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Blue Origin Thread (merged)


Aethon

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For the Falcon 9, estimates for payload capacity lost to reuse range from 20% (optimistic/barge landing) to 30% (pessimistic/RTLS). Definitely not 50%.

And keep in mind that the thrust figure describes only a rocket. "MCT" is a whole architecture, not just a single vessel, and things like "100 tons to Mars surface" comes from old, early concepts and may not have survived the planning phase. It's a bit futile to speculate based on it.

But, now that The Martian is in theaters in most countries, let's hope that SpaceX aims to ride on this hype-wave instead of waiting with the announcement until after return to flight :P

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For the Falcon 9, estimates for payload capacity lost to reuse range from 20% (optimistic/barge landing) to 30% (pessimistic/RTLS). Definitely not 50%.

And keep in mind that the thrust figure describes only a rocket. "MCT" is a whole architecture, not just a single vessel, and things like "100 tons to Mars surface" comes from old, early concepts and may not have survived the planning phase. It's a bit futile to speculate based on it.

But, now that The Martian is in theaters in most countries, let's hope that SpaceX aims to ride on this hype-wave instead of waiting with the announcement until after return to flight :P

The numbers I heard were 33% per stage. As the want the BFR to be fully reusable i'm assuming that is both stages landing again. Second stage after 1 or more orbits.

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Oh my, the internet is just awash with wild rumors and crazy speculation!

The Fact: Chris B. defined the level of his excitement as "a 236 on a scale of 1-10"

The Rumor: He strongly hinted that that number is not just any random number.

The Speculation: Over at reddit, people are now discussing if it's possible that the BFR might be able to lift 236 metric tons to LEO, almost doubling up on the famous Saturn V.

I can't say I have an opinion on whether or not it's possible or even sensible... but I can definitely say that I'm having so much fun right now following that discussion :D Aint this a time to be alive?

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236 is a pretty specific number for a rocket that doesn't even have a full up engine to test yet. Without knowing what that engine is going to actually produce thrust -wise, it's hard to estimate the payload capability of the completed rocket. Unless they are being very conservative and hope to increase that number as real data comes in to fill in the blanks.

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Wouldn't expect an announcement too soon. Musk is a clever chap when it comes to PR (and everything), and he'll know that releasing details of his Mars ambitions while his rockets are grounded would be a massive own goal as the media wouldn't take it seriously. I agree with others, he'll wait for a successful 1st stage landing before releasing details of BFR and MCT. I think falcon is pencilled in to return to flight next month so it hopefully won't be long to wait!

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Wouldn't expect an announcement too soon. Musk is a clever chap when it comes to PR (and everything), and he'll know that releasing details of his Mars ambitions while his rockets are grounded would be a massive own goal as the media wouldn't take it seriously. I agree with others, he'll wait for a successful 1st stage landing before releasing details of BFR and MCT. I think falcon is pencilled in to return to flight next month so it hopefully won't be long to wait!

They might yet have a slideshow ready to go at the next launch and if the first stage lands OK then they just present it right then:D

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can say to you, with a lot of confidence, everything one hopes SpaceX is, has been promising and may become, is more than you could have hoped for. We all know the forward plan, but I think we're all going to be blown away by just how big those plans are, even if only half of it becomes a reality.

From the same guy that sent out that teaser tweet

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38593.0

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Really looking forward to their RTF. Even crossed my mind about driving down there to watch it. How awesome would it be for them to have a succesful return to flight launch and then manage to land it on the barge. BAM! SpaceX is back better than ever.

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Best case, they follow it up with a couple more successful F9 flights, then a F9H demo flight with RTLS on the boosters, then a release of the Mars plans.

2016 is going to be a wild ride.

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The return to flight payload has been changed from the SES-9 satellite (now scheduled for the launch after the RTF) to the 11 small satellites (170 kg each) of the Orbcomm 2 mission. The Orbcomm satellites will be placed on a 650 km orbit and thus won't require a second burn by the second stage Merlin engine. After the deployment of the satellites, SpaceX will go ahead and test the reignition system of the redesigned second stage, so they will have an in-flight orbital test before they go ahead and launch SES-9, which instead will be deployed on a much higher orbit (35 000 km) that will require a second burn from the second stage.

From what I understood, both Orbcomm 2 and SES-9 missions will use the redesigned Falcon 9 (v1.2), with fixes for the June mishap, plus longer second stage tanks, more powerful engines, densified propellant and other stuff.

Coming up are also CRS-8 to the ISS (scheduled for sometime in January) and the Jason 3 NASA/NOAA/CNES/Eumetsat launch, which should be the last flight of Falcon 9 v1.1. SpaceX said they are aiming for 2/3 launches by the end of the year.

Main source: spaceflightnow.com/2015/10/18/orbcomm-first-in-falcon-9s-return-to-flight-launch-queue/

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