School bus or combi van to SPACE!

[theJesuit]

I seem to remember an idea of putting up a retrofitted USA yellow school bus being mooted on the forums or elsewhere. I cant find it.  But the discussion talked about sealing for atmosphere, airlocks rcs etc.  It was some time ago.

Then...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/04/spacex-to-launch-silliest-thing-we-can-imagine-on-debut-falcon-heavy/

Anywho maybe Mr Musk would consider this for his Falcon Heavy test.  What an educational joy that would be!  Anyone with his email want to pass this idea on?

Peace.

[K^2]

That's definitely a thought. Falcon Heavy should be capable. They'll probably want to launch something useful as well, like maybe a GTO stage with a telecom sat, but that still leaves space for a minivan at least. Maybe even a short school buss.

What caught my eye in the article, though, is the fact that they plan to use flown 9Rs as boosters. That seems like a brilliant move. They can cut back on throttle to the boosters for early launches, dramatically reducing the durability threshold. So they can get away with using flown stages with significantly less refurbishing than it'd take to get them ready as cores for another 9 launch.

Eventually, they'll have to get to a point where they can re-fly each 9R core as many times as they like and get them back to as-new condition, but using new core for central stage and flown cores for boosters lets them launch Heavy this year and within an on-target budget. That's fantastic news in my book. It's been ages since we've had a decent heavy lifter.

[wumpus]

14 hours ago, theJesuit said:

I seem to remember an idea of putting up a retrofitted USA yellow school bus being mooted on the forums or elsewhere. I cant find it.  But the discussion talked about sealing for atmosphere, airlocks rcs etc.  It was some time ago.

Then...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/04/spacex-to-launch-silliest-thing-we-can-imagine-on-debut-falcon-heavy/

Anywho maybe Mr Musk would consider this for his Falcon Heavy test.  What an educational joy that would be!  Anyone with his email want to pass this idea on?

Peace.

Love it, but can it fit in the fairing?  Maybe a mini-van repainted as a schoolbus.

[tater]

Silly is one thing, dangerous (to their test) is another.

They'd have to make sure that it was properly balanced, and that no parts could possibly vibrate loose. Seems... unlikely.

[sevenperforce]

16 hours ago, theJesuit said:

Then...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/04/spacex-to-launch-silliest-thing-we-can-imagine-on-debut-falcon-heavy/

Someone who has no idea what he is talking about:

Can it be done? It's not clear how the second stage, which reaches a much higher altitude than the first stage, would be returned to Earth. It may use some combination of the Merlin engine and parachutes, but so far the company has not specified how it will attempt such a recovery.

Bahahaha. Silly people. No, it's not the altitude that's the problem; it's the velocity. And no, the Merlin engine would not be used, other than potentially for the deorbit burn. And yes, SpaceX already has an animation of how they would attempt to recover it.

[StrandedonEarth]

They'd probably fly a flight-proven Dragon crammed full of stuff they can later sell as "space-flown souvenirs"

[sevenperforce]

25 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

They'd probably fly a flight-proven Dragon crammed full of stuff they can later sell as "space-flown souvenirs"

Hah!

Don't think the Dragon would fit in the fairing, though...and the fairing is required in order for FH to receive certification.

Speaking of which, I don't know how they'd attempt to recover S2 if they expect it to be certified.

[monophonic]

I guess Mrs. Frizzle would approve.

[YNM]

Maximum payload capacity : one standard schoolbus to GEO.

[horace]

ohhhhhhhh

[wumpus]

 

10 hours ago, turmith said:

Trying to set up a foothold on duna.

...Essentially the kitchen sink of rockets...

Thanks,

Turmith

If you are keeping mass down to "cheese wheel" levels.  (Not the 'kitchen sink' of rockets, probably just the sink out of Spacex's break areas).

[MiffedStarfish]

I personally think they should fly a bowl of petunias and a sperm whale bone in addition to a normal payload on the first launch of the Falcon Heavy. Or possibly a flask of tea. 

[StrandedonEarth]

51 minutes ago, MiffedStarfish said:

I personally think they should fly a bowl of petunias and a sperm whale bone in addition to a normal payload on the first launch of the Falcon Heavy. Or possibly a flask of tea. 

Don't forget the towel!  And maybe some peanuts and beer

[MiffedStarfish]

@StrandedonEarth And a wicket! And a Rabbit skin bag! and a White mouse cage! ALL THE THINGS!

[DoctorDavinci]

Personally I think they should send a 1986 Winnebago Chieftain 33

 

Edited April 5, 2017 by DoctorDavinci