SpaceX's Grasshopper VTVL takes a 40 meter hop

Capt'n Midnight

nokia69 wrote: »

well spaceX have said the the first stage costs 70% I don't see how being man rated or not would change that

the goal for the falcon 9R is to have zero refurbishing thats the whole point

man rated means it has to be more reliable, costs go up exponentially

commercial satellite insurance premium is about 10% of the cost, for a manned launch you want more than 99% reliability

there is a feedback loop with satellites, there is no point in spending €100m to launch €10m worth of satellite , it's cheaper to spend €30m on a lighter satellite that can be launched from a €60m rocket.

If they can get to orbit for €10m then it gets very interesting, you can reduce the money spent per satellite too by the same factor. Of course then there may be the Kessler syndrome problem.




In other news India are setting up a GPS , well the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). So it'll join GPS, GLONASS , Galileo, and Beidou. Electronics are getting cheaper, if launchers get cheaper there will be more uses, Bolivia got it's first satellite last year. There is a market for low cost launches.

nokia69

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

man rated means it has to be more reliable, costs go up exponentially

commercial satellite insurance premium is about 10% of the cost, for a manned launch you want more than 99% reliability

there is a feedback loop with satellites, there is no point in spending €100m to launch €10m worth of satellite , it's cheaper to spend €30m on a lighter satellite that can be launched from a €60m rocket.

If they can get to orbit for €10m then it gets very interesting, you can reduce the money spent per satellite too by the same factor. Of course then there may be the Kessler syndrome problem.

AFAIK the falcon 9 has been man rated from the start so it won't add costs at this point

if launch costs drop as much as spaceX claim then all kinds of things will start to happen but it will take time

it will also be interesting to see what the russians ect do, with a bit of luck they will all copy spaceX

AugustusMinimus

While currently only being used for the 1st stage, I read somewhere SpaceX were also considering having the Dragon capsule also doing a powered landing.

If I was an astronaut, I think i'd still prefer some parachutes unfurling above me.

nokia69

yeah the crew dragon will use rockets for landing but it will carry parachutes as back up for a while

we get to see the new dragon on the 29th

AugustusMinimus

nokia69 wrote: »

yeah the crew dragon will use rockets for landing but it will carry parachutes as back up for a while

we get to see the new dragon on the 29th

I guess it makes sense. The weight of the extra fuel wouldn't be that much greater than the parachutes and it will allow a soft landing in land.

nokia69

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

I guess it makes sense. The weight of the extra fuel wouldn't be that much greater than the parachutes and it will allow a soft landing in land.

yeah thats the idea

also the landing fuel is also needed for the launch abort system so it has a dual use, kind of

and there is no need for a runway to land the dragon so in theory it can land anywhere on earth or the moon Mars ect

nokia69

nokia69

nokia69

Rucking_Fetard

SpaceX Soft Lands Falcon 9 Rocket First Stage

Following last week's successful launch of six ORBCOMM satellites, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage reentered Earth’s atmosphere and soft landed in the Atlantic Ocean. This test confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able consistently to reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity.

After landing, the vehicle tipped sideways as planned to its final water safing state in a nearly horizontal position. The water impact caused loss of hull integrity, but we received all the necessary data to achieve a successful landing on a future flight. Going forward, we are taking steps to minimize the build up of ice and spots on the camera housing in order to gather improved video on future launches.

At this point, we are highly confident of being able to land successfully on a floating launch pad or back at the launch site and refly the rocket with no required refurbishment. However, our next couple launches are for very high velocity geostationary satellite missions, which don’t allow enough residual propellant for landing. In the longer term, missions like that will fly on Falcon Heavy, but until then Falcon 9 will need to fly in expendable mode.

We will attempt our next water landing on flight 13 of Falcon 9, but with a low probability of success. Flights 14 and 15 will attempt to land on a solid surface with an improved probability of success.

nokia69

flights 14 and 15 are for the end of the year but might slip a little, looks like a landing on a platform at sea

amazing progress in such a short time

the Moon and Mars are getting closer

Rucking_Fetard

SpaceX Layoffs

Rucking_Fetard

SpaceX Executive Calls For $22-25 Billion NASA Budget

Rucking_Fetard

SpaceX’s lawsuit against the Air Force is gaining steam

Rucking_Fetard

SpaceX Roadmap building on its rocket business revolution

Rucking_Fetard

Maybe not worth new thread so I'll put it here. 6 Mil to put a Sat in space. Vids in link, not on youtube.

Kiwi rocket company ready to blast off

New Zealand aerospace company Rocket Lab has unveiled a 10-tonne rocket capable of sending satellites into space for less than $6 million, a fraction of current costs.

At an unveiling in Auckland this morning, Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck said the 18-metre rocket, named Electron, would revolutionise the space game.

Electron would make space more accessible. The average cost of sending a satellite into space was about $155m, Beck said.

The Electron is significantly smaller than the average rocket length of 60m.

Electron would also reduce the time it took to launch a satellite from years to weeks, he said.

"This is the new way to access space."

The carbon-composite rocket could carry satellites weighing up to 120 kilograms and was expected to be launched next year, he said.

Rocket Lab would provide all the launching facilities to get customers' satellites into space. It already had commitments for more than 30 launches, he said.

Beck, who founded Rocket Lab in 2007, said a team of 25 staff had worked on the project for the past year.

The company was looking to add 30 staff to meet demand forecasts.

"We're looking to create a billion-dollar space industry down here."

Beck, 36, hoped to launch one rocket a week after the company started regular manufacturing of Electron rockets.

"If we can launch one rocket a week we are going to change the world."

Rocket Lab built Electron using a $25m government grant and funds from The Warehouse founder Sir Stephen Tindall and principal backer Silicon Valley venture capital company Khosla Ventures.

A former Nasa director and Florida Space Institute research associate Dr Alan Weston, who was at today's unveiling, said Rocket Lab was a global leader in aerospace technology and Electron was a game changer.

"It's revolutionary," Weston said. "This will address the cost of getting spacecraft into space."

Electron opened up opportunities for New Zealand to partner with international satellite and technology organisations, he said.

"This is not just cheap, it's responsive which means you can launch it when you want to. In the United States it can take over a year."

Beck said the rocket has 10 engines, named Rutherford, which burned the same amount of fuel an aircraft used to fly from Auckland to Christchurch.

Satellites launched by Electron could remain in orbit for five to seven years and could be used for purposes such as weather prediction, real-time mapping, high-speed internet and climate-change monitoring, Beck said.

A patent was pending on the technology for the rocket.

The unveiling attracted the interest of foreign media including the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Wired.

Rocket Lab had scheduled a programme of three test flights to get the rocket into space, Beck said.

Since 2007 the company had launched about 80 rockets, only one of which went into orbit, he said.

That was in 2009 with the launch of Atea-1: a 6m-long, 60kg rocket from Great Mercury Island.

Beck said the first rocket would be launched from a yet to be confirmed New Zealand location.

"The great thing about New Zealand is it offers us a fantastic launch site which is a major issue for other countries."

Rocket launches worked well in New Zealand because it's isolated with a small population and light air and shipping traffic.

It also allows the rocket to be launched from a trajectory favourable angle, Beck said.

nokia69

I fear that poor kiwi is going to lose his money

Capt'n Midnight

nokia69 wrote: »

I fear that poor kiwi is going to lose his money

6 million for 120Kg ?

Soyuez can put 6.5 tonnes into LEO which would value it at 324 million per launch.

As recently as 2007 the US was offered seats for 23 million by Roskosmos.
which puts a maximum price of 46 million since the third seat would be taken by a cosmonaut

nokia69

nokia69

Rucking_Fetard

I see Zuckerberg challenged Bill Gates to do that Ice Bucket Challenge, Gates has challenged Musk to do it now. He has 24 hours. Should be good.

https://time.com/3111965/here-are-the-11-best-celebrity-ice-bucket-challenge-videos/

Rucking_Fetard

Rucking_Fetard wrote: »

Gates has challenged Musk to do it now. He has 24 hours. Should be good.

Dry enough.

nokia69

nokia69

Rucking_Fetard

Blew itself up after detecting an anomaly.

I wonder how that works??

Considering where it still was, could they not have just cut the engines and let it fall back down?

Rucking_Fetard

Here's abit more on blowing themselves up,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Range_safety

and when it goes wrong,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelsat_708

thecommander

Rucking_Fetard wrote: »

Considering where it still was, could they not have just cut the engines and let it fall back down?

It would explode once it hits the ground, damaging structures within close distance. Better to burn off in the air and debris to fall.

Rucking_Fetard

Rucking_Fetard wrote: »

Maybe not worth new thread so I'll put it here. 6 Mil to put a Sat in space. Vids in link, not on youtube.

Kiwi rocket company ready to blast off

Even better, don't bother with a sat at all.

Unmanned, ultralight, hover indefinitely propeller-driven aircraft.

Rucking_Fetard

Musk’s SpaceX Vies With Boeing as NASA’s Taxi to Space Station

Rucking_Fetard

Rucking_Fetard wrote: »

Musk’s SpaceX Vies With Boeing as NASA’s Taxi to Space Station

Everyones a WINNER, yeeeeeea.:p Boeings getting 4.2Bil, SpaceX getting 2.6Bil

Even Jeff Bezos Blue Origin is in there as a "added capacity" backup.