SIGforum
Christmas Eve Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope planned.
December 20, 2021, 11:44 AM
trapper189Christmas Eve Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope planned.
quote:
Originally posted by Hamden106:
quote:
Originally posted by HuskySig:
quote:
Originally posted by 229DAK:
I hope it all goes well. No shuttle to send folks up to fix it.
Doesn’t matter if the shuttle was still flying, JWST is going out to L2. That’s beyond the Moon. Not much hope of mechanical fixes out there.
Why not put a science station on the back side of the moon. There could be Comcast units orbiting or wired on towers to connect with home base
Comcast can't fix things on Earth. I doubt they can do it on the Moon any better.
December 20, 2021, 12:12 PM
flashguyquote:
Originally posted by trapper189:
Holy cow, it's going to be almost 4 times as far away from Earth as the Moon! Is it going to be in an Earth orbit or solar orbit? And ya, there's no going out there to fix it.
Technically, it would be considered a Solar orbit that is perturbed by the Earth's gravitational pull (in a very special and stable way).
flashguy
Texan by choice, not accident of birth December 20, 2021, 12:15 PM
SIGnifiedTime for a government to step aside… They don’t do anything very well anymore.
Not sure they really ever did, but there’s a case to be made that government investment now is worse than ever.
Equity, and social justice directives along with climate change have burdened every single program, project and contract. Ever contract under 8a?
And I’m sorry for those that you that love it, but the space shuttle program was a Flippin joke… Always.
"Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty." ~Robert A. Heinlein December 20, 2021, 12:17 PM
HuskySigquote:
Originally posted by 46and2:
Shift ample money from elsewhere and triple their funding. Enlarge NASA and the related agencies, it's some of the only good and interesting things our government does or has ever done with our money.
Unfortunately, the NASA of today isn't the same NASA as 50-60 years ago. Lots of engineers and scientists who behave like bureaucrats, unable to make a decision without group consensus. The days of Gene Krantz are long gone. I say slash the NASA budget and distribute it to the private companies who are still willing to be risk takers: SpaceX, Blue Origin, Firefly, Rocket Lab, etc.
December 20, 2021, 12:27 PM
46and2Bah.
Build ten new Shuttles...
Go to more planets.
Launch 3x more probes...
Work with the private sector, too, obviously.
December 20, 2021, 02:26 PM
HuskySigquote:
Originally posted by 46and2:
Build ten new Shuttles...
Go to more planets.
Launch 3x more probes...
What would 10 new shuttles do for us? Because they aren't going to other planets or even the Moon.
We could have launched more probes, but instead we've spent $10B on JWST...
December 20, 2021, 02:57 PM
flashguyUntil travel is made much faster, exploration of more distant planets will be unfeasible. Even going just to Mars takes at least 5 months, and that only when the 2 planets are at their closest. Going to any more distant planets would take much longer--years in most cases, and to planets around nearby stars, even decades or centuries. There are limits to recycling human waste to sustain life over long periods.
There have been sci-fi stories written about huge spaceships designed to carry large populations between planets, but we are far short of being able to do that at this time.
flashguy
Texan by choice, not accident of birth December 20, 2021, 03:32 PM
calugoquote:
Originally posted by HuskySig:
quote:
Originally posted by 46and2:
Build ten new Shuttles...
Go to more planets.
Launch 3x more probes...
What would 10 new shuttles do for us? Because they aren't going to other planets or even the Moon.
We could have launched more probes, but instead we've spent $10B on JWST...
Just curious why the space shuttle couldn't make it to the moon
December 20, 2021, 03:51 PM
nhtagmemberthe shuttle was a compromise program that ultimately had its requirements set around lofting military payloads
it was never being thought of as anything more than a truck to haul stuff to orbit, and it was incapable of working anywhere outside LEO.
As for deep space....not a chance
December 20, 2021, 03:58 PM
HuskySigquote:
Originally posted by calugo:
quote:
Originally posted by HuskySig:
quote:
Originally posted by 46and2:
Build ten new Shuttles...
Go to more planets.
Launch 3x more probes...
What would 10 new shuttles do for us? Because they aren't going to other planets or even the Moon.
We could have launched more probes, but instead we've spent $10B on JWST...
Just curious why the space shuttle couldn't make it to the moon
Way too heavy to get the needed deltaV. Think back to the Apollo-era capsule and the size of the Saturn V booster in comparison. The capsule was a tiny fraction of the total mass. Compare that to the shuttle, the external fuel tank, and two SRBs. We would need something much larger than a Saturn V to get a space shuttle to the Moon.
December 20, 2021, 05:41 PM
Sunset_Vaquote:
Originally posted by flashguy:
Until travel is made much faster, exploration of more distant planets will be unfeasible. Even going just to Mars takes at least 5 months, and that only when the 2 planets are at their closest. Going to any more distant planets would take much longer--years in most cases, and to planets around nearby stars, even decades or centuries. There are limits to recycling human waste to sustain life over long periods.
There have been sci-fi stories written about huge spaceships designed to carry large populations between planets, but we are far short of being able to do that at this time.
flashguy
Those science fiction books about huge spaceships carrying mass migrations of people were a mainstay of my teen age reading.
美しい犬
December 20, 2021, 11:20 PM
flashguyquote:
Originally posted by Sunset_Va:
quote:
Originally posted by flashguy:
Until travel is made much faster, exploration of more distant planets will be unfeasible. Even going just to Mars takes at least 5 months, and that only when the 2 planets are at their closest. Going to any more distant planets would take much longer--years in most cases, and to planets around nearby stars, even decades or centuries. There are limits to recycling human waste to sustain life over long periods.
There have been sci-fi stories written about huge spaceships designed to carry large populations between planets, but we are far short of being able to do that at this time.
flashguy
Those science fiction books about huge spaceships carrying mass migrations of people were a mainstay of my teen age reading.
Me, too. Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov were my favorites--I've read just about everything they wrote.
flashguy
Texan by choice, not accident of birth December 21, 2021, 07:15 AM
Pipe Smoker^^^^^^^^
And “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet”. Saturday morning TV, right after Roy Rogers!
Serious about crackers. December 24, 2021, 07:00 PM
HuskySigReminder about the JWST launch. It’s been postponed until Christmas morning with the launch window opening at 7:20a EST.
December 24, 2021, 07:04 PM
bald1quote:
Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
^^^^^^^^
And “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet”. Saturday morning TV, right after Roy Rogers!
Tom Corbett books (yeah Astro!) along with Tom Swift and Miss Pickerell series were my pre-teen fodder.
Certifiable member of the gun toting, septuagenarian, bucket list workin', crazed retiree, bald is beautiful club!
USN (RET), COTEP #192
December 25, 2021, 06:05 AM
bcereussAnybody else watching? 15 minutes now…
December 25, 2021, 06:59 AM
HuskySigLooked like a flawless launch through payload separation. The glimpse of the first solar array unfurling and capturing the Sun reflection was pretty neat.
December 25, 2021, 07:58 AM
46and2Yeah, that was great, especially the real footage of the last separation and solar array unfolding.
December 25, 2021, 08:31 AM
46and2NASA tracker, showing Webb's current location.
https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/...nch/whereIsWebb.htmlDecember 25, 2021, 08:34 AM
WaterburyBobSo the complex Sunshield deployment in three days is the critical step toward getting an operational platform I about thirty days?
"If Gun Control worked, Chicago would look like Mayberry, not Thunderdome" - Cam Edwards