RedKraken

From titusou @ nsf

Sev, I tried modelling this in RO a while back. I could not make it work with the BFS dry mass fractions and the methane sea-level engines (334-361s). I always came up short. No payloads. iirc KSC to London requires a bit over 9100m/s. (***Checked with modified F9 --> 8700m/s.... Apologies!). Almost low orbit numbers. Apogee ~160km. This BFS design packs maybe 8900 m/s with all sea-level engines. You might be able to get the craft city to city, but you will carrying featherweight cargo. (It might work for lightweight mail.) I think this is why they have to use the boosters. Methane appears to fall just short (maybe 20 seconds of specific impulse) for useful single stage operations on planet earth.

Full speech

Check nsf. One guy (onespeed) suggests 1-6-12-12 : http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43035.603 entry 603

point to point 1hr https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=zqE-ultsWt0

The wildest ride on the planet.

How many people ride roller coasters or the g sling-shots? Similar loads (up to 5-6g). On your back in a proper seat....not a problem. Some folks will black out.

I think a fair number of people would want to ride this machine, regardless.

9m x 106m, 150t to LEO full reuse. 31 raptors 1st stage 4400t vehicle, 5400t thrust Spacecraft : 4+2 engines on BFS, 85tdry /1185t full? (240t CH4+860t LOX) 9680m/s at 375s? SL 330 - 356s, 1700kN @ 25 atmospheres chamber pressure (1.3m bell) Vac 375s, 1900kN (2.4m bell) Butt to butt refueling in orbit. Aiming for 2022 cargo mission. Construction starts in ~ 9 months. 30min suborbital city to city ? from offshore pads....nice.

"Nobody good (engineers) would join." Elon on Spx recruiting in the earlier days.

here we go

Not yet. Unless Tom Mueller has a FFSC hydrogen engine up his sleeve. Maybe they just isru lox on the lunar surface? Or fueler tanker in lunar orbit. Or both. 3.6:1 ratio means most of the propellant mass is lox. Definitely a little awkward for methane engines.

Anyone want to guess at the diameter ? Some guess at 9m.

The changes to the ITS spacecraft : Those little delta wings..... They have gone for 4 landing legs. Engines are hidden. Looks finer than the previous design.

launch replay : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yoy1Vtqb25g

I don't know about a full translation. I have not found one yet. The Mishin diaries report from Dmitry Payson in Acta Astronautica 2016

Also working my way thru Chertok. Good stuff. The Kamanin Diaries by Bart Hendrix might also be worth a look. Also the Mishin Diaries, but i have not found an english translation. Only a summary.

2 hours to NROL-42 launch. https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/09/19/av072_journal/

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/70fv7g/elons_iac_talk_is_2pm3pm_acst_on_friday_29_sept/ 7 days to wait.

Some ITS predictions from reddit : https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/6zxmzf/official_rspacex_iac_2017_updated_bfr/ and from NSF : http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43035.0 http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43757.0 For me : 20% ITS with 1MN engines. LiAl tanks. 6.4m, 2000t.

Soyuz telemetry graphs! Nice!

The russian space industry has certainly suffered some setbacks. Proton grounding. Engine investigations. Funding cuts. Vostochny cost overruns. Angara development right alongside the Falcon9 paradigm shift. On the positive side, they still provide the only crewed access to ISS, rd-180s for atlas V, and entire soyuz vehicles for ESA. They still do supply runs to the ISS and GTO sat lifts with proton. But in 5 years time, things will be different. Barring global disasters/conflict, we are likely to see crewed LV alternatives for ISS, Vulcan and ITSy prelims, and Falcon 9 running a higher cadence. FH, Ariane 6 and possibly new vehicles from china and india. Interesting times.

Launching in about 2hrs. http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38729.msg1713881#new https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/08/16/av074_journal/ http://rocketwatch.yasiu.pl/? http://spaceflight101.com/atlas-v-tdrs-m-launch-preview/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ula/comments/6t0tmt/atlas_v_401_tdrsm_launch_updates_and_discussion/

It caught me by surprise. Feels like they are backpedalling a bit going for a cheap expendable. Maybe not. Single stick seems to be to way forward cost-wise. It cant compete with F9, even at $50M per launch...... Maybe its just cheaper, quicker to market and less risk than a new methane LV? GSE and pad will be simpler than for angara. The only major risk part looks like being the spacecraft itself.

I don't know. May have to wait for some more info. This is all i could find on energia's website : https://www.energia.ru/en/news/news-2017/news_08-11.html Be aware they have reused the Soyuz-5 name from the methalox proposal. The wikipedia article has not been edited since march.