Space and Science BS Thread

Classic documentary? Plus one of, if not THE (no soft ‘e’) most iconic picture taken from the moon’s surface. (Regular readers will know I’m a bit biased..)
https://x.com/nasahistory/status/1781737095834267760?s=46

 

Following up from a few weeks ago. I still haven’t found a definitive source on whether they picked them up or not. Considering the weight restraints when lifting off, I’m thinking at least the hammer stayed.

 

Cool magazine cover of the month:
https://x.com/free_space/status/1780978509483020374?s=46

 

Inching towards liftoff..
https://x.com/commercial_crew/status/1782534774579442169?s=46

 

Did I miss the mark or has SpX done 25 launches in the past 18 days?
https://x.com/spacex/status/1782898782885339562?s=46

 

Per the SpaceX launch page on their site, they have done 8 launches since April 6th. Not sure how they're counting landings.

 

Neither am I

 

I think there must be an error or discrepancy somewhere. Here’s a link to Wikipedia that’s up to date as of the 23rd. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches
The 286th & 287th launches was Jan 3 and the 326th was April 23. As if the 23rd only 10 launches in April.

 

Don't forget FH launches have 2+ landings.

 

No F9H launches in the last 18 days either...

 

From today’s Rocket Report:
SpaceX lands 300th Falcon booster. With the launch of a Starlink mission on Tuesday evening and subsequent return of the Falcon 9 first stage, SpaceX recorded its 300th successful booster landing. In the Falcon fleet's lifetime, SpaceX has now landed about 85 percent of the Falcon rockets it has launched, Ars reports. These days, more than 90 percent of all its missions launch on previously flown boosters. So, rocket recycling is totally a thing.

Saving a lot of metal ... Landing 300 rockets means SpaceX has preserved 2,700 Merlin rocket engines. In round numbers, the dry mass of a Falcon 9 first stage is about 50 metric tons, so the landing of all these rockets has prevented 15,000 metric tons of metal and other materials from being dumped into the oceans. To put this number further into perspective, only a handful of rockets have ever launched more than 300 times, and they are all Russian.

 

It never gets old…
https://x.com/astro_cady/status/1784235435734052940?s=46

 

It’s amazing something like that can fly. Another example of earth being well suited to our needs, air density= just right.

 

Coworker has a similar one arriving here at Vandenberg

 

Saw this video some time ago and it cropped up again so I thought I’d post a link. It delves into the weights involved in supplying the needs of a crew for a mission to Mars. I’m assuming it’s at best ballpark accurate but serves as a starting point for discussion. It doesn’t make any mention of the equipment to be used, only what’s needed for onboard life support. Most videos I’ve seen don’t really go beyond just rudimentary renditions of how it might look without getting into what needs to be brought along and that’s what sets this one apart.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3IHfmwLJs

 

https://x.com/hubble_space/status/1784870578043711906?s=46

 

It's looking less and less like a horse head.

And to think, it doesn't even look like that today. That's what it looked like in the year 649.

 

https://x.com/commercial_crew/status/1785017985175822751?s=46

 

Night launch will be cool!

 

Doesn’t bode well for Artemis II:
https://x.com/wapodavenport/status/1786070242013106675?s=46