Astronomy and space exploration
- Thread starter eloic
- Start date
IDK, TBH I think there's an element of self-martyrdom here.
He wants to fly one of, if not the, largest rocket boosters ever flown, then return it to the launch site and catch it with some really rather sketchy looking chopsticks. Given the video I've seen over the past months, and the way SX are frantically welding more metal to those arms, I think even they aren't confident that this isn't going to end in tonnes of stainless steel being where it wasn't intended to be.
The launch site is in a nature reserve that he knew was there when he decided to build his thing there. But tax breaks are a powerful drug.
Given his company's very recent track record of scattering bits of rocket over the nature reserve (and if they fuck this up badly enough a foreign country) it's not beyond the wit of an non-Ketamine-addled brain to figure out that some people might ask questions.
Now he is playing the persecuted billionaire who everybody hates because of his genius, his only interest is the survival of the human race, Mars, blah, blah, blah.
Hush Noel.
He wants to fly one of, if not the, largest rocket boosters ever flown, then return it to the launch site and catch it with some really rather sketchy looking chopsticks. Given the video I've seen over the past months, and the way SX are frantically welding more metal to those arms, I think even they aren't confident that this isn't going to end in tonnes of stainless steel being where it wasn't intended to be.
The launch site is in a nature reserve that he knew was there when he decided to build his thing there. But tax breaks are a powerful drug.
Given his company's very recent track record of scattering bits of rocket over the nature reserve (and if they fuck this up badly enough a foreign country) it's not beyond the wit of an non-Ketamine-addled brain to figure out that some people might ask questions.
Now he is playing the persecuted billionaire who everybody hates because of his genius, his only interest is the survival of the human race, Mars, blah, blah, blah.
Hush Noel.
Kind of agree, but, as far as I know, the FAA isn't avoiding clearance for SpaceX because of the infrastructures not being ready, but because of other stuff which SpaceX recently denounced:
All of these things are independent AFAIK. There are multiple issues. The stuff you've linked to seems to mostly be about the Florida launch sites not Texas, I can't see why IFT-5 would be impacted by that other than general antagonism.
The FAA may well be under-resourced, but be very clear that when Musk and SX say that they do not mean that they think that the FAA should have more resources, they mean that they feel that the FAA should just give them carte blanche to do whatever the fuck he wants.
I don't think a world where Musk gets carte blanche is a good world.
I love rockets and space and all that - I'm a professional astronomer FFS. SX have done some remarkable stuff. But his argument that the Earth's environment is screwed so humans need to move to Mars, whilst continuing to screw with the Earth's environment just makes me wonder about him.
To put a different perspective on this - the FAA right now may well be feeling a bit cautious because of their corporate capture by Boeing and subsequent under-regulation of their activities when it comes to screwing their airliners together using enough screws. Next time you get on a Boeing plane, ask yourself whether you'd prefer a cautious FAA, or a "yeah fuck it, looks good to me, that'll do" FAA.
The FAA may well be under-resourced, but be very clear that when Musk and SX say that they do not mean that they think that the FAA should have more resources, they mean that they feel that the FAA should just give them carte blanche to do whatever the fuck he wants.
I don't think a world where Musk gets carte blanche is a good world.
I love rockets and space and all that - I'm a professional astronomer FFS. SX have done some remarkable stuff. But his argument that the Earth's environment is screwed so humans need to move to Mars, whilst continuing to screw with the Earth's environment just makes me wonder about him.
To put a different perspective on this - the FAA right now may well be feeling a bit cautious because of their corporate capture by Boeing and subsequent under-regulation of their activities when it comes to screwing their airliners together using enough screws. Next time you get on a Boeing plane, ask yourself whether you'd prefer a cautious FAA, or a "yeah fuck it, looks good to me, that'll do" FAA.
So have you probed Uranus?
Not recently.
I'm the one in the blue, on the right. Do you like my sun shades?
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Deleted member 2197
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SpaceX Recovers Starship Flight 4 Booster From Ocean Shows Horrifying Image From Musk
SpaceX has recovered pieces of its Starship Super Heavy booster from the ocean floor after Starship Flight 4.
wccftech.com
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Deleted member 2197
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It was superamazing.
Now, I'm wondering how IFT-6 will be, since the approved flight profile is (almost?) the same. Will Spacex request for a few modifications so that they can fly block 2? Or will they just repeat the same or maybe try relighting?
Yesterday's launch was fun, but don't forget Europa Clipper going off at 1606UTC today.
FH launches are always good to watch, and assuming all goes well with EC it's guaranteed to get to Europa before Musk gets humans to Mars and back*.
(*) Terms and Conditions may apply.
FH launches are always good to watch, and assuming all goes well with EC it's guaranteed to get to Europa before Musk gets humans to Mars and back*.
(*) Terms and Conditions may apply.
cheapchips
Veteran
Second orbital burn complete. 
I was a bit nervous about that after the second stage deorbit failure on the recent ISS crew mission.
I was a bit nervous about that after the second stage deorbit failure on the recent ISS crew mission.
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Voyager 1 still alive
These two spacecraft never cease to amaze me. I remember them being launched (I was about nine at the time), and their journey to the outer planets was so inspiring to me as a teenager. Nearly fifty years later they are still alive and kicking.
The work-arounds that the mission engineers come up with to solve the inevitable issues that arrive, especially with 50-year-old hardware is just incredible. I worked briefly in that area early in my career in the mid-90s it was just a different world.
These two spacecraft never cease to amaze me. I remember them being launched (I was about nine at the time), and their journey to the outer planets was so inspiring to me as a teenager. Nearly fifty years later they are still alive and kicking.
The work-arounds that the mission engineers come up with to solve the inevitable issues that arrive, especially with 50-year-old hardware is just incredible. I worked briefly in that area early in my career in the mid-90s it was just a different world.
I don't know what you're so pleased about. It only means we face impending doom in a couple hundred years as some sort of machine intelligence comes hunting for its creator.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-planet-nine-exists-well-find-it-soon/We May Be on the Brink of Finding the Real Planet Nine
If there’s a hidden world in the solar system, a new telescope should find it
By Robin George Andrews edited by Clara Moskowitz
Ron Miller
January 2025 Issue
Planetary Science
Most astronomers would love to find a planet, but Mike Brown may be the only one proud of having killed one. Thanks to his research, Pluto, the solar system’s ninth planet, was removed from the pantheon—and the public cried foul. How can you revise our childhoods? How can you mess around with our planetariums?
About 10 years ago Brown’s daughter—then around 10 years old—suggested one way he could seek redemption: go find another planet. “When she said that, I kind of laughed,” Brown says. “In my head, I was like, ‘That’s never happening.’”
Yet Brown may now be on the brink of fulfilling his daughter’s wish. Evidence he and others have gathered over the past decade suggests something strange is happening in the outer solar system: distant subplanetary objects are being found on orbits that look sculpted, arranged by an unseen gravitational force. According to Brown, that force is coming from a ninth planet—one bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune.