Fun Fact Thread! (previously fun fact for the day, not limited to 1 per day anymore.)

[DDE]

As of 2021, the 40-year-old TsF-18 centrifuge in Zvyozdny

had logged 1761 hours of operation, including 14188 manned training sessions.

https://t.me/space78125/2181

[Superfluous J]

4 hours ago, DDE said:

had logged 1761 hours of operation, including 14188 manned training sessions

...and had said "om nom nom" 2,486,987 times.

[kerbiloid]

7 hours ago, DDE said:

1761 hours of operation

1761 * 3600 * 9.81 * 9 / (3*10⁸) ~= 2 light speeds in total.

It's a superluminal launch pipe.

[DDE]

After the planned expansion, Bhutan's sovereign cryptomining facility will consume more power than the rest of the country combined.

[kerbiloid]

Then the glaciers start melting.

On the other hand, should they be afraid of the ocean level?

[magnemoe]

22 hours ago, DDE said:

As of 2021, the 40-year-old TsF-18 centrifuge in Zvyozdny

had logged 1761 hours of operation, including 14188 manned training sessions.

https://t.me/space78125/2181

Is it only me or does the ramp look like an tongue out of the moth of the snake  But the ramp obviously extend through the open doors. 

[kerbiloid]

21 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Is it only me or does the ramp look like an tongue out of the moth of the snake  But the ramp obviously extend through the open doors. 

Spoiler

 

 

[DDE]

"Maslov/Maslow" is a pretty generic Russian* surname deriving from the word maslo, butter. Because of this, and because the Anglicized version of the surname is pronounced in a bizarre, almost French (and therefore pompous) way, the concept of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Spoiler

has been satirized in Russian as the Khleboux (Breadoux) - Maslow - Ikroux (Caviaroux) pyramid.

Of course, this works in the concept's favor, because "having enough to butter one's bread" is an existing Russian phraseologism, while caviar/roe (we have language barrier trouble distinguishing the two) is a delicacy sometimes bordering on decadence.

* the individual in question was the descendant of Kievan Jews; Wikipedia has advised me of Polish "Maslow" toponyms, but not the corresponding surname

[DDE]

The Orlan-10 UAV uses filament-reinforced duct tape to strengthen the attachment of the wing to the fiselage.

ZALA-421-16 uses masking tape to attach its parachute line.

Source: "Chronicles of a UAV operator" telling another channel to not ridicule a... Blue Force drone held together by duct tape - https://t.me/xronikabpla/6057

[SunlitZelkova]

On 11/30/2023 at 12:56 PM, DDE said:

As of 2021, the 40-year-old TsF-18 centrifuge in Zvyozdny

had logged 1761 hours of operation, including 14188 manned training sessions.

https://t.me/space78125/2181

The manga (Japanese comics) version:

From Space Brothers, by Koyama Chuya. In the story, Namba Hibito becomes the first Japanese person to set foot on the Moon in 2025, flying on Orion and Altair as the successful (and now international) Constellation program has resulted in a lunar base being built in the early 2020s. But Namba and another astronaut get involved in a rover accident, and Hibito nearly loses his life when his suit almost runs out of oxygen. He was kept confined to the base due to NASA protocol, and by the time he returns to Earth he has panic attacks whenever he puts on a space suit.

After journeying to Russia for "Soyuz training" (the anime has a sort of hybrid L3-LKM lander being used, but it appears the manga may properly use Orel and the LKPV or whatever the new lander design is called, although I haven't gotten that far yet) veteran cosmonaut and Cavalier of the Hero of Russia Ivan Tolstoy helps him recover may putting on different types of suits and helmets (ranging from an American football helmet to a diver suit) one by one until he is able to successfully walk 10 meters in a Sokol suit (while also criticizing NASA's actions, saying if such an incident happened to a Russian cosmonaut they would be told to immediately put on a suit and go back out to avoid a fear developing, which actually makes sense and is what a Navy diver did in 1942 at Pearl Harbor after nearly being swallowed by the wreckage of the USS Arizona).

But despite performing well in an evaluation at NASA later on, the grumpy Moon program manager Walter Gates says Hibito can't fly again. So JAXA makes a deal with Roscosmos to set up their own cadre of foreign astronauts, with Hibito becoming the first Japanese cosmonaut.

The manga is called "Space Brothers" because Hibito has an older brother named Mutta, who goes on his own journey to become an astronaut. The two made a promise to meet on the Moon one day after they saw a UFO in 2006 at a young age.

The big text is the title of the specific comic issue, "The Temperature of Russia". Hibito first arrives at Star City and receives a seemingly cold welcome, but after showing off his impressive ability to handle G forces after being spun in a chair (on account of technically being a veteran astronaut) as part of training, Hibito takes the initiative to get to know them and he discovers they are good people, but the "temperature" of social relations in Russia is different than that of JSC in Texas (he didn't know because prior to this he had only visited as a NASA astronaut and not really interacted with people in a casual setting that much apart from with Ivan, his good friend) but the people are still friendly in their own way.

Interestingly, in this manga India appears to have abandoned its independent spaceflight program, because an Indian astronaut takes part in training with Mutta in 2026. And obviously, US-Russia relations are much better off in this world. The manga started in 2007, a year before the first sign of a break in East-West tensions kicked off in our world.

[DDE]

4 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

manga

Japanese media in general seems to be quite stubborn in its research in places where nearly everyone else would've winged it.

[DDE]

The Monument to the Conquerors of Space

was erected the proper rocket way

[Codraroll]

Shiny on the outside, hollow on the inside. Great analogy.

[SunlitZelkova]

2 hours ago, Codraroll said:

Shiny on the outside, hollow on the inside. Great analogy.

Underneath the propaganda, there were a lot of people working hard to get to space, just like in America. I believe there are today too, and that beneath the Rogozin hoopla and nationalist chest thumping, there are space enthusiasts just like you and I trying to navigate their dysfunctional government to do stuff in space, not unlike how it took years of redesigns and political negotiation for the US to build its own space station, all the while while their Soviet counterparts would doing groundbreaking long duration flights on Salyut and Mir.

I would not want to have a monument to NASA, Apollo, and Shuttle workers ridiculed. I don’t think it is right to do so with other countries’ space programs. I’ll leave you with this.

EDIT- I’m actually going to delete the tweet because it might be considered politics. But the gist of it is that a British submarine captain met his Soviet counterpart at the end of the Cold War, and was surprised to learn he wasn’t a caricature of a brainwashed Marxist stooge, but a regular sailor like he was.

Edited December 14, 2023 by SunlitZelkova

[kerbiloid]

14 hours ago, Codraroll said:

Shiny on the outside, hollow on the inside. Great analogy.

That's how every space rocket is made.

[Maria Sirona]

The sitting man is Tsiolkovsky, isn't he?

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, Maria Sirona said:

The sitting man is Tsiolkovsky, isn't he?

Just his statue.

[darthgently]

On 12/13/2023 at 11:20 AM, DDE said:

The Monument to the Conquerors of Space

was erected the proper rocket way

I'd like to visit this memorial someday and leave a wreath for the cosmonauts and a bone for Laika

[kerbiloid]

4 hours ago, darthgently said:

a bone for Laika

Better leave a cooler, she had enough food, but no time to consume it.

[darthgently]

[AckSed]

Thanks to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, you can still see the trails left by the Apollo astronauts, including the ones left by Apollo 12's as they visited Surveyor 3: http://www.lroc.asu.edu/featured_sites#ApolloLandingSites

Edited December 18, 2023 by AckSed

[DDE]

So a lot of people have heard about the mid-century German 1000-ton tank project, right?

Well, it's not a German project.

Edward Grotte first suggested it to the Soviets a decade earlier. And it makes some sense when described as a coastal defense tank, i.e. it really is intended to accomodate the main armament of a warship.  The Soviets asked for a 500-ton variant before looking at the bills for the T-35 and potential T-39, and cringing; the coastal defense tank would briefly come back as the T-103 project (with a 130 mm main gun).

Grotte, meanwhile, left for home in the mid-1930s, and while there were a few transmission-related patents to his name, he was very active in the press as seen above. His next employeers (Speer), found him, and then his employer's ultimate boss found him in 1942 and asked to develop the monster further.

[DDE]

Earlier MiG-21 models had an ejection seat that took the windscreen with it.

https://t.me/fotozak/5887

[magnemoe]

On 12/22/2023 at 9:42 PM, DDE said:

So a lot of people have heard about the mid-century German 1000-ton tank project, right?

Well, it's not a German project.

Edward Grotte first suggested it to the Soviets a decade earlier. And it makes some sense when described as a coastal defense tank, i.e. it really is intended to accomodate the main armament of a warship.  The Soviets asked for a 500-ton variant before looking at the bills for the T-35 and potential T-39, and cringing; the coastal defense tank would briefly come back as the T-103 project (with a 130 mm main gun).

Grotte, meanwhile, left for home in the mid-1930s, and while there were a few transmission-related patents to his name, he was very active in the press as seen above. His next employeers (Speer), found him, and then his employer's ultimate boss found him in 1942 and asked to develop the monster further.

It kind of makes sense, except that coastal defense battleships was an thing. You drop the speed in favor of shallow draft and low cost but its still playing with battleships in gun size and fire control at WW 1 standards. 10.000 ton is easy to float, much harder to move on land, going up in weight and you get into real battleships. 

[DDE]

If SpaceX were an independent country, the US would be sixth in the 2023 launch total, trailing behind India's seven launches with six successes and two failures. However, SpaceX's 96 successful launches still don't constitute half of 212 globally.