This one was a lot lower, at only 40,000 feet, well withing the range used by commercial airliners. And I’d guess it doesn’t carry a transponder to aid in collision avoidance. The other one was at 60,000 feet.

Right in some ways, but having a rocket with this much cargo capability, and this inexpensive per payload ton, can go a long way towards making the life support part easier. Part of what makes life support in space so hard is having to choose what to bring with you, and making it lightweight.

The launch pad has clamps all around the edge. Even during a normal launch, those clamps will hold it down for a few seconds until they can verify that all engines are operating within spec. in the Space Shuttle days, there were several times when they started engines, only to abort without releasing the clamps, due…

A collision is a likely source, but it would have to be relatively recent, as astronomical events go. Another possibility would be active outgassing of an unseen moon, but there’s not much heat out there to cause outgassing, unless it’s tidal. (Which again points to relatively recent events, as such tidal action will…

We’re not talking about the Hill sphere. (How far an object can retain smaller objects in orbit.) The ring particles themselves should start coalescing over a rather short time period, if they are outside the Roche limit. But more mass/higher density will increase that limit, just not expecting as much as seems to be…

Generally, ring systems are not expected to be stable outside of the Roche limit. (Stable being relative to Saturn’s rings which might be a few million years old.) Outside that limit, the ring should be able to clump together into a new moon under its own gravity. Inside the limit, the parent body’s gravity overpowers…

How do you know they “missed the mark”? The claim is that it does match in both texture and taste, both cooked and raw. (Salmon being one of the few meats that is regularly consumed raw.) If they can get this one right, maybe there’s hope for other meats.

Not hours. More likely days, if the 1998 balloon incident in Canada is any indication.

There was an indecent in 1998 when they tried to shoot down a wayward weather balloon in Canada. After firing hundreds of rounds through the balloon, it still took days for it to slowly leak enough to descend. You also have to worry about where the hundreds of bullets come down, many miles from the intercept point.

There’s not many planes that can reach that altitude. It had to be either the F22 or the F15. Nothing else would touch it. They picked an F22 which is the current interceptor stationed at Langley. The F15 was retired from Langley in 2010, though it may still be active at other bases..

Japan also sent balloons with incendiary devices over the US during WWII, and some of those were shot down by fighters.

I see no problem here, as long as it can reference specific statute or case law, which it seems to have done. Quickly finding the relevant reference which can otherwise take a long time.

If a closed app store was a requirement for Apple’s success, then it deserves to be opened up. Because the success of a monopoly is not good for the public. (Whether they are technically a monopoly or not, this is monopolistic behavior.)

If Apple allowed other app stores, nothing would force you to use one. You could still stick to Apple’s curated store. Why shouldn’t it be the user’s choice about how to use the device they paid for.

But if you use the term “sports car” and assume they can all reach a speed of 200mph, then your assumptions are outside of the term’s usefulness. Same as if you assume a “Category 4" food is strongly linked to obesity or cancer. Instead, you need to find a different way to categorize things in a useful way.

For example, Amazon has an app store for Android, and F-Droid is also a popular source. Both of these do have protection against distributing malware.

I have enough trouble with my car after the Pandemic stopped my daily commute. I would go weeks without driving it, only to find the battery died when I do need it.

But innocent until proven guilty does not rule out a protection order. Restraining orders are given out with far less evidence than this.

They did start carrying repair kits after that. But at that time, the only option would be an emergency launch of a different shuttle. (And even with minimal crew, they would be 2 seats short.) It also happened to be one of the last few missions that did not go to the space station, which ruled out that safety net. (An…

Kessler Syndrome is the technical name for that cascade effect you’re talking about. Gravity is just the movie that put it into visual effects. As such, they did take some liberties about how fast it would happen. But the risk does exist that one collision would cascade into others, and the numbers of such a sequence…