All things Space
POSTED BY: THG
UPDATED: Sunday, August 30, 2026 17:23
VIEWED: 22101
PAGE 8 of 40
A solar sail is a proposed method of spacecraft propulsion using the old traditional sailing method but in outer space, it plans on using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight to push a spacecraft.
https://www.universetoday.com/151651/lightsail-2-has-now-been-in-space
-for-2-years-and-should-last-even-longer-before-re-entering-the-atmosphere/
LightSail 2 Has Now Been in Space for 2 Years, and Should Last Even Longer Before Re-Entering the Atmosphere
Back in 2010, Japan's Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) also successfully launched the solar sail, the IKAROS Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of The Sun.
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Quote:And now spaceflight is in the hands of a manic-depressive who's obsessed with tailfin-landing spaceships?
The Space Race: Technical Facts vs Popular Narrative - by Gordog
by Gordog
A little while ago, commenter Karlof1 asked me about the space race, the Apollo Program, and the role of Nazi scientists recruited under Operation Paperclip.
This is a fascinating subject that has also been severely distorted by the American narrative.
What prompted Karlof's query was my earlier, and somewhat lengthy technical discussion of today's state of space technology, where the media narrative is that the US is greatly advanced, due mostly the 'exploits' of Space X---when in fact the situation is quite the opposite.
The US is far behind important core technologies like advanced rocket engines and space station tech, both of which it acquired from Russia. China has similarly acquired nearly all of its core space technology from Russia, but has built impressively on that technology transfer---including developing its very own space station tech, and its own advanced rocket engines.
During the 1990s, many important Russian industries were on the verge of collapse due to the disintegration of the USSR. Hence there was something of a firesale of Russian space tech, something that would have been considered unthinkable previously. The Chinese acquired their entire manned program, Shenzhou, lock, stock and barrel through direct technology transfer from Russia, resulting in the first Chinese man in space in 2003.
The US similarly bought its way into the Mir2 space station that was already built, but not yet launched, abandoning its own effort to build an indigenous station to rival Mir---the Freedom space station that was killed on the drawing board. Those Mir2 modules, now known as the Russian Orbital Segment, would become the functional core of the ISS.
The US also acquired advanced Russian engines and key engine technologies, mostly the RD180, which is in fact the undisputed workhorse for both high profile Nasa missions [such as the current mars rover mission], and the US Space Force, which launches nearly all of its mission-critical payloads on the Russian engines.
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Other Russian engines, including the RD190 and even the 1960s era mothballed NK33s were also bought up and pressed into service by the US. That the Russians possessed this advanced engine technology was completely unknown in the west until the 1990s, which had regarded the 'closed-cycle' technology as technically 'impossible.'
So let's take a look back to the 1950s, when spaceflight was first achieved. This was an exciting era, and there is much to discuss here, so I will leave the Apollo story for another time.
By the latter stages of Word War 2, the Germans were the undisputed leaders in rocket technology. The V2 rocket, which was used to bombard London, was a hugely impressive piece of engineering for the time.
Russia, whose rocket technology in the 1930s was considered comparable to the Germans, had fallen behind. But the country did develop smaller, albeit usable rocket engines, for instance the experimental Bereznyak-Isayev BI1 interceptor aircraft. The US really had no rocket engine technology to speak of during this era.
But the US would import most of the German rocket engineers, as well as some working copies of the V2 itself. This would provide a strong base to build on, not just for the space race a decade later, but also the far more important race for strategic weapons, namely the intercontinental ballistic missile.
A quick tale of the tape on the V2: It had a mass of 12.5 metric tons, and a thrust of about 25 tons, from a single engine burning alcohol and liquid oxygen. It could reach a speed of 3,500 mph, and a flight range of about 300 km. Incredibly, over 3,000 of these were built during the war!
Von Braun and over 100 key V-2 personnel sNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Richard Branson set to launch into space on Virgin Galactic spaceship
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/richard-branson-set-to-launc
h-into-space-on-virgin-galactic-spaceship/ar-AAM14q2?ocid=msedgntp
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Different rocket engine types.
It took me a while to wrap my brain around the various "preburners" which define rocket engine types (waaaaay more comfortable with fuel types!) but I highly recommend this video.
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.
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FWIW, there are also solid-fuel rocket types, which use a premixed powder of oxidizer plus fuel. It's a little like riding a giant fireworks.
I once watched a video of a solid-fuel rocket engine test fire. I don't recall exactly what it was about that test fire (I think it came close to exploding), but it made me HIGHLY aware of how precise that powder has to be!
If you burn into areas that burn faster because there's more oxidizer in it, or the powder is finer, or packed a little tighter, or what-have-you, you risk an outright explosion. Also, it will make the rocket shake (it's like a riding abunch of mini-explosions) and can affect the trajectory of rocket.
They have the advantage of being pre-fueled, so they're good for military applications, but would shake your teeth out in a piloted flight. Having guided missiles (rockets) formilitry applications reduces the trajectory problems.
NASA used solid rocket boosters for the first two minutes of piloted flight, which is why the vibrations are so hard, Once the solid boosters cut out, the flight becomes a lot smoother.
https://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/system/system_SRB.html
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.
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Warehouse-sized asteroid whipped by Earth and no one saw it coming
A space rock possibly as wide as a football field flew between the moon and Earth last week, but the big asteroid -- catalogued as 2021 SG -- wasn't spotted until the day after it had already made its closest pass by our planet.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/warehouse-sized-asteroid-whi
pped-by-earth-and-no-one-saw-it-coming/ar-AAOMFmx?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
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Sleepy?
The 'Sleeping' Biden Admin shamed by Elon Musk for silence
'He's still sleeping!' Elon Musk mocks Joe Biden for failing to congratulate SpaceX founder on the world's first all-civilian flight
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10009125/Elon-Musk-mocks-Joe-
Biden-asked-president-congratulated-SpaceX-mission.html
Elon Musk mocked 'sleeping' Biden for not congratulating SpaceX's all-civilian crew
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Mysterious radio signals are coming from the centre of the Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered unusual radio waves coming from the direction of the Milky Way's centre – but they don't know what's causing them.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/mysterious-radio-signals-are-com
ing-from-the-centre-of-the-milky-way/ar-AAPpEOd?ocid=msedgntp
Can't tell who JAYNEZTOWN is quoting above, no matter.
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Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Can't tell who JAYNEZTOWN is quoting above, no matter.
That's because you can't read, Ted.
He's quoting Elon Musk.
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Vaccinated People: "You need to get muh vaccination shots that don't work because I got muh vaccination shots that don't work and I'm afraid of people that didn't get muh vaccination shots that don't work because muh vaccination shots that don't work don't work."
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The Einstein Cross Gravitational Lens
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211017.html
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