Starship news

Comment:

He's on to something this Elon Musk.  If you look at the freaking huge version of the starship/booster, you start getting economies of scale.

Here's what I mean.

Doubling the diameter from 9 meters to 18 meters gives 10 times as much payload capacity.  Total liftoff mass is about 2 and a half times.  There is a distinct advantage to going really big. By the way, let's look at another ratio for this thing to see the efficiency gained.  Note that the ratio to payload and liftoff mass.  For the first version of Starship, it is 2% of the total liftoff mass.  The second more massive version of Starship will have a ratio of 1/12th or 8% roughly.  You triple the payload fraction when you double the size.  It really pays off.

With that, I turn it over to the video.

Idea for a post

This idea came into my head just now.  Or is it a rehash of something previously thought up?

I once had an idea to use an electric car to get around, and solar panels to recharge the batteries.  That would be on the property out in west Texas.

If somebody used a system of deep charge batteries to power both home and transportation, that would be an idea worth pursuing. Or so it seems.  I actually had that idea once, but it seems too far-fetched at this time with my resources.

I'd have to get help.  Where to turn?

So maybe you go to this program I saw advertised.  That may be a risky idea by the way.

Anyway, if you were to get solar panels for FREE ( as the ad suggests is possible--- there is gotta be a catch ), then you could get power for both home and transportation by using an electric car.  Use the panels to charge the batteries for both home and transportation.

I was thinking the Volt.  But I may not want to spend the money that would entail.  Then you have to convert a vehicle to electric to try to do it on the cheap.

The commercial units use 360 volt systems.  Now if you were to put 30 12 volt batteries in series, you'd get 360 volts.  Then if you discharge each of the 30 batteries at 12 volts and 5 amp hr, that would give you 1.8 kw power available.  Not much.  But at 360 volts at 150 amp hr gives 54 kw power.  You can run something with that.

I don't have the expertise for that.  It would be easy for me to screw it up.

Just a thought.   Like everything else.

Fins,wings, or what have you

Starship news

A change in design.  Wings will be tried, but it may be just an experiment.

Nail guns

Marline spike hitch ladder

Lunar Space Elevator

Question:

If it is feasible, what can you do with it?  Keep in mind that it may support its own weight, how much more weight can it handle?  That will determine how useful it would be.

CAN I PUSH THE BUTTON? A Lunar Space Elevator Is Actually Feasible & Inexpensive, Scientists Find. … https://t.co/YyxsyNFUjF

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) September 20, 2019

No, you cannot push the button.  There could be an earth-shattering kaboom.

Knots in the head

Comment:

Here is another new subject that has gotten my attention.  Maybe I'll learn something from these videos, but it is harder than it looks.

The reason is that these guys go way, way too fast.  Secondly, they cover up what they do.  It is almost like trying to figure out a sleight of hand trick.




Daily Update:

More knots.  These videos fill in gaps that others leave out.  Eventually, you can learn what you need to know.  At least, I hope so.






Yet another one of these.  The truckers hitch seems like a good one, but it isn't exactly what I am looking for.

New Starship Prototype

Comment:

Musk's ambitions seem boundless.  Not only that, but he appears capable of all of it.

SpaceX's Next Starship Prototype Taking Shape (Photos) https://t.co/Mz34AZ0apy

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) September 18, 2019

Knot just whistling Dixie

"Must-know knots."   If only I could spell.

Framing square tips

Comment:

This is a lot bigger than I imagined.  It is a big project, I mean.  But I've been working on it for over five years now, so it has to be a bit big.  For me, that is.

Green new deal won't work, but this could

Comment:

For those who are so hell bent to end fossil fuels, why don't you support something like this?  Anti-nuclear activists don't want to go this direction, but their reasoning doesn't hold water.

Molten-salt reactors can reduce long term wastes by 99 percent.  Aneutronic fusion can do even better than that.  Nuclear is the way to go.  Solar is not the answer.   Neither is wind.

Sen. Pennachio Introduces NJ Fusion Energy Bills, Tracking Down FF-2B's Problematic Oscillations, Subscription Drive Starts, and New Contest!: https://t.co/ZX11y1mY5q

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) September 13, 2019

Pouring concrete

Comment:

This is more or less the fine points of a big pour.

Using string like a pro

Comment:

Well, it doesn't have to be like a pro, just basic competence.

Meet the Open Lunar Foundation

Comment:

The article says that this field of endeavor is bustling with activity.  Maybe it will happen sooner than anyone will imagine.

Meet the Open Lunar Foundation: A group of tech executives and engineers who have serious ambitions to create a settlement on the moon https://t.co/qdilr80hrt via @technology

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) September 6, 2019

All the more reason to switch to molten-salt reactors

Comment:

A Carrington Event will cause havoc in conventional reactors.  It would have no effect upon a molten-salt reactor.

It makes sense to shut down conventional nuke reactors.  But it doesn't make sense to not switch to molten-salt reactors.

But people will do nothing because the danger is not obvious.  It is inevitable though that an event of this type will occur.  It is a matter of time.

ON THIS DAY IN 1859, the Carrington Event. Something like that would be devastatingly destructive t… https://t.co/U7QR0UtL8Q

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) September 3, 2019

Building roof truss systems for shed, barn, or tiny house

Comment:

One of these days I will finalize a plan for building out there.  One of these days.

Freaking Huge

Comment:

Can you imagine a rocket this frickin' big?  One million kg to low Earth orbit.  The second stage by itself could get to orbit on its own???  Maybe.  Dozens of engines on the lower stage?

Clearly, Elon Musk could be thinking economies of scale in his rockets.  The more the merrier.

He'd better find some other place to launch this thing because the "gubmint" isn't going to allow something this massive to take off from the Florida coast.

Fission fragment rockets not a new idea

Comment:

Aw, shucks.

Don't feel bad. This week I discovered the dusty plasma fission fragment rocket was first proposed in... get this... 1946! By Lockheed!

WTF?!?

— Beyond NERVA (@BeyondNerva) July 11, 2019

SpaceX's Starship to get bigger?

Comment:

Perhaps one way to "nuke" the nukes would be to scale up the rocket to an unbelievable size.

But I still like the fission fragment concept.