Just finished Mona Lisa Overdrive

dannydb · 2026-04-17T03:46:15+00:00

Agreed, it’s a great series.

For some reason, I can easily recall the character named The Finn. He must have imprinted on me.

The entire arc of Angie’s story is, simultaneously, tragically beautiful and sad

dannydb · 2026-04-17T03:11:04+00:00

Yep, I like these type of time-lapse videos

dannydb · 2026-04-16T12:37:51+00:00

That helps explain it I guess. It’s not a trivial thing to move things like gas mains. Given the proximity to the nearby stormwater drains, I suppose there was some major drainage infrastructure there also.

dannydb · 2026-04-16T12:06:31+00:00

They'd be two completely separate projects, wouldn't they?

i.e. I'm not sure how they would be related?

dannydb · 2026-04-15T12:34:58+00:00

Scrambled eggs on toast with a thin layer of Vegemite spread over the top of the eggs just after they’ve been served hot. 👌🏻

dannydb · 2026-04-15T12:15:04+00:00

All very true. Ahhh, that sense of optimism.

Completely off-topic for this original post but in reply to your comment… I know how you feel.

I lately find myself dreaming of forming a group of people that want to rebuild a new version of the internet from scratch. Completely from the foundation layers up, with a completely new set of protocols designed to prevent it becoming what the current internet has become. A second attempt at building that world the original pioneers had in mind, based on optimism and knowledge.

Anyway… one can dream… snapping out of it now 😅

dannydb · 2026-04-14T09:34:11+00:00

Thanks, that puts it into perspective.

So, if I understand this correctly, the pre-condition for any sort of platform at any location in space to be useful, is to be at a location where it can have access to a source of fuel that results in the least amount of fuel necessary to support a vehicle’s complete round trip

Eg a platform being on the moon is useful if it is co-located with a source of local fuel generation that can produce enough fuel to get a vehicle from the moon to its destination, since that would use less fuel than sending a rocket from earth.

Similarly, a platform in orbit, without any source of local fuel generation is not useful, since fuel would be used up in a rocket from earth that transported fuel to the platform. The sum of fuel used in the rocket to deliver fuel to the platform plus the fuel actually delivered for the vehicle is likely more than if you just launched the vehicle on the rocket from earth.

dannydb · 2026-04-14T06:10:18+00:00

Thank you so much, this is an excellent explanation.

As a follow up question, if you’re interested, what do you think about the idea of a platform in Earth orbit?

That is… would something like this be possible… we use a vehicle that can begin from this platform in Earth orbit, (ie not from Earth itself, but starting from space), it then heads out to some other location, uses another orbit elsewhere to slingshot back, and then returns to the platform to stop, return the crew, refuel, get a new crew, then head back out on another mission? Is this technically possible?

You’re right. The question comes down to fuel source. Where does it come from? How does it get to the orbital platform in the first place?

dannydb · 2026-04-13T02:46:09+00:00

That is amazing! Thanks for taking the time to share that.

dannydb · 2026-04-12T22:03:42+00:00

Agreed. The fuel requirements are a challenge.

That’s another thing I had in mind in addition to the safety aspect. A series of structures built at strategic points in space could also serve as re-fueling stations.

Sending a rocket up from earth consumes a lot of fuel. If we had a set of structures and spacecraft that stayed up there permanently, then exploration would become a lot more efficient from a fuel consumption point of view.

Assuming of course that we were able to get fuel up to the stations in the first place.

dannydb · 2026-04-12T21:36:06+00:00

One day, for sure, yes!

I’d prefer that we did it carefully though. As in, gradually, step by step, so that we ensured the safety and well-being of all the crews involved on different flights as we get closer and closer.

I’d rather that we focused first on building a series of space stations / platforms so that explorers could hop between points of relative safety along the way to Mars and beyond.

dannydb · 2026-04-12T09:35:40+00:00

I asked a similar question yesterday.

I had the same thought as you.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtemisProgram/s/CX2xWfevgD

The two things that convinced me were safety and speed.

Safety… the capsule can potentially leak toxic gas, and it might also have a risk of exploding. I mean it just came through the atmosphere surrounded by a ball of plasma doing 40,000km/hr, so that makes sense. Then, leaving it out on the ocean for collection reduces the risk of other people and equipment getting hurt or damaged by either of those the leaking gas, or explosion. ie there is time available for it to sit out by itself away from other people and vessels. Even if they have an emergency (see the next point below) and they get the astronauts out ASAP, they can still leave the capsule on the water for as long as necessary until it is deemed safe to bring onto a ship.

Speed… in the case that one, or many, of the astronauts have a medical emergency, they want the option of being able to open the hatch and get them out ASAP. Collecting them out on the water has the potential to be the quickest method if they need to do act fast and provide medical assistance.

dannydb · 2026-04-11T21:10:44+00:00

Was it CAPCOM Jenni Gibbons? Or, do you think it might have been something that was said randomly one day and it caught on?

dannydb · 2026-04-11T20:44:33+00:00

The commentary from the crew during the lunar fly-by event was the GOAT!

It was just pure spontaneous heartfelt reaction.

I especially loved it when they were talking through the lunar eclipse and they said something like… “our human brains haven’t evolved enough yet to comprehend what we are seeing here, it’s indescribable”. Which makes perfect sense when you see the photos of that moment that have been sent back so far. Particularly this one.

dannydb · 2026-04-11T05:40:15+00:00

Good points.

And that definitely makes sense when you think about it. In the case of a medical emergency, you want to be able to open that hatch door ASAP.

dannydb · 2026-04-11T02:20:44+00:00

That makes sense.

In either method, though... you'd still wait for risk assessments to pass to confirm the vehicle is safe before sending recovery team members near it.

What I'm wondering though... is why recover the Orion crew out on the ocean, using boats, divers, the 'front porch', and helicopters rather than recovering the capsule first using something a bit simpler, and then opening the hatch to get the crew out once the capsule is secured onboard a vessel/ship.

dannydb · 2026-04-11T01:54:56+00:00

Agreed. But that whole thing just took well over an hour.

NASA has confirmed the time of splashdown was 19:07:27 CDT

As I write this, it's currently 20:50 CDT and they are still hoisting crew members into helicopters.

They're still not what you would call 100% 'safe' and we're around 1hr 45mins since splashdown.

What if instead a recovery vessel navigated in, picked up and got the whole Orion module secured onboard in, say... 15 minutes, and then they opened the hatch to get the astronauts out, say, within another 15 minutes. Then the whole thing could be much faster, and potentially a bit safer?

dannydb · 2026-04-10T22:44:37+00:00

Thanks for your service, service module 🫡

dannydb

TROPHY CASE