JoeSchmuckatelli

And outdoors, not in a clean room or treated like a fairy princess - it's a high tech beast of a machine... And that attitude is the only way to get space 'normalized' / routine.

Do you think they would try for a controlled reentry and landing with that? I'm trying to picture where they might reasonably attempt a landing, and the only thing I can come up with is 'they might try the landing sequence over water, knowing they're ditching the craft - but just to practice / gather data'.

I had wondered about this... and figured that if they lost control because of a comms glitch they could not fire it. Did not think about the fact that 'best practices' would be to disarm any FTS in orbit because of what you describe. Thanks for this!

So - as a poker player, I would definitely throw money at any situation where I thought I'd win 74% of the time. But this wasn't poker - and it could have gone badly. Problem is, for PRC at least, is that they want to showcase 'top tier' space capabilities and then make a blunder like this (rookie move, as others have pointed out). But the PRC also cannot or will not admit fault - which we've seen Elon do without losing face (to the point of both making fun of himself / SpaceX and admitting mistakes). The PRC wants it both ways: 'we are equals' and 'people are mean to us' followed by, 'if we don't acknowledge a mistake, it never happened'. They'd have been far better off simply saying, 'yeah, we goofed up... but the odds are in our favor and we will do everything we can to help identify and minimize risk to others now and moving forward'. Even then, they could have pointed at the Washington farm impact and said, 'this happens occasionally in this industry, and we try to not do stuff like this, but it still happens,' rather than trying to play the bias card. Bad look all around.

Perhaps not. PRC has a low tolerance for losing face. Of course, this event never happened - the stage ended up where it was supposed to go... As planned.

Very brief glimpse of the post landing fire - but it looks pretty viscous

@Spacescifi wait - you're just thinking in terms of a weapon? I did not get that when reading the OP. I thought you were wanting to get stuff or people to the place(s) safely.

I get that -- I'm just having a dense moment and can't picture what he's asking. Is the round-trip tour of the solar system supposed to happen in 48 hours, or are you straight flaming for 48 hours and then coasting for a while followed by another 48 hours of decel, or do you have only enough fuel for a total of 48 hours of burn time and want to see how much of the planets you can get on that amount of thrust? that's what I'm trying to winkle out .

I remember hearing waaaay back in highschool that the fastest way we have to get anywhere in the solar system is as @cubinator described it: full bore thrust half- way to the destination, flip, full bore decel until you get there. My understanding of why we 'coast' to Mars & etc. in the solar system today is that we are willing to trade time for resources - given we can't get enough propellant to space to do the above. ...so I'm not understanding what you're asking when you're requiring some coast time and setting a 48 hour limit.

I like this one: ...helped me explain stuff to the kids

The 10km limit? They're not trying to get to orbital speed - rather an altitude they can limit, hover and then flop from to test landing. Get distracted, go too fast and whoops, you miss the earth entirely. (Don't you know your Adams?)

I would think they'd have to... But none of the oil rig platforms are landing capable as yet... What was falcon's testing like just before they went full orbital?

Shudder

Is any of this tracking /prediction info being provided by CNSA or is it all coming from western commercial / government sources? Seems like a public relations nightmare waiting to happen if they are not out in front of it.

In '92, I had the distinct joy of providing security patrols for a logistics company supporting a regimental artillery exercise out that way. They set up inside an old impact zone. The sheer number of UXO I had to wend my way around was mind boggling. Cool thought - I only saw what was lying around on surface... While I did not see the green glass you show, I did find a whole lot of very old pottery shards. Before anyone asks - we had to leave the archeological artifacts as much alone as we did the WWII UXO. Point being - you can find all kinds of cool stuff in the desert!

Works best when you use the fan to blow that hydrogen to fill the equally giant sail attached to your ship!

Have you forgotten the Charm of Making?

Ask a pregnant lady. (Pica joke) Wouldn't that make your mouth foggy? (dry ice quip)

Anyone know whether Canaveral/Kennedy have to work around Cruise ship schedules? Absent Covid restrictions, there's a LOT of activity that goes in and out of Port Canaveral on a daily basis. Or do these TFR and surface restrictions take precedence over normal commercial activity to the point of 'just deal with it'?

I'm going to place this here, even though it is not specific to Percy (although the offending article mentions "Rovers"). It does, however, relate to Mars and part of this Mission's purpose. No, NASA photos are not evidence of fungus growing on Mars, sorry - CNET I want to also state for the record that this in no way implies criticism of our forum member who linked to the original, apparently peer-reviewed article, in a different thread. The interesting thing for me is this author's critique of that particular journal - which from outward appearance seems legit; however its been accused of predatory practices and reprinting without permission. Frankly, I'd be suspicious of anything published by that rag-house.

I would guess a mix. Adding lift capacity is likely to just expand the market rather than replace existing

From the article above: 'it’s a wild conclusion nonetheless. The researchers’ peers will likely go over the paper with a fine-toothed comb, and likely shred the results'

Call me skeptical of this

I'm almost as impressed with the crane as anything. Not only do we have an enormous rocket that can fly, but we have a mobile crane that can lift the skyscraper sized thing.

Heh - I love how whenever I come up with a brilliant idea some engineer already made it (and even a better version) decades prior. Thanks for the read!