Hacker News: trothamel

New comment by trothamel in "Artemis II crew see first glimpse of far side of Moon [video]"

trothamel — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 18:02:52 +0000

We're about to find out.

The new NASA administrator, Isaacman, seems to have done a very good job of convincing the various Senators to, if not get rid of the pork, allow him to allocate it in a way that benefits the lunar program.

The result was the Ignition event, which looks like it's planning to send up 17 small and 4 crew-capable landers by 2028, along with a fleet of orbital assets.

You can find out more https://www.nasa.gov/ignition/ , especially the "Building the Moon Base" section. The cost is $10B spread out over 3 years.

New comment by trothamel in "NASA’s Artemis II Crew Launches to the Moon"

trothamel — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:07:24 +0000

Successful space travel is one of the few big news events where nobody has to be unhappy.

Most of the other big news events are ones where people get severely hurt, and political ones where one partly loses.

With this, we can look up at the moon, and say "Humanity did that."

My third Orion launch, but it feels different

trothamel — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:42:17 +0000

Article URL: https://arstechnica.com/features/2026/03/this-is-my-third-orion-launch-but-it-feels-totally-different/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47590932

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by trothamel in "Artemis II is not safe to fly"

trothamel — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:03:21 +0000

This is a perfect way to put it.

Artemis II is not safe, at least by the standards we apply to things. It's the third flight of a capsule, on the second flight of the rocket, and the first flight of things like the life support system.

At the end of the day, one of the reasons astronauts are respected is they understand those risks, and go into space anyway. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to minimize risks - but at some point the risk becomes acceptable, and the cost of reducing it too great.

To paraphrase a quote from Star Trek - risk is their business.

New comment by trothamel in "Ignition: NASA's Plan for the Moon [video]"

trothamel — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:22:18 +0000

Text version of the introduction: https://xcancel.com/NASAAdmin/status/2036428252693078055

Ignition: NASA's Plan for the Moon [video]

trothamel — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:21:16 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIlTwwJv1Ac

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47502190

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

Cooling Datacenters in Space – Doing the Math

trothamel — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 21:05:42 +0000

Article URL: https://www.patreon.com/posts/cooling-in-space-153358848

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47431444

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by trothamel in "Show HN: A weird thing that detects your pulse from the browser video"

trothamel — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 03:47:24 +0000

There's a version of this built into the Google Fit application for Android.

New comment by trothamel in "NASA announces overhaul of Artemis program amid safety concerns, delays"

trothamel — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 18:59:34 +0000

A couple of new posts by Nasa Administrator Isaacman:

Launch cadence across NASA programs:

https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2027456699175497741

An infographic showing the new architectures:

https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2027456713507356713

It's interesting how Artemis III (the new one) will try to prove out both HLS landers in one LEO mission.

New comment by trothamel in "America's pensions can't beat Vanguard but they can close a hospital"

trothamel — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:59:49 +0000

Interest also compensates for the other things that money could be doing. If I didn't loan it to you (or a student), then I would be doing something else with the money, even if just buying a government bond.

Discord Posts "Age Assurance" FAQ

trothamel — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 19:50:08 +0000

Article URL: https://twitter.com/discord/status/2021295316469940606

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46965802

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

NASA to Save $1.4B by Insourcing

trothamel — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:54:33 +0000

Article URL: https://twitter.com/NASAAdmin/status/2019823962465923366

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46916632

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by trothamel in "X offices raided in France as UK opens fresh investigation into Grok"

trothamel — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 04:59:06 +0000

Don't forget polaroid in that.

New comment by trothamel in "xAI joins SpaceX"

trothamel — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 03:05:21 +0000

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2017792776415682639

For what it's worth, this project plans to use Tesla AI5/AI6 hardware for the first launches.

New comment by trothamel in "xAI joins SpaceX"

trothamel — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 02:38:19 +0000

The point of the Starship program is to drop the cost of a kg going to space significantly - this isn't meant to be launched with rockets that aren't fully reusable.

New comment by trothamel in "xAI joins SpaceX"

trothamel — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 02:30:59 +0000

SpaceX tends to expend cores they've gotten significant use out of, rather than new ones - so the core would have been "paid off" by then.

New comment by trothamel in "xAI joins SpaceX"

trothamel — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 02:22:38 +0000

On the other hand, Tesla vehicles have similar hardware built into them, and don't require such hands-on intervention. (And that's the hardware that will be going up.)

New comment by trothamel in "A Crisis comes to Wordle: Reusing old words"

trothamel — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 20:08:49 +0000

If I remember correctly, the original version of wordle used a word list that was run past the creator's wife, who had learned English later in life. The result was a really accessible game - none of the words felt like ones you wouldn't know. It probably makes sense to reuse words than risk losing that accessibility.

(I kept a copy of original wordle, and it seems to have 2,315 words that are possible answers.)

The Spacecraft That Wouldn't Die

trothamel — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 20:56:04 +0000

Article URL: https://www.corememory.com/p/exclusive-theres-a-spaceship-epic-aerospace-chimera

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46840753

Points: 50

# Comments: 11

New comment by trothamel in "Internet voting is insecure and should not be used in public elections"

trothamel — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 03:01:29 +0000

In a lot of places, it's a photo ID. Usually that required a birth certificate to get, and often a few more pieces of corroborating information to make it harder.