New Mars Forums

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,357

Re: Housekeeping

Yes, it was good to see the email to James for what had been materials that we did make James aware of nearly a year ago but that's ok as all things are worth waiting for.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Network Changes ...

In recent decades, my network has been wired, with wireless devices added as nice-to-have but not essential.

Due to recent changes in the environment, the wired connection went away, and all my wired computers were useless.

I took a chance on an Amazon hotel rounter, which was advertised as able to connect to a hotel WiFi and distributed Ethernet to a wired network.

I am typing this post through this miracle of modern technology. 

The first system to come up is the workhorse from 2012, which is where I prepare the daily Calendar update.  Hopefully I'll be able to resume that operation tomorrow.  The other two 64 bit systems are still scattered around in partial state of restoration.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re nice animation in SpinLaunch topic...

That animation is perfect for July 4th and all the fireworks that followed that trajectory!

I am making progress in rebuilding my local network.  A few minutes ago, FriendOfQuark1 kindly helped me fix the bugs in my configuration for the Google Meeting tomorrow. In the first test I once again had no audio, but reseating a USB connector fixed that, and now the equipment is ready for Sunday.

This will just be an ordinary meeting, but I'd be delighted if you were to drop by for a few minutes.  I'll keep an eye on the NewMars topic to catch your comments.

Thanks again for finding that OmniCalculator site, which gave us the ideal apogee and velocity of 79 miles and 3535 miles per hour.  Subsequently you found the reference to 37 miles as the altitude at which the second stage will ignite.  At this point, I don't think it is clear at all whether a solid or a liquid second stage would be best for this application.  I'm hoping GW Johnson can work that out.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,357

Re: Housekeeping

Sorry I have been sick for the last nearly a week with bronchi cough.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ... best wishes for recovery from this unexpected and unwanted illness!

Thanks for the ** very ** encouraging report from China, on the benefit of capturing solar energy before it enters the water.

The report of aquatic productivity suggests to me this would  be worth considering for the Atlantic, where hurricanes find energy.

Capturing the sunlight that heats the ocean before it gets into the water would seem like a helpful procedure on both counts.

The cost of the equipment and ongoing maintenance would seem likely to be balanced by avoidance of billions of dollars of damage due to hurricanes.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

Hurricane Beryl is reported to have done a job on Houston, where our Junior Admin lives.

Best wishes for swift recovery from widespread power outage.

Our Senior Admin is recovering from a possibly weather related "invonvenience"  Best wishes for full recovery soon.

***
In other news, our Senior Moderator posted a short but important update in the Large Ship topic. This was a reprise of aircraft carrior like crew accommodations, with bunks stacked three high.  If it works for a US aircraft carrier, it should work for a six month flight to Mars, with the caveat that on an aircraft carrier in the US Navy, each crew person is given 16 hours of non-stop activity to keep morale high and mental acuity at a high level for months on end.  The Large Ship (as presently described) has no provision for mental health whatsoever, so I am looking forward to seeing thought invested in that aspect of the voyage.
***
(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

The news reports from Houston indicate the situation hasn't improved all that much.

Hopefully the solar roof installation that came back online recently for the kbd512 household has been keeping the family in lights at least, but according to the news I've been able to find, the Internet and other communications may still be out for many.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,357

Re: Housekeeping

Post is being made from cellphone as something is wrong with the hotspot for the computer. Still sick but somewhat coming out of it slowly.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #3633

Best wishes for continued recovery from the bug!

And best wishes for recovery from the hotspot problem.

Glad the cell phone works!

Regarding kgb512's installation .... does kbd512 have a Powerwall?

The solar panels should provide power during the day, even if the battery only carries the household part way through the evening. With any luck, we may get some first hand reporting soon on what worked and what did not work.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,357

Re: Housekeeping

Have had the unpleasantness of passing a kidney stone yesterday evening. It sure was painful.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #3635 ....

Best wishes for advice from your physician to help you avoid this unpleasant experience in future.

Your report inspired me to ask about this situation at the Kidney Foundation, and my sympathy increased the more I read!

Please ** follow ** your physician's advice!!!

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ...

Hoping your recovery is going well!

***
The arrival of a candidate application reminds me that you were working on converting now banned members to in-active status. I've lost track of where you were in that process, but it needs to continue as soon as you are able.

It is less than ideal to have posts show up in our forum with the authors listed as banned when they were not actually banned. A reader might think that the majority of our members have been banned, which is not the correct impression.  The majority  of our members are inactive. Only a tiny number were actually banned.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ...

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

***
We received an inquiry from Terraformer about a possible European Google Meeting or Zoom session.  Our existing schedule is convenient for US members, but ridiculous for folks who live in Europe...

I am willing to consider setting up a meeting earlier if our European members would like to start a series of their own. It is entirely possible some of our US members will be interested in joining.  The time difference is either 4 or 5 hours, depending upon Daylight Savings.  That would put a meeting at 8 PM London time at 4 PM or 3 PM US, which ought to work for most US members.

What I think has been lacking to this point is sufficient interest on the part of our European members.  That could change now that Terraformer has inquired about the meetings.

To be honest, Terraformer didn't actually "inquire" about the meetings. Instead, she "complained" about the current schedule.

However, that ** is ** feedback, and I'll take it in whatever form it appears.

****
(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ...

It appears that the word: t a r g e t
will reliably cause AISE.

2024/07/27 I'm adopting this  post as a holding location for instructions from ChatGPT4o on how to set up our Azure environment to serve Python code via a web server to a browser.

I'll open with a message from GW Johnson about the difficulty forum members are having using the spreadsheet he created to do rocket flight planning.

I honestly do not understand what all the mystery is. 

What the two-endpoints worksheet in the orbit basics spreadsheet does,  is actually very simple.  It starts with inputs for perigee and apogee altitudes,  and uses the appropriate planetary radius to make them radii from the center.  Half the sum of the radii is the semi-major axis length of the ellipse,  whose geometric center is offset from the center of the planet by a focal length c.

There is a textbook formula for ellipse eccentricity e using the two radii:  e = (Rmax - Rmin)/(Rmax + Rmin).  Then the value of c = e*a.  The semi-minor axis length b -s just the square root of [a-squared minus c-squared]. That sets all of the ellipse geometry.  One focus is at the planetary center.  The other is unoccupied.  Its geometric equation,  for coordinates referenced to its geometric center,  is right out of high school geometry:  (x/a)-squared plus (y/b)-squared = 1.  For coordinates shifted to a different location at (h,K),  just substitute x-h for x in the formula,  and y-k for y.

The velocity anywhere along that ellipse is another textbook formula:  V = square root of [G*M*(2/R-1/a)].  This gets figured in the worksheet at perigee (min R) and at apogee (max R),  and one other user-input location.  If you stick in the radius for entry interface altitude,  it will get you speed at entry interface.  The worksheet also computes circular and escape velocities at the same values of R:  Vcirc = square root of [G*M/R] and Vesc = square root of [2*G*M/R] = Vcirc*square root of 2. 

The ellipse has a period that also comes straight out of the textbooks:  T = 2*pi*square root of a-cubed/(G*M).

That's pretty much the essentials of 2-body elliptic orbits,  which can be programmed up in any way that is convenient,  in pretty much any scientific programming language (I only know two:  Fortran-4 and QuickBASIC,  both many decades obsolete now).  Or it can be put into a spreadsheet worksheet,  which is EXACTLY what I did!  All the rest,  including the plots the worksheet makes,  is just window-dressing to make it better organized and easier to use.

The sun-centered worksheet works directly in center-to-center radii,  for planetary stuff,  because altitudes are inconvenient in that scenario.  The R-V-q worksheet does what the others do (find ellipse description,  speeds,  and period),  except the startpoint is a radius and a velocity VECTOR (speed V and direction angle q),  instead of 2 altitudes or 2 radii.   It's all still classic textbook stuff.

It's the 3-body stuff that cannot be done this way with formulas.  For that,  there is only finite-difference numerical solutions.  That happens when both the sun and the Earth pull on a spacecraft with comparable force,  far from the Earth,  for example.  Or when the Earth and the moon pull on the spacecraft,  which numerical solution was the figure-8 orbit Apollo used for going to,  and returning from,  the moon.  In point of fact,  that numerical-simulation orbit determination was the only thing about Apollo that was done with a computer.  Everything else was pencil-and-paper with either slide rules or some sort of big desktop calculator.

GW

In the series below I'll paste the commands specified by ChatGPT4o to set up our Azure account to serve Python code via browser:

1) Update the system

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

2) Install Python

sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv -y

3) Create a virtual environment

python3 -m venv myenv
source myenv/bin/activate

4) Install required Python modules

pip install numpy scipy matplotlib

5) Verify the installation

python -c "import numpy; import scipy; import matplotlib; print('All modules are installed successfully!')"

6) Set up Apache to serve Python scripts

sudo apt install libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 -y

7) Configure Apache to serve your Python application

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/python_app.conf

7b) Add the following configuration:

Unable to add due to AISE

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html
</VirtualHost>
... pull the rest from ChatGPT4o transcript

7c) Enable the new site and disable the default site

sudo a2ensite python_app
sudo a2dissite 000-default
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 8) Create a simple WSGI application...Create a Simple Python WSGI Application

mkdir /path/to/your/app
cd /path/to/your/app
nano app.wsgi

8b) Add the following to app.wsgi

def application(environ, start_response):
    status = '200 OK'
    output = b'Hello World!'

    response_headers = [('Content-type', 'text/plain'), ('Content-Length', str(len(output)))]
    start_response(status, response_headers)

    return [output]

9) Test...

Step 9: Test Your Setup
Navigate to your server's IP address or domain in a web browser. You should see "Hello World!" displayed.

Step 10: Expand to Your Project
Once this basic setup is working, you can expand it to serve your Python scripts for the orbital mechanics calculations.

Next Steps
Create a Python script for orbital calculations.
Modify the WSGI application to run your script and display the results.
Use HTML forms in your PHP pages to capture user input and pass it to the Python script.
Feel free to reach out with any questions or issues as you go through these steps!

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ....

Hoping you are continuing to feel better after recent challenges ...

When you ** are ** back to normal and have a bit of time, we left off our conversion of "banned" members to InActive ones, with kscvideos

I am hoping we can complete the conversion this calendar year.

This could be automated, but since a few people were actually "banned", you judgement is needed to identify them.

As a reminder for everyone ... we used the "ban" option when SpaceNut addressed the flood of spammer attacks, because at the time, our software offered no other choice. Now we have learned how to create other categories of members, of which InActive is an example.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,357

Re: Housekeeping

Group of starting with letter L* usernames have been unbanned and set to InActive as well as changing the Admin notes to InActive as well.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #3641 ... thanks for moving another group of inactive members out of "banned" and back to civilization.

It will be a while before I can resume sending emails to our inactive members, but when we do resume that process, it will be good to have the ID's restored to good graces.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut following weekly Google Meeting....

Thanks for your most recent work session to move our many members who were "banned" as an emergency measure during the Great Spammer Attack to InActive. The most recent member you've been able to rescue is "lzrdking".

I'm hoping you'll find time next week to continue this important work.

In addition, I am looking forward to news of your progress in acquiring the specialized tools you will need to dis-assemble the growing pile of retired pallets in your back yard.  You'll need several thousand to build a good sized garage and workshop, but the effort will be well worth while, when you are able to enjoy a dry, warm work area in your retirement years.

***
Speaking of warm and dry .... your furnace replacement project has been on hold for a while... I'm looking forward to news of progress in removing the old furnace and ductwork, despite kbd512's advice to hang on to it.  Perhaps you could ship it to kbd512 so he can hang onto it for you?

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re topics containing the word "compress" in the title...

With the addition of a new topic dedicated to drones and motor vehicles, we have a nice assortment of topics for our readers to consider:

Forum    Replies    Last post
Compressed Air Powered Drones and Motor Vehicles by kbd512
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    1    Today 21:51:22 by tahanson43206

Compressed Air by Terraformer [ 1 2 3 4 ]
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    91    2024-07-30 03:04:36 by kbd512

Compressed Air Automobile for Mass Market by tahanson43206
Projects    2    2024-06-29 12:46:01 by tahanson43206

Pneumatic Tool Energy Storage Compressed Air by tahanson43206
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    3    2024-03-17 09:31:19 by tahanson43206

CO2 Energy Storage System - Compressed Gas - Closed Loop by tahanson43206
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    8    2024-02-19 10:56:38 by SpaceNut

Rocket Launch Assist: Compressed Air, Liquid Air and Steam by Calliban
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    5    2024-02-16 13:17:03 by Terraformer

Non-Rocket Launch Alternative Systems - Compressed Gas by tahanson43206
Interplanetary transportation    5    2023-10-29 09:46:15 by tahanson43206

Heat your House for Free with an LP Air Compressor by Calliban [ 1 2 ]
Home improvements    25    2023-03-28 21:25:05 by SpaceNut

Compressed gas balloon rocket for Mars launch by Calliban [ 1 2 3 ]
Interplanetary transportation    69    2022-10-22 18:56:32 by SpaceNut

Revisiting Supersonic CO2 Compressors for Mars EDL by kbd512
Human missions    11    2021-04-16 23:06:10 by SpaceNut

Compressed gas balloon rocket for Lunar launch by tahanson43206
Interplanetary transportation    9    2020-06-14 21:32:27 by tahanson43206

State ofthe Art Novel InFlowTech 1-Rotary-Turbo 2-One Compression Step by retrodynamic
Planetary transportation    1    2017-08-30 21:44:45 by retrodynamic

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,357

Re: Housekeeping

Missing Running on Compressed Air? by Palomar

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #3645 ...

Thanks for catching that omission by the FluxBB Search feature. I used compress* in the search, and FluxBB should have found the topic.

I ran the search again, and it still is not reporting the topic by Palomarl....

I notice that the oldest reported topic is from 2017.

Compressed Air Powered Drones and Motor Vehicles by kbd512
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    7    Today 19:44:57 by SpaceNut

Compressed Air Automobile for Mass Market by tahanson43206
Projects    4    Today 10:13:15 by tahanson43206

Compressed Air by Terraformer [ 1 2 3 4 ]
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    91    2024-07-30 03:04:36 by kbd512

Pneumatic Tool Energy Storage Compressed Air by tahanson43206
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    3    2024-03-17 09:31:19 by tahanson43206

CO2 Energy Storage System - Compressed Gas - Closed Loop by tahanson43206
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    8    2024-02-19 10:56:38 by SpaceNut

Rocket Launch Assist: Compressed Air, Liquid Air and Steam by Calliban
Science, Technology, and Astronomy    5    2024-02-16 13:17:03 by Terraformer

Non-Rocket Launch Alternative Systems - Compressed Gas by tahanson43206
Interplanetary transportation    5    2023-10-29 09:46:15 by tahanson43206

Heat your House for Free with an LP Air Compressor by Calliban [ 1 2 ]
Home improvements    25    2023-03-28 21:25:05 by SpaceNut

Compressed gas balloon rocket for Mars launch by Calliban [ 1 2 3 ]
Interplanetary transportation    69    2022-10-22 18:56:32 by SpaceNut

Revisiting Supersonic CO2 Compressors for Mars EDL by kbd512
Human missions    11    2021-04-16 23:06:10 by SpaceNut

Compressed gas balloon rocket for Lunar launch by tahanson43206
Interplanetary transportation    9    2020-06-14 21:32:27 by tahanson43206

State ofthe Art Novel InFlowTech 1-Rotary-Turbo 2-One Compression Step by retrodynamic
Planetary transportation

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re post in the new topic about GW's solar power installation...

Thanks for those three substantial links!

I wonder if GW belongs to one of the five coops featured in the article about Texas.

One detail about GW's installation differs from the one that kbd512 installed.

kbd512 has batteries, and GW is (apparently) going with a generator instead.

My guess is that the use cases are different, so I hope we (NewMars members) get to learn a bit more about the pro-s and con-s of the two different recommendations.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ....

This is a post about a web site that features a view of a mountain lake in New Mexico....

I just completed the daily Calendar update for the Business Calendar on Mars....

I often set one of the five screens I used for the update to a (hopefully restful) scene from around the world....

On this occasion I stumbled across a particularly restful scene ...

Vlllage of Ruidoso - Grindstone Lake View

The time is given as 8:21 PM at the site, and the temperature is 77 degrees Farhrenheit.

The web cam shifts between what appear to be be three views... at the moment ... ok ... it just shifted ... The Sun is setting in the West, and the lake stretches West from the camera site, with wooded hills on all sides of the view.  There is a steady breeze moving toward the camera, and little wavelets are adding mobility to the scene, which is otherwise relatively cnstant. A lone paddler has been making (their) way across the lake from left to right.

Their are four windows illuminated on the hillside at the right. 

It is a scene like this that might be broadcast from Earth to Mars, at some point in the future, to remind residents of the Desert Planet what life is like at some locations back on Earth.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ....

The spammers have created 75,000+ fake accounts on Dr. Dartnell's Knowledge Forum and it finally bit the dust...

General Error
SQL ERROR [ mysql4 ]

INSERT command denied to user 'o3086002'@'infongp-uk19.clienthosting.eu' for table 'DTK2014__login_attempts' [1142]

An SQL error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact the Board Administrator if this problem persists.
Please notify the board administrator or webmaster: the.knowledge.org@gmail.com
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group

I'm surprised the relatively old PHP web site took this long to fail after months of unrelenting attack by the spammers.

You avoided this fate by making the bold decision to cut off the spammers.

Here is the Statistics line as of 1:40 UTC on Friday August 16, 2024
Total posts 2649 • Total topics 397 • Total members 76016 • Our newest member RachZLayed

Joined:Wed Aug 14, 2024 2:37 am Last visited:Wed Aug 14, 2024 2:37 am

It is possible there will be no new spammer accounts created after this one.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,453

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re pallets report ...

Thanks for keeping us informed as you gather supplies for your project!

That is great news about the construction materials.

(th)