Recent comments in /f/space

CurtisLeow t1_j9usfhn wrote

Reply to After Vulcan comes online, ULA plans to dramatically increase launch cadence by OutlandishnessOk2452

This is highly dependent on Blue Origins ramping up production of the BE-4 engine for ULA. The engines were the main reason for the repeated delays in the first launch.

> "We have to ramp up," Bruno said. "Before the end of 2025 we expect to be really at a tempo, which is flying a couple of times a month, every two weeks."

Even SpaceX has never built first stages at that production rate. SpaceX didn't ramp up product that fast for the Falcon 9 either. It first launched in 2010, but didn't achieve a double digit launch rate until 2017, and that was with reusable first stages. The Soyuz had a higher production rate than that at one point, but the Soyuz is a substantially easier to manufacture rocket. The Soyuz doesn't use solid boosters. The Soyuz uses substantially easier to manufacture gas generator rocket engines.

The entire concept of Vulcan doesn't make sense. They're building a difficult to manufacture expendable rocket, with 3 different engines, including a complicated staged combustion engine. Then they're planning to launch it at a rate that only makes sense for a simpler mass produced rocket, or a reusable rocket. In any other industry they would just be shamelessly copying the market leader.

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Union_Jack_1 t1_j9us4k8 wrote

Reply to comment by jcargile242 in Would an Earth-like planet with identical technology be able to detect signals from us? by lukinhasb

It makes me laugh when people play this “where is everyone?” argument despite the evidence plainly stated in this thread about the massive distances, the time frame chances (before humans existed/could receive signals, etc).

There is an almost mathematical certainty of life in the universe beyond our own.

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futureshocked2050 t1_j9umnoy wrote

Reply to comment by AfroTarakona in Alien hunters get a boost as AI helps identify promising signals from space by UniOfManchester

You could unleash an army of Ultron style helpers for the first couple of centuries to monitor humans and curb their worst instincts.

After a few generations of monitoring humans to ensure that the ways in which they generally traumatize each other are minimized, you can use those Ultron-bots to model better behaviors and eventually take your hands off the reigns.

In other words, even if an AI had to 'use force' with us, that doesn't necessarily mean it's necessary to kill everyone. Remember, all the resources humans need are literally already here, 2 things are happening:

  1. It's really a vampiric-oligarch class that has been distributing those resources unevenly due to a miscalibrated technology called "the state".
  2. The vast majority of poor human behavior has been caused by the long chain of abuse necessary to enable "the state".
  3. Get rid of the state and you solve most of the issues, not the individual humans.
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AbandonedPlanet t1_j9ud3sv wrote

Reply to Massive 'forbidden planet' orbits a strangely tiny star only 4 times its size. by Rifletree

I mean, aren't gas giants just "failed" stars that never got big enough? Why is this so rare if binary star systems aren't?

Edit: notice how my comment is in the form of 2 questions and not statements? It's because I don't know what I'm talking about. I didn't think the words "failed star" would rile everyone up so much. I'm sorry to have upset everyone and I hope I can be forgiven.

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