Hypersonic Inflatable Heat Shield Successfully Tested

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Hypersonic Inflatable Heat Shield Successfully Tested

ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) — A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA's Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth's atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph.

The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) was launched by sounding rocket at 7:01 a.m. July 23 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The purpose of the IRVE-3 test was to show that a space capsule can use an inflatable outer shell to slow and protect itself as it enters an atmosphere at hypersonic speed during planetary entry and descent, or as it returns to Earth with cargo from the International Space Station.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120723171852.htm


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Vastet wrote:ScienceDaily

Vastet wrote:
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) — A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA's Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth's atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph. The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) was launched by sounding rocket at 7:01 a.m. July 23 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The purpose of the IRVE-3 test was to show that a space capsule can use an inflatable outer shell to slow and protect itself as it enters an atmosphere at hypersonic speed during planetary entry and descent, or as it returns to Earth with cargo from the International Space Station. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120723171852.htm

I am always impressed at how science stretches our limits and ceilings of knowledge get broken. However, I do think we are limited in a physical sense, just like a human will never be 80 feet tall, no matter how we evolve. That is an impressive speed for humans. But knowing what we know know about what happens to mass when it gets to the speed of light, I doubt seriously that space travel will be any further than local. I do not see, CURRENTLY, any pragmatic way IN MASS, in manned vehicles, to get to another solar system, much less outside our own galaxy.

I see us getting to Mars, and certainly un manned probes to other solar systems, and even the possibility that our local signals of communication picked up over long periods of time to other life in the galaxy. But I do not see CURRENTLY, the Warp speed, or hyper drive of Star Wars, ever being a possible.

But knowing the real dangers of meteors hitting us, I think that is far more important a focus. Sure we should stretch our limits, but our priority should be pollution, climate change, and meteor defense. It does us no good to get a man to Mars if we know at the same time a meteor is going to hit us.

Scientists need priorities and focus just like every other aspect of life. There are things you want, and then their are pragmatic things you need. Neither are wrong, but priorities are important. Lets work on what we know we need first, while working on what we want in the background.

 

 

"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog


ThunderJones
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Brian37 wrote:Vastet

Brian37 wrote:

Vastet wrote:
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) — A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA's Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth's atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph. The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) was launched by sounding rocket at 7:01 a.m. July 23 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The purpose of the IRVE-3 test was to show that a space capsule can use an inflatable outer shell to slow and protect itself as it enters an atmosphere at hypersonic speed during planetary entry and descent, or as it returns to Earth with cargo from the International Space Station. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120723171852.htm

I am always impressed at how science stretches our limits and ceilings of knowledge get broken. However, I do think we are limited in a physical sense, just like a human will never be 80 feet tall, no matter how we evolve. That is an impressive speed for humans. But knowing what we know know about what happens to mass when it gets to the speed of light, I doubt seriously that space travel will be any further than local. I do not see, CURRENTLY, any pragmatic way IN MASS, in manned vehicles, to get to another solar system, much less outside our own galaxy.

I see us getting to Mars, and certainly un manned probes to other solar systems, and even the possibility that our local signals of communication picked up over long periods of time to other life in the galaxy. But I do not see CURRENTLY, the Warp speed, or hyper drive of Star Wars, ever being a possible.

But knowing the real dangers of meteors hitting us, I think that is far more important a focus. Sure we should stretch our limits, but our priority should be pollution, climate change, and meteor defense. It does us no good to get a man to Mars if we know at the same time a meteor is going to hit us.

Scientists need priorities and focus just like every other aspect of life. There are things you want, and then their are pragmatic things you need. Neither are wrong, but priorities are important. Lets work on what we know we need first, while working on what we want in the background.

It is my personal opinion that FTL travel will be possible, eventually. But eventually is a very loose term in this case. I think that given enough time we will be able to do anything, but the statement 'enough time' is the key here.

Humanity's technology is progressing at an exponential rate. But even so, barring any incredible discovery that sweeps us into the interstellar age (the plot to almost every space opera, or sci fi show), I think it will be a long time before we get to be able to ignore the rules.

Those damn laws of physics always limiting us!

An interesting site for guesstimation and a good read about future technology (be warned, many articles (especially for those in the near future) are fact-based projections, but the farther ahead you get the more it becomes a fiction story (it is that way on purpose, since more than 50 years in the future gets pretty ridiculous to try to guess at))

www.futuretimeline.net/

It has sources, and references to the assertions made in the articles, and, for the most part, stays pretty reasonable and plausible. It is also open to suggestions, changes, and even new articles anyone(I think) can submit for review. Pretty cool.

Secularist, Atheist, Skeptic, Freethinker


Brian37
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ThunderJones wrote:Brian37

ThunderJones wrote:

Brian37 wrote:

Vastet wrote:
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) — A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA's Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth's atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph. The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) was launched by sounding rocket at 7:01 a.m. July 23 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The purpose of the IRVE-3 test was to show that a space capsule can use an inflatable outer shell to slow and protect itself as it enters an atmosphere at hypersonic speed during planetary entry and descent, or as it returns to Earth with cargo from the International Space Station. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120723171852.htm

I am always impressed at how science stretches our limits and ceilings of knowledge get broken. However, I do think we are limited in a physical sense, just like a human will never be 80 feet tall, no matter how we evolve. That is an impressive speed for humans. But knowing what we know know about what happens to mass when it gets to the speed of light, I doubt seriously that space travel will be any further than local. I do not see, CURRENTLY, any pragmatic way IN MASS, in manned vehicles, to get to another solar system, much less outside our own galaxy.

I see us getting to Mars, and certainly un manned probes to other solar systems, and even the possibility that our local signals of communication picked up over long periods of time to other life in the galaxy. But I do not see CURRENTLY, the Warp speed, or hyper drive of Star Wars, ever being a possible.

But knowing the real dangers of meteors hitting us, I think that is far more important a focus. Sure we should stretch our limits, but our priority should be pollution, climate change, and meteor defense. It does us no good to get a man to Mars if we know at the same time a meteor is going to hit us.

Scientists need priorities and focus just like every other aspect of life. There are things you want, and then their are pragmatic things you need. Neither are wrong, but priorities are important. Lets work on what we know we need first, while working on what we want in the background.

It is my personal opinion that FTL travel will be possible, eventually. But eventually is a very loose term in this case. I think that given enough time we will be able to do anything, but the statement 'enough time' is the key here.

Humanity's technology is progressing at an exponential rate. But even so, barring any incredible discovery that sweeps us into the interstellar age (the plot to almost every space opera, or sci fi show), I think it will be a long time before we get to be able to ignore the rules.

Those damn laws of physics always limiting us!

An interesting site for guesstimation and a good read about future technology (be warned, many articles (especially for those in the near future) are fact-based projections, but the farther ahead you get the more it becomes a fiction story (it is that way on purpose, since more than 50 years in the future gets pretty ridiculous to try to guess at))

www.futuretimeline.net/

It has sources, and references to the assertions made in the articles, and, for the most part, stays pretty reasonable and plausible. It is also open to suggestions, changes, and even new articles anyone(I think) can submit for review. Pretty cool.

I disagree otherwise I could invent a machine that would make Angelina Jolie give me a blow job.

I am not a fan of equating the currently unknown to saying "anything goes".

The future certainly is unknown, I do not dispute that. But that does not mean, that si fi crap deserves a pass anymore than theism. There are some things we can dump in the garbage can of ideas without losing sleep and without losing the prospects of future discovery.

My "test" is the same for even scientific claims as it is for theism. Until you can demonstrate it in a way that goes beyond your own personal mental masturbation, it deserves the same value as any other naked assertion.

Sounding nice and existing are not the same thing, otherwise Angelina Jolie is sucking my dick right now because she exists and I exist. Somehow I don't think you would place bets on that ever happening.

"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog


ThunderJones
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Brian37 wrote:ThunderJones

Brian37 wrote:

ThunderJones wrote:

Brian37 wrote:

Vastet wrote:
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) — A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA's Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth's atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph. The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) was launched by sounding rocket at 7:01 a.m. July 23 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The purpose of the IRVE-3 test was to show that a space capsule can use an inflatable outer shell to slow and protect itself as it enters an atmosphere at hypersonic speed during planetary entry and descent, or as it returns to Earth with cargo from the International Space Station. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120723171852.htm

I am always impressed at how science stretches our limits and ceilings of knowledge get broken. However, I do think we are limited in a physical sense, just like a human will never be 80 feet tall, no matter how we evolve. That is an impressive speed for humans. But knowing what we know know about what happens to mass when it gets to the speed of light, I doubt seriously that space travel will be any further than local. I do not see, CURRENTLY, any pragmatic way IN MASS, in manned vehicles, to get to another solar system, much less outside our own galaxy.

I see us getting to Mars, and certainly un manned probes to other solar systems, and even the possibility that our local signals of communication picked up over long periods of time to other life in the galaxy. But I do not see CURRENTLY, the Warp speed, or hyper drive of Star Wars, ever being a possible.

But knowing the real dangers of meteors hitting us, I think that is far more important a focus. Sure we should stretch our limits, but our priority should be pollution, climate change, and meteor defense. It does us no good to get a man to Mars if we know at the same time a meteor is going to hit us.

Scientists need priorities and focus just like every other aspect of life. There are things you want, and then their are pragmatic things you need. Neither are wrong, but priorities are important. Lets work on what we know we need first, while working on what we want in the background.

It is my personal opinion that FTL travel will be possible, eventually. But eventually is a very loose term in this case. I think that given enough time we will be able to do anything, but the statement 'enough time' is the key here.

Humanity's technology is progressing at an exponential rate. But even so, barring any incredible discovery that sweeps us into the interstellar age (the plot to almost every space opera, or sci fi show), I think it will be a long time before we get to be able to ignore the rules.

Those damn laws of physics always limiting us!

An interesting site for guesstimation and a good read about future technology (be warned, many articles (especially for those in the near future) are fact-based projections, but the farther ahead you get the more it becomes a fiction story (it is that way on purpose, since more than 50 years in the future gets pretty ridiculous to try to guess at))

www.futuretimeline.net/

It has sources, and references to the assertions made in the articles, and, for the most part, stays pretty reasonable and plausible. It is also open to suggestions, changes, and even new articles anyone(I think) can submit for review. Pretty cool.

I disagree otherwise I could invent a machine that would make Angelina Jolie give me a blow job.

I am not a fan of equating the currently unknown to saying "anything goes".

The future certainly is unknown, I do not dispute that. But that does not mean, that si fi crap deserves a pass anymore than theism. There are some things we can dump in the garbage can of ideas without losing sleep and without losing the prospects of future discovery.

My "test" is the same for even scientific claims as it is for theism. Until you can demonstrate it in a way that goes beyond your own personal mental masturbation, it deserves the same value as any other naked assertion.

Sounding nice and existing are not the same thing, otherwise Angelina Jolie is sucking my dick right now because she exists and I exist. Somehow I don't think you would place bets on that ever happening.

I suppose if you could develop a mind-control device you could make anyone do anything. We are understanding the human mind better and better, and I do not see why mind-control would be considered innately impossible.

I never made the claim that something will be possible just be cause someone wants it to be. I definitely did not make a scientific claim that anything could be eventually possible, I stated clearly that it was my opinion. Even so, I see what you mean. I worded my statement poorly. Let me retract/rephrase that.

What I wanted to get across was 'Many things we think are impossible may one day be possible because of technology'. We can show that time-travel into the past is likely to be impossible (atleast in our understanding) by the mere fact that no one has traveled into our time from the future, as well as logical paradoxes. We can show that destroying the universe is likely impossible, since no one anywhere in our universe has done so (this is of course assuming anyone would want to, or that any alien species ever survived long enough to be able too if it were possible). I concede that some scientific claims are demonstratably implausible. Again, I worded part of my original post poorly.

However, unless we can logically refute a theory specifically, we really do not know what we will discover in the future. Obviously this does not give anyone a reason to believe in something specific, just because we don't know, but it leaves it open. We can also theorize, despite the lack of hard-evidence. Our scientific method is solid enough to find the real good science. Since I am not demanding that you believe, think about, make laws based on, or pay me grants for any crazy claim about the future (contrary to religions) I seem no harm.

There are theories about FTL travel (maybe not the best, but still there for future examination), and give much greater technological prowess it may even one day happen.

Like I said, our technological development is exponential, and things are going to get interesting from here on out.

Secularist, Atheist, Skeptic, Freethinker


Vastet
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"I disagree otherwise I

"I disagree otherwise I could invent a machine that would make Angelina Jolie give me a blow job."

Actually we're probably only 20-50 years from being able to do that.

The way I see it, ftl is irrelevant. Someone will eventually fund an extra-solar journey even if they must do without. Space is getting easier to get to with every year. And our top travel speeds and energy conservation capabilities similarly grow. As does our understanding of ecosystems and the effect space has on life.

It's only a matter of time. The nearest stars are well within our reach.

Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.