The Astronomy Thread

Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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Entirely expected, though.

Here's what happened to the XB70 after 1 flight at Mach 3:

rrr_img_121703.jpg


Turns out thermal barrier + paint just doesn't work too well. Shuttle looked like crap often as well:

rrr_img_121704.jpg
 
iannis

iannis

Musty Nester
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only for going up. You need it blue coming down.

Maybe a double layer paint, scientifically engineered to peel to the proper color.
 
Khalan

Khalan

Trakanon Raider
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Does the paint have any real effect on flight? I remember reading somewhere that the paint actually adds significant weight to the rocket/craft and it would have a higher payload without. I know the paint on the Main tank of the shuttle amounted to 600Lbs of paint and it seems silly they still paint the actual rockets.

edit: ok did some further reading, the white paint reduces temps in the hot equator sun which means less fuel burn off/better safety.
 
LachiusTZ

LachiusTZ

Rogue Deathwalker Box
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That is pretty amazing they could relaunch it without any man hours of work going back into the structure / electronics etc.

Could be PR, even if it is, that means they are confident in its ability to relaunch.

Anyone know if that rocket had special equipment on it to take measurements etc for testing that will removed in futures generations?
 
Mudcrush Durtfeet

Mudcrush Durtfeet

Hungry Ogre
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So anywho, I read an article yesterday or this morning that they're going to test fire the recovered rocket (not actually launching it) and that they intend to keep it, possibly for a museum. They'll be trying to get future recovered rockets to the point that they require little work other than refueling to be reused.
 
LachiusTZ

LachiusTZ

Rogue Deathwalker Box
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I think that was expected.

Would LOVE to read the internal memos etc regarding the data from the test firing.
 
meStevo

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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Big Phoenix_sl said:
Anyone ever explain those bright spots on Ceres?
Click to expand...
They think it's salt left behind when ice vaporizes/evaporates.

Dawn pictures shed more light on Ceres bright spots

This photo from the above link is cool, you can see the material in the striations on the crater wall.

rrr_img_122930.jpg


Unrelated, SpaceX has hold-fired the rocket they landed, had an issue with one engine but prospects remain really good that this could be a thing.

Test burn on recycled SpaceX rocket shows almost all systems are go . The Register

This story is still going and evolving too -Scientists prove comets can't explain alien megastructure - Business Insider
 
meStevo

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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SpaceX tried landing on the drone ship 20 minutes ago in 13 foot seas. Was a hard landing and broke a landing strut so it was not successful. The rest of the mission nominal so far. Footage to come later, feed cut out as 1st stage approached the drone ship.
 
N

Neph_sl

shitlord
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If your landing platform is moving up and down by 13 ft, you'd think they'd postpone the test. I haven't really been following their efforts too closely, but why are they trying to land over sea versus over land? The benefits don't seem that obvious to me.
 
meStevo

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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It's secondary to the primary mission, these landing attempts are just experiments and probably aren't reasons to scrub a launch.
 
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