Posts by Spherical Cow

Uncle Sam aims to help nuclear energy find its sea legs

Re: giving it almost unlimited range without frequent refueling.

Cruise ships generally last about that long anyway. At the end of its normal lifespan the ship can be scrapped as usual, and the nuclear bit might get refurbished ready for a new ship to use.

Next step for LINK spacecraft – a software update that won't make things worse. Are you listening, Microsoft?

Wag the dog

If LINK does grab Swift, can Swift then take over attitude control for them both?

Curiosity rover spots field of giant honeycomb on Mars – but no giant space bees

Just get the rover to draw a CDC* around the pothole, that will make it a high priority repair.

*again

SpaceX to try its luck again with Starship Flight 13 after engines and weather say no

No RSD*

Amazing to see the intact Starship floating on the ocean surface, and still transmitting live video long after splashdown! I wonder if they'll tow it to shore? Even if they don't, the close-up images of the tiles etc will provide very good data.

*rapid scheduled disassembly

Astronomers spot exomoon candidate that's almost as massive as Jupiter

It's too big to be a moon, it's a MOOON.

Although the moon is actually cheese (I saw a documentary about it).

Re: Star One (Blakes 7 fans will know this)

I'm a fan of early Blake's 7. The later stuff wasn't so good.

SpaceX Starship Flight Test 13 takes issue with the 'flight' bit

Re: Destack

It won't make much difference. Unlike SLS which takes weeks/months to destack and restack, Starship can do it all in a couple of days, including engine replacements as needed. Then a quick static fire test, and a few hours later it's refuelled and ready to launch.

Japan’s asteroid sample retriever rapidly buzzes remote space rock

Another two-lump asteroid

I'm beginning to suspect this might be a common configuration for space rocks.

2,000 retired Google Pixel phones get a second life as a private cloud

You're in luck! All smartphones sold in Europe from 18 February 2027 must have user-replaceable batteries. And just like an EU law mandating USB-C killed the lightning cable worldwide, you can expect all phones worldwide to have replaceable batteries.

Humanity trashed Earth orbit – next stop the Moon

Re: Lumpiness FTW!!!

Yes, but the flip side of that lumpy gravitational coin is discarded orbital hardware coming down in random places willy-nilly, which could be a headache for any people mooching around on the surface.

Race against re-entry: Swift's would-be saviour straps itself to a rocket

Bring Hubble back for refurbishment? I think some kind of Space Shuttle would be needed to bring it back, and we currently don't have anything of that capacity.

Serious ISS air leak forces NASA astronauts to temporarily take shelter in Dragon capsule

Fumes are not an issue: any gasses produced by the epoxy are automatically vented through a neighbouring crack.

Trump pumps federal funds into coal plants in the name of energy security

Re: Dirty little secret.

The world's largest coal port is Newcastle in Australia. Several hundred protesters with kayaks and paddle-boards closed the port for a few hours by occupying the shipping lane so ships couldn't get in or out of the port.

Blue Origin's New Glenn makes a crater-sized dent in Artemis plans

Re: Massey's

You're right, comparing Blue to SpaceX is a bit unfair. Blue was founded a couple of years before SpaceX so really Blue should be a couple of years ahead in the game.

Re: Minor Misstep

... while developing unprecedented fully-reuseable launch capability which will be very profitable.

Starship shows it can deploy satellites, but Moon mission clock still ticks

Yes I noticed that, I'd love to see a graph of the descent profile.

Space factories edge closer after experimental capsule survives hypersonic landing

Re: How hot is it when it lands?

Although the lack of oxygen at that altitude would prevent the bush from ignition.

NASA fleshes out Artemis III, the Moon mission that won't go to the Moon

Re: Will it still launch?

And, of course, there should also be a set of standards for space suits.

NASA's bid to save Swift from fiery death passes another hurdle

Alternative subhead

Swift Swift rescue rocket to link LINK

More missions, less money, higher risk: NASA's back to the '90s playbook

Re: More samples available

Starship's development phase is almost complete, and extra manufacturing facilities are being built. Expect to see development completed this year, several commercial launches next year, and LOTS of commercial launches the year after.

Artemis III aims for 'late 2027' for Earth orbit demonstration

That is significantly mitigated by Starship's ability to change direction and glide back the other way while descending through the atmosphere: it can re-enter where any debris would fall into the Gulf, then turn around and glide to the tower for a catch.

NASA boss: make Pluto a planet again

Re: Cleared orbit

"suitable cows"

May I be of assistance?

FAA grounds Blue Origin's New Glenn as it probes missed satellite delivery 'mishap'

Re: Damn!

I suspect that 3 or 4 launches this year will be enough to get V3 ready for regular Starlink launches, of which there will be many next year, and many many many the following year. I know progress has felt slow for the last couple of years but I think they have now got it really close to being ready.

NASA Inspector fears new spacesuits won’t be ready for Moon landing

Re: In the spirit of international cooperation (yeah as if this will happen)

Metric is the official preferred system for the US, as per their own legislation which they just ignore.

Bullet train upgrade brings 5G windows and noise-cancelling cabins to Japan

Re: Yes please

When driving a vehicle it is important to be able to hear horns and sirens. Please don't use headphones, let alone any noise cancelling tech.

Fission impossible: Uncle Sam wants nuclear reactors in space by 2031

Re: RE: Will it work?

Why would there be a big fuel tank? The point of nuclear power is to get lots of energy from a tiny amount of fuel.

Orbital datacenter startup CEO admits launch economics don't fly, presses ahead regardless

Re: "roughly the size of two halves of a tennis court "

I assumed he means two solar panels, each the size of half a tennis court.

Physicist reckons two-button calculator can do all elementary math

What happens when you press both together?

Does it take a screenshot?

Artemis II blasts off on first crewed lunar mission since Apollo

Re: America needs to re-inspire themselves

You got the quote wrong, AND you used it in the wrong situation.

Artemis II countdown begins as NASA prepares for crewed Moon flyby

Re: Send Trump to the moon instead

The two most recent Starships both landed* exactly on target.

*came to a controlled stop, hovering just above the surface of the sea.

In the name of science: Boffins build fart-tracking undies

Re: We don't need to count the farts

It exists!

https://www.myshreddies.com/about-shreddies

Re: Surely we're all missing the point ...

"Just a little bit more choke and that one might have started!"

Careful, you don't want to flood it.

Artemis II takes a rain check on return to launch pad as NASA fixes loose wire

"engineers also fitted a new set of flight termination batteries"

And now we have this delay because a flight termination system wiring harness needs to be replaced. Did someone break something while changing the batteries?

Inside the datacenter where the day starts with topping up cerebrospinal fluid

Re: OK, I'll ask the question.

It's Friday, it's five to five, and it's Crackerjack!

NASA abandons delayed SLS upper stage for ULA's Centaur V instead

Re: Bah!

Did someone call??

Musk admits Starship V3 launch date has slipped as Super Heavy booster rolls into place

Re: Starship proven unreliable ?

"Only the last two" so that means they did succeed in ironing out the kinks and getting it working. Not sure why the article is putting such a negative spin on a development program achieving its goal. Maybe the author is focusing only on the nutjob boss and furthering about the thousands of amazing rocketeers doing amazing things.

Re: Musk IS a genius after all....

That comment is unfair to Australian Research & Space Exploration.

Yes, I have the t-shirt.

Microsoft touts far-off high-temperature superconducting tech for datacenter efficiency

Solving the wrong problem

Transmission losses on the way to the data centre are tiny compared to the power consumption within the data centre.

SpaceX back to Falcon 9 launches as Musk blathers about Moon city

Re: Moon

Australia's age of consent laws apply both within Australia and outside Australia. It doesn't matter where in the world (or off world!) the crime is committed, Australians can still be prosecuted. Even if local laws were not broken.

Stash or splash? Lawmakers ask NASA to find alternatives for International Space Station

Getting empty Starships to the ISS will be easy in due course. Adding large cargo doors should be possible. The ISS modules will fit inside Starhips with room to spare. A de-orbit burn is easy. The big question is whether a Starship can handle re-entry and landing while it has a heavy ISS module inside.

SpaceX halts Falcon 9 flights after second stage anomaly

Re: Coincidence?

They launched 165 Falcons in 2025 so the success rate is very high.

Voyager 2's close encounter with Uranus wasn't in the original plan

A sticky issue

How on earth, no wait, how in space do you fix a hardware lubrication problem remotely?

Congress throws NASA a lifeline, leaves Mars sample mission to die in the dust

Touring the facility

in a short skirt and a looooong

jacket

New carbon capture tech could save us from datacenter doom

Re: I don't see how this can ever be viable

A forest does store CO2. Individual trees die and release CO2, new trees grow in their place and absorb CO2. So long as the forest continues to be a forest its overall CO2 continues to be stored. Deforestation adds to overall atmospheric CO2, planting new forests has the opposite effect.

Historic NASA test towers face their final countdown

Is there any legal protection from being designated as National Historic Landmarks, or is it just some words?

BOFH: If another meeting is scheduled, someone is going to have a scheduled accident

I feel lucky to be old, given the alternative.

NASA loses contact with MAVEN Mars orbiter

10 bits per second!

I can blow a raspberry* with a faster bit rate.

*not the Pi kind.

Space-power startup claims it can beam energy to solar farms

Re: energy beaming

Perhaps you missed the bit about it being safe for humans and animals due to low intensity. Nothing is getting incinerated.

Re: Daft question?

Incinerated, or fragmented? Donald Kessler would like a word...