sevenperforce

Yea, I think I got the idea from this very video. The bit presented wouldn't work for two reasons: first, the AJ-10 is too large to fit inside a Dragon 2 trunk with any reasonable volume for propellant, and second, SpaceX pads will never be plumbed for hydrogen as required if they were putting an RL-10 on top. But not insurmountable problems.

The Dragon 2 heat shield is already going to be rated for cislunar return.

It's more work than I thought it would be!

My 5yo saw it and said, "But where is the Atlas Five? And why will the Falcon Heavy not be man-rated?" I had to assure him that I would do a separate poster for ULA LVs. Him: "And once Falcon nine block five is man rated, you can make another one with the Dragon Two so that it can have little people under it!"

And, obligatory:

CRS-14 Return This one didn't take long at all.

My newly-4yo got to get up just in time to watch InSight launch, then got this poster: Not as many as I would have wanted but a good sampling nonetheless.

Thanks! I think I need a redesign of my Centaur -- the one I have has too low fineness and the front end is all messed up. The payload was a lot of fun to build.

Mission highlights: Updated mission post:

Ugh @ Bridenstine.

Go Centaur!

RL-10 restart good. Go for Mars. I am. Tiny interplanetary probes are exactly the sort of thing we need to have tested as we expand out into the solar system. EDIT: Aaaaand, MECO-2. Separation in under 10 minutes.

A few teasers:

NASA InSight Launch This was a long-anticipated mission! I built the lander and cubesats and tested them separately. Then, when I went to test the launch, I realized that this was the first time I had launched an Atlas V without any strap-on boosters and there simply wasn't nearly enough thrust, so I uprated the CCB's engine significantly. This mission will be split into two posts: one for the launch, and one for Duna EDL. Designing the trajectory and transfer window on this one was REALLY challenging. Prelaunch: Launch:

Well, damn. You're right. And I was so sure. Not an optical illusion, per se; it was actually a compression artifact.

We will see both crew and cargo on Dragon 2, but the sticker price for Dragon 2 is higher. Dragon 1 will fly existing pressure vessels until they are all retired, but no new Dragon 1 pressure vessels will be built. Mmmm. Yes. Yes, you see the interstage and the fairing there, but you also see Falcon Heavy side-booster nose cones, too. EDIT: Sniped by @cubinator. The hype is maximum. Looking more closely at this picture, I think it's absolutely certain that the interstage narrows between the grid fin attachment points and the S2 coupling. You can see blue between the red and the black. I wonder if S2 has any changes.

Something something payload something.

I find it interesting that the unpainted carbon interstage actually narrows -- it is noticeably smaller in diameter than the rest of the stage, and then flares out where it meets the upper stage. So this is not merely the same interstage but unpainted; this is an entirely new interstage design. Presumably the lower diameter makes it both lighter and stronger (though bending moment would potentially be worse). I think the landing legs are now black because they have had heat-protectant added...but maybe they are also just unpainted composite. Too bad the area around the octaweb is obscured. It's probably just "new is cool" talking, but I really like the move to the smaller logo halfway up. Less advertisement, more stamp of approval.

Well, not lightweight in an aggregate, but the ribbon itself has a very low density. And that's the stat that matters. If the cable comes loose at the bottom but is still attached to the counterweight, the counterweight takes off into space at a nice steady clip, pulling the ribbon up, up, and away. If the cable breaks at or near the counterweight, the ribbon falls to Earth under its own weight faster than the Earth's attachment point can "wind" it up. Most of it will burn up in the atmosphere; the remainder is so low-density that it will flutter to the ground harmlessly.

omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg I do not have enough likes to like this enough.

More dark-leg Block 5 beauty:

HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYPE Those sexy, sexy legs.

Is this official? In more seriousness: http://spacenews.com/long-march-rocket-launches-apstar-6c-communications-satellite-from-china/

Apsat 6A This launched today on a Chinese Long March 3B, which I had already built once so it was a quick mission. Sandbagged for the LM3B, though.

It's not hard to give an asteroid a desired trajectory with the debug menu.