Lunchtime today for a potential liftoff. Anyone else likely to be watching?
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Yep, got reminders in the phone so I don’t forget
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The rate of the liquid hydrogen filling is about 500 gallons every 4 seconds
Edit… Reports of s suspected leak of hydrogen, fingers crossed thats not the case.
During the launch the four engines burn hydrogen at nearly 9 times that rate (it says 90,000 gallons/min of propellant here https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/fired-up-engines-and-motors-put-artemis-mission-in-motion.htm so 6,000 gallons every 4 secs, but the mix is roughly 2 gallons LOX to 5 gallons LH2 so that’s rather more than 4,000 gallons/4 secs LH2).
They used to use a jet engine as a fuel pump didn’t they?
The fuel pump powers are almost unbelievable. According to wiki the second pump on each of the current RS-25 engines runs at more than 70,000 hp. It’s driven by a dedicated gas turbine. If anything should go wrong it won’t end tidily.
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A gas turbine, that operated a Francis type pump. Each of the Sat 5 engines had it’s own gas turbine.
A varient of that Francis pump is used in kit I work on.
Yes, I like an expensive firework show.
I figure it’s a win-win, either an excellent step forward into further space exploration, or the mother of all fireworks.
Misunderstood, a successful launch is a great firework show👌
As for space exploration, I remain a complete cynic on that front. Not sure a 50 billion plus rocket programme has any actual benefits.
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Once upon a time it kept von Braun et al from working for the Russians. That said, he was bright enough to have been able to turn his hands to something more useful, and perhaps he could have been persuaded to …
These days some might argue it sustains a community of bright young people with expertise in the area of lobbing hardware accurately over megametre distances. Also, would we want the Chinese to be the only people on the moon ?
Seem to have run into a technical glitch…
Wish they’d hurry this all up - Mars 2040? I’ll be lucky to still be around for it… 
Countdown going on hold at T-40mins
Much as I think Musk is a throbber, the SpaceX hardware does point to a quasi practical future of launch and space exploration; one where the assumptions of unlimited Cold War budgets no longer applies. While this thing looks cool, it feels redolent of an earlier era.
Not exactly space exploration, more just getting back to the moon as a stepping stone for putting a human on Mars. Then what? Pretty much nothing. We can’t survive anywhere without taking full life support with us, even if we fuel that locally, still begs the question, then what.
I’d rather we spent more effort getting this planet to support all of us than a shit load of effort to support a handful of people on another planet.
Now, if warp drive were a thing, then we would be talking turkey. Let’s face it, we don’t have sliding doors yet😁
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Not the only expensive ship with technical issues. £3b a piece I believe.
Yep, expensive. Would we be better if if no one needed weapons of any sorts, yes.
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