SpaceX Tuesday...

[Beati Dogu]

They want the ships to operate on only liquid methane and liquid oxygen. Gases they can one day manufacture on Mars or on the Moon.

So no helium system for tank pressurisation & ultimately no nitrogen system for manoeuvering.

Helium is also relatively rare and expensive. Apparently the cost of helium on a Falcon 9 launch is more than the ~$100,000 cost of the liquid oxygen.

[frisbee]

annodomini2 said:

frisbee said:

Do the hot gas thrusters actually ignite the hot gas? Or are they just called that because they aren't from nitrogen tanks?

Burn it for more thrust, basically a mini rocket motor.

Supposedly Methalox same as the Raptors.

That's going to look absolutely stunning. I can't wait to see some more flights.

[CraigyMc]

Beati Dogu said:

They want the ships to operate on only liquid methane and liquid oxygen. Gases they can one day manufacture on Mars or on the Moon.

So no helium system for tank pressurisation & ultimately no nitrogen system for manoeuvering.

Helium is also relatively rare and expensive. Apparently the cost of helium on a Falcon 9 launch is more than the ~$100,000 cost of the liquid oxygen.

"or on the moon".

What?

[Flooble]

CraigyMc said:

"or on the moon".

What?

There's water on the moon, which gives you Hydrogen and Oxygen. The regolith contains carbon (actually it also contains hydrogen and some oxygen, so in theory you wouldn't even need the ice).

[ninja-lewis]

Flooble said:

CraigyMc said:

"or on the moon".

What?

There's water on the moon, which gives you Hydrogen and Oxygen. The regolith contains carbon (actually it also contains hydrogen and some oxygen, so in theory you wouldn't even need the ice).

In situ resource utilization (ISRU) as they call it. The Perseverance rover includes an experiment proving it works on Mars.

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

[anonymous-user]

And methane produced by human waste.

[Flooble]

F20CN16 said:

And methane produced by human waste.

I might be able to get a job with SpaceX after all!

[bill swizz]

Helium 3 could be mined on the moon to provide alternatives for systems that need Helium tanks. Though as I'm no expert on this I don't know if Helium 3 could be used for that purpose or how practical the mining of it on the moon would actually be.

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for...

[annodomini2]

He3 would be better purposed for fusion fuel.

[AW111]

bill swizz said:

Helium 3 could be mined on the moon to provide alternatives for systems that need Helium tanks. Though as I'm no expert on this I don't know if Helium 3 could be used for that purpose or how practical the mining of it on the moon would actually be.

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for...

I watched a documentary about lunar He3 mining.
It didn't end well.

[annodomini2]

This one doesn't end so well either

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/

[Beati Dogu]

The Transporter-2 Falcon 9 launch is on for later today - at 7:56 pm UK time (2:56 pm Florida).

Not sure if Jason Statham is onboard or not for this one.

[CraigyMc]

Flooble said:

CraigyMc said:

"or on the moon".

What?

There's water on the moon, which gives you Hydrogen and Oxygen. The regolith contains carbon (actually it also contains hydrogen and some oxygen, so in theory you wouldn't even need the ice).

I looked this up. Carbon is a very minor trace element in the lunar regolith. That is why I said "what?" earlier.

To mine tons of carbon from lunar regolith to make tons of methane, you'd need tens of thousands of tons of regolith with a process that is 100% efficient, and hundreds of thousands of tons in industrial use.

I have no qualms about methane creation on Mars given its atmosphere, but on the moon? Not happening.

[Flooble]

CraigyMc said:

Flooble said:

CraigyMc said:

"or on the moon".

What?

There's water on the moon, which gives you Hydrogen and Oxygen. The regolith contains carbon (actually it also contains hydrogen and some oxygen, so in theory you wouldn't even need the ice).

I looked this up. Carbon is a very minor trace element in the lunar regolith. That is why I said "what?" earlier.

To mine tons of carbon from lunar regolith to make tons of methane, you'd need tens of thousands of tons of regolith with a process that is 100% efficient, and hundreds of thousands of tons in industrial use.

I have no qualms about methane creation on Mars given its atmosphere, but on the moon? Not happening.

I looked it up too, in this paper:

https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.164966...

"It is concluded that improved excavator, extractor, and power technologies could make the extraction economically feasible."

That paper was 2004 and there is a new process:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256830324...


So I would not write it off so readily. Being able to win Oxygen, Carbon and Hydrogen is a strong incentive.

[MartG]

Beati Dogu said:

The Transporter-2 Falcon 9 launch is on for later today - at 7:56 pm UK time (2:56 pm Florida).

Not sure if Jason Statham is onboard or not for this one.

Livestream https://youtu.be/_qnD0bgjGOk

[MartG]

Scrubbed due to range violation

Try again tomorrow

[Dog Star]

MartG said:

Scrubbed due to range violation

Try again tomorrow

Astonishing- I got out of my nice bath with a bottle of wine to watch ….

Do people get served with massive fines for this fkwittery?

[FurtiveFreddy]

Where is Iron Dome when you need it?

[Smiljan]

US Navy Poseidon (737 convert) apparently in the no fly zone.

Let the tin foil hat conspiracy theories commence!

[Dog Star]

Elon isn’t happy -

“ Unfortunately, launch is called off for today, as an aircraft entered the “keep out zone”, which is unreasonably gigantic.”