MartianSands

joined 1 year ago
[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 34 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 5 points 1 month ago (6 children)

They probably can do that, but a lot of the connections Ukraine are using will have been donated by third parties, rather than directly purchased by the Ukrainians. How do they tell the difference between those, and someone claiming to be doing that then shipping the dishes to Russia?

[–] 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 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 28 points 1 month ago (2 children)

For an emergency ascent, they'd probably have dropped more than two. They also probably wouldn't have taken the time to type a message to the surface if it were going wrong that quickly.

It seems more likely to me that they were controlling their rare of descent. I'd expect them to lose a little buoyancy as the vessel compresses, so it seems reasonable that they'd drop the occasional weight as they descend.

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Actually, I suspect he's implying that nobody's trying to assassinate Harris because all the democracy-hating assassins are on her side, or she's the one setting them up, or something to that effect.

It's still the sort of slander which in a reasonable world he'd be called on, but that seems unlikely

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 months ago

It's unlikely to cause anything to outright fail, but it will certainly be creating bottlenecks and inefficiencies

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 36 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They certainly won't be bored. Astronauts time on the ISS is a precious resource, and work will have been found for them even if they weren't expected to be there

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