KSK Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said: Wait, what? Are those Merlins? They can’t have that many field-ready Raptors already... can they? Dang, this is serious! Not much point sticking Merlins on there. Guess they're the real deal, or a decent facsimile thereof... Edit. And if you'll forgive me a spot of horn-tooting, I'm loving this 'building a rocket in a field' schtick. Life imitates art* once again... Spoiler From First Flight, chapter 7 - The Courage of Conviction. Ornie's truck bumped over the grass as he drove out to the launch pad. Beside him, Thomplin's head was swivelling back and forth as he took everything in. Plenty of room to put up a Stratus billboard or two, just like Jeb had promised. Lots of people to look at them too, if the number of seats was anything to go by. Halnie's eyes were fixed firmly on the approaching launch tower, although at the moment, it looked like nothing so much as a very large shower booth. She commented on this to Ornie, who chuckled. “It does a bit now that you mention it. We call it The Tent with all those drapes hanging around it. They do a decent enough job of keeping the vweather off during assembly although I'm looking forward to the day that we can put up a proper building for the job!" As the truck came closer, pairs of kerbals emerged from behind the drapes and started rolling them out of the way, exposing the tall central tank and stubby side boosters of the rocket. Both Thomplin and Halnie's eyes widened. Halnie was practically bouncing up and down in her seat in her eagerness to get out and inspect the Kerbal 2 at close quarters. For his part Thomplin wasn't any more convinced by the rocket than he had been by the capsule. *For given values of art. Actual quantity of art may vary and may have settled in transit. Take care when reading or opening overhead lockers. Edited December 31, 2018 by KSK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 13 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said: Hmm... Interesting theory on the gimbal. I'm still leaning towards mockups, as Elon tweeted that the redesigned raptor would not fire until January. It seems a bit early to see the New Raptors, unless they are sticking the old design on just to say they can fly, or as a test, which doesn't make much sense. Although they still could be real, for all we know... A few weeks ago we all thought this thing was a water tower. As far as the dual bells, maybe the engine goes farther upwards and there is a hollow space. Although it could be structure. But then that raises the question of why the hopper would need vacuum Raptors... But, yeah, I'm leaning towards shielding as the bell diameter appears to be 1.3-1.4m, which is the old statistic for the SL Raptor. Engine obviously continue up into the skirt. A bit surprised the skirt did not cover the engines totally as it will do on the real version, unless that also changed and they go for knee length skirts On the other hand you can use older lower trust engines on it as its just to test landings. For an more realistic supersonic test you need an full lenght version with fins, probably wanted dummies of the missing engines to and an dummy weight option for return cargo or crew compartment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Rocket Scientist Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 12 minutes ago, magnemoe said: Engine obviously continue up into the skirt. A bit surprised the skirt did not cover the engines totally as it will do on the real version, unless that also changed and they go for knee length skirts On the other hand you can use older lower trust engines on it as its just to test landings. For an more realistic supersonic test you need an full lenght version with fins, probably wanted dummies of the missing engines to and an dummy weight option for return cargo or crew compartment. From NSF user OxCartMusk: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=47022.0;attach=1536279;image There was a skirt segment extending past the engines before these photos were taken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Hmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 46 minutes ago, KSK said: Edit. And if you'll forgive me a spot of horn-tooting, I'm loving this 'building a rocket in a field' schtick. Life imitates art* once again... Heh, quite, tho I’m wondering in the other direction... ...is there perhaps an asteroid or an alien spacecraft or a ginormous, weird-lookin’ planet on an intercept course and this is our last, best hope for a team of plucky misfits to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and save the day (all to an epic soundtrack, of course)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor Wotansen Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 3 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said: Heh, quite, tho I’m wondering in the other direction... ...is there perhaps an asteroid or an alien spacecraft or a ginormous, weird-lookin’ planet on an intercept course and this is our last, best hope for a team of plucky misfits to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and save the day (all to an epic soundtrack, of course)? Yeah, but who? Will we train some plucky gamers because of their unsurpassed skill in Things™, regardless of the fact that they're dumb as rocks in everything else and probably can't handle the physical stresses of space travel, or are we doomed to have to train highly educated and adaptable astronauts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotius Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Let's send this guy. And his drilling team. With nukes. And a crazy Russian guy. Belated Happy New Years forum May 2019 be mingbogglingly awesome for space travel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Rocket Scientist Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Thor Wotansen said: Yeah, but who? Will we train some plucky gamers because of their unsurpassed skill in Things™, regardless of the fact that they're dumb as rocks in everything else and probably can't handle the physical stresses of space travel, or are we doomed to have to train highly educated and adaptable astronauts? Just as long as there's no official support from any authority, a terrible plan that it almost guaranteed to go wrong, and all the people on the mission have convenient romantic partners to angst over. Edited January 1, 2019 by Mad Rocket Scientist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 1 hour ago, Thor Wotansen said: Will we train some plucky gamers because of their unsurpassed skill in Things™ Could Musk actually be a descendant of this guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 From: https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-hopper-prototype-rapid-work-pace-hop-tests/ I think their scale is a little off, the hopper is bigger than they show it, i think (slightly). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSK Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 7 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said: Could Musk actually be a descendant of this guy? Nah - the Musk we know is the 'my programming doesn't quite cover this', socially awkward Beta unit. The Star League are refusing to let the real Musk go, partly because he's a badS Starfighter but mostly because they're a bit leery of letting Gunstar technology fall into the hands of us backwards Terran types. Because they quite like us Terran types and don't want to see us wipe ourselves out. Or that's what purpleivan's mate told me anyway, so I guess it's true enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDE Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 9 hours ago, Scotius said: And a crazy Russian guy. The crazy Russian guy must already be up there. Done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor Wotansen Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 7 hours ago, tater said: From: https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-hopper-prototype-rapid-work-pace-hop-tests/ I think their scale is a little off, the hopper is bigger than they show it, i think (slightly). Looks like the got all the hard parts with compound curves and landing legs, and all they need to do is make a cylindrical bit to fill in the gap, shouldn't be too hard to make a cylinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Baron Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 (edited) Reminds me of a paper craft. But guys, this is really bad welding works, full of wrinkles and the sheets not shaped into form ... Am curious about what it is good for in the end :-) Edited January 1, 2019 by Green Baron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotius Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Well, if it will do only up and down hops like the first Grasshopper, it doesn't need to be super smooth and aerodynamic. Strenght of the welding would be much more important to withstand the stresses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Baron Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 (edited) I get it, it is just a future impactor I am just used to smoothly formed and welded surfaces :-) Example aluminium boats: Spoiler http://www.berckemeyer-yacht.de/ And aluminium is harder to form and weld then steel. Nevermind :-) btw.: happy new year everybody :-) Edited January 1, 2019 by Green Baron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotius Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Yeahhhh. If this thing indeed is going to fly, i predict there will be impacts. And fires LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xd the great Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 8 hours ago, Scotius said: Yeahhhh. If this thing indeed is going to fly, i predict there will be impacts. And fires LOL Late New Year fireworks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 13 hours ago, DDE said: The crazy Russian guy must already be up there. Done. Well that is one reason to go for an steel hull over composite. its very hard to damage with an knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightfury Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 It's only 3 days into 2019 and we've had all this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Can't wait to see that crew arm in action! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Note the section on the left has penetrations. Also it now has a flag on the NSF images. Also, the fins are getting covered now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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