Search results

I have moderately severe Asperger's. It was very debilitating in my youth; I had a difficult time in almost any social ‎or physical activity in school, as I would feel intensely physically uncomfortable being in and around unfamiliar situations. It's still a struggle sometimes, but I've managed...

Default DG is an indestructible physics-defying demonstration intended to serve as a tutorial craft for new players, default craft for the demo scenarios, and to help modders understand how the system works.‎ ‎ XR-1 is part of the excellent Altea Aerospace XR series. It uses the same model as...

I asked about this on Reddit. Not sure about the veracity of the response, but I was told it's because while the rocket is burning retrograde for landing, the wash of the engines covers the rocket in soot, but the frost on the oxygen tank protects it and prevents any from collecting on that...

That was extremely impressive to watch. Here's hoping that first stage is capable of being reused.

Sure, and Titan would likely be a planet if it was orbiting all on its own, but it depends on location relative to other bodies as well as size, so saying "what if it was in a different location" doesn't work very well as an argument. Earth could just as easily be the moon of a superjupiter, and...

Yeah, haha. It takes me a good while to write posts while at work.

Why should they be waived, other than your opinion that Pluto should be a planet? There doesn't appear to be any scientific basis to this. The reason Titan orbits Saturn and not the other way around is because Saturn is the gravitationally dominant body, and that's the important part here...

That definition appears to be strictly based in sentimentality. If there's any scientific logic behind it, you aren't explaining it well enough. Again I ask, why should clouds influence the definition at all? Titan isn't a planet because it doesn't function like a planet. In the path it takes...

Depth perception in a vacuum is more difficult too. A cleverly painted basketball could look like a planet from your spacecraft's windows. If we gave such a basketball a name-tag that said "Pluto", would people argue for its status as a planet?

"It has clouds" is a terrible reason to define something as a planet. Triton has clouds, but it isn't a planet. Titan's surface isn't visible because of how thick the cloud layer is, but nobody is arguing that it's a planet. Saying "Pluto looks like a planet so it is one" is unscientific and...

Live stream has started, they said everything is looking good for launch, so maybe we'll finally get to see it today.

The ISS modules do have micrometeorite shielding, but that kind of stuff still wears out over time. My main worry if the ISS program is ended and the station is deobited is that we'll never get a replacement, and no further progress will be made, just like Apollo. But at the very least, it...

Huh, I'd never heard of Salacia. Yeah, I changed my mind, that's a much better pick.

I can't imagine how it must feel to be weightless for a year and then walk around in full gravity. It feels weird just getting out of the pool after being in for an hour.

The difference though is that if the rocket's structure fails on landing, it's no big deal. If it fails on ascent, that's a very serious problem and then we won't even have an SES-9 satellite to repeatedly not launch anymore. I imagine that there's certain safety margins that they're sticking...

Sledgehammer winds.

I imagine if Planet 9 is confirmed, it will again be named after a goddess, as that seems to be the trend in recent times. My vote would have been for Nyx, but the Pluto guys already swiped that one when they named Nix. My next pick would then be Minerva.

What altitude did they say they were aiming for? I heard it on the stream but forgot. From what I gathered, the satellite will need to give itself the final push to GTO altitude with a chemical engine after deployment, then has a xenon ion engine for circularisation, right?

That's what I would have expected, but Musk did say that there's a good chance they'll attempt reuse of the second booster they recover.

It looks like colour bleed from the bright surface onto the dark sky. I don't think this image has a high enough exposure to actually pick up on the atmosphere. Most of the atmospheric images are long-exposure shots of the night-side. I could be wrong though.