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:
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:
There's a pretty good chance Starship won't work. There's some pretty big issues in the design.
Oh? Interesting, like what?
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.
Huh.
Love to cool my nearly-molten steel by pouring rocket fuel all over it.
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