StrandedonEarth

I'm guessing the lasers, given the continuous high-power operation required. Multiple tiny probes would need smaller sails, making those a little easier than a single larger craft needing a humongous-by-ginormous sail.

Warning: Metalhead ahead…

Oh, the new one was a fun ride, and I say this as a fan of the original ROTLA ( not Indiana Jones and...). Crystal Skull was definitely meh

It should serve as a clear warning to oldspace that they can no longer charge such outrageous prices (for legacy hardware, no less) and expect to stay relevant. It's simply unaffordable in the long term, and short-term gigabudget projects are pointless.

They flew a more secretive commercial mission yesterday. Virgin Galactic completes third commercial SpaceShipTwo flight - SpaceNews

My 09 Yaris has been doing pretty good too, although the mileage is only at 282Mm so far. Seems to go through a lot of headlights though.

SpaceX to FAA: I suppose they could still launch on (my birthday) Friday if the license came through today, but even that probably wouldn’t be enough time for warnings to go out… *sigh*

(Read in Leonard Nimoy’s voice, per Civ4): “The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the ever-expanding bureaucracy“

Lately there are Chinese-made LiFePO4 12v batteries on Amazon for around $400 Cdn. They can last for at least 3k-5k cycles and can be discharged much deeper, giving more power for the same amp-hour rating. Big savings in the long run; I want one for my RV Heavily dependent on brand; an oil change for the Ram diesel V6 is about triple the cost of the gas V8, (from memory; glad we bought the gasser) not to mention other expensive maintenance we heard horror stories about

This article seemed to have sneaked by, more about the fiber factory NASA-Supported Optical Fiber Manufacturing Arrives at Space Station | NASA

I hope this isn’t considered political…

My four cents (inflation adjusted): The Florida SH launch tower at LC-39A is visible front-and-center in tater's post five posts back, and progress has slowed or stopped while LC-40 is upgraded to crew capable, to minimize risks to the crew program. Increasing launch cadence will run into heavy environmental opposition at Boca Chica, as IIRC the current permits only allow a few launches per year

RIP Jimmy...

I was thinking much the same thing; as materials heat up enough to ionize they'll add their spectral signature to the color trail. Nice-looking feature

Craziness. Along with UK's North Sea oil/gas expansion, and anyone else building new FF infrastructure.

Sigh…

And it would take SpaceX three years to launch 149 missions for them if they allotted half of their current annual launch cadence (targeting 100 launches per year, currently appear to be on pace for 90) for that project. But do they really want to help the competition?

Looks that way. Possibly for ullage?

1. Nozzles need to expand the exhaust out to ambient pressure (or as close as practical in vacuum). Otherwise it’s under expanded and inefficient. 2. However high the chamber pressure goes, the pump pressure has to be higher to push it in there. AFAIK it’s how high the materials can withstand, but it gets heavy… 3. I don’t see why not. If you have developed a very good but small turbopump, it may be worthwhile to use multiples to feed a large chamber rather than develop a larger unit. The A4/V2 engine used 18 injectors, because that’s what they had working at the time. The Soviets went the other way; large chambers are prone to combustion instability, so they used a larger powerhead feeding multiple smaller chambers.

A September 8 full-stack launch would make a nice birthday present for me…

"Bob Barker, Come on down! You're the next contestant on have your pet spayed or neutered!" Bob Barker, former 'The Price is Right' host, dies | CTV News Closest to 100 without going over? Nah, Betty White was only 17 days short.

Engineers have a way of slamming lofty ambitions into hard reality

Congrats India!

Whoops, I misread, or skimmed, or lazyread

Well, bear in mind that AFAIK lead is the original superconductor, albeit at liquid helium temp (4K, -269C)