/sci/ - Science & Math

virgin galactic might actually go up dramatically in the short term because HONK HONK CLOWN MARKET

>>12591867
>SLS ??????????????????????????????????

SLS

ABSOLUTELY

BLOWN

THE

FUCK

OUT

Now lads. It's time to put the failures of yesterday away somewhere. A-at least Orion can probably be salvaged right?

>>12591889
No

>>12591889
The good Orion, you mean.

>>12591889
>Orion
A
Scaled up
Apollo
Capsule

>>12591870
I found articles on it that dates back to 2006. Has it been stuck in development hell all this time?

>>12591908
Yep. That's part of what prompted my bitchpost about funding.

So how many companies are out there at the moment who have the goal of space industrialisation and asteroid mining? At present Mr. Musk seems entirely focussed on colonising Mars but Starship should be a real enabler of other space activities.

>>12591921
Look at a delta v map and transit time and you’ll see why asteroid mining will never happen

>>12591921
LEO transfer stations, propellant depots, and orbital tugs are prerequisites for sane architecture.

>>12591921
Asteroid mining is a meme until you have either a huge inner system space based infrastructure or some bullshit magic drive that lets you move a billion tonnes for practically zero cost.

Static fire tomorrow? Cameron county shows primary road closure for the 18th

>>12591892
>>12591889
The only good Orion is a nuclear Orion.

>>12591889
>He doesn’t know

>>12591923
Isn't the deltaV requirement for most NEOs less than that required for reaching lunar orbit? And shouldn't transit times be little more than a year at worst? I know Hayabusa took about 3 years but it was using a gay little ion drive so no surprises there
>>12591928
But isn't there potential for supplying space-based manufacturing facilities with low volumes of materials that can be turned into high quality high value products like crystals and substrates? You probably don't have to transport huge amounts of material, just process and transport semiconductor materials and maybe PGEs to generate value in the early days. Also if you choose the right asteroids and propulsion system you could probably refuel at them just fine by boiling water off the mined material.
In addition once you have processing and manufacturing facilities set up in orbit you could probably just build simple miners and propellant (read, water) depots that you can then use to supply further mining voyages. Start with small craft then gradually scale up as your ferrying capacity to I dunno L5 or LEO becomes greater and greater.
Spitballing a little here but it should be perfectly feasible

>>12591921
Bezos claims he wants to industrialize the moon but based on his actions he seems to just be chasing a cost+ contract the size of SLS.

SpaceX Martian Defense Forces against the UN.

Imagine the timeline right now where they just don't have SpaceX. How suicidal would a space enthusiast be waiting for oldspace, BO, or the virgin Galactic to produce anything worthwhile?

>>12591962
>space is hard
>this is why we test
>blue origin will usher in a new era
>cant wait for airtimes

>>12591950
If you are producing high value, low volume items (crystals, proteins, glasses, fibre cables, whatever) in earth orbit then there is no need to ship materials from asteroids as it will certainly be vastly more expensive than just shipping the precursors up from earth.

If you want to produce low value, high volume items such as refined iron, water ice and other mined materials then you either need a huge entrenched infrastructure throughout the inner system to support these operations with millions of tonnes of supplies shipped backward and forward (see any existing mine site), or you need a magic engine to either ship all this stuff to and back from your site on the cheap or move the site to a really easy orbit to work with.

what is the Dacia Sandero of space?

>>12591986
Electron

>>12591928
>>12591923
The asteroids in horseshoe orbits are nearly free delta v to get to earth. Even less energy than L4 or L5.
In fact you can go from any planet's associated horseshoe orbit and slingshot to anywhere.

>>12591986
F9

>>12591986
Atlas V

>>12591979
You are likely correct in the assertion that for low volume, high value products it may be cheaper to simply ship up the precursor materials (indeed I reckon some material like dopants would probably be best to ship up given how little of them you would need and how doing so would simplify your initial refinement requirements), however this is not a good long term outlook. Looking towards the long term it would be wiser to simply swallow the expense and construct your refinement infrastructure in space, starting with elements that are required the most and are the simplest to extract and refine then working down to the more difficult ones. Full self sufficiency from earth-based materials should be the ultimate goal. It will save you money and open up the potential for projects far greater in scope.


High volume material is indeed trickier, and considering current or near-future tech propulsion systems will present a major restriction. But by using some of the infrastructure I proposed above it shouldn't require too many steps to simply make more asteroid mining and hauling craft in situ. The bulkiest parts of which would be structural elements which you can initially make from shitty basic iron or steel that will be easy to refine from asteroidal material, the more technical parts could be shipped up or even made using the infrastructure intended for low volume high value components. Sure their individual capacities may be limited but get enough of them and that becomes a non issue - refuelling can also be simplified and cheapened by simply leveraging the water available in asteroidal material or - if you've got the ships and infrastructure - lunar ice.

>>12591992
Sure, and there is a very limited number of those. Of which most will be useless ice/chondrite type asteroids. Of those that are actually useful, you will have a transfer window just like any other planet where access will be impossible outside of it. If you want a serious asteroid mining industry then you can just go ahead and forget the fuck out of any earth intercept asteroids and head out to the belt.

ELON NO

>>12592001
In an ideal world yes, companies would front the multi billion dollar bill to setup huge mining facilities in the belt, railguns to ship it back and processing/refining facilities in orbit. In reality this kind of expenditure won't happen until there is already a huge investment in space industry.

>>12591921
I had this idea about water capture for an asteroid because mining in basically zero g seems fucking basically impossible without some sort of insane scaffolding around the entire rock.

Idea would be that you create a kind of fucking massive lock in the shape of a bowl with massive walls extended grossly above the water line somewhere in the ocean or one of the great lakes and then deorbit the asteroid into that.

Let the materials collect as silt along the bottom and gather that using a dredge/vacuum or depending on the size you pump the water out and filter for the roaming particles, then scrape the bottom once the water is gone.

This would be a massive investment and surely piss off a huge number of environmentalists but if you did it somewhere in international waters and targeted asteroids with the right composition it's free real estate.

>>12591867
I don't know why but I think that a picture of Elon with a Pith Helmet would seriously trigger all leftists of this world. I initially thought he was wearing one of these helmets.

>>12592018
It's pretty much impossible to deorbit anything of a useful size without a thermonuclear tier impact.

>>12592010
fake image, don't spread pictures that could cause problems to our Mars weeb overlord

>>12592024
Based Musk image defender

>>12592010
I don't even hate that Viv is a tranny, I hate that He/She/Xhe claps for every little thing that Musk does

>>12591939
Kn-know what?

>>12592020
If I had a decent source image of a tropenhelm at roughly that angle, nothing would be easier.

>>12592022
I'm award, but under water detonations for nukes are far smaller because water is just that much better at energy absorption than anything else we have for what is essentially free. Genuinely compare a surface level nuke detonation to an underwater one - night and day. Either way, I wasn't really exaggerating when I mentioned the size. Plenty of "smaller" asteroids out there of useful size that wouldn't be infeasible to build for, and more importantly, wouldn't require special technology, incredibly cumbersome infrastructure, etc.

And yes, I know you are talking about something for extraction of resources meant for colonies and vessels in orbit and so forth, but this would be meant purely as a way to extract tremendous amount of wealth from the one and only location capable of generating wealth for a very long time.

Ideally you'd want to be a Martian/Belter/whatever that just slamming rocks into Earth, selling the heavy metals, and then shipping that wealth back home in the form of resources or capital to use to exert influence like a certain country fond of small hats does.

The moon has more mass in its crust than all asteroids combined outside of Ceres
And Ceres is a disaster to get to

Mining raw resources are the most trivial part of industry

>>12592041
we should have that AI image rotational manipulator that Karoly Zsolnay Feher was showing lately and generate the angle ourselves

>>12592041
this is at the correct angle, even if the helm in itself is low quality

>>12592056
Not even slightly correct angle.

>>12592056
or almost correct... impossible to get 100% correctness

>>12592060
The angle that matters is the upwards tilt, not the lean of the head.

>>12592012
Scaling back a bit and thinking about how to do it more economically with lower initial investment I see a couple approaches. Exploitation of NEOs is pivotal though due to lower deltaV requirements to reach them.
1. Send up a moderate orbital manufacturing facility (e.g. something like a souped up Wake Shield Facility for substrate printing among others for proteins, crystals etc.)
2. Use profits from this to send up asteroid mining rig and basic refinement facility

3) The refinement station specialises in elements like silicon and other semiconductors - whatever elements are being used the most in your low volume manufacturing. It stays in LEO or L5 and the mining rig delivers asteroid material to it - you refine these materials and feed them into your orbital manufactories - you are thus weaning yourself off earth shipments and increasing your profitz.
4) Using these profits you send up more mining rigs and refining facilities specialising in other elements such as those useful for structural elements e.g. iron, nickel, titanium. Along these you ship very basic manufacturing facilities that can construct heavy structural and power elements (think trusses, tanks and solar panels)
5) With your new rigs you start delivering higher volumes of material that are refined and constructed into the skeletons of more mining rigs and processing facilities
6) Leverage this by now only shipping up the more complicated functional parts of your infrastructure (think control processors, servos, robotics etc.) Thus you get more facilities and ships per shipment
7) Repeat ad nauseum until you have facilities to refine most elements in the periodic table and a full fleet of mining rigs regularly bringing in material
8) Then start aiming for belt asteroids ramp up resource harvesting and processing capabilities by orders of magnitude
9) Go engage in groovy space construction projects, giant interferometers, space habitats, space ships whatever you like.

>>12592045
Mineral rights is absolutely not, and neither is the ecological impact. China has parts of it that are basically uninhabitable now because of their coal run off, they are functionally at war with India now because they have lost so much of their fresh water supplies to pollution and their fish stocks (if they weren't depleted from overfishing) are functionally nonexistent due it this as well. Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. also have this exact same problem. Australia is in a similar state as well, but not a lot of people want to talk about that because China is an easier target.

How's Big Jim feeling right now?

>>12592018
Re-entry is not kind to asteroids and I hope you like dealing with tsunamis you dummy. Also there are dozens of proposals on how to approach zero G mining, it shouldn't be that hard

>>12592069
>My ass hurts
>I have to bend to reach my Refreshing Mountain Dew
>It's cold up here
>Wish I was in a heated studio doing comfy shit with Elon
>Fuck Boing

>>12591986
SLS, when it gets delayed you reaction is pic related, just like the dacia.

>>12592064
>Australia is in a similar state as well
wut

We're fine, as long as you don't live in Port Pirie, Whyalla or Port Hedland (home of the largest lead smelter on the planet and the largest steelworks in Australia and the busiest ore port on Earth, respectively). Those places are polluted as fuck and are horrifying industrial hellscapes, but they're also 2 small towns (sub 25k population) in remote parts of a massive empty continent, far from major population centres, water tables, or food production areas.

There are other places that generate a lot of pollution (see: any of our major mines) but they generally don't have any people living there in significant numbers on a permanent basis and aren't near anything important (again, water tables or food production. Nearly all of the mines are all in the middle of fuckoff nowhere outback desert country)

>>12591925
>tugs
Only if they are nuclear

>>12592145
incorrect, solar electric (water microwave plasma) is the best option
nuclear thermal (methane) would also be pretty good but I don't think the hassle of nuclear is worth it

>>12592029
musk loves replying to him

Why is SLS such a shitshow? Team #USA has been making it since 2011 and still can't launch it. Meanwhile SpaceX has started working on Raptor engines in 2012, revelaed Starship in 2016 and made it fly in 2020.

>>12592069
what a painful press conference. i wish i could hug jim and warm him up and tell him he did his very best and we're so proud

>>12592155
The Russians are building a 100 MW tug.
Plasma is gay.

Is there any precedent for the first core firing of a rocket failing like SLS?

>>12592180
Russians will also build 4 new rockets at the same time and their own space station and a venus mission

>>12592183
One would think that reusing well tested shuttle parts would provide some kind of advantage.

>>12592187
So what about USA and Britain both stepped up their nuclear space program.

Rip SSME-2058
Shat his turbopump throught the flame diverter

>>12592199
we havent stepped up shit until they contract spacex to build an NTP drive

>>12592204
how do we know it was that engine #? they failed to tell us at the stupid press briefing

>>12592209
I figured it out through some pictures

the fucking state of nasa

>>12591889
>A-at least Orion can probably be salvaged right?
I guess you can put one in Starship's trunk?

>>12592211
very based anon, we'll see if you got it right

>>12591867
Post YFW this monster managed to operate longer in its first flight than SLS' core stage.

>>12592081
>fuck niggers
>fuck jews
>fuck jannies

>>12592010
What even is viv ? German Student and Musk replies to vivs Tweets quite often

>>12592245
Based but N1 is still a shitty rocket. They never even static fired the first stage which meant that every launch was a leap of faith. This isn’t always a bad thing but when you have 30 engines it’s really retarded. However I would’ve loved to see it fly.

>>12592010
>>12592024
Fuck that actually scared me.
>>12592063
You're going to need to invest into long-term habitation first to be able to have workers for your rigs.
We flat out need to get spin stations built and learn how to make them well before we can get any long-term space infrastructure up and running.
>>12592278
Side ho.

>>12592281
Yeah they simply didn't have the facilities or the time to do a static fire of the first stage. All the other stages were considered reliable.

>>12592162
>He doesnt remember the SpaceX mars colonial transporter. MCT
Still, starship made the majority of its progress since the ending of 2018

>>12592255
but most of all, fuck BOING

>>12592063
The problem with NEO mining is that if you want anything bigger than a few meters across, it’ll weigh hundreds or even thousands of tons. That won’t be easy to put into Earth orbit unless you use some slow-ass electric propulsion. You could theoretically mine the asteroid on a heliocentric orbit then boost towards Earth, but that requires a high degree of automation that doesn’t exist today (at least with current probes).

>>12592281
christ that's a lot of stages

>>12592162
Development work on Starship really only began in 2018. The first Starship tanks were built in 2018. Starship is a very new rocket

berger has obscene bias, he hates SLS and loves SpaceX. sickening bias...

>>12591938
>>12592145
nuclear is a meme, especially nuclear thermal

>>12592311
reality has a pro-SpaceX bias

>>12592296
the Saturn V and the N1 used the same amount of practical stages (the Service Module counts as two or something IDK)

Fusion drives when?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARC_fusion_reactor

>>12592289
maybe helium tanks?

>>12592332
Definitely helium tanks.

>>12592327
Nuclear Salt Water Rockets seem to shit on the current fusion engine designs. Fusion drives have shit thrust. NSWR doesn’t.

>>12592312
it's the only next step propulsion that's actually getting funding

>>12592338
Zubrin's Nuclear Salt-water Rocket is fucking terrifying if it works. I dont know if i have the balls to ride one

>>12592336
it could be nitrogen for spin-prime and RCS or something, or just regular high pressure methane and oxygen for pressurization

>>12592041
Wait, the correct spelling in English is "tropenhelm"?

>>12592353
No, I used the german spelling because twitter normies would most likely call it a nazi helmet.

>>12592342
hey, you know how the Orion drive stores it's fissile material in well understood, stable, solid bomblets?
that's gay and for pussies, let's just dissolve it in water and hope it stays evenly distributed and doesn't clump up and also that our neutron suppressant does its job

>>12592351
True all we know is that it’s a COPV.

>>12592342
One thing the Expanse never got was that anyone outside the Roci when the engine is firing would be melted and get cancer simultaneously

>>12592354
Ah, thanks. I got triggered because this is also the Dutch spelling.

>>12592359
Dutch is just German spoken underwater

>>12592361
Dutch is like Danish and German got drunk one night and had a child with chromosome errors that neither of them wanted custody of.

tfw im half danish half german and retard

Sorry fellas, looks like New Shepard is the only rocket that hasn't completely shit the bed this week. The future of space travel in the hands of a very wealthy sniffer

>>12591867
Good, no planet or moon shall be inhabited.

>>12592372
Calling New Shepard a rocket is very generous. It's a glorified carnival ride.

When was the last time an SSME failed in flight or testing?

>>12592389
yesterday

>>12592391
before that wise guy

>>12592379
this looks like a 2005 internet page banner

>>12592389
There were 47 SSME’s produced over the shuttle program, but only 46 flew. Out of 135 missions - 405 engine missions - only 1 failed in flight. That was STS-51-F, in 1985.

>>12592396
yeah, it's a banner ad on NSF forum right now. paid for by AJRD obv

>>12592413
It looks like an ad for a Minecraft server lol

>>12592419
it's not like a regular injected ad either, it's baked into the site lol

Will the virgin launch be streamed in some way?

>>12592485
AHAHAHAHA NO

>>12592485
They do nice videos after the fact.

>only a few hours to swap
>it's been multiple days
>still havent replaced both engines
embarrassing

>>12592498
they uh
they did, actually. We just haven't posted about it because it happened in the middle of the night.

>>12592018
Big mylar or other thin "fabric" to catch the bits of mined asteroid.
Or more likely you process what you care about and leave the rest. Dust and gravel isn't that big a deal, space is big and only retards think kessler's syndrome is a real thing

>>12592162
Because NASA is about milking taxpayer money to the right people.

>>12592498
They did replace both engines lol. How’s SLS doing?

>>12592501
>>12592520
Wow guys, just checked NSF. You are right, I was wrong. Guess I'm the one who is embarrassed now

TFRs added. currently set at
7200ft: Jan 18-Jan 21
Unlimited: Jan 19-Jan 21

>>12592537
>Jan is still on the table
Give snine your energy

Having a baby friends. What do you think of Orion as a girl name?

>>12592580
People should only be allowed to name their children Orion if I'm allowed to light a nuclear shaped charged under said child's ass

>>12592419
Holy shit it does.

>>12592580
Isabella

>>12592580
no

>>12592580
Your son will never be woman

>>12592580
If you're looking to name a girl after an Oldspace project that's also a mythological hunter, go with Artemis.

>>12592580
you cannot possibly imagine how powerful your daughter will become if you name her Orion

>>12592580
1) that's not a girl's name
2) Orion and Artemis were the biggest assholes of the entire Greek Parthenon
3) the space project is a mess

go with Valentina or Mae or whatever

>>12592580
*hits pipe*

>>12592358
It's because the Esptein Drive supposedly somehow recoups like 99.999,999,999% of the waste heat and radiation from the plume either recycling it to turn into more thrust or into more electrical power, so the only danger zone for the drive is directly behind it, and when the Nauvoo is launched it does actually melt down a bunch of discarded construction girders, although that's the only time where the danger of the drive is ever illustrated so far.
It should be mentioned again this season.

Thanks guys. I'm hoping it's a boy anyway.

>>12591872

>>12591921
There was a company called Planetary Resources which was going to make small prospecting satellites. I haven't heard anything from them in years.

>>12592667
Please don’t pick an astronomy name for your child, male or female. Name them something normal

>>12592718
They're dead

I didn't watch SLS test, what was the number of viewers on NASA stream at peak?

>>12592662
The more I read about the Expanse the less realistic it seems damn.

>>12592095
sigh. Why did they take this future away from us, spacebros?

>>12592095
To piss off Elon Musk.

>>12592485
it is not even clear that Virgin Orbit going to launch today. The 17th was a NET date from weeks ago, and I haven't heard anything recently.

>>12592745
They were still on track as of yesterday
https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/1350519343147204609

>>12592095
>breaks all the windows

>>12592281
Didn’t the Saturn V use common bulkheads with insulation?

>>12592724
https://toughsf.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-expanses-epstein-drive.html

>>12592794
Actually I just found a tweet that it's still on as of a few minutes ago
https://twitter.com/NASA_LSP/status/1350828538249801728
>It's launch day!
>Today at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT), the launch window opens for @Virgin_Orbit's #LaunchDemo2 mission that will carry the CubeSats of ELaNa 20 into space. Stay tuned for live updates and mission facts!
Good luck to the anon with a sat flying on this

>>12592399
Wasn’t that due to a bunk sensor?

>>12592808
Yeah hope they don’t blow up his shit this time

>>12592806
Neat. It sounds like Roci just has to have big radiators and be around 4X longer and it would be realistic-ish.

>>12592724
It isn't realistic, it's not soft scifi insofar as technology in the setting still has rules and doesn't just randomly arbitrarily change it's properties or behave magically for no reason. It's more of a Clarke-Tech setting.

Fingers crossed for today!

>>12592816
It was EXOS that crashed the rocket with my stuff on it.

>>12592724
Reality can be strange

>>12592580
it's shit because it's a male name, please for the baby's sake choose a normal name

>>12592580
Think about how awkward it'd she starts dating a guy named Ryan that plows her really good. Orion Oh Ryan oh ryan

>>12592580
Doesn’t Scott Manley have a son named Orion? Ridiculous name.

>>12592873
If the dude is moaning it’ll sound like that car commercial lol
>Oh oh oh Orion

>>12592860
>reality

>>12592877
>Doesn’t Scott Manley have a son named Orion? Ridiculous name.
really? top kek
anyways it's better for a male than a female.

>>12592808
also just tweeted
>LOX loading on the rocket has begun, and we're looking good to hit our target takeoff time of approximately 10:30 AM Pacific.

>>12592561
Not so fast!

>>12592851
Ah, that’s right. My memory sucks. Good luck today anon!

>>12592844
Yeah, 1 km^2 of radiators, 200 meters in length, and 1/100th the thrust and it'd be almost realistic.

>>12591962
I have been interested in space my whole life, for more than half of it spacex didn't exist. It wasn't that bad because we had no idea how much better it could be.

>>12591962
I would've given up on it and taken up trains or guns

>>12591962
>Imagine the timeline right now where they just don't have SpaceX.

>>12592923
It’s not that bad. 1 km^2 of radiators is like two 40X40 meter triangles on the sides of the ship. The story would have to change though. Roci can’t sit inside a cargo bay and can’t land on a planet. Come to think of it though, the “Stealth Ships” would never work in real life because they’d have giant radiators too

>>12592910
So launch around 11:30 PST

Virgin Orbit in about an hour, no streams...

>>12592024
This

>>12592949
China without SpaceX is literally just China now but without any reusability R&D instead of just starting it now.

>>12591902
Such was the NASA requirement

>>12592976
I strongly recommend reading the ESAS report from 2005 which gave birth to Orion and proto-SLS (Ares V)

>>12592976
>Scale something up
>"That'll be $50bn and 20 years of work!"
It's a sad fucking state of affairs, isn't it?

>>12592580
I’d suggest Valentina, after the first woman in space

>>12592724
The first bit of S1 I was willing to suspend disbelief, then it became the alien goo show and I sorta lost interest. I didn't sign on to watch fucking Stargate what is this shit?

>>12592662
>Esptein Drive
It's a shame he tried to explain it, when asked how the drive worked years ago he gave the good answer "it runs on efficency" which is fine even for harder sci-fi.

>>12593022
They should’ve just left the entire series as interplanetary stuff but noooo we need to have wormholes and FTL and aliens. I got to the ending of Book 1 on the show (S2E4 I think?) and I just left the show.

>>12592976
Not to mention that as part of the Constellation program, Orion was also meant to transport astronauts to the ISS.

>>12593039
Well, what I posted is just the most common speculation, I don't think the authors themselves have gone any further than having it run on efficiency. All that's implied in the mainline books and TV show is that it's some form of magnetic confinement fusion torch powered by an inertial-confinement laser ignition fusion reactor which afterburns using water to achieve multiple Gs of thrust, and that it's waste product must verge on actual zero because otherwise ships would still need some form of radiators dedicated to removing the drive's excess heat.

>>12593043
It's a shame, I like the space-politics a lot and if that had been the main focus of the show it'd be 10/10 for me. All that protomolocule shit could have been left out and it'd still be an interesting story about conspiracies and politics between worlds in the near future.
>Mormons build fuckhuge generation ship
>OPAniggers carjack it

LAUNCH THE MISSILE NOW

>>12593049
Orion was supposed to fly like 4-6 times a year. There were 3 versions of Orion planned, actually.
1) Crew Transport Orion: Pretty much Orion as we all know. It was supposed to fly to the ISS twice a year for crew rotations, as well as go to the moon and whatnot.
2) Cargo Orion: Think of it like a bigger version of Dragon. This one used the crew capsule of the Crew Orion but filled it with cargo. It was supposed to fly to the ISS twice pert year.
3) Vacuum Cargo Orion: This one was designed to act like the Dragon’s trunk. It used the regular Orion’s service module, but instead replaced the capsule with an expendable cargo carrier that could be depressurized for stuff like station components.

>https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/140631main_ESAS_01.pdf

>>12593066
THAT MISSILE IS TARGETED TO ELON'S CURRENT POSITION!
WHERE'S ELON SHELBY?!

>>12593056
Yeah the first two books in the series are strictly interplanetary stuff which is great. The third one introduces the wormholes and whatnot.

>>12593049
Instead, we have got this thing.

Daily reminder that rocketry is literally archaic technology and we will go extinct sooner than we will reach any off-planet colonies.

>>12593072
W-we could get a tax bailout! There's a stimulus coming up-

>>12593076
At least that thing has flown. Remember Dream Chaser carrying crew? Neither do I

>>12593077
>Daily reminder that rocketry is literally archaic technology
Sounds badass

>>12593078
There's no way our careers will survive this you idiot!

>>12593079
Leave Dream Chaser alone. SNC wanted to offer the crew variant to NASA, but got turned down.

>>12593089
Because it sucked probably. It’ll be obsolete when Starship flies anyways.

Is Virgin going to try that "launch from an airplane" scheme?

>>12593079
they was robbed! at least they scavenged a cargo contract...

>>12593077
You have convinced me old technology is bad, tomorrow I'll remove every lever, wedge, wheel, pulley, screw and inclined plane from my life.

Dream Chaser a cute

>>12593098
>a cute
looks more like a slut

>>12593098
>what if we put an expendable trunk on it?
>hey that's pretty cool, what a great little trunk
>now if only it didn't have that pesky spaceplane on it, anything we can do about that?

>>12593093
Given their previous issues with planelike vehicles using a proven plane makes sense

>>12592951
No dude, 1 km^2 is 1000m x 1000m which is a million square meters.

>>12593093
basically a missile

>>12593098
Liftingbody spaceplanes are cute

>>12593101
>>12593098
It’s cool but it’s literally just a capsule with extra steps.
>But 1.5 gee re entry!!!!!
Who fucking cares

>>12593108

>>12593114

>>12593108
who wouldn't want to take a ride in a "flying bathtub"?

>>12593101
>>12593111
Just you wait

>>12593114
You can't look at this and tell me Braben didn't get his inspiration here.

>>12593129
John Manke wanted to

>>12593108
It's not a lifting body, but I got one cuter.

>>12593155
Doesn't it stall real easily?

>>12593159
>Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines.
- Enzo Ferrari

>>12592338
the NSWR is badass but it is, optimistically, 80 years from flying,mostly due to current nukeophobia.

>>12593157

>>12593170
Will it ever go away? People in their 30s are old enough to have not lived during the Cold War.
Well, the last one anyway. It's disheartening that people can only imagine using nukes as weapons. We could have been at Saturn in the 1970s.

HONK HONK Best rocket coming through HONK HONK

>>12593108
>Chromosome challenged smurf plane parade

>>12593177
>we are of late to make launch sergei
>da da light the engines, we will be of bullet train

>>12593177
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C3EC8V4oN4
>soyuz is launched from what looks like a scene from mad max
lmao how can elon compete?

>>12592580
Just name her Valentina or something. Suprisingly, kerbals have way more human sounding name than the Greek/Roman gods.

>>12593175
Do NOT bonk Sabre.

>>12593195
Kerbal names always remind me of this

How is Musk planning to deal with human chimpouts in cramped Starships or on Mars?

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=aa0348
Virgin 747 spotted on the flight tracker, they're about to take off.

>>12593157
>make a fighter plane body
>attach XF-85 to the front with couplers
>major damage to the main body could cause the XF-85 to fly out like an escape pod
Why? Because it's cool.

>>12593195
>Hey and why did you name her Valentina?
>Oh you know a little green creature from a vídeo game
>Oh.. O-Okay

>>12593198
What game is this?

>>12593188
Gagarin's start make my pp hard

>>12593200
By not crewing them with human chimps.

>>12593188
A lower pricetag.
But for real though, I hope Roscosmos finds a way out of the economic mess it's in, I want to see Orel fly on Angara and land propulsively, that would actually one-up Dragon.

>>12593200
Aerosolized Vicodin Gas
>>12593208
No clue, could be any number of old sports games.

>>12593176
Only when there are large bases on the moon. Pretty much all nuclear propulsion research is going to happen there, while Earthers screech about environmental protection and the Loonies laugh while firing up another test.

>>12593200
>not packing humans into starships like sardines in a can
>requiring passengers to not have a criminal record of violence
>having more than one crew starship per transit for redundancy
>space police escort

>>12593188
into a lightning storm.

>>12593200
Animegirls. Take your pick

>>12593206
>a little green creature
oh no
look how angry she's now

>>12591148
>I really fucking wish that the US and Russia would openly cooperate on some space project. Not just some faggot composite station, I want a US/Russia blend rocket.
>We should put together an international coalition of rocket scientists and engineers for the express purpose of building a new generation of superheavy rockets using the combined experience of the space race. Fuck ITARfags, team up with the rooskies to make chinks and eurofaggots screech.
The better way would be to have a treaty to get rid of ITAR type of restrictions on both sides and then let SpaceX go multinational, hiring Russians etc and building there too. That's way better than inter-government design by committee bullshit.

>>12593200
He'll probably put like 20 to 30 max for comfiness. The longer your trip, the more space you'll need.

So yeah, Orbital Virgin. Will it RUD? My vote goes to yes.
No orbital cherry will be popped today.

>>12593210
Rollout does in general really

>>12593227
So they can just turn around and sell all of it to China? Great fucking idea.

>>12593229
Air launch is a meme. Air launch liquid fueled is twice as much a meme.

>>12593237
Yes and yes.

Virgin taxiing.

>>12593229
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/lsp_elana_20_fact_sheet.pdf
Is any of this shit particularly useful for anything? This seems like a bunch of garbage with flowery descriptions.

Take off

>>12593155
I read it as 'Monke' at first.

>>12593242
It's just NASA using students cubesats as glorified mass simulators to be honest and using that fact as a publicity stunt.
Because none of those are making it to orbit. At least NASA is footing the bill, at least I hope they are.

>>12593240
>>12593248

Is there a stream?

>>12593253
no

>>12593253
Since when did Branson ever fucking provide a stream for any of his flops? The whole fucking thing is a tax dodge.

>>12593253
Yeah its private tho

>>12593258
Restream it faggot.

Should we design a nuclear saltwater rocket?

>>12593242
https://w2g.tv/rooms/hp8uwa0ooccrigmmzt?lang=en

Maybe this will work

>>12593258
You better start sharing before I have to come over there to make you

>>12593266
Meant to reply to >>12593261

>>12593219
>colony name: New Australia.

>>12593271
Password required.

>>12593267
What website or program are you using for these?

>>12593274
It's in the image AND the filename come the fuck on man

>>12593273
Venture2Orbit

>>12593279
Working, much obliged.

>>12593228
fitting 100 people into Starship is one thing
fitting 100 people and supplies, life support with enough solar panels and radiators to keep life support equipment running for them is another thing

you can't really fit more than about 30 people in there if you expect then to be there for more than a week or so

>Virgin Orbit uses a B*eing first stage
Pathetic.

>>12593266
>>12593279
thanks anon

How is this professional?

>>12593279
>>12593266
Excellent

>>12593294
you know (((why)))

>>12593294
>mmrmmrmmff mrmmfmfm rmem! mfffm mmmffm mmffgmmfm!
Fucking masklets you're on TV, you can't infect us.

>Branson

>>12591867
I tried drawing out a realistic Warship. Advice would be appreciated (and greatly needed).

>>12593198
>mike truk
yeehaw

>>12593266
Quite like the background art

If you're having trouble getting in, I guess I'll post the non-watchtogether link.

500648871

Put that after vimeo.com/

>>12593314
Manliest dude since Beef McSlab.

>>12593266
direct link
https://vimeo.com/500648871

Over the water now

>>12593301
Caricature is truly the lowest, dumbest form of art

>>12593317
>>12593321
need password

>>12593328
see
>>12593279

>>12593328
see >>12593279

>>12593328
see >>12593279

Fighter jet approaching, presumably with a camera.

>>12592204
>ULA snipper
kek

>>12593335
>>12593334
>>12593333
How the fuck? It works. Also
>That godawful synthwave

see

>we're still celebrating our virgin pride

>virgin pride

cringe

>virgin pride

stream keeps pausing

The fuck is the carrier plane doing?

>>12593223
Well yeah my bad. Forgot that the Kerbal names are after real people kek

>>12593361
Holding pattern so the fuel can cool down

>>12593358
link?

>>12593361
yeah it's doing a loop on flight radar

Is someone trying to dial a phone number on stream or what?

>>12593366
password : Venture2Orbit
https://w2g.tv/rooms/hp8uwa0ooccrigmmzt?lang=en

>>12593371
Don't bother with that shit stream, random users keep controlling the stream and scrubbing back to previous points and pausing it

>>12593312
it's looking good so far, have you read the whole project rho webpage?

>>12593374
Got a better option?

>>12593371
cool

>>12593376
The vimeo link a few posts ago

>>12593376
The vimeo link is available too. Sorry I would've turned off controls to other people if I knew people would do that.

>>12591889
>A-at least Orion can probably be salvaged right?
probably, btuw hy would you want to do that?

>>12593371
why not publicly stream if you're doing this lol

>trapsat
>do not touch here
lmao

>>12593312
Why railguns as opposed to say, lasers, or laser-cooled particle beams? If you have enough reactor power to charge a railgun, you have enough reactor power for a laser or particle gun instead and either would be a much more effective space weapon.

>>12593385
>>12593381
>>12593380
>>12593376
https://vimeo.com/500648871
Password is Venture2Orbit

>to better understand our understand of ah...we'll be right back

>to better understand our understanding
Damn, that's advanced

>>12593390
Thank you

>it fucking detonates
>destroys the plane
>virgin goes bankrupt

When is the actual launch?

>>12593375
Yeah. I’ve been bingeing a lot of their stuff for advice. I used to be a fan of Fusion-Fission Fragment engines but then someone redpilled me on NSWR. Only problem is that I kinda understood FF but I don’t even know what the propellant in NSWR is. I want to do more math in the future.

>>12593389
Don’t really know I didn’t add a lot of detail. I guess railguns look cooler and make explosions and whatnot. Torpedoes would be great too I’ll add them.

It's going to draw a dick!

>>12593404
16 minutes roughly

>>12593395
One day we may be able to look forward to breaking the ground towards a future generation being able to understand our understandings in preparation of the first boots on Mars in 2130!

>15 minutes to drop

Would NASA let Musk send some lander mockups as mockup payloads?

>ladies and gentlemen, never mind the bollocks
based

>nevermind the bollocks! let's get this candle lit!

this is a cool screen

>>12593414
>Starship crane lands Starliner on the moon
>Boeing takes credit

What does the SLS timeline and a toilet have in common?

They're both full of shit unless they get scrubbed constantly!

Will there be a recovery attempt for the plane today?

>>12593405
>I don’t even know what the propellant in NSWR
check out scott manley's video, which explains more or less the same as in aromic rocket

obviously its not table salt, a salt chemically is a compound with specific properties but that's not important.

Picture it like this, the fuel and propellant is a solution that's fisile. Meaning it could be fuel for a nuclear reactor. Trough a complex mechanism and a pipe that's made of basically what would be the control rods in a nuclear reactor the fuel is ejected in a way that's just close enough to criticality, in a way that it enters a state thats constantly 3 times more energetic than what it was in the chernobyl core during the worst moment for a fraction of a second. By keeping this delicate balance you're ejecting a constant stream of particles at a retardedly high speed. Bare in mind this is not a safe design. A modern nuclear reactor is prepared to not have an accident even tough everything goes in the worst way possible. A NSW engine is designed in a way that it will have a horrible accident unless everything goes in the best way possible. So that's why its iffy

>>12593437
Yes, but it will just parachute into the ocean without plans for reuse

>>12593385
I think they're trying to stop a launch failure from affecting Virgin Galactic's share price by limiting public interest. It's stupid that they're even being associated because Virgin Orbit is private but that is SPCE investors for you.

There are rumors that Virgin Orbit could be going public soon via a special purpose acquisition company and people are already speculating that will happen and buying the stock so that's another reason to limit public interest for now.

Hawker Hunter spotted nearby neat

>>12593433
space is hard, spacex just blindly tests random shits, corrects something random and see if it works, they work in the dark, thats amateurish, we do all the math first like pros and then when we fly its exactly as we want it, testing is merely a formality, shit test failed? change something random and see how it goes

>>12593441
I've never understood this 'reusable pilot' meme

>>12592896
>Space names
I can see them become far more popular in the next 20 years as space becomes accessible again

>>12593437
not economically feasible, especially with so many grounded planes to choose from due to the COVID travel depression

>>12592877
>>12592896
frankyl he could name his boy "sissy-faggot" and he would still be a chad with those balding ultra high test scottish accent genes

>>12593452
Also we cannot even THINK about halting airframe production, the number of jobs lost would be anudder sho- I mean it would be economically unfortunate

Internal power

>>12593456
>scott manly
>high test
lol

Brace for RUD.

>>12593437
did it crash?

A C C E L E R A T E

dubs and it blows up

>>12593448
What's it doing out there?

>>12593459
>decently muscular tough doesnt work out
>bald
>deep voice

its textbook high test

Were off!

Uh is it supposed to shimmy like that

>>12593475
It doesn't look very stable no

These fuckers couldn't have made both windows any smaller, right? ffs

>>12593459
>doesn't agree with my faggy conservative politics
>must be a soiboi

Where are y'all watching from? Any links?

>>12593464
Probably aggressor training for the USN/USAF

OH NO NO NO, it's over for us, SpaceX bros. We cannot compete with this.

let's see if it makes orbit

>>12593481
Read the fucking thread you goddamn niggers

Commentator is so happy lol

pretty cool cams tho

They're doing it!
>>12593481
scroll up

hope someone is recording the vimeo stream

>>12593491
>https://vimeo.com/500648871
Found it. Why the fuck do they have an official stream but it's hidden behind a password, on Vimeo of all places.........?

>>12593500
Read the thread even more

If Branson beats the turtle to orbit I'm going to die of laughter.

>>12593500
It's the family / friends / customers stream that I wasn't supposed to share.

>>12593501
You fucks are all homosexual

>>12593095
You will need to get rid of your skeleton.

>>12593502
>BO BTFO'd by virgins

>>12593503
god bless

>>12593505
Lurkmoar newfag

>>12593508
PROUD Virgins.

>>12593503
How are you involved? Do you have your very own cubesat? Thanks for sharing

>>12593505
Okay now stop reading the thread and go back to R*ddit.

how do I youtube-dl this stream on the highest quality? Must preserve this footage

>>12593519
I'm recording 20 minutes of it with shadowplay relax

>>12593503
Thanks anon. Very appreciated

>>12593519
Just log in and save it

>>12593437
Good one.

200,000 km altitude? wtf?

>Oh. honey, look!

Orbit!

>>12593526
>That's cute. Remind me to cancel their space program.

>>12593503
I'm glad you did anon, rules are for pussies.

congrats on reaching orbit
and thanks anon for the stream!

LauncherOne is orbital!

>>12593526
>>12593532
Is this the Muslim outreach program?
>>12593531
Fuck yes. Air launching is kind of gay, but no one else cares about it anymore and if Virgin can get good at it, it can be used for Venus missions
>>12593513
>>12593518
I JUST WOKE UP AND I WANTED TO SEE THE STREAM

>>12593503
BASED

>>12593516
I was a core member of one of the CubeSat teams, a completely useless CubeSat but it's still nice to finally see it off.

the gui showing their tank pressures and other telemetry was very nice

>>12592180
Assuming a Starship dominated launch market, a nuclear space tug sounds like one of the best things Russians can do to stay relevant:
- It does not compete where SpaceX is good. (Between the body and orbit)
- It takes advantage of superior tech SpaceX won't touch for a good while.
- It can work in synergy with Starship: Starship carrying heavy cargo between bodies and orbit, while the tug can carry that heavy cargo through space without having to do many refuelings, thus freeing up capacity for Starship's human missions.
- A big version can launch is a Starship and become the 3rd stage / service module for deep space missions.
- SpaceX can launch a huge spaceship in modules and the tug can attach and become the nuclear propulsion and power module.
- Big sample returns, asteroid mining experiments

>>12593541
>teleports to LEO

NSF gatekeeper admins are removing all stream screenshots

The real kino footage is on that CF-116D

>>12593549
>a completely useless CubeSat
Well that doesn't narrow it down lel
Still, not like I have a cubesat in orbit right now. Cool job anon.

>>12593549
Vey nice, happy for you

>ASMR typing noises
>The comms channel is nice and confident; no one is yelling at eachother like the SLS test the other day
>Synthwave background music
Kino

>>12593549
Congratulations, fren

nice to see virgin orbit providing RESULTS and a sick stream

>>12593566
This was the first launch that made me genuinely happy for a company other than SpaceX. I loved how the announced was like
>Trust me we have a lot of adrenaline too right now
>Oh I really like this GUI guys these GUI’s are great
>We did it!!!!

>>12593549
Congratulations on your mass simulator making it past 'glorified' status, sir.

>>12593549
Congratulations bro
>>12593566
The SLS communication channel was embarrassing.
>QUIET IN THE MISSION CONTROL PLEASE
>Well I need you to VERIFY that

>>12593553
That is just part of the fetish, the NSF paypiggies pay money to their NSF doms and then have them deny them good content and insider information.

>>12593566
>no one is yelling at eachother like the SLS test the other day
Based covid restriction removing the hype crowds from SpaceX events

>>12593575
>We have MCF
>NO WE DONT WE HAVE GIMBAL TEST COMING UP!!!!
>Oh shit yeah haha abort

500x187km initial orbit bretty gud

>>12593571
>>Oh I really like this GUI guys these GUI’s are great
Bless him, it's a nice GUI albeit with windows for ant sometimes

I used to meme on Virgin but now they've made orbit. I don't know if this is the first time they have done this, but they are now cooler than Blue Origin and SLS

>>12593571
agreed, there was a lot of good energy on the nets for this launch. Congratulations everyone! And thanks based anon for sharing the stream. I'm sure they will share it officially once they achieve mission success. Virgin is all about publicity, after all.

>>12593580
>we have mcf hmmm
>but we're still running hmmm
>oh here's the shutdown
monke red button be slappe

>>12593566
>no one is yelling at eachother like the SLS test the other day
I may be deaf but I didn't hear anyone yelling during the SLS test

>They have unintentional ads on their GUI right now
Hahah god bless you, Virgin

>virgin orbit is now orbital virgin

Telemetry in 2 mins

Thank you, Eve

>SLS fails Green Run
>NASA be like “fuck it, ship it”

>>12593592
Yeah what was that about?
>Guys the engine is falling apart
>Dude don’t worry it’s still running
>Oh wait a minute yeah abort lol oops

>>12593612
WE'LL DO IT LIVE, FUCK IT

>>12593608
>For Eve

>>12593612
SLS is going to explode on its maiden flight holy shit

Better HQ stream here with no ads:

https://e621.net/posts/1582232

>>12593612
>>12593621
Shrapnel Launch System

>>12593593
people were getting pissy and snapping at each other. It was very unprofessional and no one sounded like they knew what they were doing lmao