Thanks ClayJay for the link to Garrett's presentation.It's a pity people wasted his time repeatedly asking FH questions that he was not in a position to answer, instead of questions on his area of expertise ie commercial crew. Some questions I would have liked answered.1) How much cheaper would ISS missions be if 10 x reuse of Dragon was allowed.2) What will they do with the used Dragon's.3) I assuming the CST100 is not being reused for ISS missions, which would explain their expendable propulsion system. But what about the Dream Chaser. I doubt Garrett could answer these questions, but an answer in regards DC would be interesting. 4) How soon before an unmanned flight?.Strange that NASA is happy to fly their reusable vehicle multiply times, but don't trust a private company's reusable vehicle. NB Orion is also planned to be reused a few times.
Strange that NASA is happy to fly their reusable vehicle multiply times, but don't trust a private company's reusable vehicle. NB Orion is also planned to be reused a few times.
Quote from: TrevorMonty on 08/28/2014 10:22 amStrange that NASA is happy to fly their reusable vehicle multiply times, but don't trust a private company's reusable vehicle. NB Orion is also planned to be reused a few times.Garrett (Reisman, not me; I always find it weird talking about namesakes) said it would complicate the certification process. So the decision not to offer reused Dragons was made by SpaceX, not NASA. Now, whether NASA's certification process deserves criticism is another story ...
Ok, first article covering chutes and aborts:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/08/dragon-v2-rely-parachutes-landing/
Quote from: Chris Bergin on 08/28/2014 02:50 pmOk, first article covering chutes and aborts:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/08/dragon-v2-rely-parachutes-landing/Perfect article, Chris – it summarized his comments well. Glad you included the pad abort arc image from his deck as it's nicely illustrative.And, "his name remains a secret"? ... heheh, well-done.
Quote from: dglow on 08/28/2014 03:55 pmQuote from: Chris Bergin on 08/28/2014 02:50 pmOk, first article covering chutes and aborts:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/08/dragon-v2-rely-parachutes-landing/Perfect article, Chris – it summarized his comments well. Glad you included the pad abort arc image from his deck as it's nicely illustrative.And, "his name remains a secret"? ... heheh, well-done. Thanks very much. Glad someone noticed that line
“We’ll have a very flight-like propulsion system per what goes into the abort, including the avionics, which will be identical to the avionics were are planning for the flight vehicle.
Be patient people, rockets are hard.
While I think the idea of reusing both the Dragon capsule and the first stage in manned flights is going to revolutionize manned spaceflight in the period 2017 - 2025, I would expect that all flights on behalf of NASA in that time frame will use 4 seat, first use Dragons and that will produce a 'stable' of 8 to 15 craft that will be used by others at a fraction of the cost. In fact I am convinced that the economics of that will create a much expanded orbital tourism industry as well as a reason to create a real commercial orbital station dedicated to supporting several different businesses. In the conference call the contract specified was for 2 flights a year. If two contracts are awarded it would be 1 flight a year I imagine.However, while ISS is the only destination currently in orbit. A reused F9 first stage with a reused Dragon V2 capsule should cost in the order of $40M - $50M to put up to 7 people in orbit. Less than $10M a seat, add a cargo flight that also uses a reused F9 first stage that lofts a Bigalow style station and you could put easily put up a combined commercial and tourism excursion for $15M a person. And do it by 2018. If you charged $20M per seat for the first group, and presuming that you are keeping at least one person on the station permanently you can afford to do what they do with the ISS and keep the last craft to have docked there as a 'lifeboat'.
While I think the idea of reusing both the Dragon capsule and the first stage in manned flights is going to revolutionize manned spaceflight in the period 2017 - 2025, I would expect that all flights on behalf of NASA in that time frame will use 4 seat, first use Dragons and that will produce a 'stable' of 8 to 15 craft that will be used by others at a fraction of the cost.