Jump to content

SpaceX Discussion Thread


Skylon

Recommended Posts

  On 6/29/2022 at 12:05 AM, mikegarrison said:

This is part of the reason why welds are not traditionally used on airplanes.

These days welds are done by machine and are extremely consistent. If you use friction stir welding, it's not even an additive process.

Expand  

Thought it was more with problem welding thin aluminum plates. 
Ships got lighter then they shifted from rivets to welding  during WW 2, think it was as much as 5% 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  On 6/29/2022 at 12:11 PM, Alyx0304 said:

How do y'all think Starship's landing legs are gonna look like? I heard someone say they were gonna use ones similar to the ones on the SNs but stronger

 

Also, do you think it's still gonna land on Mars?

 

Expand  

The landing legs will be a lot different between variants for sure; for earth landings, something the old ones seem pretty decent, considering it's a concrete landing pad with a flat surface. For moon and mars landing you need a wider base though, as well as some degree of levelling in the landing gear.

As for mars, it's still a bit too far to go beyond personal opinions for now. Imho, there will likely be at least some cargo landings; it's too early to speculate much about crewed mars trips though. I'm tending toward yes on both parts, but who knows

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  On 6/29/2022 at 4:47 PM, CatastrophicFailure said:

And here we are on the KSP forum SpaceX thread, now devolved into literally arguing about watching paint dry. :P

Expand  

IKR?  What did I start? 

... 

Of course, when I quip about paint drying on the KSP2 sub, bad things happen 

Edited by JoeSchmuckatelli
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was thinking about Moonship lander. Is there any info about how SpaceX is going to deal with heating issues? The ship is going to be sitting in constant sunlight for weeks. In a vacuum. Without some kind of active cooling the cabin will turn into a hot sauna very quickly. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  On 6/29/2022 at 10:10 PM, sh1pman said:

Was thinking about Moonship lander. Is there any info about how SpaceX is going to deal with heating issues? The ship is going to be sitting in constant sunlight for weeks. In a vacuum. Without some kind of active cooling the cabin will turn into a hot sauna very quickly. 

Expand  

There’s really no info at all about the habitable space. Presumably a cooling system will be part of that. I suppose they could lay out some ground loops to radiate away heat in whatever direction is away from the Sun, or even have them  in on or under the skin of the vehicle  

And then there’s the matter of keeping warm during the lunar night, but at least there will probably be some waste heat to help with that 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  On 6/29/2022 at 10:24 PM, StrandedonEarth said:

There’s really no info at all about the habitable space. Presumably a cooling system will be part of that. I suppose they could lay out some ground loops to radiate away heat in whatever direction is away from the Sun, or even have them  in on or under the skin of the vehicle  

And then there’s the matter of keeping warm during the lunar night, but at least there will probably be some waste heat to help with that 

 

Expand  

Correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC Artemis plans to land at places where the nights are either short or non existent. Depending on how short, they might be able to get away with burning some of their propellant for heat (and power) although that may not be trivial to plumb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  On 6/29/2022 at 10:24 PM, StrandedonEarth said:

I suppose they could lay out some ground loops to radiate away heat in whatever direction is away from the Sun, or even have them  in on or under the skin of the vehicle

Expand  

Also, the ground itself gets boiling hot during the lunar day, so the radiators will need to be properly insulated. Does it make sense to find a permanently shaded ditch nearby and bury the coolant pipes underground there? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  On 6/29/2022 at 10:34 PM, sh1pman said:

Also, the ground itself gets boiling hot during the lunar day, so the radiators will need to be properly insulated. Does it make sense to find a permanently shaded ditch nearby and bury the coolant pipes underground there? 

Expand  

I was thinking have the coolant loops under a reflective Mylar canopy of some sort, keeping the ground underneath cool, and radiate out the sides. 

But they probably have completely different ideas. I’m just spitballing here. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  On 6/29/2022 at 10:34 PM, sh1pman said:

Also, the ground itself gets boiling hot during the lunar day, so the radiators will need to be properly insulated. Does it make sense to find a permanently shaded ditch nearby and bury the coolant pipes underground there? 

Expand  

 

  On 6/29/2022 at 10:54 PM, StrandedonEarth said:

I was thinking have the coolant loops under a reflective Mylar canopy of some sort, keeping the ground underneath cool, and radiate out the sides. 

But they probably have completely different ideas. I’m just spitballing here. 

Expand  

How much lateral conduction would actually occur through regolith without atmosphere / water?   Simple shading should be generally sufficient I'd think. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

https://riograndeguardian.com/trevino-i-expect-starship-to-launch-from-boca-chica-within-next-90-days/

  Quote

“I could accurately say that if it was up to SpaceX it would have been today or yesterday. I can say that with a 100 percent degree of certainty,” Treviño responded. 

“But, I think on the real aggressive side, we are probably talking 30 days. On the more moderate side, probably 60 and more realistically 90. But, it could be anywhere in that ballpark.”

Expand  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Long term a good solution might be digging trenches for a geothermal heat pump loop, essentially turning the regolith into a thermal battery to store heat during the day for use at night. On earth you have to dig down 1.2m or so, but soil on earth generally has quite a bit of conductive moisture so the heat pulse might not go so deep on on the moon.

Edit: Oh duh just dig a series of bore holes:

https://denning.atmos.colostate.edu/readings/lunar.regolith.heat.transfer.pdf

Edited by Pthigrivi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  On 6/30/2022 at 12:26 PM, Pthigrivi said:

Long term a good solution might be digging trenches for a geothermal heat pump loop, essentially turning the regolith into a thermal battery to store heat during the day for use at night. On earth you have to dig down 1.2m or so, but soil on earth generally has quite a bit of conductive moisture so the heat pulse might not go so deep on on the moon.

Edit: Oh duh just dig a series of bore holes:

https://denning.atmos.colostate.edu/readings/lunar.regolith.heat.transfer.pdf

Expand  

I was thinking boreholes too. Thx for finding a relevant document 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...