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SpaceX Discussion Thread


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17 hours ago, Delay said:

Keep in mind that Cassini's launch caused a protest because of its RTGs.

SpaceX doesn't care if some people protest.  Those people aren't their customers.  

9 hours ago, Scotius said:

18 meters mirror in space *twitches*. Can you imagine photos such beast will be able to take? :D

To be honest we shouldn't send it to L1.  We should sent it to the light focus point of the sun.  All objects with mass bend light, so if you got far away enough, you could get to a point where the sun's gravity lensed light to, causing an enormous boost in magnification.  

To sent it out to 550(!) AU would take some creativity though.  

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34 minutes ago, DAL59 said:

SpaceX doesn't care if some people protest.  Those people aren't their customers.  

Given how much effort they put into their PR, I'm guessing that they DO care. Maybe those people aren't directly their customers, but they have an influence on the people who are.

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51 minutes ago, Lukaszenko said:

Given how much effort they put into their PR, I'm guessing that they DO care. Maybe those people aren't directly their customers, but they have an influence on the people who are.

 Not to mention the faceless bureaucrats who need to get re-elected/re-appointed who would need to authorize such an acquisition of nuclear materials by a private corporation. And they generally tend to listen to the loudest voices, not the most sensible ones...

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13 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Sadly, I think the rest of the current situation makes it a non-starter. People freaked out over launching a few kilos of plutonium for Curiosity, an air-breathing nukyaler rocket?!!!!?!!1!1! Ermagherd! They’re gonna irradiate the chemtrails and kill the vaccinated ozone! Think of the fish-children!

:huh:

Yeah, not even Prof Calculus was crazy enough to use a nuclear rocket for launching and landing, and this was back in 1953!

read-tintin-comics-online-free-pdf-downl

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On 7/10/2018 at 3:40 AM, insert_name said:

Awwww yissss. TBH, if I was to decide how that telescope should be build like I would go with mirrors like this:

1200px-Giant_Magellan_Telescope_-_artist

Instead of having dozens of origami folded smaller mirrors it would be better if each was as big as the cargo bay allows it to be. Should minimize complexity.

Butmaybe once JWST is finished the tools and technology will already be in place to make the same kind of telescope but bigger.

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3 minutes ago, StarStreak2109 said:

How heavy is a fairing half? Also I don't know what kind of special equipment the vessel has, like stabilizers etc...

It's carbon fiber, so it can't be that bad.

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Yeah, the fairing itself is fairly light, and the entire net structure seems to be fairly light compared to the boat. Remember that boats like this are fine:

Image result for sailing ship

And Mr. Steven seems to have its weight a lot lower than that.

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2 hours ago, cubinator said:

Yeah, the fairing itself is fairly light, and the entire net structure seems to be fairly light compared to the boat. Remember that boats like this are fine:

And Mr. Steven seems to have its weight a lot lower than that.

True, but it’s the overhang way out to the sides that makes me wonder.... Anchors away!(for extra ballast)

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1 minute ago, magnemoe said:

How do they capture two fairing halves? two boats once they nail it? Or an fast way to move the first out of the way like an zipper in the net.
 

I assume the plan is 2 boats per coast.

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5 hours ago, StarStreak2109 said:

How heavy is a fairing half? Also I don't know what kind of special equipment the vessel has, like stabilizers etc...

Atlas V's shortest 5m fairing weighs 3500kg so I would guess that Falcon 9's fairing would weigh in the 1500kg-1700kg neighborhood per half. This is peanuts considering that Mr Steven's deadweight tonnage (which I had to look up what that was) is 510 t.

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20 minutes ago, Racescort666 said:

Atlas V's shortest 5m fairing weighs 3500kg so I would guess that Falcon 9's fairing would weigh in the 1500kg-1700kg neighborhood per half. This is peanuts considering that Mr Steven's deadweight tonnage (which I had to look up what that was) is 510 t.

Plus if stability were an issue, you could increase it by using ballast, stabilizers and control moment gyroscopes...

I believe SpaceX's engineers can do their math...

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