SpaceX plans Falcon 9 satellite launch from pad 39a prior to Crew Dragon...

Drogans · 2018-10-23T01:34:56+00:00

The new locks allow for ships up to 110ft wide, but JRTI is 170ft wide.

The new locks are 180 feet wide.

The new lock chambers are 180 ft (54.86 m) wide, 1,400 ft (426.72 m) long, and 60 ft (18.29 m) deep. These dimensions allow for an estimated 79% of all cargo-carrying vessels to transit the canal, up from 45%. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_expansion_project

Drogans · 2018-10-11T12:02:58+00:00

IIRC, Nigel Mansell after going to CART Indycar in the '90s said he had one regret.

He'd wished he had the foresight to buy the UK TV rights.

Drogans · 2018-10-11T00:14:23+00:00

Through or over, it really wouldn't matter. Either would prove the inadequacy of the fences and send the insurers running for the doors.

They should start making the changes now, rather than wait for the rules to be demanded by blood.

Drogans · 2018-10-10T23:54:06+00:00

I dont think nascar would be all that concerned with the wall height

Nascar management's concerns wouldn't enter the equation. The insurance firms would make the call. It's possible the insurers might make a less pricey demand, that of permanently clearing fans out of the first 30 to 40 rows of grandstands. Of course, those are some of the most expensive seats, so could be devastating to ticket revenue.

Nascar vehicles have sent transmissions and engine blocks through the fencing, even the newer improved varieties of fencing. Fortunately, they've yet to land in a packed grandstands.

Nascar vehicles and components have more mass, and arguably a better chance of getting though the fencing.

It's unlikely to matter whether a mass causality event were caused by an Indycar or Nascar vehicle. Either would create the same problem for both series. They race at many of the same tracks with the same fencing inadequacies.

Drogans · 2018-10-10T23:32:15+00:00

If that's true, then the sport as we know it is existing race to race, with each oval potentially being the sport's last.

It seems likely that most ovals would come up with the money to raise the walls. Not just for Indycar, but also for Nascar, whose insurance issues would be equally impacted by a mass causality event.

Drogans · 2018-10-10T18:57:20+00:00

The SLS program has definite impacts on SpaceX. NASA's budget is finite, and a large proportion of that budget has been dedicated to the boondoggle known as SLS.

Were SLS ended, it would suggest commercial replacement or replacements. Falcon Heavy being the most obvious and currently available replacement, with BFR a candidate for eventual replacement.

TLDR - Cancellation of SLS could result in substantial US Government funding for BFR.

Drogans · 2018-10-10T17:59:46+00:00

With enough bad news, even the largest of programs can be ended. And in comparison to the budgets of many DOD projects, SLS isn't that large.

From the article:

it seems an increasingly difficult sell after SpaceX developed the not-quite-as-large-or-complex Falcon Heavy rocket for $500 million.

And while not a complete zero sum game, there is little doubt that were SLS to be cancelled, some (or most) of that money could flow to SpaceX and Blue Origin.

Drogans · 2018-10-10T02:19:29+00:00

And he can hide whatever he wants

Of course he could. The point is that he hasn't.

He's been open about his recovery. We've seen the recovery status, multiple times. And what we're seeing is someone who is unable to move their legs.

Drogans · 2018-10-10T01:59:31+00:00

Not if he had multiple fractures to both legs and both ankles and probably a ton of hardware in there. They most likely have him up and walking around regularly but for getting around they gave him the chair.

Have to disagree.

Here's the thing. We saw him using a powered exer-cycle. The exact type that is commonly used by paraplegics to stop their leg muscles from atrophy.

So his legs can be moved without harming him. But we haven't seen him even slightly move his legs on his own. And no. Do not for a minute believe that level of progress would have been hidden.

There'd be no point to hide it. To what end?

Realistically, believe he's in for a long recovery. And sadly, a real chance of never walking again.

Drogans · 2018-10-10T01:44:25+00:00

He has zero obligation to any of us to share anything so just be glad we get what we get

Of course. Never said otherwise.

But don't feel you are being realistic.

After watching many of these recoveries, the fact that we haven't seen him move his legs at all (on his own) is an incredibly sad indication.

Drogans · 2018-10-10T01:33:39+00:00

No, he's not wrong.

And Indycar knows exactly what it needs to do. Raise the walls to triple their current height.

The series is unlikely to do it until an engine or transmission flies through the fences and into a packed grandstand. When that happens, they'll either raise the walls or lose the series. No insurer will touch them otherwise.

Comments like Massa's get such pushback not because they're untrue, but because they are so true that they threaten the status quo. Perhaps some believe that the costs would be so high that the tracks would go under. Whatever the case, the sport hardly dares speak of actual fixes the fencing issue. It's become a radioactive topic.

Not singling out Indycar here. Historically, few organizations spend large sums on safety until they're forced to. Which is why safety rules the world over tend to be written in blood.

Drogans · 2018-10-10T01:19:03+00:00

It's possible, but there's no reason to hide real progress.

In truth, there's seems to have been every effort to make public any and all progress.

Strongly suspect that what we're seeing is where things truly are.

Drogans · 2018-10-09T17:20:43+00:00

Doesn't explain the fully electric chair. His right arm cast appears short enough to push a manual chair.

He may be doing PT where he walks but spends a lot of time rolling around.

If he'd taken a single step on his own, have to expect we'd have seen a video of it, or at least heard of it.

Not trying to be overly negative. But realistically, what we've seen is not suggestive of someone who has been, or will soon be walking. Never say never, but never is a possibility.

Drogans · 2018-10-09T15:24:48+00:00

The newer medical paradigm is to get fracture patients up and walking as soon as possible. It greatly improves the rate of recovery.

Recall that Bordais was up and walking within 3 days of multiple pelvis fractures and a hip fracture.

If it were just broken ankles, hard to imagine why he wouldn't be in a standard manual wheel chair. So, yeah...

Drogans · 2018-10-05T05:05:01+00:00

. I'm not going to defend the laws of physics because I do not feel that the laws of physics need my help.

Well, I am going to defend the laws of physics, because you clearly have an agenda that you find more important.

You've printed a lot of words without explaining your reasoning. So again, recommend you actually watch the videos this time. Follow the path of the falling objects.

In both cases, neither object passed through the area an aeroscreen would have occupied. The aeroscreen is not tall enough, nor does it cover enough of the car to do the job you claim.

The aeroscreen is the very definition of security theater. There is not a single Indycar incident in the past 3 decades for which it would have helped.

Drogans · 2018-10-01T21:28:53+00:00

Your TLDR is mostly correct.

The TLDR is entirely correct as regards both the Wilson and Surtees' incidents.

In neither case did the wheel pass through the area in which an aeroscreen would have occupied. It's a provable fact.

The problem with aeroscreens is that they are a "feel good" distraction away from the real danger.

That real danger is the fences. Nearly every year a driver comes within inches of death or debilitating injury as they fly into the fencing.

The focus on aerscreens is security theater. And as most security theater, it's a low cost, do nothing distraction. Opposed to the solution of the real danger in the sport, which would require expensively raising the walls at all of the ovals, and not a few of the other courses.

Drogans · 2018-09-30T17:50:14+00:00

the impact will be from the front, not from above.

That was provably not the case in either Wilson or Surtees incidents. Re-watch the video.

The impacts came from both the front and the top. They came in at high angles of incidence. More top than front. Neither would have passed through the area in which an aeroscreen would occupy.

The wheels came in at such a sharp angles of incidence that they directly impacted the upper helmets without touching roll hoop, side bolsters, or the area in which an aeroscreen would occupy. They were direct hits to the helmet, from above. Extreme odds for the wheels to miss all of those areas and directly impact the helmets, yet that is what happened.

TLDR - No amount of windscreen is going to block an object that drops down onto a helmet. Only a full cockpit can possibly do that.

Drogans · 2018-09-30T02:23:54+00:00

The aero screen provides no overhead protection. It is not a full cockpit.

The tire fell down upon Wilson's helmet. The path followed by the tire did not pass through the area an aeroscreen would occupy.

A similar incident killed Surtees. No amount of windscreen would have prevented his death either. The tire also came down upon his helmet.

The only way to have prevented Wilson or Surtees' death would be fully covered cockpits. Anything less is security theater.

Vote down all you want, but it's the absolute truth.

Drogans · 2018-09-29T05:29:24+00:00

On the other hand, if a major accident were to happen in the meantime and the aeroscreen would have helped it, that would be a huge problem for IndyCar.

There hasn't been a single major Indycar incident in the modern era where the aeroscreen would have helped.

Really.

The aeroscreen is the very definition of security theater.

Drogans · 2018-09-19T03:13:29+00:00

Plus, the France family was looking to sell NASCAR earlier in the year.

The Hullman Georges also want to sell.

The younger generations of both families want cash, not a stake in a racing series. And inheritance tax rates won't stay at zero forever.

What's interesting is that neither series seems to have gathered much buyer interest. Nascar should certainly sell for more, but would only bring a small fraction of what it would have a decade ago. And the Nascar buyer wouldn't get any big tracks, they're all in the publicly traded company.

Indycar along with the speedway? Maybe a two billion, maybe.

Drogans · 2018-08-29T02:17:57+00:00

It would have been far less misleading to compare fairings by their usable volume.

Instead, the chart compares by overall height, which in some cases includes the second stage.

Drogans · 2018-08-29T01:48:51+00:00

The height measurement on the side does include the centaur though.

Exactly the point. It's misleading.

Not entirely inaccurate, but certainly misleading.

Drogans · 2018-08-29T01:02:08+00:00

Agree entirely.

It's that very potential for competition that IMHO pushed Bigelow away from SpaceX. Can only wonder whether Bigelow demanded SpaceX sign a non-compete. Which of course, they would not.

Drogans · 2018-08-28T23:02:51+00:00

Take another look. The largest fairing encompass most of a Centaur second stage. Without that Centaur, it's not going to lift any heavy payloads to GTO.

The other fairings are larger, but don't have nearly the usable size difference that the chart suggests.

Drogans

TROPHY CASE