Latest posts · Page 2082

@PPathole @Erdayastronaut @rweb11742 Yeah, looks like marginal cost of launch will be less than $1M for more than 100 tons to orbit, so it’s mostly about fixed costs divided by launches per year

@speculawyer @Erdayastronaut @rweb11742 Exactly

@Erdayastronaut @rweb11742 Merlin is a strong local maximum design, but kerosene is suboptimal fuel, no matter what you do. What matters is cost per ton to Mars. CH4 is the only choice imo. Important: O2/CH4 allows OF ratio of ~3.5 vs ~2.5 for kerosene, so ~78% of propellant is oxygen.

@parstalberg @josh_bickett @ICannot_Enough @Erdayastronaut @rweb11742 Yes, but from a visiting American. Ah, the irony is just too much!!

@josh_bickett @ICannot_Enough @Erdayastronaut @rweb11742 Yeah, PCR Ct was unequivocal at <20. Doesn’t matter what method you use at that low a cycle threshold.

@flcnhvy @LUGG4S1 @pcgamer Maybe making some notable changes. Will wait until figurative & literal dust settles.

@ICannot_Enough @Erdayastronaut @rweb11742 Pretty close. Definitely feel 💯 if I take DayQuil. Frankly, this was one of the mildest cold/flu experiences I’ve ever had.

@LUGG4S1 @pcgamer Avionics cables moving to steel pipe shields & adding water-cooled steel pipes to test pad

@LUGG4S1 @pcgamer About 2 secs after starting engines, martyte covering concrete below shattered, sending blades of hardened rock into engine bay. One rock blade severed avionics cable, causing bad shutdown of Raptor.

@Erdayastronaut @rweb11742 The most amazing thing about rocket engines is that they *sometimes* don’t blow up! The amount of power going through them boggles the mind.

@pcgamer We should just count the atoms at this point

@DJSnM @Erdayastronaut @CharlesNOtrumps @rweb11742 Absolutely. Production/testing of rocket engines is over 90% of the problem. This is true in general. For cars, production is over 99% of the problem. That 1% inspiration is very important, but it’s less than 1% of the pain.

@Erdayastronaut @CharlesNOtrumps @rweb11742 Our first Merlin engine design was really bad tbh. Nothing worked well & some parts didn’t work at all. 18 years later & thousands of upgrades make it a great GG cycle engine.

@billhuang688 @JohnnaCrider1 @timmerenginerd @jack Maybe *I* just love irony haha

@GreenIsClutch @JohnnaCrider1 @timmerenginerd @jack They’re on their way! Hopefully, more Teslaquila next month.

@ChrisG_NSF Special permission received from Stonecutters Guild! https://t.co/SW5RBm1sRB

@JohnnaCrider1 @timmerenginerd @jack Fate 🖤 Irony

@jack Well said.

@trylolli @Maisie_Williams 👻 💵 https://t.co/UWerAhxUev

@Erdayastronaut @rweb11742 Damn, that’s not easy! I spent quite a bit of time looking at Russian/Ukrainian engines. They’re good.