Member Info for SecondFiddle

Welcome, NorthCore. But I don't know why you bothered to join, as there's very rarely anything on here worth reading, let alone commenting on. This will be my first post on this particular chat although, like you, I've been invested and taking the occasional disillusioned look at the childish insults for some long time. Why do people bother?

Full page article in New Scientist (5 June) detailing the expected numbers of rocket launches in coming years, in addition to and in competition for He with the needs of healthcare, semiconductor production, commercial diving etc. The SpaceX IPO registration apparently doesn't mention He-associated risks but Musk has "stated plainly that there is not enough helium produced on Earth to sustain a high flight rate Starship programme" ... so that Starship had to be designed around the problem. I, for one, wasn't well aware that rockets used He to test for leaks, and then in significant quantities to prevent their fuel tanks collapsing as the fuel was pumped out rapidly during a launch.