Meecrob

Quoted for truth, since it seems people missed this comment. Here is a similar image, but from a different vantage point that makes BN4 and the launch tower look kinda tiny. Pic is also from RGV Aerial Photography. https://ibb.co/6sGCvcS (Apologies for the link, I can't get it to embed)

With regards to the feasibility/seeming stupidity of the sample return, its a tech demonstration. Simple as that. Nobody has made a rover that has been able to take samples and let something else pick them up from another planet ever. Its probably a dead end, but remember, NASA was born from NACA which is R&D...and R&D has more dead ends than successes. Alluded to upthread, if there is extra capacity on a rover, why not cram it with stuff to test out. "Test" being the operative word. It is like everyone here is going "NASA is dumb". No NASA is trying stuff out, and we all know..or at least the engineering-minded of us know that its relatively easy to come up with a solution when you are told "you need to pick up things that are X size and Y amount and return to Earth". Ask an engineer the question "give me some samples of martian soil" and watch as they ask, "How much? When? From where? To where? Do you want us to drill or scoop? Could you please narrow down the requirements? This is gonna take decades"

I imagine a lot of falcon 9's landing "inaccuracy" is due to the amount of engines they can fire on landing...or lack thereof. All of this will be computer controlled, and I'm guessing when we see the videos, we will all be thinking there has been an anomaly since the centre engines will be gimballing all over the place...then we will get used to it like the bellyflop hops where we all crapped our pants the first time that one engine shut down on ascent.

I gotta agree with @tater. It makes more sense to me to have the grabber arm be mounted so it creates a compression force on the tower, not a tensile force. With compression, you have to have the tower fail, with tension, you only need to have the attach points to the tower fail.

Ok, I'm having a stupid moment here. Why is the second "rib" from the right spaced differently from the others?

But before he was administrator... "One of the key legislators behind the rocket's creation was then-Florida-Senator Bill Nelson. He relentlessly fought against the Obama administration's effort to see if private companies, such as United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, could more efficiently build a large rocket for NASA." (From article linked above) Its not like Bill Nelson is just stepping into this. He's been telling NASA how to spend their money for a decade. Coincidentally the decade that SLS has been in development.

I think that I didn't mess around enough (I only had about 30 minutes), but there seem to be too many cross-sections without enough parts per. I pick a cockpit, and there is a nosecone, but no fuselage. Someone please tell me I missed like a whole page of parts or something?

I found this on youtube

Because that would not make sense. Same way I don't borrow my neighbours car when I have one of my own.

The Boring Company makes a comeback!

Ah, flourine...the chemical everyone LOVES to handle!

Is it though? Yes the solid matter of the powder is more dense than the liquid version, but the whole reason we classify it as a powder and not a solid is because there is a lot of air in between all the grains of powder.

I don't know if this poster is joking or not, and that is the scary part. (From the above linked Reddit thread)

Your first idea is essentially an inertial navigation system, which is far superior to radio beacons/broadcasting towers. Commercial aviation ditched radio for INS decades ago.

Yeah, I respect your opinion of it, but one was ballistic, the other was aerodynamic. Of course we could talk for ages on lifting body designs and all that, but literally one is a plane and one is hunk of metal. One has a parachutes, the other lands like a plane. I think we are on the same page...If I get you right, you just want to make sure people talk accurately, so if I have not been accurate, please tell me. Edit, I'm on this board to learn, not be a know-it-all even though I probably sound like it at times

No, its not. The Apollo capsule is obviously different from a vehicle with wings. They might have served the same purpose as far as making astronauts not die in the heat of re-entry, but even a 5 year old can tell the difference.

I remember watching an interview with an AH-64 gunner talking about how they watched the tapes from a mission and one eye was independent from the other...like the guy was literally looking two places at once!

~please delete~

Dude, its a spaceplane, not a capsule. Like its got wings and landing gear. Please tell me you aren't gonna be so obtuse to argue this?

This is doubly true for anyone who has worked in say flight test or any development program where each week of work is like a millimetre of progress. You lost me...maybe I'm blind but Shuttle and Buran don't look like cones to me.

Ok, you got me...I was a bit hasty in my comment. Let me say "compared to the regular schedule of the military-industrial complex". As soon as I posted, I knew someone was gonna bust my balls haha.

I find this argument hilarious...So many people want to say Elon is some out of touch crazy person with no ability to make a timeline, but he consistently creates things on time and under budget...I mean Vegas would gladly take your money to bet against him to say the least.

Get out of my head!! Then I imagine you also laughed way too hard at the strip...well lemme do the lines from it: Its the late Cretaceous and there is a new scourge that plagues the large herbivores. Previously they had to worry about Tyrannosaurs, but a new predator is on the scene: Tyrannosaurs in F-14's!! Edit to keep this on topic: I like the comment on youtube: "they were vaping before it was cool" hahahahaha

Calvin sure did have troubles assembling one in a smaller scale "Bandits at 3 o'clock!!" "Roger, what should we do until then?" Edit: @Spaceman.Spiff@Stormpilot

Ok, full truth, you asked it KSP and also Danny2462, didn't you?