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12:07 AM
dunno seems odd to catalog 20 objects, where did you get that number from anyway?
here's where i first saw it: twitter.com/jremis/status/384445596662124544
(I think he counted wrong, as A-T should be 20 objects, no?)
12:58 AM
With the way SpaceX is, this question probably won't be very answerable, but I like the question anyways.
3
Q: What went wrong, Falcon 9 1.1 first flight with first stage landing attempt?

geoffcThey are reporting that the three engine relight in the upper atmosphere worked. But the relight of a single engine, lower down for pretend landing on the water generated too much torque and the fuel (in the mostly empty tanks) centrifuged away from the feed line and the engine ran dry. Why did ...

1:47 AM
@PearsonArtPhoto I think it's fun sometimes having questions that the answers for are still under investigation. It was a double launch day tho, so I didn't want the first one to completely steal the limelight... the other one is now in the parking orbit to GEO
BTW, found this (thought to save the question for the TOTW:
2:03 AM
@PearsonArtPhoto I was also thinking, maybe we rather move TOTW start dates on Thursday, to coincide better with our newsletter. What do you think?
Our newsletter seems to be sent out each Thursday at around 7 pm UTC
 
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@TildalWave People read the newsletter?
 
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2:20 PM
@PearsonArtPhoto Dunno if they read it, but you can track how many subscribe in the mod tools. The number of currently confirmed subscriptions vs unsubscriptions is large enough IMO to count that as - yes, probably, dunno LOL
2:30 PM
I read the newsletter!
You could count on at least one person reading it;-)
Actually, there's a surprisingly large number of users who have signed up. I'm impressed, actually.
3:00 PM
@TildalWave My understanding is that the payload fairing actually separates from the booster, why, I don't understand.
posted on September 30, 2013

As NASA's Dawn spacecraft travels to its next destination, this mosaic synthesizes some of the best views the spacecraft had of the giant asteroid Vesta. Dawn studied Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012. The towering mountain at the south pole - more than twice the height of Mount Everest - is visible at the bottom of the image. The set of three craters known as the "snowman" can be seen at

3:13 PM
@PearsonArtPhoto i believe it's just because the payload is jettisoned before reaching orbit, as soon as the atmosphere is not significant enough to cause problems
I guess fairing was the wrong choice of words. The Payload Adapter separates from the booster, at least, that's what I understand.
oh, gotcha
Personally though, I'm just glad the launch didn't end up like this:
@PearsonArtPhoto I was pushing it here in the chat, and mentioned a few times in meta... you know, with links and all
Well, let's officially kick it off for now, and see how it goes. I don't know if the newsletter subscription is enough to warrant planning the topic of the week aroudn it yet, but it could be considered. Hmmm.
waves cautiously
@PearsonArtPhoto They do that on Sec.SE, but they have the TOTW selection and the TOTW goes actually in the blog (well, occasionally, they don't really write it each week, but they're really good)
what's TOTW?
topic of the week
ah. aha. aka TY (+:
3:23 PM
6
Q: Topic of the Week

PearsonArtPhotoOne of the things that Stack Exchange in general has found effective is to devote a week to a specific topic in which members of the site feel is lacking. For instance, Arquade will frequently have a topic week to discuss a new game coming out, or Science Fiction and Fantasy talked more about Sta...

this week, it's the planetary science
Planetary science (rarely planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation, interrelations and history. It is a strongly interdisciplinary field, originally growing from astronomy and earth science, Allied disciplines include space physics, when concerned with the effects of the Sun on the bodies of the Solar System, and astrobiology. There...
Then I can hope to get some attention on meteorology for Venus, and Luna's surface hardness?
So... stuff to read on, ask questions and research for good answers. It's pretty broad topic, so I guess there ought to be some questions falling in this category
Luna's suface hardness is still a bit broad, but in general, yes.
@Everyone sure... post them here too
the question number? hang on
questions/2189/
questions/1480/
3:27 PM
@PearsonArtPhoto I was also thinking we could spend some of our rep for bounties on unanswered ones that fall into TOTW... if you want. Not too much tho, we don't have many voters here since they seem too preoccupied with Astro at the moment... they'll come back tho :P
Perhaps. Hmmm. I have noticed a significant drop down in the number of site visits recently. Hmmm.
@TildalWave: I was actually planning a 50 pointer for the meteorology on Venus myself ...
is there a way to make the tag featured for a week on the main site?
@TildalWave: main-site == SO?
@PearsonArtPhoto They'll come back, I have no doubt... the first few weeks are really tempting rep-wise for any private beta
3:28 PM
If there is, I don't know how to do it.
@PearsonArtPhoto Let's ask @JonEricson :)
@JonEricson Ping! :D
Actually though, we're still doing really well after 2 days of really good questions that brought in a lot of people.
@TildalWave I'm sure he got it the first time;-)
Purely out of curiosity, is the Rosetta Lander provided with a propulsion system?
That'd be a good question to ask on the main site.
SEx.SE, you mean?
Not that the comet is going away, but you know, something to avoid flying into Old Faithful's cousin out there ... stuff like that
What level of math do I need to use GMAT with any skill? Skill as in being able to create /vewa model of Cruithne's orbit around Earth
3:46 PM
@Everyone usually those packages come with examples that aren't too difficult to rework into something useful for yourself
for that problem specifically, it's probably just a matter of importing the objects ephemeris and... not much else, actually
@TildalWave Write up a meta question, feature it, and it will show up in the community bulletin. Or drop a bounty on three questions. But featuring an entire flag? That's an interesting idea... (At least for beta sites. ;-)
@JonEricson Good morning! I'm sure you meant tag? :))
4:20 PM
back
/me posts a bounty on the venerean meteorology
@TildalWave Hmmm... I suppose I'd started thinking about... other things. ;-)
Where is TOTW featured?
I mean, where will it be visible?
@Chris: TY let me try something
5:10 PM
@Everyone Hopefully, in our activity. ;)
5:25 PM
For the time being, it's just in the meta posts and chat, and activity. Although @JonEricson seems to hint that something interesting is coming through the pipeline...
@PearsonArtPhoto Well, not so much a hint as "that's something I might bring up with folks around the (virtual) office".
Ahhh. Hmmm. In that case...
0
Q: Featured tag/ "Official" Tag of the Week

PearsonArtPhotoI've seen in encouraged amount many sites to encourage people to ask for a period of time about a specific topic, in a way to encourage more site activity. Space Exploration has recently started doing this. We asked in our chatroom if there was a better way to feature a particular topic for a wee...

5:41 PM
@PearsonArtPhoto hehe nice... I've also added a bounty to that lunar surface hardness, so we now have 2 with bounties (cheers for the other one), and hopefully more incoming questions. I was thinking of asking about the formations within the impact craters, there's some interesting ridges in the Mars craters in some areas, possibly wind erosion?
There's a ton I could ask. I'll try to keep it to around one per day.
My goal is to make show up on the first page of tags at least, hopefully better than that.
I'd like to get it on a course to get me a badge for tag creation;-)
@TildalWave: A question featured on meta is shown in the community bulletin of the main site.
@PearsonArtPhoto I know, but that's now the "Topic of the Week" thread, not the actual topic of the week... what I would like to see is some incentive for members to focus on a particular topic. I'm not sure a call for having one is creating that effect. :}
5:57 PM
Well, it's worth a shot
if we had an ability to make some tag featured on the main site, have it colored differently and maybe otherwise increase visibility of questions using it (shouldn't be mod only tags tho), that would IMO be neat. I.e. a slight change to how they're ordered on the front page perhaps, not necessarily a new tab (tho that could work too... simply have a tab link to the current featured tag).
It really would be.
Or, alternatively, have that main page banner, like there are on A51 for the astronomy proposal (saying folks can ask questions about astronomy now on Phy.SE), or even in private betas that have the call for more activity in site's meta on top.... if any of that could be used to "feature" some topic, that'd be neat.
6:15 PM
Why not zimply add a TOTW tab ?
It could simply be one more alongside active, newest, featured, week, month
 
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7:32 PM
@PearsonArtPhoto how's that:
0
A: Featured a Tag for a Period of Time

TildalWaveYes please! And since a picture is worth a thousand words (or so they say), here's a few suggestions how that could work on the main site. Please note I've included all the suggestions I could think of in a single image, and might look slightly too clattered: Wonders of Chrome Developer Tools...

8:00 PM
Anyone have a specific time for when SpaceX attempted the upper stage restart?
I've come to the conclusion (I think) that it exploded upon the attempt
 
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10:06 PM
@Chris Really? That'd be an interesting turn of events, if it proves true.
@Chris this is interesting: nbcnews.com/science/…
says the shot was of the second stage releasing fuel before reentry
Yeah, that's the other option
But that combined with the extra objects combined with the fact that spacex said it didn't go well...
idk, I expect we should find out something more soon
I don't agree with the assessment that the early space-track TLEs are somehow overestimating the number, though

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