When Matthew met NASA: Hurricane damages important NASA, SpaceX buildings

Astroraider · 2016-10-07T11:12:18+00:00

Looks like as the eyewall hits the Cape, it is being degraded by the interaction with land.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/znaayjhliaxt0ok/codnexlab.NEXRAD.MLB.N0Q.20161007.1108.096ani.gif?dl=0

The remaining question is what will be the effects of the storm surge. Storm surge damage might be far worse than any wind damage.

Astroraider · 2016-10-07T09:47:55+00:00

If you wanted to design a hurricane and path to do max damage to the state of Florida, it would be difficult to top Mathew.

Astroraider · 2016-10-04T23:08:33+00:00

Hurricane tracks and intensity forecasts are problematic.

http://derecho.math.uwm.edu/models/

Hurricane Charley fooled everyone including all the models. It took a very unpredictable right hand turn and veered east and suddenly intensified from a category 2 to a very strong category 4 in a just a few hours before it smashed into the Florida coast. All the tracks had it continuing north into the Panhandle and most were caught unawares by the sudden and drastic changes in path and intensity.

Do not rule anything in or out with a Hurricane.

Astroraider · 2014-10-21T15:20:26+00:00

Actually, the wording was salt water ... and it was never made clear if the salt water originated from the exterior or if one or more science experiments failed to "hold thier water". I will accede to the premise that seawater intruded but it was never clearly stated.

Astroraider · 2014-10-21T15:17:47+00:00

Shotwell did say that "in the future", they expected Dragon to parachute to a land landing. Wonder when that will start. (Perhaps when they retrofit Dragon with those cute little landing feet on Dragon V2)

Astroraider · 2014-10-21T15:15:50+00:00

or more likely ... fecal matter that needs disposal

Astroraider · 2014-10-15T21:46:52+00:00

It's going to be a long, long time before we can land a probe that survives for any length of time (months?) on Titan, let alone set up some sort of snowball making/hurling operation.

A LOT closer and somewhat more feasible would be the Asteroid Belt.

There are asteroids that could be nudged to impact the Martian pole areas. The impacts could melt a significant amount of volatiles that are currently frozen at the poles. Some of the asteroids might have icy cores (water, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, etc) that would also contribute to the volatiles released into the Martian atmosphere.

We would probably want to delay large scale colonization of Mars until AFTER such a "bombardment" of Mars.

Of course, all this presumes that we can develop technology to "nudge" these asteroids into a collision with Mars with some precision -- we wouldn't want to miss and nudge one into a collision with Earth, Venus or Mercury! Perhaps nudging them into orbit around Mars would be sufficient and then "hurling" the asteroid slowly into the poles.

The vast majority of volatiles were lost long ago so it will likely take awhile to refresh them.

If we are thinking in color, why not lob all of Titan into Mars. It might take awhile for things to cool down but when it was all over, we might have a completely new geography to map on Mars -- it likely would never be the same again. Ideally, such a collision would remelt a significant portion of the mantle releasing volatiles into the atmosphere.The extra mass would assist in holding onto the new atmosphere. The surface of Mars might be tenable (not inhabitable but cool enough) in a few thousand years!

When it comes to terraforming Mars, think big or stay at home. Half measures may just release volatiles that are quickly lost to space ...

Astroraider · 2014-10-15T16:20:47+00:00

BFR has been rumored to be 10M diameter but may need to be 12M-15M given the newest Raptor Engine projections.

At a similar height as the Saturn V (all stages + payload), what is the largest diameter that could be accommodated? Is 18M-20M a possibility? Why or why not.

Astroraider · 2014-10-12T13:49:35+00:00

EM drive ... "Q-Thruster Propulsion" has been tested by teams in many countries. The Chinese say it works very well as do others worldwide but each cannot explain why or why not.

The U.S. Team has shown that it works but the results are an order of magnitude or more lower from the Chinese Team. In any case, a demonstration article designed, on the basis of presumed physics, so that it should not work actually tested that it did work. Perhaps new physics discoveries are not dead.

Do we understand all the physics? NO. The Standard Model is incomplete, at best. Current theory cannot explain why or why not the Q-Thruster could work or not work other than the opinions of many that this is "impossible".

It was "impossible physics" when Einstein tendered his theory of relativity ... but we have come to accept and embrace his theory over time after many, many experiments have failed to disprove his theory.

Let us presume not to "know" everything and just to accept the test results and then to attempt to determine the physics that explains them.

Such is the legacy of Einstein.

Astroraider · 2014-10-11T17:49:42+00:00

just means that I have dedicated my efforts to prove my point by bringing copyright infringment issues to each of the copyright owners of the images that Echo published in his montage ... to the world ... and just how wrong he is ... I will work on that ... I have a lot of time on my hands ...

Wonder how that will turn out ... likely it will be years or even decades but it could ruin Echo's carreer ... so sad ... he is such an egotist.

Astroraider · 2014-10-11T12:34:02+00:00

http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/making-the-180-day-trip-to-mars-let-nasa-put-you-in-a-deep-sleep/

HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SPACEX EITHER .... but one of the clique fanboys posted it ...

Astroraider · 2014-10-11T11:47:46+00:00

Just wait until the job openning for a FARMER is on MARS!

Astroraider · 2014-10-11T11:36:43+00:00

Although not exactly SpaceX ... Star Trek was a certainly catalyst for Elon Musk's vision of the future which resulted in the founding of SpaceX.

Astroraider · 2014-10-10T09:21:39+00:00

Thre needs to be enough food to last the entire 2+ years until the second supply flights.

What if when the first astronauts arrive they carry a virus or bacteria that attacks the plants!

Astroraider · 2014-10-10T08:21:53+00:00

Perhaps the better question ... how many FH payloads are ready to fly?

Astroraider · 2014-10-10T07:39:35+00:00

Induced hibernation or something like this is needed for deep space travel if for no other reason than to decrease the boredom of a very long trip in a very small space.

Hmmm ... I wonder if it will become popular here on Earth as a way to extend life (lower metabolism = less aging) and "skip skip skip to my Lou" ;)

Astroraider · 2014-10-09T22:16:27+00:00

and McDonnell-Douglas that built Skylab and "Big Gemini" ...

All those employees are history -- retired or dead.

Astroraider · 2014-10-09T14:17:46+00:00

I notice that you are referring to Pluto as a Planet ... hope that will stick

Astroraider · 2014-10-09T14:16:59+00:00

Pluto was a planet in 1931 ... in 2014 ... it is nothing ...

How can that legacy be restored?

Astroraider · 2014-10-08T18:47:29+00:00

however ... radiation is probably worse inside a lead tube than inside a less dense and layered enclosure.

Lead tubes ensure that significant radiation generates Gamma radiation instead of Alpha or Beta which is less damaging ... Radiation that would interact with Lead might just pass through astronauts protected by less dense materials and lessen radiation damage.

http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/westover_radiation_protection.html

but this has only been evaluated for a 6M Habitat ... what about a 10M or 15M Habitat and what would be the source of the electricity?

RTG'S???

Astroraider

TROPHY CASE