Borklund

Cool website! Unfortunately thanks to light pollution I am unable to observe the ISS, a single star or sometimes even the Moon from where I live

More and better sound effects, great. I'd also like more and better particle effects, especially for rockets and explosions

What are you talking about? The sixties and seventies saw an explosion in wealth in America. Countless thousands of jobs have been created thanks to NASA's endeavours. Just listing the many spinoffs is boring, but just think for a minute about the inspiration for the whole sci-fi genre, to name one example. You can't put a price tag on that.

I'd wait for the final report before drawing any conclusions.

Er det OK om en partysvensk bidrar till tråden? Jeg taler norsk

Sure, and while it is still available for download it has been abandoned. I'm not just going to pick up where he left off, I am trying to create own thing and flesh it out more than CardBoardBoxProcessor did with his Failcan pack (not intended as a knock on him or his work).

I didn't want to come up with a nickname like xXSSJVegetaXx so I combined my last name (Björklund) with the ramblings of the Swedish chef (Bork bork bork); Borklund.

Kerbin Exploration Technologies Corporation, or KerbX, is a Kerbal space transport company headquartered near the Kerbin Space Center. It was founded just recently by former KerbPal entrepeneur Elon Kerman. It is developing the Falcon series launch vehicles and Dragon series spacecraft, among others. During an interview with KNN, Elon Kerman said that he "would like to die on Duna, just not at the point of impact". What is this mod? It is a parts only mod comprised of SpaceX rocket and spacecraft analogues for KSP. The Stinger and I will post work in progress renders and screenshots in this thread as we develop the mod. The team: Project Lead and 3D artist: Borklund 2D artist: The Stinger Testers: rejooh, B787_300, XNerd_Bomber, actieveling, thefeeblespark, CrossyCriss, demonofspark, SyncV2, Kerbolman, jb2512, Zaran Special thanks to DYJ, Rich, Tiberion, Odin, C7Studios, Mu, bac9, BobCat, r4m0n and others on the forums and IRC for your support and helpfulness. Extra credit goes to feeblespark for his invaluable help with part balancing.

While Red Dragon, as proposed, is an unmanned one-way lander it is a clear stepping stone toward putting people on Mars. The different Dragon variants all share the same DNA, and making a Red DragonRider wouldn't be an insurmountable challenge once the DragonRider has flown. The SuperDraco thrusters that would provide the powered landing has twice the power of the Falcon 1 rocket engine. If you give it enough fuel it would no problem be able to both land and take off for an orbital rendezvous to a return craft. I'm not saying SpaceX going to Mars by itself is the most likely outcome, but it isn't impossible either.

Sweet! Catalog #: 08_00973 is my favorite, it looks like a chunky space version of a commercial airliner

I know exactly what you mean! Unfortunately, spending millions, maybe billions of euros (or kronor or any other currency for that matter) in space right now is not an easy argument at all. I can't remember where I found this link, it might have been on this forum, but I thought I should share it with you anyway. http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html In 1970, a Zambia-based nun named Sister Mary Jucunda wrote to Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, then-associate director of science at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, in response to his ongoing research into a piloted mission to Mars. Specifically, she asked how he could suggest spending billions of dollars on such a project at a time when so many children were starving on Earth. Stuhlinger soon sent the following letter of explanation to Sister Jucunda, along with a copy of "Earthrise," the iconic photograph of Earth taken in 1968 by astronaut William Anders, from the Moon (also embedded in the transcript). His thoughtful reply was later published by NASA, and titled, "Why Explore Space?"

Grasshopper is a concept and a test bed right now. The Falcon 9 v1.1, Falcon Heavy and a human rated Dragon are more tangible and closer to production, and that's most of what you would need to go to Mars. Development on the SuperDraco thrusters (which could be used for powered landing on Mars) was completed September 1st this year. Habitability is being worked on. The Dragon in its current configuration is just a LEO taxi, but the DragonRider (crewed Dragon version) isn't many years away from being a reality. NASA approved the preliminary design a year ago and work is progressing. A potential NASA-SpaceX mission to Mars was proposed but eventually lost out to the Martian lander InSight for a 2016 launch. That doesn't mean the end of the Red Dragon (the name for the Mars configuration Dragon) - it might be selected for NASA's next Discovery mission (provided the budget for NASA's planetary exploration isn't gutted in the years to come). The cost projection was less than $400m which is a pittance compared to the $2.5bn MSL (Curiosity) project. It isn't orders of magnitude more complex than anything NASA has pulled off. SpaceX is growing in every single way - the launch manifest, its employee count and the number of different spacecraft it is designing or building. Barring a series of unfortunate coincidences or accidents I really don't see how SpaceX won't launch something beyond Earth in the next decade. The Google Lunar X Prize is set for a Moon landing in 2015, and aside from adjusting navigation software, Falcon 9 and Dragon do not need any modifications to reach lunar orbit.

Sure, but Presidents and Congresses come and go, and things change (see Constellation). There's no reason why the next Mars or beyond Earth mission after InSight can't be launched by SpaceX. As for SpaceX's own Mars efforts, you should read this Wired article. Here's part of the very first paragraph: "Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk says SpaceX is developing a plan for trips to Mars that will eventually cost just $500,000 per seat.". I hope he's right and he follows through with it. While it is easy to doubt this grand rhetoric, Elon Musk is one of the few people who not only talks a big game but also delivers.

Wrong wrongington. The clue is in the title; Spacex is short for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. NASA already contracts companies to build most of the systems and rockets and things that eventually get them to space. NASA operates the machinery, runs the programs and all the rest. There's no reason why SpaceX can't be the Grumman (company that built Apollo LEM) of Mars. And as for going to Mars on their own, well, Elon Musk has repeatedly said that going to Mars is a driver for him and ultimately the company. His first idea for a space company was to send a little biodome to Mars, a completely philanthropic endeavour. SpaceX has been cash flow positive for a number of years thanks to LEO and geostationary contracts, and will no doubt continue to be successful in that area - but that's not all Elon Musk hopes to achieve. During one talk he said "I would like to die on Mars, just not at the point of impact". I sincerely believe him.

While it's far too easy to be blinded by lofty promises made in talks and by cool ideas that exist only on paper or in powerpoint presentations, the Dragon was built ground up to be human rated. The first human rated Dragon flight (though unmanned) is perhaps only 2 years away. The Falcon Heavy could launch as early as next year, and it will be able to carry 12~ tonnes to GTO, more than enough to get a Dragon to Mars. While I am a bit of a SpaceX fanboy, you can't outright dismiss the notion of SpaceX getting to Mars before NASA does, or at least not getting there without SpaceX's involvement, before the 2030s.

The politics of austerity affects the space industry too - member states just aren't willing to sink more into ESA. It would take a lot more to get a wholly ESA built, manned and operated spacecraft into orbit or beyond and that is clearly not going to happen in today's climate. No politician or public will advocate for it. I for one am looking to push my government toward small robotic exploration. A chinese-style Chang'e project would not be inconceivable even for Sweden. We have a spaceport in Kiruna that will definitely see more use when (not if) private spaceflight to LEO becomes more and more commonplace, and some of the profits from that activity could go to building a teeny tiny Swedish moon lander/rover. Complimentary secondary payloads could be a requirement for some launches, and could be used for Swedish student and private enterprise projects.

That ascent and the jump was incredibly scary to look. But man, imagine the view that high up, before you jump. Few humans have experienced that first-hand. Also, of Charles Bolden and Elon Musk taking questions from the public on space exploration.

Link to livestream of Intelsat 23 launch

, for those of you who can't get enough of SPACE (which should be all of you!)

Warshawski: You're right. I'm thinking "That's another small step for [a] man, another giant leap for mankind."

AFAIK it can't lose even one engine at low altitudes, say, before clearing the tower. After that, it can lose one or two engines and simply burn the fuel it carries for a longer duration to get into orbit. There is speculation that the second stage did not restart because it had no fuel left after the longer first stage burn, but I haven't seen official confirmation of that yet. Either way, the Dragon made orbit and will catch up to the ISS as scheduled. This is good news what with SpaceX working on a human rated Dragon.

Faith in humanity -1

Phew. Wouldn't want to be the company that blew up the ISS.

This is pretty great

I should not have gone looking for more information on the internets. I read through these two threads and now I don't know what to believe. There's a lot of worrying going on in the armchair rocket scientist community.