Doing stuff on Mars is super slow. Curiosity moves something like meters a week and routinely spends a full day or more looking at a rock. Every step has to be analyzed to ensure it went right and that the next step is programmed correctly, then there's the transmission delay, the already slow robotic actions, transmission delay in the other direction, then another round of using numbers to figure out something you can't look at it poke like an on site engineer.
And if you need more numbers add a whole extra round of this shit between positioning a drill and drilling the hole.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
Sounds like we should just start launching humans so we can have an onsite engineer.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
That would be good, yes.
But in the meantime, I just got to listen to the winds of Mars.
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Zilla36021st Century. |She/Her|Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered Userregular
NASA have been showing off some new spacesuit designs (flight suit and a pressurised lunar surface EVA suit, for moon-walks) for the Artemis programme:
Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
Disappointed that they haven’t explored the mechanical counter pressure concept more. These things look horrifically bulky and unnecessarily vulnerable.
Disappointed that they haven’t explored the mechanical counter pressure concept more. These things look horrifically bulky and unnecessarily vulnerable.
Mechanical counter pressure?
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Disappointed that they haven’t explored the mechanical counter pressure concept more. These things look horrifically bulky and unnecessarily vulnerable.
Mechanical counter pressure?
basically body tight suits that use mechanical pressure to keep you at the right levels. They would likely be a lot thinner and less bulky but I am not certain how it would impact your flexibility and heating/cooling. I would imagine its a bit easier to heat and cool evenly in what is basically a modified balloon.
Disappointed that they haven’t explored the mechanical counter pressure concept more. These things look horrifically bulky and unnecessarily vulnerable.
One issue with mechanical suits is they would have to be very very closely fitted for that specific wearer. with their lunar design it looks like they want a suit that can be adjusted on the fly for whatever person needs it which would gain them a lot of operational flexibility.
MCP suits are super cool but yeah, the fitting is an issue, especially on long duration missions where your body shape will likely change. A suit that's capable of refitting itself, perhaps with the use of electroactive polymers (that stuff they're using to make artificial muscles), would probably be ideal.
You would still likely need a number of different sizes, though, depending on how flexible the internal structures like the heating and cooling systems can be made.
MCP suits are super cool but yeah, the fitting is an issue, especially on long duration missions where your body shape will likely change. A suit that's capable of refitting itself, perhaps with the use of electroactive polymers (that stuff they're using to make artificial muscles), would probably be ideal.
You would still likely need a number of different sizes, though, depending on how flexible the internal structures like the heating and cooling systems can be made.
The need for some type of auto-adjustment is not just an issue of changing body size, because they need to be so tight everywhere, they are very difficult to get in and out of.
Of course they still have the basic problem of not working at all or working poorly for concave areas. So armpits, hands, feet, elbows, knees, groin and even wrinkles in the fabric cause issues.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
MCP suits are super cool but yeah, the fitting is an issue, especially on long duration missions where your body shape will likely change. A suit that's capable of refitting itself, perhaps with the use of electroactive polymers (that stuff they're using to make artificial muscles), would probably be ideal.
You would still likely need a number of different sizes, though, depending on how flexible the internal structures like the heating and cooling systems can be made.
The wikipedia article on MCP suits says they developed something for the MIT Biosuit using shape memory alloy coils. Basically, suit goes on loose, you add power, and the suit tightens itself around you, like a plug suit from Evangelion.
MCP suits are super cool but yeah, the fitting is an issue, especially on long duration missions where your body shape will likely change. A suit that's capable of refitting itself, perhaps with the use of electroactive polymers (that stuff they're using to make artificial muscles), would probably be ideal.
You would still likely need a number of different sizes, though, depending on how flexible the internal structures like the heating and cooling systems can be made.
The wikipedia article on MCP suits says they developed something for the MIT Biosuit using shape memory alloy coils. Basically, suit goes on loose, you add power, and the suit tightens itself around you, like a plug suit from Evangelion.
I was wracking my brain for where I had seen it. I knew it was an anime, but I couldn't remember which. Thanks!
Head's up, Mercury will transit the sun on monday, November 11th starting around 6:30am Central. My university is opening up their observatory (clear sky permitting, of course) with a solar filter on their 140 year old 15.7 inch telescope. Mercury's next transit is Nov 11, 2032, so you may not want to miss this if you can.
At least $2 billion dollars a launch, for a rocket using existing technology that is years behind schedule and a program that is billions over budget already. One flight a year.
You could launch the Europa Clipper mission on an expendable Falcon Heavy and have enough money left over to pay another private company $1.5 billion to develop and fly a completely new launch vehicle. At this point a large portion of my interested in seeing Starship succeed is so it can kill the SLS program.
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
wasn’t there a mercury transit like a couple years ago?
it’s always weird to me how not regular these things are
It's much less weird if you remember the planets are orbiting in elliptical paths and at slightly different inclinations, it gave astronomers of yore lots of headaches.
At least $2 billion dollars a launch, for a rocket using existing technology that is years behind schedule and a program that is billions over budget already. One flight a year.
You could launch the Europa Clipper mission on an expendable Falcon Heavy and have enough money left over to pay another private company $1.5 billion to develop and fly a completely new launch vehicle. At this point a large portion of my interested in seeing Starship succeed is so it can kill the SLS program.
It won't. The reason SLS is so fucked is the Senate basically mandated it to send money to Alabama. No reason to stop.
At least $2 billion dollars a launch, for a rocket using existing technology that is years behind schedule and a program that is billions over budget already. One flight a year.
You could launch the Europa Clipper mission on an expendable Falcon Heavy and have enough money left over to pay another private company $1.5 billion to develop and fly a completely new launch vehicle. At this point a large portion of my interested in seeing Starship succeed is so it can kill the SLS program.
It won't. The reason SLS is so fucked is the Senate basically mandated it to send money to Alabama. No reason to stop.
There has to be a threshold where the enormous price will become politically untenable.
I dunno. At this stage the entire point of the Senate Launch System is to be expensive, and they can say it's cheap compared to things like the F-35 program or similar boondoggles.
On the other hand, that $2 billion figure is a White House estimate, and it's a White House estimate from this White House, so God only knows.
I can't see how the thing can compete with any of the other upcoming heavy-lift options, assuming they get off the ground, in any way other than maybe just being the first one to fly. I hope once those options are available that Congress does something other than make it mandatory for NASA to use the SLS for major launches exclusively.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Head's up, Mercury will transit the sun on monday, November 11th starting around 6:30am Central. My university is opening up their observatory (clear sky permitting, of course) with a solar filter on their 140 year old 15.7 inch telescope. Mercury's next transit is Nov 11, 2032, so you may not want to miss this if you can.
Keep in mind that Mercury will appear something like 0.5% the apparent width of the sun. You might have a hard time seeing it without a solar telescope. I might pop outside with some eclipse glasses and see if I can spot it just for shits and giggles, though.
The transit of Venus a few years back was incredible. Too bad that won't happen again for something like 400 years.
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
It's much less weird if you remember the planets are orbiting in elliptical paths and at slightly different inclinations, it gave astronomers of yore lots of headaches.
Yeah, it's the sort of thing where if you spend enough time looking at "random" vibration data on an object, you find out that it's actually a pile of unsynchronized different vibrations that are each themselves a patterned vibration.
At least $2 billion dollars a launch, for a rocket using existing technology that is years behind schedule and a program that is billions over budget already. One flight a year.
You could launch the Europa Clipper mission on an expendable Falcon Heavy and have enough money left over to pay another private company $1.5 billion to develop and fly a completely new launch vehicle. At this point a large portion of my interested in seeing Starship succeed is so it can kill the SLS program.
It won't. The reason SLS is so fucked is the Senate basically mandated it to send money to Alabama. No reason to stop.
There has to be a threshold where the enormous price will become politically untenable.
The SLS is small beans in the game of contractors making more off the government developing a project than actually delivering a finished product.
Like, there are worries now being voiced that the F-35 is already at risk of falling obsolete, and the version that finally got flying a decade late still isn't the intended final model. China is working on replacing the plane they made to counter the F-35 and Russia is replacing the tank that replaced the tank that answered the Abrams, while we bankroll a sizeable portion of American engineering on the drawing board of our military-industrial complex.
Edit: hell, the Littoral Combat Ship shipped years late but still years before it's main weapon entered testing so was refitted to fit an existing gun from inventory, except the ammunition for it wasn't made anymore meaning special order rounds costing a hundred times more than normal.
Congress gets to write checks on somebody else's account and uses it to buy a shopping list they don't have to eat.
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Zilla36021st Century. |She/Her|Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered Userregular
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
The Mercury transit is happening now (and will last until about 1:00pm EST). I just popped outside with some solar glasses and... nope, can't see it. Mercury be small yo. And far away. Will definitely need some magnification if you want to see it, unless you've got really super good eyesight.
For funsies, here's a picture I took of the Venus transit way back in 2012. Venus could be seen as an inky black disc, even without magnification it appeared as a tiny hole in the sun (you needed eye protection of course). This won't happen again until 2117, sadly.
Is that Starlink thing goal to make a grid around the globe? And are they being filmed through a regular camera or a telescope of some sort ?
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
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And if you need more numbers add a whole extra round of this shit between positioning a drill and drilling the hole.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
But in the meantime, I just got to listen to the winds of Mars.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Mechanical counter pressure?
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
basically body tight suits that use mechanical pressure to keep you at the right levels. They would likely be a lot thinner and less bulky but I am not certain how it would impact your flexibility and heating/cooling. I would imagine its a bit easier to heat and cool evenly in what is basically a modified balloon.
One issue with mechanical suits is they would have to be very very closely fitted for that specific wearer. with their lunar design it looks like they want a suit that can be adjusted on the fly for whatever person needs it which would gain them a lot of operational flexibility.
You would still likely need a number of different sizes, though, depending on how flexible the internal structures like the heating and cooling systems can be made.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
The need for some type of auto-adjustment is not just an issue of changing body size, because they need to be so tight everywhere, they are very difficult to get in and out of.
Of course they still have the basic problem of not working at all or working poorly for concave areas. So armpits, hands, feet, elbows, knees, groin and even wrinkles in the fabric cause issues.
The wikipedia article on MCP suits says they developed something for the MIT Biosuit using shape memory alloy coils. Basically, suit goes on loose, you add power, and the suit tightens itself around you, like a plug suit from Evangelion.
I was wracking my brain for where I had seen it. I knew it was an anime, but I couldn't remember which. Thanks!
Yeah, that would be cool.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
I got all excited thinking this was going to be the inflight abort test. I wish we were farther along in our manned space programs.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/the-white-house-puts-a-price-on-the-sls-rocket-and-its-a-lot/
At least $2 billion dollars a launch, for a rocket using existing technology that is years behind schedule and a program that is billions over budget already. One flight a year.
You could launch the Europa Clipper mission on an expendable Falcon Heavy and have enough money left over to pay another private company $1.5 billion to develop and fly a completely new launch vehicle. At this point a large portion of my interested in seeing Starship succeed is so it can kill the SLS program.
it’s always weird to me how not regular these things are
It won't. The reason SLS is so fucked is the Senate basically mandated it to send money to Alabama. No reason to stop.
There has to be a threshold where the enormous price will become politically untenable.
On the other hand, that $2 billion figure is a White House estimate, and it's a White House estimate from this White House, so God only knows.
I can't see how the thing can compete with any of the other upcoming heavy-lift options, assuming they get off the ground, in any way other than maybe just being the first one to fly. I hope once those options are available that Congress does something other than make it mandatory for NASA to use the SLS for major launches exclusively.
Keep in mind that Mercury will appear something like 0.5% the apparent width of the sun. You might have a hard time seeing it without a solar telescope. I might pop outside with some eclipse glasses and see if I can spot it just for shits and giggles, though.
The transit of Venus a few years back was incredible. Too bad that won't happen again for something like 400 years.
Yeah, it's the sort of thing where if you spend enough time looking at "random" vibration data on an object, you find out that it's actually a pile of unsynchronized different vibrations that are each themselves a patterned vibration.
The SLS is small beans in the game of contractors making more off the government developing a project than actually delivering a finished product.
Like, there are worries now being voiced that the F-35 is already at risk of falling obsolete, and the version that finally got flying a decade late still isn't the intended final model. China is working on replacing the plane they made to counter the F-35 and Russia is replacing the tank that replaced the tank that answered the Abrams, while we bankroll a sizeable portion of American engineering on the drawing board of our military-industrial complex.
Edit: hell, the Littoral Combat Ship shipped years late but still years before it's main weapon entered testing so was refitted to fit an existing gun from inventory, except the ammunition for it wasn't made anymore meaning special order rounds costing a hundred times more than normal.
Congress gets to write checks on somebody else's account and uses it to buy a shopping list they don't have to eat.
This is the one where they're going to try to catch both fairings too, right?
For funsies, here's a picture I took of the Venus transit way back in 2012. Venus could be seen as an inky black disc, even without magnification it appeared as a tiny hole in the sun (you needed eye protection of course). This won't happen again until 2117, sadly.
Pretty neat that both faring halves were previously flown.
Rosie the Riveting Robot
OK so the astronomers aren't wrong but also I now am kind of low key wishing harm upon whoever was narrating that video.