The Space Thread - Launches, Events, Live Streams, Governments, Corporations, drama in Spaaaaaaaaaaaace

[mindlessobserver]

Stars are stupid hard to measure with precision because there is a shit ton of interference between our observation platforms and them, and also because they are dynamic. Stars are constantly ejecting mass and blasting radiation that makes precise measurements difficult.

We can very easily tell that "that this is a big star", but trying to say "is it bigger then this other big star" is alot harder.

The fact that we can measure with imprecise but valid metrics a star light years from us is a miracle all on its own.

 

[Meriasek]

Is VY Canis Majoris still the biggest known star?

I think so.

Boötes Void and other voids are areas where superancient species have dyson-sphere'd nearly all stars in tens of thousands of galaxies in desperate search for ascension. There is none.

 

[Combustion Engine]

Is VY Canis Majoris still the biggest known star?

In our galaxy? It's probably up there, but it's hard to say for certain. It's also close to the theoretical maximum limit before they quickly rip themselves apart. They can get bigger, but not for long. Sometimes in a loop. Hypergiants are closer to a loosely held together mass of hot gas than a star like our Sun, it's a brief balance between the gravity of relatively low density gas and the immense pressure its luminosity pushes outwards.

 

[mindlessobserver]

I think so.

Boötes Void and other voids are areas where superancient species have dyson-sphere'd nearly all stars in tens of thousands of galaxies in desperate search for ascension. There is none.

As fun as that theory is, I think Universe "Space Climate" is to blame for the voids. The gravity of all the matter flows much like wind, it has cycles and as it flows voids where there is no wind forms.


Hard to prove though, because "universe climate" is something that would play out over hundreds of millions of years.

 

[Meriasek]

As fun as that theory is, I think Universe "Space Climate" is to blame for the voids. The gravity of all the matter flows much like wind, it has cycles and as it flows voids where there is no wind forms.


Hard to prove though, because "universe climate" is something that would play out over hundreds of millions of years.

Sadly, yes. Structures like voids and walls and clusters are reasonably explained by relatively ordinary processes.
But it'd be more fun if they were causes by ancient species desperate to grow beyond this universe.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

Ars Technica: After recent tests, China appears likely to beat the United States back to the Moon (archive)

In recent weeks, the secretive Chinese space program has reported some significant milestones in developing its program to land astronauts on the lunar surface by the year 2030.

On August 6, the China Manned Space Agency successfully tested a high-fidelity mockup of its 26-ton "Lanyue" lunar lander. The test, conducted outside of Beijing, used giant tethers to simulate lunar gravity as the vehicle fired main engines and fine control thrusters to land on a cratered surface and take off from there.

Then, last Friday, the space agency and its state-operated rocket developer, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, successfully conducted a 30-second test firing of the Long March 10 rocket's center core with its seven YF-100K engines that burn kerosene and liquid oxygen. The primary variant of the rocket will combine three of these cores to lift about 70 metric tons to low-Earth orbit.

These successful efforts followed a launch escape system test of the new Mengzhou spacecraft in June. A version of this spacecraft is planned for lunar missions.

This article comes with a fun bonus: sperging over the guy being interviewed having worked at the Heritage Foundation for 13 years:

To put this into perspective, Ars connected with Dean Cheng, one of the most respected analysts on China, space policy, and the geopolitical implications of the new space competition. He was also a researcher at the Heritage Foundation for 13 years, where he focused on China. (He was not involved with Project 2025.) Now “sort of” retired, in his own words, Cheng is presently a non-resident fellow at the George Washington University Space Policy Institute.

Spoiler

 

[Racial Slurs the Movie]

Ars Technica: India safely launches a $1.5 billion satellite for NASA (archive)


View attachment 7714148

NISAR has to be a shitpost name right?

There is no fucking way they named the indian satallite Sar.

 

[The best and greatest]

So im not a smart man when it comes to cosmology but I have a question:

I know our curren't understanding of 'The universe' posits that the big bang (if it happened) is a unique event to our universe that can't happen again. But what if our understanding of the universe is faulty and based on our imperfect and finite ability to perceive it? Suppose that beyond the reaches of our observable universe that there are big bangs going off all the time on a cosmological scale and that these instances are so far apart from each other that they simply never interact and we'd have no idea they exist because they are physically impossible to perceive?

 

[Screamer_2]

Ars Technica: After recent tests, China appears likely to beat the United States back to the Moon (archive)

America's return to the moon is such a shit show and unfocused. Even if they did somehow manage to land there again before the Chinese do. They'll end up playing catch-up.

Is there any information on how far along Blue Origin's lander is? I know they're doing pool tests with astronauts and a mock-up, but no idea where the flight hardware is at.

Obviously, Starship is still years away, especially after its upcoming test flight fails again.

 

[Pedophobe]

Something Eager Space pointed out in a recent video is that NASA has never published a Mission Report for Artemis 1, something they did for every Space Shuttle flight. Everything we know about it comes from rumor, hearsay and PR fluff. They really don't care.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

I know our curren't understanding of 'The universe' posits that the big bang (if it happened) is a unique event to our universe that can't happen again. But what if our understanding of the universe is faulty and based on our imperfect and finite ability to perceive it? Suppose that beyond the reaches of our observable universe that there are big bangs going off all the time on a cosmological scale and that these instances are so far apart from each other that they simply never interact and we'd have no idea they exist because they are physically impossible to perceive?

Cyclic model says the universe bangs into existence, with "big crunches", then cycles back.

Is the cyclic model dead? Apparently not. After a couple of decades of being told that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, recently it's suggested that it could be slowing down.

The Big Crunch Theory Is Revived as Recent Data Shows Our Expanding Universe Slowing Down
Mystery force behind the universe’s accelerating expansion may not be so constant after all

The idea of bubble universes that are separate and don't (often?) interact is related to the idea of eternal inflation.

A lot of these ideas are seemingly untestable, but increasingly sophisticated gravitational wave detection, which is a very new tool, might be able to rule some things out. Either way, I wouldn't worry about this stuff too much. Subsurface oceans, exoplanets, interstellar 'roids, etc. are more interesting.

Is there any information on how far along Blue Origin's lander is? I know they're doing pool tests with astronauts and a mock-up, but no idea where the flight hardware is at.

Blue Moon Pathfinder test delayed from August 2025 to early 2026.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

Universe Today: Moon Flybys Could Save Fuel On Interplanetary Missions (archive)

Putting their system into practice, the researcher simulated a gravity assist from Callisto, one of Jupiter’s four large Galilean moons. It showed a significant drop in the fuel requirements necessary for the mission to enter a stable orbit in the Jovian system. Unfortunately this new idea was too late to save the fuel costs of even modern missions like the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE).

So im not a smart man when it comes to cosmology but I have a question:

Here's a related video that just came out:

https://preservetube.com/watch?v=-3uxcgyv1r0

 

[jeff7989]

Universe Today: Moon Flybys Could Save Fuel On Interplanetary Missions (archive)

Well yeah, obviously. Problem with gravity assissts is that it makes everything take longer, we don't live forever.

 

[The greater a'tuin]

So im not a smart man when it comes to cosmology but I have a question:

I know our curren't understanding of 'The universe' posits that the big bang (if it happened) is a unique event to our universe that can't happen again. But what if our understanding of the universe is faulty and based on our imperfect and finite ability to perceive it? Suppose that beyond the reaches of our observable universe that there are big bangs going off all the time on a cosmological scale and that these instances are so far apart from each other that they simply never interact and we'd have no idea they exist because they are physically impossible to perceive?

That is more or less what a false vacuum collapse theorizes.

 

[ConsentAccidentVictimNo98]

Ars Technica: After recent tests, China appears likely to beat the United States back to the Moon (archive)

China was always going to beat America back to the moon for one reason. They took the conservative approach. Simpler launch vehicles, significantly simpler architecture. America could have won the race back to the moon with an approach akin to China. (That is, a simple two stage lander and simpler rockets). Doesn't help that China was actually working on this quite a while before America where SLS and Orion was meant for different mission approaches relating to deep space exploration. The Asteroid Redirect Mission being the notable example. This being cancelled by the first Trump administration in their policy of scorching everything Obama. Oh, and Trump wanted to jerk himself to the thought of making America realllllyy great by having men on the moon (then Musk was like we could put men on Mars in 4 years).

None of the contenders for HLS were good. Lunar Starship was a pipedream; Dynetics with Alpaca had quite a few problems and I don't even need to talk about the national team suggestion. Alas Kathy, whatever her surname was, chose SpaceX so she could get a new job.

The entire premise of Lunar Starship being chosen was that it was essentially good for upscaling for future missions and that it was "cheap". It was essentially future proofing with NASA's entire funding being limited (hence why Block 1 is still around).

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

Eager Space is my new favorite spacetuber, he's blunt, cynical and refreshingly numerophilic.

https://youtube.com/@eagerspace

I take it he's not a raging British commie wannabe like AlexandertheOK? (I forgive him but only just)

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

China was always going to beat America back to the moon for one reason. They took the conservative approach. Simpler launch vehicles, significantly simpler architecture. America could have won the race back to the moon with an approach akin to China. (That is, a simple two stage lander and simpler rockets). Doesn't help that China was actually working on this quite a while before America where SLS and Orion was meant for different mission approaches relating to deep space exploration. The Asteroid Redirect Mission being the notable example. This being cancelled by the first Trump administration in their policy of scorching everything Obama. Oh, and Trump wanted to jerk himself to the thought of making America realllllyy great by having men on the moon (then Musk was like we could put men on Mars in 4 years).

None of the contenders for HLS were good. Lunar Starship was a pipedream; Dynetics with Alpaca had quite a few problems and I don't even need to talk about the national team suggestion. Alas Kathy, whatever her surname was, chose SpaceX so she could get a new job.

The entire premise of Lunar Starship being chosen was that it was essentially good for upscaling for future missions and that it was "cheap". It was essentially future proofing with NASA's entire funding being limited (hence why Block 1 is still around).

Pressing X to doubt.

China actually has what is probably the most conservative and risk averse manned spaceflight program on Earth.

They CANNOT have anyone die.

Ever.

So they will get to the Moon... Eventually..... I'd bet in ~10-12 years.

 

[ConsentAccidentVictimNo98]

Pressing X to doubt.

China actually has what is probably the most conservative and risk averse manned spaceflight program on Earth.

They CANNOT have anyone die.

Ever.

So they will get to the Moon... Eventually..... I'd bet in ~10-12 years.

Yes, that's what I said. They took the conservative approach, America on the other hand didn't and took a radical approach with Starship.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

China actually has what is probably the most conservative and risk averse manned spaceflight program on Earth.

They CANNOT have anyone die.

Ever.

Except for the villages they drop rocket boosters on lol

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

Except for the villages they drop rocket boosters on lol

Some Chinese citizens are more equal that others after all