I find the T-Mobile feature more exciting, because it will work with any LTE phone, (just need a T-Mo plan), and works with standard SMS and multiple apps, not just emergency services. It may even work with voice calls in the future. It might even be enough to make me switch to T-Mobile at some point.

Not possible in this case. The spacecraft doesn’t have enough kinetic energy to make that big of a change. This particular asteroid is very very far from an Earth trajectory.

But GPU time could plausibly be used directly in that pursuit, such as with Folding@Home.

Measurements in the US: SAE/US Customary.

Maybe they need to add a check word for error detection. Make it 4 words.

I think you’re off by a decimal point, but they’re going to sell a bit more than that, so the point stands.

Those same rural people will make sure they can charge at home, and thus never have to drive a half hour just to fill up. 300-500 miles of range will still get them quite far in their daily life.

China’s laser seems to be primarily designed to blind the sensors of a satellite, so it doesn’t pose the same risk of Kessler Syndrome as blowing a satellite into hundred of pieces.

It always kicks up some dust when it fires the retro landing thrusters. Parachute by itself would be too sudden when it touches down, and the dust make it look like a hard landing, but the thrusters spread out the deceleration to make it manageable.

Can you share the image you’re referring to? I see an intact booster left behind by the capsule escape system. The booster did have a change in the flame appearance before the escape triggered, so I doubt the engine was fully functional, but nothing to indicate any RUD until they (presumably) triggered the FTS or it…

We could use a little water. Just maybe not all at once! Looks like it will be about an inch near me, so not too bad.

Worth noting that this is not the orbital launch pad, which DOES have a water deluge system installed. This was at the smaller Starship test stand they built a few years ago now. (Starship by itself doesn’t fit the orbital pad which is designed for the Heavy booster.)

One less waterproof seal that could fail in 1/1000 cases. Less warranty returns. Less internal space devoted to a moving part.

That’s a nice read. Some highlights:

Historical fictions must often invent dialog, etc, to make the story work. That’s a given, since most conversations behind closed doors were not recorded. But a viewer will usually assume the overall story, and especially context provided by a narrator, should fit established historical fact to the extent that it is…

So, if it only recently moved off the main sequence, then it should be quite some time before it goes supernova, right?

Yes, that’s the difference between a vent and a flare. But many of these accidental releases and leaks don’t get flared.

They need a place to put it, which means either separate parallel pipelines or very large tanks, for a platform like this. (Which was probably built before methane was a known problem.)

Methane will last around 12 years in the atmosphere, and during that time has a much larger greenhouse effect than CO2. So it’s not permanent, but it’s a bit more than just this week’s weather.

Not only can hydrogen leak through tiny cracks, it can even pass through solid metal in some cases.