SpaceX

[thunderlounge 7813]

 

https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-explosion-nasa-memo.html

 

 

Quote

An internal memo to some workers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is warning that employees could be fired for sharing images after a video of SpaceX's Crew Dragon explosion leaked online last week, according to a report from the Orlando Sentinel. 

The memo, which was sent to NASA contractors under specific contract, also confirms that SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule did explode — something SpaceX and NASA have not publicly confirmed — during an April 20 abort system test, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

On April 20, the company tested the capsule's SuperDraco escape engines, which are designed to get astronauts out of harm's way in the event of a launch emergency, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A video of the failed engine test was leaked on Twitter, and suggests that the capsule exploded; other coverage showed large plumes of smoke in the skies above the Florida coast. 

 

[MrPhlegm 3413]

Well here we go with another one. Clear as a bell.

[Radical Larry 28539]

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

[MrPhlegm 3413]

Goin up...

 

 

Reentry burn...

 

 

From my driveway.

 

Takes about a minute from liftoff to when you can see it come up through the trees. My house is about 50 miles from the cape.

 

I could see the stage separation but could not get a pic.

 

May the fourth

Be with you.

 

 

[MrPhlegm 3413]

The little dot of light to the lower right of the bright spot is the tail of the flame. You can see the whole flame from nozzle to tail with the Mark One Eyeball but the flame by the nozzle is so bright that it washes out my Note 8's camera.

Launches never get old.

[Loco 3752]

[MrPhlegm 3413]

Amazing pic!

[smokebomb 357]

It's not SpaceX but it's Jeff Bezos & Blue Origin:

 

 

A bit more info: https://www.blueorigin.com/blue-moon 

Quote

The Blue Moon lander can deliver large infrastructure payloads with high accuracy to pre-position systems for future missions. The larger variant of Blue Moon has been designed to land an ascent vehicle that will allow us to return Americans to the Moon by 2024.

Pretty ambitious if true.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4974]

I could see Amazon working on landers and such more than rockets this whole time while they let Elon think they were trying to compete. Maybe their whole Blue Origin project has been simply to develop better rockets for more specialized craft instead of carrying massive payloads. They weren't likely to catch SpaceX, so why not spend all their time getting a head start on other necessary bits so they become the dominant force there?

[thunderlounge 7813]

I could see them doing that. I’m not so sure I could see them keeping that knowledge from leaking though. 

[MrPhlegm 3413]

Showtime!

[MrPhlegm 3413]

Oops, try again tomorrow

 

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/space/os-bz-spacex-starlink-launch-20190515-bijhtslxqfh47clhussrcxxllq-story.html

 

 

[Party_Taco 3723]

Is it tho?

[MrPhlegm 3413]

Try again.

[MrPhlegm 3413]

Looking good. Where I am in Longwood it is quiet and I could hear the rumble of the launch. Cool. Where I was in Dr. Phillips I was able to hear a shuttle launch one time. Was a cold night with no traffic on the turnpike. This is the second time I've heard a launch here in Longwood. Wasn't sure it was the launch rumble the first time. But I noticed the time of the rumble this time and it occured at the right time for the distance from the launch site.



21'st century fuck yeah!

[Biff Tannen 45661]

2 hours ago, MrPhlegm said:

Try again.

[MrPhlegm 3413]

Is that you auntie?

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

I really hope that Elon Musk does eventually fly to Mars, so that right before lift off he can say "I have to go now, my planet needs me."

[smokebomb 357]

On 6/13/2019 at 6:39 PM, HornsOverIthaca said:

I really hope that Elon Musk does eventually fly to Mars, so that right before lift off he can say "I have to go now, my planet needs me."

And launch note - there is a Falcon Heavy launch tonight at 10:30pm CDT:

https://www.spacex.com/webcast 

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

Wooo.  Thanks for the heads up.

[thunderlounge 7813]

 

 

 

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

night heavy. in.

[SquishMitten 10403]

Damnit. I was staying up late for this. No way I make it now

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

oh crap i just caught on.  0130 launch.  crap.

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[Radical Larry 28539]

10:30? I was all in.

1:30? I'll watch video of it tomorrow.

[Biff Tannen 45661]

Caught the fairing for the first time though.

[RamjetFDO 10575]

6 hours ago, Thujone said:

Side boosters made it back. Core booster sleeps w the fishes.

[thunderlounge 7813]

 

Falcon9/Dragon off without a hitch Thursday evening. 

Rendezvous with ISS streams Sat morning around 7ish central, IIRC.   

[Biff Tannen 45661]

Starhopper test live stream:

 

[Biff Tannen 45661]

Aaaaaaaaaand fail.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4974]

Pretty sure it's not supposed to be shooting fire out of it face.

[RamjetFDO 10575]

Success.

 

[Loco 3752]

which way did the water tower go?

 

It went thata way

[RamjetFDO 10575]

So far... Caught up to the 1990s and the DC-X (Delta Clipper).

But I think they'll be going past this milestone pretty quickly.

[elfenix 34221]

i had a model of the DC-X.  made by quest iirc.  only time i launched it with a quest motor, the nozzle blew apart and it hovered about 4 feet off the ground, then fell back onto the ground where the ejection charge blew it up.  so lifelike!

[Biff Tannen 45661]

Sweet

[horncyclist 1387]

Incredible footage. Makes me think there's something to their idea of using rockets for routine passenger travel on Earth.

 

 

[Loco 3752]

1 hour ago, horncyclist said:

Incredible footage. Makes me think there's something to their idea of using rockets for routine passenger travel on Earth.

 

 

no...  not routine...  perhaps extremely limited and highly extraordinary.  

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

Damn gravity well.

[horncyclist 1387]

Unveiled Starship Mk1 yesterday. https://arstechnica.com/features/2019/09/after-starship-unveiling-mars-seems-a-little-closer/. The vision and speed of execution is just incredible. SLS is going to be several years obsolete by the time it gets off the ground.

Full video of the unveiling: 

 

[Neonmoon 38129]

This is the baby one, correct? For testing? Not the starship that will go to Mars

[Sam Lin 3550]

Correct. This is just a hopper for dynamics and propulsion studies, will go up up to ~20km and land, for development of launch,  guidance, maneuvering, and landing. This will not go to "space." Note this is already the second iteration and the third is already being built. The speed of private space (or of SpaceX and Musk's mentality, in particular) is just stunning compared to the status quo.

The comment above about SLS being years obsolete by the time it gets off the ground is likely prescient. Everyone thought Falcon and reusable rocketry was a dumb fool's pipe dream under 10yr ago, and now entire rocket programs have shut down due to not being able to compete, and people don't even bother to watch the launch and landings any more. This generation is living a second Space Age, and it's amazing.

[Biff Tannen 45661]

Dedicated Starship page on SpaceX site.

https://www.spacex.com/starship

 

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

I think there needs to be a SpaceX Lego series.

[Xminus6 790]

They haven’t been talking about the intercontinental travel part of Starship in a while. I wonder if the changes to the design have shifted that goal? Gwynne Shotwell seemed very confident about that use of Starship in an interview last year.

Edited October 11, 2019 by Xminus6

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4974]

Intercontinental seems pretty easy for a rocket.

[horncyclist 1387]

On 10/11/2019 at 12:20 AM, Xminus6 said:

They haven’t been talking about the intercontinental travel part of Starship in a while. I wonder if the changes to the design have shifted that goal? Gwynne Shotwell seemed very confident about that use of Starship in an interview last year.

It's probably much further off. The rockets will have the capability for quick hops but making the preparation for space travel routine will be a long way off. And making it economical when there are othe, albeit slower forms of intercontinental travel.

[horncyclist 1387]

On 9/30/2019 at 3:57 AM, Sam Lin said:

Correct. This is just a hopper for dynamics and propulsion studies, will go up up to ~20km and land, for development of launch,  guidance, maneuvering, and landing. This will not go to "space." Note this is already the second iteration and the third is already being built. The speed of private space (or of SpaceX and Musk's mentality, in particular) is just stunning compared to the status quo.

The comment above about SLS being years obsolete by the time it gets off the ground is likely prescient. Everyone thought Falcon and reusable rocketry was a dumb fool's pipe dream under 10yr ago, and now entire rocket programs have shut down due to not being able to compete, and people don't even bother to watch the launch and landings any more. This generation is living a second Space Age, and it's amazing.

You wonder at what point SLS should be abandoned and the money just given in a massive contract to SpaceX for interplanetary travel. Wed get to Mars 10 times faster that way, imo.

[Sam Lin 3550]

Honestly? 5yr ago. You aren't wrong, SpaceX would get us there faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. But politics will ensure SLS continues to be a bottomless pit of funding and will fly.

[thunderlounge 7813]

On 10/12/2019 at 9:48 PM, Sam Lin said:

Honestly? 5yr ago. You aren't wrong, SpaceX would get us there faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. But politics will ensure SLS continues to be a bottomless pit of funding and will fly.

 

If they closed down SLS, where would they hide money to funnel to the shadow government?