tater Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Amazon, not Blue, but certainly related: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozymandias_the_Goat Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 How dare Brian Weeden presume our incompetence regarding the complexity of the process of relayig satellite data? Anyway, I don’t suppose that bezos has any idea who his biggest customer is going to be? His own company? Never! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 (edited) Looks like Blue is flying as well. That's launch number 4 on Earth tomorrow. (oops, 5!) Edited December 17, 2018 by tater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 26 minutes ago, tater said: Looks like Blue is flying as well. That's launch number 4 on Earth tomorrow. Launch #5, actually. Falcon, Delta, GSLV, Soyuz, and New Shepard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinimumSky5 Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 Looking at that lineup, all I can say is... 9 - 5 working hours suck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 No official word besides that notice, and the window starts tomorrow. Part of me wants to believe that they are going to launch this one with someone on board but aren't streaming or announcing it for fear of live failure, sort of as a way to one-up Virgin Galactic... But that's probably not going to happen. Just now, MinimumSky5 said: Looking at that lineup, all I can say is... 9 - 5 working hours suck! 8-3 school hours also suck. Especially when YouTube streams are blocked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 Looking at those times... we have a very real possibility of SpaceX and BO flying at the same time. This would surely create some kind of awesomeness singularity and invert the fabric of space-time, exterminating all life as we know it, so probably won’t actually happen. 35 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said: 8-3 school hours also suck. Especially when YouTube streams are blocked. Man someone has got to get you a WiFi hotspot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 27 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said: Looking at those times... we have a very real possibility of SpaceX and BO flying at the same time. This would surely create some kind of awesomeness singularity and invert the fabric of space-time, exterminating all life as we know it, so probably won’t actually happen. If you want to be pedantic about it, technically SpaceX is flying a mission right now - there's a Dragon berthed to the space station. And BOTH of these somehow manage to line up perfectly with my chemistry final? I guess if I start it at 7:00 and finish in an hour I can catch it. I'll have to see when the time comes if that's a possibility... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 4 minutes ago, cubinator said: If you want to be pedantic about it, technically SpaceX is flying a mission right now - there's a Dragon berthed to the space station. And BOTH of these somehow manage to line up perfectly with my chemistry final? I guess if I start it at 7:00 and finish in an hour I can catch it. I'll have to see when the time comes if that's a possibility... Aaaaargh. You reminded me that I have a Spanish final at the same time as these launches. I'm not ready for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuyWithALongUsername Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 If we're willing to bend the rules a bit and allow suborbital launches, that's 4 LAUNCHES IN 1 DAY and TWO AT THE SAME TIME! This is crazy! (Even ignoring the BO launch, that's still 3 orbital launches!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 7 minutes ago, ThatGuyWithALongUsername said: If we're willing to bend the rules a bit and allow suborbital launches, that's 4 LAUNCHES IN 1 DAY and TWO AT THE SAME TIME! This is crazy! (Even ignoring the BO launch, that's still 3 orbital launches!) Correction, 5 launches, 4 of which are orbital in a day. Not on the same day but all within a 24 hour period. Falcon, GSLV, Delta, Soyuz, and NS. GSLV is technically Wednesday but less than 24 hours from the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuyWithALongUsername Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 1 minute ago, Ultimate Steve said: Correction, 5 launches, 4 of which are orbital in a day. Not on the same day but all within a 24 hour period. Falcon, GSLV, Delta, Soyuz, and NS. GSLV is technically Wednesday but less than 24 hours from the others. Oh wow, I missed one. That's even better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 11 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said: Boeing, Spacex, and Blue Origin can be said to be in an intense race. Virgin technically did it but it wasn't technically space. 2019 will be very, very exciting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikegarrison Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 14 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said: Virgin technically did it but it wasn't technically space. What is "space"? 100 km and 50 miles are both completely arbitrary. People just like big round numbers, especially 5s and 10s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sh1pman Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 (edited) I’m 90% sure that the decoupler sound is from KSP! Edited December 17, 2018 by sh1pman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinimumSky5 Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 26 minutes ago, mikegarrison said: What is "space"? 100 km and 50 miles are both completely arbitrary. People just like big round numbers, especially 5s and 10s. Well, yes, but you do have to draw the line somewhere, and there was at least some scientific justification for the Karman line Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 8 minutes ago, MinimumSky5 said: Well, yes, but you do have to draw the line somewhere, and there was at least some scientific justification for the Karman line The arbitrary line is not without controversy, actually. There's been some work pushing for it to be lowered to 80km (and not by Virgin, lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikegarrison Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 48 minutes ago, MinimumSky5 said: Well, yes, but you do have to draw the line somewhere, and there was at least some scientific justification for the Karman line Consider the tropopause. This line (that occurs at 11km in the ISA) is only semi-arbitrary. It has a non-arbitrary definition (where the temperature lapse rate changes to zero), but the actual boundary is fuzzy. Is the lapse rate really actually perfectly zero in the stratosphere? Is there a definite line above which the rate is zero and below which it is not? What about when there is a low-level temperature inversion -- there must be some point between a positive and negative lapse rate when the lapse rate is zero, but we don't say the tropopause lowered itself to this altitude. And ISA is only a model -- the real atmosphere has weather and winds and pollution and airplanes and all sorts of other things that are not part of the ISA. But even so, at least there is notionally a definition that the tropopause is based on a physical reality. The "border of space" is just an arbitrary cutoff, like "two sigma" or "95% confidence". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 Look at the Voyagers. They are simultaneously in "interstellar space" and well within our own Solar System. Arbitrary definitions are arbitrary, and are designed to be useful (to someone, for some reason). More on topic to the notion of space tourism, I don't find expensive, seconds long trips to 80+ km to be terribly inspiring. I think more time to sit and grok the Earth would help (LEO), and I think the real, hardcore impact of the true tiny, fragile nature of our home in the universe was only demonstrated to the few handfuls of men who left LEO, and were far enough away that they could cover the planet with a hand at arms length. I'm sure a BO or Virgin tourist flight would be pretty cool, and probably worth the 250k if that sort of money is literally nothing to you, but for even well-off "regular" people it's not even on the table, and even for those that could manage to afford it (vs spending it without thinking), the cost-benefit seems pretty lousy given the incredibly short nature of the experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikegarrison Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 2 minutes ago, tater said: I'm sure a BO or Virgin tourist flight would be pretty cool, and probably worth the 250k if that sort of money is literally nothing to you, but for even well-off "regular" people it's not even on the table, and even for those that could manage to afford it (vs spending it without thinking), the cost-benefit seems pretty lousy given the incredibly short nature of the experience. If you are making millions of dollars a year, experiences are worth more than money. And unlike most experiences where you can spend that kind of money on something that lasts only a few minutes, it's even legal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 5 minutes ago, mikegarrison said: If you are making millions of dollars a year, experiences are worth more than money. And unlike most experiences where you can spend that kind of money on something that lasts only a few minutes, it's even legal! True, you have to be in that class of making many millions, however, for 250k to really be worth it. That's the kind of thing that I might be inclined to think about saving for if it was to the Moon, or something, but suborbital? I'd not even think about it. I know people who have done Everest, for example, and while for some it's "just" maybe 50k, others have to try multiple years to succeed (and the opportunity costs for being out for weeks can exceed the fees). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted December 18, 2018 Share Posted December 18, 2018 3 hours ago, tater said: The arbitrary line is not without controversy, actually. There's been some work pushing for it to be lowered to 80km (and not by Virgin, lol). Space is also an legal thing, you need permission to overfly another country, this is independent on how high you fly, however you can orbit above anybody. This was an issue for the US and why they wanted an tiny civilian science satellite first, it would legalize orbit over other countries. Now you can launch spy satellites. However only Americans cared about stuff like that. Still its an issue who includes launches and returns and I think legally space start at 80 km. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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