Space General Space News, Image and Discussion Thread

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
For the first time ever I'm hoping for a launch failure for SpaceX.
 

Emperor Tippy

Merchant of Death
Super Moderator
Staff Member
Founder
<deleted content>

You are still operating in the old mindset. He isn't talking about a launch failure, he is talking about a potentially bad Starlink satellite.

As in the satellites that they are mass producing assembly line style and still haven't entirely decided on a final design for. Odds are that the satellite they are watching is a different design with margins cut way down, to the point where they aren't entirely sure that it will work.

So long as SpaceX doesn't lose the rocket, they really don't have anything to worry about.

SpaceX launch and production costs are low enough that they can afford to experiment and run risks (especially with their own payloads) that have never before really been contemplated in rocketry.
 

AndrewJTalon

Well-known member
Founder
I was just about to post that video! Is this actually a thing we could do? Because it seems crazy that this is the first time I've heard about something like this being proposed.

It is actually a thing we can do right now.

 

Terthna

Professional Lurker
It is actually a thing we can do right now.

...That's from 1994; why has nobody started working on this yet?
 

Urabrask Revealed

Let them go.
Founder
Really? Because it sounds like there's a lot to gain, from comparatively little investment. Maybe instead it's an issue of upfront cost, and a lack of immediate payoff; because that seems to be a common thread in why nobody in charge seems to be interested in infrastructure investment these days.
You hit the nail on the head.
 

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
<deleted content>
I've heard different things about these tether and space elevator concepts over the years, and the big issue always seems to be keeping it out of the path of other sats and keep aerodynamic forces from dragging it down.

Have there been any conceptual projects looking at 'hanging' a tether/elevator from the Moon down into an orbit just above the LEO sats?

Because I had the though that if you 'hang' it off the Moon 'down' towards Earth, you might be able to get rid of a lot of the snags that atmospheric friction and electromagnetic induction on the line causes. Anchoring it to the Moon also keeps it from being dragged down, and provides easier access to the Lunar surface than would be needed if you constantly try to shuttle people to it with conventional spacecraft.

Have a large 'transfer station' at the 'bottom' of the tether/elevator, which LEO capable craft can dock with, to transfer cargo/personnel to 'elevator cars' that can take them the rest of the way without needing to worry about maintianing a fleet of 'landers' for actually touching down on the Moon.

The main snag I see with this is international political issues, not so much engineering issues. I would guess some Mid-High Earth Orbit sats would need to have the trajectories adjusted, but if the 'transfer station' is above the LEO sats, it would probably minimize how many sats would be affected.

I'm guessing I'm probably missing a few things with this idea that would be obvious to you, but has any actually done any significant research into this?
 

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
<deleted content>
How far 'down' off the moon do you think a practical skyhook/tether/elevator system could reach, using existing commercial grade products that are strong but lightweight?

Like, say as an example, high test fishing line, just to give a baseline estimation with something a layman can grasp easily.
 

Urabrask Revealed

Let them go.
Founder
I found an interestening article at Funnyjunk about a fifth fundamental force being potentially discovered by scientists at the Institute for Nuclear Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.


Essentially the entirety of physics centers on four forces that control our known, visible universe, governing everything from the production of heat in the sun to the way your laptop works. They are gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong force.

But he believed the Hungarians were for real. His research group published a paper on the heels of the Hungarians' 2016 work, laying out a theory to observe what Krasznahorkay's experimental team had seen.

They referred to this unseen fifth force in action as a "photophobic force," meaning that it was as though the particles were "afraid of light."

Meanwhile, nuclear physicists around the world set to work looking for errors in the Hungarians' work, and have come up empty-handed over the past few years.

Is this space related? I don't know, but it is a fascinating topic.
 

Husky_Khan

The Dog Whistler... I mean Whisperer.
Founder
Sotnik
Recently I was watching the Joe Rogan podcast with John Carmack and afterwards it got me wondering whatever happened with Carmack's Aerospace/Rocket venture with Armadillo Aerospace. So apparently it's EXOS Aerospace now that John Carmack left aerospace behind (for the time being) and their fourth rocket launch kinda crash and burned, pun intended.


Course this happened back on October 29th but it's still fairly recent. Not an expert on aerospace by any means but what's the viability or relevance of smaller companies like these in the whole space race game that's going on?
 

Husky_Khan

The Dog Whistler... I mean Whisperer.
Founder
Sotnik
<deleted content>

Hopefully it's only a minor setback for them. Their Space Agency seems to be one of the better run government agencies in India and I remember when that was going on a good many of my Indian friends on the interwebs were excited as hell to see it happen.

And hopefully it will soon enough.
 

Husky_Khan

The Dog Whistler... I mean Whisperer.
Founder
Sotnik

Kind of a cool thing. Both of the Voyager Probes moving beyond the Heliopause and now can be considered as having entered interstellar space, having journeyed beyond the boundary of where matter generated by the Sun is eclipsed by that which originates from beyond our solar system.
 

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
<deleted content>
Personally, I'm betting they were hoping 737 MAX sales would help recoup the funds for projects like this.

So when those crashes happened, and the sales took a hit then stopped completely, it killed some of the funding they were hoping to reinvest in this.

Now this is a complete shot in the dark, based only on what I know of Boeing's corporate woes recently. The timing and what all has happened just reads a lot like they stopped this project because they no longer had the additional funding they were hoping to utilize.
 

Husky_Khan

The Dog Whistler... I mean Whisperer.
Founder
Sotnik
<deleted content>

One day left to vote 'Tenacity' (or other choices) as your preferred Mars Rover name!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top