Space, Planets and eclipses

[Wallingford]

How to destroy a space station (safely!)

Hotel style strategically placed explosives to make smaller pieces. Disassemble.

[alexora]

Hard rock, from the Red Planet.

Nasa’s Perseverance rover collects
first Mars rock sample

Rock core, along with other samples, could one day be destined to Earth for analysis

Nasa’s Perseverance rover has successfully collected its first rock sample from Mars. If all goes to plan, this sample, along with many others, could one day be brought back to Earth for analysis.

The sample was drilled out of a briefcase-sized rock, nicknamed Rochette, on 1 September. The rock belongs to a ridge-line almost 1km in length that looks out over the floor of Jezero Crater, where Perseverance landed on 18 February. An attempt on 6 August to drill and store a different rock ended in failure when the sample crumbled into powder before it could be placed into one of 43 titanium sample tubes being carried by the rover.

The tube containing the pencil-width sample of Rochette will be hermetically sealed and stored inside the rover. When all the sample tubes are full of a variety of rocks, Perseverance will cache the tubes on the planet’s surface.

Future missions from the European Space Agency and Nasa will work together to collect these samples, load them on to a rocket to take them into orbit, from where they will be transferred to a return vehicle. If successful, the sample should be back on Earth in the early 2030s.

Source:

http://theguardian.com/science/2021/sep/09/nasa-perseverance-rover-collects-first-mars-rock-sample

[JustKelli]

^^^^^ Our technology which upon sale became SnapDragon is incorporated into the Wi-Fi on the Mars rover...

It uses the 801 processor whereas we use the more upgraded 865. By the way all Android phones also use this technology

Setting aside all the technical legalities in theory we could task the Mars Rover from our building...

One of our satellites that we use for our Wi-Fi system was recently launched into orbit on a recent flight. It sat dormant with a preprogrammed flight trajectory until we were able to initiate it.

A number of our drones are currently using that satellite for "mapping" wildfires around the world...

All of this is made possible by a recent purchase of stock in a Canadian technology company that is the newest entry in the space race but unlike Elon Musk Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos I have no aspirations of flying to space and wasting shareholders money

[JustKelli]

Although this might sound like something straight out of Science Fiction did you know that it's technically possible to launch Satellites with a really really really big cannon. A projectile only has to make it out of the grasp of Earth's gravity and afterburners can do the remainder which would save countless millions of dollars per launch.

Not to mention if you initiate these flights from some third world Banana Republic in the middle of nowhere out of the prying eyes of the FAA and MoT, you can stay under the radar as it were and with the blessing of that country nobody could say any different...

Or so I'm told by a little birdy LOL.

Certain billionaires only want you to believe that it takes a hundred million dollar rocket to get this done which is the farthest thing from the truth, they are more focussed on maintaining a monopoly than making it convenient.

[Wallingford]

Originally Posted by JustKelli

Although this might sound like something straight out of Science Fiction did you know that it's technically possible to launch Satellites with a really really really big cannon?

Yes, a variation on the WWII German Rail Gun.

The greatest engineering challenges facing this option would be explosive containment and sound suppression.

First challenge, we got it up there, but we blew up forty acres.

Second challenge, everyone within a hundred miles is now deaf.

So, yeah, technically and theoretically possible.

[JustKelli]

^^^^^ That sounds like something a military man would say and if that's in fact the case thank you for your service

Originally Posted by Wallingford

Yes, a variation on the WWII German Rail Gun.

The greatest engineering challenges facing this option would be explosive containment and sound suppression.

First challenge, we got it up there, but we blew up forty acres.

Second challenge, everyone within a hundred miles is now deaf.

So, yeah, technically and theoretically possible.

If my facts are right and I believe that they are but correct me if I'm wrong Iraq had purchased what was nicknamed The Bull gun invented by Gerald Bull a Canadian and the components of this cannon that Iraq wanted were for firing their scud missiles into Israel but it was seized at I believe and again correct me if I'm wrong Heathrow Airport I believe, in London. Anyway it had capability of firing medium-range missiles vast distances, now I'm not a rocket scientist but I believe that each scud missile would have to weigh somewhere in the area of at least 10 tons whereas a satellite projectile could be launched weighing under 2 thousand pounds which would further increase the distance...

This super cannon was part of the Project Babylon "supergun" for the Iraqi government which everybody knows the so-called intended use was bullshit but the intended use was to do exactly what I just said launch satellites, they never even considered using it for constructive purposes and we all know how history will record that entire mess.

The interesting part is I've actually seen one of these Bull Guns because Gerald Bull used to live next door to Donald Sutherland and I visited his residence and have seen it first-hand while visiting with Kiefer. ( 60 Minutes even did a segment on it once upon a time so if you don't believe me Google that. I haven't seen the segment personally because I believe I was still crapping in my diapers as a baby at the time but I do know it exists because Donald had mentioned it more than once during our visits)

Gerald Bull was assassinated in 1990 by Mossad because of his association with Iraq

Sounds a little Wile E Coyote LOL but when you take into consideration a hundred million dollar rocket every second of trust boost costs on average conservatively between 100K to 200K and that's just to get the rocket out of Earth's gravity. A satellite could in theory be launched for 20 seconds worth of thrust boost ( about twice the length of time it takes for the rocket to clear the launch pad). Is it efficient or practical probably not is it financially responsible, definitely. Not to mention it does nothing to deplete the ozone layer like rockets do.

Let the greedy billionaires have their fifteen minutes of fame and get their jollies out I just want to save shareholders money and get them internet and communication capability in a reasonable length of time and you know what in the end they don't give a Fiddler's fuck how it's done they just want it done

If all that sounds too funky to someone there's still using high-altitude flight to release a payload on the edge of space and let momentum and thrust do the remainder at a fraction of the cost of even the supergun.

The bottom line is I'm not nor need I spend countless millions of dollars hitching a ride on a publicity stunt from one of these yahoos.

If that's not enough imagine how much money a person could make launching corpses into space to be buried in space aka Gene Roddenberry... the projectile could fire deep into space until it ran out of fuel and then would through momentum continue to drift for millions of years.

[alexora]

Originally Posted by Wallingford

Yes, a variation on the WWII German Rail Gun.

In 1944, during World War II, Joachim Hänsler of Germany's Ordnance Office proposed the first theoretically viable railgun.

By late 1944, the theory behind his electric anti-aircraft gun had been worked out sufficiently to allow the Luftwaffe's Flak Command to issue a specification, which demanded a muzzle velocity of 2,000 m/s (4,500 mph; 7,200 km/h; 6,600 ft/s) and a projectile containing 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) of explosive.

The guns were to be mounted in batteries of six firing twelve rounds per minute, and it was to fit existing 12.8 cm FlaK 40 mounts.

It was never built.

When details were discovered after the war it aroused much interest and a more detailed study was done, culminating with a 1947 report which concluded that it was theoretically feasible, but that each gun would need enough power to illuminate half of Chicago.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun#History

[pepo-pepo]

Originally Posted by JustKelli

Although this might sound like something straight out of Science Fiction did you know that it's technically possible to launch Satellites with a really really really big cannon...

HG Wells predicted this in his 1933 book "The Shape of Things to Come" and shown in the 1936 film with the big space gun in "Things to Come" directed by William Cameron Menzies. You can see the gun in the poster:

pepo saw this with subtitles in Barcelona when i was about 6 or 7. Was so futuristic. Loved it!



.

[JustKelli]

You Tube

You Tube

SETI and scientists have detected a signal from outer space some four and a quarter light-years away. To put that in perspective Voyager 1 left Earth in 1979 and is currently 20 billion kilometres from Earth, to reach the signal would take it another 70,000 years.

[JustKelli]

Orbit Fab to launch propellant tanker to fuel satellites in geostationary orbit

by Sandra Erwin — September 24, 2021

The geostationary orbit tanker is being designed to carry more than 200 pounds of hydrazine

WASHINGTON — Orbit Fab, a startup offering a refueling service in space, will launch a propellant tanker to geostationary orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 lunar lander mission projected for late 2022 or early 2023.

“Geostationary orbit is where most of our customers, especially the Department of Defense and intelligence community, are interested in,” Orbit Fab CEO Daniel Faber told SpaceNews.

The tanker will ride as a secondary payload with Intuitive Machines’ NASA-backed IM-2 lunar lander mission. The payload will get to geostationary orbit aboard a Spaceflight Sherpa-ES orbital transfer vehicle using a novel “lunar flyby” trajectory that takes it first around the back of the moon, Faber said. The mission was facilitated by Spaceflight and GeoJump, a new company offering small satellite rideshare services to the geostationary belt.

“Commencing operations in this orbit will be an important milestone for us,” Faber said.

The tanker is being designed to be able to store propellant for up to 15 years, he said.

Orbit Fab in June launched its first fuel payload demonstration to a low sun synchronous orbit. “It’s just proving that the fueling port is holding pressure and operating well, and it’s available for customers if they want high test peroxide,” said Faber.

The plan is to send “fuel shuttles” to orbit over the next couple of years, he said. “Our architecture involves tankers that contain a lot of fuel and fuel shuttles to transfer fuel between the tankers and operational spacecraft.” Orbital propellant depots are one of the key pieces of the space infrastructure needed for economic activities and exploration.

Orbit Fab’s first tanker that is now in low Earth orbit is less than 100 pounds. Faber said the geostationary orbit tanker will be larger and carry more than 200 pounds of hydrazine. This is what customers have asked for, Faber said. “We’ve already got several million dollars worth of contracts from the Space Force and Air Force, who are funding flight qualification of the fueling ports [and efforts to deliver] both hydrazine and xenon.”

Hydrazine fuel will be available for delivery in the geo belt as soon as it arrives but the company will need more time to demonstrate long-term storage capability. “When it’s not making a fuel delivery, we will be parking our tanker a few hundred kilometers away from the geostationary belt so as not to clutter up the orbit,” said James Bultitude, Orbit Fab’s chief engineer.

Faber said the tanker mission with Spaceflight is being internally funded by Orbit Fab. “We will have propellant available for sale and delivery in geostationary orbit.”

Orbit Fab developed an in-space refueling port known as RAFTI, short for Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface, that is being offered to DoD, intelligence community and commercial satellites.

Founded in 2018, Orbit Fab is based in California but recently announced plans to move to Colorado. It is venture funded and also has attracted financial support from defense contractors Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

Satellite-servicing vehicles such as those operated by Northrop Grumman, Astroscale and other companies are viewed as key customers, Faber said. “We see them as tow trucks. We build the fuel supply.” The plan is to be able to deliver fuel to “fully cooperative, fully prepared spacecraft that have nothing wrong with them. If there’s ever any glitches, call the tow truck.”

Faber said Orbit Fab plans to soon announce a contract it won to refuel a satellite servicing vehicle.