Boris

Comment Threads

• Bellinghman commented on Mo' holding pattern
  I dunno. Perhaps because it's three times Curiosity's mass of 2000 lbs? (Doubling mass at Mars' orbit probably means doubling launch pad weight.)...
• paws4thot commented on Mo' holding pattern
  So, summarising #67 on - The reason for using aerobraking and not a retro engine package was basically that we'd have needed about 4 boosters to put the payload plus your retro pack plus sufficient fuel to get it out of Earth orbit into orbit in the first place Daniel!...
• Nojay commented on Mo' holding pattern
  Another worked example is the Cassini probe to Saturn which carried an orbital insertion motor and fuel as it wasn't a flyby mission like the Voyagers. The Cassini probe massed about 6 tonnes in flight but it burned three tonnes of fuel to change trajectory into orbit around Saturn. The designers had the luxury of being able to go for a long burn, about 90 minutes or so meaning they could use a small low-thrust motor for the job. That won't be the case for a Mars orbit insertion burn which has to be completed before the spacecraft goes whizzing...
• george.herbert commented on Mo' holding pattern
  daniel.duffy20 wrote: The difference is between short sharp shocks (like that experienced by Col Stapp) and sustained g forces. Highly trained fighter pilots can sustain 9gs and still function. Depending on duration, 10 g results in tunnel vision, black out and eventually death. 10g appears to be the cut off between safety and risk of death under sustained g forces. Orientation matters for all this. Human beings are most comfortable in +Z orientation (lying down on your back, aka "eyeballs in"). -Z - eyeballs out - is not that unsafe, but sufficient "jerk" - rate of change of acceleration over...
• Sasquatch commented on Mo' holding pattern
  On Immigrant labor (Here in the US); Part of it is the sucess of the Plutocrat Agenda in Amerika. Right to Work and the openly anti-union agenda of Walmart. The race to the bottom has already happened, a local temp agency was unwilling to hire me because I didn't "Fit in" with the existing (Banquet Service) wait staff, ie, I'm not hispanic. (But they didn't actually say that, just picked up the phone in front of me and had a comversation in Spanish). The US is still the "Best" place to go, at least to raise that stake to do...