Also, it’s engineers who land robots on other planets, not scientists

And wouldn’t you say the opposite of bearlandia is not-bear-landia?

Agreed. A plane that can do 200ish knots for a few hours could hit a nice sweet spot for a lot of routes

I can’t comment for their engineering team, but usually open props are more efficient because any reasonably sized duct constrains prop diameter. Increasing prop diameter is the best way to improve efficiency. Ducting a very large diameter prop comes with a large structural and weight penalty.

Generally speaking, the only time ducts buy their way on is when they are also needed for bystander protection.

It’s absolutely not impossible. Airplanes are more efficient than drones, and efficiency grows with scale. Drones fly. Of course an airplane can do the same.

The problem is one of speed and range. The best form of propulsion we have for electric airplanes is the propeller, which has a lower top speed potential than a turbofan. The energy density of batteries is also lower.

Realistically, an electric airplane will have reduced range and speed compared to a modern jet.

There are a lot of other factors. For example, electric motors with propellers are far more efficient than turbofans

A propeller driven airplane will also be substantially slower than a turbofan one, allowing for unswept wings and better aerodynamic efficiency

In reality, battery powered passenger planes aren’t impossible but they will definitely have a shorter range and slower speed. They are realistically only suited for regional routes.

I can’t comment on the northeast, but I can say I was one of the more fit guys around town when I lived in the south simply because I did the bare minimum of exercise. The food is incredible and the weather encourages you to sit inside and hide from the heat.

Then I moved to Denver, where I am now the fat guy in the neighborhood. I quickly lost 20 lbs doing nothing besides not living near southern food and going to the mountains on the weekends.

And fifth/sixth derivatives are crackle and pop because some physicists thought it would be funny to have it be “snap crackle and pop”

I spent most of my 20s doing grassroots campaigning, with a large part of it being protest planning and organization. You generally do not need a permit to conduct protests on public property, even large ones, in the USA.

The exceptions are very specific; i.e. blocking roads may require a permit.

https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights

If you wanted it spelled right, you should have talked to an englisher

On the ULA engine topic, New Glenn was announced and BE-4 was under development years before they won the contract with ULA

My issues with BO are more about their whole “business” model being noncompetitive, either through lawsuits

Say what you want about this, but most major government procurement contracts involve some sort of legal battles. Kinda the name of the game. I was working the contract on the NASA side when it happened and the space enthusiasts blew it way out of proportion.

or the megabillionaire owner paying for everything and underbidding and winning contracts that should go to real companies, like Rocket Lab, Stoke, Astrobotic, etc.

You mean, like, how SpaceX underbid for HLS?

In any case, this is just plain wrong. Blue generates bids that they expect to turn a profit, they just have far better facilities and economies of scale than everyone else besides SpaceX.

Still hilarious to have “theelonmusketeers” posting memes making fun of Blue right after SpaceX has a high profile RUD

Honestly, spaceX fans taking issue with Blue is a bit silly in general. There’s plenty of market demand to go around and more suppliers could only help the future of human space flight

Meanwhile, New Glenn flew the same day starship was raining debris from a failed second stage…

Generally no if we consider it from a financial perspective. Whether or not it’s worth it on an emotional level is very individual

I work in engineering with a masters, and I make more than people with only a bachelors. However, even with the masters pay bump I am unlikely to ever make enough extra money to make up for the financial losses I incurred in getting the graduate degree. It’s only “worth it” financially if you work full time and have your company pay for the degree.

PHDs make about the same amount of money and get about the same positions as someone with an only Masters. You get a PHD because you love studying and research enough to basically give up half of a decade of your life.

I considered getting a PHD until I realized that >50% of the PHD students and graduates I spoke to described it as, “6 years of my life I’ll never get back”.

No but we have SLS, the modern equivalent

SLS is very expensive, but so was Saturn V. If all goes well we should have multiple providers that can provide SLS-like services more cheaply by on-orbit refueling, but until then we should keep SLS in production. It’s here, development is complete, and it works.

I miss the 90s/00s West Coast car scene just as much as everyone else.

I can tell, this whole discussion is transporting me back to the “import vs muscle car” bs from high school

Try being less angry my dude. The civic modding scene is kinda dead outside the type R, but they have always made great enthusiast’s cars with a little work. Great, high revving engines that make decent power, good chassis, excellent suspension.

Btw, the street racers around my neck of the woods are mostly driving cars with V6s or V8s. I can’t leave the house past 11 without someone in a Hellcat or Corvette trying to get me to do pulls on the freeway.

I love the idea of bio hacking. Too bad the things they do have such poor risk to utility ratio 😂

When do I get my cyborg legs? That’s what I wanna know

Honestly it really is sad, we have so many more uses for it

Every atom of fluoride going into our water is another atom that can’t go into chlorine trifluoride production. Putting it into the water is a huge sacrifice we make for the health of society.

Depends where you live. I am in Denver and only use the car a few times a week, mostly during ski season.

The rest of the time I walk.