Remember NASA's Orion capsule? It's launching on the 4th.(and you can watch the whole flight live) - Polidicks

Technology spinoffs from Orion and SLS already in use: [url]http://technology.nasa.gov/media/Orion_SLS_flyer.pdf[/url]

[QUOTE=Sableye;46617937]Nuclear propulsion outside of maybe project orion never seriously solved the radiation problem, orion got away with it by putting so much mass between astronauts and the blast, but all other forms are so hotly radioactive that once you light it astronauts can never approach it, Plus reality wise nuclear propulsion has so many hurdles to jump through, nuclear powered ion propulsion is much more feasable even if the large scale tech hasn't been developed[/QUOTE]Do note that I said it's heavy. Like, actual ship heavy, not "space ship heavy" which is a tiny aluminum can loaded up with cool stuff and some ballsy motherfuckers. Such an engine would need [i]massive[/i] infrastructure, you'd essentially need to build the ship in orbit bit by bit. Basically it would be like building an actual boat by swimming out into the water and assembling it while swimming, ferrying the parts as you go. Clumsy, difficult, dangerous, and definitely slow-going but it is technically possible, even if the issues with nuclear propulsion are still somewhat of a hurdle. (mostly because research was dropped) Though once built, we could have round trips to Mars no problem. Right now we know chemical rockets work [i]for sure[/i] so I'm guessing that once the initial "okay, we're physically going far into space now, putting people on the moon and shit" bit has been done these more complex ideas will be carefully looked at.

wait what nuclear propulsion as in nuke rockets orion was an outlier

Yeah... both NASA and the Russians have successfully developed nuclear rocket engines which were up to 3x more efficient than modern rocket engines.

"Developed" is too strong a word, there are designs but it's not like they're at a stage where they can be built and tested. Well the "Drop a warhead out the back of the ship" design is never going to be built anyway.

Less than 20 hours from launch.

I'm deeply cynical about the entire Orion/SLS program. It's an overpriced, inflated pig that was designed first and foremost to preserve Boeing's corporate welfare. I'm still excited to see it fly, though. Capsules, though old-school, are a lot more versatile than the Shuttle. Breaking one out of Earth orbit is as simple as bolting it to the top of a larger upper stage. Adding more delta-v to the Shuttle was impossible.

[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;46627407]"Developed" is too strong a word, there are designs but it's not like they're at a stage where they can be built and tested. Well the "Drop a warhead out the back of the ship" design is never going to be built anyway.[/QUOTE] Project Orion can still be done at smaller scale with conventional explosives. :v:

A real Nuclear rocket would be more like[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NERVA"] NERVA[/URL]. Great for use in space, but has poor thrust. Chemical Rockets will be the go-to launch vehicles for the forseeable future.

[QUOTE=FunnyBunny;46618147]Radiation in space is such a bummer. Our satellites would be capable of quite a bit more if we didn't have to worry about bit flips.[/QUOTE] I've heard of plans to dissolve the Van Allen belts by using electromagnetic tethers. Seems neat, but I'm not well-versed in whether it would be practical or not.

[QUOTE=Cheshire_cat;46633746]I've heard of plans to dissolve the Van Allen belts by using electromagnetic tethers. Seems neat, but I'm not well-versed in whether it would be practical or not.[/QUOTE] If we ever made a space elevator then maybe.

[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;46627407]"Developed" is too strong a word, there are designs but it's not like they're at a stage where they can be built and tested. [/QUOTE] [img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3712/12341329173_c8edb060a0.jpg[/img] They already did it 40 years ago..?

[QUOTE=Swebonny;46612980]NASA is doing [B]A LOT[/B] of things, and is incredibly underrated imo. Yeah, the Orion may not be something groundbreaking, but it's not the only thing they're working on. What about the plans of a station beyond the moon, the SLS rocket that only the Saturn V can match, their probe to Pluto, their proposed missions to Jupiter and its moon, the planned manned asteroid landing and so on... Those are all project that will undoubtedly bring new technology to the table. I mean we gotta face reality here, we develop things that's based in reality and that's based on what we need right now.[/QUOTE] This stuff isn't THAT important to the every man. But what is is all the neat stuff that sort of branches off into the civilian sector while doing these things. Pretty much all of us, every single day, use at least one thing that branched from NASA going to the moon, and even more stuff from all the shit NASA has done over its lifetime. From your scratch resistance glasses to the grooves in a highway that help rainwater runoff

How long until launch? It was 60% chance. Is it still a go?

[QUOTE=Bradyns;46635287]How long until launch? It was 60% chance. Is it still a go?[/QUOTE] 70% chance, still go. [url]http://itsalmo.st/#orionlaunch[/url]

[QUOTE=Bradyns;46635287]How long until launch? It was 60% chance. Is it still a go?[/QUOTE] 55 minutes from this post is the start of the window

Boat in the exclusion zone god damn it.

4 minute hold. Waiting on fuel conditioning, and a stupid fucking boat. Even if the boat wasn't there they'd be sitting on the pad anyway

That fucking boat.

What did the boat do?

I bet the boat is Russian.

[QUOTE=Thom12255;46635510]What did the boat do?[/QUOTE] There's an exclusion zone all around the pad and that extends in the direction of the launch itself, getting wider and wider the further the rocket travels (Since the area debris can land in an incident gets wider) [editline]4th December 2014[/editline] 7:17 AM eastern is the new launch time. That's 11 minutes, though there will be short holds I'm sure

What is the smoke that is coming out of the booster rockets at the top?

[QUOTE=Thom12255;46635539]What is the smoke that is coming out of the booster rockets at the top?[/QUOTE] Pressure being released from the gasses produced by the liquid oxygen boiling. I think, anyway

Stream down for anyone else?

[QUOTE=Thom12255;46635576]Stream down for anyone else?[/QUOTE] I was having problems with the public stream so I moved to the media one and that's working fine. Launch has been put on hold due to winds anyway.

I'm using this one, it's better than NASA's stream in reliability, even though it's the same [url]http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/watch-orion-embark-test-launch/[/url]

rip stream

I blame the boat.

It was just a gust of wind. You can tell there's barely a sustained breeze. So let's do this thing, NASA