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Skylon

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Well, congrats on the simultaneous 27 engines !

Like the "Don't Panic !" as well :wink:

 

I have to ask, though : the boosters/stage/rocket seems to have a load of propellant margins ? Like, the core went down around the normal altitude they do on Falcon 9, does it mean that this thing can get loads more to TMI than just a car ?

Also, I hope they are investing in a better and wider upper stage. I don't see fitting a wide payload on the current upper stage and fairings, unless to make them looks very kerbal.

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2 minutes ago, K^2 said:

Some of them seem to move by pretty quick. Satellites? There's a crap ton of stuff in LEO.

Maybe... it's currently in the right lighting. Ices are possible, though I question the chunk size from them !

Edited by YNM
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2 minutes ago, YNM said:

I have to ask, though : the boosters/stage/rocket seems to have a load of propellant margins ? Like, the core went down around the normal altitude they do on Falcon 9, does it mean that this thing can get loads more to TMI than just a car ?

The margin isn't as high as you might think. Slowing down the core or turning around a nearly empty booster takes a lot less fuel than it takes to give any appreciable boost to the second stage, which is still fully fueled at that point. Yeah, they can probably get a bit more oomph out of it if they don't plan to recover boosters, but it's probably not going to be worth it for any planned mission. Salvaging the stages is going to be more valuable than a slight increase in payload. 

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Just now, GoSlash27 said:

Starman is down

Yeah. I hope it'll continue.

5 minutes ago, K^2 said:

The margin isn't as high as you might think. Slowing down the core or turning around a nearly empty booster takes a lot less fuel than it takes to give any appreciable boost to the second stage, which is still fully fueled at that point. Yeah, they can probably get a bit more oomph out of it if they don't plan to recover boosters, but it's probably not going to be worth it for any planned mission. Salvaging the stages is going to be more valuable than a slight increase in payload. 

Hmm... Curiosity weighed around 1.5 tonnes (with shell, heatshield, rover, parachute), Tesla car probably weighs up to 3 tonnes. Is that already the margin for the recoverable FH version ?

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1 minute ago, HvP said:

Falcon Heavy is capable of sending payloads directly to Pluto with no gravity assists needed. I did not expect that.

Seriously?!

How big?

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1 minute ago, qzgy said:

Seriously?!

How big?

He didn't mention the tonnage, but the implication was that it could carry standard sized probes. Keep in mind that this system carries DOUBLE the current max payload of any existing rocket.

Edited by HvP
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I have only one complaint: I had to be at work.

Even knowing it succeeded, though, watching the launch was a heck of an experience, the very first thing I did when I got home.

2 minutes ago, HvP said:

Falcon Heavy is capable of sending payloads directly to Pluto with no gravity assists needed. I did not expect that.

I'm not super surprised. New Horizons, after all, was capable of going direct to Pluto with no Jovian gravity assist: the only catch was that New Horizons had to be very, very, very light.

While Falcon Heavy has the disadvantage of running a low-energy kerolox upper instead of the high-specific-impulse hydrolox upper of the Atlas 551 used for New Horizons, it has the advantage of being much, much larger than the Atlas V.

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