Charlie Garcia

My job is to stress fluids out. 😎

If megastructures in space are your thing, come join @reflectorbital

@kegrocket Many such cases.

He who designs the structure before the plumbing will be surely punished by bend radii

Long before the world had Barbenheimer, you could watch The Dark Night and follow it up with Keira Knightley's Pride and Prejudice and I think that's pretty cool.

@HalenMattison @gengalactic Looking good folks!

flight qualification time @gengalactic

@_false_idol_ @BuildBoost At the risk of explaining on the internet, the parts that this monstrosity contains are ~10m long, thin wall, high strain, highly anisotropic composite structures (rolled up inside!). Our team needs a lot of things but our carbon fiber dust quotient is pretty high!

@BuildBoost huff some carbon fibre dust to immediately get over that fear

This would be cheaper, lighter, and stiffer as a composite sandwich with bonded inserts

@_Ben_in_space @BuildBoost Launch dates are artificial deadlines that are expensive to miss, both in delayed revenue, burn, and team morale. A one day difference in finishing the vehicle could mean a multi-months long wait.

@Astro_Chuck @BuildBoost What on earth are you building that speed matters that much

Getting ready for a little lunar road trip!

@AJamesMcCarthy The Sun.

Why do you follow me?

@NASAAdmin @NASA_Johnson @JerryMoran Thank you for making the time to swing by the @the_cosmosphere Mr. Administrator! It's a special place that has inspired many and will continue to do so! Ad Astra!

Took a quick trip yesterday from @NASA_Johnson to visit with Senator @JerryMoran. For those who have never been to the Cosmosphere in Kansas, this museum and education center is exceptional. To look at the Apollo 13 command module and Jim Lovell’s suit as the Artemis II crew surpassed the distance record was very impactful. I was standing next to Apollo Flight Director Gerry Griffin, and had it not been for his decision-making, and that of his NASA Mission Control team, the Odyssey command module and Jim Lovell’s suit might not have been in the museum to display. The Cosmosphere has an incredible collection of space hardware, including the Liberty Bell 7 capsule, a full Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mockup, and a Voskhod 2 with the Volga inflatable airlock used by Alexei Leonov during the first spacewalk. You can see how challenging it was, which is one reason he had to partially deflate his suit to get back inside. We also visited the manufacturers contributing to America’s space program and met the students--the future pilots, astronauts, and engineers who will continue American leadership in space. Thanks again for the wonderful visit, Senator.

There's a special kind of magic in each of these launches.

The Mojave desert is beautiful by day and by night.

Godspeed Artemis II!

@MattGialich I really hope we figure out inertia-less propulsion one day. In every case I have seen so far, the claimed thrust remains in the error bars of the measurement system. As described here the device is usable as a perpetual motion machine. altpropulsion.com/charles-buhler…

No idea if this is real. If it is, life changes. If it isn’t, then nothing changes.

@Robotbeat I think operational capabilities count. I feel relatively confident in saying we are further away from re-demonstrating capability we showed once 20 years ago than this demo is from operating.

@Astro_Chuck We flew a servicing demo in 2007.

The United States started work on an in-space servicing mission in 2016, spent ~$2B and cancelled it after 8 years of work, at which point it was still years away from launching. China flew an orbital servicing payload (Yuxing 3-06). We need a better way.

You have to be very careful to choose your optimization metrics well. "Reusability" as a technology is fantastic because it let's us put more payload in orbit. Optimizing for "minimum engines thrown away" or "common design" is bad if it hurts the ability to operate.

@EverestBrady @bennbuilds More and more each day. Spindle Uptime and % of parts made in house are both great KPIs. Ultimately the goal is to move a lot to high volume forming processes though.

@bennbuilds How much machining do you do in house?

I also recommend investing in a machine shop, at any scale!

Way to go @FireflySpace ! Alpha climbed the Stairway to Seven beautifully!

We're building some really cool stuff here @reflectorbital and you should come build with us!