SpaceX Tuesday...
Discussion
Kccv23highliftcam said:
Eric Mc said:
Mars is just "wrong" for so many aspects of landing spacecraft softly onto the surface.
I'd just like to point out that the USA got a Viking onto a rocky planet in 1976. The same year Rocky came out. 
Hayabusa2 is doing great guns at the moment with 3 landers done, the only problems they had, on the surface, was not rocks but the albedo factor for the lidar. They will do a touchdown later this month for sample collection and then a an explosive perpetrator which will go sub soil whilst the mother craft hides from debris, just leaving a camera module behind.
Eric Mc said:
Saw that video previously. That demonstrates how it works entering earth's atmosphere. Mars is a completely different situation and it's the landing on Mars I would like to see explained.
they've already explained it. It's going to aerobrake and then do a re-entry burn before re-entry through the atmosphere and then a landing burn to slow it down enough to land on it's tip... Polite M135 driver said:
they've already explained it. It's going to aerobrake and then do a re-entry burn before re-entry through the atmosphere and then a landing burn to slow it down enough to land on it's tip...
Aerobraking on Mars is pathetic compared to earth because the atmosphere is so thin and you need much more fuel to slow down and land than you would with an earth landing. This fuel has to be launched off earth towards Mars - either as part of the main BFR launch or in a separate BFR tanker. If on a tanker, then the fuel has to be transferred to the lander.As I said earlier - nobody's done anything like this before on that scale at such a distance from earth.
Don't think I am trying to dismiss what SpaceX are doing. I'm a big fan of what they have done so far. I'm just pointing out the factors involved in what they are trying to achieve with such a massive Mars lander.
Gandahar said:
I wonder if Boeing will usurp SpaceX in the long run, like European manufacturers will usurp Tesla?
Actually I don't have to wonder that much. It will happen.
Footnote in history...........................
Except you avoid the small matter of who pays for Boeing's efforts....Actually I don't have to wonder that much. It will happen.
Footnote in history...........................
boeing Eric Mc said:
Kccv23highliftcam said:
And massive mars landers have massive ablative heatshields to do just that. Plus massive tankers to fuel from during the journey as per the plan.
Granted however, the devil is in the detail.
And that's what I'd like to have - the detail.Granted however, the devil is in the detail.
The word is that SpaceX is planning to launch the same Falcon 9 booster for a 3rd time next month.
This is likely to be the SSO-A mission, which is a collection of small satellites.
The launch is currently no earlier than 19th Nov from Vandenberg.
In fact they may do this twice, as they have another flight scheduled from Florida on 14th November, but the booster ID isn't known yet.
This is the Es'hail 2 mission and will be from Pad 39a in Florida.
Here's a pic of Pad 39a I took while on the KSC tour a couple of weeks ago:
The bus tour skirts the pad perimeter before heading off to Pad 39b and on to the Saturn V building.
Here's a tip for you if you ever go on this bus tour. Sit on the right side as you board if you want a good view of Pad 39a and the SpaceX set up there. Sit on the left as you board for a better view of the crawlers, VAB, Pad 39b and pretty much everything else.
You can see them all from either side, but people will obstruct the view a little. E,g:
That's the SLS mobile launcher inside the VAB, after its recent trip to the pad.
This is likely to be the SSO-A mission, which is a collection of small satellites.
The launch is currently no earlier than 19th Nov from Vandenberg.
In fact they may do this twice, as they have another flight scheduled from Florida on 14th November, but the booster ID isn't known yet.
This is the Es'hail 2 mission and will be from Pad 39a in Florida.
Here's a pic of Pad 39a I took while on the KSC tour a couple of weeks ago:
The bus tour skirts the pad perimeter before heading off to Pad 39b and on to the Saturn V building.
Here's a tip for you if you ever go on this bus tour. Sit on the right side as you board if you want a good view of Pad 39a and the SpaceX set up there. Sit on the left as you board for a better view of the crawlers, VAB, Pad 39b and pretty much everything else.
You can see them all from either side, but people will obstruct the view a little. E,g:
That's the SLS mobile launcher inside the VAB, after its recent trip to the pad.
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