Lets keep this on topic or I may as well lock it, thanks.
Falcon 1e, which all future Falcon 1 launches will be, will supposedly lift over 1,000 kg.Somewhere there is a thread discussing whether a modern day Mercury could mass less than 1,000 kg. I think it could. LAS might be a bit tricky.
Quote from: mlorrey on 07/19/2009 11:37 pmB. Falcon might have trouble with the wings, thats for some simulator and wind tunnel time to determine. Its not that hard to design a vehicle to develop zero lift at zero angle of attack. The design as is keeps the wings clear of the upper stage.C. Richard Garriot just paid $35 million for a ride on Soyuz, b. The issue is that a zero AOA flight is impossible and then there are gustsC. The numbers I refer to that have no basis in reality is your per unit cost of the spacecraft. You haven't done anything except powerpoint concepts. When have you bent metal on a real spacecraft?
B. Falcon might have trouble with the wings, thats for some simulator and wind tunnel time to determine. Its not that hard to design a vehicle to develop zero lift at zero angle of attack. The design as is keeps the wings clear of the upper stage.C. Richard Garriot just paid $35 million for a ride on Soyuz,
Quote from: kkattula on 07/19/2009 07:23 pmFalcon 1e, which all future Falcon 1 launches will be, will supposedly lift over 1,000 kg.Somewhere there is a thread discussing whether a modern day Mercury could mass less than 1,000 kg. I think it could. LAS might be a bit tricky.Quite right. Minus the escape tower, Mercury was 1354 kg. Personally I consider escape towers as a waste of mass and money. Most launch mishaps are going to be on the pad or a second stage separation/ignition failure. In the first case you wont survive even with an escape tower, in the second you dont need an escape tower.
I consider escape towers as a waste of mass and money. Most launch mishaps are going to be on the pad or a second stage separation/ignition failure. In the first case you wont survive even with an escape tower, in the second you dont need an escape tower.
Quote from: Chris Bergin on 07/19/2009 11:59 pmLets keep this on topic or I may as well lock it, thanks.There is really not much else to talk about for this launch, no accident report, vehicle is in the proper orbit, all pictures that are likely to get released have been.I say lock it for a few weeks, that way the chatter about the next manned Falcon 1s and SpaceX PR debate. This thread is 15 pages too long and growing.
A. All the news reports say its an 8 million dollar launch cost. This 2003 article on spacex.com quotes $6 million: https://spacex.com/media.php?page=6. Spaceref quotes $6.7 million: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18353 DailyKos says $8 million: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/14/753329/-Yesterday-began-the-dawn-of-a-new-era-in-space-exploration
SpaceX now has Hi-res images of F1 flight5 on their photo page: