DaveL59

believe they're generally good but no hands on knowledge of them. Pretty sure some on here have them tho, does sounds like a great price vs new.

No idea how it connected but I'd guess it must be telnet given its an IBM 3270 terminal emulator and there's a DNS name pointing it at JPL. Sounds like an accidental find when looking to set up an IBM MVS/TSO emulator could add some interesting diversions on cloudy evenings then and don't worry, I won't take the Thermonuclear War option, might be no need soon anyway 😉 

doing a bit of background learning (new role and all that) I was looking about for an IBM mainframe emulator and came across Hercules. Still figuring how to get it set up and running something like OS/360 but found I'll also need a terminal program, so loaded wx3270 and fired it up. It's default config seems to have a couple of ascii sites defined in the config, one being NASA Horizons. Clicked and it connected 😮

Now that's sparked my curiosity, anyone know if its allowed to access and what you can do there?

Looks potentially interesting

it's a bit plain and boring tho, no distinctive styling to make it pop when fitted to a scope 😉 

4 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

It was too advanced for mere humans! I had a CX estate back in the 1980s.

ahh always wanted a CX GTi, sadly will never own one these days. I ran my last XM v6 until 2009 and gave it away when the clutch broke (literally, a spring in the pressure plate on a fairly recent clutch) and went back to Alfa's.

8 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

You have to love Citroen's attention to safety and detail and the DS was a truly innovative car, decades ahead of it's time. Did you ever see the Michelin tyre testing DS?

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/citroen-centipede-10-wheeled-tyre-testing-monstrosity/

The 2CV was built to a budget and could never compete with the amazing safety levels exemplified by other Citroens. Very sad that lives were lost, though, as always.

I've driven a BX GTi on 3 good tyres after collecting a bunch of nails in both front and rear on the drivers side. Only 1 spare needed to get me to the tyre bay, they were shocked that I was able to drive it in to them 🙂 I went on to run XM's, 3 over 20 ish years, the active suspension on them was great tho you could end up driving on a tyre low on pressure or have one go flat and not know it. I do miss that suspension system, so easy to road-side swap a tyre in mere minutes. The ability to raise the ride height was handy in deep snow too.

2 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

Citroen always had a policy of engineering safer, more aerodynamic cars and I believe the DS was the first vehicle designed such that the engine and transmission would slide downwards and under the passenger compartment in the event of a front end collision. From a little web research, it is also clear that the 2CV was far from the worst car in safety terms. It featured the classic Citroen single spoke steering wheel which is designed to deform in the event of impact (acting like an airbag, only safer), the engine and transmission were designed to slide under the passenger compartment as per the DS. The bonnet was designed to slide up and over the passenger compartment and there was a large crumple zone in front of the engine. Also noteworthy is the fact that the 2CV had inboard disc brakes!

You note that there was not a lot left of the front end of the Beetle, but of far greater importance is the final integrity of the passenger compartment. If that was still intact and undamaged, then the crumple zone has done it's job.

The DS chassis was also effectively 2 box girders running the length of the car 😉

Yep the folks in both cars survived ok, only the DS was still driveable after tho.

As for the 2CV, unfortunately when T-bones it folds, sadly that night only the lorry driver got to see the next day or even the moments after impact. Don't get me wrong tho, the 2CV was brilliantly engineered for its purpose all those decades ago, not may cars could do what it was designed to do.

if you decide on the hammer approach then make a former to lay that section of the OTA in - wood cut to match the original curve - and then gently work it. Bear in mind tho that hammering may well stretch the metal further. I like the rolling pin idea, using that on the inner with the OTA able to roll on a firm flat surface may do the trick. Pliers I'd avoid since you're as likely to add further to the distortion. Just take your time and work it slowly whichever way you decide to go.

I'm wondering if @Stu might have any other suggestions as he's had to fettle an OTA that got blown over by a strong breeze not so long ago IIRC...

I guess we'll see a bit more once the follower has sent its images and data back but it'll be a while before they release much in the way of data on the effect and how that compares to expectations. 

41 minutes ago, SthBohemia said:

^ Have always wondered how well the 'zooms' actually perform..

As 4 eyepieces (unless you are an eyepiece collector) maybe 2 others, a 10mm and a 50mm purchased 2nd hand. Subjective opinion- BUT avoid advertising hype (a suspicion all the Chinese EP's are made within the same giant underground factory), I have an old 12.5mm kellner that performs only marginally worse than a Televue 10mm radian, the price difference being in the order of 20:1.

I can't comment on others as I have SVBony ones (7-21 and the huge 8-24) but visually they do well and are extremely convenient. The main downside is that the FoV narrows as you increase FL, kinda the opposite you'd get with a telephoto lens or zoom bino where the FoV narrows as you zoom in. The more expensive ones are a bit better from comments but the SVBony ones were well reviewed and do perform just fine for me and very well priced (well before the pound dropped off a cliff that was lol). 

well, bullseye, was hoping they'd switch to a feed from the wee cubesat that's following it but perhaps its too far at the moment?

When the life forms living in the larger hollow asteroid determine where the rogue object came from they just might change course and head our way... 

Well after our time there'll no doubt be a major alert announcement about a large space rock that had been hit during an experiment decades ago and is now on a close encounter course with terra firma... 😉 

The black plastic trim should come out OK, personally I'd remove the secondary too so you've space to work with less risk. You might then be able to ease the metal back using that knob but put a large washer on the inside of the OTA to spread the force a bit. You may not get it quite back into shape tho without resorting to panel beating methods in which case for sure remove the primary and perhaps the focuser

1 hour ago, gorann said:

Yes, it must be something of a show-off for politicians and maybe the public, but to me it is a terrible waste of space-flight money. I remember that in school (nearly 50 years ago) I calculated what would happen to the velocity of a Volkswagen beetle if it would crash into a truck, and it was not good🤪

didn't have to calculate that, tho it was a VW Beetle vs Citroen DS head on. Front of the DS just a little crumpled, Beetle on the other hand, not a lot left of the front end. Any 2CV fans should also note - do not pull out in front of a truck if you want to see tomorrow...

if you're ok with the narrowed field of view a plossl gives, perhaps consider a zoom so you can adjust the FL to gain magnification, there's a few 7-21mm in your price range, that way you effectively get several options all in one package. You can then add specific FL's that you find work well for you later on if you want a wider FoV.

9 minutes ago, Stu said:

Shame, but no choice I guess. I wonder how many trips on the crawler it is rated to put up with?

dunno but they were reluctant to do a return trip for the leak issue saying it adds a lot of stress to the vehicle, but then watching it blow over would be a lot more stress huh 😉

At least they can to a lot of checks and re-certify components and batteries etc while in the shed, they'll have to to get clearance to try for a launch anyway now. Pity they didn't just make the shed a RoRo would've been so much simpler 😄 

BBC now have mentioned this also

Nasa spacecraft lining up to smash into an asteroid - BBC News

Due to hit just after midnight (00:14 BST)

Unlikely to see this launch till November now

Hurricane Ian forces Nasa to shelter Artemis Moon rocket - BBC News

Rolling back to the shed because of extreme weather.

13 minutes ago, Stu said:

How is your Mars rocket coming along Dave? 😉😉

My apologies. It just feels the easiest thing to sit and criticise these guys and gals who are putting their all into achieving something pretty tricky, whilst also being shackled by the limitations of decisions made by their political masters.

 

no worries Stu, in fact it wasn't a criticism more a tongue-in-cheek remark as I'd happened to be in the TV guide a few mins earlier and that came up as I scrolled along. Made me giggle so figured I'd share 😉 

Agree re the moon, and from the tests so far there's no way I'd want a ride in his almost wingless tin can. Makes you wonder the odds of a good landing if there's a gust of wind...

As for my own rocket developments, well I can't exactly go to market for the exotic chemicals etc now given my new employer would take a very dim view of such activities, not to mention the landlord would quickly kybosh that anyway 😄 

I do wonder if the Smithsonian channel on Sky have some insider info tho, lately they're showing a series calls "Space Disasters". Fortelling the future, maybe? 😉 

they did have a number of LH2 leaks in fact with launch delays and even launched one that had a smell of gas inside after the leak was supposedly sorted. So maybe its just something about how to handle LH2 in fuelling or some other way needs to be determined. I'd imagine if they're hoping to generate LOX and LH2 on the moon to fuel boost more distant missions they're gonna have a lot of fun with the much sharper edged moon sand/dust that may find its way onto/into the fuelling lines and couplings... 

Ah but shuttle was different, in that the external tank was fuelled via the shuttle using the quick-disconnects in the tail of the shuttle. Those same lines from the external tank then fed the main engines on the back of the shuttle. So in effect for SLS they've grafted the ass-end of shuttle + 1 extra engine onto the base of the tank and stretched it for more capacity and so had to do something else for gassing the tank up.

remains to be seen of course if the next try will be a repeat of the last aborted launch - small leak becomes uncontrollable leak. That they had LH2 issues on the main and upper stages makes you wonder if there's a design or build issue with the quick disconnect couplings.

Well they did manage to get it all gassed up, had to manage the feed pressure on LH2 as it still leaked but at a low enough level to continue. Also had an issue feeding the upper stage later on so it seems LH2 is a bit of an achilles heel for them. In the end tho it's declared a successful demo so now we wait to hear the next confirmed launch date.