Thank you If they can make it work, Cygnus might turn out to be the best cargo hauler out of the whole CRS bunch.
Interesting video. The sound is bad, but the video they present definitely shows a Cygnus and an Antares. The video in the video was apparently prepared by AMA studios. I couldn't find the video in question on AMA's site.
Quote from: krytek on 07/07/2012 05:46 pmThank you If they can make it work, Cygnus might turn out to be the best cargo hauler out of the whole CRS bunch.I skeptical of that mainly because of the limitations of Antares....
I skeptical of that mainly because of the limitations of Antares.
Quote from: manboy on 07/07/2012 09:03 pmI skeptical of that mainly because of the limitations of Antares.The only parts I find lacking on the Antares vehicle vs Atlas V and Falcon 9 is the relatively low performance upper stage and smaller fairing.Neither of these are issues that cannot be removed in later versions.
Quote from: manboy on 07/07/2012 09:03 pmQuote from: krytek on 07/07/2012 05:46 pmThank you If they can make it work, Cygnus might turn out to be the best cargo hauler out of the whole CRS bunch.I skeptical of that mainly because of the limitations of Antares....If that's the ONLY limitation, it can be overcome by launching on something else. But even so, much cargo is volume-limited, not mass-limited. And we are, after all, talking about down-mass not up-mass...
I'm skeptical, but I would love to see some actual trials of large scale ballutes for reentry. It would very useful technology for many purposes - for Earth, Mars, Titan, and other destinations.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 07/07/2012 10:10 pmQuote from: manboy on 07/07/2012 09:03 pmQuote from: krytek on 07/07/2012 05:46 pmThank you If they can make it work, Cygnus might turn out to be the best cargo hauler out of the whole CRS bunch.I skeptical of that mainly because of the limitations of Antares....If that's the ONLY limitation, it can be overcome by launching on something else. But even so, much cargo is volume-limited, not mass-limited. And we are, after all, talking about down-mass not up-mass...Cygnus will probably never launch on any other rocket. Mass to LEO has an effect on the volume of Cygnus, adding an inflatable heatshield will decrease the volume and mass delivered to the ISS.
Have you been keeping up with IRVE? IRVE-3 is supposed to launch up at Wallops this month. This concept looks more like that than the Lavochkin product (to my admittedly non-engineer eye).
It was on their youtube channel, it's apparently called the HEART concept.
Maybe IRVE-4 could hitch a ride in the 4th unpressurized section of the HTV or even better would be a small pkg to hitch a ride on the EFT-1 mission?
that was only a sounding rocket flight
I'll try to sum up some of the stuff from the videos posted earlier:* structure is made up from a kevlar weave with the electronics sown inside.* TPS system made from commercial materials mostly intended for industrial furnace isolation. A material to isolate high temperature piping is shown.* Nitrogen tank is carried onboard to inflate the system.* reentry is currently uncontrolled. * reentry control is planned and in development* reentry control system will use a center of gravity offset system.She says next test article is about 8-10 meters in diameter, allowing for a little over 1 tonne return mass. Any idea how to estimate critical velocity for that one? I wanna get a feeling for how hard that landing is going to be without parachutes.