Turned Out Nice Again Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 LIVE STREAM: This mission marks SpaceX’s first attempt to land a first stage on land. 4 minutes to landing ... Historic stuff. Really exciting! shame I'm the only one watching it. EDIT: They did it! Just 14.5 minutes in and they are deploying satellites -- all on live video. SpaceX is a truly amazing venture. http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/08/how-and-why-spacex-will-colonize-mars.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BristolBuyer Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 It's very impressive. SpaceX appear to be making all the right decisions regarding re-useability, cost-reduction, simplification and use of off-the-shelf components. I guess they're benefitting from 60 years of Aerospace trial-and-error paid for mainly by US tax payers, but even so it's inspiring how quickly they are progressing. I wonder whether they're recruiting programmers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si1 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 It's very impressive. SpaceX appear to be making all the right decisions regarding re-useability, cost-reduction, simplification and use of off-the-shelf components. I guess they're benefitting from 60 years of Aerospace trial-and-error paid for mainly by US tax payers, but even so it's inspiring how quickly they are progressing. I wonder whether they're recruiting programmers? Elon musk is frighteningly high functioning. I recall he studied two full degrees at an ivy league university, engineering and economics, CONCURRENTLY, although I also understand he split out the final years of each of them. Regularly pulls 100 hour weeks in the office. Etc. I modern day Brunel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Elon musk is frighteningly high functioning. I recall he studied two full degrees at an ivy league university, engineering and economics, CONCURRENTLY, although I also understand he split out the final years of each of them. Regularly pulls 100 hour weeks in the office. Etc. I modern day Brunel. And married the head girl at St Trinians (Twice according to Wikipedia). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepLurker Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Just listen to that crowd shouting at the top of their voices - they realise what an historic moment this is: Congratulations to everyone at Space X - their goal (reducing the price of space launches) might sound mundane, but today they might just have secured a future where my son can go on holiday into space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Just listen to that crowd shouting at the top of their voices - they realise what an historic moment this is: Congratulations to everyone at Space X - their goal (reducing the price of space launches) might sound mundane, but today they might just have secured a future where my son can go on holiday into space. Indeed, rockets have finally grown-up and it was a private company, not NASA, that achieved it. Quite staggering really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirGaz Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Remarkable stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GinAndPlatonic Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Awe inspiring...to get that rocket back down, upright and in the perfect location...thats what you call a really spectacular achievement. ! "Musk reveals that he wishes to establish a Mars colony by 2040, with a population of 80,000." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 I'd like to see several more successes before regarding this as a big step instead of a lucky fluke, but it certainly looks good right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interestrateripoff Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 How quickly can the rocket be reused? Have they managed to solve the rebuilding issue that the shuttle suffered from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepLurker Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 How quickly can the rocket be reused? Have they managed to solve the rebuilding issue that the shuttle suffered from? That, of course, is going to be the next big question. You're right that the Shuttle was "reusable", but refurbishing it between flights simply cost too much. However, Space X have a pretty good track record of delivering on their promises [1], and their "reusability" goals are a lot less ambitious than the Space Shuttle: Space X just want to reuse the first stage, the Shuttle was going to reuse everything. Another big difference is the technology available: the Shuttle had 2 pilots, simply because at the time that was the only way to do it. 40 years later, and Space X can do away with the squishy bits and their heavy life support systems, and instead land the rocket with a computer. Which helps a lot when they're trying to save weight. [1] except when it comes to meeting their launch dates... they're always late! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 And now on a ship at sea. http://www.spacex.com/webcast Landing about 27 minutes into video. "What was different about this [landing] is that the rocket landed instead of putting a hole in the ship or tipping over," Musk joked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepLurker Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 And now on a ship at sea. http://www.spacex.com/webcast Landing about 27 minutes into video. Watching the way that rocket decelerates really hard in the last few seconds - what they call a "suicide burn" - I kept thinking "not going to make it... not going to make it". Now we wait to see if they're going to fly it again Now that will be a big event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 After the last landing, the rocket seemed to tip over because the barge was rolling. If it had been on land it might have landed safely. Presumably the reason they used a barge was because landing on land may have been considered potentially dangerous for anyone nearby. All in all a remarkable achievement. Now all they have to do, eventually, is persuade astronauts to go up in secondhand rockets... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XswampyX Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 They will be able to use this technology to put more intricate landers on mars, self building structures and supplies. It's a fantastic achievement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlyme2 Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 After the last landing, the rocket seemed to tip over because the barge was rolling. If it had been on land it might have landed safely. Presumably the reason they used a barge was because landing on land may have been considered potentially dangerous for anyone nearby. All in all a remarkable achievement. Now all they have to do, eventually, is persuade astronauts to go up in secondhand rockets... Apparently it is purely due to fuel payload and how far down track the rocket ends up, which is dependent on the type of launch objective. Simply not enough fuel to power the burn back to starting point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfk Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 Loved the name of the droneship Of Course I Still Love You , a nod to Iain M. Banks Culture series :-) ... shurley An Absence of Gravitas would have been more appropriate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bear Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 Loved the name of the droneship Of Course I Still Love You , a nod to Iain M. Banks Culture series :-) ... shurley An Absence of Gravitas would have been more appropriate? When will there be one called Michael? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash4781 Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Reports spacex vehicle has exploded on the launchpad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The XYY Man Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 "Musk reveals that he wishes to establish a Mars colony by 2040, with a population of 80,000." I understand that to ensure the best simulation possible, the test flights are landing in Middlesbrough... XYY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 I understand that to ensure the best simulation possible, the test flights are landing in Middlesbrough... XYY That's very funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepLurker Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Reports spacex vehicle has exploded on the launchpad Live updates on Reddit are a good source of information Latest rumor is explosion started groundside during propellant load. Which is really bad in the short term, because they've lost the rocket, the satellite, and worst of all, the launchpad - so almost no launches for a long time (they have another pad at Vandenberg which is only used for polar launches - a small part of their order book). The only upside is that an explosion starting in the rocket would have been far worse in terms of reputation (they already lost one rocket last year). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errol Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 It was a test run and someone apparently took the unusual decision to have the payload onboard. Whoops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The XYY Man Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 That's very funny. Aw shucks - thanks for that you Welsh tw@t...! XYY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turned Out Nice Again Posted September 1, 2016 Author Share Posted September 1, 2016 BANG! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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