did not require VTOL'ing a fucking Saturn V rocket to do so.

I just think that is drastically over complicating going to Mars (which should be, at best, the 2nd thing we colonize in the solar system).

If you want to put people on another celestial body, do it easy and simple, start sending innate supplies there now, do so for a few years, then land people there, have them dig into the damn ground, and hope the 20x of everything you sent was enough to get them self sustaining.

I hope you are not under some crazy assumption the rocket will land on mars, then take back off and come home? I mean, maybe, but you gotta send the fuel there first, refuel it etc... That is the only excuse, if you want to try and come back with that same rocket.
 
Cybsled

Cybsled

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Well, if we send people to Mars, you need to work on ways to get them home. Blasting off from Mars would be a little more complicated than the moon. It is less gravity than Earth, but still far more than the moon.
 
iannis

iannis

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We could just send undesirables there and not worry about getting them back to earth.

Worked out pretty O-K for the English.
 
LachiusTZ

LachiusTZ

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Iannis_sl said:
We could just send undesirables there and not worry about getting them back to earth.

Worked out pretty O-K for the English.
Click to expand...
Lord of the Flies, Mars edition. Put it on pay per view. Done, next world problem please.
 
Brad2770

Brad2770

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I'm very excited for the detailed photos. I'm very sad it will just be a fly by. Probably the best pics I'll see of Pluto in my life time :/
 
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