The Official Space and Astronomy Thread v. Well, this is weird.

[BlobVanDam]

BTW, people always make it out to be the next revolution ... I must say I'm pretty skeptical about it. The problem, as I see it, is that of materials. Most objects we have are highly specialized for their specific purposes. They are crazy-ass tempered alloys of 5 different compounds etc.
A 3-D printer will never have those materials at its disposal. At best it might have 5 substances it can mix, but in the end they will vastly underperform the "made for this purpose" equivalents.

Even though it's not for home use, they can effectively print just about any material by printing it out in a wax type substance and molding it in metals etc. Shapeways can print out gold/silver/steel/bronze etc, and ceramics for plates/mugs or whatever. For the home user to so easily have access to that kind of service is pretty cool. And in the medical industry, they've printed out custom designed jaws in titanium for replacements.
Even in its current capacity, I'd call it revolutionary.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Yea I would agree, 3D printers are growing like crazy and you see them everywhere. The fact that even NASA finds use for it makes it pretty big.

[rumborak]

BTW, people always make it out to be the next revolution ... I must say I'm pretty skeptical about it. The problem, as I see it, is that of materials. Most objects we have are highly specialized for their specific purposes. They are crazy-ass tempered alloys of 5 different compounds etc.
A 3-D printer will never have those materials at its disposal. At best it might have 5 substances it can mix, but in the end they will vastly underperform the "made for this purpose" equivalents.

Even though it's not for home use, they can effectively print just about any material by printing it out in a wax type substance and molding it in metals etc. Shapeways can print out gold/silver/steel/bronze etc, and ceramics for plates/mugs or whatever. For the home user to so easily have access to that kind of service is pretty cool. And in the medical industry, they've printed out custom designed jaws in titanium for replacements.
Even in its current capacity, I'd call it revolutionary.

Mold printing is kinda what I would call "secondary 3D printing" though. And the prosthesis printing, that is of course phenomenal, but it's still a very niche application, IMHO.

[BlobVanDam]

BTW, people always make it out to be the next revolution ... I must say I'm pretty skeptical about it. The problem, as I see it, is that of materials. Most objects we have are highly specialized for their specific purposes. They are crazy-ass tempered alloys of 5 different compounds etc.
A 3-D printer will never have those materials at its disposal. At best it might have 5 substances it can mix, but in the end they will vastly underperform the "made for this purpose" equivalents.

Even though it's not for home use, they can effectively print just about any material by printing it out in a wax type substance and molding it in metals etc. Shapeways can print out gold/silver/steel/bronze etc, and ceramics for plates/mugs or whatever. For the home user to so easily have access to that kind of service is pretty cool. And in the medical industry, they've printed out custom designed jaws in titanium for replacements.
Even in its current capacity, I'd call it revolutionary.

Mold printing is kinda what I would call "secondary 3D printing" though. And the prosthesis printing, that is of course phenomenal, but it's still a very niche application, IMHO.

I don't disagree with any of that, they were just examples of why I feel like the technology has already proven its potential to revolutionize many industries, even in these early days.
The ability to effectively send a 3D object to space remotely is pretty damn cool however you classify it!

[rumborak]

Oh, don't get me wrong, that is indeed cool. When you look at what they went to the moon with, you couldn't even play a decent game of Asteroids on that.

[BlobVanDam]

It's kind of sad to me that the average smartphone that everyone owns probably has about 1000x more power than what sent man for the moon, given what most people do with that computing power.

It goes without saying that Asteroids is a perfectly acceptable use of that power.

[rumborak]

I went to the ophthalmologist the other day, and they had this cool new machine called OCT. Was like staring into a game of Asteroids

[jasc15]

I was just reading about the James Webb Space Telescope, which is intended to be Hubble's successor.  Damn, the thing is huge.

Here is a full scale model:



And it will be all folded up in the nosecone of an Ariane 5 rocket:

[Chino]

I can't wait to see what Webb delivers! The project almost got scrapped.

[Chino]

I'm looking forward to this.

https://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/12/23/could-dwarf-planet-ceres-support-life/

In March 2015, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will arrive in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres is a relatively warm and wet body that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the Jovian moon Europa and the Saturn satellite Enceladus, both of which may be capable of supporting life as we know it, some researchers say.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Cool, had no idea about that. Will definitly follow that. Speaking of do anyone know of any good site or anything were you can follow current NASA or non NASA missions both manned and unmanned. I can only find lists of current missions but it would be could to see them in some kind of "progress chart" if you know what I mean. So you can see when something was launched, current status and when its expected to arrive at it's destination and also future missions.

[Chino]

Cool, had no idea about that. Will definitly follow that. Speaking of do anyone now of any good site or anything were you can follow current NASA or non NASA missions both manned and unmanned. I can only find lists of current missions but it would be could to see them in some kind of "progress chart" if you know what I mean. So you can see when something was launched, current status and when its expected to arrive at it's destination and also future missions.

I don't know of any site, but on Facebook, I add more or less every person that speaks on the Universe shows that are on The Science Channel. They post links to stuff all the time regarding space stuff I would have never heard of otherwise. The following are some of my favorite posters. Michelle works for NASA and is probably my favorite. Phil can dive into politics quite a bit.

Michelle Thaller
Phil Plait
Lawrence Krauss
Brian Cox
Chris Hadfield

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Cool! I follow Lawrence on FB and know of Brain and Chris. Don't know the other two but will certainly follow all of them now.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

So the Falcon 9 launch today was aborted due technical difficulties. Heard mention on possible launch on friday, can't confirm though.

Launch Update

During the terminal count engineers observed drift on one of the two thrust vector actuators on the second stage that would likely have caused an automatic abort. Engineers called a hold in order to take a closer look. SpaceX is scrubbed for today and we are now targeting launch on Jan. 9th at 5:09am ET.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

New epic Hubble photograph of the Pillars Of Creation:

[Orbert]

I've always loved the Pillars of Creation.  Such a bizarre-looking formation.  The detail here is amazing.

[adace]

One of the best space photos of all time.

[Chino]

idk.... The new photo of Andromeda makes my head want to explode. This is zooming in.

[TioJorge]

This whole thread makes my brain/imagination orgasm so hard. Awesome stuff.

[Chino]

I'm pretty excited for Star Talk on Nat Geo. I've listened to the online radio format for years. I just hope Nat Geo puts it on their website as well. I was one of the 500k customers who dropped cable last year.

[Fiery Winds]

Elon Musk released a video of the "failed" attempt to land the Stage 1 rocket booster.

https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK

From the initial reports, I was expecting a much faster descent. Apparently they ran out of hydraulic fluid that was controlling the stabilizing fins, which should be fixed in the next launch (50% more fluid this time around).

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

So close but still a fail. Seems to be an easy fix though which also must sting a bit for them. Hopefully they nail it next time.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

idk.... The new photo of Andromeda makes my head want to explode. This is zooming in.

Mind=Blown

Seriously sometimes I really wonder why stuff like this don't get more attention in public media?

Gigapixels of Andromeda [4K]
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1502a/zoomable/

[Phoenix87x]

So what is all that? Crap load of Stars?

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

The last picture is a zoomed in area of the first Andromeda picture showing another layer of millions upon millions of stars, planets and galaxies. Basically to much for our brains to grasp.

That's my take, someone else might have a more detailed answere.

[Phoenix87x]

Fascinating.

There is life everywhere.

[El Barto]

Elon Musk released a video of the "failed" attempt to land the Stage 1 rocket booster.

https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK

From the initial reports, I was expecting a much faster descent. Apparently they ran out of hydraulic fluid that was controlling the stabilizing fins, which should be fixed in the next launch (50% more fluid this time around).

Rapid unscheduled disassembly event. 

Still, what they were trying to accomplish is pretty amazing.

[Chino]

I love Elon's sense of humor.,

[Chino]

I had to watch twice. Pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ca6x4QbpoM&feature=youtu.be

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

That's really cool! That must be really cost effective to have the fuel tanks return like that, I would assume so atleast.

[gmillerdrake]

I had to watch twice. Pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ca6x4QbpoM&feature=youtu.be

u

How far off is this from 'actually' happening? 10 years? Looks pretty involved....cool as heck but the reentry on those rockets has to be precise doesn't it, or they'll disinigrate? And keeping them stable on the descent once the boosters fire to slow down? I don't doubt it will happen someday....just curious as to how far off you think it is?

[Chino]

I honestly think SpaceX could pull that off in five years. They went from first testing the grasshopper to this...

https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150116183850-spacex-rocket-crash-landing-crane-orig-mg-00001212-story-top.jpg

.. in less than 15 months. That's impressive as hell. The fact that they hit he barge is beyond incredible. Given SpaceX's track record, and the ever-increasing demand to put things in orbit, SpaceX will figure this out in no time.

[Chino]

We're going to Europa!! 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Cool! Are you talking about JUICE?

[rumborak]

Guess what I'm gonna be doing on Sunday? Watch the SpaceX launch at Cape Canaveral! Work is getting me down to Jacksonville, and my roommate suggested it. Now of course she's mortally envious