« March 17, 2021 | Main | March 19, 2021 »
March 18, 2021 Archives
Thursday, March 18, 2021
TRACKING WITH CLOSEUPS: A Place in Britain Visited by Fewer People than the Moon
Posted at
15:58
CONTINUITY: Sabine Hossenfelder: Physics Isn't Pretty
Is the quest for mathematical beauty misleading physicists seeking the fundamentals of physical theory? These ideas are explored in greater length in Dr Hossenfelder's book, Lost in Math.
Posted at
15:29
CONTEXT: Asteroid Eating Fungus!
Some of these ideas sound wacky, but this is precisely the kind of thing NASA (if it exists at all) should be doing: exploring and pioneering risky but potentially big-payoff technologies at low technology readiness levels where modest seed funding can rule out those that aren't worth pursuing and mature those that are to the point industry can develop them further. This is was what NASA's predecessor, the NACA, did with great success for decades.
Posted at
14:13
THE HAPPENING WORLD: NASA to Try Space Launch System “Green Run” Again
Test technicians and engineers in the @NASAStennis test control centers have given a “go” for today’s Green Run hot fire test of the #Artemis I core stage.
— NASA_SLS (@NASA_SLS) March 18, 2021
For the latest @NASA Green Run updates, visit the @NASAArtemis blog HERE >> https://t.co/A5x2ZgGROd pic.twitter.com/VkDRyq3IYl
The first attempt, on 2021-01-16, shut down prematurely due to an engine parameter exceeding a limit. The Space Launch System, NASA's giant “rocket to nowhere”, will, if it ever flies, discard four RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engines and two solid rocket boosters, all of which were routinely reused during the Space Shuttle program, in the Atlantic Ocean. This disposable insanity has cost U.S. taxpayers around twenty billion dollars so far, and the Office of Management and Budget estimated in 2019 that after all development costs were sunk, each launch would cost around US$ 2 billion.
Posted at
13:01