boeing should have all contracts cancelled and be broken up. every gov’t. official that OK’d the starliner and this mission should be fired and investigated.
Well, time for the emergency knotted rope I guess.
I’m just glad they have a ready-to-deploy backup plan. SpaceX is nailing it. I just hope that the future will remember the terrific work that Gwynne Shotwell and many others did while “someone else” where busy tossing money away.
Sorry, no. Fuck SpaceX. They are helping destroy everything.
https://www.independent.co.uk/space/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-internet-b2567423.html
Ehhh needs more study. Aluminum oxides in the atmosphere actually provide a cooling effect. That being said, we don’t know much about the health implications yet.
If you read the article the hazard is the Aluminum Oxide could deplete the Ozone layer. So a disruption to a different ecological process rather than the Greenhouse effect.
Right on. The “cooling effect” will hopefully offset all the kerosene and methane they’re injecting into the upper atmosphere and oceans.
Oh boy, you’d better not look at the cattle industry then.
Every rocket launch ever done in history doesn’t make even a blip on the graph for human-related carbon emissions.
I love that “drop in the bucket” justification. In the 1900’s car exhaust was a huge innovation because it did away with the mountains of horse shit produced by carriages.
They’re injecting water vapor and carbon dioxide, as well as soot (not kerosene or methane). I don’t mean to imply that it’s not an issue, but that more study is warranted (the article says the same thing).
Do you know what those clouds are that come out of the engine at cut off and start up are? Not water vapour or carbon dioxide.
If we’re talking Falcon 9, the ignition is using TEA-TEB, a fairly nasty hypergolic. It burns to water vapor and carbon dioxide, plus some boron oxides.
Starship doesn’t use a chemical igniter, so yes, there’s probably a small amount of methane that escapes during ignition. Generally though the combustion for Starship is incredibly clean, with something like a 99.5% efficiency.
Theres nothing to ignite unless the pumps are running full speed. The pumps keep running after after the fire goes out. What are those pumps pumping?
It’s not about heat, it’s about aluminium oxides damaging the ozone layer.
You can criticise them for that while being glad they are a reliable astronaut transport, unlike Boeing. The world is not black and white.
I am glad of that, but this is what I responded to:
SpaceX is nailing it. I just hope that the future will remember the terrific work that Gwynne Shotwell and many others did while “someone else” where busy tossing money away.
Fair enough!
Aluminum is a major element of the 5200 tons of stardust per year. Sadly found no numbers.
Well, this was actually fkning concerning. Ofk is not like other Company aren’t playing to launch thousand of satellites too. There should be a serious regulation and some heavy changes in the metal alloy used at very least. I’m sure that Trump already has a plan about it…
… ofk i’m fking kidding. Vote [everyone else] x president .
So we’re starting to look at aluminum debris in the upper atmosphere, when are we going to look at carbon fibre debris? Or rocket fuel in the upper atmosphere? We dont know what any of that shit does. Im going to hazard a guess that it does nothing good.
If you were to light ten thousand Starlink satellites on fire in a bonfire on the ground people would put you in jail. When it happens in the upper atmosphere its called progress.
Completely stopping the launch of new satellites will simply not happen. The only realistic response is to face the problem and improve the technology.
Just like they’re doing with the climate catastrophe.
Reasoned, sensible change, carried out quickly and paid for by the companies responsible.
It practically regulates itself!
Well, it did work for the ozone hole.
It should work for the current climate catastrophe and the aluminium thing too, if about 50% of the electorate, 90% of its representatives, and 99% of the people in charge of big companies weren’t mentally handicapped imbeciles, too (if we count being a psychopath as a mental handicap).
Alas, those were different times
We need better politicians.
That’s the problem with capitalism. They won’t improve the technology until we force them
and the way to force them is to stop all launches until they fix it
Rocket fuel? You mean that stuff that makes water?
At engine cut off and start up those big clouds coming out of the engines are propellant. The pumps need priming and they don’t ignite right away or stop immediately after cut off. And what do you think they mean when they say “venting”?
Remember when Elon wanted to do transpirational cooling? What do you think they were going to “sweat”?
I, uh, know some of those words?
Spacex uses methane
Thanks!
Falcon 9 uses kerosene.
Type of metal doesn’t matter, it’s any particle that leftover CFCs from the 1970s can stick to and make it more likely for them to react and destroy ozone. The ozone hole is over Antarctica and changes size seasonally because high altitude ice clouds do the same thing, smoke from forest fires also does it.
deleted by creator
Y’know one of those “options” was not to send it after the leaks were discovered.
Then they were all like, “Pffft. It’s fiiine. Just go.”
Then they were up there all, “Okay, so, slight delay”
Then, “Okay well that’s borked, but don’t worry, it’s all being handled.”
Now it’s “Options, anyone? Yes, all of them.”
Wait what, they are still up there ?
Wasn’t it supposed to be postponed for just a few days so they can analyze the leaks and ‘please move along nothing to see here’.
I had the same reaction a couple days ago when I saw they were still there. Definitely not a good look for Boeing.
A top option should also be removing the current Boeing board and C suite. What a debacle.
What a calamity. Which is ironically how the capsule that is stuck got named. The jokes just write themselves.
Your wish is granted.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/31/investing/boeings-losses-new-ceo/index.html
As announced earlier key board members are also resigning.
Have they rotated the deck chairs on the Titanic, or is this a meaningful change?
McGiver is still alive and he’s got star gates and intergalactic spaceships…and paperclips! Tons of 📎 🖇️📎🖇️ paperclips!
When it had issues immediately post-launch, there were a LOT of Boeing-defenders: “oh no, keeping it there is a precaution, there’s nothing seriously wrong with it. They’re definitely not stuck on the station…”
Yeah. When this fucking death trap was launched WHILE HAVING ISSUES, I knew it wasn’t going to be a quick round trip. Frankly, I’d be amazed if those astronauts up there would be willing to take the return trip on it. NASA has a poor track record in that regard.
I absolutely love spaceflight and whole heartedly support programs. But Boeing needs to not be making spacecraft that humans fly on.
Frankly, I’d be amazed if those astronauts up there would be willing to take the return trip on it.
Why would you be surprised? They both have military experience… they do what they are told. Also they trust NASA and Boeing enough to be launched in the craft to begin with.
Wired Magazine - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Wired Magazine:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceSearch topics on Ground.News
https://www.wired.com/story/nasa-boeing-starliner-return-home-spacex/
Boeing is going to kill our astronauts. Enough of this.
The astronauts took off in that machine after the Boeing airplane fiascoes went mainstream. What was going through their heads? Why did they think this time would be OK when it’s that much riskier than ordinary plane flights?
I would love to hear their interviews after they return safely, somehow, in the future.
Not only that, but they kept finding leaks on the rocket leading up to launch
I imagine you don’t become an astronaut by being scared of potential failures.
I’m not going to defend Boeing in any way, but is it a bit reductive to say their commercial plane parts have quality problems, therefore their NASA stuff will too?
Their space capsule and rocket tests had issues too
Send a Soyuz
Isn’t there one docked right now?
Yes, but that’s the emergency escape vehicle for the regular crew.
Right now they aren’t using the Boeing ship because it may be dangerous. In an emergency, however, they at least have 2 spacecraft docked.
Good question, I don’t know
It seems to me like we should be at the point where there should just always be a backup plan so the people taking the real risks don’t have to sit around waiting for 8+ weeks as some people try to do best by them while others just try to cover their assess and pretend everything is ok because they are fucked if things aren’t ok and might be inclined to risk lives in the hopes they get the good outcome.
Two “not stranded” astronauts becoming increasingly stranded. More at 6
NASA spokesperson Josh Finch told Ars on Thursday evening, “NASA is evaluating all options for the return of agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station as safely as possible. No decisions have been made, and the agency will continue to provide updates on its planning.”
A standard statement like this doesn’t really warrant a news article.
But it got clicks and that is all that matters to the people in charge.
Online news media has become nothing more than a marketing vehicle that has articles somewhere behind the banners and pop-up video windows.
That is a notable change from “we’re just double checking things on the Starliner, which we think we can fix. We expect them to ride it home soon” that has been the message for a long time. Now it’s “we’re looking at all options”.
It’s NASA. They’re always looking at all options.
Imagine setting NASAs credibility on fire to keep Boeing warm.
For weeks it hasn’t been about fixing starliner for the return trip, it’s been about studying the thrusters before they get destroyed on return.
The claim is it’s been okay to come back for quite awhile.
Have Red Bull send up some space suits and parachutes.
