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ULA launch and discussion thread


tater

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2 hours ago, tater said:

Revert to VAB.

Solution for wimps. Better send a second spaceship with detachable power pack (stack of batteries, four solar panels and one RTG for good measure) to rendez-vous in Mun Moon orbit, then attach the power pack to the docking port of the crew module. Then you can proceed with the mission. I did it once, way before KIS\KAS mod was born - it turned out to be ridiculous but very memorable thing :D

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LOL. My only use of revert is on the pad, before launch. I invariably hit launch, and before I can even render the pad completely I realize, "I forgot to change the default crew!" or "I forgot to add the new experiment that the last flight of this stack enabled with its science gains!" etc.

I'd have gone nuts long ago, otherwise, lol.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's unpainted tank. There's no point in foam on a kerolox rocket, only LH2 and LHe actually require insulation. LOX and LCH4 tanks ice up, and ice is a pretty good heat insulator (which is also how igloos work). With LH2 and LHe, you get nitrogen and oxygen dew instead, which are not only very bad heat insulators (being liquid at those conditions), the latter is a serious fire hazard because you can get pockets of it once it evaporates back, and the former isn't good for structural pieces, either. Hence, for those two, you want some form of insulation. 

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1 hour ago, Dragon01 said:

It's unpainted tank. There's no point in foam on a kerolox rocket, only LH2 and LHe actually require insulation. LOX and LCH4 tanks ice up, and ice is a pretty good heat insulator (which is also how igloos work). With LH2 and LHe, you get nitrogen and oxygen dew instead, which are not only very bad heat insulators (being liquid at those conditions), the latter is a serious fire hazard because you can get pockets of it once it evaporates back, and the former isn't good for structural pieces, either. Hence, for those two, you want some form of insulation. 

Is this still true for the temperatures that SpaceX currently use?  It makes a lot of sense at the point LOX turns liquid, but they are using just over the freezing points of LOX and kerosene (and presumably nearly solid methane as well).  I'd expect oxygen dew on an oxygen tank that nearly has oxygen ice cubes inside (much like water dew on a glass that is 2-3C).

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2 hours ago, wumpus said:

Is this still true for the temperatures that SpaceX currently use?  It makes a lot of sense at the point LOX turns liquid, but they are using just over the freezing points of LOX and kerosene (and presumably nearly solid methane as well).  I'd expect oxygen dew on an oxygen tank that nearly has oxygen ice cubes inside (much like water dew on a glass that is 2-3C).

Well that's SpaceX's problem, not ULA's. But for an extended Starship voyage, they would certainly need some sort of insulation.

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Erm... is taking photos of military satellites...  legal?

I’d imagine the sat in the pic is the aforementioned military comms sat since it’s all black XD 

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2 hours ago, Dale Christopher said:

Erm... is taking photos of military satellites...  legal?

I’d imagine the sat in the pic is the aforementioned military comms sat since it’s all black XD 

Well, if they have permission to be there and take photos, then it's legal. If not, it's a problem for whoever took the photo.

The strangest things can be considered sensitive. One engine I worked on had unclassified blueprints, and if you showed the outer lines of the flowpath that was unclassified, or if you showed the inner lines of the flowpath that was unclassified, but if you showed them both together that was classified as Confidential.

Edited by mikegarrison
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5 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

if you showed the outer lines of the flowpath that was unclassified, or if you showed the inner lines of the flowpath that was unclassified, but if you showed them both together that was classified as Confidential.

 

Spoiler

aid656088-v4-728px-Make-a-Stone-Axe-Step

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

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