SpaceX Updates (Thread 8)

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Grand Master

DocM

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Quotes from the NRO (yeah, that NRO) 2016 Interagency Visual Media Group conference.

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/57balr/details_from_elons_speech_at_the_nro/

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Details from Elon's speech at the NRO 

Addressing the anomaly:

We are close to figuring it out. It might have been formation of solid oxygen in the carbon over-wrap of one of the bottles in the upper stage tanks. If it was liquid it would have been squeezed out but under pressure it could have ignited with the carbon. This is the leading theory right now, but it is subject to confirmation."

ME: the fill rates related thermoacoustic heat engine engine may have pumped enough energy away from between the COPVs aluminum liner and the carbon overwrap to freeze the LOX. Normal LOX tank pressure is ~3 atm, but solid LOX there after He fill could go much higher. Carbon + LOX needs high pressure to spontaneously ignite.

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"The other thing we discovered is that we can exactly replicate what happened on the launch pad if someone shoots the rocket. We dont think that is likely this time around, but we are definitely going to have to take precautions against that in the future. We looked at who would want to blow up a SpaceX rocket. That turned out to be a long list. I think it is unlikely this time, but it is something we need to recognize as a real possibility in the future.

Addressing return to flight:

The plan is to get back to launch in early December and that will be from pad 39A at the Cape and we will be launching around the same time from Vandenberg as well. Pad 40 will probably be back in action around March or April next year. Probably around May or so is when we will launch Falcon Heavy. We are going to re-fly the first returned core December or January.  We have test fired one of the returned cores 8 times and it looks good.  That is promising for testing re-flight.

Other interesting points:

3D printing works fine for super-dracos, but too much work is needed to make it feasible on Raptors.

ME: therefore its 40% and not 100% printed. Most likely the chamber etc. are still explosively hydroformed like M1D.

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Elon envisions Mars as a direct democracy, not a representative democracy.

Still wants communication satellite constellation to provide revenue for Mars.

In talking about the IAC, Crazy people are a lot faster to the mic than scientists.

These are my personal accounts of what I heard from Elon live and the rough transcript is from a recording of the event. I do not know much other than what I heard but I wanted to share with you guys. Enjoy.
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Grand Master

BetaguyGZT

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Well then ...

 

I had typed up a response befitting his remarks, but I've thought better of it. This isn't the "It's A Conspiracy!" section, after all. We're on a higher standard than that. :yes:

 

Hopefully SpaceX returns to flight in November as they're planning.

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Grand Master

Draggendrop Veteran

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Just a heads up on the Vandy rideshare launches for 2017...first one 90% sold out already...

 

Spaceflight to launch Terra Bella satellites on Falcon 9 mission

 

skysats-879x485.jpg

Illustration of four SkySats, built by Space Systems Loral for Terra Bella. Spaceflight Industries will launch multiple satellites for Terra Bella on a dedicated rideshare mission slated for launch in late 2017. Credit: Space Systems Loral

 

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LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Spaceflight Industries will launch multiple imaging satellites for Google-owned Terra Bella in 2017 as part of a “dedicated rideshare” Falcon 9 mission Spaceflight purchased from SpaceX last year.

 

Spaceflight said Oct. 11 that Terra Bella will be the “co-lead” on that mission, designated SSO-A, scheduled for late 2017 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Spaceflight has signed up more than 20 payloads from various other customers that will launch on that flight.

 

In an Oct. 11 interview, Curt Blake, president of Spaceflight, said he couldn’t provide the number of Terra Bella satellites that will fly on the mission, at the request of the company, other than “it’s more than one.”

 

Terra Bella, previously known as Skybox Imaging, announced a contract with Space Systems Loral in 2014 to build 13 SkySat satellites to provide high-resolution Earth images. One of those satellites launched in June as a secondary payload on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, and four more launched on an Arianespace Vega mission Sept. 15. Terra Bella has a contract with Orbital ATK for the launch of six SkySat spacecraft on a Minotaur-C in 2017.

 

While the announcement said that Terra Bella will be a “co-lead” on the SSO-A mission, Blake said that the company will be the only customer with that designation on the mission, giving it more control over the launch schedule. SpaceIL, an Israeli group competing in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, had previously been named a primary payload for the flight, but Blake said their lunar lander will fly on another, unnamed launch.

 

Spaceflight has sold about 90 percent of the capacity on the SSO-A mission, as measured by the number of slots available for spacecraft. The other customers include U.S. government, international government and commercial customers. Blake said commercial and international customers account for about three-quarters of the payloads on the mission.

 

The SSO-A launch is scheduled for late 2017, and Blake said he does not expect the stand-down in Falcon 9 launches since a Sept. 1 pad explosion at Cape Canaveral to result in a significant delay. “The timing on the mission shouldn’t be an issue,” he said, based on discussions Spaceflight has had with SpaceX.

more at the link...

http://spacenews.com/spaceflight-to-launch-terra-bella-satellites-on-falcon-9-mission/

 

:D

Grand Master

DocM

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Well, that's interesting

 

The reddit source post, based on a recording of the NRO event, has been deleted along with all the replies. 

 

Apparently NRO frowned and had it yanked. Caught this just before deletion,

 

>



I cleared everything with security before posting this or the verification documents I planned on sending to the mods. Working in this environment makes you paranoid about that kind of thing.

>

Unfortunately the unclassified video was only uploaded to our classified system. So it will not be available to the public unless NRO PR permits it. I asked if they would eventually put it on their YouTube channel but I haven't gotten a response. My guess would be no.

>

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Grand Master

BetaguyGZT

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In the current "climate" it's a safe bet that we're gonna see a lot more of this. Stuff will get yanked down and reclassed out of nowhere.

 

Paranoia. The great ####-show for all the World to shake their heads in disbelief at ... rebooted.

 

/sigh

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Grand Master

DocM

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http://spacenews.com/spacex-to-reuse-dragon-capsules-on-cargo-missions/


SpaceX to reuse Dragon capsules on cargo missions

LAS CRUCES, N.M.  SpaceX plans to reuse a Dragon cargo spacecraft for the first time next year, allowing the company to focus on production of the next generation of that spacecraft for crew and cargo missions.

In a presentation at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS) here Oct. 13, Benjamin Reed, director of commercial crew mission management at SpaceX, said the company was planning to fly a used Dragon spacecraft on its eleventh Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) cargo mission to the station in early 2017.

"We will be reflying our first Dragon capsule on CRS-11," he said, using the companys designation for that cargo mission, known as SpX-11 by NASA.
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Reed said SpaceX plans to reuse Dragon spacecraft through the remainder of its current CRS contract, which runs through SpX-20. He did not discuss how many Dragon spacecraft are available to be reused, or how many times SpaceX believes a Dragon capsule can be flown.

If successful, Reed said it would allow SpaceX to end production of the cargo Dragon spacecraft. "We'll be reflying Dragons going forward, and be able to close down the Dragon 1 line and move all the way into Dragon 2," he said, referring to the next-generation version of the Dragon being developed for commercial crew missions.

In addition to its current CRS contract, NASA awarded SpaceX a CRS-2 contract earlier this year for additional cargo missions. "Those missions will use a version of the Dragon 2 spacecraft SpaceX is developing for commercial crew missions," Reed said, "with greater cargo volume than the current Dragon spacecraft."

Those CRS-2 Dragon missions will use propulsive landings, where the capsule lands on a landing pad using its SuperDraco thrusters rather than splashing down in the ocean. That will allow NASA faster access to the cargo returned by those spacecraft, and also build up experience for propulsive landings of crewed Dragon spacecraft.

That's a perfect step in the pathway to crew, he said. We'll get very comfortable with doing propulsive landings with cargo first, and then with crew.

Edited by DocM
Rising Star

flyingskippy

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I wonder if the trajectory of Dragon 2 will be similar to the RTLS F9 S1.

 

I'd imagine the initial trajectory would overshoot the landing pad until the Superdracos fire.  On the unlikely chance more than one Superdraco fails the capsule would still come in under chute for a soft splash down. 

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Grand Master

DocM

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The D2 can lose more than one SD and still land. I've seen estimates it could lose 4 and land, one per quad. Landing only requires about 20% throttle, so just throttle up the remaining SD in the pod(s.)

Edited by DocM
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Grand Master

DocM

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http://www.cimarroncomposites.com

 

Client Work



 

We have the privilege of working with some of the most well known companies in the world and we don’t take this lightly

 

Aerojet-Rocketdyne
Blue Origin
BMW
BOEING
DARPA
DOE
Ford Automotive
Hexagon Composites
Lockheed/MartinToray
Mitsubishi
NASA
Samtech International
TBE
TOHO
Virgin Galactic


…and other high profile clients in the space industry

Edited by DocM
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Grand Master

DocM

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4 hours ago, DocM said:

Elon Musk will be doing an AMA on r/spaceX at 1500 Pacific today (Sunday 10/23), 1800 Eastern, 22:00 UTC.

 

Announcement thread


https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/58yc14/elon_musk_will_be_doing_an_ama_on_rspacex_at_3pm/

 

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Beittil

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Well that is the beauty of this system, Elon will most likely be only responding to the questions most upvoted by the mass. Hopefully they will cast down that nonsense so hard Elon won't even have to bother seeing it on his screen, let alone respond to it.

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Grand Master

Draggendrop Veteran

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I won't be participating, just watching.

 

If I were to ask a few questions, it would be...

 

1) Will the first Red Dragon carry a test prototype for insitu propellant generation?

 

2) Will a small weather station be employed for local conditions (again, on the first Red Dragon)? 

 

:)

Grand Master

Draggendrop Veteran

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AMA thread is up...

 

 https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/

 

Hopefully we have some good questions for Elon.

 

:)

Grand Master

BetaguyGZT

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My questions would be:

 

1) Will there be any testing of ISRU Systems during the first Red Dragon mission? And if not, when are these scheduled to fly?

 

2) Any updates on how finalization work on Falcon Heavy is going?

 

:D 

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Grand Master

Draggendrop Veteran

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4 minutes ago, Beittil said:

I love he he would actually just want to keep calling it the Big F*ing Rocket, lol... understandable why that can't remain the public name tho... Anyway, new name due it seems, he dislikes ITS.

How about the "Mars Base Alpha"....way too cool...:D

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