Space In My Brain

@INiallAnderson A mass of mass drivers.

"Mass drivers" as in plural. as in multiple. 😏

In 2019 China hadn't declared they'd be on the Moon by 2030. At that point Congress still had an iron grip on directing the Artemis $$$$ to certain contractors with a presence in their state or district. There was no incentive for a president to expend political capital on fixing that. Since China declared a race the priorities have changed drastically. Key senators have backed giving Isaacman extraordinary powers over the money allocated for Artemis hardware, powers no other Administrator ever had. Bridenstine made that statement as more of a kick in the ass to Boeing than a firm technical proposal. I loved the "Bridenstack" idea and looked into it a lot then and unfortunately it can't be done. FH can't lift the mass of Orion and ICPS if the mass of the launch escape system and the fairing-sections around the ESM are included. What could have worked back then, if the urgency was there, was a dual launch architecture: Orion on one FH and the ICPS on another. Mate in LEO and head to the Moon. FH could still do so using a Centaur V instead of ICPS. A pad upgrade would be needed to take hydrogen to the Centaur V but on the scale of a lunar program that wouldn't be a big deal.

"No commercial alternative just yet, ..." Ehh. That's quite debatable. The Bridenstine of April 2019 thought Falcon Heavy was a plausible alternative to the SLS, for an Orion Moon rocket. So do I and many others. China is about to speed run to the Moon with what's essentially a Chinese Falcon Heavy. Showing NASA would NASA could have done 7 years earlier...

Interesting statement from an agency whose flagship rocket costs *40 times* more to launch than the commercial alternative

@planet4589 But what if the sky falls? How will we know? I hope you'll be having fun on your travels, even if it's mainly for business.

Apologies for the lack of updates; I am on travel until May 11.

It's a tempting idea, it seems close to doable - but it isn't, unfortunately. The HLS can't carry enough propellant, it would need to be refilled in lunar orbit in order to return to LEO, whether it's carrying the Dragon along or will rendezvous with it when HLS reaches LEO. HLS will need a fair amount of propellant to decelerate to LEO using its engines, it has no heat shielding so it can't decelerate using atmospheric braking. Refilling in lunar orbit will require a couple of tanker ships and a zero-boil off depot, which will need their own set of 12-15 tanker launches to LEO. Aside from that, NASA won't tolerate the risk of refilling in lunar orbit - any problem with a nozzle or seal would doom the crew. Do you want Dragon to return from the Moon by itself? It can be modified to do so, but not easily. Some people love the idea and underestimate how difficult the modifications will be and some overestimate the difficulty. I'd ride in one. The best future commercial alternative is to have a separate Starship take the crew to and from lunar orbit, with HLS doing what it's already planned to do. Since it won't have done a lunar landing and liftoff that Starship will have enough propellant to decelerate to LEO, no refilling in lunar orbit needed. A Dragon can be a taxi to LEO and back to Earth.

This absolutely true. But, once someone has a HLS couldn’t that be used to transit to the moon, as well as landing them on it? So, launch astronauts in a Dragon, dock with the HLS in LEO, go to moon, on return transfer back to the Dragon to return to Earth. Is there something about this mission profile that doesn’t work?

I think he's suggesting a Dragon ride-along architecture, the crew residing in HLS for LEO-NRHO-LEO. If HLS decelerated to LEO and then the crew transferred to Dragon then Dragon can probably be reasonably modified handle it. Can't work anyway, the HLS would need refilling in NRHO.

@danjw1234 @NASAAdmin @Pinboard Dragon is incapable of supporting a mission beyond Leo -inadaquate radiation shielding - no/limited manual control - heatshield not remotely rated for reentry from moon speeds - life support system not capable for long term deep space transit - thermal control not sufficient

@space_stations @Lori_Garver @Astros4America Because Trump likes gaudy gold things.

@SpaceInMiBrain @Lori_Garver @Astros4America Why?

Contrast to the expressions we saw throughout their mission - even while in a cramped capsule for 10 days w/out a working toilet. Awkward to have them used as partisan political props in his press conference. I wonder if they will join @Astros4America when they leave the corps?

@DavidFGuajardo @Truthful_ast @texas_lizard Yes, it's absolutely going to have more and more stuff installed as the years go by, from before the first landing to 10 years out and more. So much to look forward to!

Thanks for your response! I used to point out the difference of the starship flames length vs reality (3 times longer in reality). I do believe it won’t be this hallow, more structure’s will be added, between spacesuits, exercise machines, hydroponics, labs. Let’s see what evolves in the next 5-10yrs once human rated 🤩 Thanks for sharing @SpaceInMiBrain 🚀

SpaceX to give a public update on the Artemis Human Landing System (HLS) expected around Starship Flight 12.

@davill Why is it flapping its wings? There's no air in space. 🙂 Good to see more and more reusability.

Cool video of New Glenn’s fairing re-entry. For this flight we installed an exo-atmospheric reaction control system (RCS) in the fairing to control re-entry and enable recovery of the fairing. We’re planning a parachute recovery later this year, and the data from these fairings gives us the learnings needed to develop and refine that capability.

@Truthful_ast Perhaps it'll simply be the next episode of the documentary series SpaceX us self-producing on X.

@DavidFGuajardo @Truthful_ast @texas_lizard Because the renders of the interior shown here are official SpaceX releases, fairly recent. Why is SpaceX leaving so much room? Because there is so much of it inherent in the basic Starship design, it's meant to carry many more people.

@Truthful_ast @texas_lizard What’s makes you think there will be so much FREE SPACE inside the living quarters?

I'm sure there'll be more stuff in there and more complexity when it's actually built. Or... maybe it'll be as bare and smooth as the interior of a Dragon, with just a touch screen here and there to control things. (Aside from the flight deck.) I really want to see more widely spaced sleeping cubicles, why crowd thema together and worry about who snores? They better have two toilets, there's plenty of room for them.

@SpoxSpace I kinda feel like this upper area could be a bit more futuristic and a bit less empty. Like there are 2 wooden tables and that’s it?

Only thing I’d change is maybe adding stairs instead of a ladder stair

@SpoxSpace Stairs might actually be harder to use in 1/6 g, you'd be bouncing up and overshooting steps with each step you took. Even with handrails that'd be awkward to control. Taking 2-3 jumps up a ladder you're holding onto with both hands is likely easier. At a guess.

@EzekielOverstr1 This looks like you posted the actually speed of the video. Thanks, and thanks for that especially.

Shot of the SQD after it swung out

@BlackSky_Inc Damn impressive. And thanks for that beautiful dark twilight shot of Pad 39A, I've never seen anything like it.

Timing is everything. Check out these images, taken today, of Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. At 07:29 local time, Gen-3 captured an extreme off-nadir twilight shot of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on the pad before again catching the vehicle in flight at 10:13, 38 seconds after launch, as it was traveling more than 400 miles per hour. With time-diverse imaging capabilities and flexible imaging modes, Gen-3 sees relevant activity at all hours of the day.

@largescience @dpoddolphinpro They wanted Trump to feature it on his desk so they put a gaudy gold border on it. Works better than dangling a chocolate bar in front of a kid.

@dpoddolphinpro WTF does an engineering model have an overgilded gold case….ridiculously tacky and gaudy. IS Trumpty going to design a rocket next? along with his ‘battleship’?

That's a pretty cool model of Space Reactor-1 Freedom on the President's desk right there

@dpoddolphinpro Isaacson: We have to get this new project publicized to the general public. NASA public affairs: Trump doesn't care enough about this. Isaacson: Put a lot of gold trim around it.

@GeneModifiedCat @radioactivered You'll love taking a walk thru Grand Central Station in NYC. The granite it's made from is very slightly radioactive. Much remarked upon but workers spend many years there with no ill effects.

@radioactivered I love the common items that are oops radioactive 😺

There is a type of 1970s tape dispenser called the “3M Model C-15 Decor Scotch” that is slightly radioactive. This office staple contains thorium bearing monazite sand mixed with epoxy resin in its base.☢️ Manufacturers added the dense sand as a ballast to give the dispenser enough weight to stay firmly in place while pulling tape. Eventually, a hospital technician in Alabama ended up discovering the radioactivity sometime between the 1970s-1980s while performing a routine radiological survey in his office. One example from a 55 gallon drum of similar dispensers that the U.S. Army was preparing to dispose of as “radioactive waste” was sent to Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), where the monazite sand was finally identified as the source. Independent measurements with various radiation detector models can vary in readings, typically I have seen them show readings from 100CPM to even 1,000CPM. The radiation levels are typical of naturally occurring thorium in monazite and pose no meaningful health risk during normal use.

@radioactivered So that's why my wife placed 2 dozen tape dispensers around my recliner.

Soyuz takes less than 8t to LEO, or a little more depending on source. That rocket had a goodly number of European customers when launched from the French site in South America. Idk what kind of customer base is still there, European or American. Plus I'm in danger of just being contrarian. :) Another problem is that'd be an expensive 8t, using an entire core for a ~small payload(s).

@SpaceInMiBrain No boosters gives them about 8 tons to LEO and not much to anywhere else. There might be customers for that, but it seems like it wouldn't be a lot.

Hmm.... I do not think talking about the injection accuracy of my rocket on the mission that got it grounded by my customer would be a choice that I would make.