darthgently Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 1 minute ago, AckSed said: Good to have corroboration: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/signatures-of-ice-free-ancient-ponds-and-lakes-found-on-mars Yes, but this latest finding goes well beyond lakes and ponds. Like global ocean scale. Will be interesting to see how it pans out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 More vaporware... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 1 hour ago, StrandedonEarth said: More vaporware... Maybe. The community note on it is incorrect, btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 6 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said: More vaporware... Prefer rockets as they has an chance to become vaporware during launch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDE Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 17 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said: More vaporware... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 3 hours ago, DDE said: Give a little slack, guys. They actually did advantageously use AI in the design process. I’m wondering if they are also using it for dynamic control of the containment field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted Tuesday at 11:47 AM Share Posted Tuesday at 11:47 AM How the designers and builders of Europa Clipper learned that "Mil-Spec" MOSFETs didn't mean "Europa-rated", and how they devised procedures to mitigate it: https://spacenews.com/end-run-around-radiation-the-saga-and-surprise-vulnerabilities-of-europa-clipper/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted Tuesday at 12:13 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 12:13 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted Tuesday at 01:13 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 01:13 PM Biologically growing structures in space is not a new idea in SF, but seriously considering it? This is some Orion's Arm stuff. Still a long way away from growing Dyson Trees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted Tuesday at 02:21 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 02:21 PM 1 hour ago, AckSed said: Biologically growing structures in space is not a new idea in SF, but seriously considering it? This is some Orion's Arm stuff. Still a long way away from growing Dyson Trees. My first thought was the Ousters in Simmon’s Hyperion Cantos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted Wednesday at 12:14 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 12:14 PM (edited) This is a big deal. Until landing pads are in place that are designed to exclude dust and debris with deflectors at the perimeter to direct plume flow up and over the surrounding terrain and any craft or structures each landing would be a terror for any unprotected craft or structures nearby Edited Wednesday at 12:15 PM by darthgently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted Wednesday at 01:49 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 01:49 PM Lunar Roomba-zambonis will have to sweep the launchpads before every launch, then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted Wednesday at 02:09 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 02:09 PM 11 minutes ago, AckSed said: Lunar Roomba-zambonis will have to sweep the launchpads before every launch, then. That is one solution if you have an landing pad. Also having an wall or putting the landing pad down in an crater would help. For large landers having landing engines high up would help a lot. This would only be used for the last 100 meters an small lander would have to use less efficient engines either slow flow or probably engines who disperse the exhaust fast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted Wednesday at 02:23 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 02:23 PM (edited) 15 minutes ago, magnemoe said: For large landers having landing engines high up would help a lot. This would only be used for the last 100 meters an small lander would have to use less efficient engines either slow flow or probably engines who disperse the exhaust fast This is fine for very tall landers like HLS, but you’d need a rocket mount tower on typical landers to get them up high enough. No atmosphere means no turbulence diffusing the force of the plume so I’m wondering if even high rockets won’t present a 2km/s debris spray also. Just less focused as the plume diverges with height Edited Wednesday at 02:24 PM by darthgently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted Wednesday at 03:49 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 03:49 PM More details Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted Wednesday at 05:10 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 05:10 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted Wednesday at 07:15 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 07:15 PM 4 hours ago, darthgently said: This is fine for very tall landers like HLS, but you’d need a rocket mount tower on typical landers to get them up high enough. No atmosphere means no turbulence diffusing the force of the plume so I’m wondering if even high rockets won’t present a 2km/s debris spray also. Just less focused as the plume diverges with height An excellent point, so you need special landing pads or some low powered landing thrushes using cold gas or steam? 2-3, is high 2.3 km/s is moon escape velocity. This will be an increasingly larger problem with more activity on the moon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted Thursday at 02:56 PM Share Posted Thursday at 02:56 PM Mars' polar ice cap might be less than 10 million years old: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/mars-polar-ice-cap-is-slowly-pushing-its-north-pole-inward/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted Thursday at 06:49 PM Share Posted Thursday at 06:49 PM On 3/5/2025 at 3:23 PM, darthgently said: This is fine for very tall landers like HLS, but you’d need a rocket mount tower on typical landers to get them up high enough. No atmosphere means no turbulence diffusing the force of the plume so I’m wondering if even high rockets won’t present a 2km/s debris spray also. Just less focused as the plume diverges with height An valid point also 2.4 km/s is lunar escape velocity. On the other hand the moon get plenty of micro metrorite impacts coming in faster and the larger one will kick up fragments to. So yes you can hit stuff on the other side of the moon or in moon orbit but risk is low I say. For nearby stuff it might be an major issue unless you use landing pads. Landing on an grind might work best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted Thursday at 08:00 PM Share Posted Thursday at 08:00 PM 1 hour ago, magnemoe said: An valid point also 2.4 km/s is lunar escape velocity. On the other hand the moon get plenty of micro metrorite impacts coming in faster and the larger one will kick up fragments to. So yes you can hit stuff on the other side of the moon or in moon orbit but risk is low I say. For nearby stuff it might be an major issue unless you use landing pads. Landing on an grind might work best. The X posts from Dr. Phil Metzer I posted here goes into a lot of that. It will likely end up in international agreement on how much is too much and compensation for damage etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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