Author Topic: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - Houston, we are go for launch!  (Read 117451 times)

Daryk

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Exactly!!  :thumbsup:

rebs

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Or one day we mange to sink a robotic submersible  in the churning volcanically heated ocean under Europa's icy skin...  same with that smaller one on Enceladus... 

This mission to fly a drone on Mars is an early step.
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Daryk

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We have to start somewhere!  ;)

Wrangler

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Like a possible drone on Titan.
Certainty. The nuclear battery powered chopper would interesting. It would be able over come obstacles landscape.

Hope it gets chance to fly.
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worktroll

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Nuclear power - at least RTG - makes perfect sense on Titan. But the weight! Oh, the weight! The Voyager MH-RTG weighs 10 times what Intrepid does. And that's probably not the right type. How much to develop new RTGs from scratch?
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Wrangler

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Nuclear power - at least RTG - makes perfect sense on Titan. But the weight! Oh, the weight! The Voyager MH-RTG weighs 10 times what Intrepid does. And that's probably not the right type. How much to develop new RTGs from scratch?

This is what available for the Dragonfly mission.
In nut shell for the power source, lithium-ion battery, which will be recharged by a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG).
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
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"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
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I am Belch II

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Would be awesome to see a sub on a different planet/moon.
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BirdofPrey

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It will be more interesting when they can do flight beyond going up and down. That alone was a great achievement.  Going something will be better to me. It does make me think, why heck it cost NASA US$80 million build a tiny 4 pound drone helicopter and five million to operate it.

I know about radiation shielding, hardening it, weather proofing it.  Lordy, it seem to be super sky-high price for tiny thing like that.
It also needs to survive the accelerations of launching and landing with the rover, and be reliable enough to do what they need to within the mission time since they can't just send another if it breaks, and all of this while being extremely light because the atmosphere is less dense.
A lot of lightweight stuff is still pretty expensive, and this doesn't get any of the savings from mass production.
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Nobody has mentioned the idea of a blimp on Venus, and that disappoints me.

Weirdo

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A blimp could be a GREAT way to study the upper atmosphere, assuming the winds would allow it.
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Natasha Kerensky

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NASA study on LTA vehicles and bases in the Venusian atmosphere.

https://sacd.larc.nasa.gov/smab/havoc/
« Last Edit: 22 April 2021, 16:38:31 by Natasha Kerensky »
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Some folks do not click on links that don't come with any context. Can you elaborate, please?
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Natasha Kerensky

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Some folks do not click on links that don't come with any context. Can you elaborate, please?

Added, but it’s obviously a NASA site from the url.
"Ah, yes.  The belle dame sans merci.  The sweet young thing who will blast your nuts off.  The kitten with a whip.  That mystique?"
"Slavish adherence to formal ritual is a sign that one has nothing better to think about."
"Variety is the spice of battle."
"I've fought in... what... a hundred battles, a thousand battles?  It could be a million as far as I know.  I've fought for anybody who offered a decent contract and a couple who didn't.  And the universe is not much different after all that.  I could go on fighting for another hundred years and it would still look the same."
"I'm in mourning for my life."
"Those who break faith with the Unity shall go down into darkness."

Weirdo

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I knew it was NASA, but still had no clue what it was about, thus, no clickie. Thank you for the context.
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Sixteen tons means sixteen suits. CT must be repaired.

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cray

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I managed to catch the SpaceX Crew-2 launch while visiting my parents' house. I don't see how to attach a file to a post anymore, so let's see if this link works:

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**"Well, the first class name [for pocket WarShips]: 'Ship with delusions of grandeur that is going to evaporate 3.1 seconds after coming into NPPC range' tended to cause morale problems...." --Korzon77
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Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.

ANS Kamas P81

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Love the photo, Cray.  You must have been close to the launch site!

cray

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About 20 miles south. One of my gamers is in Titusville and was pretty much under that cloud.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

**"A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything." --Wash, Firefly.
**"Well, the first class name [for pocket WarShips]: 'Ship with delusions of grandeur that is going to evaporate 3.1 seconds after coming into NPPC range' tended to cause morale problems...." --Korzon77
**"Describe the Clans." "Imagine an entire civilization built out of 80’s Ric Flairs, Hulk Hogans, & Macho Man Randy Savages ruling over an entire labor force with Einstein Level Intelligence." --Jake Mikolaitis


Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.

Moonsword

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=== MODERATOR DIRECTIVE ===

If you're asked to provide context about a URL - from us or literally anyone else on the board! - just provide it and move on.  There's no need to turn this into seven additional posts arguing about it.  It is generally considered polite online to provide context, but it is not a "rule" and will not get you warned.  Not every norm about online culture needs to be articulated in the site rules, and this is not the thread or even the board for that, so get back on topic.

I've excised the offending posts.  No warnings are going to be issued unless someone decides to continue that discussion.
« Last Edit: 23 April 2021, 21:11:42 by Moonsword »

Wrangler

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Was it noisy when the rocket flew over?  That's amazing view of it in the night sky!
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
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cray

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Was it noisy when the rocket flew over?

The Falcon 9 launched at a site north of me and headed further north, since the ISS orbits Earth tilted 55 degrees to the equator so it didn't fly over me. That picture is actually looking "up the skirt" of the exhaust as it heads away from me. The launch rumble reached me after about 2 minutes and sounds like a heavy truck passing on a road not so far away.

Quote
That's amazing view of it in the night sky!

Dawn sky, which is important. Below and to the left of the great, ethereal haze of the exhaust, there's a squiggle of a cloud. That was a conventional contrail as the rocket launched vertically and climbed above the atmosphere. You see those contrails all the time, night or day.

But once a rocket gets above the atmosphere, the exhaust of water vapor and carbon dioxide just spreads out endlessly in a very faint haze of steam. During the day, it's invisible against the blue sky. During the night, there's nothing to light it up.

At dusk and dawn, when you're on the ground in darkness but the exhaust is catching the sunlight it produces that fantastic, huge exhaust cloud.




Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

**"A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything." --Wash, Firefly.
**"Well, the first class name [for pocket WarShips]: 'Ship with delusions of grandeur that is going to evaporate 3.1 seconds after coming into NPPC range' tended to cause morale problems...." --Korzon77
**"Describe the Clans." "Imagine an entire civilization built out of 80’s Ric Flairs, Hulk Hogans, & Macho Man Randy Savages ruling over an entire labor force with Einstein Level Intelligence." --Jake Mikolaitis


Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.

marauder648

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This is relevant to us, how high can you jump on planets in the solar system?

https://imgur.com/gallery/s7W7f91
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Daryk

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That's a sweet find, Marauder!  :thumbsup:

That said, I personally have seen a guy stacking plates on top of a box (the long way... definitely more than 18 inches) for his box jumps.  Granted, he wasn't wearing a space suit...  8)

rebs

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https://www.space.com/hubble-space-telescope-pds-70b-exoplanet?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=space.com&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com

In the constellation Centaurus, about 379 light years away, is a very young exoplanet that has been and is still being observed by Hubble and its scientists.  At about 5 million years old, this planet - about the size of Jupiter - is the perfect laboratory for studying the formation of planetary systems. 

Read more about it with the above link.
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Daryk

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Very cool, thanks for the link!  :thumbsup:

ANS Kamas P81

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Starship finally managed to take off and land without blowing up.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/tech/spacex-starship-sn15-test-flight-scn/index.html
Baby steps, but a big one.

Daryk

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Excellent news!  It's interesting they call the approach to landing a "belly flop"...

rebs

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https://spacenews.com/chinas-zhurong-mars-rover-lands-safely-in-utopia-planitia/

China's Zhurong rover has touched down, carrying a 6 instrument payload designed to compliment other active missions. 

An interesting approach, that, cooperation.
Playing Guitar On My YouTube Channel:
Current cover tune: "The Wind Cries Mary" (by Jimi Hendrix)
https://youtu.be/m6a8wZiCsjM?si=0w7tVOgk7yylNv6a

"Thou shalt not create a machine in the image of the human mind." ~ The Orange Catholic Bible, Dune, Frank Herbert

rebs

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https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-nuclear-powered-spacecraft-moon-venus-jupiter-2021-5?amp

It seems Russia has plans to launch a nuclear powered spacecraft to travel to first the Moon, then will slingshot to Venus and from there to Jupiter.

Good luck and godspeed to them!  I welcome All nations to go for the outer solar system.
« Last Edit: 26 May 2021, 18:55:34 by rebs »
Playing Guitar On My YouTube Channel:
Current cover tune: "The Wind Cries Mary" (by Jimi Hendrix)
https://youtu.be/m6a8wZiCsjM?si=0w7tVOgk7yylNv6a

"Thou shalt not create a machine in the image of the human mind." ~ The Orange Catholic Bible, Dune, Frank Herbert

rebs

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NASA has announced that the agency will return to Venus with 2 new robotic landers!  Details in the following link.  (And in the link is another link to the announcement itself.)

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/06/venus-can-t-wait-nasa-plans-blockbuster-return-hothouse-neighbor?utm_campaign=SciMag&utm_source=JHubbard&utm_medium=Facebook
Playing Guitar On My YouTube Channel:
Current cover tune: "The Wind Cries Mary" (by Jimi Hendrix)
https://youtu.be/m6a8wZiCsjM?si=0w7tVOgk7yylNv6a

"Thou shalt not create a machine in the image of the human mind." ~ The Orange Catholic Bible, Dune, Frank Herbert

kato

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2 new robotic landers!
Technically it's only one lander (DAVINCI+). VERITAS is an orbiter.

I think "robotic lander" also kinda gives the wrong impression - it makes people imagine something like NASA's Mars rovers. DAVINCI+ is a descent probe that will take measurements of the atmosphere along its 63-minute path of travel to the surface and take photos of the surface below. It is not intended to operate after impacting on the surface (or much at all below 12 km altitude), and will melt there within a few minutes.

VERITAS is interesting insofar as it intends to create a full (SAR) map of Venus at up to 15m resolution - current maps, created by Magellan in the early 90s, have 75m resolution.

marauder648

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Came across this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsS0Gn0IN2I the other day and wow this is a huge 'what if' for sure! A fleet of SSTO's that would help launch and construct a series of orbital solar powerplants  that would in turn beam their energy down to earth. One can only imagine what a project would do for the space industry!
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