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Undo
Undo
00:01
Awesome.
Undo
Undo
00:59
Thanks, @TildalWave - I was on the fence about that comment :) I like Google, but the consensus on Meta seems to be to kill lmgtfy links.
TildalWave
TildalWave
@Undo Sure, no problem. I've seen that mSO thread also, probably a few months back? Anyway, LMGTFY is with most users here way out of line IMO. I've yet to see a case where it would really be needed.... or funny.
Undo
Undo
Well, it is more convenient than copy-and-pasting a Google link, but there is a slight rudeness factor about them. I'm fine with it, but it reflects badly on the site.
Undo
Undo
01:23
@Tildal BTW, I'm really liking seeing your name in blue - you're making a way better mod than I probably would have been.
TildalWave
TildalWave
01:40
@Undo I have great teachers like @JonE and @Manish and access to the Teachers' Lounge when I get lost among all the ropes of Stack Exchange :) And I love the topics we're covering here, that helps a lot. ;)
Undo
Undo
1
Q: What is the purpose of the jets of water often under rocket engines during launch?

UndoI have watched several STS launches, and noticed that there were always huge jets of water that would begin right before the rocket engines lit. They were right under the rocket, mounted to the pad. I'm sure they weren't trying to extinguish the flame, and it's kind of futile to try to keep the ...

launch
Really, honestly curious about this one.
Undo
Undo
02:02
I would have never guessed it's for sound suppression.
TildalWave
TildalWave
@Undo I wondered myself a few years back... or maybe a few more than a few... oh, I'll admit it, what's the point - I'm old :)))
@Tildal 4 on SO, 3 elsewhere, I think. — Undo 34 mins ago
You're correct, but if you don't mind I won't reply there... let's keep the comments threads short-ish :)
 
5 hours later…
Hash
Hash
06:47
Hello @TildalWave good Morning :-)
Hash
Hash
07:21
@TildalWave i need suggestion on my answer here
 
4 hours later…
Rory Alsop
Rory Alsop
11:12
What sort of suggestions are you after, @Hash?
TildalWave
TildalWave
11:30
@Hash It's IMO a good answer. +1 ;)
@Hash But you might wanna address that issue that was put forward in the comments. ;)
Undo
Undo
12:12
Wow - I'm still the top editor? That doesn't sound right.
What's everyone's thoughts on this, on-off topic wise?
0
Q: Would it actually be feasible to drop a nuclear bomb from a satellite?

UndoDuring the Cold War, one of the main reasons for space exploration was military/propaganda purposes. One of the things that the US was worried about was the prospect of a nuclear bomb being dropped from a satellite. It seems to me, however, that the bomb would simply burn up in the upper atmosph...

artificial-satellites nuclear
Hash
Hash
12:31
@RoryAlsop hello
Undo
Undo
@Hash Rory's nowhere around.
Hash
Hash
@Undo hai
Undo
Undo
Hai.
@Hash At the pace you're going, you should hit 2k in a week or two :D
Hash
Hash
@Undo I DONT think so :)
Undo
Undo
You're averaging around 50 a day, and you need 321 more. That's about 6-7 days.
Hash
Hash
12:39
@Undo I could not find any details regarding your question :)
Undo
Undo
Odd - I would think there are some out there. I might have to bounty it if nothing is turned up.
TildalWave
TildalWave
13:08
@Undo Too many problems with having a semi-permanent satellite in orbit carrying nukes really. Check that link for fractional orbital bombardment system in the comments, it's a lot cheaper and you have full control of it with no threat of being destroyed by your adversary, an asteroid, or even decay into orbit with malfunction or simply time.
Undo
Undo
@TildalWave True - I was thinking something like drop it in an Apollo-like shell to make it through reentry, then just blow it up at the right time.
TildalWave
TildalWave
The major "show stopper" is required mass to orbit. Nukes aren't light, then there's reentry shielding, a deorbiting engine, fuel for it,...
@Undo it's not a satellite then... if you're in orbit, you're in free fall around the Earth, so any change will require a deorbit burn.
hack, it might even be cheaper to have a missile silo on the Moon
Undo
Undo
Drop, deorbit, you know - make it go down.
Ooooh - moon missiles :)
TildalWave
TildalWave
@Undo you can't "drop" it... it will be a body orbiting next to your satellite
Undo
Undo
No - drop the whole satellite. Make the nuke go boom inside it - it won't care.
But I am seeing the complexity now.
TildalWave
TildalWave
13:13
kinetic rods might be a bit simpler, but still really heavy.... and again, you can't just "drop" them.
with ICBMs it's just a lot simpler... no need to achieve any stability of orbit, or required velocity
Undo
Undo
Yes - makes sense.
TildalWave
TildalWave
Fractional Orbital Bombardment System
The Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) was a Soviet ICBM program in the 1960s that after launch would go into a low Earth orbit and would then de-orbit for an attack. It had no range limit and the orbital flight path would not reveal the target location. This would allow a path to North America over the South Pole, hitting targets from the south, which is the opposite direction from which NORAD early warning systems are oriented. The Outer Space Treaty banned nuclear weapons in Earth orbit. However, it did not ban systems that were capable of placing weapons in orbit, and the ...
Undo
Undo
OOooooh!
Eeek!
TildalWave
TildalWave
but even with this one, the ICBM rockets are powerful enough that they were later repurposed as LEO launchers
But for any "feasible" nuke satellite, you'd prolly need launchers with around 50 tonnes to LEO, possibly more. So i.e. Saturn V, or the Ruskies counterparts.
Comparison of orbital launch systems
This is a comparison of orbital launch systems. The following exposes the full list of conventional orbital launch systems. For the short simple list of conventional launcher families, see: Comparison of orbital launchers families. Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. A conventional solid rocket or a conventional solid-fuel rocket is a rocket with a motor that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). Orbital launch systems are rockets and other systems capable of placing payloads into or beyond Earth orbit. All current spacecraft use ...
according to this list, we currently don't have a single launcher capable of that
Delta IV-Heavy, Ariane 5ECA, Atlas V,... they're in the range ~ 20 tonnes to LEO
Now, Chinese are the ones to look after.... they have plans to go to the Moon, build a Saturn V beating rocket for that (Long March 9 with estimated mass to LEO target at 130 tonnes), and all the motivation to be a world class nuisance
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
Hiya folks. Do you need to repurpose any satellites?
TildalWave
TildalWave
13:28
@DeerHunter hehehe yes... we should hack one an hijack it for our own purposes. Maybe use microwave beams to draw nice Space Exploration Stack Exchange crop circles?
62
Q: What would one need to do in order to hijack a satellite?

IncognitoI realise this borders on sci-fi, but there's been some interesting demonstrations regarding security of various satellites. What would be required to hack a satellite (in general terms, any hack really)? Are they all basically connected in the same way, or would I need different equipment, sof...

hardware protocols wireless apt satellite
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
@TildalWave - you've been watching too many Bond movies.
TildalWave
TildalWave
Possibly :)
Undo
Undo
Ohh - popcorn in fields in the shape of our logo!
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
@TildalWave - yeah, I recall that question on Sec.SE. No comment on actual feasibility, though :P
TildalWave
TildalWave
I'm trying to get a grasp of how heavy launcher one'd need to place a nuke carrying satellite into stable, non-decaying orbit and still have enough fuel for deorbit burn... I estimate at least 50 tonnes. But it seems a bit too small of a number, really.
@DeerHunter it'd be easier to simply hack the ground station that has access to it, imo
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
13:33
@TildalWave - the ISS had a virus back in 2008.
Undo
Undo
@DeerHunter Really? What did it do?
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
space.com/5778-space-station-computers-catch-virus-orbit.html 
A virus designed to swipe passwords from online gamers has inexplicably popped up in some laptop computers aboard the International Space Station.

The low-risk virus was detected on July 25, but did not infect the space station?s command and control computers and poses no threat to the orbiting laboratory, NASA officials said.

?This is basically a nuisance,? NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries told SPACE.com from the agency?s Johnson Space Center in Houston.




According to a NASA planning document obtained by SPACE.com, the virus was identified as W32.Gammima.AG. The California-based reta…
Undo
Undo
So just a normal online virus - nothing aimed at the station.
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
@Undo - we can hope things are better now. But the greatest threats are still human stupidity, complacency, and hubris...
Undo
Undo
Yes.
TildalWave
TildalWave
13:51
God I hope they don't use Norton :))
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
14:09
@TildalWave - McAfee or Kaspersky, I remember doing the signature base update figured in the timelines.
TildalWave
TildalWave
It would be interesting to know what's their network topology up there... I imagine they're proxied via ground controls, each agency module separately, but how about routers / firewalls / ... do we have any data on that?
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
@TildalWave - sneakernet in the MCCs, I'd reckon. From the Q&As on various sites, that's the impression at least.
TildalWave
TildalWave
@DeerHunter Wanna make a thread for that? I'm trying to find my inner peace with my bro's kid jumping on my brains at the moment. Sunday fun :)
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
@TildalWave - I'm writing up a question about international standards in space... :)
TildalWave
TildalWave
@DeerHunter ah cool... but make sure it's not too broad ;)
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
14:19
@TildalWave ...or somebody will mod-hammer it yada yada. I know.
TildalWave
TildalWave
neah... I never part with my hammer... it's the only thing that keeps me relatively safe from pesky kids forcing me to shut down all my sensors in a self-preservation attempt :)
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter
@TildalWave - time to play with them, it seems.
TildalWave
TildalWave
14:52
@DeerHunter Turns out they were just hungry... low blood sugar levels. A few cookies solved it :)
 
2 hours later…
Stack Exchange
Stack Exchange
16:50
TildalWave has added an event to this room's schedule.
Stack Exchange
Stack Exchange
17:41
0
Q: Live chat room event: Launch of JAXA Epsilon-1 with SPRINT-A on board (August 27, 2013 at 4:25 a.m. UTC/GMT)

TildalWaveThis is an invitation to attend our chat room event, where we will be covering the launch of the first JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-1) with the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) on board. Chat eve...

discussion chat live-event announcement
Undo
Undo
18:41
@Tildal How'd you get that event to show up in the community bulletin?
TildalWave
TildalWave
@Undo what do you mean? which bulletin?
ah I get it... the little box on the main site :)
I have no idea LOL
Undo
Undo
I think it's actually part of the mod-hammer.
TildalWave
TildalWave
I guess because it's currently the only scheduled event?
no... I don't see anything special about it
I could attach the featured flag to the meta post, but I didn't
Undo
Undo
I don't know then - but I've never seen it before.
TildalWave
TildalWave
SE is a curious place :)
so many questions ....
 
4 hours later…
TildalWave
TildalWave
22:26
If you didn't know, the Kennedy Space Center was mapped by Google StreetView and you can "walk" around it in 3D: google.com/maps/views/streetview/nasa?hl=en&gl=us

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