Re: Ah, the carefree days of yore
Does it do the howl?
Posts by Andrew Newstead
283 posts • joined 11 Sep 2008
I'm just not sure the computer works here – the energy is all wrong
NASA names the date for the first commercial crew demo flight
Hi there, Hubble, glad to hear you're doing okay
Tuesday 30th October 2018 12:03 GMT
The telescope was designed to be serviceable and eventually retrievable by the Space Shuttle. That limited the altitude at which it was deployed to allow the shuttle to get to it.
One of the last things that was done on the final shuttle servicing mission was to attach a docking collar to the telescope base which would allow a future visiting space craft to attach itself to the scope. What this craft would be doing was not explained in too much detail, except to state that a rocket engine on the craft could change the telescope's orbit or de-orbit it in a controlled manner (important as much of the mirror would make it through re-entry and it's very massive). It's not a great stretch to conceive of a "service module" that could take over the navigation and pointing functions of the telescope and be attached to it when we see the gyros and momentum wheels on the telescope starting to fail again. This would also maintain the orbit. When the module is used up then it could be replaced with a second unit.
Russian rocket goes BOOM again – this time with a crew on it
Blueprint of modern construction can be found in a tech cluster... of 19th century England
Revealed: The billionaire baron who’ll ride Elon’s thrusting erection to the Moon and back
The Reg chats with Voyager Imaging Team member Dr Garry E Hunt
Tuesday 18th September 2018 10:09 GMT
Hope for us yet!
It's stories like these that give me hope for us as a species. Coming up with incredible missions of discovery and keeping them going and fixing things on the other side of the Solar System as problems happen in the most inhospitable environments possible, absolutely inspiring!
I remember seeing Dr Garry Hunt on the Sky at Night and Horizons and I always felt proud that we had a Brit on the project.
Thanks Dr Hunt for what you did, you kept a late teen/young twenty something fascinated for years and thanks El Reg for bring this interview to us, much appreciated.
Abracadabra! Tales of unexpected sysadmagic and dabbling in dark arts
Now you can tell someone to literally go f--k themselves over the internet: Remote-control mock-cock patent dies
Leatherbound analogue password manager: For the hipster who doesn't mind losing everything
Automated payment machines do NOT work the same all over the world – as I found out
Woman sues NASA for ownership of vial of space dust
Take-off crash 'n' burn didn't kill the Concorde, it was just too bloody expensive to maintain
Sysadmin wiped two servers, left the country to escape the shame
Prof Stephen Hawking's ashes will be interred alongside Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin
Seen from spaaaaace: Boffins check world's oceans for plastic
Fancy a viaduct? We have a wrought Victorian iron marvel to sell you
Wednesday 21st March 2018 10:39 GMT
Just up the road...
Thanks for this article. I live just to the west of this in Derby. A thing that you might be interested to know is that Derby also has a good industrial museum as well as Nottingham. Situated in the old Silk Mill building, considered to be the first factory in the world! Well worth a visit.
Office junior had one job: Tearing perforated bits off tractor-feed dot matrix printer paper
Fender's 'smart' guitar amp has no Bluetooth pairing controls
A Hughes failure: Flat Earther rocketeer can't get it up yet again
Tuesday 6th February 2018 12:37 GMT
Observing for your self
A simple bit of astronomy and travel can show you the Earth has a curved surface. Spot the pole star in your sky, note where it is in relation to the northern horizon. Travel a fair distance south and make the same observation again and see if it changes. If you are in the northern hemisphere then the the pole star will get closer to the northern horizon and on the equator the pole star will be on the horizon and will disappear over the horizon as you travel further south. This can only happen if the surface of the planet is curved.
And before you ask, yes I have carried out this test when I went on holiday from the UK to Crete a few years ago ago and got a definite change in position of the star patterns. If you accurately measure the angles involved you would be able to calculate using some simple trig the actual diameter of the Earth.
Supermicro is, like, totally harnessing green energy sources to churn out servers, dude
Thursday 25th January 2018 18:50 GMT
Re: coal gas
Ah the natural gas conversion. That was help start me down the electronics path. The fitters doing the conversions had lots of cable and battery holders they were scrapping off, every lad (and it was lads) in the street ended up with boxes of kit which we used to cobble up all sorts of circuits. The shocker circuits using some of the old transformers were fun...
SpaceX delivers classified 'Zuma' payload into orbit
Apple embraces El Reg! iOS 11 is now biting the hand that types IT
OK, we admit it. Under the hood, the iPhone X is a feat of engineering
Ubuntu 17.10: We're coming GNOME! Plenty that's Artful in Aardvark, with a few Wayland wails
Hotter than the Sun: JET – Earth’s biggest fusion reactor, in Culham
Astroboffins spot tiniest star yet – we guess you could call it... small fry
Concorde without the cacophony: NASA thinks it's cracked quiet supersonic flight
User loses half of a CD-ROM in his boss's PC
Opportunity rover gets bored of spot it's explored since 2014
Oh snap! UK Prime Minister Theresa May calls June election
Happy days for second-hand smartphone sales
International Space Station celebrates 18th birthday in true style – by setting trash on fire
Tuesday 22nd November 2016 11:53 GMT
velocity and space
A comment on the problem of matching velocities in orbit and living space on a Soyuz.
It's true that there are trajectories that allow a Soyuz to rendezvous with the ISS quickly ( a few hours) but these depend on the relative positions of the station and the launch site at launch. Sometimes these paths are not available and so there has to be a period of "catching up" in orbit, the Soyuz makes orbital changes that will allow it to gain on the station and then match orbit for docking. Things could be done faster but the Soyuz doesn't carry sufficient propellant to allow this and still have enough for a deorbit burn at the end of the mission.
Regarding the living space of the Soyuz, yes it is tight but it does have an orbital module attached, effectively a spare room. This more than doubles the living space of the Soyuz spacecraft compared to just the re-entry module on it's own and can be closed off from the re-entry module so giving a degree of privacy if needed. I believe the toilet facilities are in the orbital module. This module is usually full of cargo on the way up and is packed with rubbish for the return flight, as the module is jettisoned before re-entry and burns up in the atmosphere.
Hope this helps.
Pluto has massive underground oceans, say astro-boffins
Friday 18th November 2016 10:24 GMT
Re: Past and present
Hold on, this is not an assertion but one of two different theories that have been offered to explain the observed data from New Horizons.
Your observations about the conditions on Pluto may indeed be correct, but there is evidence of the movement of the Sputnik Planitia within recent geological timescales. That and the visual absence of cratering on the surface of the Planitia, which is accepted as evidence of the activity of some sort of process that has recently (geologically speaking again) reshaped the area, leaving a smooth surface.
Some sort of activity is happening out there, that is apparent, and that implies a source of energy to drive it. This is just an attempt to explain that, not proof.
Boffins eschew silicon to build tiniest-ever transistor, just 1nm long
'Flying Bum's' first flight was a gas, gas, gas
Captain Piccard's planet-orbiting solar aircraft in warped drive drama
Wednesday 27th July 2016 09:19 GMT
Re: No, it's not
Re the electric Hi-bypass fan, Rolls-Royce are investigating just this idea in relation to an hybrid propulsion system, with Airbus. In this approach a gas turbine powered generator produces electricity which is used by the electric fans.
Whether this actually comes about is another question.
Blighty will have a whopping 24 F-35B jets by 2023 – MoD minister
PM resigns as Britain votes to leave EU
Flying Spaghetti Monster is not God, rules mortal judge
Thursday 14th April 2016 10:18 GMT
Re: Excellent
A bit of myth this. Protestantism was already underway in Europe due to the writings of Luther and Calvin as a reaction to the excesses of the Catholic Church at that time. In Britain this thinking was already gaining credibility before Henry jumped on it and formed the Anglican Church (which is not that different to the Catholic Church). The total break with Rome came with the Elizabethan Religious Settlement.
William Hague: Brussels attacks mean we must destroy crypto ASAP
Tuesday 29th March 2016 14:31 GMT
History tells us...
I seem to remember that we didn't need encrypted digital communication methods for most of the cold war, World War 2, or the rest of recorded history come to that. Remove Crypto from mobile phones, internet, etc. and the bad guys will just go back to methods which don't rely on electronic communications, such as couriers (assuming they haven't already...).
Coat? - Mines the one with the John le Carre book in the pocket.
Norks uses ballistic missile to launch silent 'satellite'
Monday 8th February 2016 16:30 GMT
Re: hmm
Difficult, the beast is in a polar orbit and neither the Americans or the Russians are set up to launch manned spacecraft to polar orbit.
However, it probably doesn't matter as the Americans (and probably the Russians too) have the capability of photographing the satellite from the ground and so, more than likely, have images of the satellite already.
http://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2015-05-11
Come on kids, let's go play in the abandoned nuclear power station
Tuesday 26th January 2016 15:59 GMT
I visted here in 1988
In the late eighties they actually did run tours around Dounreay. My wife and I visited in 88 and spent the morning being shown around with a party of about 20 public, grups and kids. It was a fascinating day. We were shown around the hot lab facilities with 7 or 8 inches of lead glass between us and chunks of Uranium and Plutonium, remote manipulators being used. We even went into the Reactor building (the second one, not the golf ball) and stood on top of the reactor, which was not running at the time.
A very memorable day!
