Not his biggest fan, far from it, but I wish him a speedy recovery.
Space Race
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Go to 50 seconds into this video and you can see 3 boosters landing at the same time from the Falcon Heavy which is pretty incredible to watch. The first stage lands on a ship a while later.
(1) Falcon Heavy boosters landing - YouTube
What is the crack with the bloke who paid 28m to go on the thing and then was all 'ah I'm too busy with earthly endeavors'
Money launderingWhat is the crack with the bloke who paid 28m to go on the thing and then was all 'ah I'm too busy with earthly endeavors'
Mental. It's like watching a launch in reverse.
Holy moly that thing is tiny!! When you compare it to the shuttle and other rockets
Im assuming because of its size and also the fact it re-lands itself and is reusable….it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than previously used systems in getting people to space
of which in that case, it certainly isn’t pointless, great show
Im assuming because of its size and also the fact it re-lands itself and is reusable….it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than previously used systems in getting people to space
of which in that case, it certainly isn’t pointless, great show
I have no interest in seeing rich men do rich men things, but I did laugh heartily when I saw that the ship looked like a massive cock.
I reckon thats why the guy turned down his seat...didn't want to be seen penetrating earths atmosphere in a giant penis.
I reckon thats why the guy turned down his seat...didn't want to be seen penetrating earths atmosphere in a giant penis.
A few years back I would have absolutely agreed with you and I tended to hate people that said stuff like 'well, we're just gonna ruin another planet like we ruined this one' and 'humanity is a virus' etc. but it's hard to express how apathetic I am to this when i probably would have loved it 5 years ago. You can marvel at the sheer ingenuity of humans to do something like this but it just feels so shallow and ridiculous with what's happening in the world right now. A group of billionaires blast off into space while seemingly unconcerned that they're playing a massive part in obscene wealth inequality, devastating climate change, and the emergence of an increasingly irrational, angry and conspiracy theory loving population. It's the equivalent of the myth of Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burns.
Terraforming a planet and establishing colonies elsewhere (which is the ultimate goal beyond the commercial reasons for space travel) are such a long way off and the way things are going it's simply not going to last long enough to achieve that. Sorry to be a grump but that's the way I think it's heading
Should call them almostnauts.
It can't get anywhere near orbit so it's useless when it comes to launching satellites or getting people to the space station. It's just a very expensive tourist experience to get you just over the legal definition of space.
It does have one advantage over Virgin Galactic in that it's a technology demonstrator for the future orbital rocket Bezos is building but nothing more. And Elon Musk is already way, way ahead there.
So all this points stop being a problem once in space?People like to poo on the billionaires investing in space technology as a play thing for the super rich, which Earth suffers and slowly boils. And that's true. But it's also very wrong.
There are loads of really, really, really, really important reasons that we need to invest in space, and do it now. I'd like to present a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
1. Mitigating the damage from Coronal Mass Ejections
A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a significant release of plasma and accompanying magnetic field from the solar corona. They often follow solar flares and are normally present during a solar prominence eruption. Coronal mass ejections can disrupt radio transmissions and cause damage to satellites and electrical transmission line facilities, resulting in potentially massive and long-lasting power outages. The largest recorded geomagnetic perturbation, resulting presumably from a CME hitting the Earth's magnetosphere, was the solar storm of 1859 (the Carrington Event), which took down parts of the recently created US telegraph network, starting fires and shocking some telegraph operators.
If a "Carrington Event" happened today, some have said it would be a "Multi-Trillion Dollar Disaster". It's hard to say what the precise damage would be, and hard to say whether we could see a CME much worse than Carrington. The idea of planes falling from the sky, self driving cars going haywire, nuclear power plants going into melt-down and power-outages across entire continents are speculation, but they're not beyond the realms of possibility.
Maybe it will occur in 10 years, maybe in 100 years. Or maybe it will happen tomorrow. Humans are very very very bad at preparing for "unlikely" events (COVID being a prime example.) But something that has the capability of creating continent wide 9-11 events needs to be taken seriously.
How can space infrastructure prevent this?
CMEs travel fast, but slower than the speed of light. Currently our best "early warning method" is from our probes at the L1 Lagrange point, which sits directly between the Earth and the Sun. Unfortunately, by the time the L1 probes would detect these CMEs, they are already 99% of the way here. A much better method would be to use a statite (or quasite) probe which sits much closer to the sun, and uses the force of the sunlight to maintain a slower orbit directly between Earth and our star. This would give us a much better early warning system.
The only caveat to this is that, we could mitigate these dangers by improving our infrastructure here on Earth and preparing for these events.
2. The search for intelligent life beyond Earth.
Aliens.
No, seriously, aliens.
Talking about Aliens is always going to get people rolling their eyes, but life exists here. Life exists on Earth, and it existed pretty much as soon as the conditions were suitable for it to exist. In the billion years since then, it took a long time for an intelligent technological species to exist. But what about elsewhere? Are we the only critical thinkers anywhere in the universe? The FERMI paradox is a thought experiment that asks, where is everyone? But without investigation, it maybe that we're alone or it maybe that we're not.
So far we've had received a few signals that could be from alien civilisations. The "WOW" signal, and more recently a signal still being analysed by a private organisation. But frustratingly, no one really knows if these signals were from alien civilisations or just from a rogue satellite (or another man-made signal).
What we need is a to put detectors and telescopes in the quietest area of our solar system; the "Dark side of the moon" (more correctly, the far side of the moon)
The "dark side of the moon" isn't actually dark (well, aside from the 14 days per 28 day cycle that it is dark) but it is permanently facing away from the Earth. Man-mad signals, whether from Earth-satellites or ground based, won't reach there meaning we can far more easily detect SETI signals. (Although watch out for the increasingly common man-made Lunar satellites).
Also, the far side of the moon, during Lunar night, will likely be the darkest area of our solar system. We should be building telescopes there to investigate the original of our universe.
https://www.space.com/nasa-telescope-far-side-of-moon.html
https://www.wired.com/story/alien-hunters-need-far-side-moon-to-stay-quiet/
3. The search for non-intelligent life beyond Earth.
As previously mentioned, Life on Earth appeared pretty much right away when Earth was "ready" for it. Mars however, was likely "ready" for it, far sooner than Earth was, with warm liquid water and an atmosphere.
Did life exist on Mars before it did on Earth? Did Earth life originate from Mars? Did it exist separately? Does it still exist there now?
What about life on Venus? Specifically in the upper atmosphere.
What about life on Europa? Or Enceladus?
Finding life on other planets, even former life, would have a profound impact on us here. We might not be holding hands and singing songs together overnight, but it could have a massive impact on politics worldwide.
Probably, the only way we're ever going to know if life exists in our solar system is to go there. By sending humans.
4. Gamma Ray Bursts.
Gamma ray bursts are caused either by the explosion of a giant star, or the merging of two neutron stars, and are speculated to have already caused an extinction event on earth. GRBs are a candidate explanation as to why aliens don't exist everywhere.
One of my favourite shows on Netflix is "Into the night" a Belgium show about a "Solar event" that suddenly starts killing all life on the side of the Earth that sunlight reaches. It's a great show, and I'd seriously recommend watching it. I like to pretend it's not our Sun killing everything in the show, but a star that happens to be nearly in-line with our star. Either way, it shows the disastrous consequences of such an event, although it doesn't deal with GRBs destroying our Ozone layer and changing the chemistry in our atmosphere (maybe that will be in Season 2?)
It's unlikely that a GRBs event would happen in our life time, but we need to know about the true likelihood of these events.
5. Meteors.
A big one killed the dinosaurs. Smaller ones likely have caused many a megatsunami (although these seem to be more often caused by volcanic activity and land-slides) . A big meteor will strike earth at some point if we don't do anything to stop it.
There are loads of reasons to invest in Space. Humans are bad at preparing for unlikely but catastrophic events.
Not addressing any specific posts in this thread but painting this as some sort of triumph of the private sector over the public sectors on both sides of the Atlantic (+ Nazis to be fair) that did a lot of the groundwork and research to make space travel a reality... Is incredibly short sighted and ignorant.
I don't know why I'm not excited about either of these launches. Wish these happened years ago when I was more starry eyed.
I don't know why I'm not excited about either of these launches. Wish these happened years ago when I was more starry eyed.
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I don't think anybody would argue that the public sector is why we are where we are today and started space exploration when it wasn't remotely conceivable. It is also pretty clear that the public sector hasn't moved anywhere in over 40 years from a purely rocket perspective because they haven't needed to with no pressure to remove cost or improve technologically.
SpaceX came from nowhere about 10 years ago and now completely own ELO to an extent that there is an argument that if it carries on like it is we should be looking into their position from a competition point of view. The US and EU space agencies don't have an answer to the reusable rockets or the prices of their launches and the Russian industry is openly criticising SpaceX for taking away their cashflow. The EU also admit that they are a long way from reusable rockets and competing with SpaceX as they have a headstart on something they weren't previously researching.
The Branson and Bezos launches don't have any significance on that as they are sub orbital and have no abilities outside of space tourism, although Blue Origin are going to have an orbital rocket (New Glenn) which will compete in a few years.
As I said, I don't think anyone would put down the likes of NASA and they are still world leaders in moving science forward in space. In terms of sending their own rockets to space they are a long, long way behind at the moment (and actually are incapable as they have been since the shuttle was depreciated until SLS finally launches).
Is this not just step one of their plan for a full Elysium-style space station for the 1% whilst we all burn on Earth?
Yes and it's crap, just like the film.
I'm more interested in Wally Funk. She has the coolest name ever and she's an 82 year old badass. She finally gets a chance to be an astronaut after being denied in the 60's. She was part of The Mercury Project but didn't get her chance due to NASA requirements. All astronauts needed to be graduates of military test pilot programs and women were not allowed in Air Force programs at that time.
Funk
Funk
Can't deal with space problems without going to space.
Actually even I don't quite believe what I wrote, in that there are far more earth problems that go unaddressed.
And I'm not talking about social issues or health care or feeding the hungry. I'm talking tsunamis and mega volcanos and humanity ending diseases.
Humans are bad at thinking unlikely events won't happen
It's all a plane to be able to offer next day delivery to Mars
A 15 min flight is not a space race or a space exploration, is nothing, the nullity
Not sure that terraforming or colonies are the only things that these technologies enable. Bezos himself has said we should aim to move heavy industry off earth and that's a good goal if long-term.A few years back I would have absolutely agreed with you and I tended to hate people that said stuff like 'well, we're just gonna ruin another planet like we ruined this one' and 'humanity is a virus' etc. but it's hard to express how apathetic I am to this when i probably would have loved it 5 years ago. You can marvel at the sheer ingenuity of humans to do something like this but it just feels so shallow and ridiculous with what's happening in the world right now. A group of billionaires blast off into space while seemingly unconcerned that they're playing a massive part in obscene wealth inequality, devastating climate change, and the emergence of an increasingly irrational, angry and conspiracy theory loving population. It's the equivalent of the myth of Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burns.
Terraforming a planet and establishing colonies elsewhere (which is the ultimate goal beyond the commercial reasons for space travel) are such a long way off and the way things are going it's simply not going to last long enough to achieve that. Sorry to be a grump but that's the way I think it's heading
He is but that said, if space develops in the way it could over the next 50 years, there will be plenty of work to go around. All sorts of engineering that looked impossible with Apollo rockets and space shuttles looks feasible when you can put 100 tons into orbit for $2million a go, instead of $2billion. That's what's really exciting about all this, to my mind.
It's not a one vs another thing at all, but the public sector agencies were never going to solve the single biggest strategic barrier to opening up LEO, which was cost. Major credit is due to SpaceX for finally getting to grips with it. I think it is great and healthy that nation states no longer have the monopoly on access to space.
Jeff Bezos Accidentally Admits He Exploited Amazon Workers To Visit Space
He's a piece of shite. And would not shed a tear if something had happened to him.
He's a piece of shite. And would not shed a tear if something had happened to him.
I'd be abit wary of SpaceX's promises personally. Aside from Musk's history of overpromising, they have been putting their prices up now they have a foothold in the market. Their last government launch contract was for $300 million, double what ULA charge.
There is absolutely no way they're flying a super heavy lift rocket for $2 million a pop.
Well I agree with you tbh, can't see it either, at least not right away. The idea is they fly the rocket 100 times so the physical cost gets amortized. But if the rockets need more prep than land -and-refuel, or they get far fewer flights per rocket, it'll be much more...but it'll still be a fraction of $2bn. BTW that last contract included a whole bunch of new launch infrastructure, it wasn't just the launch itself, according to this.
Disney for adults.
I hate billionaires
Hope the definition of astronauts is changed. Someone needs to be in the space for a prolonged period of time to be called an astronaut. People like Bezos should not be a part of elite group who risks their life for science.
I wouldn't support a war criminal swimming the channel or cheer a paedo climbing Everest, so this lot can burn up in their space suits, the evil bastards.
Earth is obviously tiny in general
but to us little beings living on it, it’s quite vast
imagine being Jeff peering down on planet Earth and it’s vastness thinking…..I’m wealthier than every living person down there, of the 7.6 Billion people down there, I’m to dog
what an ego stroke
Advise? Do not go in there with a UV light
but to us little beings living on it, it’s quite vast
imagine being Jeff peering down on planet Earth and it’s vastness thinking…..I’m wealthier than every living person down there, of the 7.6 Billion people down there, I’m to dog
what an ego stroke
Advise? Do not go in there with a UV light
(Who knew this sketch would be endlessly applicable.)
We should definitely be looking out for people who successfully rescue children from caves trying to get into these space craft things.
Did Bezos thank Amazon employees ?
Yep, and Amazon customers. The man is completely shamelessDid Bezos thank Amazon employees ?
Pretty obvious given that it’s how he made his money that allowed him to do this.Did Bezos thank Amazon employees ?
Odd comparisons but Okay.
Space is expensive so I'm not sure who else has the money to be fund this stuff if governments won't.
As someone said, it's not as if he's shot a rocket made of gold into space. This stuff is generating research, paying for infrastructure, providing well paid engineering jobs... All money that gets spent on earth.
Maybe if all billionaires like Bezos paid a fair amount in taxes like the rest of us mortals, governments would have more money for space exploration.