CatastrophicFailure

Damn. Just... damn. What’re you running KSP on, Skynet?? Dat framerate!

We lost a cherished pet today. So, yeah, this cranked up till the walls shake and a glass of the good rye we keep for important stuff. Been on an Evanescence kick last few days, guess I saw it coming.

That seems right, but scanning thru it on YouTube I'm not seeing anything...

Ah so. If Iridium’s got no issues, I’m guessing their whole “fairing problem” with Zuma is what’s inside the fairing. Maybe it’s interfering with the Klingon cloaking device. or maybe the whole thing is just one big ruse to surreptitiously test something, and in a couple days Falcon Heavy will come rolling out right on time for a Thanksgiving static fire, and Musk will be all like, “GOTCHA!”

I dunno, man... uncertainty about even getting FH off the pad, now fairing issues... maybe now’s not the best time to be tempting fate.

Wait a sec... I thought NASA didn’t do 13’s anymore...

Thanks a lot, random super secret gummint spy thing. I’ll be sure to flash my opinion when you finally do fly over. In December.

It’s still (presumably) on the TEL tho, that’s also how they move the assembled stack between the hangar and launchpad. AFAK, it’s the TEL that needs the last few modifications for FH, which can’t be done when it’s in use or planned to be in use.

Every day Zuma goes unlaunched pushes FH back another day, I would think. They can’t really work on the TEL while there’s a rocket sitting in it.

crap um... look right here... *puts on Ray-Bans again*

No it didn’t. ಠ_ಠ Swamp gas just refracted the light from Venus, something something, I’m gonna need you to look at this little red light here... *puts on Ray-Bans*

This thing has been stuck in my head for the last couple of days, I'm sure it was an 80's cartoon, probably Transformers (the original series), maybe G.I. Joe, maybe Transformers and G.I. Joe, or maybe something else entirely. Or maybe I just hallucinated it. Anyways, it involves Yetis. Who mutated from llamas. Yes, the ill-tempered alpine pack animals. I distinctly remember one of these llama-Yetis explaining his odd situation to one of the heroes: "MOUNT HIMALAYA, (absolutely not with an S, singular) that's where it happened! Closer... I crept closer... and then...... I WENT CRAZY!" A few scenes later his buddies chant it over again. Google tells me it does not exist. I found some fragmentary reference to a Joe/TF comic book that seems really close, but I saw this on TV. Ring a bell for anyone? Am I just insane? Did some stray thought perhaps wander into my brain from a parallel dimension full of expository expectorating woolly humanoids???

Because nobody has yet mentioned it, that is clearly an Oscar EW-5894. Or possibly a Folland Gnat. Of which there are several airworthy examples listed in California. But I'm pretty sure that's an Oscar EW-5894 (watch for falling objects).

nope, still outta likes That is the face of madness.

More likely:

@eddiew so glad to see you back! I’m all out of likes for the day so here’s a bunny with a teapot on its head: Also, as you’re probably aware, the Soviet Venera landers didn’t bother with chutes in the lower atmosphere at all, they just had like a big, disc shaped... hat... and a crush ring on the bottom. Also, what mod are those wheels from? Also, that poor rover! (they’d best hope it’s not discovered by a technologically superior species, upgraded,, and returns seeking vengeance. Or it’s creator. Or whales. Or... no idea where I was going with this, carry on.)

Ah, a successful auto repair, a good cigar, and a nice dinner. All this day needs is a CLICK. Also for the flarping power to stay on.

@Nibb31 @PB666 I can already think of one very specific situation on the other side of the Pacific right now where the need to rapidly deploy large numbers of special forces in a nearly un-interceptable manner might be useful. This is not to say that they wouldn't have support by other means, but it can be very handy to drop troops one place when you've got your adversary focused on another. We can what-if this all day, it's all speculation one way or another. I'm just saying, I can see how such a thing would be one possible reason why the USAF would be interested.

Not easier, faster. Also, there's an assumption here that the USAF would be expecting to re-use the BFS... There are times, however rare, when they might need the stuff there NOW, and cost is not an object. So think throwing a tank out the side a few thousand feet up, or hard-landing on an un/minimally prepared LZ (still much easier than prepping an airstrip) expecting the BFS, but not the cargo, to take damage...

Given the current state of the world, I’d say this idea is even more relevant today than when they first envisioned it 50 years ago.

If data isn’t a big concern, could you maybe use your phone as a WiFi hotspot to upload?

I know the feeling. Yet also, I can’t right now cuz it’s winding like mad outside. Gee, that sounds familiar, too...

And here we have the reason for the point-to-point transportation idea SpaceX seemingly pulled out of thin air. But it’s now Sunday with no update on Zuma. Which mean Falcon Heavy is slipping away, too.

*framerate envy intensifies* also, random craving for baked goods...

Not to wander off topic but what do you use those for, surgery??