SpaceX

[Boac]

The Mars Helo has been 'laid' by the rover onto the surface. To fly next week.

[Pontius Navigator]

Would Trump like to go?

I'm sure that sponsors could be found.

Thought for the day. What is his Mass? It would depend on the ratio of hot air to blubber. One could also extract the urine first.

[Boac]

For some reason (I'm sure someone knows why) the Dragon crew have moved the capsule this morning from docking point 2 to 3 to make room for the next incoming Dragon. It does beg the question why the 'new boy' could not have gone itself to 3................

[TheGreenGoblin]

For some reason (I'm sure someone knows why) the Dragon crew have moved the capsule this morning from docking point 2 to 3 to make room for the next incoming Dragon. It does beg the question why the 'new boy' could not have gone itself to 3................

You fiend! It is questions like this and others, like do you sleep with your beard above or below the duvet, that keep me up at night!

Most odd, perhaps I should e-mail Scott Manley? He knows everything?

[Boac]

Musk now saying it was ANOTHER Methane leak that caused SN11 to blow up. That's SN10 and 11 destroyed by Methane. They plan to manufacture it on Mars...................

[TheGreenGoblin]

Musk now saying it was ANOTHER Methane leak that caused SN11 to blow up. That's SN10 and 11 destroyed by Methane. They plan to manufacture it on Mars...................

This idea isn't going to work. As fun as it is watching these rockets explode, I have a bad feeling about the ultimate outcome.

[Boac]

OK - stand down Mr Manley. I think I have it. The current CREW Dragon (Resilience) which moved from the 'Forward' port to the 'Zenith' port will allow the next CREW Dragon to dock at the Forward port.

It (Resilience) will un-dock late April to return to earth, leaving the Zenith port free for the subsequent Dragon, a cargo Dragon, and this needs the ISS robotic arm, to unload its cargo bay. That arm cannot operate on the Forward port. Obvious now........................

Accepting that the manoeuvre is clever and worth doing, one has to ask whether OPS didn't quite think ahea.....
....................d?

[TheGreenGoblin]

OK - stand down Mr Manley. I think I have it. The current CREW Dragon (Resilience) which moved from the 'Forward' port to the 'Zenith' port will allow the next CREW Dragon to dock at the Forward port.

It (Resilience) will un-dock late April to return to earth, leaving the Zenith port free for the subsequent Dragon, a cargo Dragon, and this needs the ISS robotic arm, to unload its cargo bay. That arm cannot operate on the Forward port. Obvious now........................

Accepting that the manoeuvre is clever and worth doing, one has to ask whether OPS didn't quite think ahea.....
....................d?

Your Kung Fu is strong Johnny! Yes, that explanation would fit!

[TheGreenGoblin]

Ever since his unpleasant, and quite frankly, deranged behaviour relating to the submarine in the cave in Thailand, I have been quietly watching Musk and taking notes (as they say, set a poacher, to catch a poacher). His grandiose pronouncements and expectations ref. housing for SpaceX personnel in Austin have had me leafing though the relevant chapters of 'The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published in Washington, D.C by the American Psychiatric Publishing people.

Elon Musk demanded more housing in Austin, Texas in a pair of cryptic tweets on Monday.

“Urgent need to build more housing in greater Austin area!” the Tesla CEO wrote in the first tweet.

“Austin++,” he then added somewhat mysteriously.

Mr Musk, who runs both Tesla and SpaceX, among other companies, moved to Texas in 2020 after publicly clashing with California’s Covid-19 lockdowns. His aerospace company, SpaceX, already has facilities in Texas, and his electric car maker, Tesla, is building an auto “Gigafactory” just outside Austin.

Experts wonder if the CEO’s latest tweets mean he is planning to expand his operations in the Lone Star State, especially in light of another message he posted on the platform late last month.

“Please consider moving to Starbase or greater Brownsville/South Padre area in Texas & encourage friends to do so!” Mr Musk tweeted on 31 March. “SpaceX’s hiring needs for engineers, technicians, builders & essential support personnel of all kinds are growing rapidly.”

“Starbase will grow by several thousand people over the next year or two,” he added, apparently referring to his new name for Boca Chica, a Texas town where SpaceX has a rocket testing facility.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 27065.html

I suppose, given Texas's inability to provide power to its population this winter, the state should regard Musk's battery factory as a boon from the Gods, or at least from the planet Elon, but he seems to be running on the low side of mental "puissance" when it comes to the stars, even when he isn't polluting the sky with light and the earth with rocket fragments, and if I was a Texan administrator I wouldn't be too quick to rush into the Star Base boondoggle trap just yet! He did famously in California by milking their Green subsidies and tax breaks and then after having had his hissy fit there, ref. the Covid measures relating to the safety of his people in his factories, he is undoubtedly looking to sting Texas with a similar play! Every state needs its unstable, eccentric, billionaire visionaries and corporate hero demiurges, vide. Howard Hughes, but ultimately little Elon, like Hughes, might yet be discovered to be just simply stark staring mad!

[Boac]

The world needs a little madness, without which we would be devoid of many of the features of our lives we desire. Think, for example, of O-N............

[TheGreenGoblin]

The world needs a little madness, without which we would be devoid of many of the features of our lives we desire. Think, for example, of O-N............

Ah we are all mad, mad I tell you!

[TheGreenGoblin]

OK - stand down Mr Manley. I think I have it. The current CREW Dragon (Resilience) which moved from the 'Forward' port to the 'Zenith' port will allow the next CREW Dragon to dock at the Forward port.

It (Resilience) will un-dock late April to return to earth, leaving the Zenith port free for the subsequent Dragon, a cargo Dragon, and this needs the ISS robotic arm, to unload its cargo bay. That arm cannot operate on the Forward port. Obvious now........................

Accepting that the manoeuvre is clever and worth doing, one has to ask whether OPS didn't quite think ahea.....
....................d?

Your Kung Fu is strong Johnny! Yes, that explanation would fit!

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techands ... li=AAnZ9Ug

[Boac]

With 11 people in the ISS we have to hope the extra weight doesn't bring it down.........is there enough lift up there to support it?

[TheGreenGoblin]

With 11 people in the ISS we have to hope the extra weight doesn't bring it down.........is there enough lift up there to support it?

Sigh...

[Boac]

Ask Scott?

[TheGreenGoblin]

Ask Scott?

I suppose I can't accuse you (but it would be fun) of being, like the idiot on TOP, who claimed to be a helicopter pilot, and who once said that he didn't believe that man had landed on the moon, because the lunar module wasn't aerodynamic enough to land on the moon!

The question of mass and balance on the ISS is an interesting one of course, and in LEO, there is an appreciable drag over time so the the shape and orientation of the station (affected by the mass distribution and additional docked craft) results in a measurable drag requiring periodic reboosting to maintain its orbit. For the rest F = M * A...

PS - Have you ever trolled for catfish?

[Boac]

Ah! you recall my post on TOP......

Yes, caught a couple in my time.

[Boac]

Harking back to TGG's comments on the 'mental 'side of Musk, one cannot be but impressed at the pace and determination of the man. Aiming to get SN15 to the launch area by the end of this week and planning (hoping) for an unmanned orbital flight by July!

Having the moolah to do it all of course helps (just a bit...), but doesn't it put the heel-draggers to shame!

[bob2s]

Watched a great 2 hour documentary last night on the National Geographic channel re the build etc of the Perseverance Mars rover,was a bit of an eye opener on the problem's that can pop up and the quality control of the build process for the rock sampling arm.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Watched a great 2 hour documentary last night on the National Geographic channel re the build etc of the Perseverance Mars rover,was a bit of an eye opener on the problem's that can pop up and the quality control of the build process for the rock sampling arm.

As bob2s says... the full documentary is really worth watching...

A small taster of the good stuff National Geographic has produced on this subject...



https://www.space.com/perseverance-mars ... ocumentary

Real Engineering has a cracking video on this subject too...