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Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:16 pm
by Shyster
I decided to branch this off from the science discussion. This thread is for the discussion of all things space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7HVO8OQBwg

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:19 pm
by PFiDC
Image

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:21 pm
by columbia

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:22 pm
by columbia

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:23 pm
by Shyster
SpaceX is about 30 minutes away from the opening of the launch window for the SES-9 mission, which is the launch of a commercial communications satellite for SES. This will be the second launch of the "full thrust" version of the Falcon 9 rocket, and the launch will feature an attempt to land the first stage on one of the company's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships. Because this flight was delayed due to SpaceX's launch failure last year, however, SpaceX agreed to fly a launch profile that will result in a fast-than-usual transfer of the SES-9 satellite to geostationary orbit. That profile may leave the first stage will too little fuel to land, and SpaceX has admitted that the chances of a successful landing and recovery are low.

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:24 pm
by Shyster
Whoops, just as I posted that SpaceX announced a scrub for today. It was rainy and windy in Florda today, and it looks like they want the better weather that's expected for tomorrow.

The launch window for tomorrow opens at 6:46pm ET. SpaceX offers two streams for launch viewing. The "Full Webcast" has SpaceX employees acting as hosts and commentators. The "Technical Webcast" is limited to views of the rocket and countdown audio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml1RO4IcOG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HSb_yBnJXA

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:33 pm
by Willie Kool

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:47 pm
by Willie Kool

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:49 pm
by Gaucho
Search narrows for Planet Nine along sprawling orbit of thousands of years

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2016 ... s-of-years

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:52 pm
by Willie Kool

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:58 pm
by LITT
Bowie's in space

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:59 pm
by LITT
Scott Kelly's Instagram (@stationcdrkelly) is legit

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 7:43 pm
by tifosi77
Bowie's in space
Additional fun fact of the day: David Bowie died on Jemaine Clement's birthday.

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 7:51 pm
by LITT
Bowie's in space
Additional fun fact of the day: David Bowie died on Jemaine Clement's birthday.
Really? Interesting fact

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 8:02 pm
by columbia
Astronomers just released a new, 187-million-pixel map of the Milky Way
http://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers ... -milky-way

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 7:31 am
by Silentom
That's fantastic!

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 9:29 am
by robbiestoupe
I like the thread @Shyster. My brother works at SpaceX's test lab in McGregor, TX, so I'm usually pretty interested in the work they do. I've visited the site, and it's quite, well unexceptional at first. It's right in the middle of a cow pasture. My brother told me the story once, but I've since forgotten most of the details. Apparently it was one of the few places Musk could find that would allow such a test facility, mostly due to the noise it produced. The cows don't seem to be too bothered by it.

I visited my brother in Waco last year. He lives about 15-20 miles from the test facility. As we were sitting in his house shooting the breeze on a sunny day, a long, rolling thunder started shaking the house. This lasted a good 10-20 seconds, and I looked at my brother in confusion. No, it wasn't thunder, it was a rocket test. 15-20 miles away.

During one visit to the McGregor facility, they performed a 5 second "abort" test on a single Falcon rocket. Did that ever get my adrenaline going.

tl;dr - rockets are loud. Loud rockets are awesome.

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 10:14 am
by count2infinity

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 12:26 pm
by Shyster
I like the thread @Shyster. My brother works at SpaceX's test lab in McGregor, TX, so I'm usually pretty interested in the work they do. I've visited the site, and it's quite, well unexceptional at first. It's right in the middle of a cow pasture. My brother told me the story once, but I've since forgotten most of the details. Apparently it was one of the few places Musk could find that would allow such a test facility, mostly due to the noise it produced. The cows don't seem to be too bothered by it.
SpaceX bought the facility from a company called Beal Aerospace, which had tried to develop private rockets in the late '90s. McGregor was to be Beal's primary test and manufacturing facility. The company went bankrupt, but they did finish the test stands and other infrastructure before they went out of business. So SpaceX was basically able to step in any buy a near-turnkey test facility.

The cows have no doubt gotten used to the noise, but they were bothered by some earlier tests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXdjxPY2j_0

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 12:29 pm
by Gaucho
What a fantastic video.

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 1:35 pm
by shafnutz05
As somewhat of an amateur astronomer myself (and amateur meteorologist...yes, I am a man of many careers that pay nothing :lol: ), let me recommend some good websites to visit frequently.

http://www.spaceweather.com -- Mainly focused on solar flares, solar storms, sunspot activity, aurora activity, etc.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html -- One of the best sites on the Internet that has been around for ages. Astronomy photo of the day, all in high quality.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/ -- It's a magazine, but the website is great. Their "Sky at a Glance" is always a good read.

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 1:57 pm
by Silentom
What did you want to be when you grew up, shad? :D

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:02 pm
by shafnutz05
What did you want to be when you grew up, shad? :D
A weatherman--then I joined the military and things got crazy, although I did do the weather briefings at times during harbor approaches :)

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:03 pm
by tifosi77
My brother works at SpaceX...
I used to go to the SpaceX office in El Segundo (I guess technically it's in Hawthorne) a couple times a month for food trucks. I've never seen a group of employees more openly enthusiastic about their company. There were so many people wearing company swag that I thought it was a dress code thing, only to be told that nope they just like wearing the stuff.

A current coworker's husband works there now (as did she before joining this company) and a couple times a year she solicits interest in SpaceX wear. I have a Falcon 9 t-shirt and a hoodie. Woop woop.

Shyster's thread of Spaaaace.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:06 pm
by Silentom
Hahaa, good on ya for still pursuing it somewhat. Really enjoyed those links, btw. :thumb: :thumb: