totm nov 2023 SpaceX Discussion Thread

[RCgothic]

How many crew would that be at the station at once? 3 from Soyuz plus EIGHT from Crew-1 and Crew-2?

There were 13 during some shuttle missions, but the shuttle had substantial life support capabilities of its own. I bet a crew of 11 doesn't stay long!

[Vanamonde]

So guys, an event related to space exploration took place today which happened to include a political statement. No one here is espousing or opposing that statement, and we are considering it to be merely space-related news. Please leave it at that and avoid arguing the political statement itself. Such things need to be handled on a case by case basis, so please don't read a precedent into this. There was disagreement within the moderating team about the issue, and this policy decision is mine alone. And if it causes trouble, we can and will change that policy. And now, back to space talk, please. 

[RCgothic]

Thanks, I think that's fair.

[Treveli]

Unfortunately, looks they're heading for the NAS docks, not the downtown docks. Don't think the base is open to non-DOD and dependents yet, so I'm just a few miles from the capsule, but won't get much closer. 

[kerbiloid]

8 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Mystery Goo analysis splashed down at Earth:

Mystery Goo gets brought by Cargo Dragons. About a ton of it.

[DDE]

8 hours ago, RCgothic said:

 

 

Will they need KIS/KAS to construct additional docking ports?

[kerbiloid]

Why? All they need is AGU.

Spoiler

 

[mikegarrison]

28 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Why? All they need is AGU.

  Hide contents

 

Even wonder what was left of the target spacecraft after it has been hit by "the Klaw"?

[kerbiloid]

9 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

Even wonder what was left of the target spacecraft after it has been hit by "the Klaw"?

ISS has a lot of trusses, they even don't need to pierce a module.

[Scotius]

33 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

ISS has a lot of trusses, they even don't need to pierce a module.

And then what? Wave at the station through the windows? Crew doesn't have suits to do spacewalk to nearest airlock.

[kerbiloid]

2 minutes ago, Scotius said:

And then what? Wave at the station through the windows? Crew doesn't have suits to do spacewalk to nearest airlock.

They have suits. Just these suits are not suited for long EVA. But they are exactly to move to the nearest airlock.

Edited August 3, 2020 by kerbiloid

[RealKerbal3x]

I hope to see a hop today!

 

[magnemoe]

6 hours ago, DDE said:

Will they need KIS/KAS to construct additional docking ports?

IIS has two PMA who can be used to dock US spacecrafts. Now this could be an issue then you start using dragon 2 for cargo missions however you could send up an PMA in the trunk of an dragon to solve this. 

So yes KIS/KAS 

Edited August 3, 2020 by magnemoe

[kerbiloid]

They need a rope, attached to every nose.

And then flyby at either side of the station.

The rope catches the ISS truss, both ships do a half-turn heading to eacch other and dock with their docking ports.

Edited August 3, 2020 by kerbiloid

[sevenperforce]

I, for one, am very interested in this frame to which the flaperons appear to be mounted.

I'm assuming from this that the frame itself is going to be mounted onto the belly (or perhaps back?) of Starship, which is definitely different from what we saw with Mk1, etc. It's also unclear from the images whether there are two frames like this, or whether the opposite flap is going to be mounted on this frame. Depending on which way it goes, we may see flap positions which are not actually 180 degrees opposite each other. 

If the opposite flap is mounted onto this frame and the whole thing is then mounted onto the back of Starship, then we would be seeing a shape like this:

Having the flaperon center of pressure behind the center of mass would tend to make the whole thing much more stable on re-entry. 

In keeping with Elon's "the best process is no process; the best part is no part" mantra, I wonder if the aft flaperons will end up being "locked" into a small, selected number of positions, rather than being actively actuated during entry, not unlike the feathering system of SpaceShipOne. This way you would only need to actively adjust the positions of the smaller forward flaps/canards, which require less torque. Much more passive stability. You could have a position for launch (probably folded all the way windward), a position for Earth aerocapture, a position for Mars aerocapture, a position for Earth EDL, and a position for Mars EDL. A system which locks the flaps in place has fewer failure modes than one where the flaps are continuously actuated.

[RealKerbal3x]

@sevenperforce That frame is apparently for an outdoor eating area, not for flight.

[sevenperforce]

5 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

@sevenperforce That frame is apparently for an outdoor eating area, not for flight.

But why?

This image makes it clear that the two flaperons are, in fact, mated to opposite ends of this frame.

I suppose it could be used to test actuation before mounting, under horizontal loading (which better matches what it will experience during free-fall). But it is odd, nonetheless.

EDIT: So they just mounted the fins here for show? For fun?

Edited August 3, 2020 by sevenperforce

[RealKerbal3x]

Just now, sevenperforce said:

But why?

This image makes it clear that the two flaperons are, in fact, mated to opposite ends of this frame.

I suppose it could be used to test actuation before mounting, under horizontal loading (which better matches what it will experience during free-fall). But it is odd, nonetheless.

I can't remember where I actually read it, but the way the whole thing is set up makes me think the fins are mounted to be a lawn ornament. You can see from timestamp 5:42 in this video that the frame is installed directly in front of a building - perhaps as an ornament for the entrance of a restaurant - and they've planted shrubs all around it.

This doesn't seem like the fins are being stored in a temporary location, and the way they've been arranged (ie, with aesthetics in mind) makes me think that this probably isn't a test stand either. So it's probably nothing more than a fancy restaurant entrance, or maybe just a location for Elon's next presentation.

[StrandedonEarth]

19 hours ago, cubinator said:

Quite a few of them, in fact:

 

[DDE]

1 hour ago, StrandedonEarth said:

 

Quote

"Go away"

No

[magnemoe]

37 minutes ago, DDE said:

No

Interesting ship where is it from? Looks like the main gun is from an tank?
Then you have two stalin organ rocket launchers midship. Assume they are for shore bombardment. Had not some smaller anti shipping missiles been more practical. 

And yes boats in the LZ is simply idiotic, 

Edited August 3, 2020 by magnemoe

[sevenperforce]

15 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Interesting ship where is it from? Looks like the main gun is from an tank?
Then you have two stalin organ rocket launchers midship. Assume they are for shore bombardment. Had not some smaller anti shipping missiles been more practical.

That's a Smardan-class river monitor patrol boat, operated on the Danube by the Romanian Naval Forces. This particular one, the Opanez, was commissioned in 1990. It has a 3.9" main gun  on the front taken from a T-55 Soviet battle tank, four auxiliary cannons, and a total of twelve 14.5 mm machine guns. The rocket launchers are 122 mm rocket-based artillery; each of the two independent launch platforms contains forty rockets.

Edited August 3, 2020 by sevenperforce

[magnemoe]

14 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

That's a Smardan-class river monitor patrol boat, operated on the Danube by the Romanian Naval Forces. This particular one, the Opanez, was commissioned in 1990. It has a 3.9" main gun  on the front taken from a T-55 Soviet battle tank, four auxiliary cannons, and a total of twelve 14.5 mm machine guns. The rocket launchers are 122 mm rocket-based artillery; each of the two independent launch platforms contains forty rockets.

River monitor, yes that makes perfect sense. Looking closer I see two machine gun turrets  below the main gun, I thought it was some sort of MTB who did not connect with the missiles.  

You have all the people up into WW2 trying to make an land battleship, this did not work. But on water you could easy scale an battleship down it down to 20%. 
Now I would use an gun with an auto loader and put one in the rear too. now to make an point I would want another turret in front so I have two super firing front turrets.  
Just so you can say don't bring an tank into an battleship fight, something less than an tank is just tragic. 

[tater]

Someone on NSF posted a rumor that hop is probably ~4pm local time there.

[kerbiloid]

SpaceX needs a catamaran.
Front and rear ends are closed with curtains. Dragon splashes between the hulls.