StrandedonEarth

Emphasis on “might”. He said they “might” fly SN15 again too. But given that 16 is unflown and built, they may as well try to glean more data from it somehow

Yeah, I agree. Aside from the fact that aero / nautical standards are in Imperial. I don’t think I can properly imagine the depths of horror that would be involved in trying to transition global navigation from Imperial to SI (which I once thought meant Standard Imperial ) Again. An acre is the area of a rectangle whose length is one furlong and whose width is one chain. Like, seriously? Yeah, I know, I’m sure it made sense at the time, but…. and a tip of the hat to the necromancer: well played, sir!

Oh c'mon, have some respect!

I guess one gets complacent working for Daddy Deeppockets, if you never knew the lean and mean times. BO just needs to wait a few years, then they can license production of General Products Starship hulls and Superheavy Texas Medium boosters. Those things are gonna be cranked out like 737s and DC-3s….

From https://www.boringcompany.com/loop : Anyways, back to SpaceX: Aspirational date of July for orbital testing, huh? If that holds, I could be on vacation, not that I would have a hope of going. I'd be lucky not to be renovating, but it'd be nice to be able to watch live.

And it may not be strong enough to support itself on its side, at least not unpressurized. Roads for superheavy loads are a carefully prepared bed topped with gravel, otherwise the surface would be pulverized when the rig tried to turn. NASA’s crawler turned the crawlerway gravel into sand as it passed, IIRC…

I kinda thought it sounded familiar when I heard the Metallica version, but was probably mistaken. Sounded great (VHS notwithstanding), but they were probably ahead of their time, but not by much. Here’s their official music video version, listening in my car while on lunch right now. Sounds EPIC

Yeah, 3D printer has been on my wish list for a long time, but without a practical use for it, I haven’t been able to convince myself to even do the research on what to buy.

The Project Scientist for OSIRIS-REx also plays KSP and is active on the forum as @IonStorm. Incidentally, Dr. Brian May of Queen is also involved in the project, IIRC. Astronaut Scott Kelly has also played KSP while being interviewed by Lee Hutchinson of Arstechnica.com

Scarabs? Oh wait, duh, kill two avians with one lithoid: dung beetles!

Not crickets? Oh right, too small/weak? Lol

(Volume up)

A greenhouse with Martian horses…

Including rockets! To revive an ancient joke, they should label Superheavy as “Texas Medium”

That electro-pump certainly simplifies things... The whole rocket looks so tiny, probably because it is. Has it been included in any rocket lineups (comparisons) yet?

How about a stellar-pumped laser? From the wiki page about The Ringworld Engineers, by Larry Niven:

Maybe another crazy multi-billionaire will come along to take that idea and run with it. Any records of who has been buying volcanic islands?

As others pointed out, nowhere in Earth’s SOI is safe from plume-accelerated regolith. Berms would be required to contain the ejecta from a conventional LM/Blue Moon-style lander. Starship sidesteps this issue with canted thrusters above the main tanks, giving the plume room to expand and its pressure to drop to safer levels before hitting the ‘lith. E: Or a prepared, dust-free surface...

Dang, this is getting me in the feels today. Probably because I keep recalling how at the vet I finally put him down so I could pay (office was empty, no leash on, etc). He toddled off into the back rooms, looking around, as if thinking “okay, I’m here, let’s get this done” Perkier than I’ve seen him in along time Damn Thanks for th thoughts, everyone

The thing is, I don't see why the petrochemical industry has to die completely simply because the petrofuel industry does. Extraction will drop drastically, certainly, but there will always be a niche for ICE of one fuel or another (H2, lol). More importantly, the value of "black gold" will be based more on using that chemical cocktail as feedstocks for industry.. Unless we're going to synth everything up from vegetable oils and animal fats... Oh right, SPS.... Those microwave power beams could be useful for staying warm in the polar regions, or if there's an ice age...

Have you read “Liftoff” by Eric Berger yet? Good read. I think the gist of that decision making comment was not that Musk makes all the decisions. It meant that when it came to the difficult and/or risky/dangerous decisions, he had the technical knowledge make the final decision himself. He didn’t get mad if they destroyed hardware if they cleared things with him first. The buck stopped at the top

Well let’s see… If no runway is available, then the existing options are paratroopers or chopper. The max a chopper can lift is 22 tons. So for disaster relief, nothing could beat the combined payload and speed potential of Starship; 100 tons of supplies is only an hour away from anywhere. It could be made to land almost anywhere with minimal prep (fly enough and clear of flammables) Dreaming portion: Payload section with a fold-out PV power plant, or supplies. Tank section built to split and extend out for conversion into Quonset-hut style shelters

I’ve seen articles stating that American utilities are finding it cheaper to build solar and shut down existing coal plants than to just keep the existing coal plants running. A good sign if ever there was one.