Tim Peake

[jmorgan]

Caught the start of the live on the news, turned it off before the cringing questions arrived........

[BadBob]

It doesn't matter what you ask an astronaut, they always start their reply with "That's a great question!". Got to get your PR right

[Eric Mc]

He's obviously totally chuffed to be there. And it's great that they can finally get a decent cup of tea on the Space Station. They'll never get to Mars without the ability to make a nice cup of tea.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

They'll never get to Mars without the ability to make a nice cup of tea.

How very Wallace and Gromit!

[Eric Mc]

Excellent article in today's Telegraph on Britain's forgotten astronauts - Nigel Wood and Richard Farrimond.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/30-yea...

[FunkyNige]

Eric Mc said:

Serious question - would those who play Kerbal be confident to either plan a real launch or even pilot a real spacecraft to a rendezvous and docking?

It's a knowledge vs understanding thing - I have the knowledge of what needs doing but not the understanding of what is involved in sufficient detail to do it.

Here's a quick video of what burns they do to get to the space station explained in a fairly easy to understand way, skip to 5 minutes for just the transfer bits -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFjw6Lc6J2g

[Eric Mc]

FunkyNige said:

It's a knowledge vs understanding thing - I have the knowledge of what needs doing but not the understanding of what is involved in sufficient detail to do it.

Here's a quick video of what burns they do to get to the space station explained in a fairly easy to understand way, skip to 5 minutes for just the transfer bits -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFjw6Lc6J2g

Thanks. I'll look at that when I get the chance.

I expect it's a bit like using a PC flight simulator or motor racing simulator. It gives you a good idea of what is involved but is still not quite the real experience.

[Toaster]

davegreg said:

Thanks for the explanation Eric, interesting stuff - obviously a lot more involved than I initially thought!

A more expanded explanation of Orbital mechanics http://www.braeunig.us/space/orbmech.htm the maths look a bit of fun to play with

[funkyrobot]

ash73 said:

Eric Mc said:

Serious question - would those who play Kerbal be confident to either plan a real launch or even pilot a real spacecraft to a rendezvous and docking?

It teaches a lot of good stuff about rendezvous and docking, I'm surprised by some of the basic questions people ask about orbits on the science forum, when they could improve their understanding no end playing Kerbal. Docking is hard in the game to start with, once it clicks it's easy however you can use external views which are not available in real life.

It teaches very little about planning, it's the equivalent of rapid application development in software; you just chuck a rocket together and see what happens. Watching the failures is the most fun part. You can plan your flights of course, but personally I just experiment and repeat the mission with ever more efficient rocket designs.

Give it a go Eric, the first mun landing is incredible and it costs buttons!

I've just bought Kerbal for £17.99 on Steam. It has 40% off this weekend. Had it years ago, but not looked at it for ages.

[Eric Mc]

EVA in progress at the moment - with the "other" Tim and Scott Kelly.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

[callmedave]

Eric Mc said:

Serious question - would those who play Kerbal be confident to either plan a real launch or even pilot a real spacecraft to a rendezvous and docking?

As said, I understand the mechanics behind the process of achieving orbit and rendezvous to another craft in orbit, but doing it real world is completely different.

But watching a space launch, i could explain a lot of what is going on to someone who doesn't know. (or bore them to death!)

[Eric Mc]

callmedave said:

(or bore them to death!)

I'm well qualified to do this already.

[Efbe]

Toaster said:

davegreg said:

Thanks for the explanation Eric, interesting stuff - obviously a lot more involved than I initially thought!

A more expanded explanation of Orbital mechanics http://www.braeunig.us/space/orbmech.htm the maths look a bit of fun to play with

This looks really interesting, and definately a good way to spend an afternoon reading.

Unfortunately am finding it quite hard to get a foothold on the first paragraph of Conics, which I am assuming is quite important. Can anyone explain this in simpletonlanguage to me?

"A conic section, or just conic, is a curve formed by passing a plane through a right circular cone... The circle and the ellipse arise when the intersection of cone and plane is a bounded curve."

[Eric Mc]

Get a dunce's hat. Slice through it at an angle.

[Toaster]

Efbe said:

This looks really interesting, and definately a good way to spend an afternoon reading.

Unfortunately am finding it quite hard to get a foothold on the first paragraph of Conics, which I am assuming is quite important. Can anyone explain this in simpletonlanguage to me?

"A conic section, or just conic, is a curve formed by passing a plane through a right circular cone... The circle and the ellipse arise when the intersection of cone and plane is a bounded curve."

For me I normally have to reach the Math dictionary so I am not the best person to give a definitive answer but this page should help https://www.easycalculation.com/maths-dictionary/c...

[hidetheelephants]

Eric Mc said:

Get a dunce's hat. Slice through it at an angle.

What he said.

[Einion Yrth]

hidetheelephants said:

Eric Mc said:

Get a dunce's hat. Slice through it at an angle.

What he said.

Accurate, and beautifully "pointed", I am impressed.

[Einion Yrth]

Eric Mc said:

FunkyNige said:

It's a knowledge vs understanding thing - I have the knowledge of what needs doing but not the understanding of what is involved in sufficient detail to do it.

Here's a quick video of what burns they do to get to the space station explained in a fairly easy to understand way, skip to 5 minutes for just the transfer bits -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFjw6Lc6J2g

Thanks. I'll look at that when I get the chance.

I expect it's a bit like using a PC flight simulator or motor racing simulator. It gives you a good idea of what is involved but is still not quite the real experience.

Kerbal's a lot of fun, but for the "being there" experience Orbiter, I think is even better, and it's free. Also has a great community and more mods and add-ons than you can shake a stick at.

[jmorgan]

From what I have read it is quite simple. Close to Earth, faster, further out from Earth, slower......



I have a parrot just in case.......

Herbal, I can get a decent orbit but id is luck I think. I am not spending enough time at it.

[MartG]