QuoteShotwell: no updates on plans announced early this year for a crewed circumlunar Dragon flight. Surprising that there are as many people as there are who want to fly such a mission and can afford it. #NewSpaceEuropehttps://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/931089167764869120
Shotwell: no updates on plans announced early this year for a crewed circumlunar Dragon flight. Surprising that there are as many people as there are who want to fly such a mission and can afford it. #NewSpaceEurope
QuoteShotwell: expect we’ll do BFR/BFS missions to the Moon before Mars, given administration’s interest. Hope it will be for a permanent settlement. #NewSpaceEuropehttps://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/931089584640884737
Shotwell: expect we’ll do BFR/BFS missions to the Moon before Mars, given administration’s interest. Hope it will be for a permanent settlement. #NewSpaceEurope
Quote from: Negan on 11/15/2017 02:41 pmQuote from: envy887 on 11/15/2017 01:50 pmAlso the "operational flight environment" for Dragon on a FH launch and in cis-lunar space is significantly different than Dragon on F9 launch or in LEO.The operational flight environment in cis-lunar is different, but very well understood. Why is a test flight to cis-lunar the only way to prove a Dragon can operate successfully there?It might be nice for Dragon's computers to be tested outside of LEO, even if it doesn't go all the way to the moon.
Quote from: envy887 on 11/15/2017 01:50 pmAlso the "operational flight environment" for Dragon on a FH launch and in cis-lunar space is significantly different than Dragon on F9 launch or in LEO.The operational flight environment in cis-lunar is different, but very well understood. Why is a test flight to cis-lunar the only way to prove a Dragon can operate successfully there?
Also the "operational flight environment" for Dragon on a FH launch and in cis-lunar space is significantly different than Dragon on F9 launch or in LEO.
Another reason why I find this hard to believe as necessary is due to the 210 day on orbit attached to station requirement. Why is 7 days beyond LEO so different than 210 days in LEO?
Quote from: Negan on 11/16/2017 04:48 pmAnother reason why I find this hard to believe as necessary is due to the 210 day on orbit attached to station requirement. Why is 7 days beyond LEO so different than 210 days in LEO?The Van Allen Belts?
And thermal environment, and outside the magnetosphere and longer range comms. Etc. All well understood but different to LEO
Quote from: gongora on 11/16/2017 04:54 pmQuote from: Negan on 11/16/2017 04:48 pmAnother reason why I find this hard to believe as necessary is due to the 210 day on orbit attached to station requirement. Why is 7 days beyond LEO so different than 210 days in LEO?The Van Allen Belts?So a couple of passes through the Van Allen Belts are worse than 210 days in LEO?Edit: Maybe they can copy Apollo and avoid the worst of the belts.
Quote from: Negan on 11/16/2017 05:30 pmQuote from: gongora on 11/16/2017 04:54 pmQuote from: Negan on 11/16/2017 04:48 pmAnother reason why I find this hard to believe as necessary is due to the 210 day on orbit attached to station requirement. Why is 7 days beyond LEO so different than 210 days in LEO?The Van Allen Belts?So a couple of passes through the Van Allen Belts are worse than 210 days in LEO?Edit: Maybe they can copy Apollo and avoid the worst of the belts.The environment is different outside the Van Allen belts.
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 11/16/2017 08:21 amQuoteShotwell: no updates on plans announced early this year for a crewed circumlunar Dragon flight. Surprising that there are as many people as there are who want to fly such a mission and can afford it. #NewSpaceEuropehttps://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/931089167764869120More than a half hundred confirmable. Now, how many of those ... want to beat US/China/Russia governments(!) to a very public visit to the vicinity of the moon?
Yes - or a reused Dragon 1.0 module. Or even base a Bigelow with a basic propulsion bus out at DRO or L-2. The idea is increased habitable volume for living, supply storage and experiments. It would have to be 'Beam 2.0' version. But even that wouldn't launch prefabricated with all the needed equipment. The Beam could be packed on top of the Falcon upper stage and after the TLI burn; it inflates and the crew docks with it and extracts it from the upper stage. The Dragon with crew of 2 could be packed to the eyeballs with supplies and equipment, which the crew could transfer to the Beam to free up lots of room in the capsule. The Beam - filled with water and food supplies - could then become the solar storm shelter for the crew. At the end of the mission, the Dragon burns back towards Earth. Filled with trash and uneeded equipment; the Beam is then jettisoned to burn up on re-entry.