Jump to content

SpaceX Discussion Thread

Skylon

By Skylon
in Science & Spaceflight

 Share

Recommended Posts

magnemoe

magnemoe

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

When they have enough delta-V. But they usually don't.

Falcon 9 has short enough time to launch I guess they could ready an dragon 2 in time if the other could not reenter. However here I think an return to IIS would be better if trunk did not separate or it damaged the heat shield.  Its pretty easy to deorbit after all. Soviet had an abort to US option for Soyuz. 
Starliner is nice here as its designed to land on land but it can also splash down in an emergency. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kerbiloid

kerbiloid

Posted
Posted (edited)
39 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Falcon 9 has short enough time to launch I guess they could ready an dragon 2 in time if the other could not reenter.

If the capsule is damaged, they have not much time to wait in the escape suits.
If the capsule is not damaged, they should try deorbit.
If the engine is damaged, they will know that after attempt of ignition won't know that.
If no power, they can't call.
Falcon9 is cryogenic, so unlike Titan or Proton it can't be on duty 24/7, it needs hours at least to fuel.

In any case, the capsule-capsule rescue looks almost improbable.

While Shuttle/Buran can stay intact in sense of life support for days or even weeks, having a hole in a wing or the hull (see Columbia), due to its enormous size.
So, they can wait in orbit if they can't land.

Upd.
Have a close look at the Crew Dragon docking adaptor (zoom it).

Spoiler

iss063e021563.jpg

Spoiler

Crew_Dragon_at_the_ISS_for_Demo_Mission_

 

1. Find the three huge trapezoids, the petals.
2. Around them theare is the hard-capture ring with 12 slots.
3. Look at the slots.
4. There are tops of hard-capture grappling hooks.
5. How many hooks do you see in every slot? One.
While IDSS tells about two. And you can see two in the PMA adaptor.
That's because Crew Dragon has a pure active part of IDSS-compatible adaptor. It doesn't have passive hooks.
So, you can't dock to the Crew Dragon by another Crew Dragon.
Also it lacks docking targets. All of them.

That's because CrewDragon can't be a passive side, they intentionally omit such possibility.

Of course, theoretically they could equip it with a full-featured one. But it has no room for targets anyway. So, this is by design and not to be changed in future.

It also can't be refueled, as the keep-out zones for fuel pipes are occupied by the nozzles.

So, it's absolutely same if it was equipped with a "hybrid" probe docking adaptor for the Russian segment. It's not androgynous.
The only difference is that the petal ring captures softer.

Edited by kerbiloid
Link to comment
Share on other sites
tater

tater

Posted
Posted (edited)
29 minutes ago, SpaceFace545 said:

I don't know, I think Elon just aggressively undercut everyone to get "starship money" and shoved a fancy cgi image in the faces of NASA and Congress, leaving actual solid proposals behind. Bezos's protest is completely appropriate for this. 

You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. You do realize the 3 companies were each given hundreds of millions to come up with their final designs (SpaceX got the least at just over 100M, BO got about a half billion), and they had to submit far more than CGI to be evaluated.

Undercutting on price is another matter, and perfectly legitimate—it's a fixed price contract. For a half billion, and with I'm sure exceptional legal counsel, BO managed to write a proposal that required it be summarily dismissed. Doesn't show much capability, frankly (particularly with their well-entrenched team members signing off on the proposal).

Congress had nothing at all to do with the decision, BTW. It was the sole decision of NASA human spaceflight.

EDIT: Perhaps you have not read the actual selection document?

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/option-a-source-selection-statement-final.pdf

There was discussion on the thread dedicated to HLS, but in short SpaceX won on merits, AND was the cheapest, AND the proposed vehicle can actually accomplish the mission, AND all the "i"s were dotted, and "t"s crossed (that last is not a lot to expect for 100+ million bucks paid to write a proposal).

Edited by tater
Link to comment
Share on other sites
tater

tater

Posted
Posted

The protest is expected, in our society suing for nothing is the norm. Sometimes it works, and they have lawyers on staff (probably trying to make good for their epic fail in asking for advance money which was explicitly disqualifying).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tater

tater

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, SpaceFace545 said:

I don't know, I think Elon just aggressively undercut everyone

Actually, another point. The person doing the undercutting? More likely than not Gwynne Shotwell, not Musk. She's the business end, and has run the organization that has secured, most (all?) the Gateway launches, most of the CLPS launches... any NASA payloads launching on the horizon by "not SpaceX?" She's pretty epic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Spaceman.Spiff

Spaceman.Spiff

Posted
Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, SpaceFace545 said:

I guess it would be sorta cool to send up a cargo dragon and dock a crew dragon to that to make some type of mini space station.

Maybe for a rescue? But I guess its still possible, there would just need to be a special "Rescue Dragon" with a passive port.

 

Edited by Spaceman.Spiff
Link to comment
Share on other sites
SpaceFace545

SpaceFace545

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, tater said:

You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

Yeah, you 100% right, I have no clue what I am talking about. But I do know that spacex is a very questionable company with even more questionable motives. I full heartedly believe that all 2.9 billion of those dollars will go to the further development of elon's mars express instead of the proposed lander. I also could care less about who that gwynne lady is, just another musk fanboy who climbed the ranks to spew more technobabble.  But all in all NASA got conned.

1 minute ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

Maybe for a rescue? But I guess its still possible, there would just need to be a special "Rescue Dragon" with a passive port.

 

maybe for some low budget mars mission? strap two of them together for more living space.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Spaceman.Spiff

Spaceman.Spiff

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, SpaceFace545 said:

I also could care less about who that gwynne lady is, just another musk fanboy who climbed the ranks to spew more technobabble.  But all in all NASA got conned.

*cough* COO of SpaceX *cough*

4 minutes ago, SpaceFace545 said:

maybe for some low budget mars mission? strap two of them together for more living space.

No way, not enough room for supplies. and it's still barely enough for one person, not to mention power requirements, bathroom requirements, and other important functions. Dragon is not going outside of LEO without massive changes.

Edited by Spaceman.Spiff
Link to comment
Share on other sites
tater

tater

Posted
Posted (edited)

A questionable company with 2 crew vehicles attached to ISS as we speak.

I guess the "con" is to not build spacecraft, but get the astronauts there somehow anyway... maybe the launches were really Soyuz with holographic projectors? Guys in rocket suits on a trampoline, maybe?

Edited by tater
Link to comment
Share on other sites
CastleKSide

CastleKSide

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

Dragon is not going outside of LEO without massive changes.

I thought dragon 2 was designed with beyond-leo capabilities? I disticyly remember hearing that in the specs a number of years ago along with a cgi animation of one docked to a mars transfer vehicle but maybe it was scrapped. They were still talking about "red dragon" back then if i recall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tater

tater

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

No way, not enough room for supplies. and it's still barely enough for one person, not to mention power requirements, bathroom requirements, and other important functions. Dragon is not going outside of LEO without massive changes.

Yeah, they talked about PICA-X being able to deal with higher entry velocities, but it has not been tested. Clearly it would also need more consumables, props, etc—the trunk needs to be a Service Module.

Docked to something bigger say a tug... wouldn't matter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NFUN

NFUN

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, tater said:

A questionable company with 2 crew vehicles attached to ISS as we speak.

I guess the "con" is to not build spacecraft, but get the astronauts there somehow anyway... maybe the launches were really Soyuz with holographic projectors? Guys in rocket suits on a trampoline, maybe?

If you don't know what you're talking about, just admit it so you don't look like a fool

 

They use a big cannon that they bought from B&B as it was going out of business

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.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...