Science and Souls (for geeks and spiritual explorers)

Tranquility

Well-Known Member
Oh yes, everything is insured but its still a "learning opportunity" and it delays things. SpaceX was scheduled to launch that recovered first stage, a reused Dragon capsule, and the Falcon 9 Heavy pretty soon so all of that will be pushed back. The Israeli satellite . . . meh . . like you said its paid for although Zuckerberg will be set back as well. Maybe a good thing.
Insurance pays for the last risk--then recalculates for the next one. Even with insurance, there are only so many failures that can happen before the one doing the launch is taking all the risk. Just as a money issue, what is the multiplier of risk SpaceX is willing to pay for and the insurer willing to cover?
 
Tranquility,
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t-dub

Vapor Sloth
what is the multiplier of risk SpaceX is willing to pay for and the insurer willing to cover?
I have no idea.

A new image from Mars orbit, courtesy of the MRO, shows in high rez and color the impact crater from the Schiaparelli crash site. There are also high resolution images of the heat shield and parachute/back shell.

This thing crashed HARD, making a nice crater and scattering pieces of itself everywhere.

PIA21132_hires.jpg
 

Tranquility

Well-Known Member
I have no idea.

A new image from Mars orbit, courtesy of the MRO, shows in high rez and color the impact crater from the Schiaparelli crash site. There are also high resolution images of the heat shield and parachute/back shell.

This thing crashed HARD, making a nice crater and scattering pieces of itself everywhere.

PIA21132_hires.jpg
I am still amazed at all the math needed to fling something to another planet. How close were they to their planned landing?
 
Tranquility,

t-dub

Vapor Sloth
Remember that SpaceX rocket explosion? Well investigators into the incident had this happen . . .

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Tough to tell if they wanted this outcome or if it was a negative result.

I also want to show you the new carbon fiber LOX tanks SpaceX is creating and testing for use in their big launcher which is needed to go to Mars. This thing is Huge! I mean can you imagine this thing filled with LOX?

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A couple shots from inside the tank . . .

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Simply amazing stuff . . . Go SpaceX!!! :tup:

Edit: And the Russians sent another crew to ISS today. It's always a pleasure to see Soyuz power off the pad from the Baikonur Cosmodrome . . . :clap:

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And the Chinese are coming home from their new space station . . .

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t-dub

Vapor Sloth
EchoStar 19 encapsulated for launch atop Atlas 5 . . .

The Dec. 18 launch is planned for 1:27 p.m. EST (1827 GMT).

*** Will provide live launch link if available. ***

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More . . . . CLICK --------> <HERE>

Photos by Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance
 
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t-dub

Vapor Sloth
This should be a very nice Atlas 5 shot:

CAPE CANAVERAL — A sophisticated communications satellite launches into orbit atop an Atlas 5 rocket Sunday to bring residential high-speed Internet to parts of the U.S. that must look to space for connectivity.

Getting EchoStar 19 aloft begins with a ride to super-synchronous transfer orbit atop the United Launch Alliance rocket, departing from Cape Canaveral at 1:27 p.m. EST (1827 GMT). The daily launch window extends for exactly two hours.

With a thrust-to-weight ratio of 2-to-1, the million-pound rocket will race off the launch pad on two million pounds of thrust and head eastward toward orbit.

Weather forecasters are predicting a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions.

*** Live launch link is now up *** http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/12/16/av071_journal/

The mission profile:
--- The Atlas 5 ---
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--- The satellite ---
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--- An artist’s concept of EchoStar 19 deployed in space ---
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More here: http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/12/1...peed-internet-across-america-ready-to-launch/
 
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t-dub

Vapor Sloth
This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft is one of the highest-resolution views ever taken of Saturn's moon Pandora. Pandora (52 miles, 84 kilometers) across orbits Saturn just outside the narrow F ring.

The spacecraft captured the image during its closest-ever flyby of Pandora on Dec. 18, 2016, during the third of its grazing passes by the outer edges of Saturn's main rings. (For Cassini's closest view prior to this flyby, see PIA07632, which is also in color.)

The image was taken in green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 25,200 miles (40,500 kilometers) from Pandora. Image scale is 787 feet (240 meters) per pixel.

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t-dub

Vapor Sloth
And in other news . . . . SpaceX is back in business!!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D This launch tentatively set for Jan 8.

The first 10 satellites for Iridium’s next-generation mobile voice and data relay network have been fueled, joined with their deployment module and encapsulated inside the clamshell-like nose cone of a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster for launch as soon as next week from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. You may remember that HUGE explosion they had on pad 40 not too long ago.

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And this photo of the rocket completely assembled.

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More when available . . . .
 

t-dub

Vapor Sloth
The U.S. Air Force's X-37B space plane waits in the encapsulation cell of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle on April 5, 2010, at the Astrotech facility in Titusville, Florida. The vehicle launched on the first X-37B mission on April 22, 2010.
Credit: U.S. Air Force

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t-dub

Vapor Sloth
*** SPACEX IS BACK IN BUSINESS!!! THIS WAS AN INSTANTANEOUS LAUNCH WINDOW ***

SpaceX with their Falcon 9 do it again. This just happened a few minutes ago. A successful launch with a PERFECT landing on a barge at sea off the coast of California who's title is "Read The Instructions". First successful landing on that particular barge in the Pacific.

This link will allow you to see what is happening right now. After normal operations it will revert to a video of the entire launch. Of course some of you will appreciate the technical broadcast and that will be inserted below the hosted broadcast.

Here is a landing shot on the barge . . .

*** SpaceX is getting much better on video. What you see below are some of the best examples I have ever seen from spaceflight photography ***

*** Also it appears that all 10 Iridium satellites made it into their proper orbits ***

*** Edit This is the best camera footage ever captured of the first stage coming down for recovery and landing on a drone ship***

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t-dub

Vapor Sloth
ok . . . get ready for Pluto to be a planet again. I always thought Pluto was a planet and the info from New Horizons proved that to all of us.

“A planet is a sub-stellar mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and that has sufficient self-gravitation to assume a spheroidal shape adequately described by a triaxial ellipsoid regardless of its orbital parameters,”

More here . . .. http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...tists-wants-make-pluto-planet-again/98187922/
 

Krazy

Well-Known Member
"The scientists suggest planets should constitute as “round objects in space that are smaller than stars,” thus excluding white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes from the planetary status."

The magic of simply changing the definition of a term, lol. They want to make Pluto Great Again by redefining planet.

"A planet is a sub-stellar mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and that has sufficient self-gravitation to assume a spheroidal shape adequately described by a triaxial ellipsoid regardless of its orbital parameters," the proposal elaborates, noting that the Earth's moon would constitute as a planet under the new definition."

This would make the larger, rounder, dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt into planets. It would also make most (all?) of the solar systems moons into planets as well.
 
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grokit

well-worn member
:cool: So this is where *we* may be headed someday...

System of seven Earth-like planets could support life
The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system is now at the center of the search for life outside our solar system.

PIA21421.jpg

The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Seven Earth-sized terrestrial planets have been discovered orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star. They’re the most promising target yet in the search for life outside our solar system. 40 light years away, the planets are—like Earth—terrestrial rocky worlds that could support life under the right atmospheric conditions. “The seven planets are temperate. This means that they could have some liquid water and maybe, by extension, life on the surface,” said lead author Michaël Gillon.

When planets pass in front of a small star, in this case TRAPPIST-1, they cast a shadow that allows scientists to make them out and determine their size and orbit. A handful of these “transits” allowed the researchers to identify three initial planets in the system from a ground telescope last year. After conducting further observations, including 20 days of continuous observation from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, they have now witnessed 34 clear transits and attributed them to seven different planets.

The next step in the search for life on these planets is to determine the composition of their atmospheres. The planets are likely tidally locked, meaning one side always faces the star, and the other is always dark. An atmosphere would mitigate extreme temperatures on both sides and preserve habitability.

Some atmospheric compositions would themselves be signs of life, such as methane, oxygen, and carbon dioxide in the right relative concentrations. “There is one combination of molecules, with some relative abundances, that would tell us there is life with 99 percent confidence,” said Gillon. “Oxygen itself is not enough.”

The researchers will soon know much more about the planets’ atmospheres and any potential signs of life. “With current facilities (the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes), we can obtain the very first insights into the atmospheres of these planets, find out if they have a large and clear atmosphere, and possibly detect molecules such as water and methane,” co-author Julien de Witt told us. “Once the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launches in 2018, we will be able to go one step further in our research. Assuming the planets have an atmosphere, JWST will provide us with more detailed information about their composition, temperature, and pressure. This will help us assess their habitability within five to ten years.”

PIA21423.jpg

Imagine standing on the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f. This artist's concept is one interpretation of what it could look like. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The researchers already know a bit about conditions on the surface of the planets based on their proximity to the star. The sides of the planets facing the star are dimly lit, like a sunset on Earth, and feel warm from infrared energy. “The spectacle would be beautiful, because every now and then, you would see another planet about twice as big as the moon in the sky,” said co-author Amaury Triaud.

Prior to this discovery, the only terrestrial planets known to be well-suited to life were those in our solar system. “Now we have seven more we can study in detail. And not in a few decades—we are doing this now,” said Gillon. “This story is just beginning.”

https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/5vk7pv/seven_earthsized_planets_found_orbiting_an/

:whoa:
 
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