Dragon V-2 and SpaceX's spacesuits

[Spaceception]

As far as I know there isn't a Dragon V-2 thread - unless it's buried from some post from last year (Which is incredible).

Anyway... What do you think about the Dragons way of landing? Or its style? Do you guys think this is a true 21st century spacecraft? And while we're at it, what do you think about the spacesuits (From the "Dragon in orbit" video, and the picture of Elon wearing it)?

Videos galore!

Unveiling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEQrmDoIRO8

D V-2 hover Propulsion test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Pm8ZY0XJI

Pad abort test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_FXVjf46T8

Interior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjSb_b4TtxI

In orbit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1EB5BQpm7w

Flight animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf_-g3UWQ04

Dragon fly program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFx7se_D82I

Edited January 22, 2016 by Spaceception

[Mitchz95]

I don't think that's an official picture of the suit.

But yeah, I think the V2 looks like a great little ship. I'm looking forward to seeing how things go.

[Spaceception]

13 minutes ago, Mitchz95 said:

I don't think that's an official picture of the suit.

But yeah, I think the V2 looks like a great little ship. I'm looking forward to seeing how things go.

Well, it has Elon's face on it, and wen I found it a few months ago, it looked legit, so I decided, why not Ill post it here. It does look pretty cool though

Edited January 22, 2016 by Spaceception

[Nibb31]

It's clearly photoshopped and it's out of Vogue. When it's on a SpaceX or a NASA web site, we'll talk.

 

[Streetwind]

The spacesuits apparently aren't finalized yet - it is specifically mentioned on SpaceX's 2016 CC milestones.

[fredinno]

I'm a rebel . I chose "not awesome" in the poll.

[Kaos]

One thing I always wonder about the Dragon-V2: It says it is fully reusable. But it throws away its trunk. Is there a plan to change that? Is the trunk not counted into fully? Will the trunk itself also be capable of landing eventually?

Does anyone know more about that?

[fredinno]

16 minutes ago, Kaos said:

One thing I always wonder about the Dragon-V2: It says it is fully reusable. But it throws away its trunk. Is there a plan to change that? Is the trunk not counted into fully? Will the trunk itself also be capable of landing eventually?

Does anyone know more about that?

The Trunk does not cost much, and it would need a heat shield on its bottom to survive reentry- in other words, an entire redesign of the Dragon system. So no.

[Spaceception]

7 hours ago, Nibb31 said:

It's clearly photoshopped and it's out of Vogue. When it's on a SpaceX or a NASA web site, we'll talk.

 

Well, there was a (Possible) design in the "In orbit" video, made by SpaceX.

[magnemoe]

26 minutes ago, fredinno said:

The Trunk does not cost much, and it would need a heat shield on its bottom to survive reentry- in other words, an entire redesign of the Dragon system. So no.

Yes, trunk has room for the unpressurized cargo/ secondary payload and is used for solar cells and radiators.  
it also has an secondary but important function. with trunk the dragon will fly nose first in the atmosphere, without trunk its bottom first.
This is critical during an abort during launch as it uses the landing engines as escape system so they would need the trunk anyway even they stored solar cells internally.
Unpressuriezed cargo would anyway need flexible mounting systems and the trunk leaves plenty of room for it. 

 

[fredinno]

3 hours ago, Spaceception said:

Well, there was a (Possible) design in the "In orbit" video, made by SpaceX.

What wouldn't they just use NASA's though?

[Spaceception]

9 minutes ago, fredinno said:

What wouldn't they just use NASA's though?

Elon Musk want's their own spacesuit, because he thinks they aren't cool enough : http://gizmodo.com/spacex-wants-future-astronauts-to-look-badass-in-spac-1735190895

Edited January 22, 2016 by Spaceception

[fredinno]

1 hour ago, Spaceception said:

Elon Musk want's their own spacesuit, because he thinks they aren't cool enough : http://gizmodo.com/spacex-wants-future-astronauts-to-look-badass-in-spac-1735190895

[Spaceception]

20 minutes ago, fredinno said:

XD

[Hysterrics]

The spacesuit picture has a 9gag watermark :/

[Kryten]

8 hours ago, fredinno said:

What wouldn't they just use NASA's though?

The only suits NASA have in their inventory are designed for Shuttle operations, and they're very bulky; partially because they had to support bailing out in a contingency, partly because they just had a lot of room to work on shuttle flight deck and so little incentive to slim them down. 

[fredinno]

2 minutes ago, Kryten said:

The only suits NASA have in their inventory are designed for Shuttle operations, and they're very bulky; partially because they had to support bailing out in a contingency, partly because they just had a lot of room to work on shuttle flight deck and so little incentive to slim them down. 

Can't they use the modified versions for Orion, then? Those are obviously a lot smaller....

[Kryten]

3 minutes ago, fredinno said:

Can't they use the modified versions for Orion, then? Those are obviously a lot smaller....

Orion is to use a modified version of the shuttle suit, MACES. It's got a lot more volume available than the commercial crew vehicles, and needs more capability given it's going to be a lot further from any available help.

[Mighty1]

BTW what happened to those skin tight suits from some 5 years ago. They were called bio-suits. Now that was awesome and cool.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Mighty1

[Nibb31]

10 minutes ago, Mighty1 said:

BTW what happened to those skin tight suits from some 5 years ago. They were called bio-suits. Now that was awesome and cool.

They were an independent design from someone at MIT, not NASA-driven.

[sgt_flyer]

1 hour ago, Mighty1 said:

BTW what happened to those skin tight suits from some 5 years ago. They were called bio-suits. Now that was awesome and cool.

they are still working on it  they have to solve problems on how to  maintain a mechanical counterpressure on complex parts of the anatomy (hands, feets, and 'delicate' parts...) without hindering movements / or having to use pressurised sections for those.

note : derived from the same 'lines of non extension' research the biosuit uses, ESA ordered research and was made the 'skinsuit', which is designed to simulate a uniform vertcial g-loading on the whole body in microgravity (except the arms), the final objective being to limit muscle and bone density loss, and prevent spinal elongation during extended stays in space. (could partially / totally replace the 2,5 hours of daily exercise the astronauts have to perform in iss to prevent muscle and bone loss)

astronaut andreas mogensen wore the skinsuit inside iss during a short stay, so they could check how it performed (for now, mainly regarding spinal elongation) they took regular height measurements, and checked with him if it helped reducing back pains, etc. they also measured how it performed throughout daily work in regard to body hygiene in 0g. 

the results of this research has not yet been publicly disclosed

Edited January 23, 2016 by sgt_flyer