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Private company landing on the moon today

intuitivemachines.com

161–170 of 286 posts

Re: Private company landing on the moon today

#161
post #90

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuitive_Machines_Nova-C#Eagl... : “EagleCam to record lunar landing Just before landing, at approximately 30 m (98 ft) above the lunar surface, the Odysseus lander will eject the EagleCam camera-equipped CubeSat, which will drop onto the lunar surface near the lander, with an impact velocity of about 10 m/s (22 mph). From the surface the EagleCam will attempt to capture the first third…

I was a part of this project over a decade ago when I attended ERAU! At the time the goal was just to take pictures of earth. It is so cool to see how the scope has expanded over the years.

Our student group drove down to Cape Canaveral to pick up and haul a clean room back to the university that NASA donated for use to build the satellite. I will never forget those experiences.

Re: Private company landing on the moon today

#162
This is great, it really proves that the free market can be just as innovative and efficient as the public sector. They managed to get there less than 50 years after the taxpayer funded space guys did. No small feat! Imagine all the things they must've learned along the way!

Re: Private company landing on the moon today

#163
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The walkie-talkie toys I had as a kid in the 90s had at least 10x the range of modern home wifi routers. Not to mention how far radio stations broadcast. I'm guessing that's the context they're working from.

That's because of different frequencies and power caps that are enforced by the FCC. If your WiFi broadcast with the same power, the frequency space would be unusable by your neighbors for their WiFi. The range of WiFi is very purposefully sabotaged to make it useful for more than just you.

Assuming you are talking about FCC Part 15 regulations for 2.4 GHz, you couldn't be more wrong. There is no 'sabotage'

The EIRP is 4 watts in 2.4 GHz band. More than enough to wipe out your neighbors. Also more than enough to get absolutely tremendous range in line of sight conditions.

I can purchase and install an unlimited number of 2.4 GHz Part 15 devices, rendering the band useless to anyone so long as I am attempting to use those devices in a manner consistent with their application. As another Part 15 user, you have no recourse. If a licensed user complains to the FCC, they may decide I have to stop using them and notify me as such. Note: one of my neighbors does this, by having an AP on every 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channel.

Newest Wifi 6 stuff in the US has a power limit on some spectrum and some usages, but nowhere near as low as what I was hoping for.

Re: Private company landing on the moon today

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but even that isn’t simple, I think. They’d not want to land on top of it, so they’d have to push it out from the lander or have it propel itself away from the lander. If they push it out and it doesn’t have a way to stabilize itself, keeping the lens pointing upwards then will require tight control over that push. So, I guessed (see below) you’d need power to make the sat orient itself. However, I googled a bit…

Have two. One on each side. Doesn't matter if one ends up in the regolith.

It’d surely land sidewise. :D

Re: Private company landing on the moon today

#166
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Go away, libertarian. I am not one of you. A little bit less anger is called for here. I'm not an American voter but this sort of thing is just a turn-off and pushes people away into the extremes. Wanting lower taxes and more individual freedom != Randian libertarianism, in much the same way as wanting a better safety net != Marxism. You complain about both abortion rights and paying 40% tax. Well, the state is spe…

> A little bit less anger is called for here. I'm not an American voter but this sort of thing is just a turn-off and pushes people away into the extremes.

Fair enough, my apologies. However the "Ironically the government could dramatically improve matters by interfering in your private life less" is a direct libertarian dog whistle.

And my complaint about 40% tax isn't complaining about the tax per se, but that I want a proper social net for everyone. Instead, we're getting a social net for almost nobody.

The republican party is also joined at the hip with evangelical christians who would love to create a Margaret Atwood-ean Handmaid's Tale country... In fact, they're a good step there at the federal court level and most republican led states. This is definitely separated from taxes, since this is turning everyone into stasi-like informants. Reducing taxes is not going to reduce higher profile women being found guilty of "murder" over abortion.

Again, the better solutions here are to flea to a democratic state, or leave the country to a less shitty one. (Again, I reject the idea that all countries are roughly the same.)

Re: Private company landing on the moon today

#167
post #153

I believe they are part of the recently setup homesteading program similar to what Alaska setup in the 80s. If they can put a stake in the ground they get 20 acres around the stake.

Reassuringly anachronistic to use acres as a unit of measure on the moon.

For historical reasons, a moon acre is approximately 16.7% smaller than an earth acre.

Re: Private company landing on the moon today

#168
post #90

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuitive_Machines_Nova-C#Eagl... : “EagleCam to record lunar landing Just before landing, at approximately 30 m (98 ft) above the lunar surface, the Odysseus lander will eject the EagleCam camera-equipped CubeSat, which will drop onto the lunar surface near the lander, with an impact velocity of about 10 m/s (22 mph). From the surface the EagleCam will attempt to capture the first third…

I was a part of this project over a decade ago when I attended ERAU! At the time the goal was just to take pictures of earth. It is so cool to see how the scope has expanded over the years. Our student group drove down to Cape Canaveral to pick up and haul a clean room back to the university that NASA donated for use to build the satellite. I will never forget those experiences.

[dead]

Re: Private company landing on the moon today

#169

This is great, it really proves that the free market can be just as innovative and efficient as the public sector. They managed to get there less than 50 years after the taxpayer funded space guys did. No small feat! Imagine all the things they must've learned along the way!

You do realize this mission is taxpayer funded. Intuitive Machines is getting paid as part of a contract to NASA under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLIPS) program.

https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-lunar-payload-services/

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/clps/intuitive-machine...

Re: Private company landing on the moon today

#170
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given Alaska is a 3x outlier compared to the national average, and almost 2x the next highest state, it seems unreasonable to draw conclusions from it alone.

The US: 40 per 100k NL: 7.1 per 100k I think I'll continue to draw "unreasonable" conclusions.

If you'd wanted to make the stronger case, you could have used those numbers the first time. ;)
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