JoeSchmuckatelli

...amended on by a committee. The Govt has a real hard time with that.

That's why they are fun! (This is a quibble circle, after all) Still - there are some good points... SS has flown much like New Shepard - it's gone up suborbital and come down to land under its own power. That's really about it. None of the rest of the promise has yet been demonstrated. We can reasonably assume (given SX's performance with orbital rockets) that they know what they are doing with SH. For one, I'm convinced that they can (and have) built a rocket that can throw a payload into orbit with SH. Has it proven that yet? No. . .. But it looks like a rocket that can do it. Can it land the way they plan? Well... They're doing well with Falcon - so perhaps they can scale it up and make SH work. Will they on the first try? SX does not seem to care. They're OK with failing if rapid iteration works and they learn how and then do. Not something we've really seen since the 60s. Makes them exciting to watch. So - as to SS... As a payload, if you assume SH will be successful in throwing tonnage into an orbital trajectory - then it should be considered an orbital craft... Repeat the steps above (can they, will they do they care if they are seen to fail, etc) So... While we await their readiness - there is really nothing for folks here to do but crib and crab and hope and wait

Also - for nerds with no life... https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_610e96dae4b05f81570ac962

Academic disputes are vicious precisely because the rewards are so small

Robot Dawgs on Mars? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-human-like-robots-boston-dynamics-spot-explore-caves-mars/

"An administrative assistant informed Loeb, a professor of science at Harvard, that he was getting some new research money. And shortly after, a billionaire paid Loeb a visit on the front porch of his home to ask him about aliens" (NBC) https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/top-harvard-astronomer-studying-ufos-thanks-part-pentagon-report-n1276218 "... the relatively modest $1.755 million he’s starting with comes from private sources," ... So - perhaps not good science, but certainly well reasoned self interest and good 'public relations' (in the form of pandering to your donor and the uninformed)

Humanity's ally against climate change https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2021/04/22/earth-day-biodiversity/%3foutputType=amp All the more reason to protect what we've got

I talked some trash earlier about Traditional Aerospace and was rightly corrected for the overreach. The reason I bring it up is that I don't want SLS to fail - or rather I don't want all those smart and talented people to lose their jobs. I also don't want to see SLS just plod along as some high-tech jobs-work program funded by the government just to preserve congressional funding unnecessarily (anyone remember the report about the US Army having to buy tanks they did not want because some congressmember had a plant in their district? ). What I would really like to see is a whole new industry - where the modern day farriers - I mean Rocket Scientists, Engineers and Fabricators are regularly and gainfully employed in a competitive for profit economic sector that does not resemble the old way of doing things. From what I can tell - SLS started before Musk pushed like a madman for SSSH. SLS was a grand idea in the beginning, following the traditional approach and it simply got bypassed. Unexpectedly - and yet enjoyably so. Thus the opportunity for Traditional Aerospace is, as someone pointed out - to copy and paste the success of what we are seeing as possible and not only keep their smart folks employed but to expand their business and our capabilities Edit - I'll add this; my fear is that we are heading towards a 'only one show in town' situation... Where the 'winner' of this competition is the only space company launching rockets. I'd far more like to see ULA and SX and etc offering multiple platforms, launches and us actually get a true space based economy off the ground... Rather than just have the whole thing peter out and watch another 30 years of LEO centric work with just one provider

So - really smart people are not immune to losing it. The problem with being a Harvard Professor and losing your mind is that you have a platform. Does not mean he's correct in his assertion - but he can sure as heck muddy the waters

@sevenperforce - given that EM has said that he expects the landing to be off to one side to protect the launch table - wouldn't a cage around the tower that can raise /lower and rotate around the tower be more likely?

I don't know what game you are playing - but your KSP experience is likely very different than mine. 8D Bravo Zulu

We are all immortal at that age. The best tales are those you live to tell!

@taterGrin! I once told a class that even if a bee stings them while rappelling that they never release their brake hand while on rappel. Then, while on the line and demonstrating the 'L' shaped position... I got attacked by 3 yellow jackets and slapped them off my right leg. Complete 'Wiley Coyote' moment. (I was lead, with no one at the bottom - thankfully I had also set up a prusik and only fell 15 feet - into the nest. A single 70' rappel later I was in the water and trying to hold my breath with a machine-gun heart rate!) Surviving is one of the greatest experiences of life!

Seems Percy is having a bit of difficulty gathering samples. https://www.foxnews.com/science/nasas-perseverance-mars-rover-runs-into-puzzling-sampling-conundrum

Wow!

Can't speak for Mike... But for me it's just the ladder and it's instability. I'm fine on the roof and walking beams, etc. Standing on the precipice of any rock or mountain is easy - as is climbing the cliff. The trouble is getting from the top of the ladder onto whatever and then getting back onto it later. Would almost be easier to shimmy up a standpipe. It makes no sense

That is so funny - I'm the same way: I've free climbed in the the Alps, Rockies and Sierra Nevadas... But ladders? Nope. I'm a big baby when it comes to ladders - and as a one-time carpenter building houses... That phobia was often on display. Had completely forgotten about it until your post!

Working from a cherry picker at that height has to be... Exciting

Lolz. Clearly I brought it to the right place!

This is interesting - storing power that we don't immediately use: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/rust-trains-clean-energy-turning-exotic-ideas-fix-storage-problem-rcna1613 Apparently this is one of the most underdeveloped parts of the grid. Especially when you factor renewable sources being intermittent in general - meaning demand and supply are misaligned. Cool note: hydroelectric operators pioneered the 'kinetic battery' system by pumping water back upstream to use when demand is higher. Here is a modern take on the concept

I originally plunked this down in the catchall - but I think it deserves its own thread. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/08/world/human-body-in-space-quiz-scn/ (Mods - feel free to eliminate if you disagree) The above is a quiz to see how well you understand what happens to humans in space. We get these questions from time to time - so why not it's own thread? Also-report your score! I got 6 of 10... Clearly a duffer. =/

A bit of fluff for anyone interested https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/08/world/human-body-in-space-quiz-scn/

In @tater's photo post above, you can see the support structure for one of the grid fins (2d photo). Comparing it to the pics with the people - it looks like the ring is about 5' in diameter. Is the housing shown large enough to contain the actuators for the grid fins - or are the motors likely to be below what we can see?

Now if it was only 3 minutes long... My kid (and others) would watch it.

And then there were two