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Vice President tells NASA to get to the Moon in 5 years.

atomheartbevo

By atomheartbevo
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RamjetFDO
RamjetFDO

More to come, I'm sure ... but sneak preview from one of my launch photography buddies.  

RamjetFDO
RamjetFDO

The ones that came on in the 60s/70s were mostly retiring out before the Shuttle Program (and our own ability to launch humans) was ended without a funded follow-on program.  It's the ones that came o

RamjetFDO
RamjetFDO

Yes, we can debate (valid points on both sides) of whether SLS is the right answer for lunar exploration vs private space companies ... but there is no doubt that seeing SLS roll out to LC39B is excit

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23469

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On 8/14/2024 at 12:43 PM, Hagbard Celine said:

they can't ride home in a dragon in boeing suits

Help me out here. We have two government contractors and we didn't specify some basics regarding compatibility of the life support systems in the RFPs?

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B00M

B00M 6416

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Someone catch me up. We’ve had the technology to go to mars and start crudely colonizing since what, the ‘80s? but instead, we’re fucking around and maybe going to land on the moon again (yay?) sometime in the next decade, where there are basically no useful resources, and the exercise in no way actually helps us get to further worlds? 

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BamaATL

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1 minute ago, B00M said:

Someone catch me up. We’ve had the technology to go to mars and start crudely colonizing since what, the ‘80s? but instead, we’re fucking around and maybe going to land on the moon again (yay?) sometime in the next decade, where there are basically no useful resources, and the exercise in no way actually helps us get to further worlds? 

In theory, we've had the tech to at least land people on Mars from the 70s (they'd have likely been dead bodies, but hey).  Going to the moon actually makes more sense than meets the eye, and it does have resources.  

1.  Water exists on the moon, it isn't plentiful, but it exists.  Where water exists, you can make rocket fuel.  For deep space manned exploration, barring improvements in propulsion, that will be important.

2.  It's beneficial to have a proving ground for new tech, like regolith 3D printing, or farming.  The moon being only a few days away makes it a realistic test bed for emergent tech.  In other words, you can afford to have something fail on the moon and get a replacement or a return to Earth in short order.  Something like that happens on Mars, everyone could die.  

3.  Helium 3 exists in abundance on the moon's surface, while it doesn't here on Earth.  This makes it potentially highly commercially profitable.  

There are lots of other reasons, but a big one to me is the fact that we aren't likely to send people without lots of fail-safes.  To me, that means we will realistically we will need essentially weigh stations in space in between here and Mars, all equipped with the ability for things like life support, supplies, and return options.  I think it's far more viable (mind you not economically) to build a series of O'Neill cylinders as both research stations and lifeboats.  

That isn't to say that leap in technology can't turn all this on it's head, after all, more or less we are using the same principles Robert Goddard and Werner Van Braun used.  The Starship could be a game changer for a lot of reasons beyond itself, for example, the ability to get new test beds into orbit on the cheap could (and likely will) lead to new breakthrus.  

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atomheartbevo

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1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

Help me out here. We have two government contractors and we didn't specify some basics regarding compatibility of the life support systems in the RFPs?

SpaceX is sending people into the radiation belt next week, in brand-new suits.

Floating Music Video GIF by Epitaph Records

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BamaATL

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Polaris Dawn mission delayed for a second time, this time due to unfavorable weather conditions on projected splash down.  The mission itself seems more like a billionaire's thrill ride, but there is science being done, so cool. 

Part of the mission includes passing thru the Van Allen belts, which did get me thinking.  Invariably, be it to the Moon, Mars, or anywhere else into deep space, one the challenges we face is radiation.  We are shielded here, thanks to the Earth's magnetism and part of that is the Van Allen belt (at least as I understand it).  So I've read stuff that indicates that one potential barrier to radiation we could use is a wet suit (or poop shield) to combat the radiation.  That seems fine during transit, but what will we do when the time comes to attempt to colonize?  For example, I don't think you could poop shield an entire base on the moon.  I realize that you could initially go underground as a solve, but eventually you are going to do some level of surfacing terraforming.  I just wonder what sort of magnetic field we would need to generate to protect an area of that size, and if it is even within our technical grasp.  If anyone knows anything about this, I'd be interested in learning.  

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thunderlounge

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I’d say we know how, but being able to do it is another matter entirely. Right now it would take a lot of power with our current “tech”, and obviously power is at a premium. So that part is just beyond our reach for now. Plus, we have to get everything there, and weight is a premium.

For us to get to a level of colonization where we needed something like that will be a long while. Not to mention, you’re not sending the kids outside to play.

So to get to a point we’d need a magnetic field, we’d need an atmosphere. Terraforming on that scale isn’t in our wheelhouse for now.

 

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RPM

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16 hours ago, Armybrat said:

IMG_3927.png

19544925_web1_copy_RAMclr-082924-starlin

Boeing's 1st crewed Starliner to return to Earth without astronauts on Sept. 6

 

Boeing's Starliner capsule now has a homecoming date.

NASA announced this evening (Aug. 29) that Starliner will depart the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than next Friday (Sept. 6), provided the weather cooperates and no technical issues pop up.

If all goes according to plan, the capsule will undock at 6:04 p.m. EDT (2204 GMT) on Sept. 6 and land under parachutes six hours later in White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

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BamaATL

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2 hours ago, Clintonaldo said:

Dumb question alert. How much food and water is up there for the 2 astronauts stuck? It was an 8 day trip and now it’s going to be 5 months. 

Dragon automated resupplies are pretty common place (so much so they are rarely even mentioned), and generally have gone without a hitch.  That combined with the current cache of supplies up there, it shouldn't create any sort of problem.  If I remember correctly, the payloads of the dragons are generally a couple thousand pounds, and most of it is consumables like freeze dried food and water.  

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RamjetFDO

RamjetFDO 10575

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Well this isn't great, Bob.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/09/starliners-speaker-began-emitting-strange-sonar-noises-on-saturday/

On Saturday NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore noticed some strange noises emanating from a speaker inside the Starliner spacecraft.

"I've got a question about Starliner," Wilmore radioed down to Mission Control, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. "There's a strange noise coming through the speaker ... I don't know what's making it."
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atomheartbevo

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More from the transcript:

Butch: Hey a Houston, I gotta question about one of the other astronauts.

NASA: Houston here, go ahead Butch.

Butch: Yeah, uh one of the astronauts just told me that Boeing created the Starliner to reach the stars, that but she's gone much, much farther than that. She tore a hole in our universe, a gateway to another dimension. A dimension of pure chaos.

NASA: Sounds like somebody is playing a joke on you,

Butch: Yeah, but he gouged out his own eyes and said “Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see.” And that’s when that sound started coming from Starliner 

NASA: Houston here, Butch can you repeat that part about the gouging

Butch: He gouged out his own eyes, and shit is getting weird,

NASA: Can you hang tight for a moment, Butch?

NASA: Butch, can you hear us? Hello? Can anybody respond?

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Slacks

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On 8/30/2024 at 2:01 PM, Clintonaldo said:

Dumb question alert. How much food and water is up there for the 2 astronauts stuck? It was an 8 day trip and now it’s going to be 5 months. 

It's gon' be alright.

Gilligan and'nem made it, and they only had Snacks for a three hour tour.

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RamjetFDO

RamjetFDO 10575

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Beeping is claimed to be a misconfiguration in comms systems causing that rhythmic sound through the speaker, but yeah ... "okay".

Just watched the press conference, and my old co-worker tried to give a very politically-savvy and calm description of what must've been a dick-measuring contest between Boeing and NASA.  I don't envy him that job, as it looks like the last month or so has aged him a decade at least.  He looks really tired.

Everything's on schedule for an undocking on Friday, Sept 6, just after 5pm CDT.  They'll do a fairly conventional undock/separation profile that will allow Starliner to translate out in front of ISS quite a bit over the course of several orbits.  This is a very safe and predictable trajectory ... presuming the thrusters fire correctly (fingers crossed).  Even *if* the deorbit maneuver fails, Starliner will still continue to separate downrange from ISS, so from a trajectory standpoint, I'm good with this plan.

See you Friday.

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Captainant

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14 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

there's a 4k cleanup of those scenes....

445p this afternoon coverage of the undocking

also on nasa's stream:

https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/nasas-boeing-crew-flight-test-undocking/

landing scheduled for 11:05pm at the Northrup Strip which is now completely covered by the White Sands

the cherry on top for this boondoggle would be for it to lose attitude control and become ballistic due to the thruster failure. Here's hoping that boeing and aerojet rocketdyne haven't fallen THAT far

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Hagbard Celine

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if there is even a 1% chance of that happening, Holloman was a questionable choice for the landing zone

australia is 95% empty space and although there would be lots of griping by their citizens (see: Skylab) it would be a safer option

@RamjetFDO do you have the parms for the de-orbit trajectory?  are any US or Mexican metros in the de-orbit flight path?

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RamjetFDO

RamjetFDO 10575

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58 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

if there is even a 1% chance of that happening, Holloman was a questionable choice for the landing zone

australia is 95% empty space and although there would be lots of griping by their citizens (see: Skylab) it would be a safer option

@RamjetFDO do you have the parms for the de-orbit trajectory?  are any US or Mexican metros in the de-orbit flight path?

A map depicting the southern United States and Central America, highlighting where the reentry of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will be most visible. A blue and green trail extends over Baja California and northern Mexico before ending near central New Mexico. Times next to the trail indicate when Starliner will be visible at those locations. Credit: NASA

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RamjetFDO

RamjetFDO 10575

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The worrying part of that trajectory (as if there's only one) is that any underburn (low performance, failed jet, etc.) on that deorbit burn would extend that trajectory right into CONUS heartland territory.

So - here's hoping they get a nominal burn delta-V from the thruster combos that are available.

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Sbbruin

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5 minutes ago, RamjetFDO said:

The worrying part of that trajectory (as if there's only one) is that any underburn (low performance, failed jet, etc.) on that deorbit burn would extend that trajectory right into CONUS heartland territory.

So - here's hoping they get a nominal burn delta-V from the thruster combos that are available.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

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