SpaceX Tuesday...
Discussion
I don't think it will fly from Florida for a while. Where from there is also another question.
Pad 39a is vital to them for Crew Dragon and military contract flights. Some of these will require the mobile service tower they'll build at this pad.
I don't think Pad 40 is capable of handling Falcon Heavy as it is, let alone Starship.
If they ask NASA nicely, they could maybe borrow Pad 39b, which is a clean pad these days. They might as well borrow part of the Vertical Assembly Building and build their own mobile launch tower while they're at it.
Other than that, they'll probably have to upgrade Pad 40, build a new pad down missile row like Blue Origin, or switch completely to sea launches somehow.
Pad 39a is vital to them for Crew Dragon and military contract flights. Some of these will require the mobile service tower they'll build at this pad.
I don't think Pad 40 is capable of handling Falcon Heavy as it is, let alone Starship.
If they ask NASA nicely, they could maybe borrow Pad 39b, which is a clean pad these days. They might as well borrow part of the Vertical Assembly Building and build their own mobile launch tower while they're at it.
Other than that, they'll probably have to upgrade Pad 40, build a new pad down missile row like Blue Origin, or switch completely to sea launches somehow.
Here's another fairing comparison from the same guy, Ken Kirtland:
Now with the various expected or actual lift capacities of their respective rockets. (In humpback whales, Kg and bananas)
"The blue columns in the center of each fairing show a standardized comparison of payload capacity for each rocket. It shows how much water they can take to LEO, GEO, and TLI. Every single rocket is shown carrying a 3 meter cylinder of water."
Vulcan, like Atlas V, can have solid rocket motors attached as necessary. Between 0 and 6 of them to take it up to the Vulcan Centaur Heavy configuration. Here's one being test fired the other day.
https://youtu.be/HXHMfMju77g
Now with the various expected or actual lift capacities of their respective rockets. (In humpback whales, Kg and bananas)
"The blue columns in the center of each fairing show a standardized comparison of payload capacity for each rocket. It shows how much water they can take to LEO, GEO, and TLI. Every single rocket is shown carrying a 3 meter cylinder of water."
Vulcan, like Atlas V, can have solid rocket motors attached as necessary. Between 0 and 6 of them to take it up to the Vulcan Centaur Heavy configuration. Here's one being test fired the other day.
https://youtu.be/HXHMfMju77g
NASA has set Oct 23 as the target date for the next manned Dragon flight to the ISS
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/08/14/nasa-sets-oc...
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/08/14/nasa-sets-oc...
Beati Dogu said:
So there should be two Dragon capsules attached to the ISS in November, once the first cargo Dragon 2 arrives.
Potentially having 14 people up there in April sounds a bit nuts. They’ll be bumping into each other all the time.
14 in about the same volume as a 747? They'll be fine. Might be queues for the heads though. Potentially having 14 people up there in April sounds a bit nuts. They’ll be bumping into each other all the time.
They've briefly had 13 on the ISS a couple of times before, in the Shuttle era.
In 2009 with Shuttle Endeavour (STS-127) and her crew of 7 for an eleven day stay.
(Back row on the left is Chris Cassidy, who is on the ISS again currently and next to him is Doug Hurley)
Also Shuttle Discovery (STS-131) and her crew of 7 paid a ten day visit in 2010 :
There are only 6 sleep stations on the ISS for crew to call their own (4 on the US module & 2 on the Russian). As demonstrated by astronaut Suni Williams here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukws3oLMDc8
So it's either navy-style hot bunking, or strapping your sleeping bag to a wall. The Shuttle crews could make use of the orbiter of course and the Dragon capsules may have to serve as temporary bedrooms too.
In 2009 with Shuttle Endeavour (STS-127) and her crew of 7 for an eleven day stay.
(Back row on the left is Chris Cassidy, who is on the ISS again currently and next to him is Doug Hurley)
Also Shuttle Discovery (STS-131) and her crew of 7 paid a ten day visit in 2010 :
There are only 6 sleep stations on the ISS for crew to call their own (4 on the US module & 2 on the Russian). As demonstrated by astronaut Suni Williams here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukws3oLMDc8
So it's either navy-style hot bunking, or strapping your sleeping bag to a wall. The Shuttle crews could make use of the orbiter of course and the Dragon capsules may have to serve as temporary bedrooms too.
SpaceX is building 120 Starlink satellites per month now it seems.
Beta testers report download speeds between 11Mbps to 60Mbps, with latency between 31ms to 94ms
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/202...
They've another Starlink launch due off on Tuesday 18th Aug - Starlink-10
Launch time is 3.31 pm UK time (10:31 am EDT) from SLC-40 in Florida.
This will carry 58 Starlinks plus 3 rideshare satellites: SkySats 19-21
It will be this booster's 6th flight, which will be a record for Falcon 9. This particular one, B1049, has done 3 previous Starlink missions before.
Beta testers report download speeds between 11Mbps to 60Mbps, with latency between 31ms to 94ms
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/202...
They've another Starlink launch due off on Tuesday 18th Aug - Starlink-10
Launch time is 3.31 pm UK time (10:31 am EDT) from SLC-40 in Florida.
This will carry 58 Starlinks plus 3 rideshare satellites: SkySats 19-21
It will be this booster's 6th flight, which will be a record for Falcon 9. This particular one, B1049, has done 3 previous Starlink missions before.
Jesus. What a beast that would be. Starship Heavy.
Elon is now the world's 4th richest man apparently. Behind Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Mark Cuckerberg.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-17...
Elon is now the world's 4th richest man apparently. Behind Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Mark Cuckerberg.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-17...
Beati Dogu said:
They've another Starlink launch due off on Tuesday 18th Aug - Starlink-10
Launch time is 3.31 pm UK time (10:31 am EDT) from SLC-40 in Florida.
This will carry 58 Starlinks plus 3 rideshare satellites: SkySats 19-21
It will be this booster's 6th flight, which will be a record for Falcon 9. This particular one, B1049, has done 3 previous Starlink missions before.
All's well that ends well.Launch time is 3.31 pm UK time (10:31 am EDT) from SLC-40 in Florida.
This will carry 58 Starlinks plus 3 rideshare satellites: SkySats 19-21
It will be this booster's 6th flight, which will be a record for Falcon 9. This particular one, B1049, has done 3 previous Starlink missions before.
The booster took off & landed for a 6th time.
All satellites deployed and they even managed to capture a fairing in mid air. Sounds like the other one is OK too.
^ Impressive feat. Love the cheesy music too.
"Raptor engine just reached 330 bar chamber pressure without exploding!" - Elon
That's 4,786 psi.
Also ~225 tons of thrust, which is just shy of an SLS / Space Shuttle RS-25 main engine. Doesn't sound that impressive put like that, but the Raptor is smaller, lighter and much, much cheaper to make. Definitely not the sort of thing you trundle down a highway on a trailer.
The fact it can do that shows that production Raptors will hopefully run reliably at 300 bar.
They're about to test Raptor serial number 40, which already has several upgrades over 330 bar engine, according to Elon.
As for Raptor's ability to throttle, compared to Merlin:
"Max demonstrated Raptor thrust is ~225 tons & min is ~90 tons, so they’re actually quite similar. Both Merlin & Raptor could throttle way lower with added design complexity. Raptor preburner & Merlin gas generator flameout are what limit lower bound." - Elon
Meanwhile Starship SN6 seems to have passed its pressure testing OK and is being prepared to have Raptor serial number 29 fitted soon. The process of static firing & flight will begin next week according to road closure notifications.
- Austin Barnard
"Raptor engine just reached 330 bar chamber pressure without exploding!" - Elon
That's 4,786 psi.
Also ~225 tons of thrust, which is just shy of an SLS / Space Shuttle RS-25 main engine. Doesn't sound that impressive put like that, but the Raptor is smaller, lighter and much, much cheaper to make. Definitely not the sort of thing you trundle down a highway on a trailer.
The fact it can do that shows that production Raptors will hopefully run reliably at 300 bar.
They're about to test Raptor serial number 40, which already has several upgrades over 330 bar engine, according to Elon.
As for Raptor's ability to throttle, compared to Merlin:
"Max demonstrated Raptor thrust is ~225 tons & min is ~90 tons, so they’re actually quite similar. Both Merlin & Raptor could throttle way lower with added design complexity. Raptor preburner & Merlin gas generator flameout are what limit lower bound." - Elon
Meanwhile Starship SN6 seems to have passed its pressure testing OK and is being prepared to have Raptor serial number 29 fitted soon. The process of static firing & flight will begin next week according to road closure notifications.
- Austin Barnard
Flooble said:
Doesn't even make the news now.
It is starting to feel a little like the start of Encounter at Tiber
It is starting to feel a little like the start of Encounter at Tiber
It does doesn't it, I have respect for all that NASA has achieved but we now appear to be moving up to the next level,
Small thing like the stencil number on the side of the engines to keep track of them , they are just a product now.
A fascinating time for anyone interested in space exploration.
PRTVR said:
Flooble said:
Doesn't even make the news now.
It is starting to feel a little like the start of Encounter at Tiber
It is starting to feel a little like the start of Encounter at Tiber
It does doesn't it, I have respect for all that NASA has achieved but we now appear to be moving up to the next level,
Small thing like the stencil number on the side of the engines to keep track of them , they are just a product now.
A fascinating time for anyone interested in space exploration.
FSH, 20 launches, 2000 miles, 3 hrs, ONO.
London424 said:
Are the parachutes they use for the faring steerable or do they just open them high enough up that ship has time to chase them?
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