NASA in Moon Photshopping shocker

I want to meet aliens, and don't say their not real cause were not alone! Bang goes the Theory said so!

I love space :D Its just amazing :)
 
Tefal said:
iirc the USAF is/has started testing a space plane recently, not full permanent stable orbit though, but could drop a satellite off/open it's bay to expose instruments that would last several months or drop a payload to hit anywhere on the planet every quickly.
Click to expand...

If you're implying what i think you're implying, then no.
 
PermaBanned said:
I'm not sure if pooling everything is a good idea - surely it's better to have various launch vehicles for various purposes which add many layers of redundancy than one which might not be best suited to many types of mission and if it gets grounded then you're stranded.
Click to expand...


Err if they achieve their claimed £650/kg launch costs, there wouldn't be just one or even a hand full there would be dozens of them as they'd have wiped out most conventional satellite launch system because they could under cut them so much and when we're launching over 200 satellites a year there's a lot of money to be made by under cutting your competition by such a vast amount.
 
PermaBanned said:
If you're implying what i think you're implying, then no.
Click to expand...

hah, funny that's for permanent nuclear weapons deployment in space (they can stil ltravel though space to reduce travel times though like they do on icbms just not be sat there in a space silo in orbit).

Also


However, the Treaty does not prohibit the placement of conventional weapons in orbit.
Click to expand...


the weapons systems aren't nuclear so theoretically they could be sat there in a satellite too butt hat's not what it's meant for it's for a sub 30 minute strike time.


ther us and other have a few weapons systems that are designed to reach space to reduce travel times, including the recent scram jet body (not the x-52 the one that was lost) test one which is meant for a missile.
 
A few? You mean every ballistic missile? Including our own designs?

Incidentally, HOTOL would have worked out to be just less than £650/kg launch costs at the time it was conceived. Yes, scrapping it was a brilliant idea :rolleyes:
 
PermaBanned said:
A few? You mean every ballistic missile? Including our own designs?
Click to expand...


Well no not every ballistic missile. also that's the big thing about these things, they aren't ballistic missiles.

Also so now you're saying that it isn't banned?

make your mind up.


Incidentally, HOTOL would have worked out to be just less than £650/kg launch costs at the time it was conceived. Yes, scrapping it was a brilliant idea :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Could we have made the pre cooler required all that time ao?

did the metals and materials to even build the parts exist?


There are lots of great ideas (ie space elevator) that you could spend all the money in the world developing but until the materials exist for it you just can't advance beyond theory.


With everything about HOTOL's engines etc classified it's quite possible it was found to be unbuildable at the time and so scraped.
 
this is the USAF one that was tested recently. X37

800pxboeingx37bafterlan.jpg
 
MissChief said:
Would love the conspiracy nuts to explain how they did this one.

Click to expand...

see the studio is actually upside down (so they're standing on the roof the camera is also upside down so it looks normal) and held to the roof with hard to see wires.

then when he "drops them" they're both pulled steadily up to the ceiling (which looks like falling to the floor).


now you may be thinking "but the dust!!"


actually the dust is really small magnetic particles and the roof is magnetised just enough to hold them (and can be increased and decreased in small areas) so when they hit they step/drop something they lower the magnetics in that area just a little tiny bit, so some particles escape then they raise it again to bring them back "down" gently in a near weightless way (up)





*I may have just made this up, if it's a genuine conspiracy theory then sorry i stole your idea, if not have at it.





edit actually wtf i'm an idiot. You just do it in a giant vacuum tank then they will both fall at the same speed anyway :p)
 
Last edited:
Tefal said:
Well no not every ballistic missile. also that's the big thing about these things, they aren't ballistic missiles.

Also so now you're saying that it isn't banned?

make your mind up.
Click to expand...

Surely yes, every ballistic missile given that the very definition of one is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. Sub-orbital being a flight that reaches space at an altitude of at least 100km but doesn't have the capability to reach the speed necessary for orbit.

The treaty would prohibit any attempt to put an orbital weapons platform up there. Any USAF orbital launch vehicle will more than likely be centred around spy, surveillance and perhaps communications satellites - something that Shuttle has been used for in the past (as was one of the requirements for getting the funding).

Tefal said:
Could we have made the pre cooler required all that time ao?

did the metals and materials to even build the parts exist?

There are lots of great ideas (ie space elevator) that you could spend all the money in the world developing but until the materials exist for it you just can't advance beyond theory.

With everything about HOTOL's engines etc classified it's quite possible it was found to be unbuildable at the time and so scraped.
Click to expand...

We can't make the pre cooler required now. It would require more than a decade of R&D, something that Reaction Engines know now, and something that (many of the same people) knew when working on HOTOL. The point being that since the HOTOL project existed well more than a decade ago now that R&D would have had time to be done.

Classified, maybe (much of the work that wasn't destroyed is now available under the Freedom of Information act). But people still did the work required to get that information. Three of those people, i believe including the lead designer, went on to found Reaction Engines. All sources indicate that at the time it was scrapped all design criticisms had been answered and the project was very near the end of the first research phase. It could fly.
 
JRS said:
Because sometimes, "just because we can" is a great reason to go do something :)
Click to expand...

But we've already done it.

The moons an early space age relic, we should concentrate on new frontiers, not ones we've already conquered and mastered multiple times.
 
amigafan2003 said:
But we've already done it.
Click to expand...

Quite so, which should make it slightly more straight-forward when we next go there. And we'll need to use it as a staging post for launching missions to other planets :)

And at the end of the day - in the whole of human history, just 12 people have walked on the Moon. 12. And 3 of them are no longer with us (Irwin, Conrad, Shepherd). Total time spent on the surface of the Moon for the missions is just something like 299 hours, actual EVA time less than that (just over 80 hours I think?). How can we even come close to making the decision that it's not worth going back? We've barely even started to think about formulating a method of planning a way to scratch the surface of the place!
 
JRS said:
? We've barely even started to think about formulating a method of planning a way to scratch the surface of the place!
Click to expand...

because we know what's there.
ATM there's only really two reasons to go back.
He3 which we don't need yet and may well won't need.
And as a test bed for mission to mars. But do we really need a test bed. Can do extensive tests on earth which has an atmosphere and computer modelling.

Is there even concentrated resources on the moon to use it as a construction site for large space ships.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom