Pending our shiny new space and science forum...

glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
There's this astounding space news......

"SLS to cost %30 more"

arstechnica.com

NASA just announced in a blog post that SLS will cost 30% more

Space agency also “confident” in November 2021 launch date—sort of.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com

"NASA also aligned the development costs for the SLS and Exploration Ground Systems programs through Artemis I and established new cost commitments." The new development cost for SLS rocket is $9.1 billion, she said, and its budget for the initial ground systems to support the mission is now $2.4 billion.
Left unsaid: This represents a 33-percent increase for the rocket since 2017, when a "re-plan" of program estimated development costs for the rocket, including a single test flight, would be $7.17 billion. (This was detailed in a US General Accounting Office report published nearly a year ago.) This figure represents only direct development costs. NASA has received more than $20 billion from Congress since 2011 for SLS development and related activities.
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Since its arstechnica, the comments are usually on point. Like this one

"Pork for the Pork God!"

And referencing Shiny, there's another hop test for the next SpaceX competitor Starship test article maybe tomorrow or Sunday. At this point, Starship looks to beat SLS to orbit for I think under 2 billion. Oh, and unlike SLS, which tosses away the entire launch vehicle and second stage, its all resuable.
 
Grumpy

Grumpy

Well-Known Member

APOD: 2021 April 3 - Ingenuity on Sol 39

A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.
apod.nasa.gov

Explanation: The Mars Ingenuity Helicopter, all four landing legs down, was captured here on sol 39 (March 30) slung beneath the belly of the Perseverance rover. The near ground level view is a mosaic of images from the WATSON camera on the rover's SHERLOC robotic arm. Near the center of the frame the experimental helicopter is suspended just a few centimeters above the martian surface. Tracks from Perseverance extend beyond the rover's wheels with the rim of Jezero crater visible about 2 kilometers in the distance. Ingenuity has a weight of 1.8 kilograms or 4 pounds on Earth. That corresponds to a weight of 0.68 kilograms or 1.5 pounds on Mars. With rotor blades spanning 1.2 meters it will attempt to make the first powered flight of an aircraft on another planet in the thin martian atmosphere, 1 percent as dense as Earth's, no earlier than April 11.

156208
 
Hijinx

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
They probably could have bought a hundred dollar drone from Walmart that would fly better and do the same job.
 
Hijinx

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
Sneakers said:
:lol:

Except because of the thin atmosphere, it would never get enough lift for it's weight.
Click to expand...

What makes you think this new one they made won't have the same problem.
This flight iis a bit like the Wright brothers flight, no one knew it would fly until it did.
 
black dog

black dog

Free America
Sneakers said:
A prop rotation of 10x normal.
Click to expand...

Like I posted, A motor rewinding, gearbox change and different prop pitch.

Industrial motors can spin at a head-spinning 250,000 revolutions per minute. But a new matchbook-sized motor runs circles around the competition. Researchers from ETH Zurich's Department of Power Electronics created a drive system in cooperation with its industrial partners that exceeded 1,000,000 rpm in tests.Nov 14, 2008
 
SamSpade

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Was there any scientific reason for it - other than being able to do it? Like for low altitude reconnaissance? Anything?
 
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