SpaceX News
Re: SpaceX News
Nice to see they are improving things further. Incremental definitely seems to be working well for them.
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Re: SpaceX News
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.
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis
Re: SpaceX News
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!
Re: SpaceX News
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?the engine is actually simpler, more robust and easier to manufacture
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.
Re: SpaceX News
IIRC it is the way the cooling channels are embedded in the nozzle, it is much simpler. There are also less moving parts.Maui wrote: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?the engine is actually simpler, more robust and easier to manufacture
That is the reason why we are doing it. It is pork for large defense contractors like ATK, Lockheed and co.Maui wrote:Why are we still funding a public rocket initiative outside of the pork-barrel aspect of it?
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Re: SpaceX News
Does anyone know if the SuperDraco has these improvements?
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis
Re: SpaceX News
I think the superdracos are very different from the Merlins anyway. They are pressure fed and user hypergolic fuels.
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Re: SpaceX News
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis
Re: SpaceX News
Yay! Dragon has landed savely!
Re: SpaceX News
from http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.asp ... 2013-04-01 something caught my eye:
Hazards of third party suppliers. In a high production environment, through testing of every component won't work.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, ...
The daylight is uncomfortably bright for eyes so long in the dark.
Re: SpaceX News
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.
Re: SpaceX News
You have just described the difference between a launch business and a subsidy business.