tater

Yeah, tiny and moving South, too... it also has an odd track. Bottom line is that someplace in the SE is getting spared a direct hit, and is getting just the west side of a hurricane that seems particularly weak on the West side (I know that is generally the case, but this one seems more so than usual.

Wonder if it has to do with Hurricane Nicole, which is ~ESE (in the middle of nowhere) of Matthew right now? Big, low pressure pulling it East?

So it's not going to make landfall in FL Maybe not make US landfall at all. The plus is less eyewall wind, the downside of not making landfall is that were it to do so, it would disintegrate as a coherent storm very quickly instead of insane rains all up the coast. Weird storm.

Just like the Karman line determines whose awesome flight counts as "spaceflight," if a storm doesn't meet certain criteria, it's not a hurricane. That doesn't mean it's not a storm (in the case of a cyclonic storm, it might be a tropical storm, or a tropical depression). You can dislike that, but it's simply a fact. 99.9km is not a flight to space, and Sandy wasn't a hurricane (at landfall, which is what counts), so stop with the straw man (you are intentionally misstating my argument---and there is nothing at all to argue, I don't define hurricanes). NOAA also categorizes cat 3+ as "major." Is it arbitrary? Sure, but I didn't make it up, NOAA did. Apparently damage for non-major hurricanes tends to be substantially lower, so the level matters in terms of which ones are worse. Again, don't like it? Take it up with NOAA. Look at the NHC/NOAA image up thread. M is "Major Hurricane," H is "Hurricane," and S is "Tropical Storm." Should a D appear that's a tropical depression.

Sandy wasn't a hurricane when it hit. Ike was a cat 2 I think (major hurricane is cat 3+). Katrina was 11 years ago (and a major hurricane).

http://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/models/?model=gfs&region=seus&pkg=mslp_wind&runtime=2016100618&fh=18&xpos=0&ypos=6 This latest forecast has the eye passing just off the coast, and given the weaker west side of this thing (generally true, but more true on Michael), that's the best possible result for the Cape if it bears out.

Actually, of the 3 Mars related craft, ALL return to Earth (ITS, tanker, and BFR. Or were you adding Red Dragon? None the less, you are right on his "fast" goal. Honestly, alternative mission schemes that don't use any of the spacecraft you can see on SpaceX's website should be in another thread, they're not relevant. Slight alterations, like a cargo variant of ITS are not grossly off topic, but novel craft might as well be in their own thread.

Sending landers as lighters seems like a very inefficient form of logistics. Again, it's completely outside the way spacex envisions things, so it seems very off topic, honestly, and would probably be better discussed in a thread dedicated to notional Mars colonization plans. That is independent of how reasonable the ideas might be---it's sort of Elon's way or the highway in terms of spacex planning.

That weatherman has it going ashore right at the Cape.

Stay safe!

FWIW, this is what the National Hurricane Center says: So they have it tracking S, then SW, though just as a tropical storm. What it does after Tuesday is anyone's guess.

Well, they've had a good run with no hits---the whole country has, really, no majors in what, 10-11 years, and hardly any minor hurricanes, either?

@sarbian You rock. (in case anyone here didn't already realize this, which they all do)

There is nothing in this thread any different than the other thread. Pruned to "facts" it would basically be the OP of the other thread, it should be retitled "speculation about..."

It strikes me that this thread is absurd. It's 6 pages, and there should be no post without an "ObFact" regarding the guys leaving. ObFact: See initial announcement from reddit (there are no other facts).

There are certainly more interesting gigs if astrophysics than director of a planetarium. Then again, all such interesting positions practically only ever open up when someone dies, so the competition is pretty fierce.

I found some link where the guy talks about it... it's based on nothing really. Yes, there were space programs. Yeah, the british had a little rocket, but Black Knight wasn't ever launching a manned orbital spacecraft, because physics.

As expected, nothing impossible, but conspiracy incredibly unlikely, just covering all bases. It's likely operational error at some level.

As a reality check, Falcon 9 max Q is at around 440 m/s (about twice the velocity NS was going at abort).

Count restarted. Now at T-9 min.

BTW lifestream starts at 10:45 ET: https://www.blueorigin.com

Wow. That's a particularly stellar group of people leaving.

RO isn't supported, so that's likely the problem.

Anyone bothered by having to pay whatever pittance they might charge for new content probably shouldn't be wasting money on the electricity or bandwidth their computer uses, they need to be spending in on food an shelter. Assuming you are not freezing or starving, the amount of money in question is basically nothing at all.