SpaceX News

[jcoady]

Here is a recent TED talk with Elon Musk.

http://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_ ... rcity.html

[DeltaV]

Falcon 9 boost as Merlin 1D engine achieves major milestone

47% increase in sea level thrust.

[krenshala]

Nice to see they are improving things further. Incremental definitely seems to be working well for them.

[GIThruster]

47% is an amazing increment. I wonder if there has ever been such an increase in any rocket engine? Color me impressed. Note too the throttle-ability the Merlin has demonstrated on the grasshopper and really if you're not impressed, you're not paying attention.

[Skipjack]

Indeed the Merlin 1D is a great improvement. What is even more impressive is that despite the higher thrust and Isp, the engine is actually simpler, more robust and easier to manufacture. That is a big deal!

[Maui]

the engine is actually simpler, more robust and easier to manufacture

I was going to mention that too. I was trying to find more details about what exactly they were able to remove, but not having much luck. Anybody have a good link?

Why are we still funding a public rocket initiative outside of the pork-barrel aspect of it? I'd rather see that money (as well as the money for manned spaceflight in general) be diverted to probes.

[jcoady]

Video of test firing the Merlin 1D engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj0851Wk ... e=youtu.be

[Skipjack]

the engine is actually simpler, more robust and easier to manufacture

I was going to mention that too. I was trying to find more details about what exactly they were able to remove, but not having much luck. Anybody have a good link?

IIRC it is the way the cooling channels are embedded in the nozzle, it is much simpler. There are also less moving parts.

Why are we still funding a public rocket initiative outside of the pork-barrel aspect of it?

That is the reason why we are doing it. It is pork for large defense contractors like ATK, Lockheed and co.

[GIThruster]

Does anyone know if the SuperDraco has these improvements?

[Skipjack]

I think the superdracos are very different from the Merlins anyway. They are pressure fed and user hypergolic fuels.

[GIThruster]

Congrats on another successful mission!

http://www.space.com/20386-spacex-drago ... hdown.html

[Skipjack]

Yay! Dragon has landed savely!

[hanelyp]

from http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.asp ... 2013-04-01 something caught my eye:

Musk pointed to a subtle design change and a lapse in qualification testing as the cause of three sticky check valves in the Dragon thruster system that prompted a one-day delay in the supply vessel’s scheduled March 2 rendezvous with the space station. ...

SpaceX was not made aware of the design change by its supplier, ...

Hazards of third party suppliers. In a high production environment, through testing of every component won't work.

[AcesHigh]

well, at least, from what I read on another Elon Musk interview, they make most of their stuff in house. Elon Musk was complaining about the Space Industry aversion to risk (thus not trying anything new and using methods invented in the 60s) and also of how you have to go down 10 layers of subcontractors to find someone really shaping "atoms". Which is one of the reasons, according to him, spaceflight is so expensive: with several layers of subcontractors doing EVERYTHING, from paiting to screws, and everyone getting their share of the profit, costs skyrocket.

[KitemanSA]

You have just described the difference between a launch business and a subsidy business.