Posts by DrMordrid

No Falcon Way: NASA to stick with SLS, SpaceX more like space ex

BFR is sooner than you think

Assuming BFR will be many years off is very ridky.

BFS ship #1 is being assembled now in a temporary facility, and the full up San Pedro CA factory at Terminal Island should be ready in late 2019. Janicki Industries (B2, F-22, 787, B-21 Raider etc) does the large composite structure fabs (propellant tanks etc) near Seattle and ships them to SpaceX. One oversize (12 meters) LOX tank was tested to destruction, and passed.

The Raptor methane engines have been on the test stand for almost 18 months, with partial funding from the USAF. Reports are good, with videos of stable burns dating to Sept. 2016.

Re: See also:

The Gateway modules will be 4.5 meters, well withinthe 5.2 meter width of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy fairing, and its Power and Propulsion Element (module) must by spec mass less than 7,500 kg. Falcon Heavy can toss at least twice that mass to the Moon.

Since Gateway will be launching in the mid-2020's SpaceX's BFR will also be an option, and it'll be even more capable than SLS of launching massive payloads to the Moon; 45 tonnes for SLS Block 2 (2028+) vs over 100 tonnes for BFR (2020-2022).

Re: Speed

Comparing SLS, a super-heavy class, to Falcon Heavy, a heavy class, is disengenuous at best.

By not comparing SLS to BFR, which may well fly first and lifts more, Gerst shows that the congresscritters are pulling his strings.

BFR: 2020-2021, 150 metric tonnes to LEO

SLS Block 1: 2020-2021, 70-80 tonnes to LEO

SLS Block 2: 2029, 130 tonnes to LEO

SpaceX blasted massive plasma hole in Earth's ionosphere

Yawn

This GPS effect happens to a greater degree with other events as well, and the only reason the big shockwave happened this time was the satellite needed a more vertical trajectory. Most fly with a more horizontal trajectory, pitching over shortly aftrr launch.

Are you Falcon sure, Elon? Musk vows Big Rocket will go up 2019

BFR v Energia (thrust)

This is the Raptor v 1.0 full-flow staged combustion (FFSC) engine with a chamber pressure of 25 MPa. This will grow to 30 MPa, the highest chamber pressure of any engine.

It'll also be the first FFSC engine to fly. Russia and the US had develooment tests, but never flew a FFSC engine.

Propellants: liquid methane and subcooled (66°K) liquid oxygen

First stage thrust

BFR: 52,000 kN

Energia boosters: 29,000 kN

Upper stage thrust

BFS (Spaceship): 12,700 kN

Energia core: 5,800 kN

Jeff Bezos fires off a blue dart, singes Elon Musk and SpaceX

Re: Minuature Version

The original BE-4 concept was for 400,000 lbf, but ULA wanted 550,000 lbf for their new Vulcan launcher which is to replace Atlas V and Delta IV.

Uhhhh...no. No singes.

BE-4 has burned for exactly 3 seconds at 50% thrust, and several months ago the power head on it (turbopumps etc.) failed, delaying the program.

Raptor has been on the test since September of 2016, accumulating over 1,200 seconds of burn time with many tests running from 40 to 100 seconds - the duration limited due to the size of the test stand's propellant tanks.

Some commenters make a big deal out of the Raptor under test being a "subscale" version, but this is a full flow staged combustion engine, the first modern engine of its type (Russia built one in the 1960's but never flew it.) Growing Raptor the extra 15-20% to get to a full size production engine is easier than it would be for most other engine cycles. This is because the pumps are only pumping gases, not fluids. This makes life easier on the turbopumps, and it also makes the engine more scalable and reusable.

BE-4 is not a full flow staged combustion engine.

LG’s V20 may be the phone of the year. So why the fsck can’t you buy it?

"And after 1 year my LG G4 developed the infamous "reboot loop" issue. "

Mine developed this a few months ago and it was covered by a recall/extended warranty; took it to my loocal AT&T dealer and had a new phone delivered in 2 days. Swapped the SIM & MicroSD, connected it to my Google accounts and it was off to the races again.

Love my G4.

Detroit Rock(et Fiber) City: Startup brings 10Gb service to Motown

A friend who works downtown says Rocket Fiber is blistering fast, as in seriously.

The company is one of $billionaire Dan Gilbert's projects. Gilbert (Quicken Loans, Cleveland Cavaliers) and Mike Ilitch (Little Caesars, Detroit Tigers & Red Wings) have taken it on themselves to rebuild Detroit if no one else will.

After the state pushed Detroit into a managed bankruptcy to get control of its debt, they and other civic leaders went on a tear and now there are several $billions worth of new developments and they're bulldozing the blight. A light rail line connecting the two city centers is going in, and a region wide mass transit plan is now on the table.

Crime still needs work, but the new Police Chief is a take no prisoners type and the prosecutor is like minded. She's a tought one, with help from the Fed's having sent the previous (corrupt) city leaders to prison.

We now have real hope and signs of a turnaround.

Watch: SpaceX Dragon capsule breathes fire during crucial hover test

If there's a launch abort Dragon 2 uses all its fuel to bug out, then it lands in.the ocean under 4 parachutes - and it doesn't need all of them. If some chutes tangle its still good.

Dragon 2 actually has multiple landing modes,

Full propulsive: engine test at 7,000 feet. If good, land on the rockets. If not good, fire the parachute mortar.

Full parachutes, to water or land.

Emergency parachutes: manually fire the parachute mortar.

Parachutes and rockets: come down on the chutes, then at 10 meters hover and descend to a soft landing.

Multiple redundancy is good.

The article is wrong. Dragon 2 keeps its heat shield.

Boeing's CST-100 drops its heat shield so it's impact-absorbing air bags can deploy. If the heat shield fails to deploy it'll be a bumpy, but survivable, parachute touchdown.

The SuperDraco's not only can re-start but throttle from 20%-100%, go from 0%-100% in 100 milliseconds and rapidly pulse.

Construction: 3D printed, using the Inconel super-alloy.

Their upcoming Raptor methane-fuelled Full Flow Staged Combustion engine will also leverage 3D printing. Raptor subassemblies are on the test stand, and the USAF wants it on Falcon 9 & Falcon Heavy upper stages for their launches.

Flash Gordon, meet Buck Rogers.

SpaceX gets ready to crash barge-land ANOTHER rocket

Re: fuel?

The RP-1 is used for the Merlin engine hydraulics and is recycled. The grid fin hydraulics is separate, at the other end of the rocket, not recycled and does have a limited supply. The latter is what ran dry, after which SpaceX put in a larger hydraulc fluid tank.

SpaceX asks to test broadband in SPAAACE

Re: Testing antenna configurations?

The antenna will be miniature phased arrays at both ends, which means they'll be aimed electronically. Over the last few years chip-level phased arrays have started appearing. SpsceX & U. Texas Rio Grande Valley will be working on a new version at the STARGATE tech development/space tracking center next to SpaceX's new launch center outside of Brownsville TX.

SpaceX Dragon crew capsule in 'CHUTE ABORT drama – don't panic, no one died

Re: Slight oops

One thruster had an incorrect fuel:oxidizer ratio and at the last second a headwind from the east came in, blowing it back towards shore while under the canopies (there's a tropical storm developing east of Florida.)

SpaceX to deliver Bigelow blow-up job to ISS astronauts

Re: Iterations

The safety is in half a meter of Kevlar and Vectran, materials used in body armor. This tech started out as a NASA expandable habitat named TransHan. It was 2/3 as thick as Bigelow's BA-330 but was able to stop a multiple aluminum projectiles fired at 7 kilometers/second without failing. It also offers much better radiation protection than a metal habitat.

This tech IS the future of space habitats.

There's another outfit working on this tech, and they've worked with both Bigelow's and NASA: Thin Red Line Aerospace in Canada. They make the inner restraint layers, as well as expandable propellant tanks and other goodies.

SpaceX lofts two all-electric ion-drive comsats to Clarke orbit

Re: Curious

If 2 satellites make you paranoid try this;

later this year SpaceX launches 11 ORBCOMM satellites at once, then they launch 70 Iridium Next satellites in 7 launches, 10 per. Then they and Google plan to launch 4,025 internet satellites with global coverage.

#TheyBeEverywhere

SpaceX billionaire claims Air Force official 'likely' made job-for-spy-sat-contract deal

Re: great, back to the "same old same old"

If they sue him guess what? He has the rights of discovery and deposition, during which his (very good) lawyers can run an anal exam on all concerned including the books, calls and emails. Also, if they don't sue him what does that say?.

Wouldn't be one bit surprised if his lawyers wrote those tweets.

SpaceX touts latest gear: new module, rocket demo

Re: Thunderbirds...

The legs themselves weren't on fire. The engine turbopump exhausts were hitting them, and it is fuel rich. Some condenses on the legs and flashes over. In a real F9R landing after a x19m launch, and in later tests, the legs will be stowed until just before landing then deploy.