SpaceX News

[ladajo]

Cool. Thanks. It still begs the question why they don't put out a test plan summary at least so folks could follow along.

[Skipjack]

Cool. Thanks. It still begs the question why they don't put out a test plan summary at least so folks could follow along.

I think that some of the info is proprietary and I guess their plan is not very clearly defined and depends a lot on how well each individual test goes. We do know that they are planning to have two F9Rs (grasshopper type test vehicles), one in McGregor, which will do low altitude testing and one in New Mexico, where they will do high altitude tests. In addition to that, they will improve their aim with each stage that they bring back. Which stages they bring back depends largely on the payload. Some payloads are too large to allow for large enough reserves to bring the stage back.
SpaceX has always struck me a bit as a "build a little, test a little and see how it goes" type of company. I think that they do not make set plans, but largely keep things flexible and they refine things are they go. I also think that they have been more reluctant to announce exact plans, because they have been having trouble keeping their schedules.

[Skipjack]

Also there is a new development regarding SpaceX pursuit of legal action against the ULA block buy:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ ... story.html

I say: Good!

[hanelyp]

SpaceX has some nice results for grasshopper style vertical landings, but with limited cross range. Before they try for a return to landing site it would be nice to demonstrate an ability to reenter and approach a fairly small target area reliably, intact as needed to make the landing. A range operator would be nervous allowing something the size of a Falcon9 v1.1 first stage to approach on a ballistic path if there were doubt of its ability to hit the landing field.

[GIThruster]

I say while Musk is at it, bring anti-trust litigation against UAL.

[Skipjack]

SpaceX has some nice results for grasshopper style vertical landings, but with limited cross range. Before they try for a return to landing site it would be nice to demonstrate an ability to reenter and approach a fairly small target area reliably, intact as needed to make the landing. A range operator would be nervous allowing something the size of a Falcon9 v1.1 first stage to approach on a ballistic path if there were doubt of its ability to hit the landing field.

This is what they will do with the coming launches and the F9R2 in New Mexico.

[AcesHigh]

It´s interesting to read Wired´s interview with Elon Musk... from October 2012.
http://www.wired.com/2012/10/ff-elon-musk-qa/all/

"One of our competitors, Orbital Sciences, has a contract to resupply the International Space Station, and their rocket honestly sounds like the punch line to a joke. It uses Russian rocket engines that were made in the ’60s. I don’t mean their design is from the ’60s—I mean they start with engines that were literally made in the ’60s and, like, packed away in Siberia somewhere."

"Musk: Second, there’s this tendency of big aerospace companies to outsource everything. That’s been trendy in lots of industries, but aerospace has done it to a ridiculous degree. They outsource to subcontractors, and then the subcontractors outsource to sub-subcontractors, and so on. You have to go four or five layers down to find somebody actually doing something useful—actually cutting metal, shaping atoms. Every level above that tacks on profit—it’s overhead to the fifth power."

"In many cases the biggest customer has been the government, and the government contracts have been what they call cost-plus: The company gets a built-in profit level no matter how wasteful its execution. There’s actually an incentive for it to make everything as expensive as it can possibly justify."

**********************

and now the better:

**********************

"Anderson: That sort of bureaucracy must also play into the bidding process.

Musk: It’s infuriating. The Pentagon’s preferred approach is to do long-term, “sole-source” contracts—which means to lock up the entire business for one company! We’ve been trying to bid on the primary Air Force launch contract, but it’s nearly impossible, because United Launch Alliance, co-owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, currently has an exclusive contract with the Air Force for satellite launch. It’s totally inappropriate."

[ladajo]

He is not wrong.
It was only a matter of time for someone to challenge. And since he remains privately held and has minimal sub support, there is little or nothing LM & B can do to him.

[Skipjack]

F9R Dev1 makes new hop only two weeks after the last one and this time to an altitude of 1000 meters. Impressive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwwS4YOT ... r_embedded

[ladajo]

Is that single engine? It sure looked like it.
Also seemed like the landing leg struts were catching on fire.
Lot of smoke coming of them at the end of the sequence.

[Aero]

Is that single engine? It sure looked like it.
Also seemed like the landing leg struts were catching on fire.
Lot of smoke coming of them at the end of the sequence.

Pause the video at the very end, you can see 3 nozzles. No telling how many engines though but there may be 3. Looked to me like they only used one for the flight.

[Skipjack]

Is that single engine? It sure looked like it.
Also seemed like the landing leg struts were catching on fire.
Lot of smoke coming of them at the end of the sequence.

Pause the video at the very end, you can see 3 nozzles. No telling how many engines though but there may be 3. Looked to me like they only used one for the flight.

It has 3 engines. It is only used for suborbital tests, so it wont need more. The one in NM might have 9.

[DeltaV]

http://aviationweek.com/blog/nasa-cnes- ... n-9-rocket

[Skipjack]

http://aviationweek.com/blog/nasa-cnes- ... n-9-rocket

I saw that. There are so many holes in the argumentation of Bonnal and Dumbacher, it is not even funny. I could write a long, long list about what is wrong with it, but it is not even worth my time

[Maui]

What are you talking about? If the government couldn't do it right, *nobody* can do it right.