Space - The Final Frontier

[REWahoo]

Here is the link if you want to ask questions.

Has anyone asked him if he knows the definition of insanity?

Elon Musk Divorces His Wife Talulah Riley - Again

 

[clifp]

Has anyone asked him if he knows the definition of insanity?

Elon Musk Divorces His Wife Talulah Riley - Again

LOL not yet but I still have 1300 comments to read. Actually it is really a cool AMA, hundreds of high school and college age kids telling how he has inspired them and asking for his advice on how to change the world.

 

[ChadR]

Elon Musk is doing Space X focused AMA on reddit right now.

Here is the link if you want to ask questions.

That was cool!!

 

[clifp]

That was cool!!

The way beyond cool thing is trying to land the first stage of Falcon 9 on a barge in the middle of the ocean. It is huge step in trying to reduce the cost of delivering payloads to space by 99%..

Even for a person from the semiconductor industry where we managed to achieve 99% cost reductions every 15 to 20 year (i.e. Moore's Law) or so it is still an audacious goal.

 

[Chuckanut]

Another successful launch for SpaceX. I am sure NASA must be relieved after the unfortunate disaster that was the previous supply launch by Orbital Sciences.

The barge landing was a partial success, if I understand correctly what happened. Apparently the first stage made it to the barge, but hit it to hard damaging the barge and the rocket.

 

[Walt34]

The barge landing was a partial success, if I understand correctly what happened. Apparently the first stage made it to the barge, but hit it to hard damaging the barge and the rocket.

That alone (landing on the barge, even if too hard) was pretty impressive. After all, this is rocket science.

 

[mpeirce]

I find SpaceX's approach so refreshing:

Primary mission a complete success. Secondary mission, "close but no cigar" (as Elon Musk tweeted). They learned something and will apply that knowledge and keep pushing.

 

[clifp]

For some reason (fate) the NASA channel is between the network stations and the news stations. So I watched the lift off, rocket launches at night are still pretty cool events.

Unfortunately the barge is beyond the horizon, and the signal gets lost. I guess we won't be able to see real time pictures of the barge landing for a while.

Here are some other Elon tweets

Didn't get good landing/impact video. Pitch dark and foggy. Will piece it together from telemetry and ... actual pieces.

Grid fins worked extremely well from hypersonic velocity to subsonic, but ran out of hydraulic fluid right before landing.

Upcoming flight already has 50% more hydraulic fluid, so should have plenty of margin for landing attempt next month.


Am super proud of my crew for making huge strides towards reusability on this mission. You guys rock!


There was 7 hour gap between the first and 2nd tweet, so I guess Elon does actually sleep the 6 hours he says.

 

[Chuckanut]

IMHO, the real accomplishment is being able to fire the rocket engine while falling back to earth at hypersonic speeds and use that engine to precisely control the vehicle. Controlling a falling rocket at hypersonic speed has got to be difficult. Those grid fins are pretty cool also.

 

[harley]

IMHO, the real accomplishment is being able to fire the rocket engine while falling back to earth at hypersonic speeds and use that engine to precisely control the vehicle. Controlling a falling rocket at hypersonic speed has got to be difficult. Those grid fins are pretty cool also.

It's not that hard. I used to be pretty good at it on my old Lunar Lander Atari game. Maybe I should give Elon a call.

 

[Chuckanut]

The New Horizon spacecraft has been awakened so it can begin to prepare for its July flyby of Pluto - the non planet.

for the close encounter, the mission’s science, engineering and spacecraft operations teams configured the piano-sized probe for distant observations of the Pluto system that start Sunday, Jan. 25 with a long-range photo shoot.

NASA?s New Horizons Spacecraft Begins First Stages of Pluto Encounter | NASA

 

[mpeirce]

Video of the Falcon first stage "landing"

https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK

 

[clifp]

Cool animation of the Falcon Heavy animation

 

[Chuckanut]

SpaceX will attempt to place a satellite at a laGrange point.

"the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) is ready to be launched into space at 6:10 p.m. EST on Sunday, 8 February. It will be lofted atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 booster from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and will eventually be positioned at the L1 Lagrange Point, some 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) away, where the gravitational influences of Earth and the Sun meet in equilibrium. Although SpaceX has previously launched missions into low-Earth orbit and into geostationary transfer orbit, DSCOVR will mark the first occasion that the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company has delivered a payload so far into space."

And they will also try again to land the first stage on the barge out in the ocean.

 

[clifp]

SpaceX is sure making impressive strides.

 

[Gumby]

On a somewhat different topic, has anyone been following the Dawn mission to Ceres? The ion propulsion technology is fascinating, and it is really cool to see Ceres grow larger and larger as the spacecraft closes in.

NASA probe snaps amazing image of Ceres - CSMonitor.com

 

[Chuckanut]

The Pluto probe - New Horizons - will be arriving in July.


The Mars rover Opportunity is not slated for more funding in the Administration's budget.

 

[Chuckanut]

The New Horizons spacecraft is closing in on Pluto!

The New Horizons spacecraft, on course for a historic encounter with Pluto this summer, is now close enough to see two of its smaller moons for the first time.

Getting Closer! New Horizons Sees Two of Pluto’s Smaller Moons for First Time « AmericaSpace

 

[Free To Canoe]

SpaceX will attempt to place a satellite at a laGrange point.

"the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) is ready to be launched into space at 6:10 p.m. EST on Sunday, 8 February. It will be lofted atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 booster from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and will eventually be positioned at the L1 Lagrange Point, some 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) away, where the gravitational influences of Earth and the Sun meet in equilibrium. Although SpaceX has previously launched missions into low-Earth orbit and into geostationary transfer orbit, DSCOVR will mark the first occasion that the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company has delivered a payload so far into space."

And they will also try again to land the first stage on the barge out in the ocean.

More info on DSCOVR:

DSCOVR: Deep Space Climate Observatory

Those dwarf planets are interesting. A good place to hide out.

 

[Chuckanut]

Another interesting launch first from SpaceX

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/14bcd7c8d69eaef5

SpaceX stands ready to deliver its first dual-satellite mission toward Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO), no sooner than Sunday, 1 March.

 

[Chuckanut]

Commercial Crew book marks for SpaceX and Boeing:

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/CCPBookmarkSpaceX(2).pdf

 

[Gumby]

Mystery Spot on Dwarf Planet Ceres Has Mysterious Partner (Photos)

I fear it's a giant angler fish.

 

[ejman]

Mystery Spot on Dwarf Planet Ceres Has Mysterious Partner (Photos)

I fear it's a giant angler fish.

Could this be the start of a first contact situation?

 

[Chuckanut]

Another successful docking by SpaceX's Dragon space craft.

And, the really BIG news, the first espresso maker in space has arrive at the International Space Station (ISS). Named the ISSpresso maker, it was supposed to arrive late last year, but was pushed back when the Antares resupply ship blew up causing NASA to have drop it in place of more critical supplies. (Not sure what is more critical than good espresso, but, I will trust NASA's judgment on this one.)

ISSspresso coffee machine arrives at space station - Technology & Science - CBC News

Italy provided the espresso maker for Cristoforetti, who's been stuck with instant coffee since her mission began in November.
"It's been just amazing," Cristoforetti said after snaring the Dragon over the Pacific. "Lots of science and even coffee's in there, so that's pretty exciting."

Some good timing also:

If you will be in Italy on April 17th, then keep your eyes peeled for cafes celebrating national espresso day!

http://www.cellartours.com/blog/italy/espresso-italiano-day-on-april-17th

 

[Chuckanut]

Here's the video of the 'almost' landing of the first stage booster onto the ocean platform.