The Pod Bay

Stack Exchange

05:02

Tonight's top story: Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness, died in his home this morning at the age of [unintelligible rune]. Due to the large number of sharks inhabiting his former kingdom, no body could be recovered.

Stack Exchange

13:04

astrobites: Stellar Flybys and Damping Disks: How to Excite an Exoplanet

posted on February 14, 2014 by Erika Nesvold

Close encounters with a passing star can excite a planet into an eccentric or inclined orbit. But a circumstellar disk can damp a planet's eccentricity and inclination. Who wins? Find out when the authors of this paper model a stellar flyby with two circumstellar disks!

Stu

14:13

Do you think it would be possible to get some of the ISS astros on Space Exploration to answer questions?

geoffc

14:29

Know any?

Anyone up for upvoting a question? I am trying to see if I get a Revival badge, for answering my own old question?

2

Q: Why did Zarya (FGB) come with a single docking port?

Initially, the Russians did not wish to launch the FGB (Functional Block), now named Zarya, which was the first ISS component launched. But the US wanted it, so they could launch a US component sooner. That is, the FGB could provide control, life support, storage, a Canadarm grapple point, so tha...

Stu

15:04

got it.

geoffc

15:34

And that did it. Ok, so you can get the Revival badge for answering your own old question. :) Easy badge bait then. :)

Go find all your old questions, answer them, wait for 2 upvotes and done. :)

TildalWave

16:01

@geoffc already have two of them, they're only bronze :P

it was more fun when we had hats and that earned you a new one

geoffc

Is there a silver version of Revival?

Stack Exchange

NASA Image of the Day: Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness

posted on February 14, 2014

This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region. Evidence from radio, optical and ultraviolet telescopes suggests that the hot cloud, which is about 100 light years across, is the remnant of a supernova explosion that occurred thousands of years ago. The progenitor could have been a comp…

TildalWave

@geoffc Necromancer: Answered a question more than 60 days later with score of 5 or more

geoffc

16:30

Now that you remind me, I earned that somewhere...

Can't remember which site, but I did earn it once.

No, I earned the one for an edit on a 90 day old question.

TildalWave

People, we really need more TOTW suggestions but also votes on those that haven't yet been selected and you might like to see featured for a week. If you can't think of topics, go through our tags and check which seem to have too few questions, or you're particularly fond of. Thanks!

If there's gonna be more suggestions than we can fit in this quarter of the year, we'll move them to a new TOTW thread for the next quarter, so don't worry that there's only a few more we need to select now. We'll need them later on ;)

Everyone

17:03

@TildalWave You editor, you ... (+:

thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/…

What're the specs on the assy?

Is it merely the bell?
p.s. bbiab - Sir D wants out

TildalWave

@Everyone I've added a new tag "mapping", low rep users can't do that ... I've added this tag to a few questions that it applies to but I'm gonna stop now not to completely change the main page vista :)

@Everyone no idea

Everyone

17:27

@TildalWave Just pulling your leg. I do that at times

Hm. More ToTW ...

TildalWave

@Everyone it's easier to just hold the shift key :)

Everyone

Shift key? Eh?

TildalWave

for uppercase

Everyone

blinks

TildalWave

17:44

one other task for all of you is to vote more often. I've noticed that especially new members have difficulties getting as many upvotes on good contributions as they used to when we were in early beta days. To some extent I guess reasonable, but we also have many more members now. If you could think how to improve your voting habits or make others appreciate why this is important, please do!

Everyone

@TildalWave True; we're flagging (no pun intended - glares @Undo)

TildalWave

@Everyone Oh about that, there's also a need to use review queue and vote to close on questions that have severe problems. I often notice mods have to close a clear case on our own even though there's plenty of comments under the question that it is off-topic, unclear, etc. Problem with mod-hammering is that I then we ourselves risk having to excuse our decisions (points to a long meta answer) when we could have had support from community.

Flags can be helpful, sure, but even more helpful are votes. Up, down, votes to close, votes to delete even,...

Everyone

In short, the SEx.SE community need to get off their asses

TildalWave

18:00

Well, no I wouldn't put it like that because we're IMO better than similar communities in beta, but I would appreciate if we can be even better, there's no good reason not to be. It really takes a small amount of effort to do it like the system suggests, it's actually easier to vote to close as off-topic than to add a comment that you think so. Stuff like that. So no, not nagging, just optimisations that we could all easily do and help ourselves.

Everyone

Never meant nagging (+:

Just meant we need to get off our Asses

TildalWave

And I just meant that getting off one's ass seems too strong and implies effort. My point is we could actually do more with less of it ;)

Everyone

((+; We need more asses in here

j/k

Is the question too broad?

TildalWave

@Everyone IMO no, seems fine

Everyone

I ran a quick one by google; couldn't come up with mention fo the specs though

Perhaps I need to work on my google skills

TildalWave

18:12

added a few tags, some new ones that I'm a bit surprised we didn't have yet

Everyone

human-rating?

TildalWave

@Everyone I searched for similar stuff not too long ago and it's pretty difficult to find anything specific on ISRO. I did find their budget for 2013-2014 and human flight isn't supported that much, so I guess their GSLV problems pushed activities further down the line, possibly to 2015. They used to have one unmanned test flight with crew module scheduled tho, we'll see...

Everyone

The animal rights people may come up in arms at that one; I know I would.
More like live-stock rating

TildalWave

Human-rating certification

Human-rated or man-rated are terms used to describe the certification of a spacecraft, launch vehicle or airplane as worthy of transporting humans. NASA and the U.S. GAO now uses "Human-rating" when describing requirements for these systems. The terms "man-rated" and "human-rated" are mostly used interchangeably. In spaceflight, a human-rating certification is the assurance that the space system accommodates human needs, effectively utilizes human capabilities, controls hazards with sufficient certainty to be considered safe for human operations, and provides, to the maximum extent prac...

Everyone

(+: Didn't mean the certification recommendations; scroll up

TildalWave

18:21

@Everyone There's no place for complacency in spaceflight, and personally I find such poking offensive so they better keep it together. I've seen some disturbing comments along those lines before. Frankly, I didn't know if I should delete it, or leave it for others to see too. But with interests in keeping everything civilized, I just hit delete.

Everyone

I understand; don't agree whole heartedly though.

TildalWave

I think we might be talking of slightly different things, maybe I didn't get exactly what you meant

Everyone

Well, taking creatures other than humans up to LEO, or elsewhere should require systems to cater to their physiological needs. Sort-of to paraphrase the happy employee, productive employee adage as a happy animal is a productive animal

TildalWave

February 14 - Happy Southern Winter Solstice on the Red Planet! :D

Everyone

18:36

(+; Make love to the Warlord day

If the humans ever get a colony going on Mars, could it ever be self-sustaining without terra-formation?

Everyone

18:49

Right. System's winding down; 'nini

geoffc

18:59

@Everyone If there is water on Mars, sufficiently available, then I would think so. CO2 plus water means you can run plants to trap solar energy and release oxygen. That means you can probably self sustain with enough effort.

Stu

@geoffc yeah that would be a HUGE help in colonizing the planet. might even make it possilbe

:D

geoffc

Plants are amazing things! Easy to grow, and they turn light and C02 + water into glucose and oxygen. You could not build a device that efficient, and self reproducing! :)

Stu

Let's build self-reproducing launchers that use pollution as fuel. jaja

What's your take on the latest fusion developments? rt.com/usa/fusion-energy-power-ignition-806

TildalWave

Launch in 2 hours, chat event about 20 minutes before

Stu

hmmm where is the launch scaffolding? is it just folded back?

geoffc

19:13

@Stu you have to be pretty ignorant of basic science to call CO2 pollution. (Or brainwashed by the media hype). (I do not mean to call you a name, rather to point out that the statement has a real problem.)

Stu

Oh, i wasn't calling CO2 pollution

I meant more like nuclear waste

TildalWave

@geoffc problem is loss of hydrogen through ionosphere, so it would need a magnetic field too

geoffc

CO2 is anything but pollution. IN fact, we are far more likely facing a global winter, shades of Fallen Angels by Niven. Great story.

@TildalWave No arguement. But the question Everyone asked was about, without terraforming. :)

@Stu Good! That would be nice.

Stu

haha

i love me some CO2

TildalWave

@geoffc ah shoot I missed that detail :D

Stu

19:17

plus, the term pollution is all relative

depends on what form of life you might be :]

TildalWave

@Stu there's a b-roll in a loop now here showing how it's positioned over the "launch hole" (or whatever name it has, maybe a "service and exhaust tunnel") turksat4a.imgondemand.com

the launcher is brought there horizontally, then lifted upright with an arm

Stu

ah yea thanks!

TildalWave

Stu

they should hook up the launch hole to breifly heat homes in the vicinity heheh

great image though

TildalWave

OK, I give in, I really tried ignoring this Valentine's Day but here you are:

there's a heart-shaped sugar candy with "Gas Planets Rule" written on it, I couldn't resist any more :)

Ben Reed (NASA SSCO) is doing AMA on Reddit on 18th: ssco.gsfc.nasa.gov

should I put events like this in our schedule, or it's beyond the point since it's a Q&A session on another site?

and since I'm going photo crazy, here's another one for @Stu with a mobile service tower next to Proton (looks recent):

Stu

19:40

that is crazy. i cant believe how powerful the hydraulics on their service tower and life arm must be.

geoffc

@Stu Do they lift it fueled, or do they fuel it once upright?

F-9 is lifted empty, as will F-Heavy. F-Heavy will be as big or bigger than a Proton, empty, I would think. (Guessing at that one. Three smaller cores have to be massier than one single core...)

My Nexus card application was approved! NOw to get an interview appt, for which I have to fly back to Canada, and I can get faster entry into Canada and US. Yay!

Stu

Hmm they must lift it with no fuel. Seems dangerous otherwise. I would liek to know more about the service tower, like how quickly it can fill the launcher with fuel.

geoffc

And Proton is NASTY fuel/oxidizer wise. MMDH, Nitrogen Tetroxide or Hydrazine. I forget which exqct combo, but they all SUCK horribly badly!

As in, you get exposed to them, you start sucking air through the holes it corrodes in you as you die a miserable death.

Stu

nitrogen tetroxide?? that's old school

geoffc

@Stu And on the scale of a first stage engine of a proton! Amazing, eh?

Yep N2O4/UDMH

Proton (rocket family)

Proton (Russian: Протон) (formal designation: UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965 and the launch system is still in use as of 2014, which makes it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight. All Protons are built at the Khrunichev plant in Moscow, and then transported for launch to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where they are brought to the launch pad horizontally and then raised into vertical position for launch. Like many Soviet boosters, the names of r...

TildalWave

19:50

upper stage and payload are fueled before they lift it upright

geoffc

Hmm, only 1.9 million lbs thrust. That is F-9 class! 1.4MLbs.

Stu

aren't the first stage engines rather small?

geoffc

Upper stage is relatively puny, compared to first stage, usually. :)

Stu

maybe i an just thinking about the nozzle

TildalWave

I still find it strange, since it's a cryo stage

geoffc

19:51

SL isp of 285. That is pretty crappy.

Only 375K lbs per each of the 6 engines at Sea level.

TildalWave

they lift it up with an arm and then the mobile service "tower / scaffolding" is rolled along, so I guess they can still refuel whatever is lost due to cryo "breathing"

geoffc

F-9 is 1.35MLbs thrust. assuming the 85% quip by Elon is true, and they can be run 15% higher thrust that gets them 1.58 Mlbs. 1.9 Mlbs is not that high, and it has such a larger payload. Interesting.

Stu

unrelated, but here is something cool before the launch: arstechnica.com/science/2014/02/…

geoffc

20:11

I like the diversity of Ars Technica. Good gaming, Mac, PC, technology, Space, etc.

Hmm, Angara, is using URM's witha single 470Klb thrust engine. That is not very big for a single engine booster.

Even 5 of them in an Angara 5, that is not a lot of thrust to get off the pad.

TildalWave

20:34

the "doughnut riddle" solved:

nasa.gov/jpl/mer/mer20140214/index.html

Stu

i was really hoping it would be a doughnut

TildalWave

BTW I've heard that some Cali nutcake sued NASA for not trying to investigate the rock... and that he claims it's a lifeform and demanded first 6 scientific papers related to it hold his name as the first author

Stu

i'm really enjoying this weather-channel-esque music. updated for a modern russia.

TildalWave

ah this jazzy fusion seems to be the choice for pre-launch pijama streams, SpaceX has it, Arianespace has it, now ILS,...

oh and ESA too

maybe a bit more Jean Michel Jarre-esque

Stu

haha

Amaterasu

20:44

hello

Stu

hey

yikes

TildalWave

Live webcast for the launch of Proton-M w/ Turksat-4A from Baikonur Cosmodrome is now available via International Launch Services web stream with English commentary, and raw streams on Tsenki TV Baikonur. Launch scheduled at 21:09 GMT (4:09 p.m. EST), launch updates on Spaceflight 101

T - 20 minutes

Stu

21:03

i love the ground tracks for GTO

TildalWave

T - 1 minute

Stu

looking good.

not veering to the side haha

TildalWave

not this time :)

I heard a lot of people lost their jobs on that launch when it rolled over and went kaboom

that's official terminology BTW

Stu

aren't these launchers suppose to have self-destruct software if it starts to behave that way?

it nailed the ground in a huge explosion and could have easily killed a lot of people

TildalWave

@Stu range safety yes

it does have it

Stu

21:13

maybe it would have been better to have it explode in the air? although certainly it would have rained burning debris

oh i see

time to go! enjoy your weekend

TildalWave

that one just disintegrated on its own I think, or maybe range safety was activated as it started falling apart, but it was still an awesome explosion, there's some cool videos on YouTube

you too, cheers @Stu

Stack Exchange

NASASpaceFlight.com: ILS open 2014 with Proton-M launch of TURKSAT-4A

posted on February 14, 2014 by Chris Bergin

International Launch Services (ILS) have opened their 2014 campaign with the launch of the Russian Proton-M launch vehicle, this time carrying the TURKSAT-4A communications satellite on a multi-hour... Related posts:ILS successfully launch Intelsat 16 via Proton MInternational Launch Services (ILS) have launched the Intelsat 16 telecommunications... ILS Proton M in debut shared payload launch…

TildalWave

hey @Manish

ManishEarth

?

TildalWave

@ManishEarth ??

¿

ManishEarth

21:23

?!

TildalWave

21:38

‽

I always thought the name "interrobang" sounds a bit ominous

TildalWave

22:11

@geoffc You know I find it surprising you didn't come even close to hitting rep cap these past two days when you've been fairly active, I think that's a clear sign that voting habits went south and we need to find ways to encourage folks to vote more somehow. It can't boil down to a few of us that regularly vote. Any ideas how to do that?

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