# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2021, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/162 "2021-10-04T22:44:09Z")
Now a whopping 6 Falcon Heavy launches scheduled for 2022! Not that I expect all of them to happen on time, but it should still be quite a year. SpaceX may actually make their money back on FH development. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/163 "2021-10-05T01:32:50Z")
Another day, another damning article about Blue Origin: > **[Revealed: The secret notes of Blue Origin leaders trying to catch SpaceX](https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/revealed-the-secret-notes-of-blue-origin-leaders-trying-to-catch-spacex/?comments=1&start=240)** > > "They have a customer focus. We should too." The notes come from a management consultant agency, which perhaps should be viewed with some skepticism. However, their findings pretty much match what everyone can see. They don’t seem to have done anything with the findings. However, even if they had I’m not sure it would have worked. They are just as likely to apply a cargo cult approach–copying the superficial differences without actually understanding where they come from. For instance: > We should “develop a campaign that gets the public and industry on our side much like SpaceX has done with their transparency in mission failure which has been an effective customer relations tactic to get the industry, customers, and public behind them, rooting for their success," an executive suggested. “They are effectively saying it’s okay to fail because that is how you innovate. Develop a strategy that focuses on highlighting our innovations and failures, and how we are learning from that.” Is it likely that they would really emulate SpaceX here? Elon released the “how not to land” video for shits and giggles. The enthusiasm it generated is a side effect of SpaceX’s overall attitude toward failure. I can’t see it ever working for BO. They would release some carefully-curated failures which aren’t _too_ bad and some bland corporate verbiage to go with it. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/164 "2021-10-05T02:12:51Z")
**To not-so-boldly go where lots of people have gone before.** William Shatner is going to be one of 4 people on the next New Shepard launch on October 12. Prepare yourselves for lots of Star Trek jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/165 "2021-10-05T16:58:59Z")
> **[NASA likely to move some astronauts off Starliner due to extended delays](https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/nasa-likely-to-move-some-astronauts-off-starliner-due-to-extended-delays/)** > > Astronauts assigned to Boeing flights may end up on SpaceX's Crew-5 mission. If this happens the entire original Starliner demo crew will have been reassigned or replaced. And it demonstrates how far ahead SpaceX have drawn ahead of the competition. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/166 "2021-10-05T19:47:04Z")
In retrospect, I really wish [Dream Chaser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Chaser) had been chosen rather than Starliner. It might still have been late, but at least we’d have gotten a different type of vehicle out of it. Even ignoring the fact that it isn’t flying, Starliner just seems worse than Crew Dragon in every way. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/167 "2021-10-05T20:07:35Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > [Dream Chaser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Chaser) It’s like the baby of Starship and shuttle. Though shuttle should feel ashamed of itself - surely that’s illegal. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/168 "2021-10-05T21:13:54Z")
The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft has sent back its first images of Mercury ! > **[BepiColombo spacecraft sends its first images of Mercury during flyby](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/oct/03/bepicolombo-spacecraft-sends-its-first-images-of-mercury-during-flyby)** > > European-Japanese probe swoops in to almost 200km above Sun’s nearest planet, photographing its pock-marked features ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/169 "2021-10-06T10:54:36Z")
A company is implementing an idea I have thought about – using high altitude balloons for “space” tourism. Cheaper (OK, still $50k) and a longer flight (12 hours), and still get to 100k feet (well short of any definition of space, but still pretty high) > **[Balloon Trips to the Stratosphere to Begin in 2024 | Aero-News Network](http://aero-news.net/annticker.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=d3e3e1c1-b17f-4869-85aa-972d79eee48b)** > > “Space” Tourism Without the Rocketry > > As the newest iteration of the space race heats up between competing high-altitude tourism com| Published: Wed, Oct 06, 2021 | Aero-News Network Brian ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/170 "2021-10-13T15:47:45Z")
William “Captain Kirk” Shatner’s flight was delayed, but went OK. For sure marketing, but pretty cool marketing IMHO. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/171 "2021-10-26T04:29:41Z")
Blue Origin announces a space station, “Orbital Reef”: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SC3ooNXfcGE/maxresdefault.jpg "Announcing Orbital Reef - Your Address in Orbit") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC3ooNXfcGE) Every new thing they do is more embarrassing than the last. Next week they’ll announce a mission to Alpha Centauri, and after that they’ll reveal the AmazonBasics Dyson Sphere. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/172 "2021-10-26T04:31:52Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Every new thing they do is more embarrassing than the last. Next week they’ll announce a mission to Alpha Centauri, and after that they’ll reveal the AmazonBasics Dyson Sphere. I don’t normally ‘rofl’, ever, but ROFL. That was _exactly_ my reaction to the announcement. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/173 "2021-10-26T04:53:31Z")
What’s sorta weird, from my perspective: 30 years ago I would have been amazed and wide-eyed by this announcement. 15 years ago it would have been eye-rolling, but mostly due to cynicism and disillusionment about how space development was going. Today, it’s still eye-rolling, but only because SpaceX really is driving space development forward, proving that it’s actually possible to do new things at a rapid pace, while Blue Origin is still 95% press releases and CG renders. Space development is about as exciting as its ever been, and not just due to SpaceX but also Rocket Lab and a bunch of other upstarts (which will mostly fail, but at least fail in an exciting way). Blue Origin and Boeing are harshing my vibe, though. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/174 "2021-10-27T12:55:29Z")
> **[NASA discovers first possible planet outside our galaxy | CNN](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/10/26/world/exoplanet-intl-scli-scn/index.html)** > > Scientists may have detected signs of a planet transiting a star outside of the Milky Way, in what could be the first planet ever to be discovered outside our galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/175 "2021-10-28T04:39:10Z")
That’s pretty neat. The exoplanet doesn’t sound like a very pleasant place to be, though, if it’s orbiting a neutron star or black hole. In more mundane news, there are some extra details about the toilet issues on the Inspiration4 flight: > > SpaceX’s Bill Gerst says Crew Dragon’s toilet mechanics were redesigned after the toilet issues on the Inspiration4 mission. A tube that sends urine into a container broke off during the mission and leaked into a fan which sprayed the urine in an area beneath the capsule floor. > Gerst says the crew didn’t notice anything during flight; it only affected the internal section under the floor. Redesign involves a fully welded system with no joints that could come “unglued” like the faulty Inspiration4 system did. > SpaceX, concerned that the same toilet issues are plaguing its other vehicles, had astronauts use a borescope to investigate the Crew Dragon currently docked to the ISS. They confirmed SpaceX’s suspicions and indeed found similar contamination under the floor, Gerst said > Astronaut pee is mixed with a compound called Oxon, and SpaceX worried that might corrode hardware on Crew Dragon if pools around the system unchecked for months. So SpaceX did “extensive tests” on the ground that involved soaking aluminum parts in an Oxon-pee mixture > For “an extended period of time,” the Oxon-pee-soaked aluminum parts were placed in a chamber that mimicked the humidity conditions on the ISS. SpaceX found “that corrosion growth” caused by Oxon pee “limits itself in the low-humidity environment onboard station.” > typo correction - I’ve been told that the correct spelling of the ammonia-removing compound in the astronaut pee is oxone, not “oxon” > So anyway, Crew Dragon appears to be resilient to piss. Gerst: “Luckily, or, on purpose, we chose an aluminum alloy that is very insensitive to corrosion.” The study is ongoing — “We got a couple more samples we’ll pull out of the chamber” > This was a really good example of how a engineering problem was detected, studied and fixed. Gotta commend Gerst’s transparency here. Good to see that even a tourist mission can contribute design lessons that help NASA. And that they were able to identify and fix the issue so quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/176 "2021-11-04T19:25:19Z")
Is it over? I think it’s over: > **[Bezos' Blue Origin loses NASA lawsuit over SpaceX $2.9 billion lunar lander...](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/04/bezos-blue-origin-loses-lawsuit-against-nasa-over-spacex-lunar-lander.html)** > > The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled against Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin in the company's lawsuit against NASA. Not that SpaceX slowed down at all. Looking forward to their Starship orbital test, as it’s been a while since they’ve flown any test articles. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/177 "2021-11-04T20:05:18Z")
This does free up NASA funding for SpaceX I think so we could see some exciting activity at Starbase. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/178 "2021-11-14T11:25:46Z")
So, apparently this is a thing. A company is building a spin launcher which will put things into orbit by spinning whatever it is really fast on earth and then letting it go and flinging it into space. Really. Seems absolutely mad but they have built a demonstrator as proof of concept and it has legitimate backing from large companies. Seems insane but…people are really working on it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JAczd3mt3X0/maxresdefault.jpg "Can Spinlaunch Throw Rockets Into Space?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAczd3mt3X0) ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/179 "2021-11-14T14:36:16Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So, apparently this is a thing. A company is building a spin launcher which will put things into orbit by spinning whatever it is really fast on earth and then letting it go and flinging it into space. Really. Seems totally practical on the moon or even on Mars, anywhere with low gravity and a thin atmosphere - but how does it work on Earth? I’ll have to watch the video, consider me intrigued! ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/180 "2021-11-14T14:52:07Z")
Certainly not going to be useful for any sort of manned launches. And even unmanned equipement is going to have to be pretty hardy as well. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/181 "2021-11-14T15:59:05Z")
Yeah…no way anything living could survive such a launch to space but then the vast majority of things sent to space do not include anything living. I think this will also have to have a size limit on what gets sent up. Really big payloads will still need a rocket. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703.md?page=10)