[stub for offtopicness]
Minus 173° C. The US does use Fahrenheit, but not for science.
Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
101–110 of 277 posts
Re: Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
> that is still peanuts comparted to the moon's surface Sure. I'm not trivialising the problem in an absolute sense. Just going from floating barge or chopsticks to Moon is a simpler set of problems than reïnventing the sort of translational velocity and attitude control needed to get to first base.
For selecting and touching down on an unprepared surface, rockets are not the stepping stone. Start with helicopters. It is the same problem: can I land there and what will happen when I put weight on the surface. Try programing a large helicopter to identify and land on a random chunk of rocky terrain. It is not easy. And the bigger/taller the craft, the more difficult it becomes. Then add a 10-second time limit.
Are the sky cranes of Mars viable without an atmosphere?
Re: Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Has SpaceX ever landed their rocket on a surface that isn't purposefully engineered to be flat?
Multiple sea landings, but I guess you'd argue those don't count since the vehicles tip over in water and explode. Moving barges in the sea should qualify though.
A moving barge with a known flat surface of a known hardness and stability is a whole different category of difficult than doing the same thing on naturally occurring terrain with unknown voids, hardness, roughness and consistency.
Re: Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why do people keep thinking this thing is top heavy just because its taller than wide? Because it keeps falling over?
The landing leg broke. How does that show you its top heavy?
I didn't say it was top-heavy. I answered the question, "Why does everyone think it is top heavy?"
Re: Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
#105At what point do you just fire your entire "Land on Moon" software team, and hire a couple young Neil Armstrong wanna-be's, who can hand-land your spacecraft remotely? (In spite of the moon-earth-moon signal lag.)
You’d probably wanna make sure that’s the problem area first.
Considering the altimeter failed, that seems unlikely to be the case.
Re: Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
#106Re: Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
I refuse to believe anyone knows how cold -280F is. When you have such extreme temperatures you think in Kelvin or at least Celsius.
It's not like using Kelvin or Celsius helps you grasp these temperatures. -173C is very, very cold, but how cold? What can you compare it to? Not many humans have any experience with something of this scale
Fair, but in Celsius or Kelvin I know how close it is to absolute zero. In Fahrenheit I have no idea!
Re: Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know I'm a snob... but I can't read science news using the imperial system.
Everyone knows feet and British stones is the way to measure things in space. Just ask any scientician: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nRnt3TE-V-Y
Speaking of "feet" as a measurement - Randall Carlson has an AMAZING video[0] on the source of the 12 inch foot.
And how its all related to the measurement of the precession of the earth. And yes - its specifically how to measure things in space. And its all from Sacred Geometry.
Re: Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know I'm a snob... but I can't read science news using the imperial system.
You would think either they could parameterise all units or a plausible browser extension could convert elephants to swimmingpools and King's thumbs to badly measured fractions of a diameter.
I made this, but have not tested it yet with this website:
Re: Athena landed in a dark crater where the temperature was -280° F / -173° C
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not like using Kelvin or Celsius helps you grasp these temperatures. -173C is very, very cold, but how cold? What can you compare it to? Not many humans have any experience with something of this scale
Fair, but in Celsius or Kelvin I know how close it is to absolute zero. In Fahrenheit I have no idea!
Got it, I should use Rankine.