Space stuff thread

[Kari]

I saw this on breakfast TV on a Finnish broadcaster a few weeks ago, an expert from ESA (European Space Agency) told that the risk of a spacecraft hitting a man made object in space is real.

 

[Anak]

Rocket Launch: SpaceX CRS-10

Rocket Launch: SpaceX CRS-10
Feb 18, 2017 10:01 AM EST - 15:01UTC Kennedy Space Center Rocket Launch: SpaceX CRS-10

MISSION

Witness history in the making as SpaceX sends the Falcon 9 rocket on the first launch from Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A since 2011! This launch pad was the site of the Apollo 11 journey to land humans on the moon and where the first and last space shuttle missions left Earth in the 30-year Space Shuttle Program. Now SpaceX will join in the rich history, as the Falcon 9 rocket launches the Dragon spacecraft on a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and lands the first stage of the rocket back on the Cape Canaveral landing site.

Clicking on start shows countdown clock



Previously Recorded Coverage on Launch, Live CRS-10 Launch Commentary 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. EST


Live Video streaming by Ustream



Launch Scrubbed! New time 9:38:59am Tomorrow

​

 

[Anak]

Good Launch and landing of the Booster!

Second stage sep nominal, payload on its way for rendezvous with the ISS.
​

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Just one question Steve what exactly was all that vapour spewing out of the rocket "fuselage"? I am assuming it was either excess O2 or just cold air that is passing very cold fuel cells.

 

[Anak]

Do you mean this?
Most rockets will have some venting, I noticed it here and a lot at the base of the rocket right before launch today. the upper venting is where the rocket had valve trouble on their last fueling attempt and it blew.

Actually John it's part of spacex's propellant mixture, liquid oxygen (LOx or lox). In order for oxygen to become liquid it has to be super cooled to -297° and that temperature has to be maintained or else the lox will start to turn back to a gas, and to maintain stability in the rockets fuel system it is allowed to be vented into the atmosphere. Did you ever have plumbing work done and the water spit out of the spigot and made a racket until all the air came out?

Imagine that gas running through the rockets fuel lines before it reached the combustion chamber unless it was vented. I believe Falcon uses a lox and refined petroleum product, lox-rp-1

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Thanks Steve I did think of that but wasn't sure it was normal to vent that amount - in the video there was a point where it seemed to gush out.

Yep I worked as a plumbers mate with my father (a plumber and central heating engineer) for ten years before jumping ship (Dad was a brilliant tradesman but an awful business man) so I know what you mean by the escaping air stuff I just didn't think to link it with this rocket.

But have always been in awe at the power of these things eh?

 

[Anak]

My pleasure John, yea I also thought that was "gushing" a lot, it might have to do with the pre-launch activity and would be something to watch for during the next launch especially with one minute to go when the propellant tanks are pressurized.

Here's what happens an hour and 18minutes before launch, source is from a .pdf direct downlload: http://CRS-10 Dragon Resupply Mission | www.spacex.com/.pdf




The power? That's the attraction!

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Thanks Steve and it would be a real buzz to actually be there when those rockets take off.

I think what amazes me a lot besides that these things actually do what they do is how those fellows who design and work out the maths for achieving such stuff. I mean how good is that when they can put a a probe on say a comet because that takes a great deal of accuracy eh?

 

[chefduane]

Thanks Steve and it would be a real buzz to actually be there when those rockets take off.

MANY years ago as a junior engineer for Hughes Aircraft Co. in LA I was working on satellite payload systems and was able to finagle my way to the landing of STS-1 at Edwards. Got to meet Crippen and Young (just a hand shake really) after the landing. I got a tell ya' it took my breath away. Everyone just stood there in awe. I still have the VIP Viewing Area Pass in my study. Very cool.

I worked very briefly with Greg Jarvis who was killed on the STS51L Challenger launch. Very sad - really good guy.

Years later I did witness a launch from some miles away at Kennedy LC39. Don't recall what mission it was.

But that was very long ago. Retired from that career and become a chef. Go figure.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Retired from that career and become a chef. Go figure.

As one does Duane but envy you meeting those fellows and seeing the sights you have seen. My son is a mad/avid aviation follower and just loves the YouTubes on the latest fighter aircraft especially those low pass ones He would wear your ears out for what you have seen and done.

 

[chefduane]

... as I did with my dad. He was a Captain USAAF flew P-51 (B's then D's) fighter escort for B-17 bombing raids over the Channel into Germany.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

... as I did with my dad. He was a Captain USAAF flew P-51 (B's then D's) fighter escort for B-17 bombing raids over the Channel into Germany.

So he probably flew over where I was born (born after the war of course) and Tim my son has actually built radio control aircraft for some years now and one was a P-51 Though these days being married has cramped his style if you know what I mean because building them these days is VERY expensive.

Those and the Spitfire both beautiful aircraft and we used to go to a place called Temora out here to watch the old war birds fly - and there is nothing like hearing that Merlin V12 roaring past eh?

 

[torchwood]

You really have got to luv the noise, the old birds make.
Live in Southampton - home of the Spitfire.
So regularly see the Battle of Britain flight
Spitfire Hurricane Lancaster.

But they dont hold a candle to the Vulcan, its magnificent, shame its not flying any more

Roy

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep I agree Roy that place at Temora I mentioned they have a restored Spitty and they do low passes at the shows and the sound is just something else even though they do not do it at full throttle because of not wanting to damage the plane in any way but still that V12

Even some of the radial engined ones sound so stunning too and once saw a Meteor and it was just the ducks guts as my son would say LOL!!

This is the place we like to go when we can Temora Aviation Museum :: Temora Aviation Museum Aviation Newsletter

 

[Kari]

NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 22, to present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets. The event will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Details of these findings are embargoed by the journal Nature until 1 p.m.

Limited seating is available in the NASA TV studio for media who would like to attend in person at the agency’s Headquarters at 300 E Street SW in Washington. Media unable to attend in person may ask questions by telephone. To attend in person or participate by phone, media must send an email with their name, affiliation and telephone number to Dwayne Brown at [email protected] by noon Feb. 22.

Media and the public also may ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

The briefing participants are:

· Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington

· Michael Gillon, astronomer at the University of Liege in Belgium

· Sean Carey, manager of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC, Pasadena, California

· Nikole Lewis, astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore

· Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

A Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) about exoplanets will be held following the briefing at 3 p.m. with scientists available to answer questions in English and Spanish.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and updated scheduling information, visit:

NASA Television | NASA

For more information on exoplanets, visit:

Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System

-end-

Felicia Chou / Sean Potter
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 / 202-358-1536
[email protected] / [email protected]

Elizabeth Landau
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6425
[email protected]

NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System | NASA

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Now I have been looking for a program for a long time that shows the solar system in motion and I can only find views of it at rest as it were so does anyone know of such a program please?

I also had a wallpaper on my android devices that showed a view of the Earth in real time and the view was of Australia as viewed from an overhead satellite so does anyone have any idea of where I can find that wallpaper?

 

[A Guy]

Not exactly programs, and perhaps not what you seek, but...

Solar System Visualizer

The Orbit Simulator

A Guy

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Not exactly programs, and perhaps not what you seek, but...

Solar System Visualizer

The Orbit Simulator

A Guy

Thanks Bill I will have a look - need something to look forward to as they have just told me I shall probably be in hospital for another four weeks

 

[A Guy]

Sorry to hear that John

A Guy

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Sorry to hear that John

A Guy

Ah well it happens when you are bit too gung ho without thinking about your age and it isn't like it was when one was forty odd. Advice is mate make sure you take care with what you do and how you do it as you get older because a broken leg at my age is no darn fun.