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February 16, 2021 Archives

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

CONTEXT: Fun with Plasma Tubes

There is a great deal of wisdom here about setting up inexpensive but effective home laboratory vacuum systems, high voltage electric sources, and safety in using such equipment. The first baby steps toward magnetic confinement nuclear fusion for the amateur scientist!

Posted at 14:03 Permalink

THE HAPPENING WORLD: SpaceX Starlink Launch: Payloads Orbited Successfully, Booster Recovery Fails

I have started this SpaceX video of the mission just before the start of the entry burn for the first stage booster at 6 minutes after launch. Everything appears normal until the end of the entry burn, at which point there is a prolonged bright light at the right of the frame after the three engines were expected to cut off. At the scheduled time of landing, there is a brief orange glow to the right of the drone ship, and that's it. Interestingly, mission control, which usually calls out the start of the landing burn, was silent at the time it would have been expected.

Posted at 12:22 Permalink

CONTEXT: Mars Traffic Report

Key [from subsequent tweet]: Black circle - Mars surface Green circle - Areosynchronous orbit. Green: natural Martian satellites. Red: 2020 Mars Fleet. Blue: Active Mars orbiters. Magenta: Mars space junk (positions representative only)

Posted at 12:03 Permalink