China successfully landed a probe on the moon today. This was the first successful lunar probe mission in over 40 years.

Regardless of your opinion on China, take a moment to appreciate how fucking cool that is.

:xi-clap: :hex-moon:

  • Mardoniush [she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Starship is genuinely an amazing accomplishment by the workers of Space X (Musk can fuck off out the nearest airlock) but I admit feeling a certain pleasure watching that aluminium tower sit idle on the pad because they cut corners on the pad concrete and shards fucked their engines up.

        • Melon [she/her,they/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          The current heat shielding strategy for SpaceX is to move away from the conventional use of ceramic plates and instead have "pores" throughout the rocket that bleed rocket fuel in order to keep the unit cool enough for reentry. https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-bleeding-transpirational-atmospheric-reentry-system-challenges-2019-2

          The issues are numerous since it's untested grounds and a not-so-hypothetical scenario where the pores are warped or clogged would lead to disaster. The stainless steel being used for the body (melting point being around 1300 degrees Celsius) wouldn't do so well in atmospheric reentry (where temperatures reach up to around 1500 degrees Celsius at the cone). It's not impossible, but it may soon prove to be unreasonable to attempt.