Comments by "H. de Jong" (@h.dejong2531) on "" video.

  1. Right, advances like accurate weather forecasts, accurate navigation, long-range communications, detailed information on land use for agriculture, TV and radio broadcasts are all worthless? We're using space to SOLVE problems we have on Earth.
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  2. Aviation uses about 1 million times more fuel than the entire rocket industry.
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  3. They're planning an event where the images will be shown and explained, and questions can be answered. Much better than dribbling them out piecemeal.
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  4. They're using selective laser sintering or selective laser melting to print in metals.
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  5. Space (specifically, the ISS) is one of the few areas were we're still working with the Russians. The ISS was set up as a diplomatic effort. Abandoning it would harm everyone.
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  6.  @Gary-Seven-and-Isis-in-1968  If the plug were to be pulled on cooperation with Russia for the ISS, we'd have to abandon the ISS - there are essential functions that can't be done without Russian cooperation.
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  7. Yes, that's been SOP since the 1970s.
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  8. 3D printing gives you access to geometries that are difficult to impossible to achieve with other methods. The combustion chamber, for instance is double-walled, with propellant circulating between the inner and outer walls. Every method we've used to make those is very labor-intensive (hand-brazing hundreds of tubes) or takes forever (chemical deposition).
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  9.  @HexaSquirrel  Have you seen how prop tanks are built? It starts with a thick sheet of aluminium, 80% of which is milled away to get a thin sheet of aluminium with stiffening ribs. Then a giant press is used to bend this to a cylinder. Then you need giant jigs to weld the domes to each end. 3D printing is not ideal for this, but the current process is again very capital and labor intensive.
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  10. A number of orbital launches (and attempts) too. Black Arrow and Europa 1.
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