News: 1605808930

I quite like the fact this rocket is strapped to a couple of containers.

Very British.

Wait till they mount the Reliant Robin

I trust there is a shed just out of view with a couple of Brylcreemed boffins puffing approvingly on their pipes.

Yes there probably was when we launched our first rocket. In the 1960s.

It would seem that the powers that be have forgotten Black Arrow which did successfully launch the Prospero satellite in 1971. So to claim that we will be "capable of launching our first rocket in 2022." is over 50 years too late.

It seems that: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

George Santayana

I mean, no matter how big your evacuated space is, as soon as that rocket lights up, it's not going to be much of a vacuum for long. Or at least, not without a bloody great pump to get rid of the exhaust as fast as it's being produced.

Anyone able to tell me how this sort of thing is done?

It's called a steam ejector. Squirt steam at high pressure into a venturi. The exhaust gas is entrained with the steam and exits at high speed, leaving a partial vacuum behind. Rolls-Royce had one at their Bristol factory many years ago (for testing RB211s among other things) which I had the pleasure of seeing in action.

That sounds like a massively scaled-up version of the thing used on steam engines to get water into the boiler, where the boiler is at high pressure and the water isn't.

Impressive :-)

Oh, by the way, if you know any youngsters interested in steam engines and you want to move them on from Thomas, [1]Peter's Railway is an absolutely excellent series; stories intermixed with technical explanations.

M.

[1] https://petersrailway.com/

Steam Injectors use the venturi effect...

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injector

Steam injectors and associated pipework on "Evening Star"

[2]https://locoyard.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/138-2013-national-railway-museum-york-the-great-gathering-br-standard-9f-92220-evening-star.jpg

At the "other end", nozzles are employed in the smoke box to direct the spent steam from the cylinders to eject smoke and create draught to drive the combustion

[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotive_exhaust_system

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injector

[2] https://locoyard.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/138-2013-national-railway-museum-york-the-great-gathering-br-standard-9f-92220-evening-star.jpg

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotive_exhaust_system

These distractions and attempts to look in control are getting mightily expensive.

So now we have Space Command, a back of an envelope idea that an eight year old might rightly be proud of. Then there's the lasers. Of course there were going to be lasers.....

“Our warships and combat vehicles will carry directed energy weapons, destroying targets with inexhaustible lasers. For them, the phrase 'out of ammunition' will become redundant," he told the Commons.

Presumably, he's unaware of the concept of "out of electricity".

>For them, the phrase 'out of ammunition' will become redundant,"

If only we were involved in some never ending wars

Presumably, he's unaware of the concept of "out of electricity".

That's been factored in for Britain being carbon neutral/move to renewable energy. The warships will be supplied by mobile wind turbines that the ships will tow behind them - new ships are invariably electric drive, with generators driven by diesel and or gas turbine prime movers, so no problems there.

>Presumably, he's unaware of the concept of "out of electricity".

No chance of that with the fusion reactors he commissioned a few months back - have you forgotten him announcing £220 million for the project, more than enough to get the job done.

A pity that the magic money tree wasn't around when the new carriers were being ordered - they could have been nuclear powered*, had EMALS which would enable F35-Cs and fixed wing AEW to be launched and recovered.

*I did read a case against Blighty having nuclear powered carriers - something to do with certain (friendly) countries banning such vessels from visiting

All sorts of issues against nuclear power, including inability to access some friendly ports because of their objections, difficulties in finding trained crew to operate them (not much alternative civilian employment after you complete your time with the RN), the inevitable 'noise' created by the anti-nuclear lobby in the UK, and the need for some means of refuelling / end of life disposal (so would probably need a brand new dock be constructed to handle the nuclear issues, meaning it has to be to silly-high standards).

>All sorts of issues against nuclear power

Principally the inability of BAe to sell copies of them to 3rd world countries once the UK has paid for the development costs for the 2 prototypes

> end of life disposal (so would probably need a brand new dock be constructed to handle the nuclear issues, meaning it has to be to silly-high standards).

Alternately declare war on a superpower and send your remaining carrier in a last ditch one-way Kamikase mission against massively superior forces in the East China Sea. Cheapest way to get rid of them.

Phasers on stun...

"Johnson rattled through his Christmas toy list. There was going to be more money for cyber-weapons – Boris is one of the few world leaders not to have realised the Star Wars films were not documentaries – and the army was to be equipped with whatever it needed: phasers, lightsabers and special top secret communications to let them know where the enemy was." "

Politics Sketch - John Crace

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/19/an-expensive-sinking-feeling-as-johnson-seeks-to-rule-the-waves

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/19/an-expensive-sinking-feeling-as-johnson-seeks-to-rule-the-waves

Increase in Defence budget and the creation of Space Command - Boris just wants to relive his youth...

[1]http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/2020/2020%20Battle%20Space.html

[2]http://tri-ang.co.uk/battlesat.html

[1] http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/2020/2020%20Battle%20Space.html

[2] http://tri-ang.co.uk/battlesat.html

Oh goodness me - that brings back hazy memories from my distant childhood. The railcar mounted spy satellite is quite possibly the only thing that the UK will be capable of launching for quite some time.

Where will the rockets take off from? Saint-Helena?

Gibraltar’s kinda close to the equator?

Diego Garcia would be perfect but they’d have to evict the Yanks first.

Most Earth observation and LEO satellites go into highly-inclined orbits that don't benefit from the extra kick you get from equatorial launch sites; so lugging everything to Ascension Island would just be an unnecessary expense. For instance many US national security payloads fly out of Vandenburg in California and Russian military satellites are launched out of Plesetsk in the Arctic.

Maybe NW Scotland. Good for launching into polar orbits as there's a lot of sea downrange for bits to fall into.

And let's hope they plug the thruster control cables into the right thrusters.

>Maybe NW Scotland. Good for launching into polar orbits as there's a lot of sea downrange for bits to fall into.

Or Thanet .

Will Space Command also order toilet roll from MP's friends companies at £2000 a roll? I laugh at all the shock with "PPE" it's been going on for decades.

Our space force will totally be ready to launch rockets in 2022.

There won’t actually be any rockets until 2035, but our gallant boys in whatever-the-heck-colour will have been ready for a full 13 years when the rockets finally come rolling over the garden bridge to Boris Island Spaceport...

How else will the UK GNSS satellite constellation make it into space?

Is GNSS still a goer, or a pipe dream?

Who cares about UK GNSS - About time LOHAN got up there