Watch a rocket tank being built, mostly by robots
Capitalism in space: The video below the fold shows the process by which Interorbital Systems built a rocket test tank for the Neptune smallsat rocket it is developing. It is definitely worth watching if you want to see the future of complex manufacturing. Robotic equipment does most of the work, in a precise manner that would be impossible for humans, which therefore allows for the construction of engineering designs that were previously impossible or too expensive. Now, such designs can be built relatively cheaply, and repetitively.
Hat tip Doug Messier at Parabolic Arc.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Capitalism in space: The video below the fold shows the process by which Interorbital Systems built a rocket test tank for the Neptune smallsat rocket it is developing. It is definitely worth watching if you want to see the future of complex manufacturing. Robotic equipment does most of the work, in a precise manner that would be impossible for humans, which therefore allows for the construction of engineering designs that were previously impossible or too expensive. Now, such designs can be built relatively cheaply, and repetitively.
Hat tip Doug Messier at Parabolic Arc.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
See this on a larger scale:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmmrkswDHp0
Or a broader view:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWocCSl8bY0
Yes, interesting video! Is there a companion video where they pressurize it until it explodes?
Mitch-
good stuff.
I’d nominate this series as one of the better portrayals of historical, hypnotic, mass assembly:
Master Hands (Part IV) 1936
Chevrolet assembly plant, Flint, Mi.
https://youtu.be/YtNXTezmZpE
wayne asked: “Yes, interesting video! Is there a companion video where they pressurize it until it explodes?”
Be careful when testing to destruction. One time, we tested to destruction the standoffs for a chilled electronics box, thinking that our design would impress the customer at the high dynamic G-load that it took to break the composite standoffs. Instead of awe, the customer was shocked, saying “the unit broke?” The best laid plans of mice and engineers …
This is the basic question of capital investment that began with the industrial revolution and accelerated with numeric computer controls. It’s justified when economics says it is.
A technician I know justified by one act his employment to the end of time by adding a sensor that avoided tool breakage on a row of powder presses he worked with by stopping the machine from double punching a part. Machines can be impressive but it’s people that make things happen.
Could you imagine up-scaling this tech and building space habitats using a reusable, inflatable mold almost a 100 meters long and 50 meters in diameter.