3 ms·

Scott Manly did a great explanation. The lander lost a rocket nozzle when it was in the final part of its descent - hovering and taking pictures of the landing

by t43562 3y ago

Scott Manly did a great explanation. The lander lost a rocket nozzle when it was in the final part of its descent - hovering and taking pictures of the landing site. Nozzles make the rocket's thrust much more effective so basically it lost thrust on one side. It had very good software which adjusted to this and brought it down softly enough to land but it couldn't stop the pitch over. The spacecraft landed within 50m of it's target which is exceptionally good accuracy and that part of it's mission was a complete success. The rocket nozzle problem may have been due to a stuck valve or some other problem and obviously they have work to do on that but apparently something similar has happened on a similar design before.

NotSammyHagar 3y ago
Thanks for that. I hadn't heard this detail in the mass media sites I read about it. HackerNews as usual has a succinct summary, why can't normal media be this clear? I think it's because most journalists are missing an engineering background. Just adding those few sentences tells us so much more.
- Suzuran 3y ago
  When I was interviewed on a technical subject by a local affiliate, I was told they are under specific directive to be as non-technical as possible, even if the result becomes technically incorrect. As a result, my answers were trimmed down to be essentially "be scared of scary things". The news is a product being sold to a demographic and the messaging must appease the demographic or they are out of their jobs.
  - NotSammyHagar 3y ago
    It's not surprising that they don't want to make it confusing and useless for their viewers as anyone sees all the time, but it's possible to describe it in a way that most people can understand, like the person I replied to.
  - npteljes 3y ago
    >I was told they are under specific directive to be as non-technical as possible, even if the result becomes technically incorrect. There could be a sinister undertone to this, but this is how communication works. Common context is a must for successful communication, and news is communication. And, yeah, news needs to be sold in a hard competition, so they do whatever to grab the attention.
- 93po 3y ago
  > why can't normal media be this clear there is a strong incentive to keep users on a page as long as possible which means burying the information as deeply as possible. even mainstream-reputable sources like CNN have nothing but clickbait headlines on the front page every day, telling you something big has happened without saying exactly what it was. journalism has always been problematic throughout history but i feel it's at new lows today
stcredzero 3y ago
Scott Manly did a great explanation. Someone remarked below, "It is just like Kerbal." In KSP, I've landed a nuclear rocket on the Mun, and had it tip over. Then I put 2 and 2 together, and put landing gear on that side of the craft! This allowed me to use the craft as a lunar rover. To get back, I'd pick a hill to use as a ramp, and do a "Dukes of Hazard" launch. Once, I even demonstrated this in person to Scott Manley!
- LorenPechtel 3y ago
  Get the mod that lets you carry fuel in your backpack. Then forget about taking off from Mun. Simply climb out and return to orbit with your jetpack. (It's hard enough getting a good rover anywhere, let alone making one that can climb back to orbit. Stock jetpack is enough on Minmus, you need to refuel once on the way up on Mun.)
  - adolph 3y ago
    Lunar liftoff might be one of the places where SpinLaunch makes sense. Climb in wearing your clean and unused EVA, ride the merry go round until you get sent up to your CSM.
    - stcredzero 3y ago
      Climb in wearing your clean and unused EVA And underwear.
    - LorenPechtel 3y ago
      Spinlaunch is completely unsuitable for manned craft due to the extreme acceleration. Rather, what you want is a variation on a maglev train. In the lunar vacuum there's not really any speed limit. You can make a very long track. Put another on top upside-down. Your train can ride on either track--once it reaches orbital velocity it will be riding on the top track instead. Human tolerable accelerations with an ejection velocity sufficient to take you anywhere in the solar system.
pavel_lishin 3y ago
The video in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bFiJvbKyPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bFiJvbKyPs Apparently a similar problem plagued JAXA's mission to Venus, although they're less certain about that because there isn't a clear video of the nozzle departing, as there was in this case!

by t43562 3y ago

NotSammyHagar 3y ago

Thanks for that. I hadn't heard this detail in the mass media sites I read about it. HackerNews as usual has a succinct summary, why can't normal media be this clear? I think it's because most journalists are missing an engineering background. Just adding those few sentences tells us so much more.

Suzuran 3y ago
When I was interviewed on a technical subject by a local affiliate, I was told they are under specific directive to be as non-technical as possible, even if the result becomes technically incorrect. As a result, my answers were trimmed down to be essentially "be scared of scary things". The news is a product being sold to a demographic and the messaging must appease the demographic or they are out of their jobs.
- NotSammyHagar 3y ago
  It's not surprising that they don't want to make it confusing and useless for their viewers as anyone sees all the time, but it's possible to describe it in a way that most people can understand, like the person I replied to.
- npteljes 3y ago
  >I was told they are under specific directive to be as non-technical as possible, even if the result becomes technically incorrect. There could be a sinister undertone to this, but this is how communication works. Common context is a must for successful communication, and news is communication. And, yeah, news needs to be sold in a hard competition, so they do whatever to grab the attention.
93po 3y ago
> why can't normal media be this clear there is a strong incentive to keep users on a page as long as possible which means burying the information as deeply as possible. even mainstream-reputable sources like CNN have nothing but clickbait headlines on the front page every day, telling you something big has happened without saying exactly what it was. journalism has always been problematic throughout history but i feel it's at new lows today

stcredzero 3y ago

Scott Manly did a great explanation. Someone remarked below, "It is just like Kerbal." In KSP, I've landed a nuclear rocket on the Mun, and had it tip over. Then I put 2 and 2 together, and put landing gear on that side of the craft! This allowed me to use the craft as a lunar rover. To get back, I'd pick a hill to use as a ramp, and do a "Dukes of Hazard" launch. Once, I even demonstrated this in person to Scott Manley!

LorenPechtel 3y ago
Get the mod that lets you carry fuel in your backpack. Then forget about taking off from Mun. Simply climb out and return to orbit with your jetpack. (It's hard enough getting a good rover anywhere, let alone making one that can climb back to orbit. Stock jetpack is enough on Minmus, you need to refuel once on the way up on Mun.)
- adolph 3y ago
  Lunar liftoff might be one of the places where SpinLaunch makes sense. Climb in wearing your clean and unused EVA, ride the merry go round until you get sent up to your CSM.
  - stcredzero 3y ago
    Climb in wearing your clean and unused EVA And underwear.
  - LorenPechtel 3y ago
    Spinlaunch is completely unsuitable for manned craft due to the extreme acceleration. Rather, what you want is a variation on a maglev train. In the lunar vacuum there's not really any speed limit. You can make a very long track. Put another on top upside-down. Your train can ride on either track--once it reaches orbital velocity it will be riding on the top track instead. Human tolerable accelerations with an ejection velocity sufficient to take you anywhere in the solar system.

pavel_lishin 3y ago

The video in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bFiJvbKyPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bFiJvbKyPs Apparently a similar problem plagued JAXA's mission to Venus, although they're less certain about that because there isn't a clear video of the nozzle departing, as there was in this case!