JoeSchmuckatelli

The graphic Beccab showed is interesting. I guess I always expected some variation on what Neutron is doing, given that the payload could just slide straight forward. With that illustration, deployment is going to be slightly more complicated - but I can't see any reason why it should not work. Also - every graphic I've seen of a manned lander shows no nose deployment stuff - just side doors and elevators. I guess I kind of expected a good 1/3 to 1/2 of the structure to be where the command crew sat (and yes, I know everything is automated so it does not matter where they sit... but traditions, you know).

Last note on the live feed (fascinating, but I have to get to work); it's amazingly well done. I've watched a lot of Astronomy 'science shows'... And the live stream seems almost post production quality - they have lots of of info graphics, animations and other things that explain what and why so very well. Contrast this with good streams like we see for SX launches - enthusiastic amateurs watching space (lots of fun banter and speculation) or a company sharing the launch (straight forward information and self congratulation) - and this 'stream' has the feel of a full production NOVA program. Serious kudos to the production team and selection of the narrator Dr. Michelle Thaller. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Thaller

There has been a lot of talk about how expensive Webb is. The live broadcast is shedding a bit of light on this - aside from showing the numbers of people who worked on it, they did things like retrofit the cryo chamber at Johnson (developed for the Appolo Missions) and conducted over 100 days of cryo testing to confirm the systems work at ridiculously low Temps and in vacuum. Cool stuff! Edit - between Sunshield deployment and observatory deployment are a 'bunch of deployments we don't often talk about' - radiators and the like. Mirror section deployments are "... later in the week". Later still, they will free up and test the 18 individual mirror segments (could take 24 hours to release and a week to test)

That makes sense for testing / learning to fly standpoint. However - at some point I expect SS to carry payloads, and the craft is expected to deliver the payloads to space and land without, correct?

The narrator is an Astronomer I've seen on several programs. She's pretty awesome - excellent science presenter.

How does moving a tank into the nose cone help develop a ship that can carry payloads or people?

Well when you control the narrative for a significant part of the population and demand enthusiastic support of that narrative - what's the old adage about the 'illusion of truth'?

Yeah - I hear you. I'm just of the opinion that if panspermia is a thing - the only way it would work is by following the adage of complex structures can arise from the application of simple rules. Distinct from the 'everything is seeded from some ancient garden of eden planet'. Thus if RNA and DNA are simple and almost inevitably forming given the right conditions... There should be life out there that we will recognize as life. (as opposed to silicon based rock trolls, crystal people, Psychlos, etc)

LOL. ... Wait - they are not taking it so far as to suggest that they can chuck a manned flight into any orbit they want and all others must then yield?

Holy s-word... That's a lot of debunking!

Licorice can kill you. Seriously. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sciencealert.com/the-spooky-and-dangerous-side-of-black-licorice/amp

Something like that would be horrible. Fungi amaze and repel me at the same time. I remember reading somewhere that the substance the zombie fungus uses is chemically similar to psylocibin. Another fun fact for the day. Your point about direct transmission is valid: unlikely to be a first contact problem. However, should we find Earth 2.0, presumably our chickens, pigs, cows and other 'food' will be rooting around in the dirt, perhaps cohabitating with local fauna - and local fauna being domesticated or eaten... with enough contacts? It's just a matter of time. I remember hearing about that guy in the early 90s. Lot's of 'big bogeyman' stories, proliferation worries, etc. There was, if I recall correctly, a reasonable reason to pay attention and if nothing else see if there was anything to the tales. But the talk died off. I was unaware of the later stuff - thanks for the link!

Thanks for the link! I now have something new to read!

Walter Reed (Army) has a super-vaccine ready and in-the works (meaning awaiting human trials) that apparently works against Original Covid, all variants, SARS, MERS and some flu bugs. If factual, it would be a wonder-drug. US Army Creates Single Vaccine Against All COVID & SARS Variants, Researchers Say - Defense One It would also not be profitable for the vaccine manufacturers, if the population gets a one-and-done solution. Much better to keep people on something expensive that they can dole out every year or 4-5 months (even better) for ever and ever and ever. I'm with this interpretation. The concept that some pretty sophisticated things can happen from small sets of simple rules largely describes the immune system. I'll agree with @sevenperforce that if something so alien that it does not have RNA (or any DNA / precursors) were to get onto the planet it likely would have no effect - but disagree that there's little to no middle ground if the alien bug did have the ability to infect terrestrial life. Primarily because - if it plays by the rules enough to infect something, its gotta play by the rules enough to be defeated as well. Also, viruses that tend to be 'too successful' at killing hosts lose because its not in their 'interest' to die out with the host; instead they want to keep hosts active and alive and shedding.

Going to expose some more ignorance - b/c I thought we were talking power/weight... and you bring up ISP (which I've always thought of as efficiency). I read mj/kg as a simple measure of energy per kilogram, thinking that if we can't use hydrolox engines b/c the hydrogen misbehaves, the next best thing would be to use another, alternative high-density fuel as a first stage. Hence beryllium. Again, thinking that if beryllium can be used in a rocket and has more energy density than methane... why not use it as a first stage given that it gets 12 mj/kg more than methane. (meaning, to my mind, more oomph for the same weight. So - clearly I'm missing something critical.

Just for fun, I looked up energy density of potential rocket fuels. (Pardon the source, again it's idle interest, not a research paper) Energy density - Wikipedia Hydrogen has everything beat by a mile. Some of the smart folks here have explained that 'hydrogen doesn't like to behave' - meaning it escapes containment fairly easily. The next two, Diobrane and Beryllium have been looked at as rocket propellant. Diobrane is apparently nasty and also does not like to play nice (destroys containment system & escapes). But Beryllium apparently is used. I'm guessing for RCS? So - beryllium has about 12 mj/kg more energy than methane... why don't we hear more about it as a potential fuel for rockets?

On Tuesday, Jan. 4 at 07:00 GMT or 2 a.m. EST, the Earth will reach perihelion, its minimum distance from the sun for the year. At that time Earth will sit 91.407 million miles (147.105 million km) from our star — or 1.66% closer than our mean distance of 1.0 Astronomical Units

A bit more detail on the delay and assess: First of Two Sunshield Mid-Booms Deploys – James Webb Space Telescope (nasa.gov) James Webb Space Telescope (nasa.gov)

So when the methane-gilled Glixthorps from Omicron Delta 19 invade Earth, all I need to do to protect the planet is flic my Bic? Oh gawd - but there's a conspiracy to get everyone to quit smoking!!! The Illuminati are in on it! It may already be too late!

I was trying to imagine that thing driving over any rolling terrain... And couldn't. Can't b/c Soviet. 3. 3 is the right number. 4 is too many. Why? Why not 4 tanks? "Because 3, damnit! 3. 3 is the right number." (I'm assuming that is how the 'discussion' went when deciding on how many tanks constituted a platoon)

I mentioned this once before - but my 'dumbest' mountain experience was on the Alp. There were multiple ways up it, which I only found out later. My friend and I decided to take a really steep path, bouldering and climbing small cliffs for most of the route - with the exception of one of those cabled goat trails that let you shimmy across the face of a big cliff. It was a really big cliff. We took that. Cable was just something to hold on to - it was against the face, not like a guard rail or anything. Views were stunning. Got better the higher we got. Watched the sunset. Never forget that. Fantastic. Except that when it was time to go down... We had nothing but what we carried in our pockets. ... You could say smoking saved my life! The lighter was all we had to illuminate the rock face during the goat-trail shimmy! Flick... Scramble. Flick... Scramble.

Stunning! I've climbed in CA, WA, CO, and bouldered all over - esp CA and AZ, although I did get a few scrambles in in UT and NV. Got to climb an Austrian Alp, one time - and it was fantastic. Never did get to see the Himalayas... although if I had been offered the opportunity I'd have not been there for the sight-seeing (and frankly, I'm kinda glad about that, because I'm one of those guys who feels that feeling you get when you are in the rugged mountains... so I don't want to taint that). Looks like you're probably more experienced in the technical stuff than I. My only multi-stage climb was a fairly easy 5.13 in CA back in '89. Easy in that we were both prepared and really fit. I've done some stupid stuff on rocks that I later found out I should have brought pro... but you know how that goes. Where have you climbed?

The current virus originated in humans in China. Likely came from bats. There was research on bat coronavirus being conducted in Wuhan prior to the outbreak. There is no way to prove (or disprove at this point) whether it leaked from the lab - so it kinda doesn't matter. It's here - we've got it and we need to deal with it.

That's the best post all week!