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Thread: The thrust of curiosity that leads men to try to go where no one has gone before. (The Space thread)

  1. #721
    Junior Potato
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    I got the info from Kurzgesagt on Facebook:

    Houston, or rather Engine 3, had a problem, and the start was canceled.
    The possible launch will be on September 2nd. Why not earlier?
    This is due to the alignment of Earth, Moon, and Sun: the orbital complexities of these celestial bodies narrow down the possible launch windows to two weeks each month. During these two weeks, there are days that end up in a dark orbit, not admitting enough light for the orbiter's solar panels. Additionally, the requirements concerning the departure burn to the Moon and the reentry maneuver, as well as the daytime of reentry, must be considered. Together these parameters may result in shorter mission durations or missed objectives, leaving only 7 perfect launch windows in September.
    Plenty here to learn more about for the curious.

  2. #722
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    Ok - that sounds good and makes sense.
    The phase of the moon controls the if the journey gets good light - that could be the weeks each month. Just seems interesting that its a specific day in that period, but maybe they have a min time between attempts, that would set a next earliest window.

    Anyway looking forward to it

  3. #723
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    Ok so having said Friday or Monday... they announced it will be Saturday!!

    https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/09/n...n-on-saturday/

    Seems it will be Sat between 2pm-4pm ET.
    Fuck that's like 4am Sunday here... if I get up it better bloody launch!

  4. #724
    Junior Potato
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    I will be awake but I'll be at work.

    I watched F1 qualifying last week on Kayo with my phone propped up against the computer I work at.

    I should be fine to have NASA TV streaming this weekend, but on a desktop window with YouTube

  5. #725
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    Imagine planning a vacation around a launch of any kind...

    Best way is to be a Florida residence, next best thing is to probably camp near the launch sight. I've never been able to catch any close up live launches in my life. Not even the ones in Vandenberg Air Force Base off the coast of CA! Just occasionally some cool rocket trails in the night skies...

    Anyway, thank goodness for live streaming nowadays. We can see them anywhere at any time!

  6. #726
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    Oh man, scrubbed again.

  7. #727
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    https://arstechnica.com/science/2022...ydrogen/?amp=1

    Okay, just learned that they’ve attempted to fill up the LH2 tank a grand total of 6th time, from initial test to today’s scrubbed launch. They’ve actually been successful at filling up the LH2 tank at a grand total of 0 times! Hmm…

  8. #728
    Senior Member sandydandy's Avatar
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    SpaceX did a launch last night. That’s not really big news anymore, I know. I didn’t watch the launch live, but I caught it yesterday while watching a livestream on LA Flights, (plane-spotting channel which is quickly becoming my favorite on YouTube). They’re doing a cross country tour right now and were livestreaming at Boston Logan Airport, and suddenly looked up and caught the rocket as it passed by, and we even saw the stage one separation. Really cool stuff!

    EDIT - here's the video. Rocket appears overhead at 6:33:40 or so.

    Last edited by sandydandy; September 25th, 2022 at 10:39 AM.

  9. #729
    I'm gooder. Phil_SS's Avatar
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    Wow, that was crazy cool.

  10. #730
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    And the DART mission hit its target.
    I think they are still waiting to see what the net affect is, the impact it should slow the orbital speed of the small asteroid around its bigger companion. This then should be seen as a shorter orbital period, I think they are expecting 10 min off from about a 12 hour orbit.

    quirkily - slower orbital speed = smaller orbital period (for the same distance out), it ends up with a lower orbit for the rest of its orbit and that takes less time, its not only shorter, it speeds up as it "falls closer", so its going faster at the opposite side of its orbit.

    And while they are too far away to easily see the smaller asteroid, they are an "eclipsing pair", so they should notice the orbital period from dimming of the brightness. Basically the same technique eased to find exoplanets.

    This is all good news for asteroid protection! When we have plenty of time to detect, get our impactor out there and plenty of time (years) for the effect to accumulate.
    Not so great for long period objects (comets) that could strike on their first pass. Ditto with objects coming from outside the solar system.
    But its a good first step!

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