Lichfield Dean Posted March 2, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 2, 2023 2 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: Relatively low in the sky, to the west, we currently have Venus and Jupiter. Venus is the brighter one. That won’t be happening again in our lifetime. I've been out every night this week to see them and it's been cloudy every time! Damn you weather! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Just now, Lichfield Dean said: I've been out every night this week to see them and it's been cloudy every time! Damn you weather! Should be good tonight shouldn’t it? Absolutely clear sky here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted March 2, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 2, 2023 4 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: Should be good tonight shouldn’t it? Absolutely clear sky here. Almost total cloud cover here in Sutton Coldfield. Can barely see the Moon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Oh, bugger. Just been trying to persuade the gang in Worcester to get out and have a look… wonder if they’ve got a chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted March 2, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 2, 2023 2 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: Oh, bugger. Just been trying to persuade the gang in Worcester to get out and have a look… wonder if they’ve got a chance? BBC weather map has Worcester on the edge of the cloud cover, so they probably have a reasonable chance. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted March 2, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 2, 2023 9 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: Oh, bugger. Just been trying to persuade the gang in Worcester to get out and have a look… wonder if they’ve got a chance? Better hurry though, will be dipping below the horizon soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tegis Posted March 2, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 2, 2023 2 hours ago, chrisp65 said: Relatively low in the sky, to the west, we currently have Venus and Jupiter. Venus is the brighter one. That won’t be happening again in our lifetime. I had to stop the car (on a small road) and get out and watch it for a bit. The two where super-bright and it looked awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted March 11, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 11, 2023 Relativity Space trying again to relaunch their largely 3D printed Terran 1 rocket. Got to t-minus 2 minutes when they had to put it on hold because some idiot drive a boat into the launch range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted March 11, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 11, 2023 Oooh ok, range is green. Maybe they sank the boat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted March 11, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 11, 2023 Oh, and the engines fired but the rocket didn't actually lift off. Flight scrubbed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted March 11, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 11, 2023 Then they decided to give it another go. And then scrubbed it again. Not a great day for them really. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 Have a look north chaps, northern lights for most of the UK, certainly visible as far south as here, but shows up better if you take a photo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitvilla Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 9 hours ago, sidcow said: Possibly Perovskite for solar panels Just a quick comment there is little chance from a commodity point of view. The mineral is a calcium titanium oxide. The mineral is relatively common. When solar panel people talk about perovskite they are referring to the crystal structure and pretty much does not include calcium or titanium. So when making these solar panels it is more a technology issue than scarcity/commodity. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted November 22, 2023 Share Posted November 22, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted November 22, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted November 22, 2023 So spacex have launched a satellite powered by a Quantum Drive (no, not the one from The Orville). It's a reactionless drive similar to the EmDrive from a few years ago, although not exactly the same. If it works ... well it kind of means a lot of physics will need looking at again and it'll also mean a revolution in space propulsion (no more rocket equation). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted November 22, 2023 Administrator Share Posted November 22, 2023 2 hours ago, Lichfield Dean said: So spacex have launched a satellite powered by a Quantum Drive (no, not the one from The Orville). It's a reactionless drive similar to the EmDrive from a few years ago, although not exactly the same. If it works ... well it kind of means a lot of physics will need looking at again and it'll also mean a revolution in space propulsion (no more rocket equation). Does it? What acceleration are they claiming at what energy cost? Presumably they can't test it on Earth because the acceleration is less than gravity. If it's going to mean the end of rockets, why's it being launched on a rocket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted November 22, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted November 22, 2023 49 minutes ago, limpid said: Does it? What acceleration are they claiming at what energy cost? Presumably they can't test it on Earth because the acceleration is less than gravity. If it's going to mean the end of rockets, why's it being launched on a rocket? Won't mean an end to rockets, as you'd need them to get the thing into space. But once in space you won't need to factor in the fuel for its own propulsion. So yeah, point taken. As for how much it'll help in space... Well it remains to be seen what sort of thrust they can get out of this thing (my bet is it'll be zero thrust) but even if it does work I don't know what they expect they may be able to achieve. I've seen reports that they think they can get thrust massively more than an ion engine for a fraction of the weight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted November 22, 2023 Administrator Share Posted November 22, 2023 59 minutes ago, Lichfield Dean said: Won't mean an end to rockets, as you'd need them to get the thing into space. But once in space you won't need to factor in the fuel for its own propulsion. So yeah, point taken. As for how much it'll help in space... Well it remains to be seen what sort of thrust they can get out of this thing (my bet is it'll be zero thrust) but even if it does work I don't know what they expect they may be able to achieve. I've seen reports that they think they can get thrust massively more than an ion engine for a fraction of the weight. But they can test thrust on Earth down to tiny fractions of Newtons (in a vacuum if necessary). Feels like a scam to me. I wonder when they'll start selling shares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 "Until this box is opened the cat could be perceived as both dead and alive." MEOW "You b******d Tiddles." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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