Science!! Fucking magnets, how do they work?

Tuco

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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In addition it's hard to imagine them being able to make a rocket landing that's more efficient than the methodology used for the space shuttle. I guess you can't put wings on everything but atmosphere, flight mechanics and and air resistance is free.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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You say this based on your extensive knowledge of aerospace design? Cause if not I'd say maybe the dudes at SpaceX might have thought of some of this stuff already.
 
Pancreas

Pancreas

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Lenas_sl said:
It's not an impossibility, but considering there can be an infinite number of "you" in an infinite configuration of lives, very unlikely that you'd be here in the exact spot typing the exact shit ever again. You also have to consider all of the infinite possibilities in which your parents never fuck to make you; or the infinite possibilities in which they're never born, either... etc.
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The thing about infinity, things get reduced to two states: possible and impossible. Chance is eliminated. If something is possible, then it occurs, if it is impossible then it doesn't. That's it. So even the weirdest, most outlandish, improbable thing occurs; provided it is a possibility.

So not only would the universe recreate itself with a potentially infinite number of outcomes, each outcome would be repeated an infinite number of times. Infinity is weird like that.

As for reusable rockets... Having the first stage turn into an air-frame and fly itself back would be cool. Another interesting thing is the amount of potential energy that is found just by moving through the atmosphere. You can end up collecting very large charges if the speeds or surface areas are great enough. That is what lighting is, just clouds collecting a large enough charge until it's able to discharge. I remember the shuttle did an experiment with towing a length of wire and measuring the amount of charge it collected. Was a rather large amount if I remember.

Anyways, if the rocket is going to be travelling through the atmosphere anyways... harnessing this power for any re-entry or recovering process would solve fuel weight issues and boost efficiency by a bunch.
 
D

Dabamf_sl

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ObservantBastard_sl said:
Ding ding ding ding! We have a winner. The extra fuel required for the delta-V needed to turn around a first stage that's heading down range away from the launch site at many thousands of mph, then have it do a powered decent like that would make it prohibitively heavy, or make it's payload throw weight too low to be useful.

Space launch rockets are extremely weight efficient machines. Typical ones in operation today have first stage fuel mass to total mass ratios over 90%, and that's for a one way expendable first stage.

A better idea is to design a rocket which can put the first stage into orbit, and descend coming around on the first full orbit. The delta-V required to reenter is much less than to turn it around from the initial ascent. Maybe that's what they are aiming for, but then you have the concerns with an unmanned autonomous rocket stage descending over land to come back to the original launch pad.
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Quick someone call the guys at SpaceX and tell them some random dude on rerolled figured out they're all wrong
 
U

UnobservantBastard_sl

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Quick, someone tell all the other rocket companies the world over that have been doing it for decades that some random South African figured out what they couldn't with decades of development and billions of dollars spent.

Oh wait, they haven't figured out shit yet. Call me when they add some lateral velocity to these otherwise glorified jet pack tests.
 
hodj

hodj

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...udy-excitement

In terms of output, Queensland University's pitch drop study - the world's oldest laboratory experiment - has been stunningly low. Only eight drops have emerged from the lump of pitch installed in the university's physics building foyer in 1927. Watching paint dry looks exhilarating by comparison.

But excitement is now rising over the experiment, which was set up to calculate the viscosity of the world's stickiest substance, pitch, which has been found to be at least 230 billion times more viscous than water. According to Professor John Mainstone, who has run the experiment since the 1960s, a ninth drop looks set to emerge from the pitch block in the very near future.

"No one has actually seen a drop emerge, so it is getting quite nervy round here," said Mainstone. "The other eight drops happened while people had their backs turned. For the last drop, in 2000, we had a webcam trained on the experiment, but it broke down . in 1988, when the previous drop was about to emerge, I popped out for a coffee and missed it."

The fact that pitch - which is so brittle it can be smashed with a hammer - behaves like a fluid is the most surprising aspect of the experiment, added Mainstone. "This time we have got several cameras trained on the pitch sample to make sure we get a sight of it dropping. It will take only about a tenth of a second, however. On the other hand, I am 78, and the next drop is unlikely to fall for at least another 10 years, so this might be my last chance to see it happen." Mainstone will share the experience with people who watch the unmoving lump of pitch on computers around the world - in the hope they will catch the moment when the Queensland experiment actually produces a result.
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Eomer

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ObservantBastard_sl said:
Quick, someone tell all the other rocket companies the world over that have been doing it for decades that some random South African figured out what they couldn't with decades of development and billions of dollars spent.

Oh wait, they haven't figured out shit yet. Call me when they add some lateral velocity to these otherwise glorified jet pack tests.
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Technically, SpaceX is the first actual "company" to even attempt space flight. All the other ones have been government/military operations subcontracted to defense companies, for all intents and purposes. Also, if you read the link I provided earlier, they're going to be integrating the technology in virtually all of their rockets starting in 2014 apparently, if only for testing at the start. So apparently it isn't going to significantly limit their payload capability to any great extent.

Considering SpaceX has already created one of the most inexpensive launch platforms for an order of magnitude or two less in development costs than governments have done in the past, I'm putting my money on the random South African.
 
U

UnobservantBastard_sl

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People act like Spacex hasn't received hundreds of millions from govt to develop their technology, just like all the other contractors from decades past. Contract structure may be different (milestone payments vs up front development costs), but they are getting mega bucks from govt.

On launch costs: already charging more than they said they would. And let's see what the prices are when private investment money stops coming in and those investors expect a return...
 
iannis

iannis

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That will be the most depressing reality show ever.

"And then the feeds stopped, because everyone died and there was no electricity."
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Wow. I have always thought that if you decided to do a 1-way mission there would be people that would be willing to go but 80,000 is a whole lot of people. Of course a lot of them would probably not go through with it if they actually got the chance, but that's still a lot of people volunteering to go die on a cold rock in outer space.
 
Haast

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Iannis_sl said:
That will be the most depressing reality show ever.

"And then the feeds stopped, because everyone died and there was no electricity."
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Or, if the contestants were unbearable pieces of shit like most reality TV, maybe the best reality show ever?
 
gogusrl

gogusrl

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They stole the idea from that canadian tv series(mission to mars or some shit funded by advertisement / reality tv) that got canceled after 10 eps.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Can you imagine being stuck in a little cabin with a half dozen other people for the rest of your natural life with zero chance of ever getting out of it? Even if the mission was a complete success you are just going to sit out there for years and/or decades and slowly watch each other die. Everyone would go insane. I suppose there is a faint hope that technology will keep marching forward and eventually there would be a round-trip mission that could take you back to Earth, but there's certainly no guarantee of that.

I would kill myself in two weeks.
 
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