SpaceX rockets and launches
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ferrelhadley
There is no love between us anymore.
Some photo footage and information on a subscale flight article of the former BFR now Starship & Super Heavy stages.
Crew Dragon is currently undergoing final checks with NASA and may have an uncrewed flight by as early as 19 January.
A geostationary launch in February is slotted to have an Israeli built passenger vehicle that will continue on and land on the Moon.
March is the pencilled in date for the subscale flight article of the Starship stage. But I would not be holding my breath.
Crew Dragon is currently undergoing final checks with NASA and may have an uncrewed flight by as early as 19 January.
A geostationary launch in February is slotted to have an Israeli built passenger vehicle that will continue on and land on the Moon.
March is the pencilled in date for the subscale flight article of the Starship stage. But I would not be holding my breath.
urbanspaceman
Well-Known Member
urbanspaceman
Well-Known Member
sorry about that. I meant to say that I,don’t think that it’s a crewed vehicle
ferrelhadley
There is no love between us anymore.
She is quite the inspiration.
ferrelhadley
There is no love between us anymore.
This is the dry fit, empty Falcon 9 and Dragon 2 to make sure all the parts fit. This one appears to be a specific "first flight" test. They have two other tests that are the usual ones for any SpaceX flight the prelaunch static fire test and perhaps a "wet" dress rehersel countdown where the fully fueled rocket is taken to near launch. There is going to be a lot of media buzz for this flight. After this one they will have an abort test in a couple of months then it will be the Spx DM2, a crewed flight to the ISS and probably the US's return to crewed flight mission.
This is going to something like the first flight of Columbia, Sally Ride, STS 114 (return to flight after the Columbia loss) level of hype.
Of those pictures this one looks like its from a Kubrick film or a 70s book on the future of space travel.
This is going to something like the first flight of Columbia, Sally Ride, STS 114 (return to flight after the Columbia loss) level of hype.
Of those pictures this one looks like its from a Kubrick film or a 70s book on the future of space travel.
ferrelhadley
There is no love between us anymore.
An artists rendering of the BFR test article they are building. Seems to be similar to their "Grasshopper" that they tested before returning Falcon 9s (early pages of this thread). Musk claimed possibly 4 weeks to first flight on twitter. So before 2020 then
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
It loks like a ropey theme park attraction, but nope; this thing is going to actually fly
I'm pretty sure that with the design of this thing, the SpaceX engineers are cribbing some of their notes from Bob Truax. A fascinating character, he was playing around with rockets before Elon Musk was even born. In 1962 Truax designed a two-stage sea-launched super-heavy lift launch vehicle called Sea Dragon. It was to be a Big Dumb Booster constructed of relatively cheap materials, such as 8mm stainless steel, and constructed by shipbuilders, who have a lot of experience putting together large vehicles made of steel.
One of SpaceX's overriding goals is to reduce launch costs. In light of this, switching to cheaper materials such as stainless steel makes sense. It doesn't matter so much if a stainless steel component is ruined at the end of one trip, if it can be cheaply replaced. Steel is significantly heavier than carbon composites, but as designs like the Sea Dragon illustrate, this can be compensated for by enlarging the overall design.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
It's lkely TPS (thermal protection system) concerns pushing them to stainless. They're going for a "hot frame" design, where you permit re-entry heat to enter the superstructure. The Shuttle (and all capsules) have a "cold frame" that is protected by a heat shield. The Shuttle airframe was lightweight aluminium that could not withstand the heat of re-entry, so the whole craft was insulated by tiles and blankets. The X-15, by comparison, had a titanium skin and airframe. The heat of hypersonic flight was absorbed into it, while just the pilot's cabin was insulated.
Starship will do the same, and will also have elements of active cooling, whereby the cryogenic fuel needed for landing is pumped through the windward skin during peak re-entry, in much the same way that the engines are cooled during a burn. In addition, the shiny steel will reflect much of the radiated heat from the bow shock plasma. The crew/cargo compartment at the top will be insulated against the hot spacecraft.
This is a "heavy" solution when considering TPS on its own, but it looks like (carbon fiber + TPS attachment + TPS + metal parts required for strength in the fins/airbrakes) was going to weigh the same as a stainless steel frame that did everything.
This hopper though, is just being made shiny to look cool.
Starship will do the same, and will also have elements of active cooling, whereby the cryogenic fuel needed for landing is pumped through the windward skin during peak re-entry, in much the same way that the engines are cooled during a burn. In addition, the shiny steel will reflect much of the radiated heat from the bow shock plasma. The crew/cargo compartment at the top will be insulated against the hot spacecraft.
This is a "heavy" solution when considering TPS on its own, but it looks like (carbon fiber + TPS attachment + TPS + metal parts required for strength in the fins/airbrakes) was going to weigh the same as a stainless steel frame that did everything.
This hopper though, is just being made shiny to look cool.
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ferrelhadley
There is no love between us anymore.
Shutdown bites first test launch of the crew capable version of Dragon.
SpaceX Demo-1 Launch Update – Commercial Crew Program
This is pretty much expected. But SpaceX have a launch from Vandenberg tomorrow that is still slotted to go ahead, the airforce is not on shutdown and they had already gotten FAA paperwork for this one.
SpaceX Demo-1 Launch Update – Commercial Crew Program
This is pretty much expected. But SpaceX have a launch from Vandenberg tomorrow that is still slotted to go ahead, the airforce is not on shutdown and they had already gotten FAA paperwork for this one.
2hats
Dust.
A 747 cargo flight is en route to KSC right now delivering the (200kg) Israeli SpaceIL lunar lander for a piggyback ride on a Falcon 9 launch in February.
The mission calls for it to land in Mare Serenitatis two months after launch (the piggyback launch is to geostationary orbit and it will gradually orbit raise from there until it is captured by the Moon’s gravity). After taking measurements and images it will hop to a new location a few km away.
The mission calls for it to land in Mare Serenitatis two months after launch (the piggyback launch is to geostationary orbit and it will gradually orbit raise from there until it is captured by the Moon’s gravity). After taking measurements and images it will hop to a new location a few km away.
2hats
Dust.
SpaceX Demonstration Mission 1, the first orbital test of Dragon 2, flying uncrewed to the ISS is now targeted for 2 March (flight readiness review due 22 Feb). A SpaceX in flight abort test is scheduled for June, then SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2, the first crewed flight to the ISS, would follow, it currently being targeted for July 2019.
Just to note - Boeing is targeting April for the first uncrewed flight of the CST-100 Starliner to the ISS and August for a crewed launch.
Just to note - Boeing is targeting April for the first uncrewed flight of the CST-100 Starliner to the ISS and August for a crewed launch.
ferrelhadley
There is no love between us anymore.
The excellent Real Engineering channel explains the shift to stainless steel.
Limejuice
Well-Known Member
"The whole operation looks like a bit of a shit-show..."
We need more plain-spoken science.
2hats
Dust.
Roughly. Approach along the R-bar then translate to the V-bar for the final approach to the docking adaptor. Coverage starts 0830UT, hatch opening 1345UT.
Undocking due Friday 8 March at 0730UT, de-orbit 1230UT with splashdown off the coast of Florida at 1345UT.
Limejuice
Well-Known Member
I think so.
And I hope it was a crash-test figure, and not something inflatable... The Tesla in space playing Bowie tells me the new generation of rocketeers has a playful side.
#loweringthetoneofaproperthread
