I am quite sure it is for concerts as well and only additional for launch watching.
Quote from: Dave G on 12/17/2017 10:07 amFor a solar array, I believe the low voltage DC wires are larger, i.e. higher amperage. Also I imagine there would be more low voltage DC wires than high voltage AC wires.They could be using micro-inverters, but with the potential for hurricanes and flooding, I'm guessing traditional inverters located on the concrete slabs. It will probably be high voltage DC. I'm mostly wild guessing 6 arrays per rack, which would be 216 volts if they were in series. I wouldn't be surprised if they went to the 400 volt range for DC, since that would keep wiring size down and be the same range the Model S uses. (Not sure what the model 3 is) It looks like the CS6U array can handle up to 1500 volts to ground. The details of how or if they're tying into the grid should be interesting. With a transfer switch just west of the STARGATE building they could possibly take over the whole grid east of there with public juice for backup or times you don't see the sun for a week.
For a solar array, I believe the low voltage DC wires are larger, i.e. higher amperage. Also I imagine there would be more low voltage DC wires than high voltage AC wires.They could be using micro-inverters, but with the potential for hurricanes and flooding, I'm guessing traditional inverters located on the concrete slabs.
It turns out they're going to run the solar DC at 1,000 volts.
Quote from: Nomadd on 12/20/2017 03:49 pm It turns out they're going to run the solar DC at 1,000 volts.Wow. I'm guessing that's around 28 panels in series. So if any of these fail, the whole string goes out, yes?
Yeah the MPPT circuits make a huge difference in solar panel efficiency. Getting the I/V in the sweet spot is a big deal. MPPT becoming cheaper with the general cheaper-electronics trend is one of the ways solar has gotten better faster than raw solar panel efficiency has improved.At One Laptop per Child my coworker integrated MPPT directly into our battery-charging electronics to make cheap solar panels charge our laptops really well.
Large, gray metal things are making themselves know. I hope they realize it's going to rain tonight.
<snip>At some point they will also need to build a BFR/BFS pad at Vandenberg. Thinking about it; they might choose to do that after BC and before LC-39A, because they would want a west coast pad for Starlink as soon as possible, and there's no point them having massive capacity on the east coast (BFR from both BC + 39A, plus F9 from 40) while they're struggling to manage with F9/FH from one pad at Vandenberg. So possibly the pad crew will move to the west coast next and then LC-39A after that. Or by then they may have trained up a second pad crew and be able to do both at the same time, a capability they will need to have sooner or later if they genuinely want to build enough pads to realise their plans of flying point to point to multiple locations around the world.<snip>
Or SpaceX can build a fleet of BFR sized ASDS floating platforms after where ever they chose as the first BFR pad.
Especially if they start the P2P (point to point) service with the BFR.
So my first thought is that they may not be ready to work on BC for quite a while (6-18mths). That might explain the shed around the crane.
But for now the limiting factor seems to be production and refurbishment of boosters.
However we do know that they want to make rapid progress on BFR/BFS, and that means they are going to want to start conducting static fires, sub-orbital and full orbital launches as soon as they have vehicle hardware ready, which means they need a pad/facility in place to do so. I don't know how long people envisage them taking to build the first spaceship or booster but to make their stated 2022 Mars window they have to be aiming for 2020 I would think to start testing. So the question is; where will that first pad be?
So the most logical solution for me is; leave LC-39A and SLC-40 alone, now that they are both operating efficiently and effectively...
Once they have proven their capability to launch high-inclination east coast satellites from Boca Chica, and assuming they are by that point able to get multiple reflights out of each BFR/BFS (thus amortizing the high unit cost of each over many flights), then they can switch half of their east coast launches from LC-39A down to BC and then take 39A offline in order to convert it to a BFR/BFS pad (or dual-use if they wish)...