You are not logged in.
Today is Google Meeting day once again....
I am hoping we can have a strong turnout of Admins and at least one non-Admin member.
I am interested in finding out what appetite the Admin community has to stretch beyond current activity.
We have a small active community and we can probably keep going for another year without changing anything.
On the other hand, the people who are going to be ON Mars in future years are alive today, and the global Internet is available a large percentage of them.
In addition, the community whose efforts on Earth will support the Mars venture are alive today.
This forum is potentially a resource for future Mars explorers and settlers, and for supporting teams on Earth.
***
Depending upon who arrives, we may have (I hope we WILL have) other subjects to discuss.
Note: Last week I was overwhelmed by the challenges of dealing with technical issues ... Google has changed the menu structure, and I failed to monitor the waiting room properly. I am open to suggestions for improved performance, but I've noticed that other groups sometimes spread the work load a bit. Perhaps we might be able to use that idea, although with Google Meeting I'm not sure how that works. I've seen that system used extensively with Zoom.
(th)
Offline
Like button can go here
The Google Meeting systems test turned up an issue. Zoom leaves debris behind that Google doesn't like, so I had to reboot the browsers. We are online now and will be able to set up at the top of the hour.
It is 00:16:51 by the UTC clock.
Waiting room is open at 00:58 ...
This meeting was devoted primarily to deep dives into defense of Canada against possible predatory neighbors. In the course of the discussion I tried to start Google Earth but my browser could not handle the work load of the modern application.
I decided to install Google Earth Pro for Ubuntu, and will report if the program runs.
The installation package is only 57.3 MB. I assume the actual program is larger.
OK !!! The installer unpacked to these folders:
50.3 kb
24 kb
254.6 MB
243 bytes
That looks more like the size I would expect for a program this massive.
There are 400 files to extract
This installation is incomplete. I'll have to investigate.
OK ... it turns out that like with many Linux programs, it was necessary to use a terminal session to install the program. That was done, and the program is ready to run. However, OpenFOAM is running so I'll leave well enough alone. The program will be availabvle for the next Google Meeting. I hope to be able to go to any place on Earth that kbd512 wants to go to explore.
(th)
Offline
Like button can go here
Today is Google Meeting day for New Mars!
Possible topics include:
1) GW Johnson and Mrs. Johnson starting upon their 51st year.
NASA director personal inspection of the Orion heat shield
(did GW's letter reach him? We may never know)
2) kbd512's vision for an Optical Space Propulsion system at a new milestone
3) SpaceNut re-organization of topics -
4) Void reporting on iron oxide from the Moon for LEO manufacturing
5) The recent computer outage - backups - communications in event of outage
Note: Google Earth is now installed on the host PC, so deep dives into the Internet can now include actual scenery instead of just maps
Start time remains 1 AM UTC during this part of the annual cycle.
(th)
Offline
Like button can go here
Systems check went well this evening....
The Waiting Room will open at 1:00 UTC, 7 PM Houston, 8 PM New Hampshire ... It will be mid-morning in Australia.
We are open at 00:58:36 ....
We had a full house this evening .... kbd512, SpaceNut and GW Johnson were fully engaged in solving the world's problems.
We tested Google Earth at the end of the meeting, and it definitely shows promise for enhancing future discussions. Unfortunately, my system collapsed under the strain ... it had the Google Meeting in one browser, New Mars in another, the OpenFOAM animation program running, and then on top of that I added Google Earth. We were looking at an island off the Russian coast when the entire structure collapsed.
GW Johnson gave me some ideas to work on with the OpenFOAM project, so I'll work on those next week.
The first and easiest idea is to run the exact same model but increase hydrogen flow to 2 kg/s ... We tested with 2 kg/s previously, but that was in a series that ran for 8 seconds. The 1 kg/s test started at zero and ran for 4 seconds. I think it would be worth while to run the 2 kg/s test from zero.
GW also agreed with the suggestion that the washer shape I've introduced into the model might well have caused instability due to the non-curved surfaces at the intake. A properly designed nozzle is perfectly smooth in the region from ahead of the throat through to the rim of the expansion bell.
I've hesitated to proceed to remaking of the mesh because it is a lot of work, and introducing the washer was a quick way to simulate a smaller diameter throat.
(th)
Offline
Like button can go here