SpaceX

[dpeilow]

Elon speaking to AIAA now AIAA - live streaming video powered by Livestream

 

[JRod0802]

Final Demonstration Flight (combined flight of COTS 2 & COTS 3) scheduled for November 30th:

SpaceX - Updates

 

[raymond]

In light of the recent Russian Cargo Spacecraft failing to reach orbit will this make the SpaceX launch be more "important" in any way?

They must plan for accidents, but how many launches in a row may fail before supplies become critical?

 

[dpeilow]

With a crew of 6 now on board the ISS, I'd say this is pretty bad news supplies-wise.

Russia has just lost 2 launches in the space of a week. Both different rockets though and the normally reliable Soyuz hasn't failed for nearly a decade. However the stage that failed today is also used on the manned launches so they can't even do a crew rotation in September if this issue causes a big delay.

Japan has a freighter which is next launching in January. Ours is also not planned to launch until spring.

Can't help but think that putting all the crew transport in the hands of Russia is a huge risk that may have already backfired.

 

[Lloyd]

Fox News claims they have enough supplies for 1 year.

 

[Doug_G]

With a crew of 6 now on board the ISS, I'd say this is pretty bad news supplies-wise.

Nah, the last Shuttle mission delivered a huge amount of supplies. They can afford to wait a long while.

 

[dpeilow]

Ah yeah - good job they left behind that loaded logistics module :smile:

 

[doug]

I'd say the timing on these Soyuz failures is pretty troubling given that we just retired the Shuttle. As much as I think it made sense for the Shuttle program to end, I don't see why we couldn't have extended it a couple years till we actually had a replacement ready.

 

[dpeilow]

Spaceflight Now - Station partners assess impacts after cargo launch failure

 

[TEG]

I'd say the timing on these Soyuz failures is pretty troubling given that we just retired the Shuttle. As much as I didn't think it made sense for the Shuttle program to end, I don't see why we couldn't have extended it a couple years till we actually had a replacement ready.

Wikipedia has some interesting comments:
Space Shuttle program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

...NASA originally planned to make the Hubble a Smithsonian museum display, but decided to keep it in space until a successor is launched.[SUP]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program#cite_note-9[/SUP]
[SUP]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program#cite_note-ares-10[/SUP] Once the space shuttle fleet is retired this year (while Hubble still has many years of service life ahead) there will be no existing or planned spacecraft capable of returning the Hubble to Earth intact, so it is now very unlikely it will ever be on the ground again.
... In an internal e-mail apparently sent August 18, 2008 to NASA managers and leaked to the press, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin stated his belief that the Bush administration had made no viable plan for U.S. crews to participate in the International Space Station beyond 2011, and that Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) were actually seeking its demise...

 

[doug]

Sorry, I had a typo above (now corrected) that changed my meaning. Though impressive, I actually think the cost of the Shuttle program, the ISS, and the recent Hubble repair mission made little sense in terms of the science we are/were able to get out of them, given alternatives. Ironically, Congress is threatening funding of the Webb telescope which (in my opinion) is well worth the money.


At any rate, I agree with raymond that this Soyuz failure will focus attention on SpaceX's upcoming attempt to reach the ISS.

 

[TEG]

SpaceX - Shuttle

 

[doug]

I suppose those of us that follow these things already know about this:
Space Station Crew Could Be Forced to Leave - NYTimes.com

Astronauts will abandon the International Space Station, probably in mid-November, if rocket engine problems that doomed a Russian cargo ship last week are not diagnosed and fixed.
...
The current crew has plenty of supplies and could remain in space longer. What expires, however, is their return trip.

Two Soyuz capsules, each with seats for three passengers, are currently docked to the space station. But the capsules are certified to last only 200 days in orbit, because hydrogen peroxide for the spacecraft’s thrusters degrades over time.

 

[dpeilow]

SpaceX Lobbyist Bitterman Resigns | SpaceNews.com

 

[TEG]

Rohrabacher Calls for Emergency CCDev Funding at Parabolic Arc

 

[Nik]

Another chapter in the battle of the space billionaires.

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/09/vertical-landing-rocket.html

Blue Origin, one of the contenders in the race to launch a commercial space-flight industry, suffered an in-flight failure last week that resulted in its craft being purposely destroyed by ground controllers. The company is analysing the debris in a bid to determine the cause.

Blue Origin was founded by Amazon.com chief Jeff Bezos and is based in Kent, Washington. The company is planning to launch suborbital missions in a rocket that takes off and lands vertically. Until last week, however, the pill-shaped craft had only performed short hops to test its ability to take off and land vertically while remaining stable and controllable.

While the aim and intended range of last week's test mission is unclear - Blue Origin guards its development plans closely - the rocket lifted off from the firm's remote spaceport in west Texas and reached a speed of Mach 1.2 and an altitude of 14 kilometres (45,000 feet) before trouble struck. At that height the craft adopted a trajectory that could have taken it over populated areas, so its engines we're switched off, allowing it to drop to the ground.

 

[TEG]

Big announcement coming today, apparently:
SpaceX - National Press Club luncheon with Elon Musk

Teaser video:
http://www.spacex.com/assets/video/spacex-rtls-green.mp4
(Like that they used Muse for the soundtrack...)

 

[doug]

Woah, VTVL on all stages? That's rather ambitious. Wonder what the time scale is on that. Also they show the Dragon module docking directly with the ISS. I had thought the current plan was to grab the module with the robotic arm and then dock it manually.

I'd like to see a cost and reliability analysis of using a glider configuration to return stages versus the fuel for those landing rockets.

No parachutes on the final stage.

 

[doug]

Notes of the talk here:
RLV and Space Transport News Elon Musk presentation at National Press Club

Audio here:
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk live at the National Press Club | Minnesota Public Radio News

 

[dpeilow]

This plan seems to be very "ambitious".

VTOL rockets were tested in the '90s with the Delta Clipper program, but unfortunately after a series of more and more ambitious test flights, it demonstrated one of the potential issues this architecture faces.

In case you missed it, 4 legs should have popped out.

That was caused by somebody not re-connecting a hydraulic ram when working through pre-flight checks. Believe it or not, they had a check on the ram and then a check on something behind it that required it to be disconnected (or so I heard).