ChiefsPlanet - Science Space Exploration megathread

ChiefsPlanet (https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/index.php)

- Nzoner's Game Room (https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/forumdisplay.php?f=1)

- -

Space Exploration megathread (https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=284057)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molitoth (Post 13428562)

So what are the collective thoughts on how Neil Armstrong and Neil Degrasse Tyson have been so damning of Space-X?

I think those guys have been douchebags, and I'm really happy Elon keeps proving them wrong.

Quote:

It isn't everyday that you get a letter from Neil Armstrong, yes, that Neil Armstrong. And it's particularly noteworthy when the first man to walk on the moon has a bone to pick with you. Armstrong wrote us recently about a story we did for 60 Minutes on Elon Musk and his SpaceX Corporation. ....

Armstrong wrote us to say we had not been complete in our description of his testimony. He's right. When you look at what Armstrong said to Congress, you see that while he was "not confident" that the newcomers could achieve safety and cost goals in the near term, he did want to "encourage" them. We should have made that clear in our 60 Minutes report and in our story on The CBS Evening News. Also, we should have spelled out that his concerns were directed toward the "newcomers" in general and not SpaceX in particular.

Scott Pelley Managing Editor, The CBS Evening News Co-Editor, 60 Minutes

June 21, 2012

As for NGT, he has a tendency of trying to be a bit controversial for the publicity IMO. Even then, his actual stance is just that SpaceX won't get to Mars without NASA's help. And I don't disagree with that. NASA's role is obviously shifting, but they're still critical to space exploration.

Quote:

"I'm simultaneously one of SpaceX's biggest critics and supporters," he said in response to a question about how advances such as SpaceX's reusable rockets will affect humanity's efforts to get to Mars in the near future.

Projects "that are hugely expensive and dangerous, with uncertain returns on investments, make poor activities of profit-driven companies," Tyson added. "Governments do these things first, allowing private enterprise to learn what to do and what not to do, then come next with a plan that involves us all. So my read of history is that private companies will not be the first to send humans to Mars unless government actually pays for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats. (Post 13428471)

yeah, the cost of SpaceX is shockingly cheap compared to NASA.

https://www.airspacemag.com/space/is...ion-132285884/

Nice article!

I thought this was awesome:

Quote:

Significantly, the Merlin engines—like roughly 80 percent of the components for Falcon and Dragon, including even the flight computers—are made in-house. That’s something SpaceX didn’t originally set out to do, but was driven to by suppliers’ high prices. Mueller recalls asking a vendor for an estimate on a particular engine valve. “They came back [requesting] like a year and a half in development and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Just way out of whack. And we’re like, ‘No, we need it by this summer, for much, much less money.’ They go, ‘Good luck with that,’ and kind of smirked and left.” Mueller’s people made the valve themselves, and by summer they had qualified it for use with cryogenic propellants.

“That vendor, they iced us for a couple of months,” Mueller says, “and then they called us back: ‘Hey, we’re willing to do that valve. You guys want to talk about it?’ And we’re like, ‘No, we’re done.’ He goes, ‘What do you mean you’re done?’ ‘We qualified it. We’re done.’ And there was just silence at the end of the line. They were in shock.” That scenario has been repeated to the point where, Mueller says, “we passionately avoid space vendors.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace (Post 13428572)

I think part of it is old news and part of it is people taking quotes out of context. Armstrong's comments came in 2012 before the first Dragon had ever launched to ISS, let alone all the progress with rocket reusability. Even then, he wasn't happy with the way his comments were portrayed.

As for NGT, he has a tendency of trying to be a bit controversial for the publicity IMO. Even then, his actual stance is just that SpaceX won't get to Mars without NASA's help. And I don't disagree with that. NASA's role is obviously shifting, but they're still critical to space exploration.

Thanks for some of that clarity DaFace! Good details to redirect judgement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace (Post 13428190)

What makes you think it isn't real?

It looks awesome. Thought it might have been shopped together.

Thought this was cool. A little short on specifics, but something fun to think about.

https://gizmodo.com/falcon-heavy-may...1823116009/amp

Maybe a Max-Q, but:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not enough ignition fluid to light the outer two engines after several three engine relights. Fix is pretty obvious.</p>— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/963107229523038211?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Quote:

Originally Posted by eDave (Post 13428640)

It looks awesome. Thought it might have been shopped together.

It's pretty clear that they at least considered the angles for photos when they built out the structure. Elon absolutely considers the marketing aspects of everything he does. (See: Roadster on a rocket.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger (Post 13428837)

So for us non-rocket engineers, does anyone know the obvious fix? lol

More ignition fluid?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molitoth (Post 13429302)

So for us non-rocket engineers, does anyone know the obvious fix? lol

More ignition fluid?

Yep.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger (Post 13429360)

It may be getting routine, but it never gets old...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger (Post 13429360)

Had they ever landed 2 at the same time? Even at different sites?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPchief (Post 13429668)

Had they ever landed 2 at the same time? Even at different sites?

That was the first time they even launched more than one at a time I think... but definitely the first time landing multiple

Quote:

Originally Posted by allen_kcCard (Post 13429677)

That was the first time they even launched more than one at a time I think... but definitely the first time landing multiple

That's what I thought. But it's so spectacular that maybe it had been done before