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Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

theguardian.com

271–280 of 360 posts

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worse, it’s richest country on earth complaining about being too poor and having to enact austerity measures — implemented by the richest person on the planet who’s personal pay is much, much higher than any of the savings he’s found so far. I’ve seen many occasions in my career when some manager had flown across the country with a business class ticket, stayed in a fancy hotel, rented a luxury car, and turned up to…

This doesn't seem a fair analogy. Elon Musk is not being paid by the government, as I understand. The reason the manager flying around spending money to attend a downsizing meeting is gross is that the manager is spending company money (that could go to prevent downsizing). To complete the analogy, you would need to be implying that Elon's personal money should be paid to fund federal services.

> you would need to be implying that Elon's personal money should be paid to fund federal services.

I am. These payments are called taxes.

Taxes he's successfully evaded paying using the the same tricks as every other billionaire, such as taking out loans against his shares that will be repaid after his death by his estate, which has negligible tax rates compared to the kind of income taxes paid by mere mortals.

All joking aside, if Elon -- just him, no other billionaire -- had simply paid the same marginal tax rates as any random upper-middle-class citizen, it would be 10x the amount DOGE had cut so far from the federal budget.

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well when I was a child I tried to land on the moon but missed by about 384,000 km. That was only about 30 years ago, so their doing a heck of a lot better then that which is something!

Before that I tried to get to the moon. I climbed the nearest tree. Good progress at first ...

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Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#273
post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Thats an odd response to me, I had look up the definition of the word ideologue to see if it was unintentionally a pejorative, and it isn’t. You had an uncompromising viewpoint despite being based on the same information that I have. Shrug. So what is your thought on the rest of the comment

Well, I have literally never seen someone use ideologue in a non-pejorative way, but here it is. Anyways, I would delete my previous comment, knowing you meant no offense, even if I don't think I am an ideologue, or that you could have possibly pinned me for one from my original comment (which IMO was pretty tame, I just really like what NASA does).

In any case, I don't know if IM needs to lose a contract or not, I should have been more specific and probably done more research, but I was more interested in NASA retaining funding for their missions, and if they think IM is a good company then by golly I'm not one to second guess rocket scientists.

Overall, I don't agree with the fact that any of the other stuff was cut the way it was. R's hold both legislative bodies, the executive branch, and the judicial branch (kinda). If they wanted to cut funding the proper way, with a budget and all that jazz about how a bill becomes a law, that's fine. However simply cutting the funding at the exec level with no regard for anything is fucking stupid and illegal.

As far as betting markets being accurate goes, I have no opinion or experience for that as I don't play those types of betting games. It could be very useful, but I don't really care if I am right or wrong overall, I will and do change my views if I am wrong (sidebar: would an ideologue do that I wonder?). I used to be a much different person, politically, and as I learn new things I change my view of the world over time. My bet with my worldviews is that I go out and do things that align with those views, the prize is that the things I do make a positive difference.

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#274
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having been raised in the states, I was a little shocked when I purchased a small book on English grammar. It explained a lot of tenses and proper arraignments of sentences I never knew. [which is clear from the things I just wrote. :)]

I found them learning another language (Spanish) gave me tools and categorizations for English that I didn't have and never applied before--at least not on a conscious level.

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Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

goddamn. it was 250 METERS - not miles.

Can we just remind ourselves that launching a probe from the Earth and landing it within 250m of a target on THE MOON is incredible engineering? I know it's taken for granted, but it really shouldn't be.

You can drive over 500 miles and accurately park your car in your relative's driveway within less than a foot.

In both cases there are references along the way and at the destination. With no atmosphere landing on the moon seems rather trivia for today's technology?

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#276

The company Intuitive Machines first and second moon-landers both tipped over, hopefully the third does not tip over

Hopefully someone at Intuitive Machines pores over the data and and design plans and makes significant changes that minimize the opportunity for this to happen the third time around, assuming NASA gives them that opportunity. If their lander is indeed top-heavy then they have some design issues to overcome. Perhaps adding a set of outriggers that deploy just before touchdown and detach or fold up on command once the…

Hopefully they go out of business for having ignored the advice of the entire scientific community simply because they wanted to pull some SpaceX-type-shit on the Moon and ended up costing everyone over a hundred million dollars and probably a setback of years, all because of their CEO's ego.

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully someone at Intuitive Machines pores over the data and and design plans and makes significant changes that minimize the opportunity for this to happen the third time around, assuming NASA gives them that opportunity. If their lander is indeed top-heavy then they have some design issues to overcome. Perhaps adding a set of outriggers that deploy just before touchdown and detach or fold up on command once the…

The first one tipped over because a sensor failed. I suppose we don't know why this one did yet but why do these sorts of failures bring out the caveman in everybody suggesting completely giving up on the whole concept and doing something "dumb" that doesn't require control systems? Just because control systems feel scary and you might not personally know how to design them yourself doesn't mean they aren't great whe…

> I suppose we don't know why this one did yet but why do these sorts of failures bring out the caveman in everybody suggesting completely giving up on the whole concept and doing something "dumb" that doesn't require control systems? Just because control systems feel scary and you might not personally know how to design them yourself doesn't mean they aren't great when they work.

Because $150M was/is at stake and "bouncy ball that rolls to a stop and then unfurls" has been proven repeatedly to work?

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry, there will be people inside! Oh, wait, hrm...

Well that’s a big improvement because the humans can climb out and push the rocket upright again!

Hey, no mocking Jeb and Bill. They brought many a scientific advancement to humanity.

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#280
These 2 failures could have been easily avoidable both times.

I really wish there was a push in the US government to create and stockpile plutonium-238 and ensure it's readily available, subsidized, and offered for all US probes/rovers/other scientific instruments in space (whether it be for NASA's use who currently has to ration because of how little they have left, or for private use after approval).

Like, why aren't all of space scientific instruments RTG powered like voyager 1 which is still providing useful scientific data 47+ years later. Think about all of the lost scientific insights over the past few decades because either NASA (because of a low stockpile) or private companies like intuitive (from their 2 failures) end up choosing solar panels for their source of power with no other alternative.

Besides the fact that solar panels can fail if they aren't pointed a certain way, they usually offer far less power, and are subject to radiation, micro meteor, or dust damage. All of these are the main reason why these instruments tend to have a far shorter lifespan than voyager 1.

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