In retrospect this project seems a bit silly. HOWEVER, a national research lab should be doing this type of activity. They could have written lots of speculative papers and expounded endlessly on what they thought they could do ... but actually building a prototype that provided far more value. It forced them to find where the actual ble…
In retrospect this project seems a bit silly. HOWEVER, a national research lab should be doing this type of activity. They could have written lots of speculative papers and expounded endlessly on what they thought they could do ... but actually building a prototype that provided far more value. It forced them to find where the actual bleeding edge of technology was at that point in time. It got rid of all the speculation and extrapolation. It forced people to realize what was actually possible.
We have a similar problem today ... everything is designed on CAD and the operation is simulated. Both of those computer programs have simplifying assumptions buried in their code and the users have no idea that they exist. Hence big rockets that operate perfectly in their simulation but scatter themselves in tiny bits across the Caribbean. It would be more reassuring if a bit more testing of individual components was done, to assure they work, before throwing them into the air above everyone's head.
Hmmmm ... and to think Livermore was doing this while I was in highschool. Keep up the good work !!
In retrospect this project seems a bit silly. HOWEVER, a national research lab should be doing this type of activity. They could have written lots of speculative papers and expounded endlessly on what they thought they could do ... but actually building a prototype that provided far more value. It forced them to find where the actual bleeding edge of technology was at that point in time. It got rid of all the speculation and extrapolation. It forced people to realize what was actually possible.
We have a similar problem today ... everything is designed on CAD and the operation is simulated. Both of those computer programs have simplifying assumptions buried in their code and the users have no idea that they exist. Hence big rockets that operate perfectly in their simulation but scatter themselves in tiny bits across the Caribbean. It would be more reassuring if a bit more testing of individual components was done, to assure they work, before throwing them into the air above everyone's head.
Hmmmm ... and to think Livermore was doing this while I was in highschool. Keep up the good work !!