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SpaceX and other space stuff
- Thread starter bholder
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My wife, a big Prime user, liked that comment too LOL. She's partial space geek.
Thought this was interesting regarding moon dust. Vid is ~15 minutes, but describes the problem and physical makeup of moon dust, and a neat multi-phase AC power solution of 600 to 1000 volts applied thru carbon nanotubes woven into the spacesuits.
Of course, dust is a problem on earth too. I did three deployments during the Gulf War stuff. The dust in the air fairly quickly wore out certain components on the helos (SH-60B) I worked on during the last two trips.
The most expensive were the two engines, specifically the engine inlet turbine blades. As the inlet blades eroded from sandblasting, engine power reduced. Pilots could compensate for a few flights with a switch on the overhead console. Once maxxed out, engine change time.
There are a couple of other areas around the helo that took a beating because of airborne dust, but the funniest one is the "Ice Detected" light coming on. In the hot Middle East LOL. There's no icing issues over there, so we removed the Anti-Ice/De-Ice control panel for the duration. But the ice detector remained in place and active on the left engine inlet cowling. Dust would build up over time on the detector element and trick the system into thinking ice was forming and activate the light LOL. Just took a brush to clean off the element and good for another month or so.
But the moon dust is much more pervasive and dangerous than what I experienced.
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,155
- 256,654
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Algorithm overriding real-time sensor data is a problem (mistake). On such a sensitive data point (altitude on landing.. duh) there should be triple sensor redundancy. Only if that fails to yield a 2 of 3 agreement should the algorithm be allowed to override.
Last edited:
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,155
- 256,654
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,155
- 256,654
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Starship update:
Musk said: "Major launchpad upgrades should be complete in about a month, then another month of rocket testing on pad, then flight 2 of Starship."
Musk said: "Major launchpad upgrades should be complete in about a month, then another month of rocket testing on pad, then flight 2 of Starship."
They have been working on that for a long time, but - I Do find it compelling, and I think they will make it over the finish line. Perhaps we could speed them up by giving them the cash that NASA and Boeing are wasting on Starliner. SLS and Starliner. What a giant criminal waste of politically-driven funding.
In the hopes of staying semi-anonymous, I'll just say that I work for a company that supplies components to SpaceX and working with them is a poopie show. Too many inexperienced, way too young engineers with zero experience with the product they're attempting to develop and they absolutely refuse to listen to us, a company that has made these kind of parts for over 60 years. The instant one of them seems to be catching on, they immediately leave SpaceX and we have to start over.
I can't say i doubt this. Meanwhile, their record for launches without significant incident looks really good. Is the record due to proper checks and balances at the system level, or more about luck?
I machine hollow cathodes for ion thrusters and cathodes for starlink ground stations. Couldn't tell you a thing about their launch success/failures
Now that they are gone (unfortunately), I can post a pic of some proprietary stuff, from Virgin Orbit.
Photo, at Long Beach Airport.
I did enjoy this little animation that SpaceX put at the end of their broadcast for Transporter-8:
2023 is insane.
2023 is insane.
Yeah, you see the frequency of launch notices, but it doesn't really hit you until you see it as a time-line like this.
