* Posts by locojoe

3 publicly visible posts • joined 24 May 2012

Astroboffins peeved as SpaceX's Starlink sats block meteor spotting – and could make us miss a killer asteroid

locojoe

12000? More like 42000!

Put them up or there will be no way of getting those really big space telescopes up there, much bigger than can be built on earth.

Epic spacewalk, epic FAIL: Cosmonauts point new antenna in the wrong direction

locojoe

Raise their orbit

They should have a device on the IIS to fire off rubbish to raise their orbit. Make some use of all the items not needed and anything ejected would burn up faster as well as it's orbit would drop into the atmosphere faster.

SpaceX does what it HASN'T done before: Dragon in close ISS flyby

locojoe
Holmes

Re: Great but oversold?

The docking/birthing port they are using doesn't allow for automated docking. The port door is opened from the inside of the station and is optimised for cargo delivery allowing for much larger items to be transferred through it compared to the docking module used by automated and manned spacecraft such as the Soyuz, Shuttle and ATV. The Japanese HTV cargo carrier works in the same way as Dragon and will be connected to the same birthing port sometime in July on its third delivery flight. The HTV does not however allow for any cargo to be returned to earth other than in the form of a thousand mile long burnt up debris trail with the odd bit that survives going to the bottom of the south Pacific.