Space In General

TFR has been issued for SN8's flight: Dec 4-6

https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_0_8423.html

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R1600Turbo
SN8 testing tonight. Wet dress rehearsal or static fire is unknown at the moment. 24/7 live stream:

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Static fire tonight, right?

The video narrator literally just said they don't actually know if this will be static or the actual flight lol. No wonder I can't find any solid info on it.
 
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Keef
Static fire tonight, right?

The video narrator literally just said they don't actually know if this will be static or the actual flight lol. No wonder I can't find any solid info on it.
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Definitely not the flight, that will be in daylight hours. Likely Friday. We don't know what they're doing tonight. My guess is WDR.
 
I can't believe two of my favorite educational channels independently posted depressing space stuff within a day of each other



 
Dotini
The Chinese are in the midst of yet another impressive lunar mission.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55148998
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Famine
In other news, China's "Chang'e 5" lander has reached the Moon. It's planned to return to Earth with rock samples, with only the USA and Russia (well, the USSR) having done so before:
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Dotini
They are thought to have ambitions of landing men on the moon.
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"Thought to" in the sense of "have clearly and openly stated"?

Chang'e-6 will, like Chang'e-5, be a sample return mission, with Chang'e-7 carrying out a robotic exploration. Further missions in the program will be crewed lunar landings and a lunar base at the Moon's South pole, though they haven't been named yet.
Dotini
Will they beat Musk?
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As far as I'm aware, SpaceX has no specific ambitions to land on the Moon (though some of the people involved have made more ephemeral statements about lunar landings - crewed and uncrewed), so yes.

This "Starship" can in principle land on the Moon, but the only fully planned lunar mission I'm aware of is a circumlunar trip by fashion designer Yusaku Maezawa, which will be no earlier than 2023.

China's crewed lunar mission is scheduled for before 2030. Unless Musk decides he'd like to go to the Moon before he goes to Mars (he's fixated on Mars for some reason), China will get there before Musk does.
Dotini
The NASA effort is years behind schedule and way over budget.
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And yet still the earliest crewed lunar landing planned.

NASA Artemis 3 - October 2024
Unnamed Chang'e mission - 2030
SpaceX - N/A

The circumlunar, crewed Artemis 2 mission is also planned for August 2023.


Incidentally, I can't find the original schedule and budget for the Artemis program. How behind and over budget is it?
 
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Dotini
The Space Launch System, or SLS, is the epicenter of NASA’s Artemis program
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Nooooooooooo, really?
Famine
Meanwhile, at NASA:





The SLS is a vital component of the Artemis missions, which launch from next year with the uncrewed Artemis-1, crewed lunar orbit Artemis-2, and then the crewed lunar landing Artemis-3 in 2024 - the first crewed lunar landing since 1972.
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So it's about a third over budget and a third behind schedule then. Seems pretty standard, and while I suppose two does class as multiple years (nine rather than seven), I don't think I'd be going for the hyperbolic "years behind schedule and way over budget" on the basis of those numbers.
 
Famine
Nooooooooooo, really?


So it's about a third over budget and a third behind schedule then. Seems pretty standard, and while I suppose two does class as multiple years (nine rather than seven), I don't think I'd be going for the hyperbolic "years behind schedule and way over budget" on the basis of those numbers.
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I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. $100 says NASA will not land a man on the moon (with the SLS) before October, 2026.
 
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Dotini
I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. $100 says NASA will not land a man on the moon (with the SLS) before October, 2026.
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Ooooooo... kay.

Not sure where that came from or why, or how it contributes to the discussion.
 
Famine
Ooooooo... kay.

Not sure where that came from or why, or how it contributes to the discussion.
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I think NASA could team with Musk to get there sooner. I think the military/economic competition with China could demand we compete as hard as we can for the Moon.
 
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Dotini
I think NASA could team with Musk to get there sooner.
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NASA has a confirmed, scheduled, crewed lunar landing program, with three planned missions. SpaceX has no confirmed, scheduled, crewed lunar landing program, with zero planned missions.

SpaceX may set to test its "Starship", with purported lunar and Mars landing capabilities, with a short hop up to half the height of a commercial airliner shortly, but that's some way short of a full lunar program. That's not to say there'd be no benefit from them collaborating, but NASA is well down the path to this goal and SpaceX does not share it.

Now if it were Mars, sure.
 
Famine
SpaceX may set to test its "Starship", with purported lunar and Mars landing capabilities, with a short hop up to half the height of a commercial airliner shortly, but that's some way short of a full lunar program
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Flight testing has barely started. Nice that you dismiss it so quickly. One step at a time, though I'd expect you of all people to know that. Not really liking your attitude in this thread.
 
R1600Turbo
Flight testing has barely started.
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That being what I said, yes.
R1600Turbo
Nice that you dismiss it so quickly.
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Where?
R1600Turbo
One step at a time, though I'd expect you of all people to know that.
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That being the point of what I said, yes.

Hey, anyone remember the top of the previous page where you described NASA's progress as "slow going"? Nice that you dismiss it so quickly. One step at a time; I'd expect you of all people to know that...
R1600Turbo
Not really liking your attitude in this thread.
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I mean, you derailed it for a page taking personal offence at a nickname for Musk - which you thought was an insult aimed at SpaceX, and then decided was done entirely for the purpose of winding you up specifically, for some reason - and are now seemingly taking offence at a point you appear to agree with, but sure thing, it's my attitude that's the problem.
 
R1600Turbo
Already working on it.

View attachment 975984
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I believe this is a strategically necessary partnership between the USG and Musk. We are in strategic competition with China for the Moon's resources and militarily strategic location. China has avoided signing on to any treaty including the Artemis Accords regarding rules for sharing its resources and science for the benefit of humanity.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/13...s-accords-8-countries-moon-outer-space-treaty
 
Dotini
I believe this is a strategically necessary partnership between the USG and Musk. We are in strategic competition with China for the Moon's resources and militarily strategic location. China has avoided signing on to any treaty including the Artemis Accords regarding rules for sharing its resources and science for the benefit of humanity.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/13...s-accords-8-countries-moon-outer-space-treaty
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Not surprising that China would go their own way. Just how they are. Meanwhile they're dumping rockets on villagers...
 


Edit: Apparently the flight has been cut to 12.5km (41,000 feet). Not sure why yet. Definitely more than half the height of a commercial airliner for those wondering...
 
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Sprite
Footage from the Arecibo Telescope Collapse.
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I found it interesting that it collapsed at exactly the same moment that they had a drone watching the cables. They've said they are looking into replacing it, so hopefully that happens.

Starship SN8 flight now scheduled for Sunday, 12-6pm CST. Hopefully the weather is better than the forecast is tracking, it's definitely better on Monday. But I'm not going to complain because it's way easier to sit on my butt in my apartment on Sunday and watch the live stream than to try and sneak in the viewing at work on Monday. The flight is now 12.5km (41k feet). SpaceX will have an official live stream, which I will post along with others when things start to look like it might happen.

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R1600Turbo
I found it interesting that it collapsed at exactly the same moment that they had a drone watching the cables. They've said they are looking into replacing it, so hopefully that happens.
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Yeh I thought that was strange too. When it first happened I thought I’d read they arrived at the the telescope to find it had collapsed while nobody was about. I can’t find that article now so I must have been mistaken.

It’s possible some alarms or warnings were triggered or maybe they noticed on routine checks of a fault occurring and we’re looking into it just as the collapse happened.

I really do hope they create something new at the site.
 
Sprite
Footage from the Arecibo Telescope Collapse.



such a sad day for science.
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Really is unfortunate that it wasn't able to hold together long enough for them to find a proper solution to recovering that receiver platform. There was still a lot of useful technology in there that could have been redeployed.

I'm honestly amazed those frayed cables were holding on as long as they did. The amount of strain must have been immense, as bad as their condition looked.
 
EngieDiesel
Really is unfortunate that it wasn't able to hold together long enough for them to find a proper solution to recovering that receiver platform.
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As I understand it the decay was found to be so advanced in the cables and supports that it wasn't safe to put workers on the site. Failing tensile cables are a complete no-go. A real shame all round.
 
TenEightyOne
As I understand it the decay was found to be so advanced in the cables and supports that it wasn't safe to put workers on the site. Failing tensile cables are a complete no-go. A real shame all round.
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Yeah, they were exploring options to salvage it during a controlled demolition, but after the full extent of the damage was revealed last month they decided there was nothing to do but wait for the inevitable.

Though I have to admit, all I could think of was this:
 
Jeff Bezos announces his company Blue Origin will be first to land a woman on the Moon by 2024. He is competing with Musk and the NASA contractors as a third team to build the lander, rocket and motor systems.
But slim funds for the landing systems made available to NASA by Congress, as well as uncertainty over the incoming Biden administration’s views on space exploration, have threatened to delay NASA’s decision to advance the lunar lander contracts.
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https://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKKBN28F0Q7?utm_source=reddit.com
 
Dotini
Jeff Bezos announces his company Blue Origin will be first to land a woman on the Moon by 2024. He is competing with Musk and the NASA contractors as a third team to build the lander, rocket and motor systems.


https://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKKBN28F0Q7?utm_source=reddit.com
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The more companies doing this the better. Granted BO hasn't even put a rocket into orbit yet, so I'll believe it when I see it.

SN8 flight is now no earlier than Monday. Elon is on location now so that's a good sign they are narrowing down the launch day.
 
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