Scott Manley

Internet Rocket Scientist, Gamer, Astronomer, Dad, Scotsman, Pilot. Makes videos about space and science

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

We've never seen anything like this recording of a landing on another world. @fireflyspace

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@WhatMattersN0W I can see you failed logic.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

Do you know what NASA has inside these spheres?

Nothing.

They’re vacuum spheres which are used to generate the pressure drop to drive Langley’s hypersonic wind tunnels.

NASA also operates the Space Power Facility the largest ‘nothing’ on earth.

Nobody beats NASA at nothing.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

Asked Grok about the chemical engineering of separating actinides from spent nuclear fuel and it got stuck in a loop, obsessed with how brutal the chemistry is.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@StormSilvawalk1 The thickness of the material controls the voltage, the cross section gives you the current.
These are high voltage, low current devices.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

Do you have an application that needs a one off high voltage pulse and a harsh environment that favors solid state devices. Say... a warhead with a particle accelerator initiator.
Then you might use an Explosively driven Ferroelectric generator, these can generator 100kEv pulses for microseconds.
A special ceramic is polarized during manufacture, storing electrical energy by aligning the crystal structure. Then during operation an explosive shocks it hard enough that it transitions into the more compact low energy state and the energy is released as a big voltage spike.
The down side is this can only be used once, so it's ideal for applications where once is enough.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@ZeroDayMedia4U Just because you've never heard of this technology doesn't mean that it's some kind of secret, lots of public research on them:
https://t.co/NSci7CMK2d

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@dsracoon Ferroelectric materials also happen to be piezoelectric, but the energy for the pulse in this case is 'baked in' at the factory.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@ZeroDayMedia4U Because it's fascinating.
Why would you ask me this?

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@HalenMattison A collaboration between Ukraine, Russia and Boeing.
But their advantage wasn't LEO, it was the ability to put satellites on GTO trajectories with zero inclination meaning the GEO satellites saved fuel during insertion.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@Pinboard This is the Russian section, the cost is in Rubles

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@HighContrast You make me want to make music

[High Contrast @HighContrast]

Sampling a vhs of a slasher film on my birthday 🤓

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@AeroGennic It’s more that it was a long way from the sun and not warm enough to drive much activity.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

This is comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - in 1994 its 21 fragments smashed into Jupiter over a week.
Except it's not really a comet, spectroscopic observations found no gas, the coma was entirely made of dust.
Usually comets heat up near the sun, emit gas and the gas releases dust, but SL9 wasn't doing this, instead it had been torn apart by tidal forces near jupiter, and those dust clouds were released by this process.

It's no more a comet than Dimorphos was after it was hit by DART.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

Of course at around the same time Polonium was used to spark a much bigger bang, it was essential to the neutron generator which would kick off the chain reaction in the Mk3 atomic bombs.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

In the 1940’s Firestone made spark plugs which incorporated Polonium 210, the radioactive metal would help ionize the air making for more reliable sparks. At least for the first 6 months or so, the effect would decay over time.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@FredWoodard19 The fragments weren't dust particles.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

Had a great idea for a story while making coffee, knew I should get started on it right away.
Unfortunately before the coffee finished brewing this classic tune popped into my head on repeat and I can no longer remember what the video idea was. https://t.co/0lyml3Gh78

[Outer Space Today @outerspacetoday]

JUST IN: Texas A&M is preparing to challenge Caltech for control of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, potentially ending a management relationship that has lasted roughly 90 years.

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has authorized the system to assemble a team and prepare a proposal to manage and operate JPL.

NASA is opening management of the laboratory to competitive bidding for the first time in JPL’s history.

Caltech founded JPL and has managed the laboratory since its creation. Its current contract runs through September 2028 and carries a maximum potential value of $30 billion if all options are exercised.

JPL employs roughly 7,300 people and has led missions spanning Mars rovers, Voyager and some of NASA’s most important deep-space exploration programs.

Texas A&M already co-manages Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Pantex nuclear weapons facility and is completing a $200 million Space Institute near NASA Johnson Space Center.

NASA says the competition will take several years and will not disrupt current JPL missions.

[Scott Manley @DJSnM]

@CDcessna_pilot I get asked about Cirrus regularly, I'm an unofficial salesperson, I've even had astronauts ask me for advice about SR22 vs 22T.