Russo-Ukraine War ( video link )

 

Out of ammo?

There hasn't been much discussion here about the war due to the unreliable sources of information available. There are too many cheerleaders on the so-called "right" who support this war. I've always condemned our involvement in it.

If it is true that we cannot supply the Ukrainians with sufficient ammunition, then this war is going to be lost. What will they say THEN???

They've just given Brandon a fig leaf to hide behind in supporting this ill-fated war... Brandon could say that it was "bipartisan", and he'd be right for once.

But this info is not necessarily reliable either... Either it is reliable or it isn't. Yet, I've read in more places than this that our ammo stocks are dwindling. If Brandon knew this, and approved this war, then he ( and his supporters) have committed an unforgiveable blunder.

Yet, there may not be any political accountability for even this. Kari Lake lost her latest court appearance. If you cannot get rid of bad governance, what do you do then??? Washington DC and much of the country is out of control, and frankly, out of their minds.

Too many people with anal-cranial inversion, if you know what I mean.

Aerogel Core Fission Fragment Rocket Engine

Aerogel Core Fission Fragment Rocket Engine: 

Ryan Weed
Positron Dynamics 

NASA  TV 

Comment

Theoretically, it could achieve ISP over 100k, making interplanetary and even interstellar missions feasible.

Whoa!

Stupid is as stupid does

 

Just read something disturbing about the train derailment in Ohio. Looks like it could have been prevented, but nobody did anything about it.

Could it be another sign of the times? That is to say, with something that could have prevented, yet wasn't: does it mean that the USA is in permanent decline? You could argue either way. There have been disasters before, and likely will be disasters in the future. A disaster isn't evidence of decline, but it isn't good either. Especially since it probably could have been prevented.

Then there are cases in which people really don't know what to do. Let's examine something once again that I mentioned previously. There are certain "knee jerk" reactions that have been cited. One of these is called "social proof". The way social proof works ( or doesn't) is when everybody reacts the same way in a certain novel situation.

You could take the COVID situation as an example of social proof. People started wearing masks. They wore masks because EVERYBODY ELSE DID. This is what is meant by social proof. The situation was novel, and nobody seemed to know what to do, so they did what everybody else did. The government did something stupid and mandated what was clearly ineffective even though they should have known better. Why? It was done elsewhere in similar situations, and these geniuses didn't know what else to do. Their peers in Asia did something similar in prior flu like situtations, so not knowing what to do, they did what the Asians did.

Could this have happened in Ohio? Maybe. If the evidence supports such a conclusion, it may well turn out to be the actual explanation for why people failed to do what was clearly indicated. Meaning this: That there was something definitely wrong, but nobody was taking action to correct the situation, so nothing was done to prevent what was clearly preventable. ( Or in the case of masks, did something clearly useless ( and stupid) because they didn't know what else to do.)

Social proof can be deadly. If everybody does the same thing because everybody else is doing it, then something really bad can happen. The moral of the story? Don't rely upon social proof as a clue to what to do even if "everybody is doing it". Sometimes you just have to use your own head, because that could make the difference between getting badly hurt or killed, or getting out of a situation in one piece.

Too bad somebody has to say this. What the heck? Maybe somebody will take heart from it and actually learn something. What a novel idea. /sarc

A strategy to mine an asteroid

Going on 10 years since I posted this.  Now the means for getting there is within reach.   What a kick in the pants it would be to make this happen.  A Starship could carry a lot of cargo.

Originally posted on Oct 4, 2013

Currently, I'm looking at another asteroid, which may be harder to get to than 3554 Amun.  It is called 1986 DA, and it appears to be very similar to Amun.  The physical breakdown and mass of the asteroid appears quite similar.  Another $20 trillion asteroid.

It looks to me like you could land on it.  It has a rotation period listed, which indicates a turning speed of about 1 kilometer per hour.  You could match that speed and hover over its surface.  The gravity would be minimal, so you wouldn't fall very rapidly towards the surface.  A brief burst of propellant can keep you hovering while preparations for a firm landing are made.

To land firmly must take into account the lack of gravity.  Things will want to fly off the surface, so care must be taken to keep things firmly planted.  Hence the landing strategy.  I suggest firing hot projectiles that will penetrate the surface for a sufficient distance and then cool down and solidify forming an anchor.  Several of these below the hovering lander should be set before reeling in the tether and securely attaching the lander to the surface.

Once landed, how to begin mining operations?  As mentioned, any movement is likely to want to send you flying off the surface, so a strategy for mining should take that into consideration.  Once again, I suggest making the surface very hot so that it melts, then scoop it up.   While it is cooling and before it cools too much, I'd spin it up.  Platinum is more dense with a higher melting point than nickel and iron, which makes up the majority of the mass of the the asteroid.  The spinning movement will send the platinum to the edges of the vessel.  Skim this off to obtain the platinum.  Before the iron and nickel cools down to solid form, shape the iron and nickel into something useful.  You could use 3D printing for this purpose.

Where to get the energy for this?  You could use nuclear reactors designed for space.  There are those in the 400 kw range that may be sufficient for this purpose.

Would this method work?  Perhaps not.  I've never done this before.  Except something like it in a chemistry lab in high school.  The spinning device acts like a centrifuge.  More massive stuff will go to the edges.  That's how that method works.  Heating metals?  Well, I've seen that on youtube, so it isn't out of the realm to heat up the ore sufficiently for this to work.

Getting to the asteroid would be accomplished with a solar sail.  Perhaps the entire thing could be done unmanned, but it would be cool to do it with a crew.

Update:

This will be a new series.  Part II is here.

Balloon Wars

It's been in the news lately, these balloons. Or whatever they are. People seem concerned about them. Actually, Brandon should have shot the darned thing down.

Now Brandon has declared war on all of whatever these things are. It's like he has declared war on ET ( The Extraterrestrial creature in a Steve Spielberg movie). What's with Brandon, eh? He screws up something, and now he has to prove something? He's on the job, killing those nasty balloons. He wants the world to know.

The idea of calling these "UFO's" seems a part of the strategy. We're fighting in a new war of the worlds. One of these will open up someday, and a creature will come out and say "ackackack". If you send a nuke after it, it will sip it all down like a cool one, and say that it was mighty fine, except it will still sound like "ackackack".

Then they will try to make peace with the creatures, and they will visit Congress. All of the sudden, they will start killing everybody in sight, and Brandon will say that even though we lost a branch of government, we still have two more, and 2 out 3 ain't bad.

Maybe they should try to sic Slim Whitman on them. It seems to have worked before.

When it is all over, they can make movies out of it. The merchandising will be fantastic. You could make a fortune out of this thing...

Yeah, I'm making fun of Brandon a bit. There's probably a reasonable explanation for all of this, but with Brandon, that is the least likely thing you'll hear. Instead, you'll hear about UFOs or some thing.

There's a moral in there somewhere, but I don't suppose one in a million will find it.

ackackack