I always thought it looked cooler with the orange tank anyway
this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2026
714 points (99.2% liked)
Science Memes
19700 readers
2338 users here now
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Research Committee
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !abiogenesis@mander.xyz
- !animal-behavior@mander.xyz
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !arachnology@mander.xyz
- !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !biology@mander.xyz
- !biophysics@mander.xyz
- !botany@mander.xyz
- !ecology@mander.xyz
- !entomology@mander.xyz
- !fermentation@mander.xyz
- !herpetology@mander.xyz
- !houseplants@mander.xyz
- !medicine@mander.xyz
- !microscopy@mander.xyz
- !mycology@mander.xyz
- !nudibranchs@mander.xyz
- !nutrition@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
- !photosynthesis@mander.xyz
- !plantid@mander.xyz
- !plants@mander.xyz
- !reptiles and amphibians@mander.xyz
Physical Sciences
- !astronomy@mander.xyz
- !chemistry@mander.xyz
- !earthscience@mander.xyz
- !geography@mander.xyz
- !geospatial@mander.xyz
- !nuclear@mander.xyz
- !physics@mander.xyz
- !quantum-computing@mander.xyz
- !spectroscopy@mander.xyz
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and sports-science@mander.xyz
- !gardening@mander.xyz
- !self sufficiency@mander.xyz
- !soilscience@slrpnk.net
- !terrariums@mander.xyz
- !timelapse@mander.xyz
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Cooler with white, but heavier.
Cooler depends on the amount of sunlight available
load more comments
(1 replies)
Orange makes it go faster. Not the fastest color but it's up there.
Is NASA run by orcs
Context hat
Back when NASA was flinging things into space for the first time, the tolerances that were even possible were extremely tight. Every pound mattered (every pound still matters, but because we have other things to do once we get to space nowadays, plus every pound is expensive).
600 pounds of white paint for the fuel tank was considered unnecessary, once the engineering team figured that it didn't actually protect the special foam covering of the fuel tank anyway. Thus the distinctive orange color!
For all the people in the world except the ones from Liberia, Myanmar and the United States, 600 freedom units = ~272 kg
Thank you, finally something sensible
That's 4 and half men. Or a minivan's worth of kids. Or 100 buckets of KFC
load more comments
(7 replies)
Oh, I thought the pictures were backwards. The orange being the natural color and the white being paint is really critical information for it to make sense lol
Oh my eyes glossed over the word "paint". Thanks.
load more comments
(1 replies)
High end bicycle equipment has weight specs in grams.
It's always hillarious to me to see boomers on expensive bikes that aim to save every gram while they could save 20kg on themselves.
Perhaps that's why they are on a bike?
If the point is to burn calories, then shaving weight off your equipment is counterproductive.
But if it makes you want to ride more, then great!
Or skinny dudes with enormous ballsacks wearing tight Spandex on 15 pound carbon fiber bikes, but a 20 pound motorcycle lock.
If you are trying to lose weight, you should be using the worst, heaviest bike possible.
Well, not if you still want to have some fun while doing so.
But I agree, that a regular bike should suffice and you don't need to worry about optimizing gear weight if you're not competing for anything and just ride it for your own well-being.
Well, not necessarily. A bike that's got a full carbon frame also absorbs shock and vibration from the road better. This means you can ride longer distances without getting fatigued in places like your wrists or ass. Longer rides = more exercise.
But once you have a carbon frame, chasing grams on other components gets to be a bit silly.
load more comments
(7 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
In the cycling community we call those guys Freds.
And it's more of a light ribbing than a condemnation, since at least they've got themselves on a bike.
load more comments
(2 replies)
But, why ? You drink a bit more water that day and it’s void.
But what if you drank more water and you didn't have the weight savings?
It's a competition between brand. They're at the point where decrease a single gram is incredible task and are all racing to become the lightest weight and aero-est bicycle and get to claim that.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
I'm too dumb for maths because I have dyscalculia, but i am always amazed by the engineering crowd on how they could improve efficiency by finding and tweaking just the little things.
Its simple rocket math. Every lb of weight must consume fuel.
Si.pky. 1 lb of weight needs 1 lb of fuel to escape orbit. But the fuel has weight also. So the effective fuel you need to lift the rocket and payload is exponential.
The harder stuff is orbital mechanics. Getting things into orbit is easy. Having thwm go where you want is the hard part.
The tyranny of the rocket equation. Generally, 1% of weight is payload, 85% is fuel.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/observations/escaping-the-tyranny-of-the-rocket-equation/
load more comments
(3 replies)
- Artemis tanks were 10m wide and 30m tall.
- Cylinder surface Area = (2.pi.r^2^) * (2.pi.r.h) ^[curved area plus top and bottom circles]
- 2 * pi * 5 * 30 ~ 1100m^2^ to paint
- Paint paints about 10m^2^ per Litre paint
- Need 1100 / 10 = 110 Litres of paint
- 1L of paint weighs about 2kg
- 110 Litres of paint weighs about 220kg
Fun fact: Columbia, pictured with the white tank, was the heaviest shuttle and was not modified to have the airlock necessary to dock with the ISS because the performance losses compared to the other shuttles made it difficult to use for ISS operations.
load more comments
(2 replies)
The real question is why the default color is orange and not white or gray.
The polyurethane spray foam insulation is orange.
That's the default skin. It costs 100,000 doubloons to unlock the sick neon green and black skin.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
SIX HUNDRED EL BEES? HOLY FUCK THAT'S A LOTTA PAINT.
That's why American Airlines had the "cheat line" livery. Bare hulls saved them enough weight to carry like an extra 2 passengers.
Plus, polished metal on airframes looks sweet IMHO. Real "DC3 golden era of aviation" vibes.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Remove all the tanks and shit on the bottom to really save weight and just let the shuttle fly? It's not rocket science.
Found the Kerbal Space Program player?
If it's just the shuttle, the odds of the wrong part disconnecting when you hit spacebar go way down.
load more comments
(2 replies)
"Lower the inertial mass." -- Miles O'Brien, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Season 1, Episode 1.
Lower the inertial mass
—what to say when you want your obese Trekkie friend to take care of their health
load more comments
(2 replies)
Though isn't that decreasing the aerodynamics and increasing the friction?
Probably, but the slowest part of the trip is in the most dense air. Probably still a net benefit!
load more comments
(1 replies)
view more: next ›