Full Video of Elon Musk Q&A Session Post Dragon V2 Reveal

[sanman]

Helodriver - did you get to talk to Robert Bigelow, as per your exchange with Musk @ 31:50  ?

If so, what did he have to say?

[sanman]

@ ~ 36:00 Musk gives a tidbit on the Mars/MCT rocket, about looking forward to using LCH4 /LOX to do tank pressurization instead of pesky helium (since there's no helium on Mars). He also says that MCT will be fully reusable.

[deltaV]

Near the beginning of the video Elon said that the Dragon max-Q abort test would be next year. If I remember correctly it used to be scheduled for this year, so that's a slip.

[Helodriver]

Helodriver - did you get to talk to Robert Bigelow, as per your exchange with Musk @ 31:50  ?

If so, what did he have to say?

I did not. He was already gone by the time Elon finished. I did see him earlier but did not get the chance to meet him. There was a rumor I heard, unconfirmed I might add, that Bigelow's space tourism needs drove the number and size of the windows added to Dragon V2.

[edfishel]

Helo - a huge thank you!  Just watched the entire video and very much appreciated your patience, persistence, and good questions.

[sanman]

@ 48:30 - astronaut Garret Reisman, program lead for crew vehicles / Dragon v2, states that the first return flights for the vehicle will touch down on land.

[Chris Bergin]

Wow. Watched it all the way through. Helo was like the big seasoned space journalist at this event! I can't believe how many questions he got in there!

Couple of articles worth I reckon!

Honestly, I couldn't have done better than Helo here (had I been an American and able to go to it! )

[Tea Party Space Czar]

Completely agree Chris.  I have said on numerous occasions that the membership on this site has so much more institutional knowledge and information then some of those who inform decision makers.   

Between Crowd Sourcing on the public side with the video to L2 - this place is a gold mine.

Hopefully get to meet more of you. 

49:10

Q:  Next phase of CCtCap - should there be more then one?

A: Frankly its in NASA's best interest to have more than one.  You always want to have a plan B... now you just have to convince the congress (Especially the House).

Working that one Garrett.

Respectfully,
Andrew Gasser

[mto]

While not specific to the Dragon II I thought this was a good analogy referencing the heat shield:

@ 12:20 "Think of the heat shield like a brake pad. The better that material technology is the more uses it can go through. Just like a brake pad on a car eventually it has to be replaced"

[TripD]

@9:55:  Full on paraphrasing:   What kinds of 3d printers did we use (to make the SD).  We used Kiosk(?), SLM and Concept.  All German companies btw.

[getitdoneinspace]

Linked here is the full video recorded of Elon Musk's question and answer session after the reveal of Dragon V2. Originally filmed as four separate clips due to breaks and interruptions, they are spliced together along with a  few minutes of Q&A with astronaut Garrett Riesman and are otherwise presented unedited.

Run time is around 50 minutes, and includes a wide range of topics beyond just Dragon V2. Included are a  shoutout to NSF for their work on the CRS-3 splashdown video as well as Elon graciously signing a few pictures I shot of the first Falcon 9 V1.1 launch vehicle at Vandenberg AFB. 

This was originally going to be up on L2, but after discussions with Chris, it is now here on the public side.

After rewatching this video, its apparent that I was asking much more technical questions than the assembled press, but how many "How does this make you feel Elon?" questions do we really need?

Great video and excellent questions. I truly enjoyed. Now that commercial space is advancing quickly maybe the mainstream press should invest a little into a reporter that could ask some intelligent questions. Elon seemed to gravitate toward you as he became aware that you were much more intelligent than the average journalist. As the press criticizes the education system for lacking in developing STEM skills they should take some time to look in the mirror to recognize that they are also very weak in this area. 

[AncientU]

24:20 --

Yes, this one will land on land. Just like the video you just saw(garbled) We want to land this back at Cape Canaveral... Initially we may land it someplace else.  Unless it's an emergency, all landings will be on land.

[happyflower]

The most stunning revelation from this interview for me was how far 3 D printing has advanced from its beginnings in 1984.

We are talking about going from printing plastic toys to high strength space engines.  At this point there is even talk of printing human organs. This technology at this rate will be the big changer in future of human space endeavors.

[AncientU]

28:50
Top temperature and speed the Dragon's going to hit?

5 or 6 thousand degrees F (I think he paused to convert to F from C).
Roughly 25 times the speed of sound.

It could probably handle twice that kinetic energy, maybe more.

(!)

[mto]

@ 44:17

Helodriver: Will the DragonFly used at McGregor look like this (DragonII displayed)"

Elon: "Yes it will look almost identical"

[mto]

Helodriver at about 42:30 (just after Elon signed your photos) the video cuts out and when it resumes Elon is saying something about 'vertical blades'. I think this is in response to a question about the placement of the rear legs but could you elaborate on what was said?

[TripD]

My favorite quote.  Don't mess with Jersey! 

Helo..... did you do your own camera work as well as the reporting?  If so, ABC should be giving you call any minute to replace the reporter that kept trying to stick his/her mic in your face.

Awesome work and thanks Helo!!

[Geron]

The most stunning revelation from this interview for me was how far 3 D printing has advanced from its beginnings in 1984.

We are talking about going from printing plastic toys to high strength space engines.  At this point there is even talk of printing human organs. This technology at this rate will be the big changer in future of human space endeavors.

I agree. When I toured SpaceX a few months ago they had a bunch of components that had been printed on display. When handling them I was amazed at how solid they were and how tiny the details were that had been printed. There was basically this fan type deal in a honey comb shape that I don't see how could be made any other way. I think Musk even says that without the 3d printing technology components of the super draco would have been impossible or near impossible to make.

I wonder if the superdracos could be used to make military planes/vehicles capable of short VTO VL to get in and out of combat situations/pick up troops rapidly. It seems like the deep throttling would enable armored vehicles to rapidly extract troops from a combat situation. I would think that the superdracos could be armored heavily and given the thrust involved for short hops you could get in and out of a situation with much less risk vs helicopter based extraction. I hope that SpaceX considers marketing these components in a manner similar to the way Tesla has been selling their power train/components to other auto manufacturers to gain additional revenue streams for the MCT/Mars effort. Seems like there might be spinoff opportunities!

[Helodriver]

Helodriver at about 42:30 (just after Elon signed your photos) the video cuts out and when it resumes Elon is saying something about 'vertical blades'. I think this is in response to a question about the placement of the rear legs but could you elaborate on what was said?

Yes, that exactly what he was talking about. The two "rear" landing gear are close together to pass load to the internal structural members which Elon referred to as the vertical blades. The structure is very tight there, with lots of items competing for space, hence the unusual configuration. This is when my camera battery was giving out before I swapped them. I didn't expect him answer so many questions

[Helodriver]

My favorite quote.  Don't mess with Jersey! 

Helo..... did you do your own camera work as well as the reporting?  If so, ABC should be giving you call any minute to replace the reporter that kept trying to stick his/her mic in your face.

Awesome work and thanks Helo!!

All shot (including the stills) with a Sony HX-200V. Professional quality results in a portable package. Never been one to carry around unnecessarily large cameras and lenses to impress others.  I use it for nearly everything, versatile, reliable, gives good results.


http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-hx200v