Live! Falcon Heavy, world's most powerful rocket, maiden flight

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Get back to me when you’ve finished that Dyson Sphere and we’ll see about moving on the mass space travel front.

 

[8ball]

It's the first time I've seen rockets land the way those boosters did.
That's obviously new use of tech.

First done in the 1960s, though I guess this was especially tricky.
2 out of 3 is pretty damn good, I reckon.

 

[8ball]

View attachment 126994

These damn geeks and their numbers, spoiling the marketing for everyone!

 

[8ball]

I was taking the piss out of your stupid point that it looked like to you there was no new tech

ETA from watching an 8 minute vid

There's lovely for you.

 

[nuffsaid]

Apollo produced quite a science return, though of course most of which today could be done robotically, to a more thorough degree, producing far more data.

The golf was an improvised escapade by one of the astronauts. They all had a little fun and let off steam in odd fashions. Some took private items and left them there.


A drawing of a cock and balls/the artist’s initials/ um, a ‘spaceship’ by a certain A Warhol was also left on the Moon…

(ceramic chip attached to one of the legs of the Apollo 12 lander Intrepid by a technician, ‘John F.’, along with other art).

Cool, nice little gestures...

 

[Baronage-Phase]

First done in the 1960s, though I guess this was especially tricky.
2 out of 3 is pretty damn good, I reckon.

Thunderbirds doesn't count...

 

[ska invita]

I think its wrong to get into a falsely-polarised argument on this. Its not as simple as either or. Its not about technology vs no technology.
Its being conscious of the power politics at play. There's a new space race going on, and militarisation and capitalisation are key forces driving it. India and China are at it. The US can of course can never be trusted. Response in Russia to Musks launch shows the perverse nationalistic competitive dick waving involved How Elon Musk Beat Russia's Space Program
Every super-rich arsehole seems to be at it Jeff Bezos just launched a dummy called 'Mannequin Skywalker' into space and safely returned it to Earth
His rocket can do vertical landing too.

Some of the space stuff is pure ego tripping by the rich and powerful. But if Tesla can push through solar power and battery storage and battery operated vehicles then thats clearly a desperately needed thing - massive implications for the world. I'm just not going to cheer on an exploiting corporate cunt in the process, and lets not lose sight of the negative implications that can come with all this, or envision a way it can be done better and truly in our service.

 

[2hats]

How Elon Musk Beat Russia's Space Program

That article, like almost all others, misses out Energia, a (ultimately Korolev design bureau derived) launch vehicle from the 1980s that could lift far more than Falcon Heavy (even before you factor in the reuse of the boosters, core, which substantially reduces payload to orbit, something most articles barely bother to mention) and was itself designed for all components to fly back for reuse (though the program never progressed testing that far before the Soviet Union ground to a halt).

 

[8ball]

That article, like almost all others, misses out Energia, a (ultimately Korolev design bureau derived) launch vehicle from the 1980s that could lift far more than Falcon Heavy (even before you factor in the reuse of the boosters, core, which substantially reduces payload to orbit, something most articles barely bother to mention) and was itself designed for all components to fly back for reuse (though the program never progressed testing that far before the Soviet Union ground to a halt).

"Inaccurate propaganda" shocker!

 

[8ball]

Everyone wants that but I've never seen the plans for an affiliated space program.

Got a couple of lads down the lockup working on a warp drive as we speak...

 

[DotCommunist]

the dignity of space/space science argument is the funniest one. The universe is old and indifferent, it doesn't care. As for humans, I don't know about you but I think a little frivolity is part of all of us. Some more than others

of course it is possible to appreciate the launch for what it is while remaining aware of what musk is, the wider politics. One needn't be noshing off musk to see the potential good

if Tesla can push through solar power and battery storage and battery operated vehicles then thats clearly a desperately needed thing - massive implications for the world.

when it starts getting really big, do a thread and I shall turn up on it to imply that you are mindlessly cheering on an uber capitalist

 

[ska invita]

the dignity of space/space science argument is the funniest one.

if Nike projected a Nike logo on the moon would that offend you?

 

[8ball]

COKE ADDS LIFE

<obscure Red Dwarf reference>

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

if Nike projected a Nike logo on the moon would that offend you?

I wouldn't give a fuck really, it would be just a projection. Plus it would really wind a lot of people up, which would be funny.

If they carved it into the surface however...

 

[Baronage-Phase]

A projection like Batman's is harmless..and entertaining.
Advertising Nike ?... different matter altogether

 

[DotCommunist]

if Nike projected a Nike logo on the moon would that offend you?

I think so. Yeah that'd be like spraypainting on an old master or something- A car flung into the deep dark is not the same thing (although it serves as an advert for the motors tesla makes too). For one I don't have to look at it. Even though it would be temporary, using dear selene as a billboard is a line I am not willing to cross. One of Teslas shonky electric motors going around the sun is not the same.

COKE ADDS LIFE

Red Dwarf?

 

[8ball]

Red Dwarf?

Yeah, added clarifying note above (and below).

(In Red Dwarf the vessel they found Kryten on was an American ship owned by The Coca-Cola Company which was sent on a mission to induce the supernova of 128 supergiant stars in order to create a five-week-long message in the sky visible even in daylight, reading "COKE ADDS LIFE!")

 

[ska invita]

I think so. Yeah that'd be like spraypainting on an old master or something- A car flung into the deep dark is not the same thing (although it serves as an advert for the motors tesla makes too). For one I don't have to look at it. Even though it would be temporary, using dear selene as a billboard is a line I am not willing to cross. One of Teslas shonky electric motors going around the sun is not the same.

Red Dwarf?

i think they are the same thing
spraypainting a master would damage it
Nike gets access to a new superpower new technology laser, and beams their logo for 24 hours (so everyone in the world might get a chance to see it). Once over it disappears, no harm done. There's new tech to say "very cool" over.
Ultimatley its massive corporations invading space with their business. Same thing. No real harm done etc.

Doesnt sit right with me

 

[2hats]

"Inaccurate propaganda" shocker!

Yes, I did let Crispy’s assertion in the first post of the thread:

Launches in about 30m. Only Saturn 5 and the shuttles (USA and USSR) were more powerful.

slide .

Technically, officially, Energia was a launch vehicle in its own right (not just with a Buran class shuttle attached - that was simply one of the potential payloads). It had sufficient grunt to knock Falcon Heavy into a cocked hat (100 v 64 tonnes to LEO, in fully expendable configuration, for example).

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

It's pointing the wrong way for space

 

[8ball]

It's pointing the wrong way for space

Not if it goes fast enough.

 

[ska invita]

It's pointing the wrong way for space

North is an imperialist construct!!

 

[nuffsaid]

It's pointing the wrong way for space

Not if the Earth's flat.

 

[ska invita]

the dignity of space/space science argument is the funniest one. The universe is old and indifferent, it doesn't care. As for humans, I don't know about you but I think a little frivolity is part of all of us. Some more than others

i can see how what im saying might come over as sanctimonious....the idea of anything being sacred seems long gone these days, and maybe thats not such a terrible thing on some levels, but im never not going to stop bristling at business reducing the wonderful to a financial value. Space feels special in that humans havent totally fucked it up yet, so seeing multibillionaires fucking around up there for their own ends turns my stomach some what

Thin end of the wedge

 

[gosub]

if Nike projected a Nike logo on the moon would that offend you?

Rocket Lab secretly launched a disco ball satellite on its latest test flight

 

[2hats]

Rocket Lab secretly launched a disco ball satellite on its latest test flight

Already covered. Several ‘disco balls’ have been launched over the years, though they almost all have been geodetic survey satellites studded with laser retroreflectors - LAGEOS and Ajisai-EGS come to mind - rather than art/vanity projects.

e2a: Maybe about 20 years ago I recall seeing EGS visually (mag +3 to +4), dancing across a dark sky. Even more entertaining in small binoculars.

 

[NoXion]

Get back to me when you’ve finished that Dyson Sphere and we’ll see about moving on the mass space travel front.

Building a Dyson sphere wouldn't be necessary. Think something more along the lines of an orbital ring.

 

[8ball]

Building a Dyson sphere wouldn't be necessary. Think something more along the lines of an orbital ring.

I was thinking more in terms of generating the energy necessary to get the people and their stuff out of the gravity well, but the orbital ring is a fun idea.

When I was 6 years old I thought a cable between the earth and the Moon would be helpful, but there were technical issues. Not least with my access to the right materials at that time.

 

[ska invita]

I was thinking more in terms of generating the energy necessary to get the people and their stuff out of the gravity well, but the orbital ring is a fun idea.

When I was 6 years old I thought a cable between the earth and the Moon would be helpful, but there were technical issues. Not least with my access to the right materials at that time.

The time has come...

 

[NoXion]

I was thinking more in terms of generating the energy necessary to get the people and their stuff out of the gravity well, but the orbital ring is a fun idea.

When I was 6 years old I thought a cable between the earth and the Moon would be helpful, but there were technical issues. Not least with my access to the right materials at that time.

I haven't run the numbers, but I suspect that running an orbital ring wouldn't consume anywhere near as much energy as a Dyson sphere produces.

As for materials, if you built the ring at Low Earth Orbit so the distance between the ring and the surface is shortest, you might not need carbon nanotubes to make the connecting cables, like with the classic space elevator proposal. The rest of the ring can be built with conventional materials.