ChiefsPlanet - Science Space Exploration megathread

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Space Exploration megathread (https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=284057)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud (Post 15007659)

4 months? Holy cow! That's nearly 31,000 miles per hour.

You have to go nearly that fast just to escape the Earth's gravity. Apollo 11 was around 25,000 mph.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud (Post 15007566)

I don't think he's too off the mark in terms of cargo but a manned mission to Mars in 2024?

Has Space X even built whatever ship is taking the astronauts on their 18 month journey?

Won't they need a ship in orbit and a lander, too?

I'm pretty sure "Starship" is being designed just like the Falcon 9, in that it can use it's engines to descend to the surface and land upright. Then it will take back off vertically to head back.

For those interested. I didn't realize that they were planning on 100% Mars-generated fuel for the return.

https://www.spacex.com/human-spaceflight/mars/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger (Post 15007784)

For those interested. I didn't realize that they were planning on 100% Mars-generated fuel for the return.

https://www.spacex.com/human-spaceflight/mars/

Yep, that's why the Raptor engine is so important, methane can be made on Mars. The flying water tower last year was the first time ever that a methane full flow staged combustion engine took flight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagicHef (Post 15007673)

You have to go nearly that fast just to escape the Earth's gravity. Apollo 11 was around 25,000 mph.

Right, and I fully understand the physics of breaking out of the Earth's orbit.

I just had no idea that science and technology are at the point where it's possible to reach Mars in 4 months.

With that being the case, I would imagine that the commute to Mars will take a week or less before the end of this century.

Is interstellar travel that far behind?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 15001876)

Florida from the space station

Who are all those people in your back yard?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dartgod (Post 15008170)

Who are all those people in your back yard?

Mainly Cubans and snowbirds from NY? ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud (Post 15008150)

IIRC, someone posted a vid about how we have nearly perfected ion propulsion a while back. I'll see if I can dig the vid up.

Here you go

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CiWb44VRZGo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And just for shits and grins

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Imi8-rCicaQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bowser (Post 15008353)

Unfortunately, actual humans would be very sadly incapable of that travel. It would kill them pretty quickly because of hydrogen itself.

Quote:

Trouble is, traveling close to the speed of light brings about other effects, too. In Natural Science, Edelstein and Edelstein point out that hydrogen in any craft cable of traveling at the speed of light would also prevent it from traveling at the speed of light. They explain:

Unfortunately, as spaceship velocities approach the speed of light, interstellar hydrogen H, although only present at a density of approximately 1.8 atoms/cm3, turns into intense radiation that would quickly kill passengers and destroy electronic instrumentation. In addition, the energy loss of ionizing radiation passing through the ship's hull represents an increasing heat load that necessitates large expenditures of energy to cool the ship.

In other words, travel close to the speed of light and you'll be bombarded with so much radiation that you kick the bucket. The knock-on effect is that even if it's possible to create a craft capable of traveling close the speed of light, it wouldn't be able to transport people.

Instead, there's a natural speed limit imposed by safe levels of radiation due to hydrogen, which means humans couldn't travel faster than half the speed of light unless they were willing to die almost immediately. Dammit.

https://gizmodo.com/super-fast-space...inutes-5957697

If any night owls are interested RocketLab has a NASA launch tonight at 11:25pm (with a 2-hour launch window). It's a tiny little rocket, but still fun to watch.

Here's the official stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zzu7hI0ESM

And here's Tim Dodd's hosted version, which I like just because he has good commentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbUbuH7pkU0

Also, this is super cool.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Starlink fairing deploy sequence <a href="https://t.co/2aOmxWDx8w">pic.twitter.com/2aOmxWDx8w</a></p>— SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1270466922459459590?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>