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Blue Origin Thread (merged)


Aethon

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"The launch of Orion’s flight test has been scrubbed for today because of an issue related to fill and drain valves on the Delta IV Heavy rocket that teams could not troubleshoot by the time the launch window expired. The next launch window opens at 7:05 a.m. Eastern on Friday, Dec. 5. A post-scrub briefing is targeted for noon EST today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will be carried live on NASA Television."

Brifeing now.

http://www.nasa.gov/

Reports that the 'boat' may have been a cruise ship. Weather forecast not as favorable Friday with a 40 percent 'go' chance.

Edited by Aethon
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It also has its own avionics and liquid attitude control engines, as well as separation/jettison motors. It's a pretty complex system. I don't know the exact price difference between a live LAS and an inert one, of course, but several million dollars seems in the ballpark, and it seems reasonable to use that money elsewhere if there is no point in spending it.

The LES had its own test campaign to provide data about abort conditions (including the PA-1 test).

Data from the launch is not useful for this test, because it will never launch under these conditions again. After EFT-1, Orion MPCV will only ever fly on the SLS, which has a different flight profile. This test flight is only to test high-speed re-entry and some of the avionics systems in space. An abort from the Delta Heavy would not provide much reliable data that would concern an abort from an SLS.

Doesn't the LES attitude control system use a solid fuel gas generator and vents to direct thrust sideways if needed? I thought it said that in the press kit.

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Dan Collins, the Chief Operating Officer for the United Launch Alliance that built Orion's Delta 4 Heavy rocket, said that fuel storage limitations for the booster will only allow for two launch attempts within a three-day period. ULA will decide in the wee hours of Friday  before fueling begins for the rocket  whether to press ahead with a launch try tomorrow or to skip ahead to Saturday, Dec. 6. If the Delta 4 Heavy rocket is fueled on Friday, but does not launch, NASA would have to wait to at least Sunday to attempt another try.

http://www.space.com/27925-nasa-orion-capsule-test-flight-delay.html

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Pumps have begun the slow-fill stage of loading liquid hydrogen into the core boosters of the Delta IV Heavy this morning. Each of the three core stages holds some 110,000 gallons of the propellant which is kept chilled to minus 423 degrees F. Liquid oxygen at minus 297 degrees will begin loading soon.

Source: https://blogs.nasa.gov/orion/

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Winds are from 070. Which is slightly better than yesterdays 050. A south or east wind allows the launch at higher wind speeds because the sail effect can push the spacecraft into the launch tower. The fill valves yesterday sat too long at cryo temps and were sluggish. Today they will be pressurized to 30psi and cycled during the launch hold.

Still go for launch.

Go baby.

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I can't figure out why, but there is a tremendous sense of awe everytime I see rockets taking off and flying to the sky. Is it like witnessing something so powerful, so majestic that your mind just...blown?

Flames so bright that its darken the world around it. Mountains worth of mass being lifted. I can't help it but be amazed.

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Huge solar arrays ... not only you can not make a long burns while on the dark side, but they significantly less effective further from sun.

To travel through darkness of space, you need to carry your own Sun with you.

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all we need is for someone to show the US government what a chaingun mounted on one could do.

Not really, the ISX Enterprise is a pretty picture, drawn up by an artist with no more knowledge of the physics or engineering required to produce a FTL craft than "there needs to be exotic matter in a ring shape". I could do something just as valid, draw it on the back of a napkin and call it "Irish space-goer ten bazillion", and the only difference would be in the quality of the artwork.

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