And yet Shotwell hinted the BFR will have to be built on the pad...perhaps because they're making it without a mono tank? >
And yet Shotwell hinted the BFR will have to be built on the pad......
The current TEL isn't there to ensure the F9 stays in one place but to provide strenthening in the wind so that it doesn't see rediculous bending loads. But would a much squatter, thicker skinned stage (which it has to be anyway due to circumference), still need external support for bending loads?As a data point, the F9 first stage is just fine without a TEL post-landing.
Just thinking of bending loads, when seeing a Falcon 9 first stage transported. Long and slender, very lightweight. They just put wheels under both ends and transport it over the highway.
Quote from: guckyfan on 06/26/2016 04:12 amJust thinking of bending loads, when seeing a Falcon 9 first stage transported. Long and slender, very lightweight. They just put wheels under both ends and transport it over the highway.Well, to be honest, they connect the wheel trucks to handling rings (in the case of the road trucks, there are two sets of claw-like rings at each wheel truck, integral to the trucks), which are strategically connected to specially reinforced sections of the long, slender, lightweight stages, and I bet there are longitudinal stiffeners that run up and down the stages from those attach points.
Quote from: BobHk on 06/25/2016 06:06 pmAnd yet Shotwell hinted the BFR will have to be built on the pad.........citation needed.She said it would be built at (or near) the launch site.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 06/25/2016 06:46 pmQuote from: BobHk on 06/25/2016 06:06 pmAnd yet Shotwell hinted the BFR will have to be built on the pad.........citation needed.She said it would be built at (or near) the launch site.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoCDLUHb0y4&feature=youtu.be3:40 to 4:05
Quote from: BobHk on 06/27/2016 04:25 amQuote from: Robotbeat on 06/25/2016 06:46 pmQuote from: BobHk on 06/25/2016 06:06 pmAnd yet Shotwell hinted the BFR will have to be built on the pad.........citation needed.She said it would be built at (or near) the launch site.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoCDLUHb0y4&feature=youtu.be3:40 to 4:05So in other words, /exactly/ what I said."the Mars Colonial Transporter ...we're going to have to build that rocket at the launch site"This is NOT the same thing as being built on the pad.
>and how far do you think shell build it from the pad if shes not intending to send it/parts of it over roadways? a building a few miles from the pad might as well be the bloody pad.
While they might build pieces of the BFR in Brownsville, getting the rocket to the pad would be difficult. The shipping channel is separated from the launch site by several miles of wetlands. Dredging a channel and building a dock and roadway to the pad would have to get past an awful lot of environmental and political hurdles.
Then there's the other big issue: where are you going to test-fire this thing? McGregor can't do it. >
Quote from: darkenfast on 06/27/2016 09:18 amWhile they might build pieces of the BFR in Brownsville, getting the rocket to the pad would be difficult. The shipping channel is separated from the launch site by several miles of wetlands. Dredging a channel and building a dock and roadway to the pad would have to get past an awful lot of environmental and political hurdles. Its 4.7 miles from the outlet, straight down the coast. IF they could get approval for a ramp or pier from the end of Rte 4 they could unload it from a crane barge.