Space News thread

Some updates. It was said the stage looks structurally sound and like it could easily fly again. But this one won't. It's headed for a museum. They will have plenty of them soon enough. It will be used to get the new SpaceX launchpad LC 39A at Cape Canaveral into service. It will be put upright on the pad, tanked, test fired with hold down clamps, so it won't fly. Then detanked. When they launched this stage days ago they had prepared launchpad 40A for the new rocket but had lots of trouble getting the ground support equipment working. It's much more tricky to fuel up with cold Kerosene and ultracold liquid oxygen LOX than with LOX that is at its boiling temperature. They use ultracold because it is denser and they get more propellant into the tanks.

SpaceX leased LC-39A from NASA. It is the pad where Saturn 5 launched

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2015/12/1256.jpg

Where the SpaceShuttle launched.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2015/12/1257.jpg

And now it is refurbished to launch SpaceX Falcon 9 and soon Falcon Heavy. From this pad they will launch their Dragon 2 spacecraft that will bring Astronauts to the ISS. Unmanned and maybe even a manned test launch already next year.

The flown Falcon 9 stage arriving at the Assembly Building of LC-39A to be prepared for tests.

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Unfortunately the pad that was big enough for Saturn V and the Shuttle will not be big enough to launch the next generation SpaceX vehicles. The ones that will bring humans to Mars and support a base and future Mars colony. It's not yet known where those will launch.

Looks like they need a drive through rocket wash station. That soot will have to go.

Elon Musk `Stepping on Toes' in Space Race, Russia Official Says - Bloomberg Business

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Elon Musk’s success in launching reusable space rockets means Russia must make its own projects cheaper as the cash-strapped country struggles to retain its share of the market, the country’s defense-industry chief said.
“The main goal today is to make space cheap,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who’s in charge of defense, told Rossiya 24 TV in an interview on Wednesday in Moscow. “Competitors are stepping on our toes. Look at what billionaire Musk is doing with his projects. This is very interesting, well done, and we treat this work with respect.”
Rogozin’s comments follow the first successful liftoff and landing of a reusable spacecraft this month by Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. The South African-born mogul says the technology will dramatically cut the cost of space launches.
At the same time, Russia’s space industry has been hit by systemic under-financing and a brain drain after the collapse of the Soviet Union, while also suffering a series of botched space launches in recent years. Russia is one of the global leaders in the multibillion-dollar civilian space business.

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Originally Posted by Bettyboo

That Emdrive stuff does look interesting.

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An update on the EM-drive. Nothing definitive yet.

Roger Shawyer, the inventor and patent holder makes bold claims of huge potential but does not back them up. Style of a real big scammer, but who knows?

Prof. Yang of China. Info that her lab results were confirmed but her theory of the physics behind it is flawed (Yes it is flawed). For that reason her research was defunded, she retired and was not seen after that. Which feeds the theory that she is working secretly on it, no more published results. Sounds possible, why terminate an exciting and promising project with confirmed results because the theory behind it is flawed?

NASA eagleworks. They have produced results, but very low level thrust, subject to possible errors. But good enough that there is a peer review going on for independent confirmation. No fresh published results.

SeaShells a private US citizen and experienced engineer. Of all the amateurs working on it she is the one I trust most to be honest and qualified. She has done a first test of her setup, which due to a flaw in the setup got damaged. It was only a first test run and she did not record it. But she said she saw thrust which in her opinion was too high to be explained as error. She is working on fixing and improving the setup for new tests that will be recorded and published.

I still don't dare to get my hopes up but keep following the development.

Nothing here from Curiosity for a while. Do you remember some of the satellite images of the wider area of the landing? There were large very dark areas and I wondered what that is. Curosity is now there and they are black dunes. I still don't know what material this is but it sure looks interesting and different.

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2016/01/743.jpg

What is the scale in the above photo?

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Originally Posted by kingwilly

What is the scale in the above photo?

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Will try to find out tomorrow and come back with it. It is large.

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2016/01/749.jpg

A mix of rock and sand greeted the Curiosity Rover as it approaches the Bagnold Dune field, the dunes slowly encroaching on weathered outcrops. This is our first visit to active dunes anywhere but on Earth.

How did you get the SpaceX photo. I was there a week ago and photos were forbidden. Of course I was with a tour. A real cool place the KSS. They played the launch and land of the SpaceX rocket on one of the I max screens. Would have been something to be there in person.

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Originally Posted by fishlocker

How did you get the SpaceX photo. I was there a week ago and photos were forbidden. Of course I was with a tour. A real cool place the KSS. They played the launch and land of the SpaceX rocket on one of the I max screens. Would have been something to be there in person.

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That's surprising. There are countless photos from people on these tours around. Mostly out of the bus windows. This photo however is probably from someone who was working in the area.

One day I would like to make that tour too.:)

I'll post some pics soon. They gave us the no cell phone no pic talk when we got on the buss. But yes a few disobeyed.

A fresh photo of the landed stage.

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2016/01/883.jpg

It has been erected on launch pad LC-40. That's the pad presently in use for commercial and NASA launches by SpaceX. Seems it is being used to test out newly added ground support equipment ahead of the upcoming launch of a com sat for SES. When this vehicle launched from LC-40 there were some issues that need to be rectified. Not unusual for new systems added.

So this stage is now back to the exact spot it was launched from in December.

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2016/01/901.jpg

NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter has broken the record to become humanity's most distant solar-powered emissary. The milestone occurred at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST, 19:00 UTC) on Wednesday, Jan. 13, when Juno was about 493 million miles (793 million kilometers) from the sun.

The previous record-holder was the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, whose orbit peaked out at the 492-million-mile (792-million-kilometer) mark in October 2012, during its approach to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.


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The Hubble space telescope model at KSS. It hangs next to Atlantis. The Real Deal. They built the building around the space shuttle after they set her on her pedestal.

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Space the final frontier. Damn it Jim, Beam me up Scotty. Jim Beam........

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Nice walk way spirals around the space ship. Not too many people and it was high season. A real walk in the park. I have loads of pics but now on limited time as vacation is over. May be able to put some thing together but at least these teasers for now.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...024x576%29.jpg

Not too expensive for a day at the park. Do your home work and you could have bleacher seats for a launch. Coco beach is close by. We stayed there and the drive to the KSS was half an hour or so.

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I did not take pics of SpaceX as even a fish has scruples.

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Rocket garden, Just the tip of the ice burg. Peace out. The Fish.

Oops....

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Video here:

Video: Moment SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crashes and explodes during landing - Telegraph

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Oops....

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:)

Comment by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk

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Well, at least the pieces were bigger this time! Won't be last RUD, but am optimistic about upcoming ship landing.

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RUD stands for "Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly".

A video showing the three attempts on barge landing that have been made so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA7RzJckvQ4

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2016/01/1024.jpg


An aerial photo of the east coast barge, stationed in Cape Canaveral, name "Of course I still love you"
The landing attempt was on the West Coast barge stationed in Los Angeles. Named "Just read the instructions".

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2016/01/1025.jpg

So far 3 attempts on barge landing, all three failed. But very important, they delivered their payload to a perfect orbit. This is what pays the bills. The landing at this time is experimental, losing the stage is no more than what happens with all the stages of the other launch providers.

1 land landing, that was successful. They have now even test fired that landing stage at their launch pad LC-40 in Florida, to prove the stage has come back sound and for doing some tests on ground support equipment of LC-40. Barge landing is harder but they will get there.

Land landing needs permission. They have permission for their Cape Canaveral site, permission for the Vandenberg site is pending but coming soon.

But they will not be able to do land landing for all missions. The heaviest or more demanding payloads will need barge landing because for that they do not need to fly back which requires more propellant.

Non official fan assembled short video of SpaceX achievements. Well worth looking through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMRRP...ature=youtu.be

I just can't see the logic of landing on a barge, other than it makes more options for geographical location.
You can't guarantee stability.. maybe if they make the rocket a bit wider at the bottom :)

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Originally Posted by Neo

I just can't see the logic of landing on a barge, other than it makes more options for geographical location.

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Landing on a barge means they do not need to fly back to the launch site, RTLS. It saves a lot of propellant and enables launching bigger payloads. The problem is they always launch over sea so no people on the ground are endangered. The Russians and Chinese launch over land. They could land downrange. But we see the pictures of debris hitting near people and buildings all the time.

SpaceX have already perfected targeting to a point where they hit center of the barge every time. They missed center by less than 2m this time. The landing was even perfect except one of the legs malfunctioned. This happens with new technology never used before. They are improving.