# The Great Ongoing Space Exploration Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** science-math\ **Created:** [November 16, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703 "2020-11-16T12:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 115
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2283 "2025-11-21T23:24:35Z")
That article contains a cite to a vid outtake of the event. I’m not sure, but IMO that may be the largest wet fart in recorded history. By a considerable margin. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2025, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2284 "2025-11-24T19:28:57Z")
Photo of V3 The SpaceX booster B18, the first V3 version of Starship, suffered an explosion that damaged the LOX tank during ambient pressure testing last week [![](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/q_60,fl_lossy,dpr_3,h_66,w_100,c_scale,f_avif/v200/65520f77-f288-4657-a2bb-936b68688cbc) ](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/q_60,fl_lossy,dpr_3,h_66,w_100,c_scale,f_avif/v200/65520f77-f288-4657-a2bb-936b68688cbc) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2285 "2025-11-26T12:01:59Z")
> **[After nearly 100 years, scientists may have detected dark matter](https://phys.org/news/2025-11-years-scientists-dark.html)** > > In the early 1930s, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky observed galaxies in space moving faster than their mass should allow, prompting him to infer the presence of some invisible scaffolding—dark matter—holding the galaxies together. Nearly 100 years... Not much to say beyond the cite. A group claims to have detected high energy gamma rays that match the energy and location in galactic space predicted by current theories for dark matter. Might be huge; might be the result of torturing data beyond its error bars. I’m not competent to say which, but I bet this will get some serious attention in the field. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2286 "2025-11-26T22:33:09Z")
What sort of WIMP would have the properties needed to match the observations? Any of the zoo of previously proposed add-ons to the Standard Model? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2025, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2287 "2025-11-28T06:19:55Z")
What’s Russian for “oops”? > **[Russia's only way to send astronauts to space just suffered serious blast damage](https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-only-way-send-astronaut-space-serious-blast-damage-baikonur-2025-11)** > > Roscosmos confirmed damage to the launchpad in Baikonur on Thursday. Footage of the launch shows its service bay likely fell into an exhaust trench. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2025, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2288 "2025-11-28T11:45:35Z")
At least that waited until after the USA regained the ability to get crews to/from the ISS using our own hardware. Had this failure occurred a few years ago everybody would have been screwed. Some combo of NASA and SpaceX just gained a new customer. On a less serious note … Looking at the damage pix, I guess we could say “Basically, the bottom fell off.” Off the pad that is. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2025, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2289 "2025-11-30T05:25:24Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > At least that waited until after the USA regained the ability to get crews to/from the ISS using our own hardware. Had this failure occurred a few years ago everybody would have been screwed. As I recall the head of the Russian space agency threatened to withhold services critical to the space station and Musk said he would step in and fill in the gap. Done and done. And just to rub it in Musk created multiple launch sites so it won’t interrupt his satellite business. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2290 "2025-11-30T16:23:04Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Twenty years from now. And _always_ twenty years from now. > > But if it was invented tomorrow, it would be an amazing achievement, and possibly transformative for modern society. but then again, I recall reading in those typical “popular science” mag’s in the 70ies … that a TV-set you can hang on to your wall like a painting is just 10 years away … I often thought: “now that I have heard before” … but eventually the flat TVs came, and knocked out everything that had a cathode tube in the market. so, yeah … there is hope … (oh… I do agree with the central idea of your post) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2291 "2025-11-30T16:44:25Z")
I’m not sure flat-screen TVs would ever have made it to market if it hadn’t been for development of an unrelated product: laptop PCs. The impetus for flat-screen TVs was obvious since before television even existed, but a barrier was that it was all-or-nothing: a flat screen had to have a good enough quality picture for television from the get-go, at an affordable price. For decades that was insurmountable. Then PCs were invented and especially the laptop. At first laptop screens were limited resolution, poor refresh rate monochrome; but good enough for text display. This created a market for a somewhat better laptop monitor: enough for low-res limited palette color graphics. This created a market for a still better monitor; etc. This allowed the incremental development of the flat-screen display, something that could never have happened if the only application for a flat screen monitor was television. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2292 "2025-11-30T16:49:56Z")
good point - I never made this (fairly obv.) connection … ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2293 "2025-11-30T18:43:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > [Ethanol] does however send a lot of taxpayer dollars to certain red congressional districts. I remember it was a plot point in the last season or two of _The West Wing_, during the Iowa presidential caucuses. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2294 "2025-12-06T14:25:01Z")
Spy in the sky! Photographing SpaceX documents and equipment. > **[Cosmonaut removed from SpaceX's Crew 12 mission for violating national...](https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/cosmonaut-removed-from-spacexs-crew-12-mission-for-violating-national-security-rules-report)** > > "My contacts confirm that a violation occurred and an interdepartmental investigation has been launched." ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2295 "2025-12-06T15:32:58Z")
Oooh, how classic “retro” 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2296 "2025-12-06T15:40:38Z")
Everything old is new again. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2297 "2025-12-06T17:06:45Z")
I’m seeing Ambassador de Sadesky sneaking pictures of ‘The Big Board’ as the world is about to go up in flames. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2298 "2025-12-06T17:12:48Z")
Like Russia has the infrastructure to **do** anything with the info; except maybe sell it to China. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2299 "2025-12-06T18:04:19Z")
I actually went to YouTube while writing my post just above yours looking for a short clip of that bit to cite here. Plenty of Strangelove War Room clips of course, but all too long for my purposes. Great minds! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2300 "2025-12-06T23:16:07Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Spy in the sky! Photographing SpaceX documents and equipment. He was going to sell those secrets for One. Million. Dollars. [![](https://i.imgur.com/KAZ9FUE.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/KAZ9FUE.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2301 "2025-12-16T13:34:16Z")
This is definitely about space, although maybe not exactly about exploration. Today my tech news feed included this thought-provoking writeup on a scholarly paper. Their thesis being that the various LEO constellations are now so dense that they have to regularly maneuver to avoid one another. If they goof and have a collision, it’s gonna get ugly quickly. Statistically speaking a goof is inevitable. So “if” is really “when”. > **[2.8 days to disaster: Why we are running out of time in low earth orbit](https://phys.org/news/2025-12-days-disaster-earth-orbit.html)** > > A "House of Cards" is a wonderful English phrase that it seems is now primarily associated with a Netflix political drama. However, its original meaning is of a system that is fundamentally unstable. It's also the term Sarah Thiele, originally a... ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2302 "2025-12-16T13:52:07Z")
So, inevitable Kessler Syndrome? nice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703.md?page=114) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703.md?page=116)