** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

[Tibbz2]

Thanks for reply.

I've looked at a few critic reviews of the Stephen Hawking books, and while they seem to be definitive guides to how things work, they're not great at explaining it to newcomers like myself . Cosmos on the other hand seems much more easily digestible, think I'll go with that one.

I also spotted "How to destroy the universe and 34 other really interesting uses of physics" by Paul Parsons which looks like a different way to explain things .

I didn't find A Brief History of Time difficult to understand I must say, and I haven't even got any GCSEs yet

Can't say about any others of his though, but that one is worth a read imo

 

[Cosimo]

Sim man / other space enthusiasts, I need your help .

I visited the observatory in Kielder a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. Sadly it was cloudy and snowing so not much star-gazing, so instead we had an introduction to astronomy and astrophysics which I found really interesting.

Does anyone have any personal recommendations for a book to get me started in astrophysics and astronomy? I know the info will be freely available online, but it's not the same as a good book .

Cheers!

These should get you going:

The Practical Astronomer (Dk Astronomy) £10.49
Philip's Stargazing 2013 (Philip's Astronomy) £4.54
Philip's Night Sky Atlas (Philip's Astronomy) £9.59

Prices are from the rainforest. You might also want to ask in the astronomy thread.

EDIT:

A very good single volume to consider is Universe [Hardcover] Martin Rees. Again from DK and comes in at £19.20.

Science: The Definitive Visual Guide £12.79 is worth a look. You can see all of them on the rainforest.

 

[Kazz]

Cheers guys .

 

[Glaucus]

http://spaceref.biz/2013/04/nasa-us...ines.html?goback=.gde_164840_member_228119980

"Traditionally, the forming, machining and welding of this baffle would take nine to ten months," said Andy Hardin, SLS subsystem manager for liquid engines. "After creating the part using computer-aided design, we built this baffle with SLM in nine days, obviously significant time and cost savings. The lack of a traditional weld also makes this part more structurally sound."

Very cool even though its just a cover, surprised its only 35% less, one machine to create a complex shape, rather than loads of moods or different machinery, let alone huge storage costs for storing all these part blanks/machines.

 

[DJMK4]

Without searching, as I'm tired, has anyone thought about doing a joint project on here and launch a balloon up in to the atmosphere Tracked by GPS and of course a camera and some tests?

Whats the restrictions on these? Do you have to get approval?

 

[Cosimo]

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[Tibbz2]

Without searching, as I'm tired, has anyone thought about doing a joint project on here and launch a balloon up in to the atmosphere Tracked by GPS and of course a camera and some tests?

Whats the restrictions on these? Do you have to get approval?

I'm pretty sure smaller balloons wouldn't need to be authorized, but I think it you're sending a camera and tests up you would need to pack them properly and get a larger balloon. I think as long as you contact the head of aviation or whoever runs the skies over here, and tell them where you're launching from and when they will probably allow it.

 

[Glaucus]

Yes you need a permit, it all seems fairly straight forward to get though.

http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:faq

I'm sure someone on here has done it before.

 

[Tibbz2]

Yes you need a permit, it all seems fairly straight forward to get though.

http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:faq

I'm sure someone on here has done it before.

Wow, 28 days! Pretty sure in the US they only need to ring the FAA 24 hours in advance

We must be far more strict with this stuff, then again we are a lot smaller country with just as many flights I should think...

 

[DJMK4]

Who's the person on here that's done it? Wouldn't mind reading through the project if its available

Certainly something that I would happily join in with if a team was put together

28 days isn't so bad, it's only a month near enough.

Would like to see what sort of planning and preparation stages. There are a good few long videos of this on youtube which I'm going to sit down and watch at some point.

 

[Tibbz2]

It would certainly be a fun project!

 

[Glaucus]

Who's the person on here that's done it? Wouldn't mind reading through the project if its available

Certainly something that I would happily join in with if a team was put together

28 days isn't so bad, it's only a month near enough.

Would like to see what sort of planning and preparation stages. There are a good few long videos of this on youtube which I'm going to sit down and watch at some point.

Here it is

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18166200&highlight=High+altitude+balloon

It all seems realy quite straight forward. Tracking is the bit you need to work out. Spend the money and attach a cheap smart phone or similar with GPS on it and you could get pretty much exact location, maybe with a back up ping radio thing.

 

[Cosimo]

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Launching on 17th April at 22:00 BST (17:00 EDT).

 

[Cosimo]

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[Spook187]

 

[Cosimo]

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[Cosimo]

The budget proposal includes a plan to capture a small near earth asteroid and put it in orbit for visiting/exploration:

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/asteroid_initiative.html

 

[Cosimo]

Work in progress at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex:

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The Atlantis display opens to the public on the 29th of June.

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/visit-us.aspx

 

[Glaucus]

Yeah I watched the full budget video, very interesting. Lets just hope it gets approval.

 

[Cosimo]

Russia to spend $52 billion (2013-2020) its space program. Putin wants flights from it's own soil using Vostochny Cosmodrome. With the first launch in 2015 and manned flight in 2018. This will enable deep space and moon exploration:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/12/us-russia-space-idUSBRE93B0HZ20130412