#verm is watching...

[vermillioncrown]

fellow engineering buddy

[vermillioncrown]

seeing your thoughts from the other anon on project hail mary, have you watched interstellar? interstellar has a lot of physics stuff so as a NASA engineer i’m curious to hear your thoughts.

me personally I was in the very small, contrarian minority in that I didn’t like interstellar at all. despite being hailed for its scientific accuracy I felt it was too self-important and failed to capture the mundanity and humanity that comes with science/the scientific process. project hail mary, in my opinion, was way better at balancing science with the characters and giving a reason to care for the work they were doing. it also doesn’t have a final message of “just find another planet lul” in response to climate change. which is a plus. but i’m not an actual scientist (yet) so not really qualified to soapbox about this matter

as a scientist who works closely with the actual systems that make space science possible irl I figured you might have opinions about how it’s portrayed in Interstellar. it’s always nice to hear smart people’s opinions about things!

i have watched interstellar but that was 1) in 2015 and 2) split right at "don't leave me murph!" bc i watched it on an international flight and couldn't finish the movie until the return flight lol

(to this day i still absently mumble 'don't leave me murph' if i'm idling, but that scene did make me cry even tho it sounds like i'm mocking it)

(15 hr flight to hong kong for a grad school interview, i was sobbing and then they cut the movie during descent and i had to put my makeup and fake lashes over all of That. and then haunted by the self-induced cliffhanger...)

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the two stories have different focuses. as i have said how much i love phm for its "human" portrayal, i think it's a story that uses science and space as the (very fleshed out, chef's kiss) setting, versus interstellar uses science as the plot device and mechanism for cooper's personal journey. nuanced difference.

you can tell a story about growing into bravery and one-of-a-kind friendship like phm without the setting of space. interstellar doesn't work without the theoretical physics. i don't think it's fair to compare the two on that merit besides your personal preference.

also, shit's SO fucked in interstellar, it's like if they were too deep to fix earth. they don't have the manpower or infrastructure, they have a long shot hope at their species surviving, not the current generation.

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onto my actual expertise: i can't judge the science. i'm not a theoretical physicist/astrophysicist etc. i do not know much about black holes beyond general knowledge from undergrad courses. and when i watched it, i had more immediate familiarity with aircraft design vs spacecraft and space systems.

i also am not about to rewatch that movie just to answer this ask lol

overall science is rigorous enough. that's the black hole stuff, the fundamental laws, the theory. people talk ad nauseam about that, it's fine

using my current knowledge on space systems for what i remember: so. as a single shot mission it makes sense. they built it in space bc you cannot launch that shit. i was about to rip into the docking scene until i remembered the two elements were damaged so he had to manually do it (rendezvous and docking was The Premiere capability that put the US ahead during the cold war space race, so that had better be automated and top notch).

i'd worry about weird structural loads on the endurance ring design while it's in deep space, but it has to go into a black hole so whatever! who knows what happens in a black hole and that's the whole point of the movie.

but...it's spinning AND thrusting at the same time, so a deep cut would be figuring out weird interactions w natural frequency vs the engines that could cause it to vibrate into smithereens. but x2, circles are strong and it'd be in tension and not compression so idk. that's like a very deep cut, and i'm neither a structural optimization nor electric propulsion expert. that middle core/hub is begging to be torn off...

some of my recent studies had to look into crew habitation, and i'm wincing at all the piping and wiring that'll be needed because all of these systems are so dispersed over the entire vehicle. but also, they assembled it in space so it can be as heavy as whatever. BUT ALSO UPKEEP OF THE WATER RECYCLING SYSTEM. if it's all in one place, you can "easily" replace parts. lol good luck if you clog up somewhere halfway across the ring. go hunt for and clean your pee brine.

AH

THAT SHIT IN LOW EARTH ORBIT so you gotta deal with stationkeeping this...behemoth. its orbit will degrade and need constant maneuvering to stay at altitude. it'd be propellant-hungry as hell, but it doesn't say what type of propellant so idk probably something storable (doesn't need extreme temperature and pressure to manage) vs what we're dealing with now (liquid hydrogen and oxygen -> liquid methane and oxygen for HLS concepts because less toxic and more propulsively efficient, but needs cryogenic fluid management tech and liquid hydrogen very leaky). and lol "a decade to complete" we don't even have half of this for the ISS and that was "completed" in 2011, which launched in 1998.

the ranger single-stage-to-orbit element design is pretty out there, too, but it has explanations for what novel technologies it uses to have that kind of design. pass ig.

tldr the movie is so sci-fi that things pass at first glance and i don't mind making excuses for what makes me skeptical. because it's just a single vehicle doing a single mission, without detailed concept of operations, i don't have any strong no-go nitpicks 🤷

[vermillioncrown]

hi hi im the person who asking you about project hail mary, just wanna say sorry but yet idk why im even apologizing but i was just freaking out soo bad when i found out that not only you answered, you wrote a long reply too!! thank you thank you!! it feels like im being noticed by my fav idol, butterfly in my stomatch, stretched grin on my face, flushed cheeks and fully cant focus on my assignment hahaha ohmygod so glad ask is anonymous cause ill combust otherwise

i watched the movie impulsively and went it blind, one of the best impulsive decision i've ever done fr. your replied made me curious on the difference on the book vs adaptation, it even encouraged me to read the book yknow? still on mission to get one copy cz the bookstores around my area has gone out of stock, might need to order it online. thousand thanks for sharing your thoughts!!

hi, hello, the reaction is flattering and thank you but i really am just some guy on the internet 😊

overall the movie and book excelled at different things. movie was an excellent adaptation, even with the characterization changes. the movie needs to endear you within its limited runtime and you do not get the slower view of grace's inner monologue and their interactions. that is okay. i wish we got a little more of eva stratt's decisions, maybe snapshots? to go fast, to just get a sense of her better.

i have a lot more to say about phm!

first topic → how i said i liked phm more than the martian bc it's more "human."

the martian is great, also love it. it's a great example of competence porn: someone really fucking good at what they do and using that to overcome problems. it's brainy with well thought out stakes because those stakes are grounded in reality. andy weir, in the two books i've read, is good at framing at speculative science-based problems (man does research and asks questions. writers, take note).

while grace is quite competent and phm is also about problem solving and involves a lot of science, the key to grace's success is reliant on his soft skills: teaching, empathy, communication, creativity, collaboration. i know so, so many extremely smart people who are nightmares to work with, dogshit at communicating, and want to solo everything and won't admit when something's not in their skill set. being smart and competent isn't enough to solve the most difficult and important problems in life. people usually don't respect those soft skills i listed above, either, so it's refreshing to see a character like grace.

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second topic → the nature of research and what does it mean to have a phd

Grace: I was wrong about the only original idea I ever had. Stratt: What else have you learned?

so, the general layperson (and even some phds) don't really understand what it should mean if you have a doctorate. what does it mean to be a researcher? it's fair because most of what people know are results: papers, inventions, patents, etc. the ~dissertation~ (that will be its own section)

even within academia, we have pressure to make ourselves known (publish or perish) to be worth something. in the above quote, and its equivalent in the book, grace doesn't have that. he never proves his idea correct, because that's not the point and that's not important.

in earning your doctorate, you build valuable skills to 1) read through your domain of expertise and 2) approach new problems in that domain. whether or not you have findings, eh. can't always win. your publications are (should be) proof of experience in a niche topic, but it doesn't mean you're infallible in it.

grace, despite his idea not being correct, still has knowledge and skill fundamentals from his domain to fall back in studying the astrophage and approach the problem it presents. there's something about this portrayal that scratches my itch of seeing the balance of what i like to think of as "the mundanity and expertise of science." he's not a once-in-a-lifetime genius with a golden idea. he's also someone with more baseline knowledge and practiced skill than Random Guy, and he continuously tries until he figures out a solution.

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third topic → my quibble with the movie's portrayal of his academic exile

bro it cannot be his dissertation. if he got laughed out of the community for it...

the fuck was his advisor thinking letting him do that? also. his advisor would need to be the top of the top of the field for one of their students to matter. 2023 data shows that biomedical and biological sciences make up a huge percentage of phds awarded in the US. he's not like...applied mathematicians who all know each other by their first names and gossip about who's taking a fourth wife or whatever (thank u to my friend for the constant tea lol)

you have four other committee members to shut you up. "dr. ryland grace" means they signed his document. they let that get out. that's on them. why'd they do that.

to be fair, i've seen some people earn phds where their advisor's like "you are not my problem anymore, go get a job and fuck off"

even in my field, the known crazy guy has decades of work behind him and founded groups and societies, which is why we all know he loves to yell. there's so much stratification of expertise in STEM fields that you kinda only know the gossip in your niche area unless you become the clown show

it has to be a paper. if it's a journal, it could be that he kept trying to get it published and none of the "reputable" journals would take it, so he forced it through one of the more desperate journals and everyone started to know bc he kept pushing for review.

or he dropped it during a conference in front of a bunch of people (less review) and offended everyone in-person.

it cannot be his dissertation. please. i need the public to know: the dissertation is the phd candidate crossing the finish line with the car on fire and falling apart. if it's a neat dissertation, 1) you are some equivalent of hannibal lecter (who the fuck has the time) or 2) you had so much background help you barely had to do anything

(okay not accounting for freaks who have multiple doctorates, bc once you've done one, you know how to do another)

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okay i'm done

[vermillioncrown]

Have you watched Project Hail Mary? rlly curious of your thoughts on it hehe😅

guess what, i am currently listening to "time go fishing" and trying not to cry. failing miserably

i read it for @rozaceous and my wedsneday reading hour on discord, had to immediately watch the movie when i got back from vacation

BEAUTIFUL MOVIE one of my favorites. i think i like it over the martian because it's not just a space movie, it's a very "human" movie where space and life are the motivators but the conflict is within grace himself. his character arc and all that. and he's a school teacher, crucially (not some big shot professor or anything else deemed "successful"), and i think it's coherent that that quality is what allows him to succeed at the mission and survive. the story respects that. if he didn't have the good teacher need to share knowledge, if it weren't intrinsic to him -> he might not have done his final sacrifice for rocky (better emphasis in the book)

i've been reblogging gifs and posts nonstop on my personal blog lol

big respect to the adaptation. visually stunning with meaningful shots (not stunning just for the sake of eye candy). wish they had more of eva stratt's decisions but i love her here too (this is ruthless competence done right, with the implied consequence! <- The Most Important Part) anyone who has used a centrifuge will get mad at how he set it up unbalanced for the adrian sample of astrophage.

my beef is grace's academic background and standing before he left the field, as portrayed by the movie but i will talk about that later if ppl are interested and I'm on mobile rn and very tired. his whole academic background and skillset + intersection with his personality and somewhat unreliable narration of his own competence is 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼 i wish to go into this alas it's bedtime

also it goes without saying i would die for that rock. fucking sobbing and clenching my every body part when rocky was in danger. little buddy! competent engineering buddy! and it makes sense rocky is an engineer who isn't versed with the science but great w practical problem solving, grace has the theory and knowledge to provide the solution method. science and engineering together, babey! and art!! their way of communication, despite the fourier transform and math and materials science, is basically listening to whalesong and puppet show

STEAM NOT STEM Y'ALL

I LOVE THE MOVIE AND I WISH I HAD TIME TO WATCH IT AGAIN ON IMAX

[vermillioncrown]

y'all gotta go watch the pitt

watch it like this 🫣 if you have to

[vermillioncrown]

I just wanted to say, after seeing you reblog posts about Love Game in Eastern Fantasy I just BINGED the series -- thank you for the influence lol, I am now obsessed

🥰🥰🥰 it's so fun, glad to spread it

[vermillioncrown]

watching hr w @rozaceous

"woah i forgot there was a rivalry"

"yeah the gifs just show them fucking nasty the whole time"

"or the desperate cuddles"

[vermillioncrown]

watched wake up dead man with roz and mr verm as two "raised catholic" in my ear