Beccab Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 46 minutes ago, mikegarrison said: Hmm. Got me curious. I believe X-37B vehicle 2 has something like 47000 hours in space. Vehicle 1 is nearing the two-year mark on its current mission and has a similar number of hours. Those seem likely to be records for spacecraft that have been launched more than once. Yep, most certainly. I know, there's size difference and life support and all, but compared to the Shuttle which could not stay in orbit for more than a few days at a time the X-37B is absolutely stunning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 >builds worlds first flight ready full flow staged combustion cycle engine >said engine has unparalelled ability to be mass produced relatively cheaply compared to other engines >builds over 50 of said engine >builds largest rocket ever >slaps 30+ engines on said rocket >scraps rocket and engine program >refuses to elaborate >leaves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 Um...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 4 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said: "The nine-engined, two-staged Falcon. SpaceX-Mart's top of the line. You can find this at Cape Canaveral. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Hawthorne, Cailfornia. Retails for about sixty million. It's got a composite interstage, titanium grid fins, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop SpaceX-Mart. You got that??" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 20 hours ago, Beccab said: Yep, most certainly. I know, there's size difference and life support and all, but compared to the Shuttle which could not stay in orbit for more than a few days at a time the X-37B is absolutely stunning X-37B was designed for long duration stays. The shuttle was designed as an shuttle. It was at least one two week shuttle mission. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-80 at 17 days. I think they had an roll out solar panel for this. Most missions did not have the solar panel who reduced the stay time. Shuttle had also other restrictions so it could not stay on the IIS or MIR for months even if getting power and the life support supplies was not used up. Probably a bit like the Soyuz stay limit because of H2O2 degradation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCgothic Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 as made famous by an Australian guy playing a Scottish guy… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 6 hours ago, Beccab said: Quote Lisa Watson-Morgan, Human Landing System Program manager for NASA, said "So far SpaceX has met all of their milestones to date." Agency has set 2024 as a target date for an uncrewed demonstration flight to the lunar surface. I read stuff like this... and think that we are still awaiting the 'environmental review', and hope that means good things for Boca Chica's ability to keep launching rockets and innovating. But I also fear this is NASA setting unrealistic timelines. For 2024 to be a realistic target date... SX has to be - on paper - a lot further along than I suspect they are. We've seen them stick one landing of SS. We've never seen Booster fly. Maybe the 'rocket scientists' over there have looked at SX's modeling and data and are confident this will work in a reasonable timeline... and maybe there's some politician saying 'we need to hit a 2024 milestone'. There is a LOT to be done between testing the boosters and SS and landing and everything else... and any 'demonstration flight to the lunar surface'. (Would love someone to tell me 'yeah, it's not only doable, but likely'!) (Also, quoting tweets on this forum is weird; it's like twitter does something to just make it less easy than it should be). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 22 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: Maybe the 'rocket scientists' over there have looked at SX's modeling and data and are confident this will work in a reasonable timeline... and maybe there's some politician saying 'we need to hit a 2024 milestone'. Remember, they have access to WAY more information than we “armchairs” do. We knew nothing about the elevator prototype pics upthread until the last couple weeks, even tho they’re months old. Also worth noting that the timeframe can conceivably be kept even if Starship isn’t a “complete” success, as long as SpaceX can pump them out quickly and cheaply enough. There’s a new, much bigger high bay going up in Boca exactly for that purpose. I still think Orion/SLS remains the long pole for that 2025 landing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 2 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: But I also fear this is NASA setting unrealistic timelines. Given that, for NASA, SpaceX's HLS development "has met all of their milestones to date", the development timeline doesn't seem unrealistic at all for now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 Not decommissioning, surely? (also - if R2 is the future for SX - can they sell existing Rs to anyone?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terwin Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 It looks like they are using a crane to move B4 off of the pad, any ideas as to why they are not using the chop-sticks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 4 minutes ago, Terwin said: It looks like they are using a crane to move B4 off of the pad, any ideas as to why they are not using the chop-sticks? Given it hasn't been yet been grabbed by the chopsticks once, it's quite possible the attachment points on it don't fit the grabby things of the lifting arms. We'll see what they decide to do with B7 soon enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minmus Taster Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 4 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: Not decommissioning, surely? That seems to be the case Stage 1 of grief: Denial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 1 hour ago, Minmus Taster said: That seems to be the case Stage 1 of grief: Denial Actually - if true - it's a very SX thing to do... And I find it strangely comforting. As in, they are mission focused and not married to any particular iteration or equipment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piscator Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Quote Stage 1 of grief: Denial Actually not a bad name for a first stage. Goodbye, "Denial", we hardly knew ye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 5 minutes ago, tater said: As a reminder, that is also named "S24 barrel section". Until it's stacked nobody knows what will happen, but under the current nomenclature it seems S24 may have a small payload bay for its flight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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