Space Stations: Past, Present, And Future

[willedoo]

Well that's incredible. Before watching that, I had no idea what a hop test was or what to expect. Octave, I can understand your oft stated view that there's never been a better time to live on this planet. Just think what our kids and grandkids will get to see.

[onetrack]

That thing's about as aerodynamic as a house brick! Surely they don't plan to take it to supersonic speeds??

 

Did they sack all the aerodynamics engineers, so they could save enough money on the slipperiness, to enable them to engineer it to be re-useable?

 

You have to admit, the earlier NASA rocket ships were beautiful, with their aerodynamic shapes.

 

Remember how the early artists imagined and drew rocketships of the 20th and 21st century in the 19th and 20th centuries? They all drew fabulous-shaped designs, like the Raygun Gothic Rocketship!

 

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/features/2010/yuris_night_art.html

Edited August 5, 2020 by onetrack

[willedoo]

37 minutes ago, onetrack said:

That thing's about as aerodynamic as a house brick! Surely they don't plan to take it to supersonic speeds??

Turn the clock back and people were saying that about the F-4 Phantom, or the Flying Brick as they called it. Pilots used to say that it was proof you could make a brick fly if you have enough thrust.

[octave]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

That thing's about as aerodynamic as a house brick! Surely they don't plan to take it to supersonic speeds??

 

Did they sack all the aerodynamics engineers, so they could save enough money on the slipperiness, to enable them to engineer it to be re-useable?

 

You have to admit, the earlier NASA rocket ships were beautiful, with their aerodynamic shapes.

 

Remember how the early artists imagined and drew rocketships of the 20th and 21st century in the 19th and 20th centuries? They all drew fabulous-shaped designs, like the Raygun Gothic Rocketship!

 

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/features/2010/yuris_night_art.html

 

No that is minus the nose cone. It is just a test. 

[willedoo]

Some interesting reading regarding the possibility of inhabiting lava tubes on Mars and the Moon.

 

https://www.9news.com.au/world/space-lava-tubes-on-the-moon-and-mars-are-1000-times-wider-than-those-on-earth/394ea615-60b0-4524-bd38-11b8d7bc1530

[pmccarthy]

Once politics starts up there the conservatives will known as lava tories.

[willedoo]

NASA thinks that an object about to enter Earth's orbit might be an old rocket booster from a 1966 moon mission.

 

https://www.9news.com.au/technology/minimoon-rocket-booster-relic-1966-orbiting-earth-nasa-discovery/830ea550-73ad-412d-9dce-a678026afd64

[onetrack]

Space Mission antiques returning home!? I'm amazed some rich American hasn't initiated and funded a huge programme to go and capture the errant antique rocket booster, and return it intact to Earth - where it can be displayed as a outstanding exhibit of American superiority in technology!

[willedoo]

An article about the ISS leak.

 

https://www.universetoday.com/148147/the-air-leak-on-the-international-space-station-is-worse-than-previously-believed/

[willedoo]

The fastest ever crewed trip to the ISS is set for Wednesday. Roscosmos are using the new Soyuz-2.1a rocket which carried it's first crewed flight back in April. The trip will take just over three hours with only two orbits.

 

 

[willedoo]

There are reports in the Russian press that proposed new sanctions by the U.S. will affect the Roscosmos space agency. Hopefully it's just media dog whistling that will come to nothing. NASA and the Russian space agency have always been immune from politics in their co-operation and it would be a shame to see it end. It's very hard to see it happening, particularly now that intelligent life is about to return to the White House. There are too many arguments against it. If the Spacex programme gets grounded, the Americans will have to rely on the Soyuz again to get to the ISS. If the Russians counter sanction, NASA will eventually run out of Russian RD-180 engines and the Atlas 5 can't fly. Also a big slab of U.S. satellites rely on Russian geo-positioning thrusters, and the ISS can't operate without the Russian propulsion and life support  sections. The list goes on of NASA reliance on Roscosmos, so I would think any talk of sanctions is just media hype.

[old man emu]

In space .....

no one can hear ...

your politics.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Why should the vacuum in space be any different to tbe vacuum in the Whitehouse?

 

 

[old man emu]

One's God made and the other's Man made.

[Jerry_Atrick]

A vaccum's a vacuum - like a rivet's a rivet (in reference to the Sci Fi thing found in Utah).

[old man emu]

11 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

A vaccum's a vacuum

Not if it's a Dyson!

[nomadpete]

15 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

 - like a rivet's a rivet (in reference to the Sci Fi thing found in Utah).

Depends, are these rivets of aerospace quality, aviation quality, or Bunnings?

[willedoo]

There's ongoing speculation as to the life span of the ISS. They seem to be hoping it will go another 10 years , to 2030. Vladimir Solovyov, the first deputy designer general for RSC Energia, the company that operates the Russian section, has expressed some opinions on it. He says that Russia has obligations to participate until 2025 and it might not be viable after that due to ageing and deterioration of the station. Meanwhile, the head of space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that it was too early to decommission the ISS but that some modules might have to be replaced. Rogozin has spoken of the future use of the ISS for the development of space tourism and the participation of private space companies.

 

China is building a station which the European Space Agency has expressed interest in using. Russia is also planning a small station to be operating post 2024. Plans are for a crew of two to four people, but at this stage it's not known whether it will be visited or inhabited, national or international. Whether the Americans build one of their own is yet to be seen.

[Old Koreelah]

Given the cost of getting anything into orbit, I think they’re crazy to even consider dumping the ISS into the Pacific graveyard.

 

What’s wrong with refurbishing it section by section and re-using the materials? Now there’s a challenge as big as Kennedy’s Moon Shot.

[Bruce Tuncks]

You are right Nev. I found this when I asked my GP for some young pills. He said there was no such thing...  Bugger, I need a better GP.

[spacesailor]

 He,s  keeping them for the High-flyer,s on his aquentance list.

I mean how much could you afford, compared with the super rich.

spacesailor

 

[willedoo]

China's Chang'e-5 lunar sample mission is going well. The cargo vessel successfully docked with the orbiter yesterday, ready for the trip home. It was China’s first rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit, and the sample vessel's liftoff from the landing craft was the first lift-off of a Chinese spacecraft from an extraterrestrial body. The attached cg graphic depicts the sample capsule blasting off from the landing craft.

 

 

[octave]

Possible space x sn8 launch and flight to 12.5km.  Live stream now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb59U01YybA

 

I think even Elon only gives it a 25% chance of success.

Edited December 8, 2020 by octave

[onetrack]

That ground-level view looks like a real moonscape! 

[octave]

well done sn8.... sn9 you're up