The Astronomy Thread

Crew Dragon's abort test is in a few hours. This is the final hurdle till a crewed dragon launch this year. Seems like they fixed whatever caused the hypergolic fuel leak that made the last crew dragon blow up on the test pad.


So it looks like the test is a full Falcon-9 launch with the abort launch while still at suborbital altitude. I dunno if the Falcon will be able to turn around and land while it's still that low. Secondly, does ULA/Boeing also have to do a full-up launch test with their Spaceliner? That's a considerable difference in costs considering Spacex can just reuse a booster, which they are, and ULA can't.

khorum said:

Crew Dragon's abort test is in a few hours. This is the final hurdle till a crewed dragon launch this year. Seems like they fixed whatever caused the hypergolic fuel leak that made the last crew dragon blow up on the test pad.


So it looks like the test is a full Falcon-9 launch with the abort launch while still at suborbital altitude. I dunno if the Falcon will be able to turn around and land while it's still that low. Secondly, does ULA/Boeing also have to do a full-up launch test with their Spaceliner? That's a considerable difference in costs considering Spacex can just reuse a booster, which they are, and ULA can't.

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They expect the Falcon 9 used to be destroyed.

Not sure about Starliner. From what I've read, it seems Nasa types are really wanting to let ULA _not_ have to do another unmanned test after the last one failed to reach the space station. I imagine if it was SpaceX that Nasa would be a lot less accomodating.

Scrubbed till tomorrow.

Next stop, SpaceX doing a manned test flight to the space station.

khorum said:

Crew Dragon's abort test is in a few hours. This is the final hurdle till a crewed dragon launch this year. Seems like they fixed whatever caused the hypergolic fuel leak that made the last crew dragon blow up on the test pad.


So it looks like the test is a full Falcon-9 launch with the abort launch while still at suborbital altitude. I dunno if the Falcon will be able to turn around and land while it's still that low. Secondly, does ULA/Boeing also have to do a full-up launch test with their Spaceliner? That's a considerable difference in costs considering Spacex can just reuse a booster, which they are, and ULA can't.

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I did a cursorry search online and did not find anything saying that Boeing has done an inflight abort test for the Starliner (which is what SpaceX did today with their own capsule). SpaceX has seemingly successfully passed the pod abort test, the docking with the space station and the in flight abort test and only has to do the manned space station trip test thing to get fully approved.

Boeing had a parachute fail in the pad abort test (Nasa declared it a success anyway), and failed the space station docking test mission and hasn't done the other two. So might be a while before Starliner finishes testing, unless Nasa decides to let them off lightly for their failures.

What the fuck... are they actually gonna use those Daft Punk spacesuits?



Oh lol no shit they're NASA certified:


Starliner has its own custom spacesuit too:

Tuco said:

I haven't found any videos with audio capturing the explosion yet.

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Found it for you

Skip to 6 minutes in

Tuco said:

SpaceX tested their separation system. I guess they used an expendable falcon rocket that was equipped with the minimal gear necessary to perform the test and was designed to break up immediately after separation.


I haven't found any videos with audio capturing the explosion yet.

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The rocket used had been used and recovered three times previously.

Did they detonate it remotely or did it break up from aerodynamic stress? That was past max Q.

khorum said:

Did they detonate it remotely or did it break up from aerodynamic stress? That was past max Q.

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I don't know. Perhaps they fired off the capsule and THAT caused the rocket to break up.

Mainly posting this since I was rustled by the CBC clickbait type article I originally read. Title of the article on CBC:
Is a gravitational wave detection near Betelgeuse a sign the star is ready to explode?

A possible gravity wave detection in the region of sky near Betelgeuse, has fuck all to do with the star itself. Fucking muppets.

Ukerric said:

Yea. The only thing giving out gravity waves are so energistic, Earth would be ALREADY done for if that happened in Betelgeuse for some reason.

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I'm more leaning towards the thinking we wouldn't have much effect here, if say a neutron star merger happened at that distance, but the science is still new, we have no clear idea what is going on in the local area, when one of these events occurs. Are they actually having an effect on physical matter, beyond the area of the event? Or are they just blips in "spacetime" rippling the fabric of the universe, us along with it, with no real physical effect on it, but sensitive equipment can pick up the effect?

I'm not even sure if there has been gravity wave event detected yet in relation with a supernova of any type, although possible, my deep reading these days is usually done on the shitter. We haven't been able to observe one within our own galaxy in over a hundred years I think?

I love the cosmos, shit is better than religion, especially that feeling when you thought you knew something, but a completely new & better idea blows your mind while it expands it. Sure makes you feel tiny.