JoeSchmuckatelli

American arrogance is nothing new: Russia (as per DDE above) is well versed in being on the receiving end. To our chagrin, we discover we are wrong at times, and the press serving a reactionary-public likes to hype stuff for readership. That said, China has been on an aggressive 'steal tech from everyone' campaign for a long while (tech being all IP, from seeds to space tech). And while the campaign has been successful, the true brilliance was when Deng Xiaoping invited Western Corporations in to simply give away all their IP in exchange for limited access to Chinese markets. I would invite you, however, to look at Western published science articles from the last 10 years. It's very rare to find one that does not have either one of your countrymen or descendants of Chinese immigrants writing or serving as principal investigator... so really, the informed among us don't look down on Chinese people at all. Amusing, however, when folks in China get upset that when their government rattles a saber, someone rattles back.

I know that look - Universal "What the...." We've places like that (Tank Crossing signs along roads) - but they're all inside reservations, and while there's no light, I've not seen something like those: glad to hear its a unique place. OTOH, I have had a tank platoon pulled over by an MP (blue lights flashing, and everything) for driving through the bushes. Yes, PROTECTED bushes, which are the habitat of a rat that nearby canyon-living raptors eat... hence the bush is 'no go' terrain, even though it covers the entire training area. Folks on this board should appreciate driving I-80 from Reno to Salt Lake City... can't tell you how many times I've been buzzed by low flying fast movers along that route. Saw a truck get blown by jetwash from the right lane to the center median once; kinda exciting.

I always wonder whether Russia is a place where the military does not care about where civilians are (as is often portrayed) or civilians don't care about military reservations and just lay out on the training areas. (We'd always run into a surfer or two while doing stuff: Recon Marines go about their training while watched by a surfer aboard Camp Pendleton, California Stock Photo - Alamy) 6 reasons why Camp Pendleton is the best base in the Marine Corps - We Are The Mighty | Camp pendleton, Marine corps, Marines (pinterest.com) When you get a photo like that about us, we're usually in someone else's country.

Will you describe what the two pics are showing? I'm largely unfamiliar with CN stuff.

I would take a page from SX on this: given the will (and the resources), you can do a lot in a small space.

Just a question about building rovers - should wheels be placed individually? (I worry that placing them with symmetry enabled does wonky things) Note - they work at the KSP - just not after landing them

The AF is weird. The idea that Enlisted guys need to honor Officers is backwards. But they have all kinds of other weird, too.

This is one of our USMC-supporting Navy ships, not referred to as a Carrier. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/01/25/uss-america-amphibious-assault-ship-replace-uss-wasp-japan-report.html The Navy gets all personal if you call it a Carrier. It's an Amphibious Assault Ship. It carries the dangerous stuff. (and also VTOL planes and helicopters)

Of course - but read the article (it's fun) - they describe flying through the Geo sats down to the level of the ISS for the gravity assist. Big Sky, Little Bullet (in MIL-Terms)

Wait - he did not REALLY ride the bear?

That's the big question, isn't it. One hopes that if a radically larger and cheaper lift is available that a market will arise... But there are no guarantees

Do those Geoids line up with the Kratons?

That explains why it would float in water!

Solar Orbiter returns to Earth before starting its main science mission (phys.org) Interesting article. They're doing a flyby at less than 500km.

Start reading here: Odd - that was to Tater's post on this - recalculating \ Recalculating

Russia <waves hand> "These are not the carbon you are looking for"

I found that part to be a 'loose' plan. As in 'we have a LOT of technical details to work out, but this is our current best-guess'.

Watching the cows converge during liftoff was cool. Watching the blackbody emissions bloom as second stage kicks off is always one of my favorite things. That was a really well done launch video. Thanks @tater!

This really is worth listening to - the part about why steel over carbon fiber is great, too. "Stainless Steel and I should get a room, or something" (The CC feed is a hoot, btw). ... The part where the SX 'non' enthusiast came on to question Starlink's adverse impact on astronomy was really well done. (She had that 'gonna get a glib corporate answer face'... and then he knew the main risk and addressed it head-on) He does have to deal with his share of 'kook' questions - but overall its a good watch. ... I wonder if Jeff can explain his own rocket nearly so well... (BO better be taking notes).

Also "we intend to have a high flight rate next year" 'Hopefully a dozen... maybe more' Huzzah! Fine, Smart ... ... Augmented.

When I add a touch of water to my Scotch... how fast does the water and alcohol mix? (Actual scientific inquiry behind this: some guy at a distillery told a bunch of us that stirring was useless, as alcohol and water mixed 'instantly'. News to me, but then I'm not a chemist).

How do you air-augment a Raptor?

Cool - thanks for doing that work!

Unless, of course, they redesign the booster with several side mounted / circumferal air augmented boosters replacing the outer raptors for lift and keep three gimbaling raptors for landing?

Yeah - now that I've had time to read a bit "It might be envisaged that such an increase in performance would be widely deployed, but various issues frequently preclude this. The intakes of high-speed engines are difficult to design, and require careful positioning on the airframe in order to achieve reasonable performance – in general, the entire airframe needs to be built around the intake design. Another problem is that the air thins out as the rocket climbs. Hence, the amount of additional thrust is limited by how fast the rocket climbs. Finally, the air ducting weighs about 5× to 10× more[citation needed] than an equivalent rocket that gives the same thrust. This slows the vehicle considerably towards the end of the burn" Looks like it won't be a match for SX /SS