Quote from: meekGee on 06/13/2019 07:38 pm*snip*The subcontractor train is an established fact in traditional aerospace, with the predictable outcome.It's annoying when a "new space" company is established and immediately falls into the same pattern. It depends on the part, but it's almost always going to be cheaper and faster to subcontract out to someone who specializes in whatever part you need, rather than purchasing all the tooling, raw materials, hiring people with the know-how, and slowly build up your internal knowledge base to produce the part on your own. Everyone subcontracts. Even SpaceX, though they do a substantial amount of work in-house.
*snip*The subcontractor train is an established fact in traditional aerospace, with the predictable outcome.It's annoying when a "new space" company is established and immediately falls into the same pattern.
SNC seems to be doing a good job out of subcontracting a lot of their work. Same thing for NGIS. Not because SpaceX prefers vertical integration means that it is the only way of doing things.
More on our "First Base": How do we help protect astronauts from radiation on the surface of the moon? Placing regolith over their heads has long been considered necessary but previous methods have not been practical. On the lunar surface, the simpler the construction the better.
Astronauts fill durable tubes with regolith. The tubes (~20 m long) are laced over the habitat to build a desired thickness. There is a simple approach to this placement. This approach to radiation protection doesn’t require moving parts. The astronauts perform the tube loading.
Outside of the habitat, an enclosed rover outfitted with water or other tiles provides much needed shielding on the lunar surface. The two person enclosed rover and the solar field are deployed from the two warehouses of "First Base".
Close-ups from a table model at our plant that we quickly put together about 15 years ago. As you can see we have refined some of these concepts.
{snip}QuoteAstronauts fill durable tubes with regolith. The tubes (~20 m long) are laced over the habitat to build a desired thickness. There is a simple approach to this placement. This approach to radiation protection doesn’t require moving parts. The astronauts perform the tube loading.
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 06/17/2019 03:56 pm{snip}QuoteAstronauts fill durable tubes with regolith. The tubes (~20 m long) are laced over the habitat to build a desired thickness. There is a simple approach to this placement. This approach to radiation protection doesn’t require moving parts. The astronauts perform the tube loading.Filling the tubes will require many hours of manual work in spacesuits. This is not a good option.
Quote from: A_M_Swallow on 06/17/2019 04:54 pmQuote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 06/17/2019 03:56 pm{snip}QuoteAstronauts fill durable tubes with regolith. The tubes (~20 m long) are laced over the habitat to build a desired thickness. There is a simple approach to this placement. This approach to radiation protection doesn’t require moving parts. The astronauts perform the tube loading.Filling the tubes will require many hours of manual work in spacesuits. This is not a good option.Astronauts may be the most versatile, but they are undoubtedly the most expensive “moving parts” one could imagine. This is not thought through, even though Bigelow hinted he had a solution years ago. The caption says the model is something they built quickly 15 years ago. That’s a blatant admission that they did not and never intended to put in a professional effort. “He’s dead, Jim!”
Space suits are cheaper than any large space-rated robotics. Astronauts themselves are self-replicating.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 06/18/2019 02:15 amSpace suits are cheaper than any large space-rated robotics. Astronauts themselves are self-replicating.Not while in their spacesuits they aren't.
Quote from: meekGee on 06/18/2019 03:30 amQuote from: Robotbeat on 06/18/2019 02:15 amSpace suits are cheaper than any large space-rated robotics. Astronauts themselves are self-replicating.Not while in their spacesuits they aren't.Life, uh, finds a way...https://www.fastcompany.com/3068263/meet-the-designer-of-nasas-next-generation-spacesuit-diaper(Where’s the Party thread?)
How a #B330 could be turned into a lunar base (First Base).
Hmm, S2 appears to have shrunk and BA330 fits easily into the fairing ...
Hmm, S2 appears to have shrunk and BA330 fits easily into the fairing ...https://twitter.com/bigelowspace/status/1152289674670383104QuoteHow a #B330 could be turned into a lunar base (First Base).