SpaceX Tuesday...
Discussion
Beati Dogu said:
It reminds me of the US government's program back in the 90s (championed by Vice President Al Gore) for American car companies to develop energy efficient & electric cars. The Government gave them all billions of dollars for this initiative.
Not unsurprisingly, the companies basically just took the money and went through the motions. By the mid nineties they'd discovered the SUV, which was hugely popular, profitable and used conventional technology.
Ironically the US' drive to produce energy efficient cars spurred Toyota to do the same and the result was the Prius hybrid, which was really the only one that got made in any significant numbers.
General Motors did produce the EV1 all-electric car, but only about 1,100 of them before the project was finally cancelled in 2002. These had been leased to customers rather than sold & GM actually recalled them all. Some were donated to museums, but most of them were just crushed.
Then along comes a certain Elon Musk in 2003 to help found an electric car company.
I think its a slightly biased comment on electric vehicles, you missed out a very important one which was the Milk float (I am not joking as it was the mainstay of milk delivery for decades). But even then its not just GM others such as Nissan were developing prototypes that have come to market way back in 1997 they launched the Altra EV and don't forget about hybrid technology the Nissan prius and Honda. Lotus played a big part in the Tesla roadster. Not unsurprisingly, the companies basically just took the money and went through the motions. By the mid nineties they'd discovered the SUV, which was hugely popular, profitable and used conventional technology.
Ironically the US' drive to produce energy efficient cars spurred Toyota to do the same and the result was the Prius hybrid, which was really the only one that got made in any significant numbers.
General Motors did produce the EV1 all-electric car, but only about 1,100 of them before the project was finally cancelled in 2002. These had been leased to customers rather than sold & GM actually recalled them all. Some were donated to museums, but most of them were just crushed.
Then along comes a certain Elon Musk in 2003 to help found an electric car company.
You also have to consider the changes over the past decade to the battery technology, the infrastructure such as Ecotricity have invested in (I believe it costs £50K to install one of the charging stations.
The list goes on and on Tesla is just one player the rest of the industry will follow in thier own ways at some point they will have to turn a profit and become sustainable hopefully the series 3 will help them achieve this. But other manufactures have Petrol, Diesel and electric models and will transform from one power mode to another when the market is right for them. Its not Just "a certain Elon Musk in 2003 to help found an electric car company"
k this has to do with spacex tho.Einion Yrth said:
Who or what is driving the Waverley? I'd have thought that is rather predates microprocessors and none of the inhabitants illustrated appear to be even facing in the right direction.
I suspect the woman on the right is holding the steering tiller - though of course she isn't looking where she's going 
Einion Yrth said:
Who or what is driving the Waverley? I'd have thought that is rather predates microprocessors and none of the inhabitants illustrated appear to be even facing in the right direction.
Looks to me that it has a "front" (where just one woman is sitting) and hence is being driven by the woman on the right hand side at the back (since the solitary woman in the "front" appears to be sitting to one side, presumably to allow a view).With a top speed of about 10mph (14 according to one source) and tiller steering rather than a wheel, it wouldn't be a huge effort for that woman at the back to steer it.
Flooble said:
Looks to me that it has a "front" (where just one woman is sitting) and hence is being driven by the woman on the right hand side at the back (since the solitary woman in the "front" appears to be sitting to one side, presumably to allow a view).
With a top speed of about 10mph (14 according to one source) and tiller steering rather than a wheel, it wouldn't be a huge effort for that woman at the back to steer it.
This is a very similar electric vehicle from the same period and gives an excellent idea of what they were like- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhnjMdzGusc&t=3...With a top speed of about 10mph (14 according to one source) and tiller steering rather than a wheel, it wouldn't be a huge effort for that woman at the back to steer it.
Actually its tragic how little they've evolved in over 100yrs really...
back to spacex... Interesting stuff on reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/57balr/de...
“We are close to figuring it out. It might have been formation of solid oxygen in the carbon over-wrap of one of the bottles in the upper stage tanks. If it was liquid it would have been squeezed out but under pressure it could have ignited with the carbon. This is the leading theory right now, but it is subject to confirmation. The other thing we discovered is that we can exactly replicate what happened on the launch pad if someone shoots the rocket. We don’t think that is likely this time around, but we are definitely going to have to take precautions against that in the future. We looked at who would want to blow up a SpaceX rocket. That turned out to be a long list. I think it is unlikely this time, but it is something we need to recognize as a real possibility in the future.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/57balr/de...
"Gonna be flat honest with you, we literally hired a marksman and shoot a mock-up second stage at long range."
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/57balr/de...
For people who aren't understanding the "solid oxygen" comment, here's a likely scenario where this occurs:
"The helium COPVs are sitting inside the oxygen tank. The oxygen tank is then filled with subcooled oxygen that's very close to oxygen's freezing temperature. The helium tanks are immersed in and covered by this liquid oxygen. The helium tanks are then begun to be filled. When you fill the tanks, initially before too much pressure builds up, the helium will be expanding from the pressure lines into the pressure vessels. This will cause an associated temperature drop from adiabatic cooling. This could cause the surface of the vessel to drop below the freezing temperature of Oxygen. There will now be tiny frozen/solid Oxygen crystals that develop in between the aluminum tank and the carbon fiber wrapping of the COPV. As the vessel is then pressurized these crystals are strongly compressed as the COPV expands by a few centimeters as it pressurizes. When you strongly compress an oxidizer and a fuel source (carbon fiber) you can cause spontaneous combustion if the pressures are high enough. This causes tank and COPV rupture and then the runaway explosion of the vehicle."
So the theory is either accidental solid oxygen combining with the CF helim tank.. or a sniper....
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/57balr/de...
“We are close to figuring it out. It might have been formation of solid oxygen in the carbon over-wrap of one of the bottles in the upper stage tanks. If it was liquid it would have been squeezed out but under pressure it could have ignited with the carbon. This is the leading theory right now, but it is subject to confirmation. The other thing we discovered is that we can exactly replicate what happened on the launch pad if someone shoots the rocket. We don’t think that is likely this time around, but we are definitely going to have to take precautions against that in the future. We looked at who would want to blow up a SpaceX rocket. That turned out to be a long list. I think it is unlikely this time, but it is something we need to recognize as a real possibility in the future.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/57balr/de...
"Gonna be flat honest with you, we literally hired a marksman and shoot a mock-up second stage at long range."
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/57balr/de...
For people who aren't understanding the "solid oxygen" comment, here's a likely scenario where this occurs:
"The helium COPVs are sitting inside the oxygen tank. The oxygen tank is then filled with subcooled oxygen that's very close to oxygen's freezing temperature. The helium tanks are immersed in and covered by this liquid oxygen. The helium tanks are then begun to be filled. When you fill the tanks, initially before too much pressure builds up, the helium will be expanding from the pressure lines into the pressure vessels. This will cause an associated temperature drop from adiabatic cooling. This could cause the surface of the vessel to drop below the freezing temperature of Oxygen. There will now be tiny frozen/solid Oxygen crystals that develop in between the aluminum tank and the carbon fiber wrapping of the COPV. As the vessel is then pressurized these crystals are strongly compressed as the COPV expands by a few centimeters as it pressurizes. When you strongly compress an oxidizer and a fuel source (carbon fiber) you can cause spontaneous combustion if the pressures are high enough. This causes tank and COPV rupture and then the runaway explosion of the vehicle."
So the theory is either accidental solid oxygen combining with the CF helim tank.. or a sniper....
SpaceX will start reusing Dragon capsules next year
http://spacenews.com/spacex-to-reuse-dragon-capsul...
http://spacenews.com/spacex-to-reuse-dragon-capsul...
SpaceX has provided a new update regarding the Sept. 1, 2016, accident that saw a “full thrust” Falcon 9 explode at Cape Canaveral, SLC-40. The company has announced that it has made significant progress in determining the root cause of the accident.
An update provided by the Hawthorne, California-based firm on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, read as follows:
The Accident Investigation Team continues to make progress in examining the anomaly on September 1 that led to the loss of a Falcon 9 and its payload at Launch Complex 40 (LC-40), Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Since the incident, investigators from SpaceX, the FAA, NASA, the US Air Force and industry experts have been working methodically through an extensive fault tree to investigate all plausible causes. As part of this, we have conducted tests at our facility in McGregor, Texas, attempting to replicate as closely as possible the conditions that may have led to the mishap.
The investigation team has made significant progress on the fault tree. Previously, we announced the investigation was focusing on a breach in the cryogenic helium system of the second stage liquid oxygen tank. The root cause of the breach has not yet been confirmed, but attention has continued to narrow to one of the three composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) inside the LOX tank. Through extensive testing in Texas, SpaceX has shown that it can re-create a COPV failure entirely through helium loading conditions. These conditions are mainly affected by the temperature and pressure of the helium being loaded.
SpaceX’s efforts are now focused on two areas – finding the exact root cause, and developing improved helium loading conditions that allow SpaceX to reliably load Falcon 9. With the advanced state of the investigation, we also plan to resume stage testing in Texas in the coming days, while continuing to focus on completion of the investigation. This is an important milestone on the path to returning to flight.
Pending the results of the investigation, we continue to work towards returning to flight before the end of the year. Our launch sites at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, remain on track to be operational in this timeframe.
Read more at http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/sp...
An update provided by the Hawthorne, California-based firm on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, read as follows:
The Accident Investigation Team continues to make progress in examining the anomaly on September 1 that led to the loss of a Falcon 9 and its payload at Launch Complex 40 (LC-40), Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Since the incident, investigators from SpaceX, the FAA, NASA, the US Air Force and industry experts have been working methodically through an extensive fault tree to investigate all plausible causes. As part of this, we have conducted tests at our facility in McGregor, Texas, attempting to replicate as closely as possible the conditions that may have led to the mishap.
The investigation team has made significant progress on the fault tree. Previously, we announced the investigation was focusing on a breach in the cryogenic helium system of the second stage liquid oxygen tank. The root cause of the breach has not yet been confirmed, but attention has continued to narrow to one of the three composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) inside the LOX tank. Through extensive testing in Texas, SpaceX has shown that it can re-create a COPV failure entirely through helium loading conditions. These conditions are mainly affected by the temperature and pressure of the helium being loaded.
SpaceX’s efforts are now focused on two areas – finding the exact root cause, and developing improved helium loading conditions that allow SpaceX to reliably load Falcon 9. With the advanced state of the investigation, we also plan to resume stage testing in Texas in the coming days, while continuing to focus on completion of the investigation. This is an important milestone on the path to returning to flight.
Pending the results of the investigation, we continue to work towards returning to flight before the end of the year. Our launch sites at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, remain on track to be operational in this timeframe.
Read more at http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/sp...
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