The Astronomy Thread
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Sanrith Descartes
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At some point there is going to be an outcry for things like bridges to be labeled that the architect/engineer who designed it was a diversity hire.
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Aaron
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What I will say is that all the Xers and womyn astronauts who sit their arse in that rocket to be blasted to the Moon have balls of steel - even if they've been surgically removed. As much as I'd love a ticket to space, not even all of Bezo's wealth could get me to sit in that tin can!
Also, with regards to Boeing, it used to be a gold standard of engineering excellence. It all went downhill after the shitshow of a company McDonnel Douglass "bought Boeing using Boeing's money". The story behind it is fascinating. That company was run by financial "wizards" and found a way to merge the two companies by taking out loans and then repaying them post merger with Boeings own money. And within a year almost all the key people in the newly merged company were financial types from MDD and not engineers from Boeing. Sad story.
Also, with regards to Boeing, it used to be a gold standard of engineering excellence. It all went downhill after the shitshow of a company McDonnel Douglass "bought Boeing using Boeing's money". The story behind it is fascinating. That company was run by financial "wizards" and found a way to merge the two companies by taking out loans and then repaying them post merger with Boeings own money. And within a year almost all the key people in the newly merged company were financial types from MDD and not engineers from Boeing. Sad story.
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Ukerric
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That's a common thing. It happened to my first company. We were "purchased" by another company, yet somehow all the upper management from my old one ended up in charge of the merged company and the other's C-suite all left. It looked weird on paper, but once I got explained about debt consolidation and stuff, it suddenly made sense (at least for the finance and, most importantly, tax guys).
Furry
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Sanrith Descartes
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I was going to get into the financial in and outs of how this happens all the time but didnt want to derail into the financial weeds.
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BrutulTM
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While this is true, and I too will be keeping my ass safe on the earth, astronauts today have nothing on the people who explored the new world. I was just reading something about Magellan and how he set out with 5 ships and 270 men and only one ship and 30 guys actually made it back to Spain. Those guys set out knowing that the most likely outcome was death. Heading out into the unknown with no communication and no hope of help from anyone.
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Aaron
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Yeah, it's amazing to read stories of people like that. Hell, just 100 years ago when Amundsen and Scott were racing for the arctic regions, all alone, no-one to save you. Took a special breed of man to do it. Not sure we have many of them left.
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Sanrith Descartes
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Elon sort of stepped up and defended NASA. Said that they are restricted via Congress to reuse Space Shuttle and other tech/materials and because of this they have to use Hydrogen which has atoms so small its nearly impossible to stop leaks. SpaceX does not use hydrogen. He also took a shot and said he think all the best NASA engineers quit and work for SpaceX now.
Ok, Internet. This is what we've been shitposting in preparation for our entire lives. "What should we call the thing that probes Uranus?" JFC. Make me proud.
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Mudcrush Durtfeet
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Gravel
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Which always leads back to...what purpose does NASA serve anymore?
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Furry
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Hydrogen in theory has its uses in rocketry, but it presents a lot more problems than just about any other fuel, so it really should be a last resort choice when first choice options aren’t sufficient. Methane, lng and kerosene are all just better suited for civilian space use generally. Other fuels are better for military, where long term storage is a primary consideration.
Not saying it can’t be done, but it takes a very tiny fuck up to have a very big mishap with hydrogen, and going to space isn’t exactly safe to begin with.
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Sanrith Descartes
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Cybsled
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You know they're going to use something like Cronus or whatever.
The key thing to remember is there are two sides to NASA: Manned and unmanned missions. NASA is doing perfectly fine with the unmanned stuff at the moment.
Even if SLS ends up going nowhere and SpaceX becomes the key manned mission component of our manned space program, you still want NASA to be doing stuff like deep space probes or rovers, science satellites, etc.
Mudcrush Durtfeet
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Eh, hopefully for sane costs. JWST works great, but the cost of the thing was... astronomical.
Cybsled
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The cost was a byproduct of delivery vehicle capacity. One of the reason lots of disciplines (military, science) hope Starship pans out because a relatively cheap, large capacity orbital lift vehicle can in turn bring down costs of things like the JWST. For instance, for JWST, the mirrors and mechanism involved were very pricey because it had to unfold and they had to use more expensive components/materials to account for the mirror design as a direct result of the capacity of the lift vehicle. But in theory, if you had Starship as the lift vehicle when you designed the JWST, you could have accounted for the more volume in the interior and wouldnt have had to use the same design for the telescope in turn, which may have reduced costs
Mudcrush Durtfeet
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Mudcrush Durtfeet
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Blue Origin rocket goes boom.
arstechnica.com
After Blue Origin’s rocket explodes, its spacecraft makes a dramatic escape
There were no passengers on board this flight carrying scientific instruments.