Re: The "Real Spacecraft" Thread
Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 5:48 am
Well, as anticarrot mentioned SpaceX, he might be thinking of the Falcon Heavy project as a near-match for dreams of SLS spec lift capacity. For the moment it appears the success of the already delayed deployment of FH is pending on the successful demonstration of the upgrades developed for the Falcon 9, which should be launching with the preformance and manufacturing process improved engine upgrade sometime this summer.
Not to sound too much like a crash-craving spectator, but the whole cluster of modifications that are expected to be rolled out with the uprated F9 version 1.1 have quite a bit of exitement potential. If nothing else than a dramatic outcome of the first test of post-jettison first stage aerobatics whether it's a flop OR a success. That, and if things go as planned americans will have cheaper space launch than Proton-M! Us poor Europeans are left playing with launch costs per unit mass twice as high
Considering how safety concious (despite driving perhaps the most competitive launch price for a new rocket family yet (that I've been able to find anyway)) that particular rocket manufacturer is, betting on catastrophic failure on their next flight doesn't seem like the good choice.
Despite the suggestion that FH would be trying to share much of it's hardware with the F9 colleague we might, for the sake of argument, view Falcon Heavy and the Space Launch System projects as ideas on paper.
As for the usefulness of resurrecting Saturn technology? Well, those things weren't engineered to be cheap either.
Whether we believe them or not, SpaceX is claiming to be on the crusade to develop cheap, safe, marinized and reusable (Merlin 1C or 1D (I forget which) have been claimed to be useful for up to 20 launch test burns) launch vehicles, and re-entry cargo return vehicles. NASA certainly seems to be buying their sales pitch.
Orion crew capsule is probably going to beat the DragonRider to the first manned flights tho. Wel'll have to wait and see how well the ideas for Dragon-derived robotic missions other than cargo-ferry will work out aswell.
Slightly related topic:
How soon after a company filing a patent is it readable by the general public? Just wondering how much more easy it might be for hardcore rocketry fans to keep track of space-launch companies' tech developments if company X were to file patents.
Not to sound too much like a crash-craving spectator, but the whole cluster of modifications that are expected to be rolled out with the uprated F9 version 1.1 have quite a bit of exitement potential. If nothing else than a dramatic outcome of the first test of post-jettison first stage aerobatics whether it's a flop OR a success. That, and if things go as planned americans will have cheaper space launch than Proton-M! Us poor Europeans are left playing with launch costs per unit mass twice as high
Considering how safety concious (despite driving perhaps the most competitive launch price for a new rocket family yet (that I've been able to find anyway)) that particular rocket manufacturer is, betting on catastrophic failure on their next flight doesn't seem like the good choice.
Despite the suggestion that FH would be trying to share much of it's hardware with the F9 colleague we might, for the sake of argument, view Falcon Heavy and the Space Launch System projects as ideas on paper.
Code: Select all
FH vs SLS:
53 vs 70...130 kg (thousands) Mass to LEO
83...128 vs 500 $ (millions)
Soon vs Maybe Later
Viable vs To Be Finanially Proven
Safety-oriented VS solid rocket boosters
:P
Whether we believe them or not, SpaceX is claiming to be on the crusade to develop cheap, safe, marinized and reusable (Merlin 1C or 1D (I forget which) have been claimed to be useful for up to 20 launch test burns) launch vehicles, and re-entry cargo return vehicles. NASA certainly seems to be buying their sales pitch.
Orion crew capsule is probably going to beat the DragonRider to the first manned flights tho. Wel'll have to wait and see how well the ideas for Dragon-derived robotic missions other than cargo-ferry will work out aswell.
Slightly related topic:
How soon after a company filing a patent is it readable by the general public? Just wondering how much more easy it might be for hardcore rocketry fans to keep track of space-launch companies' tech developments if company X were to file patents.