Catfight!
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Does this chart of working hours by country include the time spent off the job because of being on strike? Or was strike time disregarded?
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For a billion, couldn’t they boost it up to a lunar LaGrange point for future salvage ?
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Yes, the definition takes account of “strike or labour dispute” in average yearly hours worked. That doubtlessly helps France come in so low.
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It would take a lot more than a billion. The mass of the ISS is around 420 tonnes (not counting any modules which may be added before the disposal is performed). The delta-v to get from low Earth orbit to an orbit at the lunar distance (which is what you need to get to L4 or L5) is around 3.26 km/sec. Plugging this into the rocket equation, and assuming you’re using LOX/liquid hydrogen fuel, and neglecting the mass of tankage, engines, and structural components, the initial mass would be 881 tonnes, or a booster of 461 tonnes. If we assume something like the Saturn V’s S-IVB third stage is being used as the booster, it would take more than six Saturn V launches to lift the stages into orbit, and that’s ignoring how they would be coupled together as a propulsion unit for the station.
It would be much less expensive to boost the ISS into a higher Earth “graveyard” orbit where it would be safe from atmospheric decay. If it were boosted into a 900 km circular orbit, its orbital lifetime would be on the order of 1000 years, which should be plenty of time to decide what to do with it next. If Starship becomes operational with orbital refuelling (which is required to perform the lunar demonstration mission which NASA has scheduled for 2024), it should be able to perform that boost operation in a modest number of flights.
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Political marketing:
At the event, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez wore a white dress by fashion brand Brother Vellies with the words “tax the rich” scrawled across the back in red ink.
The Office of Congressional Ethics stated in its June 2022 report that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez “may have accepted impermissible gifts” in the form of hair and makeup services, attire for the event and transportation provided by magazine publisher Condé Nast, fashion brand Brother Vellies and other vendors associated with the event.
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Ion thrusters are a bit better of course. At the low end exhaust velocity of 20km/s, and the deltaV for an L5 parking orbit the booster mass is under 150 ton:
At the high end of 50km/s:
Either way boosting Space Station Fred to 900km would seem to be a no brainer – especially at today’s inflation adjusted rate of interest.
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Pol Pot would be proud.
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Insert marsupial joke:
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Volcano, shmolcano! What I want to know is why there’s a picture of an anime corgi being chased by a fish on the surface of Venus.
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So Australia buys vey expensive nuclear submarines from the US, and the US throws a little contract for a prototype airframe to Australia. Maybe Australia needs to send some people to Business School?
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Gee, Elon could just steal it and repurpose it. Who would complain?
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Here’s a rat disarming a mousetrap (an excellent Twitter feed, by the way)
https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1637034625192132610
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