StrandedonEarth

Hmm, I wonder what $9.7B was worth in 1996 dollars. Still a huge overrun, I’m sure, but not 20x more…. That aside, again, politics. If they said in 1996 that it would cost $5B, it would have never been funded. The delays are another matter, and would have fed into the cost ballooning (keeping all those engineers and scientists fed and watered for an extra 14 years, and facilities upkeep). Fabrication challenges? When did fabrication even start? How long did it take to nail down a final design, with all those mechanisms? Testing, fixing, re-testing? I have to admit I’m curious as to the exact cause of the delays. A breakdown of the overall costs would be fascinating,…. E: oh wait, I got it: the award is for outstanding management of the pork flow into all the right pockets….

TBH, I’d have to reserve judgement on the the management award until (if) some info on the development comes out. If repeated snags (literal and figurative) came up during design and testing, I’d be more inclined to cheer management since it did work in the end. How many design iterations did they go through, and how many component redesigns and rebuilds required further redesign of other components or structures? How many component vendors were involved, and did they deliver on time? How many components did not function as planned after being built, etc… Of course, OTOH mismanagement may have also played a role, but for some reason I find it hard to resist playing devils advocate… But what do I know, I’m just a factory grunt…

Okay, maybe it's more like a Jawa-ism...

Well, you’re getting the updates and status reports, which is all the taxpayers really merit. Videos are just entertainment, and presumably have proprietary info which the taxpayers are not entitled to. I really doubt any engine ran for 41 minutes continuously. I doubt they have that much tankage available, and they would presumably want to stop for inspections. That very public demo will be when Vulcan launches, and with flight engines in the final building stages, Mr Bruno seems optimistic it will be this year, and he would be the one to know.

“Do you want it done right, or do you want it done now? I know you want it done right now, but, pick one…” - me

Congrats on TOTM!

This comic needs to be updated with Percy, Too bad Watterson stopped making these in 1995...

May 27, huh? didn't catch that on the last clip posted (intense film training!), but it was there.. (Top Gun 2 trailer was pulled, so link deleted....)

Diatomaceous Earth: I suppose insects can develop a tougher exoskeleton to deal with it, but that may require something harder than chitin...

Wait, why does the stream say "live in 47 hours"? Oh...

And that was a droneship landing IIRC, although the booster was lifted as soon as it docked, also IIRC. So they can probably shave another 2? days with an RTLS?

Probably already posted upstream at the last delay, but I dug back around 40 pages (beginning of Feb!) and didn't spot it (doesn't mean it's not there, as I focused around month's end...

Which would be politically unviable these days. I always shook my head that they were ever imported, but they had their (again, geopolitically motivated) reasons....

Probably not, because the biggest issue IMO is the hydrolox sustainer stage, which requires a ludicrously large tank and insulation. Change that and you’re basically back to a clean sheet. Many other possible changes, like liquid fly back boosters (coughF9cough), requires more pad infrastructure.

Also suspect that the bag looked light, but the plate went down. One would expect it to rise, releasing whatever pins were holding the whole place together...

There are freshwater dolphins, although these appear to live in warmer rivers... https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/freshwater-dolphin-species-and-facts

Well yeah, I spent a lot of time on it...

And re-used components as-is, not re-engineered into something completely new - ET, SRBs, SSMEs/RS-25s, OMS pods....

Must be a typo there, I assume you mean 1987. Nice summary though. But I can't but think that if a serious effort was made to fast-track SLS, it could have been done sooner. Heck, IIRC, F9 was flying before SLS had any visible signs of bending metal, while the five-segment SRB's were in dve before STS even ended. Wiki quote: Don't know why that never happened; it was an obvious evolution

Out of curiosity, have they looked into agrivoltaics? That seems poised to be the next evolution, if not revolution, in agriculture, I imagine it would be especially effective for animal husbandry....

So when are they gonna arm wrestle?

All of our cookware has been replaced with Pampered Chef cookware (Surprise!), which does include some cast iron. Nice stuff, non stick, pretty tough. Removable handles are safer and make storage easier. And the stoneware for the oven is pretty nice too, stuff just easily scrapes right off.

They should make The Apollo Murders for the big screen....

That was a fantastic movie, groundbreaking for the time, and probably one of my all time favourites. But I have to add Army of Darkness (filling the slot of Evil Dead 3) to that list for sheer funny campiness. KLAATU, VERADA, NICcoughcough!

Nah, these are caches of refined materials to recycle in the future…