Laughing

Falcon Heavy side boosters use throttleable engines, which is also how they were also able to slow it sufficiently to reduce structural strain during MaxQ, (which is the cusp between air resistance and density during acceleration (or deceleration during reentry) thus lessening additional weight of the structure otherwise required.) The shuttle launches used solid fuel side thrusters that once lit burned at the same rate until exhaustion. To my memory the only prior throttleable engine was the Luner Module Descent engine (LEM) designed and built by TRW for the Apollo missions. SpaceX Merlin engines are all throttleable, a standard feature which accounts for much of their versitility. The spent modules could not be autonomously recoverable otherwise.

The Chrysler add, believe it or not was hailing the American people a few other add were doing the same.
I thought Elon's humorous response was interesting. wish I could find the whole interview...don't even remember what channel was on the TV...I was getting ready for work.

Would really be interesting if they could retrieve the car after a while to see if the electronics survived (unshielded) CME's.

Just bugs the hell out of me that no one is working on shielding our electronics.

I must have missed what you were getting at. Maybe spell it out for me?

Probably, like the word "production" added to fastest, most powerful, etc. With the right adjectives anything can be superlative.

My little brother works at NASA. On one hand he applauds Sapce-X for doing things fast and efficiently (unlike NASA). On the other, he wonders why they are relearning everything.

Musky is a marketeer, not a technologist.

Apparent Independent videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhhPs...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIDf1...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWBGB...

It is never too late to learn. In the next month or so, expect to see a video highlighting some of FIT's accomplishments and future improvements.

I'm not a chemical engineer or anything close to it. I remember as a kid we had a small but real cannon. We got these carbide pellets that we dropped in some water in the tube. Then just hold fire to the little hole in the back and BANG, it launched the projectile or whatever was put in the tube. I never understood why I never heard much more about that energy source, controlling it seems like it could work for many things. Just now I'm wondering if there is some connection as to why that when I applied for OCS I got the artillery branch. I would think the object of a good fuel is to pack as much punch in to the smallest space and be able to transport it safely. Hydrogen seems like a great idea but also needs so much infrastructure today. You could carry carbide pellets in your pocket and get water almost anyplace in the world.

CaC2 added to H20 evolves acetylene directly. It used to be used in miner's headlamps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium...

My father used to put it in mud puddles and wait for a smoker to come by. "Whooosh", unconstrained acetylene burns fast, and will shock an unsuspecting person(s).