What's happening in space (that's interesting)

Alistair · 2021-02-05T14:25:02.750Z

Agile, man.

ReptileHouse · 2021-02-05T18:10:18.556Z

I’m starting to think that Elon is Mr. Torgue in disguise.

Strollen · 2021-02-06T08:59:34.679Z

Damn I forget to check this thread and 2 weeks of good posts.

This was depressing bit of trivia to learn today. Although, I do remember a time when Lou Dobbs wasn’t a complete dofuss.

twitter.com

Christian Davenport (wapodavenport)

Maybe he’ll start a cable TV space network? He was one of the founders of space.com after all: Fox News has dropped ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight,’ promoter of Trump’s false election fraud claims washingtonpost.com/media/2021/02/…

12:56 AM - 6 Feb 2021 19

fire · 2021-02-09T14:59:09.071Z

UAE Mars orbiter, “Hope,” is completing Mars Orbit Insertion in just over half an hour. Live broadcast here: https://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae/live

Pyperkub · 2021-02-09T18:53:26.168Z

Yeah, Saturn’s B-ring has 2-mile high ice peaks!

mobile.twitter.com

Jason Major (JPMajor)

Spikes of icy ring material, created by gravitational oscillations, rise up to a mile high along the outer edge of #Saturn's B ring and cast shadows in the perpendicular light of spring equinox. Image captured by NASA's #Cassini spacecraft on July 26, 2009. https://t.co/SUIGJGAG52

9:35 PM - 8 Feb 2021 880 190

Ginger_Yellow · 2021-02-09T19:51:20.064Z

Pyperkub:

Yeah, Saturn’s B-ring has 2-mile high ice peaks!

The funny thing is 2 miles is absolutely tiny in the context of Saturn. It’s kind of astonishing how thin the rings are, yet they’re visible with not much assistance from Earth.

Also, Cassini was f’ing amazing.

fire · 2021-02-10T16:22:34.697Z

The UAE orbiter “Hope” was successful in reaching Mars orbit!

And so was China’s mission, Tianwen-1, which joined Mars this morning.

SpaceNews – 10 Feb 21

China's Tianwen-1 enters orbit around Mars - SpaceNews

China’s first interplanetary mission, Tianwen-1, successfully entered Mars orbit Feb. 10 following a 202-day journey through deep space.

Est. reading time: 3 minutes

Next up… NASA/JPL’s mission, next week.

fire · 2021-02-10T17:06:00.406Z

Want to join your QT3 friends in watching the entry, descent, and landing for the NASA/JPL Perseverance rover on Mars? Check out this thread: https://forum.quartertothree.com/t/nasa-jpl-qt3-perseverance-landing-watch-party-zoom/

ineffablebob · 2021-02-10T20:55:43.244Z

NPR.org

Chinese Probe Enters Mars Orbit With Plan For May Landing

China's space agency, fresh off a successful sample-return mission to the moon, says the ambitious Tianwen-1 rover mission it launched in July had reached the Red Planet.

More company coming on Mars.

jpinard · 2021-02-11T18:48:03.151Z

Is there a party I don’t know about on Mars?

RichVR · 2021-02-11T20:40:52.933Z

You didn’t get your invit… oops. Nevermind.

YakAttack · 2021-02-11T21:27:29.230Z

Not until Feb 18. Can you get to Olympus Mons in time? Do you need a ride?

fire · 2021-02-11T22:15:25.173Z

jpinard:

Is there a party I don’t know about on Mars?

Because of how Mars and Earth align, the best Earth-to-Mars launch window comes around once in two years per the Hohmann Transfer orbit. That’s why everyone launched around the same time and now everyone’s arriving around the same time.

YakAttack · 2021-02-11T22:17:15.997Z

What if two satellites bump into each other en route?

schurem · 2021-02-11T22:19:37.150Z

Strollen · 2021-02-11T22:31:14.207Z

fire:

Because of how Mars and Earth align, the best Earth-to-Mars launch window comes around once in two years per the Hohmann Transfer orbit. That’s why everyone launched around the same time and now everyone’s arriving around the same time.

I’m sure I read about Hofman Transfer orbits scores of times, in the many books I’ve read about space travel over the decades. But I never, actually understood how it worked until I played Kerbal Space Program.

I’m curious how many people play KSP where you work @fire?

fire · 2021-02-11T22:32:37.332Z

Strollen:

I’m curious how many people play KSP where you work @fire?

Probably lots… but I don’t know how many of those are any good!

xkcd.com

Orbital Mechanics

To be fair, my job at NASA was working on robots and didn't actually involve any orbital mechanics. The small positive slope over that period is because it turns out that if you hang around at NASA, you get in a lot of conversations about space.

fire · 2021-02-11T22:33:38.001Z

YakAttack:

What if two satellites bump into each other en route?

Luckily there’s a lot of space in space.

Strollen · 2021-02-11T22:50:32.316Z

I always wondered if the terrific xkcd cartoon, was true. Glad to hear it is. KSP 2.0 can’t come soon enough.

Matt_W · 2021-02-12T04:00:43.172Z

fire:

Because of how Mars and Earth align, the best Earth-to-Mars launch window comes around once in two years

That’s what happens when you try to go to the closest planets. There are more launch opportunities for just about anything else.