cubinator

You'd see it. In 1 second it travels 14 km, which means in 1 millisecond it travels 14 m. In 1/100 second it travels 140 m. So, by 1/100 second before you'd be able to make out the object, and the whole encounter would last about 2/100 second. You'd probably only be able to watch half of that, but people can see things that happen that quickly, even if not react or understand.

Sure, that sounds pretty reasonable. You could use stellar navigation or something, ping MRO or whatever...You can find your exact location using a clock and a table of preset information about star positions. Then you find Earth and figure out your best return window - a feat many KSP modders have already worked on. I think it's perfectly possible for a spacecraft to navigate all the way back home on its own - probably even simpler than what Perseverance did to set itself down in Jezero.

Not today, luckily.

Nonsense. Just add a romantic subplot within the radar office or something and maybe move the satellites down in the way of some space telescope. That's enough for a full novel.

No collision likely.

It should be passing over Europe in the next few minutes.

It's terribly clicky around here.

Yep, looks like another hour and 17 minutes and we'll know...

I believe it can take lots of pictures in a short timespan. Curiosity took this video: Downlinking them all will take a while, but we should get so see some kind of video.

It's not time to click. The thread is locked.

What's the NORAD or designation of that booster? I can find 18 SL-8 R/Bs from 1981... NORAD for the booster is 12443. Here it is: http://www.satflare.com/track.asp?q=12443#TOP And here is the satellite. http://www.satflare.com/track.asp?q=10820#TOP They are indeed in the prime positions to smack each other face on at orbital velocity.

I think "10 years" might just break off that asymptotic exponential threshold and make it start actually getting closer to fruition.

The other thing you get from a 100 km hop is supersonic flight, which Starship hasn't yet done.

Side note: When we finally build a particle accelerator to create WIMPs, it should be called CHICKEN

Newton's laws were never wrong, just inaccurate in some physical situations. It seems we may have stumbled upon yet another inaccuracy in our equations so far.

How long do we have to wait for a 100 km hop?

I am feeling a bit of an immune response to my vaccine today, about 3/4 day after I got the injection. It feels just like a mild cold, plus my shoulder is a little sore when I lift it. I expect it'll go away tomorrow.

SUS ============== ksc KSC K SC

The admin building in KSC, and the turbofan engine.

A piece of amber. I will take the DNA of the ancient spider inside and clone it, breed millions of them for their silk and build it into a parachute, allowing the spaceship to land safely on Earth.

I can get two Kerbals and a picnic basket to orbit in a single-stage spaceplane easily. Getting more than that I've never really been able to do. I've never returned from Eve, not that I've spent much time there. The one ship I tried with wasn't optimized for it at all. ISRU is hard, and setting up surface bases to be able to utilize it effectively is very tough and requires a lot of planning. I'd like to have somewhat self-sustaining exploration at the Jool system, but I need to design and send up a lot of infrastructure. Moho missions are hard, because the delta-V requirement is always more than I think it is. I've run out of fuel many a time at Moho. Landing planes is hard. It's even more touchy than landing a rocket, and sometimes (most of the time) your plane doesn't play nice. Landing on a runway is even harder, I almost never bother with it and just go for the dirt.

Today I made a shuttle and flew it. It's the first time I've really done a shuttle mission. Another happy landing.

What's the minimum possible speed assuming it got just out of view in one frame?

My guess is maybe half that, so maybe 33 km/s. I think a good analogue to think about is when a metallic meteor hits the atmosphere going that fast. A large couple-ton rock seems to me like it'd be large enough to survive, though maybe not if it broke into smaller pieces. Also, meteors usually enter Earth through the top of the atmosphere, not the bottom, so the circumstance is different there.

I'm finally signed up for my first shot on Tuesday!