NASA Artemis mission

[magneze]

Anyone watching? Looks like a possible delay due to technical issues atm.



Can also track the mission in real-time here: Track NASA’s Artemis I Mission in Real Time

It's unmanned first time before people are sent up in it.

 

[Epona]

Was beginning to worry that I was living in some sort of alternate reality where literally no-one else was interested
I have it streaming on my TV

 

[Crispy]

I'm by the pool on holiday and have everyday astronaut's stream quietly on in one ear

 

[Crispy]

Opinion: this rocket is very impressive and will put on one hell of a show but my god is it a waste of money. The Senate Launch System, designed to funnel NASA money to the most states possible, for as long as possible. Technical performance and cost per launch (they aren't saying, but it's many billions) are not important.

 

[Limejuice]

Opinion: this rocket is very impressive and will put on one hell of a show but my god is it a waste of money. The Senate Launch System, designed to funnel NASA money to the most states possible, for as long as possible. Technical performance and cost per launch (they aren't saying, but it's many billions) are not important.

The Everyday Astronaut YT channel estimated the launch cost "sticker price" at around $4bn.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Is it gonna go? Not looking hopeful right now.

Just send someone out there to hit it with a hammer, that’ll get it going.

 

[platinumsage]

Currently T minus 40 minutes, but T is postponed so fuck knows.

 

[2hats]

Unofficial suggestion is it's a scrub for today (based on messages circulated to VIP launch guests).

Launch weather just went red - Cu cloud rule violation.

 

[Epona]

And it's a nope - anyone know when the next launch window is?

 

[2hats]

Scrub due to the number three RS-25 core engine bleed. Next launch attempts likely to be 1748BST Friday 2 September (120 minutes), and 2212BST Monday 5 September (90 minutes). There are potential launch windows running between and beyond those dates but there are other factors that reduce the practical opportunities.

 

[Ax^]

scrubbed :/

 

[urbanspaceman]

The SLS rocket is the worst thing to happen to NASA—but maybe also the best?

"This has been a really tough thing."

arstechnica.com

This is a well-informed article on the political and technical machinations that underlie the development of the SLS. Although it's an impressive machine, it's late, over budget, and not actually fit for purpose (as an advanced upper stage still remains to be built to allow useful lunar activities). The recurring cost of launch is huge, at $4Bn !!! per launch (that is $58k per kg to low earth orbit), according to the NASA Inspector General. NASA plans to launch every other year, a cadence that is too infrequent to support a functioning cis-lunar initiative.

It will be interesting to see what happens when SpaceX finally gets the Starship operational. Starship has a payload capacity similar to SLS, but Elon speculates about a cost of $2M per launch. Even if he optimistic by a factor of a 100, Starship will still be 20 times cheaper than SLS.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Elon may be arguably the worlds biggest twat, but he* does appear to know how to build rockets




*the army of clever SpaceX engineers

 

[weltweit]

Artemis: Nasa calls off new Moon rocket launch​

Artemis: Nasa calls off new Moon rocket launch

US controllers struggled to get the rocket's engine cooled down to its correct operating temperature.

www.bbc.co.uk

Controllers struggled to get an engine on the 100m-tall vehicle cooled down to its correct operating temperature.
They had previously worried about what appeared to be a crack high up on the rocket but eventually determined it was merely frost build-up.

 

[Crispy]

Elon may be arguably the worlds biggest twat, but he* does appear to know how to build rockets




*the army of clever SpaceX engineers

The CEO rating for spacex on Glassdoor is 90-something%
Far above any other aerospace company.

The general opinion of spacex engineers seems to be that they love having a boss who's actually interested in their work, and who actually understands the nitty gritty. So what if he's a slavedriving workaholic, they'd happily grind themselves to a bloody stump for the cause of sending humans to mars.

If starship works out, then SLS will have to be put down. I give it two, max three flights.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

The CEO rating for spacex on Glassdoor is 90-something%
Far above any other aerospace company.

The general opinion of spacex engineers seems to be that they love having a boss who's actually interested in their work, and who actually understands the nitty gritty. So what if he's a slavedriving workaholic, they'd happily grind themselves to a bloody stump for the cause of sending humans to mars.

If starship works out, then SLS will have to be put down. I give it two, max three flights.

I just wish he’d also do what he does for trains, rather than cars.

 

[Crispy]

I just wish he’d also do what he does for trains, rather than cars.

Trains are too tied up with governments for his taste. Hence all that loop& hyperloop nonsense.

Anyway. NASA big rocket fly when?

 

[Storm Fox]

The CEO rating for spacex on Glassdoor is 90-something%
Far above any other aerospace company.

The general opinion of spacex engineers seems to be that they love having a boss who's actually interested in their work, and who actually understands the nitty gritty. So what if he's a slavedriving workaholic, they'd happily grind themselves to a bloody stump for the cause of sending humans to mars.

If starship works out, then SLS will have to be put down. I give it two, max three flights.

But there is no employee validation for leaving glassdoor reviews, so for someone with such a big fanbase as Musk, that number is meaningless.

 

[2hats]

Might get some clarification at a news conference in just over an hour.

 

[Crispy]

But there is no employee validation for leaving glassdoor reviews, so for someone with such a big fanbase as Musk, that number is meaningless.

Hmm, didn't know that.
The anecdotal evidence does suggest that the engineers consider him a good boss though. When you see him talking about the technical details it's clear he really does get down in the weeds with them. Shame he's such a collosal bellend.

 

[Storm Fox]

Hmm, didn't know that.
The anecdotal evidence does suggest that the engineers consider him a good boss though. When you see him talking about the technical details it's clear he really does get down in the weeds with them. Shame he's such a collosal bellend.

I'm not sure about that, have you seen this?

SpaceX employees draft open letter to company executives denouncing Elon Musk’s behavior

The letter calls on ways for SpaceX to fix its reputation and culture.

www.theverge.com

 

[Crispy]

I'm not sure about that, have you seen this?

SpaceX employees draft open letter to company executives denouncing Elon Musk’s behavior

The letter calls on ways for SpaceX to fix its reputation and culture.

www.theverge.com

Oh yeah for sure. Like I said, he's a collosal bellend. If your dedication to the Incredible Mission isn't strong enough, you'd shake the sleep from your eyes and notice the collateral damage.

 

[2hats]

A new broadcast link has been posted, suggesting the intention is to aim for Friday. Current launch forecast suggests only 40% chance of no weather violations for the window that day (risk of storms in the afternoon).

 

[MickiQ]

A college pal of Mrs Q married a yank many years ago and moved to Arizona with him. Apparently they're currently on holiday in Florida and were posting pics of them waiting to watch the launch that didn't happen.

 

[AverageJoe]

We were there last week on holiday and were lucky to have picked a day when Space X took off and it was amazing. We also took a bus tour past Artimis and the building they built it in etc.

Was way cooler than I thought it would be.

 

[AverageJoe]

The afternoon storms in Orlando are amazingly intense too.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

A college pal of Mrs Q married a yank many years ago and moved to Arizona with him. Apparently they're currently on holiday in Florida and were posting pics of them waiting to watch the launch that didn't happen.

3 times I went to see the shuttle go up.

3 times the fucking thing aborted, one at something like t minus 3 seconds, the main engines had even fired up.

Grrrrr. Never did get to see it

 

[urbanspaceman]

The 20 employers engineering students most want to work for

Engineering students want to get a job position at places like SpaceX, Tesla, and NASA according to survey results from Universum.

www.businessinsider.com

Whatever you think of Musk, his companies are highly aspirational for engineering students, coming 1st and 2nd in the survey above. It's true that he is obsessive, and staff work very hard; for those who leave, Tesla and SpaceX look great on their CVs., and for those who stay, they get accustomed to the pace. It's also worth considering that all that hard work actually generates tangible and exciting results, in the shape of innovative cars and spaceships.

Compare with similarly exhausting jobs, viz investment banking and management consulting: similarly hard work produces nothing of any tangible value (arguably it destroys value).

Or, if you choose an easier life at a competitor legacy manufacturer (eg Ford, GM, Toyota; or Boeing, Lockheed, Northrup), then it's more like being a civil servant: regular hours, pointless meetings, promotion through politics, strangulating bureaucracy.

 

[2hats]

Awaiting management briefing update. Meanwhile, this suggests [hope for] some sort of on-pad approach to resolving issues rather than a VAB rollback.

Daryl Sausse` (@SausseImages)

In the last 45 minutes, a small crane has shown up at pad 39B and lifted something on to the MLP. Possibly the beginning pieces of a platform needed to reach the trouble spots inside of the core stage.

nitter.it

 

[2hats]

Next launch attempt now targeting this Saturday, 3rd September. Window opens at 1917BST (2 hours long). Forecast currently indicates 60% chance of launch weather violation.