Heh.
Jul 142015
Jul 142015
New Horizons has gone past Pluto. Before closest approach, it radioed home one last photo; it then went into “can’t talk now, busy sciencing” mode for several hours, where the onboard computer went into full-time data gathering and recording mode. Won’t hear from it again until 8:34 PM eastern time, at which time a “ping” should be heard if the craft survived.
So, this *might* be the very last photo of Pluto… or it might be the last photo before the Really Good Photos start pouring in early tomorrow.
Jul 132015
Appears to be entirely hypothetical at this stage, but it’s an interesting idea: use a standard shipping container, of which the countryside is liberally littered, as the frame of a large 3D printer. Appears to be big enough to print a small car.
By building them out of shipping containers, a lot of manufacturing cost would be saved, as well as making them instantly easily shippable.
Mille 3D Printer Unveiled – Turns Shipping Containers into Large 3D Printers, Shredders & Extruders
Jul 132015
Some might question why this mission to Pluto is so interesting to so many. I think I have it figured out: not only is this the first time humanity will have a good look at this entire planetary system… this is also the *last* new world of any magnitude most of us will probably live to see explored up close. Sure, there’s lesser known Eris, which is smaller than Pluto by a few kilometers, but substantially more massive… but last I’ve heard there are no real plans to send a craft there. And it’s something like twice as far from the sun as Pluto, so barring new propulsion systems, it will take twice as long to get there… call it 18 years. Couple that with the time required to actually design, build and launch the probe… New Horizons started design work in 1990, not launching until 2006. So if that process was duplicated starting today, “New Horizons Eris” would launch in 2031 and would flyby Eris in 2049. Assuming it didn’t get cancelled, the booster didn’t fail or the transmitter went wonky.
It’s safe to assume that most reading this here blog will be good and dead the next time a human craft explores anywhere *really* new that’s bigger than an asteroid.
So… this is it, this is the end.
NASA Coverage Schedule for New Horizons Pluto Flyby
Jul 132015
Avast amount of work was put into space-based weaponry during the SDI days, but the bulk of that work has remained tucked behind security classification. Artwork was released publicly from time to time, but with rare exceptions that artwork was pretty clearly either not based on actual engineering design work, or was stripped of important features.
In all my digging I’ve found a grand total of *one* illustration of a space based railgun that I’m fairly confident represents a serious design effort. Sadly dimensions were lacking… but the design included a nuclear reactor and radiator system was was very likely an SP-100. While the SP-100 system itself appears to have been in constant flux, scaling the whole assembly from the size of the radiators leads to something I’d estimate accurate in scale within +/- 15%.
For a future USSP release, I decided to include this railgun as I included the Zenith Star laser in issue #1. The easiest way to make good 2D diagrams for something this complex is to make a 3D CAD model based on the sketch, including the SP-100. I didn’t know how big the railgun was supposed to be; I didn’t try to scale it until I had it largely put together with the SP-100 in place. And boy, is it *not* small:
The shuttle is of course to scale.
Several details lead me to think that this General Electric concept is on the up-and-up:
1) It includes the SP-100. This was often (not always) left off of images for public consumption.
2) It includes *very* large planar array radar for targeting warheads thousands of kilometers away, something I’ve *never* seen elsewhere, but which is pretty obviously important.
3) It has a fairly substantial, though unclear, storage for LOX and LH2 hidden behind a thermal shield/radiator. Note: the nuclear reactor was to keep the system running for years while awaiting The Day, and for running systems like computers and radar and such. But the power needed for the railgun was vastly more than the SP-100 could provide; the LOX/LH2 would run a turbogenerator to crank out the megawatts needed to make the gun go bang.
4) It doesn’t look “sci-fi cool” so much as it looks like a “great big thing built in space.”
Launching this monster would have been a hell of a chore. Presumably it would go up in pieces atop an ALS booster, and there assembled by a human crew launched via shuttle.
Jul 122015
Here’s a novel way to destroy a main battle tank. Apparently filmed in Putin-occupied Crimea.
Jul 112015
Every day from now until at least the 15th will present “clearest picture ever” of Pluto. But as it comes into view… man, there’s something a bit unsettling about the place. I’m hoping that the black spots are lakes.
New Horizons’ Last Portrait of Pluto’s Puzzling Spots
New Horizons’ last look at Pluto’s Charon-facing hemisphere reveals intriguing geologic details that are of keen interest to mission scientists. This image, taken early the morning of July 11, 2015, shows newly-resolved linear features above the equatorial region that intersect, suggestive of polygonal shapes. This image was captured when the spacecraft was 2.5 million miles (4 million kilometers) from Pluto.
Image credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
Jul 112015
Yello’s “Oh, Yeah” came out thirty years ago today. It was awesometime in the world of music.
Get off my lawn.
(This post was written and scheduled and forgotten March 4. Let’s see if I’m still alive in July! Has the world blown up yet? Do we have jetpacks and flying cars?)
Jul 102015
Here’s one showing the mission profile of the basic HL-20-derived “Dream Chaser” lifting body spacecraft:
Since Sierra Nevada didn’t win one of the big commercial crew transport contracts from NASA, I don’t really know here they stand on developing the manned vehicle. But they are also advertising a somewhat smaller unmanned vehicle for cargo delivery to/from the ISS. I admit to being confounded by this. What cargo is there that’s in need of coming *down* that would merit the development of a new reusable spacecraft?
Jul 102015
No product resulting from the joint efforts of Britain and France could ever possibly be anything but an abomination spawned in the depths of Hades. And here’s proof:
