totm nov 2023 SpaceX Discussion Thread

[tater]

 

[CatastrophicFailure]

This is a little disconcerting. 

Significant delays on both coasts now? I hope that doesn’t mean a problem with the rocket...

[mikegarrison]

2 hours ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

Just define the martian year as 668 martian days, divide into 4 167 sol seasons. The year is closer to 669 sols, but it doesn't divide as nicely, so you just need more frequent leap years. Months are almost entirely unnecessary, and seasons are only needed to make it easy to get an idea of the temperature. All farming is going to be high tech from the start, so the month-based rules of thumb on planting and growing won't be used.

I think you underestimate the desire of people to use customary units for measuring time.

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

3 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

I think you underestimate the desire of people to use customary units for measuring time.

Well, it's better than 2.7% longer seconds.  

[Xd the great]

Did someone say farming insects? 

Sounds tasty.

Still the falcon rocket was bold.

Sub cooled rp1 Lox...

[Scotius]

Have you ever ate prawns, crabs or crawfish? They are arthropods. Insects are arthropods too. Therefore you've already technically ate insects. No big deal.

[magnemoe]

9 minutes ago, Scotius said:

Have you ever ate prawns, crabs or crawfish? They are arthropods. Insects are arthropods too. Therefore you've already technically ate insects. No big deal.

One downside is having to peel insects, this is already an pain with prawns

 

[sh1pman]

59 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

One downside is having to peel insects, this is already an pain with prawns

 

You can eat deep-fried arthropod shells, no need to peel them. I took deep-fried baby prawns with beer when I was in Greece a month ago. Shells were crunchy and easily edible.

I guess you can also mash them into mincemeat and make insectburgers.

[NSEP]

2 hours ago, magnemoe said:

One downside is having to peel insects, this is already an pain with prawns

I eat prawns with shell. (Just not the head)

Lobster and crab? That is a much different story, although i do know people who eat crab shell.

Anyways we are getting off topic. The train is driving in the ocean right now we need to get it back on track.

Edited August 28, 2018 by NSEP

[Racescort666]

14 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

You included the mass of the PSP in that, right?

Yes. PSP launch mass (according to wiki) is 685 kg (1510 lbs). Although I did the mass ratio calculation in lbs rather than kg, its all the same for a ratio.

[Xd the great]

Just wondering: if FH core boosters can be used as falcon 9 boosters, why dont spaceX make just core boosters?

Is it the price?

[kurja]

15 hours ago, cubinator said:

*What do we use instead of "months" for Mars? It's only really a relevant time unit on Earth.

Phoboths and Deimoths, obviously.

[Xd the great]

1 minute ago, kurja said:

Phoboths and Deimoths, obviously.

That be like the multiple lunar calenders atop of the western calender.

[Nightfury]

23 minutes ago, Xd the great said:

Just wondering: if FH core boosters can be used as falcon 9 boosters, why dont spaceX make just core boosters?

Is it the price?

There are structural enhancements in the FH core, which make it possible to handle the boosters. These are adding weight to the core and if you aren't flying a Falcon Heavy, you would just lose performance, payload mass and therefore money. So indirect yes

[mikegarrison]

8 hours ago, Scotius said:

Have you ever ate prawns, crabs or crawfish? They are arthropods. Insects are arthropods too. Therefore you've already technically ate insects. No big deal.

People are mammals. Horses are mammals. That does not mean people are horses.

Prawns and crabs are not insects.

3 hours ago, Xd the great said:

Just wondering: if FH core boosters can be used as falcon 9 boosters, why dont spaceX make just core boosters?

Is it the price?

I expect FH core boosters are substantially heavier than falcon 9 boosters, which would eat into the falcon 9 payloads.

Edited August 28, 2018 by mikegarrison

[Wjolcz]

6 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

People are mammals. Horses are mammals. That does not mean people are horses.

Prawns and crabs are not insects.

That doesn't mean thay can't be eaten. AFAIK eating insects is quite popular in Asia.

[Exploro]

Precisely. If wiki is to be trusted the aversion to eating insects is an aspect of Western culture. Elsewhere bugs are culinary fair game.

Oh boy what an odd tangent this thread has taken?

Edited August 28, 2018 by Exploro

[Xd the great]

Will elon allow eating insects on the bfr? Or only frozen meat is allowed.

[cubinator]

1 hour ago, Xd the great said:

Will elon allow eating insects on the bfr? Or only frozen meat is allowed.

If a functional set of machines for farming, cooking, etc. is created it could be considered. But that has not been invented yet. 

[Xd the great]

11 minutes ago, cubinator said:

If a functional set of machines for farming, cooking, etc. is created it could be considered. But that has not been invented yet. 

Farming insects on small scale on earth is totally possible. 

Farming crops in space is harder, but it has been done.

Farming both in a bfr on Mars and in space... this will require intensive caring.

starts imagining worms flying aroubd in 0g...

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Falcon Heavy is surprisingly capable for interplanetary missions.

[AVaughan]

If you ignore the mass requirement, then you could use algae to reprocess CO₂ (and maybe other wastes), then use the algae as a food source.  (Or use it to feed fish/crustaceans or some other animals).  However that is likely to be fairly heavy.  But might be viable on Mars itself as part of the colonisation efforts.

Edited August 29, 2018 by AVaughan
spelling

[Xd the great]

10 minutes ago, AVaughan said:

If you ignore the mass requirement, then you could use algae to reprocess CO₂ (and maybe other wastes), then use the algae as a food source.  (Or use it to feed fish/crustaceans or some other animals).  However that is likely yo be fairly heavy.  But might be viable on Mars itself as part of the colonisation efforts.

Traditonal farming requires soil and water, aka heavy. 

[Racescort666]

8 hours ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

Falcon Heavy is surprisingly capable for interplanetary missions.

I watched that last night and until now I had assumed that dV is dV. So I went to my spreadsheet and compiled Falcon 9 payloads vs Atlas V payloads. This probably wasn't the right way of doing it but I assumed that the upper stage expends the same amount of dV to get into a parking orbit dependent on it's booster. i.e. Atlas V LEO max is 18 850 kg so Centaur expends 3032 m/s to get to a parking orbit every time it launches. For Falcon 9, it's 5496 m/s for a 22 800 kg expendable launch. (performance information from wiki) 

Armed with this information and the masses and performance numbers from wiki, I made a table of the total dV for each upper stage and subtracted the circularization dV. As it turns out, Falcon 9 has a dV advantage above around 3t payload. Less than that, Atlas V has more dV. 

Note: subtracting the circularization dV was to try and account for the different flight profiles of Atlas V and Falcon 9.

[CatastrophicFailure]

So this is mildly interesting (and on topic ): according to SFN, it seems Telstar 18 has actually been moved up a day, now targeting September 8-9, and...

We have a date for the next Falcon Heavy launch! 

November 30...  which is one day after CRS-16, and the same month as Demo-1 which will use the same pad, so... I’m betting something’s gonna get delayed somewhere. 

Also, SAOCOM (first Vandy RTLS) delayed till October 7.