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May 15, 2021 Archives
Saturday, May 15, 2021
CONTINUITY: Rocket Lab’s 20th Launch Spins Out of Control after Stage Separation
THE HAPPENING WORLD: Introduction to Logisim Evolution: Open-Source Logic Simulator
Wow! I sure wish I'd had something like this when I was designing the M9900 CPU and M9900 64K!
You can download Logisim Evolution from GitHub. It's free, written in Java, and ready-to-run installable versions are available for Debian (etc.) and Red Hat (etc.) Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows systems.
TRACKING WITH CLOSEUPS: Tesla Model S Onboard Systems Battery Runs Down While on Charger
…and the the fun begins.
CONTINUITY: Chinese Tianwen-1 (天问) Lands on Mars
The Big Red Screen of Mars landing success for Zhurong rover, coordinates and CNSA administrator Zhang Kejian. [BACC] pic.twitter.com/H3rlcvVavs
— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) May 15, 2021
In vintage communist style, no streaming video or other contemporary coverage was provided of the landing, only this Stalinesque announcement after the (claimed) success, with the co-ordinates. Independent radio hobbyists have been tracking the telemetry signal from the lander and inferring mission events from its Doppler shift as it performed its final maneuvers and encountered Mars.
#Tianwen1 orbiter Doppler data on landing day free for you to study. Format MJD, Freq, sigma (relative intensity), COSPAR site (49.4348N, -123.668W, 40m) https://t.co/7A8PQyPIR1 pic.twitter.com/dtZmFzprXN
— Scott Tilley (@coastal8049) May 15, 2021
THE HAPPENING WORLD: Rocket Lab Electron “Running Out Of Toes” Launch
Launch is scheduled for 10:08 UTC on 2021-05-15. Rocket Lab will attempt to recover the first stage from the sea after a parachute splashdown.
Update: Loss of telemetry, end of Webcast without any further information. It doesn't look good. (2021-05-15 11:24 UTC)
The upper stage of Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher appeared to tumble just after engine start, following shutdown and separation of the Electron’s first stage.
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) May 15, 2021
The upper stage engine then appeared to cut off. Rocket Lab has ended its launch webcast.https://t.co/yjFcazbPGG pic.twitter.com/fcxAxuXcHj