Comments by "Helium Road" (@RCAvhstape) on "Scott Manley" channel.

  1.  @digitaurus  California-accented Scottish English lol
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  2.  @Ottee2  IIRC that one has been restored and placed indoors now. I plan to visit it, hopefully soon.
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  3. 7:28 that Lockheed ad for the Agena stage is classic. You could do a whole video about the Agena, which was a real workhorse for America in the early days of spaceflight.
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  4. Oh yes, the movie where a missile strike in GEO somehow causes instant Kessler syndrome thousands of km below in LEO, within 15 minutes. Conveniently, Hubble, ISS, and Tiangong are all in the same orbit plane, at the same altitude, close enough to drift to in a space suit. Also, the Space Shuttle is still flying. Sorry for the rant, aside from that stuff I actually like the movie and thought Sandra Bullock was great.
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  5.  @kamakaziozzie3038  Problem?
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  6.  @3gunslingers  What I saw was a fake heating effect done in a cut rate space sim that can't even get earth's mass right and none of the numbers are even close to reality. Scott likes to use it for quick visual demos, but don't think KSP's visual effects have any bearing on reality.
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  7. I like how that rocket powered plane is held back by sandbags and a street curb, while aiming into a shipping container just in case.
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  8. Sure would be nice if we had some GRENADES right about now.
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  9. For a great read on the history of the Atlas program from the 50s up to the early days of Atlas V, pick up a copy of the book "Atlas: The Ultimate Weapon". Goes into detail about how the program was started, the people involved in it, the early efforts to design and build launch facilities, command and control systems, guidance systems, propulsion, weaponizing it using coffin launchers and later vertical silos, later development as a space launch vehicle, etc.
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  10. Tiles were the biggest PITA for the Space Shuttle, in terms of man hours needed to service them between flights. That's one of the main reasons STS was so expensive to operate. SpaceX has done a lot of cool stuff, but reusable orbiters are tough.
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  11.  @ArKritz84  For any given system, a trade study is necessary to determine the pros and cons of lots of small engines vs. fewer bigger ones. There is no free lunch either way. TANSTAAFL as Mr. Heinlein used to say.
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  12. I used to work in aviation maintenance. We used to have a saying: there's no such thing as a perfectly good airplane (or spacecraft); they're all in various states of disrepair. Every jetliner you've ever flown on, however shiny and new, has had something minor wrong with it somewhere. The problem with spacecraft is that they're so dependent on high performance that it's hard to design margin of error into the systems. A B-17 bomber or an A-10 can fly home on one engine and half its structure ripped to shreds, because it can be built heavier than required to get the job done. A jetliner can absorb a surprising amount of punishment due to weather, engine failure, rough landings, etc. Most spacecraft don't have that option. A launch vehicle's engines are like a dragster's engine, they have to operate at super high performance for a short period of time and the whole vehicle has to be as light as possible, while flying at hypersonic speeds and large accelerations. The whole machine is always on the edge of spectacular success or failure.
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  13. I call that for a metal band name!
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  14. ​ @Mute_Nostril_Agony And Arthur C. Carke describes it in detail in the book.
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  15. Last time I was this early, early jokes weren't stale yet.
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  16.  @NullHand  You can't shut down a whole patch of airspace across an entire ocean permanently.
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  17.  @donjones4719  Atlas V and Delta IV are both EELV programs. The government wanted two EELVs to ensure access to space in case one system was grounded, which is what happened when Challenger blew up and too many eggs were in the shuttle basket. The USAF (now Space Force) does not want to rely on just one rocket. The Centaur is just an old, very very good design for a high energy upper stage. Complaining about monopoly in the space business is kind of pointless, since there are more launch providers now than there were a few years ago, and maybe more coming up, and the upstart companies are building their own unique designs.
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  18. That's a piston engine. Jets are more like "suck squeeze burn blow".
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  19.  @lordcraycray2921  That actually makes sense. But still, when it comes to Russia I always think of radiation, and this only reinforces that in my mind.
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  20. I have a cool book somewhere with all kinds of designs for the Apollo Saturn system that were supposed to build on the initial moon landings. Habitats, cargo LMs, all kinds of cool stuff.
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  21. It's amazing how far back the heritage goes on so many modern launch vehicles. Thor was a long time ago. Atlas is another program that's been around since the mid-1950s.
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  22. So, after you advised us to fly "safe", I was wondering, does Blue Origin have a large bag or sheath of some sort to provide the booster with protection from the elements?
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  23. Laser Squad! Now that's a name I've not heard since...loved that game back in the 90s.
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  24. Ah yes, Bill Nelson, who said to Congress he has "no idea" why China is exploring the far side of the moon.
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  25. Where the power goes out so you can't charge your electric car that makes you feel self righteous, and where people drop drug needles and shit in the streets. Seriously, get out of California.
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  26. When the launch is successful it's a New Zealand rocket. When it fails, it's the Americans'.
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  27. Outstanding work, and glad for the Orbiter shoutout! I have simulated every Apollo missions from launch to splashdown in Orbiter.
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  28. Unmanned landers have already done so, many years ago since, but if you're talking about manned landings, forget it. In addition to the extreme (and I mean EXTREME) difficulty in keeping a human alive in that hellish environment, you also have the problem that ordinary rocket engines will not work in that extreme ambient pressure. Venus is a great setting for a sci fi story about a prison planet from which no man can ever escape.
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  29.  @thomashiggins9320  Yeah, it's a brutal story.
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  30. Or a setup for a Gilligans Island reboot. Just need a movie star and a country girl.
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  31. That wasn't a warning light, it's one of the plasma weapons like the ones on the wingtips of the Martian machines in War of the Worlds 1955.
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  32. The scary thing is that the plume is invisible between the nozzle and the shock diamond. You can't see it, but there is a stream of intense violence in that space.
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  33.  @peterstickney7608  Ah yes, the good old days, when boys would build their own nuclear reactors, usually from a kit your dad bought at Radio Shack. Good times.
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  34. Even if the manual control thing were true, it's not necessary. Even with the autopilot engaged, the human in the left front seat is still in control of the vehicle.
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  35. Even the sites of the crashed LMs would be cool to visit and see the scattered parts. Depending on the circumstances there may be some machinery or avionics intact enough to be worthy museum artifacts.
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  36. Great rundown on Soviet/Russian launch vehicles, Scott, have a Merry Christmas!
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  37. Moonraker was goofy, and they got the spin gravity on the space station wrong as usual, but as I've grown older I've learned to accept and love it. Besides, it was conceived before the first real shuttle launch, when we all thought that launching space shuttles all the time would be an everyday affair. I think the hardest thing to believe was the idea that the British government would pony up the cash to actually buy a half dozen space shuttles, complete with a supply of external tanks, SRBs, and launch facilities.
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  38.  @Daniel-kz3df  Doesn't change the fact of what I wrote: everyone, including the astronauts, thought the SSMEs would probably be the thing most likely to cause an accident, not the SRBs.
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  39.  @neithere  I don't care about Ukraine.
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  40. There needs to be an Arnold Schwarzeneggar action movie where the bad guy's head winds up inside this thing.
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  41. I think it was dumb luck. Had that happened at higher altitude the thing might've failed hard (ie. blow up) before it had time to land and shut down.
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  42.  @nizm0man  The suppliers and tooling didn't exist when they set out to build it in the first place, and yet they did. You can build anything if you have enough money. The USSR made an exact copy of a B-29 bomber and they no access to Boeing's plans, documents, or factory tools. What they did have was a real B-29, enough money and the threat of Stalin executing them if they failed.
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  43. The Gregorian calendar is, by historical twists and turns, sort of based on the winter solstice, so...
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  44.  @bbartky  Oh yes, the Osborne. A suitcase with a 5 or so inch cathode ray tube that was heavy enough to be used as a wheel chock on a 747. Used one of those at work back in the day. It was hopelessly obsolete, but the only thing that ran the custom test software we were using in our shop.
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  45.  @Duhya  Largely true for LEO missions, but for translunar or interplanetary returns at 11+ km/s such as Apollo, control is absolutely necessary to ensure lift is generated, as neither the vehicles nor the crew could survive a ballistic reentry as such crazy velocities.
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  46.  @kennethferland5579  Apollo 13 LM Aquarius was equipped with an RTG to power experiments. Look things up before responding in a hostile manner next time.
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  47.  @3gunslingers  With this attitude we'll be to Mars in no time at all.
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  48. Despite my knowing that these things will not happen anytime soon, it's still a bit terrifying to see such enormous power. As for Q, I think he's cool with humans thanks to Picard, but his fellow Continuum member Trelane, the Squire of Gothos, may be the bigger threat.
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  49. 8:10 James Bond called, he wants his Moonraker pictures back.
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  50. RIP Dusty Hill, gone to the great Lagrange point in the sky...
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