There is more than just Falcon Heavy in play
Which Europa Clipper would get there first,Launched on Block 1 or on Block 1b later ?
Quote from: Jim on 04/23/2018 04:19 pmThere is more than just Falcon Heavy in playYes, a Vulcan ACES with distributed launch would have near or even better BEO capability than a SLS 1B. There is also possible BO’s NG which would have close to same or better capability than a SLS for a BEO mission.Then there is always a Atlas V (551).
Quote from: dror on 04/23/2018 05:41 pmWhich Europa Clipper would get there first,Launched on Block 1 or on Block 1b later ?There is at least 3 years difference in launch date. I don't think the differnece in performance from Block 1B to Block 1 is that large. Even going to a Atlas V 551 shouldn't add more than 3, maybe 4, years to the flight time.
Is ICPS human-rating going to happen or not?
Quote from: butters on 04/23/2018 08:03 pmIs ICPS human-rating going to happen or not?It will probably have to be.
Quote from: whitelancer64 on 04/23/2018 08:36 pmQuote from: butters on 04/23/2018 08:03 pmIs ICPS human-rating going to happen or not?It will probably have to be.As will the SLS software.Last report wasn't optimistic that was even possible without starting over.
Three years to human rate ICPS and make Orion suitable for astronauts!?
It's possible to interpret the prolonged delay of EUS as evidence that perhaps the software issues are predominantly related to EUS, and that the software for the rest of SLS is more mature because "heritage hardware."
Steven: do you happen to know how much Vulcan/Centaur V with 6x solid boosters could throw at Jupiter?
Quote from: AncientU on 04/23/2018 09:10 pmQuote from: whitelancer64 on 04/23/2018 08:36 pmQuote from: butters on 04/23/2018 08:03 pmIs ICPS human-rating going to happen or not?It will probably have to be.As will the SLS software.Last report wasn't optimistic that was even possible without starting over.That's an interesting topic because every time I've seen the SLS software problems story, it was never clear whether the software problems relate to SLS core or EUS or ICPS or the entire system. It's possible to interpret the prolonged delay of EUS as evidence that perhaps the software issues are predominantly related to EUS, and that the software for the rest of SLS is more mature because "heritage hardware." On the other hand, we also know that "heritage" only goes so far when we're talking about SLS. So I guess we'll have to wait for more breadcrumbs before we know how bad the software issues are and whether they impact Block I (or the human-rating thereof).
Quote from: TaurusLittrow on 04/23/2018 08:33 pmThree years to human rate ICPS and make Orion suitable for astronauts!?Where does that information come from?
Quote from: TaurusLittrow on 04/23/2018 08:33 pmThree years to human rate ICPS and make Orion suitable for astronauts!?Where does that information come from?Quote from: butters on 04/24/2018 12:15 amIt's possible to interpret the prolonged delay of EUS as evidence that perhaps the software issues are predominantly related to EUS, and that the software for the rest of SLS is more mature because "heritage hardware."EUS is still being designed. Any software issues are more likely due to elements that are being built now.For those interested, Block I payload to Europa is only 2.9 t, compared to 8.1 t for Block IB. I estimate FH expendable payload for Europa (for 6,783 m/s delta-V from LEO) to be 6.5 t!