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uhoh
uhoh
2:15 AM
0
Q: What can be learned by observing tumbling asteroid 319 Leona passing in front of Betelgeuse's fickle photocenter? What campaigns have been organized?

uhohThere's a lot of interest in Betelgeuse party because of it's recent fainting behavior, and despite being so close, the huge uncertainty in it's distance due to its fickle photocenter: Can New Horizons be used to measure the distance to Betelgeuse (despite its fickle photocenter)? What will it f...

observational-astronomy betelgeuse occultation observation-campaign
Erin Anne
Erin Anne
2:58 AM
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/12/nasas-asteroid-mission-struck-its-target-but-then-dodged-a-bullet/
quoting from the article:
An investigation by engineers from NASA and Lockheed Martin, which built the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and sample return vehicle, found that build plans for the mission weren't specific enough in instructing technicians who assembled the return capsule.

"In the design plans for the system, the word 'main' was used inconsistently between the device that sends the electric signals, and the device that receives the signals," NASA said in a written statement. "On the s…
I've had a lot of difficult thoughts over time (as someone not involved in the drafting / mechanical design of hardware, yet...except for one specific thing that ended up nicknamed "the satellite coffin") about designing for manufacturability and maintainability, mostly about how to be able to work efficiently with tools on things
I like to think that I'd be smart enough to recognize this, which is probably nominally a systems engineering issue: make sure that when things connect the connections are clearly and unambiguously labeled
 
6 hours later…
fyrepenguin
fyrepenguin
8:51 AM
Yeah I saw an equivalent article on SpaceNews; very happy that the system was robust enough to tolerate the failure, but that’s one issue that really shouldn’t have taken place. Insufficient clarity of naming is an issue, and tbh one that’s not uncommon in software development, though it’s not usually causing problems like the above
 
7 hours later…
TheMatrix Equation-balance
TheMatrix Equation-balance
3:28 PM
After 4 months of waiting, I got back pretty good reviews for my article. I have to make some changes before publishing. Just maybe, the progress with SpaceX did change some of the more skeptical minds. Information I did receive from Stackexchange greatly enhanced my manuscript.
 
3 hours later…
geoffc
geoffc
6:32 PM
@TheMatrixEquation-balance Do we get a chance to proof read it? :)
 
1 hour later…
TheMatrix Equation-balance
TheMatrix Equation-balance
7:51 PM
@geoffc - Not sure, it would be personal :) But you already saw the main ideas - inexpensive delivery of an Iron-Nickel quarry slab from an M-Type Asteroid - without spacecraft or landing capsule.

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