Not true, really, presuming we're talking about "working for a space agency" versus "becoming an astronaut". There are at least 100x more opportunities if you're willing to sit in a desk and review regulations for a living -- but at a space agency.
Really, the minimum barrier is being good enough to get into a STEM focused undergrad program, and qualifying for student loans. Assuming you make it through and are smart enough, grad school is typically wholly funded by the universities (or their funding agencies). Which means the barrier of requiring wealth was already passed.
Source: I made it to grad school and I am from a farming family that went bankrupt when I was a teenager.
I don't think melting is the issue here. I think it literally disintegrates at those speeds. Like, this is Mass Effect mass driver level of impact with the atmosphere.
For reference, RICK ROBINSON'S FIRST LAW OF SPACE COMBAT: "An object impacting at 3 km/sec delivers kinetic energy equal to its mass in TNT."
Assuming the lid is travelling 55km/s, it's well beyond that point. The atmosphere it's travelling through is basically a solid at that speed. Even if it isn't heating due to the friction (and waiting for heat flow), it is heating due to the compressive force of being slammed into the atmosphere. It's very likely the whole thing vaporized.
But I could be wrong, and some alien SOB is going to have a bad day when the manhole cover slams into their ship in interstellar space.
In retrospect, it wasn't the best idea, but it's probably the most complicated flying brick anyone has ever conceived and it somehow worked, most of the time.
But imagine you could go back and redesign it. Payload bay doesn't have to fit keyhole satellites. Don't have to use SRBs as a jobs program for ICBM contractors. They use a fuel that isn't as nasty to handle as hydrogen. It gets stacked vertically. Oh wait -- I just designed Starship, minus the reusable booster.
I actually went through the Canadian Space Agency's astronaut application a few years ago. Made it through the initial screening and into medical certifications. Got downselected where there were about 300 candidates remaining for two positions. But I got to see a little of the process. Here are some specifics items to add to the list, some of which will be relevant if you're trying to support your child in their dreams (and have the resources to do it).
(1) 20/20 vision. They were allowing people who had laser surgery to correct to 20/20, or people who could be corrected.
(2) Be a pilot of any kind whatsoever -- even a crop duster -- but ideally military. Kids can do air cadets, or take gliding lessons or similar.
(3) Have SCUBA certifications.
(4) Have radio certifications (even HAM radio works, but more advanced is better).
(5) Speak at least one other language that is used in one of the world's space agencies -- two are better. Russian and Japanese/French would be a good choice. Russian may fall down the list of relevance soon.
(6) Have experience in an "operational environment" -- basically, are you going to go crazy cooped up in the space station with only a few people for months? For kids this might mean backcountry camping trips. For adults, this often means being deployed somewhere, in a military or similar context.
(7) Have a medical degree, preferentially, but any STEM Ph.D. will probably work. This means making sure you select courses in school that lead that direction.
I went to grad school for planetary science -- naively thinking that I could outcompete all the people dreaming of the same thing. Make sure you have a fallback plan -- something you can pivot to -- when it doesn't pan out :)
That said, all of this may become entirely irrelevant very quickly if Starship starts ferrying a hundred people to space every day.
Alright. I'm a huge supporter of Ukraine here. But the west has been collectively providing Ukraine with a metric fucktonne of weapons. Russia is clearly the aggressor, at fault, and fucking evil. But if we can send weapons to Ukraine, Russia acquiring weapons elsewhere is probably fair game. That doesn't mean we can't apply economic or political pressure.
In many ways, this war dragging on for a long time is actually in Chinese interests, as far as I can tell. It makes the west war-weary making it less likely we can sustain another conflict should China decide to engage over Taiwan or similar. And it increases Russian reliance on China in the longer term. The only thing China is likely unhappy about here is NK's increasingly large role (moving into Russian sphere of influence).
But unless we're willing to actually sanction China, the west will just complain and do nothing.
The list is great! But it doesn't really tell us which ones are actively developed. Running historical DEs is fun sometimes. For example, LXDE doesn't really see a lot of development compared to its successor, LXQt. But once again shows the the Arch Wiki is the best ;)
I guess people do occasionally compile KDE 1.x just to see if it still runs on modern systems (it does, but obviously some underlying things have changed over the years, like the audio and graphics stacks). But that isn't the same as being actively developed :)
Elon (for all of his modern failings) had a catchphrase a while back that went something like: "the best part is no part; the best process is no process". The problem is that this doesn't always scale, particularly once lawyers get involved. You have been lucky 😀
And like all liars, the more you challenge them, the more entrenched and angry they become. Best to distract him with bright colours or something and hope he forgets.
Classic intro to orbital mechanics question. You could actually pull this off on some of the smaller bodies in the solar system (asteroids, etc.) provided you put the hole through the body from the north to south pole to avoid Coriolis effects. Time would be equal to the circular orbit time at the same altitude. Cost would be astronomical.
Not true, really, presuming we're talking about "working for a space agency" versus "becoming an astronaut". There are at least 100x more opportunities if you're willing to sit in a desk and review regulations for a living -- but at a space agency.
Really, the minimum barrier is being good enough to get into a STEM focused undergrad program, and qualifying for student loans. Assuming you make it through and are smart enough, grad school is typically wholly funded by the universities (or their funding agencies). Which means the barrier of requiring wealth was already passed.
Source: I made it to grad school and I am from a farming family that went bankrupt when I was a teenager.