Author Topic: The Official Space Exploration Thread  (Read 230837 times)

Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1215 on: August 21, 2016, 02:33 AM »
The trick with increased shielding is the increased mass of the spacecraft.  Launch operations and general propulsion are intrinsically tied to the mass of the spacecraft.  A magnetic shield may be less massive than shield plating with a traditional material like lead, but could potentially interfere with onboard instrumentation. 

The plan we came up with was to have a shielded room where the astronauts could retreat to in times of increased activity.
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Offline Darby

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Offline JediJman

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1217 on: August 24, 2016, 05:06 PM »
CONFIRMED!  ;D

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/health/proxima-b-centauri-rocky-planet-habitable-zone-neighbor-star/index.html

So cool!  Am I correct in understanding light years that if we were able to see Proxima B, we'd really be seeing it as it was 4.2 years ago since it takes that long for the light to reach us?
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Offline Darby

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1218 on: August 24, 2016, 05:16 PM »
That's right. Proxima B has a tremendous amount of pros going for it, and some cons, but it is a rocky world within the habitable zone of its star that could support liquid water, so LET'S GO!

Offline Rob

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1219 on: August 24, 2016, 10:57 PM »
I want to go to there.

Offline BillCable

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1220 on: February 20, 2017, 09:19 AM »
So yeah - this is absolutely ridiculous...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeSJB-IOjzw
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Offline Dave

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1221 on: February 20, 2017, 12:08 PM »
That gives me goose bumps every time I see them land a rocket vertically.  Its hard to put in to words how cool that is that they've got the will and the brain power to solve that type of problem.

Online Nicklab

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1222 on: February 20, 2017, 12:33 PM »
It's incredibly impressive to see a rocket land like that.  I know they've been doing some sea landing trials with a drone ship, but I wonder if there are some long term concerns about the stability of the ships?
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Offline Dave

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1223 on: February 20, 2017, 12:36 PM »
It's incredibly impressive to see a rocket land like that.  I know they've been doing some sea landing trials with a drone ship, but I wonder if there are some long term concerns about the stability of the ships?

I haven't read much about why they chose the drone ships vs. land based.  I'm not sure if that is the way they really wanted to go, or if it was more about risk mitigation until they proved out the tech.  You probably don't want a partially fueled rocket trying to land anywhere near people if you haven't proven you can control the landing well and keep it from exploding on a nearby highway.

Offline Rob

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1224 on: February 20, 2017, 12:49 PM »
It's incredibly impressive to see a rocket land like that.  I know they've been doing some sea landing trials with a drone ship, but I wonder if there are some long term concerns about the stability of the ships?

Risk mitigation like Dave is alluding too is big too at this stage, but I think a big part of the reason is also that when you can just move your barge all over the ocean, it gives you more options for WHEN to land.  Getting to the point where they can safely and reliably land them like they did here is going to make it that much more inexpensive to do though, when you don't have to operate drone ships and pay to bring them back and haul them around as much.

Offline JediJman

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1225 on: February 20, 2017, 02:11 PM »
That's so cool.  Looks like something out of a science fiction movie!
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Offline DSJ™

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1226 on: February 20, 2017, 02:26 PM »
That landing is amazing...

Why a barge vrs land... fuel & safty issues...

THE WHY AND HOW OF LANDING ROCKETS

So. Why Did SpaceX Land a Rocket on a Barge?

**** Elon Says - Transcript - SpaceX Press Conference September 29 2013s

Quote
[Question on performance hit for attempting landing the first stage] We effectively lose, in terms of performance... It really depends on what we want to do with the stage if we were to do an ocean landing or a return to launch site landing. If we do an ocean landing, the performance hit is actually quite small at maybe in the order of 15%. If we do a return to launch site landing, it's probably double that, it's more like a 30% hit (i.e., 30% of payload lost).

As far as the safety aspect of the return to launch site of the first stage that's part of why we want to do it first in the ocean just to make sure that things will be fine. For any landing area that we would have, the landing ellipse, the sort of error that the stage could encounter would be an unpopulated region. So we would aim to have a landing site that's unpopulated with a radius of a couple of miles (which can be achieved in Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg).

Online Nicklab

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1227 on: February 20, 2017, 04:35 PM »
The safety issue is not insignificant, I will agree with that. Especially when you're deal with a rocket at speed with volatile fuel on board.

But it does seem that there can be an increase in risk variables with a sea landing, notably with the weather.  Most carrier rated pilots say that landing at sea is a big challenge not just because of the small field of an aircraft carrier and the incredibly small target of the arresting wires.  But also because the deck is subject to pitching and rolling based on the sea state (frequency and height of waves). 

The rocket touchdown is probably much more like a helicopter landing since it's a vertical approach to a relatively static landing zone.  But given the automated nature of the control systems for the drone ship as well as the rocket, is the guidance software really up to this sort of challenge on a regular basis?
« Last Edit: February 20, 2017, 04:36 PM by Nicklab »
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Offline Matt

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1228 on: August 21, 2017, 03:06 PM »
Hey, what time is the eclipse today?
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Offline Rob

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Re: The Official Space Exploration Thread
« Reply #1229 on: February 6, 2018, 04:28 PM »
« Last Edit: February 6, 2018, 04:28 PM by Rob »