Merlin 1D uses a method called “Phase shut off”, removes most valves reducing chances of failure by removing components and removing a lot of risk of a hard start.
Retractable landing gear must be intended for use with the landing pad robot (Roomba). Otherwise, erroneous retraction of landing gear while on the ground is a bad day which happens from time to time in aviation.
QuoteAnd it’s going to have a much better landing legs that just fold up and; just drop the rocket, fold the legs, ship it, fold the legs out when it lands. Making it turn very fast;
And it’s going to have a much better landing legs that just fold up and; just drop the rocket, fold the legs, ship it, fold the legs out when it lands. Making it turn very fast;
For instance, Block 5 has reusable TPS on the bottom. I suspected as much as they're hiring carbon-carbon engineers, and that's perhaps the most obvious use for carbon-carbon (other than perhaps a nozzle extension on the upper stage?).
There were a lot of what seemed like very important, or at least highly interesting, parts that were obliterated by transmission errors. A couple of his anecdotes were getting right to the part I most wanted to hear when the audio dropped until he was finished. I suppose whatever he was saying is lost for good?
Review the Transcript Zucal posted above.
Top SpaceX employee throws shade at just about all of his competitorsThe price that government programs “charge for their rockets is just ridiculous.”by Eric Berger - May 14, 2017 1:24am BST
We actually picked the wrong propellant. It wasn’t too bad, but we picked RP-1, rocket-grade kerosene, which at the time was, you know, 8 dollars a gallon. We tried jet fuel, which is more like 2 dollars a gallon, but it just didn’t run very good. But recently, we re-negotiated the cost of the kerosene fuel and we got it close to the cost of jet fuel.