Anniversary of an amazingly enduring design

Oh Karl! Don'cha hate when that happens!

I was referring to NASA, but ok, won't make a federal case out of it.

But the NASA stuff - oh boy - orbital rendezvous, burn times and attitudes, mission stuff - once that was pretty much debugged, it became holy code.

You know that once someone got a program running it would be used forever. (witness the Y2K scare in commercial circles)

So while the new kids came in with their fancy new languages, the old geezers who wrote the original stuff kept right on banging bits together.

And if we go back to the early missions like Mercury... Rock for zero, stick for one...

Lets try wikipedia. TMI BTW.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Shooter grade P08s are readily available for under $1000 Indulge yourself !

And what does it say, Wes?

She can tell her grand kids when they ask "Gamma, what is a gun?"

It was fine, when I wrote it. I sense you're the one who didn't understand.

Ed asked me to clarify something I wrote earlier. I clarified, and he keeps not understanding. I can't get too worried about that.

Let the Record show that cavelamb on or about Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:37:19 -0500 did write/type or cause to appear in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Should we go back?

I wish I had taken notes, because I loaned the book. "Mars Direct" is the program, which figured that using the technology available in 1994, it was possible to put men on Mars for about 20 billion dollars. No need to invent space stations, moon bases, or "battle star galactica" multi-tonne Space Cruisers (you know the ones

- a thousand meter long monsters with a crew of 5,000.). Two Saturn rocket (or equivalent) launches and the project is underway. Why not the Moon? Because, in short, you have to take everything with you, there's nothing there readily exploitable. Fuel for a return trip can be made on Mars - it's evidentially 1890s technology. Secondly in terms of delta V, the moon is almost as far as Mars. That is you have to spend money (fuel) all the way to the surface. On Mars, you can aero brake into orbiter, and land by parachute. And the environment on the Moon is hostile. Remember, earth plants are set up for a twenty four hour cycle, not 29 days.

Personally, I don't care which way we go, but I'm more enthusiastic for a Mars mission. OTOH, Obama care will mean that there will be no money for any space program. Or any other future.

pyotr

- pyotr filipivich We will drink no whiskey before its nine. It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!

pyotr filipivich wrote: And

Isn't one side of the moon always in the sun and the other dark?

On Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:45:42 -0700, the infamous Gunner Asch scrawled the following:

Not with my Keltec P-11. It has a three inch/15lb pull trigger. ;) Gotta learn to bumpfire the SKS for bigger parties.

Yabbut, how many of those guys are going to come gunning for you in your home, etc? I think the average bad guy shoots a bit mroe slowly, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Did you have a better stat page for me? You didn't address that.

-- Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for. -- Earl Warren

Sorry, I *thought* I posted the l In April 2009, Garofalo drew criticism when she denounced the Tea Party protests, saying: ? Let's be very honest about what this is about. This is not about bashing Democrats. It's not about taxes. They have no idea what the Boston Tea Party was about. They don't know their history at all. It's about hating a black man in the White House. That is racism straight up. This is nothing but a bunch of teabagging rednecks.[17]

I almost bought a P38 until I was clued it it was post war and had an alloy frame.

I'll never have a real Luger though I have have a fun little Stoeger Luger .22 pistol which isn't the same thing but has the shape.

Let me guess, you're against deficit spending as well...

Why don't you suggest hospitals on the moon? That makes way more sense than phony conservatives lobbying for a Mars mission.

Wayne

On Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:27:00 -0500, the infamous "Pete C." scrawled the following:

--snip of answer to question I asked earlier--

Mine has Remington UMC 115gr JHP, 'cuz they were cheap for practice. I should buy some real ammo some time, huh?

I guess that in the extra 0.4 secs it takes to put 2 more 9mm rounds in a bad guy, he won't be doing too much to stop us...IF we get off the first shot, or make our first shot count.

So, you make headshots, just in case they're wearing armor? Good show, Pete. ;)

-- Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for. -- Earl Warren

NO!

It's about the depth of the gravity well, p.

The moon (IMHO) was put there as a useful resource.

Aluminum galore. LOTS of solar power. And - damit - water!

So, you DON'T have to take every thing with you. You mine, refine, and manufacture - on the moon.

Unless, of course, you want to go straight to Mars. (Which I doubt it really do-able) We NEED a moon base...

Heck, check the escape velocity numbers. You can THROW stuff up to orbit from the moon. (solar powered linear accelerators)

Had we set up a moon base back in the 70s - 80s, I'd bet we'd be ON Mars by now.

But without that "tree house in the sky"?

We aren't going anywhere.

Ever.

It's been a long time since grade school. But I some how remember that one side of the moon is always light, the other always dark.

Nope. If keeps one face toward us (more or less). We never see the other side of the moon. But the Sun does - about 1/2 of the time.

From Wiki

Libration Animation of the Moon as it cycles through its phases. The apparent wobbling of the Moon is known as libration.

The Moon is in synchronous rotation, meaning that it keeps the same face turned toward the Earth at all times. This synchronous rotation is only true on average because the Moon's orbit has a definite eccentricity. As a result, the angular velocity of the Moon varies as it moves around the Earth, and is hence not always equal to the Moon's rotational velocity. When the Moon is at its perigee, its rotation is slower than its orbital motion, and this allows us to see up to eight degrees of longitude of its eastern (right) far side. Conversely, when the Moon reaches its apogee, its rotation is faster than its orbital motion and this reveals eight degrees of longitude of its western (left) far side. This is referred to as longitudinal libration.

Because the lunar orbit is also inclined to the Earth's ecliptic plane by 5.1°, the rotation axis of the Moon seems to rotate towards and away from us during one complete orbit. This is referred to as latitudinal libration, which allows one to see almost 7° of latitude beyond the pole on the far side. Finally, because the Moon is only about 60 Earth radii away from the Earth's center of mass, an observer at the equator who observes the Moon throughout the night moves laterally by one Earth diameter. This gives rise to a diurnal libration, which allows one to view an additional one degree's worth of lunar longitude. For the same reason, observers at both geographical poles of the Earth would be able to see one additional degree's worth of libration in latitude.