Plane geek stuff

Mel Padden

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tech/2015/06/05/high-speed-strike-weapon-hypersonic-jet-orig.cnn[^] The bit at the end about the fastest manmade objects ever had me geeking out.

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.

Munchies_Matt

"in space without gravity it gets a little easier to go faster" Who writes, and edits, this crap? Gravity? It is wind resistance that is the problem in the atmosphere. Earths gravity extends well out into space!

CodeWraith

Everything would be lighter if Newton had not invented gravity. :-)

megaadam

Gravity should not be taken lightly.

... such stuff as dreams are made on

CodeWraith

You need to reach at least 11000 m/sec to reach the moon and a little more if you want to go anywhere in the solar system. Was that really so new to you? That's one of the greatest technical problems, because rockets must burn insane amounts of fuel in a very short time to reach at least the minimum velocity.

CodeWraith

But that was not Newton who said that. It was Einstein.

F ES Sitecore

Munchies_Matt wrote:

It is wind resistance that is the problem

So why doesn't NASA just launch rockets on still days?

CodeWraith

Or vacuum them before the launch :-)

Munchies_Matt

Er, do you know what the escape velocity is, the direction of travel, and what the average wind vector on planet earth? Now compare them. :)

R Giskard Reventlov

You need to come back down to earth.

Daniel Pfeffer

Calm down. Don't you know that the only difference between a "science" reporter and an ordinary reporter is that the "science" reporter can count to 21 without getting arrested for indecent exposure? :D

If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill

CodeWraith

Munchies_Matt wrote:

velocity

Munchies_Matt wrote:

wind vector

Munchies_Matt wrote:

direction of travel

And that's the way the Falcon made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs. :-)

R Giskard Reventlov

Escape velocity[^] Putting all the pedantism aside, still marvelous achievements.

F ES Sitecore

Just do it when there is no wind. Can't believe NASA hasn't thought of this. Oh wait....maybe it's air resistance that's the problem, not wind resistance... :)

CodeWraith

And possibly the garish color[^] that your craft gets...

Duncan Edwards Jones

R. Giskard Reventlov wrote:

Putting all the pedantism pedantry aside,

:-D

Lost User

CodeWraith wrote:

less than 12 parsecs

It needs to be fast as there aren't any toilets on board. Weirdly enough no spaceships in Star Wars seem to have any conveniences.. :~

Now is it bad enough that you let somebody else kick your butts without you trying to do it to each other? Now if we're all talking about the same man, and I think we are... it appears he's got a rather growing collection of our bikes.

CodeWraith

And since a parallax second (parsec) is a unit of length (and not of time), it must be defined as the distance to the nearest toilet. :-)

Mel Padden

Sure I did, I just like it when a random news report makes me remember. I also wasn't aware that there was something atmospheric faster than the X-15, it's been a while since I was totally clued up about this stuff.

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.

Joan M

Then it's easy... just wait for non windy days... :rolleyes: