Jaff

Such a kerbal picture - I love it!

Why don’t they just wait until BFR is built and then go and fetch the upper stages left up there? Bfr up - satalite bfr down - spent upper F9 stages

Doesn’t this mission have silly margins because TESS is so small? perhaps they just burned single engine to land for longer at lower throttle? also are they recovering fairings? Or at least landing them?

First stage could have - if I’m clutching at straws... still didnt see it though

Sun is a big typo surely? really enjoying these keep it up. also you could extend your stubby protons with those circular tubes?

Yeah I don’t have any of those installed as far as I’m aware.

See that’s cool. So is propulsive dragon landings (I know they’ve been canned) apollo (star chaser) - been there dragon 2 (dragon 1 with seats) - done that im being childish I know but space exploration should be at the forefront of tech, which is why we all love those returning boosters. I just hope I don’t get old quickly and miss out of more cool stuff. Id have thought the dream chaser with its ability to sit on top of multiple boosters would have been seen to be more favourable in a world of steep competition.

Dream chaser is the one I was thinking of. Seats 7. how was that going to be flown? I.e how was it supposed to get up there? Shame really as I liked the look of that. And propulsive dragon landings. in the end we get a new version of Apollo and a curvier cargo pod.

I had no idea that they had developed this. Im assuming it’s going up on an atlas? I had visions of that shuttle looking thing for a minute (x37?)

What are Boeing flying crew in?

yeah it doesn't appear in 1.4.1 doesn't seem to work for half the parts in 1.3.1 either. hopefully this will be upgraded as i fancy trying something like this out

can anyone point me in the direction of some good engine mods? I find stock KSP + MH + KW Rocketry doesn't provide me with enough choice for each stage (Booster/second/Interplanetary/Payload) to vary my rocket designs enough and I'm not quite ready to venture into Realism Overhaul yet even though I like the game mechanics of building a rocket and incrementally upgrading it by upgrading engines/swapping engines for better ones. is there anything available? something like having the vector/mainsail/swivel etc. available at a reduced thrust/ISP until a certain amount of research has been done which gets you incremental upgrades to that engine? any thoughts?

Why are they not recovering iridium boosters? Thought there wasn’t much too them and they were able to recover

I mean exactly what you explained - thanks so back to my kerbal analogy to keep my rockets realistic I should have my rockets first stage always full and it stages at whatever speed it gets to (dependant in PL mass) and waste the fuel in the upper stage if I don’t need it? And add moar boosters if it doesn’t have enough dV i missed the Hispasat launch too, any news on the fairings? I thought they were supposed to be the 2.0 fairings hence the delay in the first place ?!

Really interesting and kind of answers my question. But space x landing boosters aside, does the fact that the first stage is full of fuel and burns to pretty much empty mean that a lighter payload has the first stage burn faster/longer?

So S1 is always full. That means with heavier PL the first stage doesn’t go as high/far as it would with a lighter PL? Just trying to compare it a bit with KSP as I build families of rockets and take fuel out of the bottom tanks to give it a suitable dV when realistically I should be just keeping to full and flying it as far as it will go

So can someone in the know answer a question. do they always fill up a rocket with fuel or do they only put as much fuel as they need in? If its the former do they expend the first stage and have excess in the upper stage or do they cut the first stage off early and have the upper stage expend all its fuel?

Isn’t the fact that space launches are bespoke the reason they’re so expensive? And therefore something SX are trying to achieve.

My point is - whoever make the satalite don’t give 2 hoots what space x do with their boosters or fairings (providing they understand the risks and mitigation of lower costs) so all they want is their satalite in the correct position. If its beig delayed due to space x wanting to try fairing 2.0 to save themselves money then thats surely nothing to do with Hispasat and all to do with space x. Which surprises me.

So In that case SX aren’t honouring their contract?

I’m surprised they’ve been allowed to do that, surely Hispasat would just say sod the new fairings put the old ones on and get our sat in the sky. Test your new fairings on your own time.

What exactly is so complicated about the rs25 in comparison to any other engine? Also LOL at an rs25 engine test being a milestone for SLS yet SX almost saving fairings when launching a satellite is just something we’ve been doing since the 60’s - cracking logic

Dont get me wrong I admire it, it I’m also a skeptic and don’t think I will see mars landings in my lifetime (and I’m not even 30 yet) let alone musk in his lifetime. So profitability must be top of the agenda to pave the way for the next generation of space travelers. So less rocket launches for me = less enjoyment of my lifetime yes I’m selfish

I understand that but when most payloads these days are nowhere near 150t what’s the point? Surely it’s cheaper to keep wasting Falcon upper stages? its a bit chicken and egg though? Make a big rocket in the hope people make big payloads, or make big payloads and design the rocket to lift them

By that analogy if Virgin Atlantic know that their Heathrow to New York flight is rammed they use a 747, and their Heathrow to Washington is barely used they use a 767 shouldn’t it be he same for space x, assuming all space x rockets are reusable like 747s and 767’s are. Big 100t payload = bfr - not so big 20t payload FH - smaller 10t payload F9 or SSTO bfr