StrandedonEarth

Okay, weird, now S&SS Is working but KSP1 discussion still does not. Dunno if someone has been tinkering, but it seems to be working

The semi-conductor industry is interested in the possibilties... Semiconductor Manufacturing in Low-Earth Orbit for Terrestrial Use: Download the pdf from this site

I know. Bizarre, ain't it? Okay, I see. Using Chrome on PC, I get the Error 500 message when I try to access S&SS, but it works fine using the Edge browser. @JoeSchmuckatelli, @JoeSchmuckateli, have you tried other browsers? I tried Safari, Chrome, and Edge on iOS, and they all give a blank white screen for S&SS. The I started clicking around and discovered KSP1 Discussion is also giving the a white screen. Chrome on PC gives Error 500 for those two subforums, but Edge on PC is working fine. Tried Chrome and Firefox on my wife's laptop, with the same issue; Firefox was a blank white screen. So the only way I can access those two subforums is Edge on PC. Or be logged out. Weird. Tried different themes, no difference.

Okay weird, now I’m having trouble with S&SS, on mobile only. I just get a white screen, no message at all. But it works fine on PC, or if I’m logged out. I can view threads by linking in through notifications, and the next unread button works, but the Science & Spaceflight subforum is a blank white screen

Especially the mass savings of not having to carry the landing gear around.

Pinching, no, but I imagine they could close centred to the booster, without pushing it much.

What's the rush? Well, let's not wait until Earth is nigh uninhabitable before starting. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, yadda yadda, and didn't a wise man say not to put all your eggs in one basket?

The Pink Floyd song One of These Days comes to mind, for the single line in the song: "One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces!" I'd also bet that while it was being carved apart, at least one person was thinking "Careful with that axe, Eugene"

AFAIK the law says “You have the right to refuse unsafe work”. Somehow I get the feeling SpaceX will find a way to fire people that exercise that right. Not to mention that Common sense doesn’t grow in everybody’s garden… As to the chopstick catch, I believe the chopsticks start more spread and close when the booster drops between them. Again, AFAIK.

Some would die to work at SpaceX. That might be closer to the truth than they think… (freewalled) https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/spacex-musk-safety/. Musk is in too much of a hurry to think about safety. I think back to how many died building the Hoover dam…

We managed to get an early access code to get Taylor Swift tickets for one of her Vancouver shows. The tickets are now safely bought and tucked away in my Apple Wallet, and the kids (26 and 17) are ecstatic.

Ftfy…

Oh. Pity. E: They appear to be hunkering down and conserving funding to get the next Delta-class vehicles operational. Virgin Galactic lays off staff as it focuses on next-generation suborbital vehicle - SpaceNews

We’ll need shelter from pigs on the wing….

Well, my more serious concept instead of slamming metal slugs into the desert, was to form the payload into a lifting body with a minimal control package. The outer layers ablate or vaporize away and the payload does a belly landing in the desert or catch pond. Scoring based on how many cartwheels the payload does after touchdown.

See, I always figured the easiest way to deliver space-mined metal to Earth would be to slam metal slugs into the deserts. The cooling effects of the clouds of dust shot into the atmosphere would be bonus. Of course, weaponization of such a system could be problem. For some reason I don't think this concept has been seriously considered... (/s)

Those reasons are why one would think they'd test it, definitely. Light bulb moment: Q: The flip testing didn't include the heat shield, so again, why not test it? A: Because the heat shield changes the handling of the vehicle, making a successful flip less likely. Therefore, collect handling data if re-entry is successful, to make the first full flip attempt (on a later launch) more likely to succeed. The bonus is not having to explain why the flip on the first re-entry attempt failed, as well as, as @Piscatorsaid, not having to deal with a floating Starship, yet. They are also already busy testing SH powered water landing. They'll also want to make sure they can drop SS on target.

There is that scenario as well, and the way things are going that's a distinct possibility.

Given the increasing environmental opposition to large new mines in general and in developed countries in particular, I expect it to eventually be cheaper to mine the Moon and NEOs for shipment to Earth, than to satisfy the BANANAs (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything).

Bob and Doug's shiny worm booster is set for a record 18th launch, on the way to 20 and beyond! A historic Falcon 9 is about to make a little more history tonight | Ars Technica

Well, I was surprised they didn’t at least put some instrumentation into the space suit to gather data while the camera batteries lasted

At this point they just want to get through reentry in one piece, although I don’t see why they wouldn’t try to soft splash it if it got that far. But they have their reasons, I guess. Too focused on looking at all the other data, compared to the part of the flight that has already been tested?

Did someone say tiktok? https://i.imgur.com/3me9CXO.mp4 Simply hilarious, because it's probably true.

Manuals are a pain in stop'n'go driving, and the strata where I live now has a driveway on a major artery, making for challenging left turns. A clutch would increase the risk, especially with the potential for stalling. No thanks, I made sure any vehicle we bought was an automatic. That said, manuals can be more fun. The gimmick in that article brought that fun back by mimicking a manual without any transmission at all beyond the usual electric direct drive at whatever gear ratio.

Another flight in the books, six in six months.! After leading NASA’s mission to Pluto, Alan Stern flies to space himself | Ars Technica