SpaceX News

[GIThruster]

I thought they said last November when they blew their rocket up they were all through with using 40 year old engines?

[Tom Ligon]

Evidently they're done with the antiques (there was not an endless supply of them anyway), but they are still dealing with the Ruskies.

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/rd191.html

[GIThruster]

Cool. . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ca6x4Q ... e=youtu.be

[Tom Ligon]

I envy that level of animation capability.

Flash Gordon landings, finally, about 80 years behind science fiction. 'Bout time.

[GIThruster]

Musk interview about the crash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0lJPVn5kDM

and great discussion of the nepotism in DC, how ULA and the MIC in general manage to lobby and get the deals they have with DOD, the lawsuit by SpaceX against DOD for their illegal activity (though he does not call it that), etc. And the back story of ULA's shenanigans at time index 15:30. And ending with Musk's plans to open a new office in Seattle, and begin the work of a next gen satellite operation. I imagine this is moving toward the internet on Mars goals, and such, but the point is he intends to leverage all his computer design and cutting edge additive manufacturing technology toward building much higher tech satellites.

This guy really makes me want to give him all the M-E tech in my head. He would at least do something with it.

[GIThruster]

More on SpaceX Seattle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHeZHyOnsm4

[Skipjack]

More on SpaceX Seattle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHeZHyOnsm4

Love how he is going against Comcast and Time Warner at about 5 minutes in! Hate Comcast, cant wait to switch!

[krenshala]

http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-boeing ... MbJcijZkky

quite a timeline difference:

According to Boeing, the company’s schedule calls for a pad abort test in February 2017, followed by an uncrewed flight test in April 2017, then a flight with a Boeing test pilot and a NASA astronaut in July 2017.

SpaceX said they anticipate a pad abort test in about a month, then an in-flight abort test later this year as part of its previous development phase. An uncrewed flight test is planned for late 2016 and a crewed flight test in early 2017.

[GIThruster]

More on SpaceX Seattle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHeZHyOnsm4

Love how he is going against Comcast and Time Warner at about 5 minutes in! Hate Comcast, cant wait to switch!

He is actually a humorous and engaging speaker. I took notice he wants to put up 4,25 satellites and these will all use at least 1 Hall Thruster. That leaves room for huge improvement and decent volume savings should he want something that will keep them up for more than the standard 10 years--a Mach Effect Thruster.

[GIThruster]

More new Musk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnCbIVLaunc

[paperburn1]

so this is why
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... NK_BZ3F-_E

Musk is putting money up

[RERT]

What are the implications of this for e.g. Chinese control of internet access? If the free Internet is only a fraction of a second away, upwards to a satellite, aren't they going to react badly?

[GIThruster]

I doubt that any computer or cell phone would be able to access such a system directly, for lack of power to the sat. Cell phones can't reach LEO. There still needs to be a ground based system to connect with the sats, but the sats then have line of sight to each other, which is what you don't get with ground based connections. What you can do with 600-4,000 sats in space you would need hundreds of thousands of ground stations and many transfers instead of just a couple.

[Skipjack]

I doubt that any computer or cell phone would be able to access such a system directly, for lack of power to the sat. Cell phones can't reach LEO. There still needs to be a ground based system to connect with the sats, but the sats then have line of sight to each other, which is what you don't get with ground based connections. What you can do with 600-4,000 sats in space you would need hundreds of thousands of ground stations and many transfers instead of just a couple.

I think the dishes for this would be much smaller than the ones used for TV since these satellites are in LEO and not GEO

[GIThruster]

Yes, but they need to track since the sats are not stationary.