Recent content by ChrisA

Proximity to mass vs. gravity field. This is an easy experiment. You do not need to go to the center of the Earth. All you need to do is be closer to the center. A deep coal mine could work. And if you want to test this in space, a Lagrange point works. I suggest not bothering to try...

Spinning a point mass works mathematically, but mathematics like that does not model the real universe at scales that approach geometric points. A geometric point is MUCH, much smaller than any subatomic particle, and even the Planck length is huge compared to zero. You have to guess the size...

The best way to explain why you can not go faster than light is to remember that there are FOUR, not three, dimensions. The fourth one is time. All objects move through all four. You sitting at you desk, using the chair as the reference point as not mong in X, Y, Z but you are moving in...

SLS and Orion have already flown a human-rated capsule around the moon and landed back on Earth, It did this on its very first test mission. It works very well and has now been tested. The only other heavy lift rocket can not yet launch a payload to Earth orbit and has never made a...

The counterargument to the "Zoo Hypothesis" is that if there are thousands of civilizations out there, not all of them would agree to stay hidden. The very advanced ones use dark-quantum radio or other magic to communicate, but not all of them would reach that level by now, some might be only...

The Drake equation would be usfull, but you have to also run the "error bars" or uncertainty through it. This way don't just get that there are 12,000 civiizations but rather "There are between zero and 12,000,000 civilizations". You need to put the 6-sigma error bars on all the numbers or...

Yes, 100%. They will never catch a manned ship with a crew inside using chopsticks. Doing the water-abort is not an option with a crew. One option I see is to place a Crew Dragon like capsule on top of starship. Or maybe replace the entire second stage with a space shuttle style design.

This is a link to the exact camera they are using. https://4dsystems.com.au/products/ucam-iii/ You have to remember that the entire satellite is a 3-inch cube

There is a major flaw in the whole concept of listening for a techno-signature. It assumes there would be massive energy leakage. If the technology is very advanced it would not waste any energy by radiating it out to space. The only signals that you leave would be targeted communications...

Yes. Both are looking for confirmation of a belief that is not based on reason. So many people want Star Trek to be true or for there really to be gods living on Mt Olympus. My argument is that SETI is a real science because it has returned real data. We now know a lot more about the...

And by your argument, if I stood on a sheet of newspaper I could see farther. Everyone knows that if you are taller you can see further, so the added height gained should help. So yes an impact on the Moon should affect the tides but the amount is too tiny to measure and other effects, I...

Negative results are still "Good Science". What we are learning or have learned is that technological civilizations are at least VERY rare. As we observe more and more in the coming decades we will be able to refine this and say "'very rare" with greater precision. Perhaps we will...

People are asking why the test program ends so early. I think because the entire point of the test flight was to validate the company's aerodynamic simulation software. If the plan flies exactly as the software predicted it would fly, now they are confident the software works. So as said...

Can a 2026 version of Starship land with any payload mass, or would the ship have to be empty? If we wait some years we will have a more capable Starship with three more engines and larger fuel tanks. Then there is the problem that a rover and ascent vehicle would not be ready so soon.

Yes. Starship just might have enough capability to take an actual payload to Mars. It would be harder to land with the added weight and then you need the added weight and complexity of a door and a crane or elevator. All this adds engineering hours, testing hours and cost and or course...