MartianSands

joined 1 year ago
[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago

They will have some kind of pressure relief valve, to let steam out and prevent an explosion. They only become dangerous if that valve isn't working (assuming that whatever keeps the lid on is intact and still strong).

Look for damage around the seal between the pot and the lid, and look for damage to the clamp or latch which holds the lid down against that seal.

Then look at the valve. It'll probably be a heavy object (such as a lump of metal) which sits on top of a hole of some sort, or it could possibly be something spring loaded. Either way, check that it moves freely.

After that the only additional thing you could do is a pressure test, where you basically deliberately overpressurise it and see if it explodes, but if you had the means to do that safely then you wouldn't be asking for advice here so I don't recommend it.

I'll bet they deploy a bunch of starlink satellites basically as soon as they're able, if only for PR (and probably internal morale) reasons

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The biggest problem is that the magnets will "quench", which is what happens when a superconducting electromagnet suddenly stops being superconducting.

There's a lot of energy stored in that magnet, and when it quenches the energy all turns to heat in a very short time. Any remaining helium will flash boil, turning into an explosive expansion of gas, and the thermal shock will seriously damage the machine

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 month ago

Because it's feedback on how effective their targeting has been when confronted with whatever electronic warfare and misdirection Israel was using to defend themselves.

That sort of information might let the attacker make adjustments to be more accurate next time

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago (3 children)

It is guaranteed, actually. US law imposes requirements on telecoms providers to support wire taps

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You don't need a force to prevent collapse if there's no drag force to slow things down. It would actually be almost impossible for a cloud of dark matter to collapse since any individual particle has momentum and no way to slow down, so they'll all be in some sort of mutual orbit

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago

No, basically. They would love to be able to do that, but it's approximately impossible for the generative systems they're using at the moment

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (3 children)

You're mistaken. Dark matter, whatever it is, isn't affected by anything except gravity. It interacts with gravity just like "normal" matter.

The evidence is also significantly better than you're describing

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

By that logic, you should object to cheese being labelled as "cheddar" cheese, because that's a place too and you've almost certainly never seen cheese which came from there.

It's a stupid rule

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

People down voting you for bringing up Kessler syndrome were correct to do so. It's a complete non-issue for starlink-sized objects at that altitude.

Light pollution is a more reasonable objection, and the effects on the upper atmosphere of all those satellites burning up would be as well, but not Kessler syndrome

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Then you'd be defeating the careful planning which went into making sure the satellites don't become a long term problem, by raising them out of the orbits which decay in just a few years and into orbits which never decay.

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I have at least a little sympathy for SpaceX's position that the regulations are unfit for purpose if they need a modification to their licence to use a different fuel tank, that seems totally immaterial to the flight

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