Quote from: mme on 04/06/2018 07:00 pmNASA will have Dream Chaser for land landing now. Without risking Cargo and/or paying for R&D landings of D2. I don't like that D2 won't propulsively land but no need to put all the blame/expectations on NASA.The fact that there is Dream Chaser for downmass makes it only more obvious that NASA could schedule a few missions with downmass they can afford to lose.
NASA will have Dream Chaser for land landing now. Without risking Cargo and/or paying for R&D landings of D2. I don't like that D2 won't propulsively land but no need to put all the blame/expectations on NASA.
It’s worth noting that Falcon 9 and Merlin 1D are fantastically high performance as well. Even though they’re kerolox, they have just about the highest payload to liftoff mass ratio as any other rocket, and Merlin 1D has a much higher thrust to weight ratio than any pumpfed rocket ever.Falcon 9 uses aluminum-lithium alloy. Does Delta IV use that? Falcon and Merlin use deep propellant chilling. Does Atlas V or Delta do that? No.SpaceX DID pursue cost reduction, but they pursued dry mass performance improvements more aggressively than anyone else. At the end of the day, that actually beat payload to LEO for the same liftoff mass as the hydrolox launchers. Merlin is no slouch in Isp. It has the highest Isp of any kerolox gas generator.
Apparently I'm too tired to properly search the forums today. Could someone point me to where we discussed the new Dragon 2 processing facility near the CCAFS skid strip?
Quote from: gongora on 04/10/2018 03:39 pmApparently I'm too tired to properly search the forums today. Could someone point me to where we discussed the new Dragon 2 processing facility near the CCAFS skid strip?Maybe you were thinking of posts in this thread starting at:SpaceX Eastern Range Landing Facilitieshttps://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36513.msg1716246#msg1716246... and following posts.
It was just about 15 years ago that Elon Musk tried to buy some Russian rockets. He was spat at during the meeting and told to go away. He then started SpaceX. This week, Russia said it's getting out of the rocket biz. Be careful where you spit
Russia appears to have surrendered to SpaceX in the global launch market
On Tuesday, however, Russia's chief spaceflight official, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, made a remarkable comment about that country's competition with SpaceX."The share of launch vehicles is as small as 4 percent of the overall market of space services," Rogozin said in an interview with a Russian television station. "The 4 percent stake isn’t worth the effort to try to elbow Musk and China aside. Payloads manufacturing is where good money can be made."
Remember the Trampoline Man?
It’s going to be great having Boeing and SpaceX flying people soon.
Vulcan Heavy about 15.8 tonnes GTO. Falcon Heavy 8 tonnes GTO.Unless they expend the thing, but that's not possible because only recoverable rockets are cost competitive, I'm told repeatedly. - Ed Kyle
Quote from: wannamoonbase on 04/19/2018 07:43 pmIt’s going to be great having Boeing and SpaceX flying people soon. "soon"
Quote from: QuantumG on 04/20/2018 12:57 amQuote from: wannamoonbase on 04/19/2018 07:43 pmIt’s going to be great having Boeing and SpaceX flying people soon. "soon"“But when will then be now?”
For the Block V upgrade, did you have to change some manufacturing techniques in favor of reusability? I.e. is the Block V harder to manufacture so you can reuse it easier? If so, what did you have to change for example?
Biggest process change was eliminating Tig welding of the thrust structure or “Octaweb” and the move to a bolted design but this made it much easier and faster to produce overall as well. Block 5 is significantly easier to produce in many areas as the technicians and manufacturing engineers worked extremely well with our design partners to incorporate design for manufacturing (DFM) solutions, based on all that we had learned from earlier vehicle builds.
It seems the old aerospace mantra that better reliability and reusability come with higher cost and complexity isn't necessarily true.
Approximately 3 months from start of tank build to shipping. We can flex the factory to ship a new booster every 14 days if necessary.