Guessing those EV carbon offsets are coming in handy about now… Still cooking away 4 1/2 hours later.
Suspicion is that methane valve didn’t close from the supplying tank farm. That caused a blowout of the ship tanks due to over pressure and then ignition when the fuel came into contact with electricals.
Didn’t even get a chance to fire the engines.
Devo.
That was one hell of an explosion
That is the launch complex tank farm.
NOT the test complex tank farm where the explosion happened yesterday.
5+ miles away.
Remember asteroid 2024-YR4 that made headlines? The chances of hitting the moon have increased to 4%.
Possible repercussions? Hundred of millions on tones of debris ejected resulting in the biggest meteor shower viewed by mankind as some of the debris enters out atmosphere. Expectation would be loss of many satellites lost due to debris impacts.
Honda getting into a space program. Started development in 2019. Nice step forward.
Here’s an interesting thing: a star currently 62 light years away is heading our way and in about a million years it will be within our Sun’s Oort cloud (about a light month away).
From Wikipedia:
Gliese 710 , or HIP 89825 , is an orange 0.6 Solar mass Star in the Serpens Cauda. It is projected to pass near the Sun in about 1.29 million years at a predicted minimum distance of 0.1663 light-years. Such a distance would make for a similar brightness to the brightest planets, optimally reaching an apparent visual magnitude of about −2.7.
If humans have survived that long (and I hope so because maybe that will be nearly enough time for EFC to win another final) it could be possible to put a colony in orbit around it, thereby getting a ride through the galaxy.
Greg Evans is a rariry - a successful Australian SF author. He had a book with a similar idea many years ago, before the discovery of this wandering star.
Only traveling at ~15km/s which is just above the ~12km/s delta v required to get into orbit around the moon and about 17km/s to leave the solar system. If it passed close enough we could hitch a ride even with today’s technology.
ADD
A fun fact. You need a delta v of 25km/s to get into a transfer orbit to get to the sun.
ie. You need more velocity to get to the sun than you need to leave the solar system.
Can’t recall if I posted this previously but very interesting.
Our solar system apparently traveled through the Orion constellation approx 14 million years ago.
The Solar System is Taking a Fascinating Journey Through the Milky Way - Universe Today.
Do not like
You can get the official skyviewer.app to select images from the discoveries and download them.
It’s online now but the full functionality is not available as yet.
Astronomers have gone crazy on YouTube about the first release and future possibilities.
Good summary of what it will try to achieve and a bit about Vera Rubin.
And Brian Keatings summary and interview with a leader at the Vera Rubin observatory.
I agree but it would be a hell of a show!
Humans: “4%??? Nah, will never happen”
Also, humans: “My chance of winning a million dollars is 1 in 10 billion? Here, take my money!”
Extremely likely to change the orbits and pathways of Oort cloud objects , so the inner solar system could be in for a bit of a pounding over those distant years.
Axiom-4 / Spacex crew dragon launch today
Coverage from 3:40pm and launch at 4:31pm all going to plan and no scrubs.
If I had the money i’d so build telescopes around the world. As the owner when i’m bored I could direct them to point it at whatever pretty thing I want.
Saying that i’d also want to be at the collector end of the telescope and stick my eye there. Nothing like feeling and seeing the real photons that have traveled billions of light years.
I had a 8” Dobsonian when I was younger and it is so satisfying and enjoyable to find objects and view them myself.
Apps like the one released above for Vera Rubin will obviously deliver way better pics though, so it’s good for someone that has a passing interest in astronomy.
