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When NASA Used an RC Tiger II to Drill into Space Shuttle Tires
- jauntywundrkind 3y agoI bought a 1/16 King Tiger in 2013, intending to gut it and put a small Linux computer in it. Had some progress (took a while to understand the motor controllers were really bad i2c, couldn't read values out, only write), but ultimately didn't get far. Alas I never turned it into a mobile webcam, which would have been amsuing during covid - a lone computer-tank wandering the office.
- Terr_ 3y agoI'm imagining it with a little speaker that plays a theme song which pauses whenever it stops moving, one tuned to the correct mix of triumphal amusing attention seeking [0] versus annoying a human into disabling it. Just remember to stop before making it able to recharge/replace its own batteries. For safety reasons. [0] https://open.spotify.com/track/2vH4H9RThw2wxCTdZEGV2p https://open.spotify.com/track/2vH4H9RThw2wxCTdZEGV2p
- mft_ 3y agoI’ve had this on my Amazon list for ages now, but have never quite found a reason to make the purchase: https://amzn.eu/d/0jSspfR https://amzn.eu/d/0jSspfR
- maxlin 3y agoLol. I want to have a reason to buy that. It's obviously been built to try to cover a lot of use cases, being capable of returning to charger remotely, working as a low-end camera plaform for temporary surveillance / notifications of movement, mic/speaker etc
- numpad0 3y agoI never understood why omni/mecanum wheels hadn't replaced every wheels on everything ever. It's so cool, functional, and cool. Apparently it's something every real roboticists know from having handled it, that they don't work on slopes. So it stays on my bucket list too.
- isoprophlex 3y agoThat's... a lot of ads to wade through before you get to a picture of the actual tank-drill-contraption
- Terr_ 3y agoWorks pretty well with JS disabled by default :P As an alternative: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/modern-us-tire-assault-vehicle-tav/ https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/modern-us-tire-assault-vehicl...
- btown 3y agoThe picture: https://cdn-0.tankhistoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/328398main_EC95-43199-7_full.jpg https://cdn-0.tankhistoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/32...
- stavros 3y agoThanks, some of the pictures didn't even load for me.
- kolinko 3y agoCompletely unreadable on mobile, but iPhone’s reader view did the job
- psyclobe 3y agoCan they fit any more ads on that page
- haunter 3y agoTamiya’s site deserves a link, simple old internet style https://www.tamiya.com/english/e-home.htm https://www.tamiya.com/english/e-home.htm Of course the actual shop site is more modern https://www.tamiyausa.com/ https://www.tamiyausa.com/
- maxlin 3y agoGod that second page. Some crazy tiling background that serves pretty much as a militarily camouflage pattern and hides that there is even a popup on top that you need to close or none of the links work Recommend checking it in an incognito window to add to one's shitty UX collection
- hatsunearu 3y agoDelightful seeing the pretty modern Bronco in such a clean style website: https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/58705/index.htm https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/58705/index.htm
- nocoiner 3y agoWow, you’re not kidding. That really is a delight.
- foota 3y agoThis is probably a bad idea, but like.... couldn't they shoot them?
- mjevans 3y agoIf the tire doesn't explode (seems like none happened to) then the drill method leaves the rest in good condition for failure and life analysis.
- iancmceachern 3y agoTotally, with like a high powered dart gun that shoots hypodermic darts
- tleilaxu 3y agoThe bullet would act as shrapnel and pling off into something expensive.
- haunter 3y agoWhat about an air gun pellet? Surely they are small enough (.177) On the other hand they might be too small to penetrate the thick rubber.
- Max-q 3y agoBut why, they already found a perfectly good method
- hindsightbias 3y agoNow you’re thinking like a real rsearcher: “NASA Develops New Caliber Bullet And Design For Penetrating Shuttle Tires For $50M” “NASA Awards $50M Contract For Remington To Develop New Rifle For Shuttle Tire Woes” “NASA Awards $10M Contract For Gun Range”
- chiph 3y agoThere's the chance of a ricochet, possibly into the body of the shuttle or bystander. Or they miss, hitting whatever was on the far side of the shuttle. I think it would also be not as controlled a release of air as they'd want - the drill bit shown is much smaller than a rifle bullet. And a bullet would add it's own energy to the mix.
- forkerenok 3y agoNASA's own page about the topic: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/cv-990-landing-systems-research-aircraft-12/ https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/cv-990-landing-systems-re... Way more readable.
- DylanSp 3y agoThis page has some more background and pictures, without any ads: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/modern-us-tire-assault-vehicle-tav/ https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/modern-us-tire-assault-vehicl...
- ricardobeat 3y agoThank you. The linked article keeps reloading, showing full screen ads, and eventually crashing on mobile.
- unwind 3y agoAlso it leads with a picture of the thing which is a million times better than the OP ad hellscape. Official public pages ftw. Thanks.
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoI thought I was the only one, but that website is really a nightmare for attempting to actually convey information
- lttlrck 3y agoMuch much better. Though it doesn't mention it was a Tamiya which adds to the charm.
- mauvehaus 3y agoThey have a collection of LSRA pictures too: https://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/LSRA/index.html https://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/LSRA/index.html That first one below the contact sheet sure looks exciting!
- starkparker 3y ago
- adhesive_wombat 3y ago> However it was, for the time and size, quite a faithful rendition of a Tiger II. Its lower hull was made of metal, as was its suspension swing arms and some of the running gear. Sounds like a nice kit in its own right.
- agloe_dreams 3y agoTamiya makes the good shit.
- gambiting 3y agoSide comment - can I just observe how modern web has become an absolute hellscape of ads? The article was very interesting but literally in between every paragraph there's a giant ad, at least for me every time it's for the same thing - some random garbage from Temu. When the site opened I had three full-screen ads that I had to dismiss to read the article, and two more popped up as I was scrolling down. It's just.......too much.
- haunter 3y agoI’m more surprised that you are browsing without an adblocker. 0 ads and popups on my side
- gambiting 3y agoMobile chrome. Not sure if there is even an option for an adblocker here. I used to just have a PIA VPN always enabled with the built in ad killer, that worked well system wide but it kept tripping up my bank apps so I stopped using it.
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoYeah I’m on iOS Firefox - never going to happen to get an ad blocking browser
- LorenzoGood 3y agoBrave IOS
- Johnny555 3y agoI use 1Blocker on IOS -- it works pretty well, but not as well as uBlock origin.
- haunter 3y agoOn Android you can use Firefox which have extensions so you can use uBlock Origin On iOS you can use Adguard Pro which works with all browsers (I use this) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adguard-pro-adblock-privacy/id1126386264 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adguard-pro-adblock-privacy/id...
- maxlin 3y agoThis is so cool. Wonder why they wouldn't just use telephoto lenses an some small caliber gun for this though
- dave8088 3y agoThis comment hurts my head.
- maxlin 3y agoHow come? If the idea is to be capable of inspecting the tire, then puncturing it if it's deemed a time bomb, why wouldn't this do the same?
- mtreis86 3y agoThe tire is risky in the first place because people are around, making shooting a gun off a bit tricky in terms of safety.
- maxlin 3y agoA gun is not a bomb. It is a reasonably precise tool. If the point is to puncture a wheel, and there is one guy at NASA who isn't bloody blind, I really don't see how this becomes less safe from the tire exploding anyway.
- MadnessASAP 3y agoI'm sure that there exists a real reason, but I choose to believe that it's because NASA is made of engineers, and engineers are by nature not practical people. They want to design a solution, not find a solution. If they'd asked the technicians then they would've landed on Steve with his target rifle, or just a plate with a few spikes in it to drive the wheel over. Y'know, simple, straightforward, and absolutely no drawings required.
- 3y ago
- holoduke 3y agoCompletely offtopic, but how the hell do you think to earn money with these amount of ads. If will turn people away instantly. Cant believe these sites have a strong retention. Also which adnetworks are willing to accept so many ads simultaneously.
- galgot 3y agoWerner would be proud.
- dylan604 3y agoA few years ago, I had a work assignment that had me with full pit access to the Indy 500. I can't remember which tire manufacture had the deal, Firestone maybe??, but all cars ran on the same manufacture's tire. They were extremely friendly with sharing information, and it was with a bit of pride, but they told me that there hasn't been a wreck due to tire failures in a really long time. The tires have become that good. After every tire change, the pit crews take readings from the tires, and set them aside to be examined later. Unfortunately for NASA, I think this really long time was after the designs of the shuttles. But you gotta think that some racing slicks on the shuttle would have been pure awesomeness