Shpaget

It's camera artifact caused by vibration. You can also see it on the I beam on the right side.

IPv300000 ?

Monk, are you... me?

Does it matter on home networks any more? Even I, with possible the crappiest connection in a modern world, have unlimited data. It might matter on mobile devices, though.

The NASA article explains how each frame is a composite of three shots using different filters to obtain the natural colors. If a conspiracy theorist was trying to make a case, he'd be stupid not to realize that fixing that little fringing is quite easy and would not slip by or even happen in the first place if someone was pasting a picture of the Moon over the Earth. Also, I believe it's common knowledge in groups interested in space that most space telescopes do not use the cameras with fixed filters as is the case for most consumer cameras down here on Earth, but have a system that can swap them around.

If you take your time and actually try to understand what the guy is describing in very minute detail, you'll realize that it actually make perfect sense, which it wasn't doing before, but now does. The variation in your cognitive effort results in modification of the level of understanding.

RGB Mars is a very odd case for me. I've started reading the Red at least 5 times, every time unable to get pass the festival thing at the very beginning. What's wrong book? Why you no let me go forward?!! The reviews are so positive, yet it just fails to keep me interested long enough to get pass that point. Then I finally decided to read 50 pages pass that spot no matter what, and whadayaknow? I read the whole damn thing in one sitting, excluding eating and some sleeping. Now I'm in the same situation with Green Mars.

Post away.

Aurelius is onto something. If you can fly a perfect trajectory (with no fumbling around) and do the intended mission with no fuel left, you've made an optimal rocket. Generally speaking, you want the engines to be as light as possible, but with as high ISP as possible. However, to reach orbit you need high thrust engines since you don't have the time to wait for ions to push you over the period of several hours. You'll be reentering in matter of minutes. High thrust is also needed for lift off, since you want to spend as little time as possible fighting gravity and pointing up. The trouble is that high thrust engines usually don't have a particularly good ISP. You need to find the balance, which is not hard if you use a mod such as KER which automatically calculates your thrust to weight ratio, burn time for the given amount of fuel, dv, etc.. Having that information, you can try different configuration. Small fuel tank with small, weak, but high ISP engine, or larger tank with more powerful, but less efficient engine. Unfortunately, the problems don't stop there. Let's assume that a larger tank with larger engine is more suitable for the final stage. You now have to make all the lower stages larger too. This means that for a small increase in payload (or final stage), your previously smallish rocket has now grown to be a monstrosity. I, like probably everybody else (right?), build the rockets in reverse, starting with the last stage. After building the payload (for example a probe with all the stuff it needs to accomplish the mission) I try to figure out the minimal dv required and try out different fuel tank/engine combinations to achieve that dv, while keeping the total mass as low as possible, while still keeping an eye at TWR if I need the probe to land somewhere. Overengineering is a sure way for a rocket to fail. Moar boosters!! applies only for the first stage.

Why do you think the name is so important? I kinda like it. It's very descriptive and has nothing to do with KSP, other than the fact that some of the people involved at some point in time played the same game.

At the range of 5m the energy on impact will be pretty much the same as at muzzle. You measure it by testing. Get yourself to a height, take your needle and add some fins to stabilize it and drop it on the Styrofoam that you've placed flat on the floor. Measure the depth of penetration. If not enough, add some weight. The energy will be: EP = mgh mass in kg g is 9,81 m/s2 h in meters

What's up? jk

Any news on the registration issue?

Oh... Somehow I got the idea they were taken by Philae. Ah, well.

I'm talking about the pictures taken by Philae. We know it did not landed properly, so it might have been unstable. A small tremor could have nudged it a bit and shifted its orientation.

Funny you should bring up space stuff into this, since most of tech used for probes and satellites is not the cutting edge stuff. It's not even the mainstream technology. It's a generation or two old one that has proven to be reliable and of long lifespan. Consider plasma TVs. They were all the rage when introduced, but soon their inherent faults arose, such as the burn-in effect. Imagine it's not a TV we're talking about, but something critical. If you use latest technology there simply hasn't been enough time for such dime dependent issues to show themselves, so you critical part fails. However, if you use an older, less efficient tech which you know that is reliable, you can still finish the mission.

If everybody kept on waiting for some new technology to be developed by somebody else, everybody would be still waiting for the wheel.

The pictures of the outburst, unless cropped in gradual manner, show the change in orientation. Could it be a result from the tremors caused by the outburst?

That is still transfer of information.

Honestly it doesn't need to be important, as long as it's known. Also, at almost 12 and a half years, it's quite imprecise. Furthermore, it (and pulsar) only provides a base unit. What about the rest of the "calendar"? We base our time system on the second, but don't use it in calendars, do we? Let me go back to my first post here. Why do you assume there will be any discussion about it? Whoever establishes a wide system dictates what it looks like, unless a very convincing argument arises. If a newcomer doesn't like it, he can use conversions to adjust it to his needs. Just like we now on Earth have multiple calendar systems, and if you happen to live in a country that doesn't use Gregorian calendar you are pretty much forced to convert to it if you want to do business with any western country that does use it, because a large US or European company will probably just return any document using something else.

Not quite. Pulsars are good enough at timekeeping for our Earthly standards, however, on astronomical time scales, they are not stable, meaning that distant observers will observe different frequencies.

Yep, if both objects are of significant mass they both start moving appreciably. There's this awesome little simulator. https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/my-solar-system/my-solar-system_en.html Try the following settings: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD]Mass[/TD] [TD]Position x[/TD] [TD]Position y[/TD] [TD]Velocity x[/TD] [TD]Velocity y[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Body 1[/TD] [TD]200[/TD] [TD]-150[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Body 2[/TD] [TD]1[/TD] [TD]150[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Set the accuracy slider all the way to accurate. When you run the simulation, it will take about 4.1 time units for the collision to occur. Reset and change the mass of the Body 2 to 100. The collision will now take place after about 3.4 time units. When you're done with that, try out some presets. They're awesome!

Once (if) we encounter another space faring civilization and after (if) we establish diplomatic relations (read: not get wiped out) we will certainly need to agree on some system. That system will probably be imposed by the more advanced/populous side. If at the time of encounter we have a single space ship wandering around the nearby stars while the other side has dozens or thousands of colonies, or even already established relations with other civilizations, we are going to accept whatever system they already have in place and vice versa. Also, remember that even here on Earth we still haven't synchronized the time keeping standards across the globe.

Looks nice! Stuff that I think could be improved: Turning the computer on by clicking on the tiny button on the monitor may not be intuitive. When buying sugar and KNO3 (not Kno3, yeah, yeah I know...) you buy in increments of kg, but stock is shown in g. I like the shelf. Seems like a nice way to see the available stockpile of future rockets. As for the corkboard, it needs a business card from Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Co.

It's for stabilization. Fins only work in atmosphere so they spin the rocket up to keep the pointy end up once it reaches vacuum. Bullets work the same way.