The Pod Bay

TildalWave

12:18 AM

@Chris link please

Chris

SpaceX: "..we do know its common that the first measurements from Space-Track are not always accurate and sometimes mixed up...

Tweeted by spacecom on September 30, 2013 at 5:56 PM

that's one of a series of tweets comprising spacex's comment to the tweet's author

TildalWave

@Chris cheers, I'll read them all now

@Chris well SpaceX replied they "don't know, have no proof based on previous launches experience"... I thought that's rather funny

that reported fuel cloud glowing on sunset could as well have been a product of an explosion, i.e. a violent uncontrolled "leak"... and from videos I saw, it doesn't look like a controlled fuel release at all, it would be a really long and thin stream, not a circle... which is exactly how it would look like from the ground if there was an explosion

Chris

@TildalWave right

TildalWave

unless SpaceX thinks that we think there's an atmosphere to contain it

Chris

also, the timing: it seems unlikely to me that they would immediately send the "vent" command after the anomaly was encountered, instead of taking their time to try and get it resolved

"immediately" being on the order of minutes

TildalWave

12:36 AM

yup that's too pretty odd... and one more thing about that video... there seems to be a slightly stronger glow in the middle, not really sure if it's the camera's zoom triangle tho, but it could be pure and simple combustion... which you don't really want while releasing the fuel, so my guess would be that the LOX tank exploded and caused a leak in the RP1 tank, or the other way around

TildalWave

2:03 AM

Has anyone else noticed we have a new beta icon, saying SX and not any more SE?

TildalWave

2:22 AM

The only way is SX :)

The Only Way Is Essex

The Only Way Is Essex (often abbreviated as TOWIE) is a British BAFTA Award-winning structured reality television show based in Essex, England. It shows "real people in modified situations, saying unscripted lines but in a structured way." The show is filmed just a few days in advance. It is narrated by Denise van Outen, who is from Basildon, Essex. The show has been described by the Daily Mirror as Britain's answer to The Hills and Jersey Shore. Series 1 ran initially for four weeks, and currently airs every Wednesday and Sunday at 10pm on ITV2. Series 2 began on 20 March 20...

lots of glitter everywhere ... how convenient :)

they're officially sexing us up

TildalWave

3:38 AM

I don't know, maybe I'm stupid or just not seeing something, but...

If this is supposed to be the Curiosity's self-portrait, then how come it looks like someone else took it?

there's no sign of the arm on which the camera is supposed to be, no shadow, nothing...

TildalWave

4:10 AM

0

Q: Who took the Curiosity rover's self-portrait photo from the surface of Mars?

Curiosity is missing an arm, can you help us find it? The self-portrait photograph of the Curiosity rover from the Gale Crater is probably one of the most well known ones of this particular rover of the NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission:

There you go... fun question. Have fun answering it! ;)

RhysW

10:55 AM

Hehe i appear to have made it to dead on 1k rep,

PearsonArtPhoto

1:19 PM

I love how we have a tag for myth-busting

space.stackexchange.com/q/2233/25 has real potential to be a blockbuster question.

4

Q: Will the foot print of Neil Armstrong erode?

The Moon has a very thin (practically non-existent) atmosphere so the foot print left by Neil Armstrong won't be eroded for centuries. But there are solar winds. Is it possible that solar wind would have enough strength to erode the legendary foot print? If so how many years will it take to compl...

the-moon astronauts history apollo-program

It might be interesting if someone wrote another answer that compared the decay rates of, say, Mars and a high earth desert, for instance.

We need to convince some NASA people to come here, as it looks like they have the day off.

RhysW

2:37 PM

@TildalWave thanks for the edit on that answer, nice table!

TildalWave

@RhysW Sure, no problem... thought you might be on some tablet or something

Some are really killjoys :( I wanted to post a fun question and have it be an Opportunity to satisfy our Curiosity (yes, pun there), maybe make it a bit more interesting that dismissing it: "Yes, this is what it was done and here's a link"... Can't even say anything to to go into discussion if it answers the darn question or not. Yes, it does.... and I wish I haven't asked it too.

RhysW

3:02 PM

@TildalWave nope, just plain old ignorance

@TildalWave some of my most popular answers, across sites, are the ones that have humour in them

TildalWave

@RhysW well yes, there's possibly some observational humor to be had with that question of mine too, and then there's quite many interesting facts that wouldn't really need much explaining or references, a few photos would do the trick... and yes, I did try to be a bit humorous already in the question, not sure it was seen as such by all tho

RhysW

@TildalWave buncha prudes? :P

TildalWave

Like that it isn't the most well know photo of the Curiosity, for example... why not? Because we have dozens of nearly exactly the same ones with only the ground being a bit more or a bit less rocky LOL

and that some fans couldn't wait so they stitched a full portrait out of raw images coming from Curiosity, before NASA managed to do it

NASA, that has a software fully automating that for them, all they need is a set of images... and fans did it weeks faster

granted, with better color fidelity because they were still doing calibrations ... but yeah, there's some fun facts that could be converted into even funnier comments about it

RhysW

:D dedication

fun fact

on the picture where he says you cant see the arm you can see the arm

bottom right corner of the rover, it extends outwards

then is cut off by the stitching

Hash

4:02 PM

@TildalWave i like your answer in meta.SO

Stack Exchange

astrobites: Last Day to Apply to Write for Astrobites!

posted on October 01, 2013 by Courtney Dressing

Astrobites is looking for new authors and today is the last day to apply! Don't forget to submit an application to join the team if you are a current graduate student.

TildalWave

4:32 PM

@Hash cheers

called2voyage

5:02 PM

@PearsonArtPhoto Ouch...

PearsonArtPhoto

@called2voyage Sorry, I couldn't help myself...

called2voyage

lol, I found it funny.

I reposted it on Astronomy chat.

PearsonArtPhoto

I think this is the first government shutdown of the internet age. The last one the internet was still in its infancy, at least.

But in any case, the point was to be funny, not anything serious.

called2voyage

yeah, first of the social media age

TildalWave

haha I love how Twitter is really busy on a gov't closedown

JPL website:

> Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not being updated. We also cannot respond to comments/questions. We sincerely regret this inconvenience.

Their own site maybe, but all of their stuff seems to be on Twitter

called2voyage

5:16 PM

The gov't Twitter pages are all down.

Donald.McLean

We're not affected (yet).

called2voyage

Posts have to be approved by gov't salary employees, so they cannot continue during shutdown.

TildalWave

@called2voyage no I mean individuals, I follow many

called2voyage

Neither are we (LM) yet.

@TildalWave oh, that's true.

TildalWave

dunno how the weather is like throughout US, but if it's anything close to how it's here that's a lot of really bored folks right now... I say let the humor ensue :)

called2voyage

5:20 PM

weather is decent where I am

was rainy yesterday, but just misty today

TildalWave

no science on LADEE ... which is a short term mission, so that'll be a lot of damage

called2voyage

yikes

TildalWave

You think we could get a few of all these bored folks to have a look at our site? I'd love Emily here... well, I'd love her anywhere close really, but that's another matter :D

called2voyage

you might not want to say that if you want to get her here ;)

PearsonArtPhoto

I'd be surprised if NASA science missions really shut down.

called2voyage

5:24 PM

They said they won't this week.

PearsonArtPhoto

I lost my link in to a NASA mission, so I'm not sure how it's going there...

called2voyage

Monday they will make a decision if nothing has changed.

PearsonArtPhoto

I could well imagine that some things might change, but talking to spacecraft is a 24/7 ops, you can't really take a break from it.

called2voyage

Some people have their heads screwed on straight: wjla.com/articles/2013/10/…

TildalWave

@called2voyage was just a jokey remark, tho she is one helluva interesting woman, there's no denying that

called2voyage

5:26 PM

I know

I like to make fun of your jokes. ;P

PearsonArtPhoto

They actually closed the monuments? That NEVER happens... Wow...

called2voyage

yep all national parks and monuments are closed

tourists are furious

PearsonArtPhoto

The national parks, I can understand, but the monuments? Really? There isn't 24/7 coverage of them anyways, what would the harm be in letting people go there?

You might as well close the Washington Monument too while you're at it, good luck at getting people to not see that...

called2voyage

I don't know. Let's just hope it doesn't last long.

PearsonArtPhoto

I'm surprised you can even do that. The National Mall isn't really made to close down.

called2voyage

5:29 PM

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in DC right now.

Just a fly, though.

Being there in person has to be crazy right now

Even the Navy-Air Force football game might get canceled

PearsonArtPhoto

You can call me your fly in DC. I live fairly close.

About 25 miles or so.

called2voyage

I'm just saying I would like to see the buzz on the streets.

See how it's affecting the general populace

PearsonArtPhoto

Well, I've had hopes that traffic would be less, but I haven't see that yet.

Aside from that, I don't have much to report.

PearsonArtPhoto

5:50 PM

I decided if I've been beating my head on a question for 2 hours, it might be a good candidate for this site.

1

Q: What is the math behind Magnetorquers?

I'm trying to better understand the mathematics behind how torque rods work. I know that even if you have 3 axis of magnetic torquers, in effect there is only 2 axis of control, and I'm trying to figure out how all of this works exactly. Specifically, let's assume the following hypothetical situa...

artificial-satellite attitude magnetic-fields magnetorquer

Chris

6:57 PM

SpaceX (again) says no explosion: spacenews.com/article/launch-report/…

So... pieces of insulation are now the most likely culprits?

Those will be easy to identify based on decay rates, at least

PearsonArtPhoto

Yeah, if that's the case, they should show up really soon.

I have no doubt that JSPOC knows what most of them are.

The answer to my question I think can be found at nasa.gov, but the site is down today. Sigh.

called2voyage

7:16 PM

Have you tried google cache and the wayback machine?

Everyone

monuments closed? that's ... momentous

PearsonArtPhoto

Yeah, that's the next step.

Google won't give me the exact address, thus it's making it a bit tricky for wayback, but google might have it in cache...

I bet the wayback machine is getting a lot more hits than normal today.

Everyone

what's a wayback machine?

David Freitag

@Everyone It's a website

It has a cache of the internet

Everyone

@DavidFreitag: blinks

a cache of the internet? taken when?

PearsonArtPhoto

7:23 PM

@Everyone Constantly

archive.org

Got to love it, they are closing the National Monuments, that cost almost nothing to run, at great expense because they have no money... foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/01/…

2

Everyone

@PearsonArtPhoto: I don't get it. If they cost no money to run ... why is it a great expense to close them?

constantly??

PearsonArtPhoto

@Everyone That's the joke.

Everyone

Hm. Sort of like "I died with ma boots on" ... ?

David Freitag

@Everyone I'm not sure what the poll rate is, but i think it's at least a few times a minute.

called2voyage

New stack proposal, help me flesh it out:

area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/60617/meta/60618#60618

Everyone

7:26 PM

@DavidFreitag: That's still a lot of data

PearsonArtPhoto

It depends on the site.

David Freitag

According to them:

> Storing the Archive's collections involves parsing, indexing, and physically encoding the data. With the Internet collections growing at exponential rates, this task poses an ongoing challenge.

Our hardware consists of PCs with clusters of IDE hard drives. Data is stored on DLT tape and hard drives in various appropriate formats, depending on the collection. Web data is received and stored in archive format of 100-megabyte ARC files made up of many individual files. Alexa Internet (currently the source of all crawls in our collections) is proposing ARC as a standard for archiving Interne…

PearsonArtPhoto

@called2voyage You could ask that question on MSO just as easily, you know.

Or ask it on Web Apps, for that matter.

Everyone

that's putting it mildly ... ongoing challenge ...

PearsonArtPhoto

The proposal's DOA, I doubt it'll last long.

called2voyage

7:28 PM

You could, but I'm imagining a whole class of questions.

I could be wrong.

But I want to see if it gathers any interest

Everyone

OK, I've got the ephemeris file for Cruithne; now let's see how it is imported into GMAT

David Freitag

> October 2012 update: Total used storage: 10 Petabytes

=o

PearsonArtPhoto

web.archive.org/web*/nasa.gov

Everyone

@DavidFreitag: How much cooling would indexing a peta require??

David Freitag

> Power consumption: 6 KW / PetaByte

> No Air Conditioning, instead use excess heat to help heat the building.

TildalWave

7:31 PM

@DavidFreitag that's not even much at all

Everyone

6KW per hour? per day?

David Freitag

Doesn't say

TildalWave

as long as it takes?

Everyone

pretty expensive in my currency, imo

'o @TildalWave

David Freitag

I imagine the 6kW must be per day, they are using mostly extremely high density tape drives to store and read everything which would explain the extremely low power consumption.

TildalWave

7:38 PM

@DavidFreitag Watt is not defined in time... it's power. If you want work, then you add time per power to it. So 6 kW must be continuous / average power draw... in an hour that's 6 kW/h ... in a day, that's 144 kW/h, e.t.c.

David Freitag

@TildalWave Right. But like i said they don't say..

TildalWave

here, about 30 Euro per day worth of electricity

David Freitag

$40 a day... man, i pay that a month.

Everyone

But you don't have a 10x multiplier for commercial use of energy, do you? q+:

TildalWave

@DavidFreitag I suspect you don't have petabytes of data with data redundancy, backups, e.t.c.?

David Freitag

7:42 PM

@TildalWave I have a few terabytes with redundancy though... :|

Everyone

Does anybody still use tapes in real life? For data-storage/back-up, I mean

TildalWave

well yes, me too... and who doesn't, but let's say on average one workstation has 4 TB storage and it uses up 100 W of continuous power (which is not much, but let's say we don't count the monitor and periphery) ... so that's 0.6 kW / day per TB ... and that wayback machine uses 0.144 kW / day per TB

Everyone

I know it's OT ... a colleague is possessed of a 1TB USB external drive. His hardware people gave him a copy time of around 6H for 300GB; he flipped.

TildalWave

@Everyone I still have DAT yes... but don't really use it any more for fresh backups. I do have a lot of backups on tapes tho, that I'd want every now and then to restore, so yup... still using it.

Everyone

Weren't there several types of tape? density difference, and stuff?

Uh. To get back on-topic, any suggestion on how to import the ephemeris for Cruithne into GMAT2012?

RhysW

7:53 PM

eyoo :D

Everyone

'o Rhys

RhysW

whats up everyone

ive had too much sugar and im in a chatty mood :D

Everyone

Candyman!

PearsonArtPhoto

Finally hit outspoken. Whew!

Everyone

or was that The riddler?

RhysW

7:58 PM

@PearsonArtPhoto which one is that one again?

Everyone

@RhysW: Recommendation? Importing the ephemeris for Cruithne into GMAT2012?

RhysW

@Everyone errrrr, whoosh thats the sound of it going right over my head

Everyone

sigh

PearsonArtPhoto

10 stars in chat by 10 different users.

Everyone

@PearsonArtPhoto: How's that again?

PearsonArtPhoto

8:01 PM

space.stackexchange.com/help/badges/69/outspoken

RhysW

ahhh that one,

PearsonArtPhoto

If 10 different people have starred at least one of your posts in a site chat room, you receive the award.

Everyone

This should make @JamesJenkins' day
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nasa-finds-plastic-ingredient-on-saturns-moon/425749-2.html

RhysW

how do i not have that xD not enough varied people i think is my issue

PearsonArtPhoto

That's what makes the badge difficult, different people.

Everyone

8:03 PM

Right. I'm off to bed. 'night

RhysW

@Everyone cya!

@PearsonArtPhoto yeah, would help if i was more active here, im working on that

Chris

8:39 PM

astrocamera.net/2013/0929/FalconLaunchComposite.htm

Stack Exchange

9:13 PM

astrobites: Detecting the Quantization of Gravity

posted on October 01, 2013 by Nick Hand

The authors raise a key point about the detection of gravitational waves from the early universe. Not only would such a detection verify the theory of inflation, but it would also prove the quantization of gravity.

Transcript for