Space X

[ebikeerwidnes]

Just watched the launch of the SpaceX launch and landing today

I mean - launching the thing without it blowing up is difficult enough

but catching the booster on a tower when it comes back down was just amazing

incredibly accurate and the metallurgy and design needed to make the booster and the tower not just break must have been incredible

I did a year of Metallurgy and Meterial Science at University (basically so long ago that dinosaurs were wandering the campus so I have forgotten the details!) and that gave me some idea of how complicated steel and other metals are

Damn well down SpaceX


(not sure how much Elon Musk has to do with it - but I personally doubt it is much otehr than the money and publicity!!!)

 

[sevenfourate]

Just watched the launch of the SpaceX launch and landing today

I mean - launching the thing without it blowing up is difficult enough

but catching the booster on a tower when it comes back down was just amazing

incredibly accurate and the metallurgy and design needed to make the booster and the tower not just break must have been incredible

I did a year of Metallurgy and Meterial Science at University (basically so long ago that dinosaurs were wandering the campus so I have forgotten the details!) and that gave me some idea of how complicated steel and other metals are

Damn well down SpaceX


(not sure how much Elon Musk has to do with it - but I personally doubt it is much otehr than the money and publicity!!!)

Wow ! Just Googled it. That’s nuts. Very very clever stuff…..

https://news.sky.com/story/spacex-r...launch-as-it-is-caught-by-chopsticks-13232854

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Wow ! Just Googled it. That’s nuts. Very very clever stuff…..

https://news.sky.com/story/spacex-r...launch-as-it-is-caught-by-chopsticks-13232854

Yes - I bet there were some engineers (etc) watching monitors and numbers VERY carefully
(or with their eyes closed!!!!)

 

[Drago]

Just astonishing. Arguably the most significant development in crewed spaceflight develooment since the first moon landing.

Just gobsmacking.

The flip side of this is they're making NASA's methodology and the SLS look like an incredibly expensive sick joke, but SLS is a job creation programme first and foremost. Any exploration SLS might manage is purely incidental to its main purpose.

Even more pertinent, the high altitude turn around phase after BECO and stage separation is mathematically not that dissimilar from barrelling into the thin atmosphere of Mars. That data and engineering experience will be very useful further on down the line.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Just astonishing. Arguably the most significant development in crewed spaceflight develooment since the first moon landing.

Just a shame that the whole concept of crewed spaceflight is a bit pointless, other than for separating super-rich from their cash.

 

[lazybloke]

My son was getting agitated because a flat phone stopped him watching the launch.

Dug out my phone and we watched it together. The 'chopsticks' capture was hugely impressive. 275 tons when empty, if i remember correctly, plus whatever the remaining fuel weighed. Wow

 

[Drago]

Just a shame that the whole concept of crewed spaceflight is a bit pointless, other than for separating super-rich from their cash.

That's a philosophical argument. As someone who's studied the mechanics of spaceflight at postgrad level I'd take a different view,

The whole point of having cash is surely to be able to be separated from it in exchange for things you might enjoy or desire. I'm sure if you weremsuper-rich you'd find something to spend it on that someone somewhere could find a moral objection to.

And as for crewed flight being pointless...well, and elephant could walk past Curiosity or Perseverance and not be detected if it doesn't walk past a camera. A human can achieve in minutes what robots might take months to do, so while the gazillionaires are mincing about doing there thing there are very good arguments for the advancement of human knowledge with crewed exploration.

If you don't like it you don't have to either go yourself or pay towards it, so it's really no skin off your nose either way. Indeed, if your outlook were the prevailing one humankind would never have descended from the trees.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I'm ashamed to say my youngest called me a nerd when I was cheering the booster being captured. Just to clarify, ashamed of the child, not my cheering.

 

[lazybloke]

My son has started to out-nerd me with his AI dabbling.
He's been running AI "large language models" on his computer, and his next step is to train the models.

Train them to do what? !

Forget Cyberdyne systems. Skynet is going to be created upstairs.

 

[Gillstay]

I find it incredible that they can catch a rocket. Sci fi made real. Love it.

 

[Drago]

I find it incredible that they can catch a rocket. Sci fi made real. Love it.

It's like Thunderbirds is coming true!

 

[Tenkaykev]

Just to emphasise how jaw droppingly accurate the guidance systems are:

" On its previous test flight in June, the Super Heavy booster made a pinpoint splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico just offshore from the Starbase launch site. The rocket performed all of its return maneuvers exactly as prescribed, giving SpaceX officials confidence to try the same thing Sunday, but aiming for the launch pad instead of the sea.

“We landed with half a centimeter accuracy in the ocean, so we think we have a reasonable chance to come back to the tower," Gerstenmaier said."

Half a Centimetre.!! 😮

 

[FrankCrank]

Yeah but, will that chop stick thingy give it back - finders keepers.

 

[Dogtrousers]

And as for crewed flight being pointless...well, and elephant could walk past Curiosity or Perseverance and not be detected if it doesn't walk past a camera. A human can achieve in minutes what robots might take months to do, so while the gazillionaires are mincing about doing there thing there are very good arguments for the advancement of human knowledge with crewed exploration.

Curiosity and Perseverance can and do operate on Mars. A human can't. At least not without life support and shielding to get them there, fuel to decelerate them for a soft landing and fuel to get them and their life support off the surface again. All of those things are heavy, and need fuel to get them off earth. And that's heavy too. Remember that little "m" in the equations? That stands for mass.

And Mars is about the only vaguely benign environment out there. It only gets worse elsewhere.

I remember seeing a program a few years back (probably when Sojourner was operating) in which some geologists bemoaned the fact that without a proper geologist on site, meaningful geology would be impossible. I laughed at their self importance even then.

 

[fossyant]

Very clever stuff, just like when they managed to land the Starship stage without a 'bang'. Shame the boss man is a knob.