Cancer Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 A paper came out here (Nature Geophysics, open access) based on results from the Chinese Chang'e-5 mission (among others) about glass beads formed in meteorite impacts on the Moon contain some water, and then folks have run with it in terms of that being a water supply for a Moon colony. Interesting stuff, but nowhere near as large a resource as one might think. They're estimating about 3 * 10^14 kg over the whole lunar surface (actually 10% less than that, but I'm being sloppy here to make a point). Impact debris is pretty evenly spread over the Moon, so if you should probably assume a uniform spread over that whole surface, and then on average you have roughly 8 million kg of water per square kilometer, or 8 kg per square meter. That's 8 liters per square meter, so that if you imagine this as water in uniform pool form covering the surface ... the water is 8 millimeters deep. And that's a non-renewable resource (more precisely, renewable over geologic times). For a decent Moon base you're going to have harvest a pretty large area to get enough water to sustain the people in it, and process it at high efficiency, and once you've got it you're going to have to be assiduous about recycling it. Not impossible, but you're starting to get into handwavium-level extrapolations that sound good in science fiction but don't stand up when you think about realizing that technology. Scott Ruggels 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 1, 2023 Report Share Posted April 1, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 2, 2023 Report Share Posted April 2, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted April 3, 2023 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2023 NASA announces the Artemis II astronauts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 4, 2023 Report Share Posted April 4, 2023 https://observer.com/2023/04/spacex-starship-orbital-launch-date/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/spacex-moves-starship-to-launch-site-and-liftoff-could-be-just-days-away/ tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 5, 2023 Report Share Posted April 5, 2023 What has been learned from the DART Mission so far.https://www.space.com/dart-asteroid-impact-smashing-success-scientists-say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted April 5, 2023 Report Share Posted April 5, 2023 Radio astronomers find evidence that a rocky exoplanet has a magnetic field. Does that meanb it's held its atmosphere despite being so close to its star? That's more of a stretch. And it's a searing-hot planet. But since rocky planets (probably) need magnetic fields to keep atmospheres over geological time, this is one step forward to finding planets that might support life as we known it. Repeating radio signal leads astronomers to an Earth-size exoplanet (msn.com) (Story contains link to paper in Nature Astronomy.) Dean Shomshak tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 6, 2023 Report Share Posted April 6, 2023 https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/a-new-zealand-company-has-started-flying-a-rocket-powered-spaceplane/ tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 8, 2023 Report Share Posted April 8, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted April 8, 2023 Report Share Posted April 8, 2023 On 4/5/2023 at 1:13 AM, DShomshak said: Repeating radio signal leads astronomers to an Earth-size exoplanet (msn.com) So NASA gets radio signals from a bajillion miles away, and my WiFi drops if I go to the laundry room? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 8, 2023 Report Share Posted April 8, 2023 34 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said: So NASA gets radio signals from a bajillion miles away, and my WiFi drops if I go to the laundry room? Nasa has a much higher tier cable plan, because the tax payers pay for it. Grailknight and Duke Bushido 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 9, 2023 Report Share Posted April 9, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 11, 2023 Report Share Posted April 11, 2023 Looks oike they may launch Starship on my birthday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 14, 2023 Report Share Posted April 14, 2023 (edited) Bad News: the FAA is dragging it's feet and will not clear for the launch until May 31 at the earliest:https://www.investors.com/news/technology/spacex-faa-blows-out-candle-on-company-starship/ EDIT: The FAA Completed their Environmental Review in 2022, and the curren tlaunch window is April 17th ior 18th Edited April 14, 2023 by Scott Ruggels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 14, 2023 Report Share Posted April 14, 2023 An item in mainstream news has reported that a supermassive black hole (in another galaxy) has been found after its ejection from the center of that galaxy. The technical journal paper from which that item comes is here; open access, but this is unleavened technical stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted April 15, 2023 Report Share Posted April 15, 2023 17 hours ago, Cancer said: but this is unleavened technical stuff. so you know it's kosher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 16, 2023 Report Share Posted April 16, 2023 Scott Manley got his private Pilot's License!11 Yaaay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 17, 2023 Report Share Posted April 17, 2023 Launch scrubbed for today due to a frozen valve. They carried the count down to T-10 seconds, and considered it a successful wet dress rehearsal. Next attempt is Wednesday 4/20. (Cue Beavis & Butthead laughing) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cowan Posted April 20, 2023 Report Share Posted April 20, 2023 Well, BOOM! thou it did make it to right after the flip for 2nd stage sep. Scott Ruggels 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 20, 2023 Report Share Posted April 20, 2023 I hadn't realized before this morning that they were using 39 separate but coordinated engines in that vehicle. That makes this a much more complicated problem than I had thought. The Soviet N1 rocket had 30 separate engines, and (admittedly 50+ years ago) the design difficulties could not be overcome. One of the four launch failures destroyed the launch complex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted April 20, 2023 Report Share Posted April 20, 2023 The launch complex, the gantry, everything within half a Kilometer... This is just not good design work. Too much opportunity for failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cowan Posted April 20, 2023 Report Share Posted April 20, 2023 4 hours ago, Cancer said: I hadn't realized before this morning that they were using 39 separate but coordinated engines in that vehicle. That makes this a much more complicated problem than I had thought. The Soviet N1 rocket had 30 separate engines, and (admittedly 50+ years ago) the design difficulties could not be overcome. One of the four launch failures destroyed the launch complex. 33 on 1st stage, and 6 on the 2nd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 21, 2023 Report Share Posted April 21, 2023 Summary of today's events Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted April 21, 2023 Report Share Posted April 21, 2023 Scott Manley’s analysis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 26, 2023 Report Share Posted April 26, 2023 (edited) The Hakuto-R spacecrafts seems to have failed its attempt at a soft landing on the Moon. EDIT: Preliminary discussion in Nature Looks like ran out of fuel before getting to the surface. Edited April 26, 2023 by Cancer Adding the Nature link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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