NASA Probe Sees Where Sun Never Shines

[Pray To Jesus]

Heheh :whiste:

 

[phucheneh]

Dark side of Uranus?

 

[wirednuts]

cool. I think its pretty amazing we were able to land on the moon, but it was 40 years later that we actually have an idea what we are doing. and have the technology to do things...

 

[MayorOfAmerica]

Ban.

 

[Brovane]

cool. I think its pretty amazing we were able to land on the moon, but it was 40 years later that we actually have an idea what we are doing. and have the technology to do things...

They knew what they where doing back when they first landed on the moon. We have just been distracted in LEO figuring out how frogs mate in zero G ever since Apollo 17 came back from the moon.

 

[fatpat268]

cool. I think its pretty amazing we were able to land on the moon, but it was 40 years later that we actually have an idea what we are doing. and have the technology to do things...

That's an unfair assessment. Landing on the moon required a ton of money and was a large scale project where the government was pumping a ton of money and man hours into. After the apollo missions declined in popularity, NASA focused their money and effort into other things.

Yea, we have the technology to land on the moon again, but we have to start from scratch again. That requires a ton of money to do, and is not something that NASA has right now.

 

[Brovane]

That's an unfair assessment. Landing on the moon required a ton of money and was a large scale project where the government was pumping a ton of money and man hours into. After the apollo missions declined in popularity, NASA focused their money and effort into other things.

Yea, we have the technology to land on the moon again, but we have to start from scratch again. That requires a ton of money to do, and is not something that NASA has right now.

The main thing that NASA abandoned was the Saturn V. In order to get to the Moon or anywhere outside of LEO you have to have a reasonable lift capacity to launch beyond Earth's Orbit. After the Saturn V production line was shutdown their was literally no replacement that could lift enough to either TLI or Escape Velocity. The Saturn V could place over 100,000 lbs into TLI. The shuttle could life around 50,000lbs into LEO. If you look at overall launch capacity after the Saturn V was retired there was no other launcher out there that could put a reasonable payload into space that would allow humans to go beyond LEO. Think about after the Saturn V the next most powerful launcher that really achieved operational status was Delta IV-H with 22,950KG into LEO, Saturn V 118,000KG into LEO. The Soviet Energia system flew twice and could put 100,000kg into LEO but last flew in the 1980's and was retired after only two launches. Allowing humans to go back to the Moon or beyond has always been about having a big enough launcher and after the Saturn V this hasn't existed. The US government being the US government essentially threw away all the sunk development costs that had already been spent when the Saturn V production line was shutdown permanently. Very stupid decision.

The next powerful launcher is the Falcon Heavy if it actually gets off the ground and could do 53,000kg into LEO. However this is the only thing close to flying that would achieve this. This in theory could put around 17,000kg into TLI which would probably allow the rocket to launch the Dragon capsule to the moon on a free return trajectory. However I don't think it would allow enough Mass to allow a the capsule to slow down into the Moon's orbit and then do a TEI burn to come back.

 

[preslove]

This also happens to the planets of red dwarf stars, which is a fucking shame, since it prevents life from evolving into anything large.

 

[Paratus]

The main thing that NASA abandoned was the Saturn V. In order to get to the Moon or anywhere outside of LEO you have to have a reasonable lift capacity to launch beyond Earth's Orbit. After the Saturn V production line was shutdown their was literally no replacement that could lift enough to either TLI or Escape Velocity. The Saturn V could place over 100,000 lbs into TLI. The shuttle could life around 50,000lbs into LEO. If you look at overall launch capacity after the Saturn V was retired there was no other launcher out there that could put a reasonable payload into space that would allow humans to go beyond LEO. Think about after the Saturn V the next most powerful launcher that really achieved operational status was Delta IV-H with 22,950KG into LEO, Saturn V 118,000KG into LEO. The Soviet Energia system flew twice and could put 100,000kg into LEO but last flew in the 1980's and was retired after only two launches. Allowing humans to go back to the Moon or beyond has always been about having a big enough launcher and after the Saturn V this hasn't existed. The US government being the US government essentially threw away all the sunk development costs that had already been spent when the Saturn V production line was shutdown permanently. Very stupid decision.

The next powerful launcher is the Falcon Heavy if it actually gets off the ground and could do 53,000kg into LEO. However this is the only thing close to flying that would achieve this. This in theory could put around 17,000kg into TLI which would probably allow the rocket to launch the Dragon capsule to the moon on a free return trajectory. However I don't think it would allow enough Mass to allow a the capsule to slow down into the Moon's orbit and then do a TEI burn to come back.

SLI will have Saturn V level up mass capabilities but its subject to the vagaries of Congress unfortunately.

 

[Brovane]

SLI will have Saturn V level up mass capabilities but its subject to the vagaries of Congress unfortunately.

Yeah to basically get a rocket with a little more lift capability of the Saturn V which flew over 40 years ago. We are going to be lucky to see the first launch of this rocket before the end of the decade. Also the entire procurement process was messed up. Basically Congress Mandated that shuttle parts be re-used for the rocket so this basically mandated that the program would a sole source contract. So companies like Space X couldn't even bid on the contract. If you look at it the total cost of going to the moon was around 179 Billion dollars in 2013 dollars with around 32 Billion of that for Saturn V development and procurement costs. Basically most that capability we essentially threw away. All the development cost for the Saturn V, Saturn IB, Service Module, Command Module, Lunar Module, Lunar Rover all that capability of tech already developed we essentially threw away most of it to build the shuttle which never lived up to is promise.

What is most infuriating is you know that the Space Launch System will come in over budget with the current cost plus procurement setup. It will be interesting if Space X and continue to push the technology front and gets the Falcon Heavy off the ground this year. Space X has some interesting proposals floating around for a 1.5 Million pound thrust engine that would use Methane and LOX. With further interesting proposals of a 150-200 metric ton capability to LEO. It would be very embarrassing to NASA if they are still struggling on getting the SLS off the ground and Space X develops and launches a rocket that exceeds the SLS capability. Of course really the embarrassment is because of congressional mandates.