Don't forget the strong back or support structure to actually carry and protect the first stage.BTW, the page saysQuote"Crane" type ops - lift of up to 90 tonnes vertically.A Falcon Heavy booster has a 0.966 of fuel mass. Of the 480tn for the 16tn to LEO, if we subtract the 16tn of payload, and assume that the whole US is 1/8 of the total weight, we'd reach 406tn first stage fully fueled. If you multiply by 0.004, you'd get 16.24tn. If you assume that the support structure would weight 35% of the whole stage, that would allow for a 4 times heavier first stage. If they can keep the T/W, that could be a 7.2m wide first stage, for example.
"Crane" type ops - lift of up to 90 tonnes vertically.
The hybrid airships are HAV's model 366, which can carry 50 tonnes if they take off horizontally like an airplane and around 30 tonnes if they take off vertically.
The current F9 1st stage and interstage is 33,000 lbs, dry weight.
VAFB is only 150 miles from Hawthorne
Quote from: Jim on 09/09/2011 07:42 pmVAFB is only 150 miles from HawthorneHmmm, 150 miles for a sling load seems very doable.
This is pretty fanciful, but the LA airspace probably isn't much of a problem during the night.
What might make more sense, is for SpaceX to buy one of these things, and rent it out in California for fighting forest fires (dumping 90 tonnes of water would be useful)
Quote from: kevin-rf on 08/03/2011 04:00 pmQuote from: corrodedNut on 08/03/2011 02:50 pmIt's hard to say exactly what he means by "right next to",How about location in the area that would allow easy transport to the pad? There are industrial parks all over the area. Doing it on the range and having to stop production every time ULA decides to run up the flag seems a bit much. I hear Playalinda would have a great view Yea, I'd probably guess by "right next to the pad", they mean someplace in Florida near that pad, that could be easily transported to the pad.Also, if they build FX cores at some point, those might be launching from KSC rather than LC-40. So maybe a new facility somewhere near the space coast, but so that it could also be barged up to the turning bay by KSC. It could go to the VAB or to LC-40 from there. (I'm not familiar enough with the geography of the area to know if there's a place you could unload a barge closer to LC-40, or if you could truck 6m cores from a nearby facility to LC-40 or KSC.) Also, back in Hawthorne, I'd imagine not only would they continue to do engines and the capsules, but continue the 3.6m cores for F9 and FH at Vandenberg, as well as any launches of them at the Cape. A new facility in Florida would probably just have the hardware to bend metal for the 6m cores. (although, I suppose they could make it so they can do both 3.6m cores and 6m cores in Florida for all Cape launches, and then continue the 3.6m cores for VAFB launches. That'd cut down on their logistics. Engines are pretty easy to truck to they'd probably have all engine production consolidated in Hawthorne.)Texas would actually work to if they had easy coast access, so they could load their cores on a barge and ship them to the Cape. It's a longer float, but probably not prohibitively so.Does anyone know if any of the navy bases at jacksonville would be suitable?
Quote from: corrodedNut on 08/03/2011 02:50 pmIt's hard to say exactly what he means by "right next to",How about location in the area that would allow easy transport to the pad? There are industrial parks all over the area. Doing it on the range and having to stop production every time ULA decides to run up the flag seems a bit much. I hear Playalinda would have a great view
It's hard to say exactly what he means by "right next to",
Rather than a sling, could a tri-hull be built, with an upper hull above the rocket and twin hulls on each side and a kevlar cradle to hold the rocket. You could slide the rocket out of the warehouse, right into the airship? The transfer process would be much safer than a sling hanging down from the airship. Fly straight to shore, and up to Vandenberg, or to a ship for delivery to KSC. If practical, it would also be a media spectacle with press you couldn't pay for. Anyhow, certainly not on the critical path for SpaceX at this point.
However judging by comments made earlier on this thread it seems unlikely that this would be allowed in such a built up area.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/09/large-airship-purchase.htmlHere it is folks, a 50 tonne airship by 2014.