Space - The Final Frontier

[Chuckanut]

Here are some of the doubters from 2014:

https://aviationweek.com/blog/nasa-c...alcon-9-rocket

Quote:

Christophe Bonnal of the launcher directorate at French space agency CNES, agrees. “If you reuse, you stop producing, depending on the level of reusability,” he says. “So you end up with a permanent prototype, and to keep costs down you need to have a high rate of production.”

Quote:

One of the most challenging aspects of reusability, he said, is the weight penalty added by hardware and propellant. He says the latter means reserving 30% of first-stage fuel in order to return a booster to the launch site. “You end up designing much larger vehicles, with landing gear, with legs or wings, so it's heavier and you need more propulsion, at least 25-30% more propulsion on the stage,” Bonnal said, adding that a previous study by CNES and Russian space agency Roscosmos looked at the feasibility of making the Ariane 5 solid-rocket boosters liquid-fueled and reusable, but scrapped the idea after the hardware grew too large. “The thing that shocked me was that at the beginning, this reusable flyback booster was just a cylinder with engines and little wings, just a turbo fan in the back,” he said. “And three years later these were complete Airbuses in terms of size with four engines in each of them.”

Quote:

But beyond performance, says Bonnal is the impact of rocket reusability on ground installations. As an example, he said CNES has found that safety requirements would make return of a boost stage problematic at Europe's South American space port in Kourou, French Guiana. “I will be very interested in seeing the three Falcon Heavy boosters coming back to Vandenberg with propellant sloshing,” he said, referring to SpaceX plans to start flying a heavy version of the Falcon 9 from the U.S. Air Force's California launch installation next year. “In terms of safety, it must be quite challenging.”

[Koogie]

Going to be a heck of a chance for a lot of people to see an Antares launch on Monday morning..

https://www.space.com/40627-watch-an...isibility.html

[harley]

Darn, I'm out of town at the edge of light blue and pink, instead of at home right in the red. I love watching those launches.

[GalaxyBoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koogie Going to be a heck of a chance for a lot of people to see an Antares launch on Monday morning..

Ugh. 4:39 A.M.

I do want to go over there some day to witness a launch, though. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Chuckanut]

An interesting article on how some Europeans sees the 'threat' from SpaceX.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018...-launch-costs/

Quote:

Charmeau said the Ariane rocket does not launch often enough to justify the investment into reusability. (It would need about 30 launches a year to justify these costs, he said). And then Charmeau said something telling about why reusability doesn't make sense to a government-backed rocket company—jobs. "Let us say we had ten guaranteed launches per year in Europe and we had a rocket which we can use ten times—we would build exactly one rocket per year," he said. "That makes no sense. I cannot tell my teams: 'Goodbye, see you next year!'"

Note: SpaceX has already has 10 launches in 2018. Well, nine if you don't count the test of the Falcon Heavy. Oops! Falcon Heavy, another bad cuss word when used at Ariane's HQ.

I am wondering if re-usability drives down the cost of launches enough, maybe there will be more launches? Or, once a dozen Block 5 Falcon 9s are built, maybe there won't be a need to make many more? Is it lack of a market for frequent launches or lack of vision by the top dogs at Ariane Group? Or something else?

[Chuckanut]

NASA's Juno probe is taking some amazing new photos of Jupiter:

NASA's Jupiter probe captures new photos of the planet, Great Red Spot - Business Insider

[tulak]

Ariane Group should focus on improving their rockets. I doubt that SpaceX is worried about what their employees will be doing because they have reusable rockets. I suspect there is little effort spent on the Falcon and most of it has been redirected toward the BFR.

Amen for SpaceX. We’re finally seeing progress in accessing space. Without this, we’d probably be stuck in LEO for the indefinite future.

[Chuckanut]

I ran across this new ArsTechnica report on Rocketry and thought it would let people know about it. I can't vouch for it's technical and journalistic quality yet, but it seems headed in the right direction. Let's hope it is written and edited by people who understand basic science, math and what it takes to travel in space.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018...-virgin-orbit/

Here's one quote from the recent edition (1.03). Bold emphasis added by me.

Quote:

It is not clear how Rogozin will develop cost-effective new launchers to compete with the Falcon 9 at a time when that rocket is pushing rapidly into reusability. Perhaps a trampoline might serve as a low-cost, reusable first stage.

One quote i did not like is the one below. I reminds me of the attitude that got us our first Space Shuttle disaster. Maybe a bit harsh, but, any rocket that achieves its goals is still a great accomplishment, IMHO.

Quote:

Kind of routine ... Without a booster landing or other significant tech advancements, this was kind of a ho-hum launch for SpaceX that continued its high flight rate but lacked the pizzazz of a Block 5 launch or fairing recovery attempt.

[Koogie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut I ran across this new ArsTechnica report on One quote i did not like is the one below. I reminds me of the attitude that got us our first Space Shuttle disaster. Maybe a bit harsh, but, any rocket that achieves its goals is still a great accomplishment, IMHO.

I know where you are coming from with regard to safety but the flip side at the same time is don't forget that this is actually one of Musks goals. To make launches so often, so common and so cheap that they do become routine.

That is the first step towards a spacefaring future.

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koogie I know where you are coming from with regard to safety but the flip side at the same time is don't forget that this is actually one of Musks goals. To make launches so often, so common and so cheap that they do become routine. That is the first step towards a spacefaring future.

tha

Good point.

[Chuckanut]

Happy Moon Landing day!

[Free To Canoe]

49 years. Long time that went by too quickly.

[Freedom56]

I found this while going through my home video collection. I shot the video back in October 2004 in the Mojave Desert near Edwards AFB. Does anyone remember Space Ship One before it became part of Virgin Galactic? This was the flight that won them the XPrize.

[kgtest]

The website timeanddate.com will be livestreaming the eclipse beginning at 11 a.m. PDT Friday. The partial eclipse will begin at 11:24 a.m. — that’s when the Earth’s shadow will begin to creep across the moon. The full eclipse starts at 12:30 p.m. PDT and ends at 2:13 PDT.

If you are on the east coast, look at the sky around 3pm before you leave for the weekend at the moon for the earth's shadow.

As you would expect, the shadow of the Earth looks like a disk. Sometimes the moon passes through the top of the disk, or toward the bottom. During this week’s lunar eclipse, however, the moon will pass close to middle of the disk.

[GalaxyBoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgtest If you are on the east coast, look at the sky around 3pm before you leave for the weekend at the moon for the earth's shadow.

The moon will be below the horizon from the east coast of the USA at that time.

[Chuckanut]

And we have Mars very visible on the horizon. Lots of good viewing for those who wish to observe the solar system.

[GalaxyBoy]

Here's hoping the Martian global dust storm subsides in time to take advantage of this close approach and see some details in the telescope. For those not into astronomy, Mars usually appears quite small in a scope and only get apparently large enough to see anything during these close approaches every few years. Due to the highly elliptical orbit of Mars, the minimum distance to Earth varies by quite a lot between each of these events, and this year is exceptionally good. However, a dust storm has arisen and encompasses the entire planet, blotting out nearly everything. You may have read about how this is jeopardizing the Opportunity Rover since it can't charge its batteries when the sun is blocked out.

[Chuckanut]

There is quite an interesting probe scheduled to be launched early Saturday AM.

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/t...ida/956360002/

Parker Solar Probe

Quote:

Parker Solar Probe will swoop to within 4 million miles of the sun's surface, facing heat and radiation like no spacecraft before it. Launching in 2018, Parker Solar Probe will provide new data on solar activity and make critical contributions to our ability to forecast major space-weather events that impact life on Earth.

[JoeWras]

It has to speed up, to slow down. Going to the sun isn't easy!

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras It has to speed up, to slow down. Going to the sun isn't easy!

Actually, it's a lot easier if you do it a night. Not nearly as hot.