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CatastrophicFailure

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    NASA SLS/Orion/Payloads

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, Cunjo Carl said:

    I'd heard the SLS was being designed for trips to the moon, but I had no idea they were going to try that on the second launch! I'm not concerned about the launch hardware, but mostly about that pod. That's a long trip with no abort options and a really burny return. [wiki /wiki] Well, I hope for good success on their uncrewed EM-1 'dress rehearsal' mission! I hope for great and continued success, or for an immediate and informative failure.

    OK, thanks for the clarification @tater. Back on topic!

    And until very recently, that second flight would also have been the first flight of Block 1b. So, launching crew on a completely untested configuration, too. :rolleyes:

    So yeah, it bugs me when NASA obsesses over the "history" of the Falcon 9 when they're planning this.

    Also, the heat-shield was tested with the help of a Delta IV Heavy on this mission a few years ago, so it has been sort-of tested. But nowhere near what Apollo went thru.

    SpaceX Discussion Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    2 hours ago, tater said:

    “Operational status” requires the astronaut office signs off and certifies the vehicles. That process is said to take over a year, and starts with the first crew flight. This is why NASA is making the first crew missions operational missions, vs 2 week stays.

    Yet they’re perfectly willing to stick people on the second flight of SLS and shoot them round the moon... :wacko::blink::rolleyes:

    49 minutes ago, Wjolcz said:

    Soooo... Can we expect DragonLab in 3 months? They don't need any 'special' permissions to launch it empty, right?

    It will probably be carrying non-essential cargo (and hopefully cheese) to the Space Station as the unmanned test mission... in August. ;)

    if we’re lucky

    SpaceX Discussion Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    Ginormous cargo bay doors and a reliable way of manipulating payload on orbit with a reusable vehicle have all been done before. Seems to me this is one of the least of the engineering challenges facing BFS. Like @sevenperforce just said, volume and mass limits on this bird are a relatively minor concern, that gives SpaceX a lot of leeway to figure out something that merely works first, then make it elegant later. 

    ALIEN SKIES: A 6.4-scale playthrough of GPP/Rald

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted · Edited by CatastrophicFailure

    Year 9, Day 365...

    Well for starters, we have confirmed that there are more than 365 days to a year, here. There has been a surprising amount of debate on the subject, which seems odd for a place filled with astrophysicists, but this place is strange.

    Other staff members have lately been reporting the most peculiar feeling, as if nothing at all has happened for an entire month, or perhaps they've been re-living the same day over and over again.

    These reports did, of course, do nothing but spur on heated debate about exactly how long a "month" is in the first place, which doesn't seem likely to be resolved any time soon.

    Meanwhile, we sent a probe to Icarus, the innermost planet:

    UJZPasw.pngTrust me it's there somewhere.

    Spoiler


    It returned lots of useful data before overheating and exploding, but even that was tinted with strangeness. All the data packets were preceded by random strings of characters that read out things like: "It's hot." And "flarp, it's hot!" And "are you kidding? This is slow torture!" And "Dear sweet Kerm, please make the pain stop!" And "What kind of monsters are you people, why won't you let me die?"

    The engineering team assures me that any similarity to actual words is purely coincidence, and no one should loose any sleep over this. And they're still working on exactly what a "Kerm" is.

    Personally, I've just invoked one of the great traditions of our people and decided never to speak of the incident again. Ever.

     

    Other than all that, it was basically a re-hash of the Eta lander.

    c7ewQ8B.png

     

    But moving on to bigger and better and hopefully less anthropomorphically petulant missions, we have successfully launched the first of a new generation of super-heavy lifter!

    Behold, the mighty Nero-X!

    H5HpDz0.png

    Our first foray into a full 10-meter-class booster, with engine bells big enough to house an entire clan of peasants from the Abvonovichatkaderivokistani interior, we--
    Well, we're really still trying to justify the investment as no one around here has yet thought up a second payload big enough to actually need the thing. We have no idea how much it's capable of lifting to LGO, but the hydrolox core stage alone seems capable of SSTO operation with a small payload.

    What we do know, is that it's capable of hurling 100 tonnes all the way to Ceti.

     

    Booster sep!

    U6sAc05.png

    They tell me that's supposed to happen like that. Perfectly normal.

     

    And here we have said 100 tonnes, in the form of Prospector IIIb.

    fmtQRt6.png

    What happened to Prospector IIIa? Yeah, I'm invoking that grand tradition of our people again...

     

    A refinement and expansion of the very successful Prospector II architecture, this mission will return an even heavier load of ore from our largest and most distant moon.

    a2vHK1Q.png

     

    Here we see Prospector IIIb gently settling to the surface of Ceti.

    CbqobFb.png

     

    No more leaving garbage behind, this time the hardware is fully equipped to return its equipment to Gael.

    Kx9NNGi.png

    Because that stuff is expensive. 

     

    After a few days on the surface, the ore tanks are full and... why is the contract not completing?
    Pass me that hammer...

    bbQJ3zM.png

    Anyways, the rig lifts off to return to Gael, after convincing GENE that the ore it just extracted from Ceti did, in fact, get extracted from Ceti.

     

    Like it's predecessor, Prospector IIIb carried a full suite of ISRU hardware, enabling it to refill its tanks from all that ore that absolutely was actually extracted from Ceti!

    It then turns around and burns off all that fuel just before re-entry.

    5wD3rJm.png

    Easy come, easy go...

     

    I'm... pretty sure that was nothing important...

    bUkcdQm.png

     

    Drogue chutes deploy, and heatshields are released...

    BuGPkPs.png

     

     

    Now landing without nothing important, this handy side-mounted parachute allows the probe to flip around...

    j4saJhI.png

     

    In an absolutely controlled manner that absolutely does not break off anything else not important...

    EUk1XJt.png

     

    Followed by the main chutes, and a gentle kiss of solid landing motors to cushion the final descent...

    chpydJ9.png

     

    We have once gain returned a nearly valueless quantity of ore for a contract that didn't come close to paying for the whole mess, and insisted what was wasn't when it really was, not was. Open the door, get on the floor...

    zYNDtJf.png

    Someone please get Vlad off the floor...

     

    These "extract and return ore" contacts may not be as lucrative as they sounded...

     

    But, to end on a good note, after many months (GIVE OR TAKE! GEEZE, GIVE IT A REST, GUYS!) relaying data from the surface lander, NOVA Otho finally heads off for an encounter with the last unexplored moon there...

    0NAAxke.png

     

    While the flyby was brief, the transfer burn cost a bit less than expected, leaving us the prospect of a second flyby in the not-too-distant future...

    70pYF9a.png

    If the on-board nuclear reactor doesn't run out of juice before then...

     

    This, like the definition of "month," becomes the topic du jour around the facility, possibly because it serves as a very convenient distraction from the big, stinky elephant in the room that we are clearly detecting two distress calls. From Rald.

     

    Vlad! Get this flarping elephant out of here! I don't care if it followed you home, you're not keeping it!
    And bring a... sponge, or something. I warned you not to feed it tacos, they eat hay.
    Bring... lots of sponges... and a mop...

    SpaceX Discussion Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    44 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

    See the Raptor, ain't it keen? All things serve the SpaceX team...

    *ducks and runs*

    clapping_ken_toy_story.gif

     

    Not like there’s much else to discuss at the moment, what with Block V static fire delayed another day.  :mad:

    so does this make Bezos the Crimson Azure King?

    SpaceX Discussion Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, Elthy said:

    Is there anything official regarding the usage of BFS as a SSTO? I know SpaceX stated it could SSTO, but thats also true for the Falcon 9 first stage.

    I don’t think so, at this point it’s entirely speculation based off a couple of Musk’s off-hand remarks. 

    The general point (that’s often missed) is that it could, maybe, in theory, but more than likely won’t. It’s just a thought experiment. 

    In other news, I’ll just leave this here... <_<

     

    Blue Origin thread.

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    6 hours ago, YNM said:

    Missed it by 5 minutes ! (at the time this post was conceived)

     

    Just asking, is New Shepherd have a rather... "small" TWR ? It near-immediately slants slightly horizontal after lift-off. Or is it just strong winds ? Or is it exactly the plan (so it doesn't land back on the launchpad) ?

    I think it's a launch tower avoidance maneuver. I know the Saturn V did the same thing, you can hear it in the chatter, but much less pronounced. As soon as the clamps released it yawed 3 degrees away from the tower to as not to hit it.

    Blue Origin thread.

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

    Also a big rocked would be less susceptible to wind, wouldn't it (force from the wind being proportional to cross section, while mass being proportional to volume)?

    I would think a bigger rocket would be more susceptible to wind. Bigger surface area to mass ratio, since it has proportionately far less fuel left. Same reason high winds can knock a loaded semi over but barely rustle a small car. 

    8 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

    Another thing, I don't recall it being mentioned in this launch, but in one of the previous, it was stated that, while descending, the rocket is aiming at a spot that is specifically not the landing pad and only move over once it establishes a stable hover. It's a safety thing in case the engine doesn't restart, so the rockets slams into a cheap ground and not into an expensive landing pad (or a ship with NG).

    Will NG be hover-capable tho? 

    Here is where that wind would really be a problem if it is, since there’d be an effective “wind” from matching the forward speed of the ship while hovering...

    Blue Origin thread.

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    39 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

    The landing computer most likely doesn't try to land at the point in the center, but inside a much wider circle. If it is inside it, it lands. No point in doing risky translation movement so close to the ground any more than necessary.

    That circle the computer aims for is not necessarily the same circle as the one painted on the ground.

    Considering they’re planning to land a much bigger rocket on a moving ship, I would think dead-Center accuracy in wind would be a priority. :/

    ALIEN SKIES: A 6.4-scale playthrough of GPP/Rald

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted

    By Grabthar’s hammer, this thread shall be avenged!

    No, because it’s not quite dead yet. But this video that’s been sucking the brain juice out of me the last few weeks is. I’m giving myself another hour or so to slap a soundtrack on it tomorrow then moving on and getting back to actually playing the game and getting this save interesting again. :rolleyes:

    What did you do in KSP1 today?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    10 hours ago, Kronus_Aerospace said:

    UMMM, I don't have hack gravity on but my Pelican is floating away.... Help!

    So ugly the ground repels it? :sticktongue:

    10 hours ago, Kronus_Aerospace said:

    OH GOOD LORD

     QjAgfmN.jpg

    Nope, definitely not that. Grabbity curled up in the corner whimpering about a “happy place” for sure... and it’s dragged physics there, too. 

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