tater Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 D IV Heavy is launching what, exactly? Spy sats to LEO, or sigint spy sats to GEO (Advanced Orion/Mentor). No data on the mass of the latter, but the antenna is supposed to be huge, so it might be volume limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 20 hours ago, regex said: From that press release: "New Glenn is a two- or three-stage-to-orbit heavy lift launch vehicle capable of delivering 44,906 kg (99,000 lbs) to LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and 13,154 kg (29,000 lbs) to GTO (Geostationary Transfer Orbit)." So, wait... It puts more into LEO but less at GTO than Delta-IV Heavy? How's that work out? The NG figures posted (45 t and 13t) are for the initial, 2 stage design, are they not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regex Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 3 minutes ago, tater said: The NG figures posted (45 t and 13t) are for the initial, 2 stage design, are they not? Yeah, nothing has been stated for the three stage design with the hydrolox upper stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 1 minute ago, regex said: Yeah, nothing has been stated for the three stage design with the hydrolox upper stage. Still, that's 45t to LEO, including an US... so it's a matter of what the best payload mass fraction from a nominal, inclined LEO is to GEO with a 3d stage I guess. Assuming a 425 Isp for the Be-3U engine, and 45t in LEO, looks like on the order of 17.5t to GEO, circularized (not counting any boiloff). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regex Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 1 hour ago, tater said: Still, that's 45t to LEO, including an US... so it's a matter of what the best payload mass fraction from a nominal, inclined LEO is to GEO with a 3d stage I guess. Assuming a 425 Isp for the Be-3U engine, and 45t in LEO, looks like on the order of 17.5t to GEO, circularized (not counting any boiloff). A 5m DCSS is on the order of 31 tons and it uses fuel to get to LEO before GTO, so that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 It also has a huge diameter, so NRO might like that as well (less folding). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_7_2605.html We've got a NOTAM! Blue Origin is supposedly saying they're going to launch between the 11th and the 14th. I can sense crewed flights coming soon... 2018 gathers yet even more hype... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insert_name Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 http://spacenews.com/blue-origin-preparing-to-resume-test-flights-from-west-texas/ Sounds like they will be using an actual capsule with the windows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 BO launch supposedly happening in 11 minutes (11 am Mountain time). No live stream. Noon Mountain time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Augustus_ Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 7 minutes ago, tater said: BO launch supposedly happening in 11 minutes (11 am Mountain time). No live stream. Noon Mountain time. Interesting. When will they fly crew? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 They said next year. This is the new NS booster, and a flight article crew capsule. So this is the first "all up" test of the real McCoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 (edited) If this had happened this time next week I might have driven down there and learned how to livestream a launch from my phone, lol. This week is too insane around here, though. Edited December 11, 2017 by tater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightside Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Geez has anything launched this month? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Ahh, it always kills me when space companies are so secretive like this. We know it (probably) launched due to the FAA, but can we at least get official acknowledgement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racescort666 Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 1 hour ago, Ultimate Steve said: Ahh, it always kills me when space companies are so secretive like this. We know it (probably) launched due to the FAA, but can we at least get official acknowledgement? When the NRO is more forthcoming with what they’re up to, it is certainly frustrating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/12/16759934/blue-origin-new-shepard-test-flight-launch-landing Apparently it DID happen... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said: https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/12/16759934/blue-origin-new-shepard-test-flight-launch-landing Apparently it DID happen... Yup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 Wow... That capsule landing looked soft as a pillow, even floated for a moment... Anyone know the throttle specs on that engine? Pretty impressive it can throttle down low enough to hover with nearly empty tanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperFastJellyfish Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 Pretty sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 4 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said: Anyone know the throttle specs on that engine? Pretty impressive it can throttle down low enough to hover with nearly empty tanks... Wikipedia says it can throttle from 490kn to 89kn, so it can throttle down to about 18%. That means the fuel and capsule must take up less than 82% of the mass, which is usually bad for rockets, but when you're going suborbital mass ratio doesn't have as big of an effect on Delta-V. We don't have info on ticket prices yet, though. The only info we have is a probably outdated tweet saying 10k refurb cost at the bare minimum. I've seen people estimate anywhere between 100k and 5k per seat... I'm really crossing my fingers here that it will be on the lower end of that range, although the odds are extremely slim. If the ticket price is in the vicinity of 10-15k (probably unlikely) I am actually going to try to save up for a ticket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 3 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said: I've seen people estimate anywhere between 100k and 5k per seat... I got like... tree fiddy... er, no, wait... that's just lint... 4 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said: I'm really crossing my fingers here that it will be on the lower end of that range, although the odds are extremely slim. If the ticket price is in the vicinity of 10-15k (probably unlikely) I am actually going to try to save up for a ticket. You're young, might as well get used to the world of crippling debt early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 3 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said: You're young, might as well get used to the world of crippling debt early. Yeah, I know, my goals are unrealistic. However, in my eyes, if I say it will never happen, then it will never happen. If I dream about it happening, and do my best to pursue it, then I have a nonzero chance of it happening. Nonzero may not be that bigger than zero numerically, but in terms of percentage, 0.0001 is still an infinite (well, undefined, but it approaches infinity) percentage larger than 0. Also, I'm going to Europe this summer and the trip is estimated to cost around $7000. Granted, I got lucky and didn't actually have to pay this, but I know a few people my age who paid most of that through work, etc. If the ticket price ends up in that area, it's "only" a few times more than that Europe trip. I'm not getting too excited yet, but just maybe... Also, is it just me, or did they update their webpage on New Shepherd? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 Yeah, if it was cheap enough, I'd seriously consider buying a ride. 5k and I'd sign up today, lol. Like everything else, it's all about cost. 50k? Maybe after retirement, kids out of college, etc., hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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