NSS Houston Chapter Events

tahanson43206 · 2023-03-27 15:12:52

The NSS Houston meeting for April will be a week earlier than usual due to Easter observances.

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Next Meeting: April 1, 2023

.The library will be closed on the second weekend of April because of Easter. We will be having our meeting the first Saturday of April instead.

I know April 1st is also April’s Fool’s day. But this is real! :-)

Hope to see you on April 1st.

I’ll send out more information over the next few days. Keep an eye on our website https://www.northhoustonspace.org/ for more details.
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All NewMars members are welcome to attend via Zoom. No video or audio is required.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-03-31 08:22:44

The NSS North Houston chapter meeting will be held April 1 due to the Holidays
Tomorrow's session will include a 3D printed telescope frame, and an update on NERVA.

Meetings are open to NewMars members at no charge, using Zoom. It is not necessary to send your video or to speak to anyone, if that is your preference.
The Zoom feed will provide audio and video from the meeting, along with the usual Chat sidebar if you would like to ask a question or make a comment.

The event is scheduled for 2 PM Houston, 3 PM Eastern and (I think) 7 PM UTC.

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Meeting Tomorrow - April 1, 2023 at 2PM at Barbara Bush Library
Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Connect with others who are excited about exploring the cosmos, learning how to use the resources of space to improve human life, and who want to go and spread humanity to the rest of the universe.
This will be a hybrid meeting. Come in person at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379) or join us online Via ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85216600533
The meeting will be on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 2PM (US Central Time).
2:00 PM – Opening Remarks – Nathan Price
2:05 PM – Recent Space News – Greg Stanley
2:35 PM – “Red Scope, Blue Scope: application of 3D-printing to visual astronomy” – Jonathan Kissner
2:55 PM – Nerva Nuclear Rocket – Doug Hall
3:40 PM – Socializing
4:00 PM – End of Meeting
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Copyright (C) 2023 NSS North Houston Space Society. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.
Our mailing address is:
NSS North Houston Space Society
9327 Swansea Bay Dr
Spring, TX 77379-3638
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(th)

RGClark · 2023-04-01 01:51:48

tahanson43206 wrote:

The NSS North Houston chapter meeting will be held April 1 due to the Holidays
Tomorrow's session will include a 3D printed telescope frame, and an update on NERVA.
Meetings are open to NewMars members at no charge, using Zoom. It is not necessary to send your video or to speak to anyone, if that is your preference.
The Zoom feed will provide audio and video from the meeting, along with the usual Chat sidebar if you would like to ask a question or make a comment.
The event is scheduled for 2 PM Houston, 3 PM Eastern and (I think) 7 PM UTC.
View this email in your browser
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Meeting Tomorrow - April 1, 2023 at 2PM at Barbara Bush Library
Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Connect with others who are excited about exploring the cosmos, learning how to use the resources of space to improve human life, and who want to go and spread humanity to the rest of the universe.
This will be a hybrid meeting. Come in person at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379) or join us online Via ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85216600533
The meeting will be on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 2PM (US Central Time).
2:00 PM – Opening Remarks – Nathan Price
2:05 PM – Recent Space News – Greg Stanley
2:35 PM – “Red Scope, Blue Scope: application of 3D-printing to visual astronomy” – Jonathan Kissner
2:55 PM – Nerva Nuclear Rocket – Doug Hall
3:40 PM – Socializing
4:00 PM – End of Meeting
Facebook icon Instagram icon Twitter icon
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Copyright (C) 2023 NSS North Houston Space Society. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.
Our mailing address is:
NSS North Houston Space Society
9327 Swansea Bay Dr
Spring, TX 77379-3638
Add us to your address book
(th)

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll try to catch it. Running the numbers, it’s now possible to do manned Mars missions at 30 day flight times using electric, i.e., plasma propulsion such as VASIMR or Hall effect thrusters, powered by the new high power density thin-film solar cells, or by well-established space nuclear power systems such as NERVA. I’d like to see either of these tried at small scale to test the fast transit idea.

Running the numbers I was also interested to see nuclear powered electric propulsion could reach and land on the interstellar interloper Oumuamua with a less than 5 year travel time. Solar electric could reach it for a flyby mission in a less than 2 years flight time, but the solar power available at that distance would not provide enough power to slow down for a landing.

I’ll write about this in an upcoming blog post.

Robert Clark

tahanson43206 · 2023-04-01 06:14:57

For RGClark re NSS event today ...

Thanks for noting the event, and thanks for pointing out the (to me ** very ** ) interesting case of Oumuamua as an example of how a robust propulsion system might be used to perform some science we can't do otherwise.

Of the theories I've seen about Oumuamua the ejected comet theory seems most plausible, and the Alien probe theory the least, but either way a probe to find out would be a worthwhile allocation of global resources.

As a reminder to all, you are welcome to connect to the event from the web site, using Zoom, but you don't have to activate your video feed, and your microphone is turned off by default. If you want to ask a question or make a comment, the chat sidebar works reliably, with this caveat ... the person responsible for monitoring the chat on site is often distracted by events in the meeting space, so a delay can be expected. Everyone is a volunteer, and the online audience benefits from their generosity, but we can't expect the same level of service as from a commercial broadcaster, or from CSPAN for that matter.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-04-01 17:24:08

The NSS event today had three excellent presentations ...

Dr. Greg Stanley gave his usual thoroughly prepared talk on space news for the past three weeks, and finished as usual with a summary of the launches in the past three weeks.

The presenter on a 3D Printed telescope mount gave a talk that covered far more than I had imagined, because the presenter has been working in this specialty for a number of years, and has even built a small business around the theme of 3D printed telescope mounts. He then gave a talk about the capability of military grade Analog light amplifiers to improve performance of telescopes and cameras to capture images of celestial objects.

I am hoping the talks given today will be uploaded to YouTube, but that depends upon the person doing that volunteer work having the time that is needed. I will report here if the video becomes available. I was quite surprised at what could be accomplished with a consumer grade 3D printer.

The NERVA talk was most definitely worth the wait from my perspective, and it will be continued next month.

The talk covered the history of US development of fission rockets, and reported on current renewed efforts that may lead to a working engine in orbit by 2027.

Next month's continuation will cover Soviet >> Russian efforts to design and build and test fission rockets.

(th)

RGClark · 2023-04-29 13:41:27

Tahanson, there must be several industry people who attend the Houston meetings. It seems to me SpaceX dismissed rather than accepted the lessons of Apollo:

1.)A flame diverter trench
2.)A stage separation mechanism to physically push stages apart
3.)A separate static test stand for ALL engines, at FULL power and FULL flight duration.

Could you have a discussion at the up coming meeting about how the industry views the SpaceX approach?

Bob Clark

tahanson43206 · 2023-04-29 13:54:04

For RGClark re #81

Thank you for your request. I'll forward your request to a member of the Chapter Board immediately, when I move to a computer that does email.

My guess is that Dr. Stanley would be planning to explore these topics as he prepares his monthly report, so your request will blend into his planning.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-04-29 17:52:41

For RGClark re Elon's decision and launch pad demolition...

Here is a copy of an email from Dr. Stanley. He will be giving his usual Space News update at the upcoming meeting on the Second Saturday in May, at 2 PM Houston and 3 PM Eastern time.

Zoom provides excellent video and audio, and audience do not need to activate video or microphone.

On the other hand, chat works well for questions and comments.

Hi Tom!
We appreciate the publicity!
re: the flame diverter trench. I had looked into that a little bit already. One answer I saw somewhere was that Elon was hoping a flame diverter trench wouldn't be necessary, because to launch to come home after landing on Mars or the Moon (or some military site on Earth being supplied by rocket, for that matter), it might not be very convenient or quick to build a flame diverter trench under a newly-landed Starship. It looks like he has his answer to that wishful thinking! For that matter, he'll also need to put some serious amount of concrete or something under wherever Starship lands, if it's at a previously unvisited site where there's no landing pad. Makes you wonder how the plans will change for the Artemis HLS landing and takeoff from the Moon! I suppose that's less of a concern for the Moon in particular because the amount of thrust needed for 1/6 G won't be so great, but that could be more of a concern for Mars at 1/3 G.
re: stage separation: Don't know. There has been comment in Reddit forums that satellites will be launched with more spreadout by rotating the upper stage. Maybe there's something similar going on with stage separation. The first stage has to flip over to the "belly down" position after separation , and maybe with only the smallest nudge to separate stages, the first stage gets out of the way of the upper stage quickly with the belly flop maneuver anyway? I think it was the Russians that had some craft that just used the upper stage engines to blast away from the first stage, but presumably that would not be a good approach for a reusable first stage? This will take some investigation.
re: Static test with all engines at full power. That is a bit of a mystery. Someone had commented that there was concern that a full power static test would do so much damage to the launch pad & maybe the engines that it would delay a launch and slow down testing progress. Well, it appears that the concern was real, that not only was the launch pad blasted away, but probably chunks of bouncing concrete damaged the engines. I would have thought that it would be worthwhile to do that full power static test first, to learn that lessen without losing a whole Starship. But, apparently they thought the info to be gathered from an actual launch was more important?
Not sure how much time I'll have to investigate this, but these are good questions.
________________
Greg Stanley
On 4/29/2023 3:15 PM, Tom Hanson wrote:
> Hi Dr. Stanley!
>
> I've been promoting NSS meetings on the NewMars forum for a considerable time.
>
> https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9714
>
> Until now I've received no feedback at all.
>
> The gent who posted this request appears to have some background in rocketry, if his posts can be so interpreted.
>
> Since the inquiry is about Elon's now infamous decision to allow the Starship Heavy launch without a flame diverter is well publicized, it is a matter of record that Elon made this choice. I am hoping there may be background available on why he made the choice. Cost may have been a consideration, or there may have been other factors at work.
>
> Request: https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 13#p209213
>
> (th)

(th)

RGClark · 2023-05-01 07:32:42

Thanks for that. I look forward to seeing Dr. Stanley’s presentation.

Robert Clark

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-02 04:46:53

For RGClark re next NSS meeting and (in particular) the review of the decision to test concrete as a material for a launch platform for the largest rocket on Earth...

I've been following the back-and-forth between you and kbd512, and look forward to more discussion in the forum.

One of the points that I ** think ** kbd512 might have made was about Elon's leadership of a team of thousands of extremely talented and remarkably hard working individuals to accomplish something never achieved before, in a time frame that is astonishing compared to most other team efforts led by less gifted persons.

My impression (not directed at you specifically) is that there is a lot of Monday Morning Quarterbacking going on. The Internet feeds (that I have seen) seem to be spending a lot of time with 20-20 hindsight, showing all the incorrect decisions that were made in the lead-up to the first Super Heavy launch.

What I suspect is the case is that absolutely no one (except Elon himself) has ** any ** idea of the thousands of decisions that had to be made with success, to enable that launch to occur at all, let alone with the actual success achieved.

Hopefully Elon has ** someone ** assigned to carefully track the process of creating Starship out of thin air, and launching Super Heavy in just a small amount of time compared to ** all ** the predecessors.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-06 17:20:29

The North Houston chapter of NSS will hold it's May meeting on the regular day, the Second Saturday. Meetings are open to the public, and there will be a Zoom feed for those who live outside Houston. The Space Report by Dr. Greg Stanley is likely to include discussion of the recent SpaceX Starship Heavy launch. Dr. Stanley is aware of the intense interest in this subject that has enlivened recent posts in the NewMars forum.

Saturday, May 13, 2023 – Monthly North Houston Space Society Meeting – Barbara Bush Library
Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Connect with others who are excited about exploring the cosmos, learning how to use the resources of space to improve human life, and who want to go and spread humanity to the rest of the universe.
This will be a hybrid meeting. Come in person at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379) or join us online Via ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85216600533
The meeting will be on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at 2PM (US Central Time).
2:00 PM – Opening Remarks – Nathan Price
2:05 PM – Recent Space News – Greg Stanley
2:45 PM – Guest Speaker
3:40 PM – Socializing
4:00 PM – End of Meeting
About the Meeting
Meetings are open to all age groups and interest levels. Come explore with us the potential that developing and exploring space has to better life here on earth and to open up new frontiers creating new perspectives that can help enrich the human experience.
The Vision of NSS is people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.
The Mission of NSS is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity. Accordingly, we support steps toward this goal, including human spaceflight, commercial space development, space exploration, space applications, space resource utilization, robotic precursors, defense against asteroids, relevant science, and space settlement oriented education.
Website: http://NorthHoustonSpace.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NssNorthHoustonSpaceSociety/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nss-no … e-society/

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-12 07:32:45

Tomorrow's meeting will include the regular presentation by Dr. Greg Stanley about space related activities over the past month. Dr. Stanley is aware of intense interest in the recent first launch of the Starship Heavy.

tahanson43206 wrote:

The North Houston chapter of NSS will hold it's May meeting on the regular day, the Second Saturday. Meetings are open to the public, and there will be a Zoom feed for those who live outside Houston. The Space Report by Dr. Greg Stanley is likely to include discussion of the recent SpaceX Starship Heavy launch. Dr. Stanley is aware of the intense interest in this subject that has enlivened recent posts in the NewMars forum.
Saturday, May 13, 2023 – Monthly North Houston Space Society Meeting – Barbara Bush Library
Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Connect with others who are excited about exploring the cosmos, learning how to use the resources of space to improve human life, and who want to go and spread humanity to the rest of the universe.
This will be a hybrid meeting. Come in person at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379) or join us online Via ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85216600533
The meeting will be on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at 2PM (US Central Time).
2:00 PM – Opening Remarks – Nathan Price
2:05 PM – Recent Space News – Greg Stanley
2:45 PM – Guest Speaker
3:40 PM – Socializing
4:00 PM – End of Meeting
About the Meeting
Meetings are open to all age groups and interest levels. Come explore with us the potential that developing and exploring space has to better life here on earth and to open up new frontiers creating new perspectives that can help enrich the human experience.
The Vision of NSS is people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.
The Mission of NSS is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity. Accordingly, we support steps toward this goal, including human spaceflight, commercial space development, space exploration, space applications, space resource utilization, robotic precursors, defense against asteroids, relevant science, and space settlement oriented education.
Website: http://NorthHoustonSpace.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NssNorthHoustonSpaceSociety/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nss-no … e-society/
(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-12 08:27:43

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Saturday, May 13, 2023 from 2PM to 4PM at Barbara Bush Library

Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. This will be a hybrid meeting. Come in person at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379) or join us online Via ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85216600533

The meeting will be on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at 2PM (US Central Time).
2:00 PM – Opening Remarks – Nathan Price
2:05 PM – Recent Space News – Greg Stanley
2:45 PM – Arjumand Alvi – “Anyone Can Touch the Stars”
3:40 PM – Socializing
4:00 PM – End of Meeting

About Our Featured Speaker: Arjumand Alvi
Arjumand Alvi graduated from Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and double minors in International Political Economy and Humanitarian Engineering. She obtained her Master of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 2020, where her research focused on planetary resource classifications and space sustainability for lunar missions. Arjumand has followed her passion for space exploration to the aerospace industry and is currently an Engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Arjumand leads STEAM education and outreach efforts through her platform Anyone Can Touch the Stars, and she placed as a Top 10 finalist in the 2022 Miss International pageant. She is also the founder of the Space City STEAM Camp, and envisions expanding her STEAM platform globally.

Copyright (C) 2023 NSS North Houston Space Society. All rights reserved.
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(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-13 17:46:34

The presentation on Space News by Dr. Greg Stanley will be available soon. I'll post the link as soon as it becomes available.

In the mean time, here is a link to the April presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKl5TMMyS9E

Today's coverage of the recent Starship Heavy launch was as thorough as can be expected. Dr. Stanley provided a bit of background on how the decision to launch without the water deluge system was made. In addition, and perhaps of most interest to NewMars members, Dr. Stanley showed the unusual stage separation concept that SpaceX is pioneering. He provided a graphic and text to explain the use of angular momentum to separate the stages. The technique would eliminate the need for pyrotechnics or hydraulic pistons or any of the other "traditional" stage separation techniques, ** if ** it works.

(th)

kbd512 · 2023-05-13 18:41:16

I really liked Arjumand's concept of encouraging the dreams of our children before they're squashed by academia and society. I briefly spoke to a few members afterwards, including Dr. Stanley, but Arjumand looked like she was busy talking to other NSS members, and I had to get home to do yard work, so I didn't get a chance to talk to her. In any event, she looks to be well on her way to achieving her dreams of becoming a flight controller for NASA. So, great job on the presentations made by Dr. Stanley and Arjumand.

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-13 19:10:19

For kbd512 re #90

Thanks ** very ** much !!! for reporting on your experience at today's NSS meeting! I was in the online audience, so not only could we not see the slides (due to a technical glitch) but we couldn't hear clearly. The microphone that the presenters wear for the online audience was not in use, so all we got was the microphone pickup in a laptop at the back of the room.

The technical glitch was interesting (to me at least) ... apparently the presentation was stored in an online site called ? canva? .com, and when Nathan attempted to log in he was not granted permission. I can't help noting that Dr. Johnson ** always ** carried a USB stick with him as a backup.

I wrote a note via chat to suggest that Arjumand might provide a YouTube version of her talk, if she has time and thinks it would be worth while. I would most definitely like to hear what she had to say.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-14 09:54:15

We have a request from the NSS Chapter for feedback on the study they've been working on for the past year... Interviews with regular Americans about the Return to the Moon program of NASA.

Also, something somewhat related that I'd like to get feedback on is a video I'm putting together about the motivation behind North Houston Space Society and the Countdown to the Moon project. If you have a moment, could you take a look at this video and offer a couple of points on how I can improve the content and presentation:
https://youtu.be/Ay7SmX_aCSY
Thanks,
Nathan

The video is about 16 minutes long.

I've offered to forward any feedback that might arrive from NewMars members.

Nathan Price gave a short summary of the interviews in the opening of Saturday's meeting.

(th)

RGClark · 2023-05-16 06:25:03

tahanson43206 wrote:

The presentation on Space News by Dr. Greg Stanley will be available soon. I'll post the link as soon as it becomes available.
In the mean time, here is a link to the April presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKl5TMMyS9E
Today's coverage of the recent Starship Heavy launch was as thorough as can be expected. Dr. Stanley provided a bit of background on how the decision to launch without the water deluge system was made. In addition, and perhaps of most interest to NewMars members, Dr. Stanley showed the unusual stage separation concept that SpaceX is pioneering. He provided a graphic and text to explain the use of angular momentum to separate the stages. The technique would eliminate the need for pyrotechnics or hydraulic pistons or any of the other "traditional" stage separation techniques, ** if ** it works.
(th)

Thanks for the link. I didn’t catch the presentation live. I’ll take a look at it.

Bob Clark

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-16 09:20:03

For RGClark re #93

Thanks for your follow up regarding Dr. Stanley's presentation. The May presentation was not yet available the last time I checked.

Greg Stanley posts his reports on YouTube via LinkedIn. I would imagine it might take a bit of time to prepare a capture of the presentation for YouTube.

Thanks to your reminder, I'll check LinkedIn later today and report here immediately if the video is available.

In the past, the entire NSS meetings were put up on YouTube by the chapter president. However, he has been accepted into the NASA mission controller training program and he has very little time left.

Update at Noon local time ... the video is not yet posted, so I left a message for Dr. Stanley to let him know of an inquiry.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-16 13:45:22

Here is an update from Greg Stanley via LinkedIn ...

Please note that he offers to notify folks if they subscribe to his YouTube channel.

SearchTerm:Stanley Dr. Greg, NSS North Houston - monthly presentations on space news

Hi!
It's not available yet. We've got a guy doing videos of the presentations, and we're still working out the details of how to put it together. I'll send notifications on LinkedIn when videos are available, which people would see if they're connected to me or follow me on LinkedIn, or in that big Defense & Aerospace group on LinkedIn. Of course, people could also subscribe to my YouTube channel, visible at
https://www.youtube.com/@gstanley0/videos . Subscribers automatically get notified when new videos are added.
I hope I ended up addressing the issues he and others brought up about the Starship test.

gstanley0 - YouTube
youtube.com

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-16 13:52:02

This is a call for NewMars members to investigate the stage separation technique in development by SpaceX for Starship and the first stage.

The technique was shown in the form of a slide during the recent NSS meeting. Unfortunately no video of the meeting is available, and specifically, no video of Dr. Stanley's presentation is available.

What I'm hoping is that NewMars members (or at least ** one ** member) will investigate this lead, to see if more information might be available.

What I would ** really ** like to see is animation showing the forces at work, and the expected behavior of the stages.

My (very limited) understanding is that SpaceX engineers have imagined a stage separation technique that depends upon inertial forces, and specifically the changing centers of gravity of the Starship and the Booster as they approach stage separation.

Apparently (again preliminary and limited) the idea is to give the combined stages a lateral shift force at the bottom using booster engines.

Simultaneously the snaps holding the stages together would release, and the forces at work would cause the stages to bend in opposite directions.

It would be ** really ** interesting to see this in an animation.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-17 13:41:47

tahanson43206 wrote:

For all ... here is a YouTube presentation by Dr. Greg Stanley about the rotating stage separation method for Starship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yesni8HUEA4
(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-18 10:41:56

This is to report on correspondence between Dr. Stanley and Dr. Johnson regarding the SpaceX concept of angular momentum stage separation.

Hi Dr. Stanley! Here is some PhD level feedback:
Well, no one has ever flown that technique before. The failure modes introduced aren't hardware, they are events. For the Starship upper stage, rotation must cease and be reversed to cease again, when the vehicle is once again aligned nose-first along its trajectory path. Not until then can you fire the upper stage engines. For the lower stage, you need to stop rotation about 180-degrees out from where it started, in order to fire a few engines for the reversal burn back toward the launch site. There may not be any hardware items to fail with this approach, but there's still plenty of failure modes in terms of events that must happen.
GW
I'll let you know if any additional feedback arrives. I could tell this was a redo, and I liked the first, so this is just icing on the cake! (th)
TODAY
Gregory Stanley sent the following messages at 12:05 AM
View Gregory’s profileGregory Stanley
Gregory Stanley 12:05 AM
Interesting feedback. I don't know the actual angular velocities they are planning, or all the problems they'll face, so there's a lot of conjecture here. My assumption was that the rotation rates were slow, maybe just from, say, a second or less of deliberate angled thrust just before booster shutdown. And when the upper stage engines start, they'd use their normal thrust vector control (TVC) to get back on track, and the best thrust angle initial condition could be calculated right at startup. But even without that, this continuous correction could fit within normal feedback control. My understanding was that the initial burn of stage 2 is something substantial, something like 6 minutes, depending on the desired orbit. In which case, I wasn't thinking of the rotation correction as events as much as just something absorbed by the normal continuous thrust vector control. That is, within the normal range of continuous control, not a series of events. These aren't short burst events like with spacecraft changing or correcting orbits.
If that's the best way to think about the scenario, then the failure modes didn't change, because those failure modes are just the same ones affecting normal control.
That's all pure conjecture, though. We'll have to wait and see.

I would ** really ** like to see some high quality animation of the proposed technique. I am confident the method would not have reached this point if the computer simulations had been less than compelling.

It should be possible for amateurs with Blender, Unreal Engine or any of the comparable animation packages with physics engines to reproduce the concept.

If I understand the vision as described by Greg Stanley (and I may not) the system is designed so that when the stage hold down snaps are released, the two stages will separate easily and naturally due to the forces at work induced by a small rotation burn by the booster engines just before MECO.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-05-26 20:24:42

The June NSS North Houston meeting will feature a Mars simulation in Hawaii...

Mars Base, Hawaii: Inside the Bubble at HI-SEAS – Brian Ramos @ Barbara Bush Library on Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 2PM
Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Connect with others who are excited about exploring the cosmos, learning how to use the resources of space to improve human life, and who want to go and spread humanity to the rest of the universe.
This will be a hybrid meeting. Come in person at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379) or join us online Via ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85216600533
The meeting will be on Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 2PM (US Central Time).
2:00 PM – Opening Remarks – Nathan Price
2:05 PM – Recent Space News – Greg Stanley
2:45 PM – Brian Ramos – “Mars Base, Hawaii: Inside the Bubble at HI-SEAS”
3:40 PM – Socializing
4:00 PM – End of Meeting
Mars Base, Hawaii: Inside the Bubble at HI-SEAS
The path to supporting human life on Mars is filled with challenges and concerns on how individuals will
perform psychologically on another planet.
In 2017, I and 5 others lived in isolation from the rest of the world with limited communication with the
outside world on the largest active volcano in Hawaii. For 8 months, we studied the world around us,
but the real goal was for researchers to study us. There were many questions to be answered:
What challenges do humans face in living and working with one another in isolation? How does that
change over time? What tools and preparation might help?
These are all questions researchers asked to help prepare humans for life on Mars. In this talk, you get
to hear from the science experiment itself, Brian Ramos, about his experience living in a Martian Analog.

Brian Ramos is a flight controller and astronaut instructor at the Johnson Space Center. He holds a
degree from the International Space University, and is a former analog astronaut of HI-SEAS Mission V.
About the Meeting
Meetings are open to all age groups and interest levels. Come explore with us the potential that developing and exploring space has to better life here on earth and to open up new frontiers creating new perspectives that can help enrich the human experience.
The Vision of NSS is people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.
The Mission of NSS is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity. Accordingly, we support steps toward this goal, including human spaceflight, commercial space development, space exploration, space applications, space resource utilization, robotic precursors, defense against asteroids, relevant science, and space settlement oriented education.
Website: http://NorthHoustonSpace.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NssNorthHoustonSpaceSociety/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nss-no … e-society/

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tahanson43206 · 2023-06-08 11:53:47

Reminder: NSS via Zoom is this Saturday:

Mars Base, Hawaii: Inside the Bubble at HI-SEAS – Brian Ramos @ Barbara Bush Library on Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 2PM

Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Connect with others who are excited about exploring the cosmos, learning how to use the resources of space to improve human life, and who want to go and spread humanity to the rest of the universe.
This will be a hybrid meeting. Come in person at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379) or join us online Via ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85216600533
The meeting will be on Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 2PM (US Central Time).
2:00 PM – Opening Remarks – Nathan Price
2:05 PM – Recent Space News – Greg Stanley
2:45 PM – Brian Ramos – “Mars Base, Hawaii: Inside the Bubble at HI-SEAS”
3:40 PM – Socializing
4:00 PM – End of Meeting
Mars Base, Hawaii: Inside the Bubble at HI-SEAS
The path to supporting human life on Mars is filled with challenges and concerns on how individuals will perform psychologically on another planet. In 2017, I and 5 others lived in isolation from the rest of the world with limited communication with the outside world on the largest active volcano in Hawaii. For 8 months, we studied the world around us, but the real goal was for researchers to study us. There were many questions to be answered: What challenges do humans face in living and working with one another in isolation? How does that change over time? What tools and preparation might help? These are all questions researchers asked to help prepare humans for life on Mars. In this talk, you get to hear from the science experiment itself, Brian Ramos, about his experience living in a Martian Analog.

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