SpaceX

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SpaceX gets certified to launch NASA science missions | Spaceflight Now :biggrin:
NASA has formally certified SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to launch all but the space agency’s most costly robotic science missions, beginning with a a U.S.-French oceanography satellite set for liftoff from California in July.

 

[c041v]

Just found this. For anyone really into the hard science side of SpaceX, here is a lengthy video showing the fluid and combustion dynamics of rocketry:

SpaceX Merlin (D, GPU-Powered - YouTube

I am assuming that this is how SpaceX is making their improvements to the Merlin engine. It was recently announced that there will be additional improvement to the Merlin 1-D of something like 20%. Some of that is probably hardware and some of it could easily be fine tuning the fluid/combustion dynamics to create an improvement to the efficiency and force of the burn. Amazing stuff.

Here is a video of how the Merlin engine works as told by Tom Mueller, a founding member and VP at SpaceX, explaining the basic details:

Tom Mueller (SpaceX) Explains The Merlin Rocket Engine - YouTube

I thank you for this.

 

[HVM]

Yet another Proton failure:

ILS Proton Failure Destroys Centenario Satellite, Leaves Inmarsat in Lurch

"Commercial fleet operators have steered clear of Proton since SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has demonstrated an ability to lift 5,000-kilogram satellites into orbit."

 

[bxr140]

Yet another Proton failure:

Embarring news for the Russians, terrible news for the launcher industry.

 

[ecarfan]

Embarring news for the Russians, terrible news for the launcher industry.

And good news for SpaceX.

 

[Grendal]

Embarring news for the Russians, terrible news for the launcher industry.

According to the launch manifest, all Proton launches are on hold. It leaves a lot of satellites being delayed.

Launch Schedule | Spaceflight Now

 

[bxr140]

And good news for SpaceX.

Not really. Higher insurance rates and squeezed manifests across the industry are the typical result of a high volume commercial failure...which is mostly Proton these days as the Russians are squeezing schedules and realizing the inevitable associated workmanship problems...

- - - Updated - - -

According to the launch manifest, all Proton launches are on hold. It leaves a lot of satellites being delayed.

Launch Schedule | Spaceflight Now

That's common. A commercial operator with a $100-300M spacecraft and a 10 figure business plan, as you might imagine, is more interested in success than a few months of lost revenue. KhSC will hold a FROB and then individually needs to convince their manifest that they've solved the problem.

For Proton, a Federal (government) mission is usually the RTF guinea pig, since its easier to manage the fallout if a second failure occurs.

 

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[ggies07]

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YES!!

 

[Johan]

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Great news! Sky is (literally) not the limit any more.

 

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SpaceX Gets U.S. Approval to Enter $70 Billion Military Market - Bloomberg Business

 

[atang]

SpaceX Gets U.S. Approval to Enter $70 Billion Military Market - Bloomberg Business

Good article
by Dana Hull and Julie Johnsson.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Is the $100 million price tag for heavier military satellites? Current commercial launches cost $50 million, right?!

 

[Cosmacelf]

I think commercial launch is $60M. The extra price is to deal with extra qualifications and steps the military requires. No doubt there are a few extra integration issues as well. And a really slow bureaucracy...

 

[Bgarret]

I think commercial launch is $60M. The extra price is to deal with extra qualifications and steps the military requires. No doubt there are a few extra integration issues as well. And a really slow bureaucracy...

In the Senate hearing with Elon and ULA, Elon said SpaceX tacks on a $30 million surcharge to respond to the Air Force's sometimes schizophrenic scheduling. ULA had tried to say that comparing their $300 million price tag to SpaceX's roughly $100million wasn't apples to apples - Elon pulled a Good Will Hunting and said they upcharged the Air Force $30 Million to make the costs comparable and still undercut ULA by about $200 million - "How Bout Them Apples!"

 

[Grendal]

In the Senate hearing with Elon and ULA, Elon said SpaceX tacks on a $30 million surcharge to respond to the Air Force's sometimes schizophrenic scheduling. ULA had tried to say that comparing their $300 million price tag to SpaceX's roughly $100million wasn't apples to apples - Elon pulled a Good Will Hunting and said they upcharged the Air Force $30 Million to make the costs comparable and still undercut ULA by about $200 million - "How Bout Them Apples!"

There is/was a lot of old school bookkeeping involved with ULA that inflated the cost on the back end. There is something like a "readiness fund" of $1 billion a year that isn't counted in their per rocket cost. Elon called them on that at the Senate hearing and ULA tried to say the funds didn't count. However the taxpayer money is still being spent to keep the rockets launching so Elon was absolutely correct to point it out.

I'd be curous to know exactly what that extra $30-$40 million in costs goes toward. Is it really just extra bureaucracy? Or is it a readiness situation? It would make sense that in a crisis SpaceX might need to always have a F9 ready to launch within a very short time window. That would certainly generate a fairly large additional cost.

The same should be true for NASA. I would think there should be a Dragon always parked at the ISS for an emergency.

Non-sequitur comment: That was exactly what happened in a book I read recently by John Ringo. The ISS crew used a Dragon capsule to land on a Caribbean Island.

 

[freds]

The same should be true for NASA. I would think there should be a Dragon always parked at the ISS for an emergency.

Non-sequitur comment: That was exactly what happened in a book I read recently by John Ringo. The ISS crew used a Dragon capsule to land on a Caribbean Island.

Yes I did enjoy that series and heck all his books!!!

 

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SpaceX Official Instagram

SpaceX (@spacex) • Instagram photos and videos

 

[AudubonB]

Does Ashlee Vance not know his subject matter, or was he giving the author of The Martian a bunch of rope just to hang himself? I'm confused about Vance's interview with Andy Weir I just read on Bloomberg: Elon Musk, First Martian? A Serious Conversation About the Future inSpace - Bloomberg Business

A few points:

* He let Weir go on about a BFM - the last letter stands for "Mission" - coming in at some $500bn or so - rather than the sensible, laser-focused Mars mission that most definitely was around long before Weir started writing in 2009, and is free of the project-bloat that characterized NASA in the 1960s-90s.

* He did not call out Weir wrt intergovernmental - most specifically, anything with Russian cooperation - projects. Perhaps that's only my own bias showing, but I think the ISS is the last truly joint program that we'll be seeing for a long time.

* Weir seems fixated on the challenge of radiation protection - am I wrong in believing a vessel's water jacket effectively solves that problem?


My read on this may be all wrong: the two men were together to talk about Weir's book...and movie...not Mr Musk. Regardless, either I've been reading all the wrong material about interplanetary travel, or there was too much misinformation within this interview.

 

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Elon Musk speaks at the ISS R&D conference