Space X

[JBird]

Elon Musk does AMA on reddit. Reddit goes crazy.

 

[meiroy]

[–]AvenueEvergreen 1226 points 6 hours ago

 

Previously, you've stated that you estimate a 50% probability of success with the attempted landing on the automated spaceport drone ship tomorrow. Can you discuss the factors that were considered to make that estimation?

In addition, can you talk more about the grid fins that will be flying tomorrow? How do they compare to maneuvering with cold-gas thrusters?

permalink

 

[–]ElonMuskOfficial 2571 points 5 hours ago

 

I pretty much made that up. I have no idea :)

The grid fins are super important for landing with precision. The aerodynamic forces are way too strong for the nitrogen thrusters. In particular, achieving pitch trim is hopeless. Our atmosphere is like molasses at Mach 4!

 

:D

[rkbabang]

Google Nears Major Investment in SpaceX to Bolster Satellites

 

"one person familiar with them said Google has agreed to value SpaceX north of $10 billion and that the size of the total round, which includes other investors, is very large."

 

 

[fareastwarriors]

Google Nears Major Investment in SpaceX to Bolster Satellites

 

"one person familiar with them said Google has agreed to value SpaceX north of $10 billion and that the size of the total round, which includes other investors, is very large."

 

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-20/musk-s-spacex-sells-10-stake-to-google-fidelity-for-1-billion.html

 

 

SpaceX Sells 10% Stake to Google, Fidelity for $1 Billion

[Liberty]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-04/spacex-profitable-as-musk-pulls-in-nasa-contracts-google-cash

[rkbabang]

According to this (

) SpaceX failed to land the Falcon 9 first stage on a barge again.

[rkbabang]

SpaceX tested their innovative abort system which is built right into the Dragon capsule.

 

SpaceX successfully tests Dragon launch abort system

 

"SpaceX hopes to bring crewed launch missions back to the US by 2017"

 

[Pelagic]

SpaceX tested their innovative abort system which is built right into the Dragon capsule.

 

SpaceX successfully tests Dragon launch abort system

 

"SpaceX hopes to bring crewed launch missions back to the US by 2017"

 

Hopefully you're buckled in for that ride! Its a testament to the whole "space" community that they spend millions if not billions on safety features like this, many of which may never even need to be used in order to protect the lives of their crew.

[Jurgis]

Hopefully you're buckled in for that ride! Its a testament to the whole "space" community that they spend millions if not billions on safety features like this, many of which may never even need to be used in order to protect the lives of their crew.

 

It's an interesting tangent: in some areas we as civilization have become so risk averse that it's a miracle we progress at all. How many people died during the voyages of exploration in the past. Now we want to protect at 99.9% even people who volunteer for risky missions...

 

Anyway, I understand that the "value" of human life has increased a lot since the past. So we can't really go back. But it's still possibly slowing down progress. (On the third hand, space exploration might not be necessary for progress...).

 

I wonder if we have to wait until consciousness uploads and copying is commonplace to get back into risky possibly-no-return exploratory missions.

 

Anyway, possibly OT.

[Liberty]

I find it remarkable how fast SpaceX is making progress on so many different fronts, with so many very difficult endeavors. Not bad for a private company founded in 2002.

[Liberty]

SpaceX tested their innovative abort system which is built right into the Dragon capsule.

 

SpaceX successfully tests Dragon launch abort system

 

"SpaceX hopes to bring crewed launch missions back to the US by 2017"

 

Hopefully you're buckled in for that ride! Its a testament to the whole "space" community that they spend millions if not billions on safety features like this, many of which may never even need to be used in order to protect the lives of their crew.

 

Pretty sure SpaceX didn't spend that much on this particular feature. They just have a modern design that was built for safety from the ground up. Trying to retrofit that stuff on older designs would probably be very expensive, but the Dragon capsule has the ability to land under its own power, so they're just using that to double as a safety mechanism. Everybody assume that everything cool must be expensive, but developing the first iPhone is reported to only have cost 150m :)

 

As for the ride, yes, you must feel like quite the pancake for a bit. But I suppose that's better than being dead. I was reading on g force earlier today, and rocket sled pilots have been exposed briefly to up to 45+ g forces... Crazy! What astronauts would go through here probably isn't too different from what some fighter jet pilots go through.

[rkbabang]

SpaceX tested their innovative abort system which is built right into the Dragon capsule.

 

SpaceX successfully tests Dragon launch abort system

 

"SpaceX hopes to bring crewed launch missions back to the US by 2017"

 

Hopefully you're buckled in for that ride! Its a testament to the whole "space" community that they spend millions if not billions on safety features like this, many of which may never even need to be used in order to protect the lives of their crew.

 

Pretty sure SpaceX didn't spend that much on this particular feature. They just have a modern design that was built for safety from the ground up. Trying to retrofit that stuff on older designs would probably be very expensive, but the Dragon capsule has the ability to land under its own power, so they're just using that to double as a safety mechanism. Everybody assume that everything cool must be expensive, but developing the first iPhone is reported to only have cost 150m :)

 

As for the ride, yes, you must feel like quite the pancake for a bit. But I suppose that's better than being dead. I was reading on g force earlier today, and rocket sled pilots have been exposed briefly to up to 45+ g forces... Crazy! What astronauts would go through here probably isn't too different from what some fighter jet pilots go through.

 

Sounds like fun actually.  I could see buying tickets for a ride where you get strapped into the Dragon, experience some massive acceleration, then parachute back down.  No going into space at all, but the ultimate amusement park ride.  I'd go out of my way to do it even if it was costly.

 

Maybe they could use a stripped down version of the capsule with large windows built in, since it isn't going into space.

 

[rkbabang]

Hopefully you're buckled in for that ride! Its a testament to the whole "space" community that they spend millions if not billions on safety features like this, many of which may never even need to be used in order to protect the lives of their crew.

 

It's an interesting tangent: in some areas we as civilization have become so risk averse that it's a miracle we progress at all. How many people died during the voyages of exploration in the past. Now we want to protect at 99.9% even people who volunteer for risky missions...

 

Anyway, I understand that the "value" of human life has increased a lot since the past. So we can't really go back. But it's still possibly slowing down progress. (On the third hand, space exploration might not be necessary for progress...).

 

I wonder if we have to wait until consciousness uploads and copying is commonplace to get back into risky possibly-no-return exploratory missions.

 

Anyway, possibly OT.

 

I have no problem with people doing risky things as long as they understand the risks.  The first mission to Mars will probably be a one way trip and may not end well, but there is no shortage of people willing to do it.

 

[Pelagic]

SpaceX tested their innovative abort system which is built right into the Dragon capsule.

 

SpaceX successfully tests Dragon launch abort system

 

"SpaceX hopes to bring crewed launch missions back to the US by 2017"

 

Hopefully you're buckled in for that ride! Its a testament to the whole "space" community that they spend millions if not billions on safety features like this, many of which may never even need to be used in order to protect the lives of their crew.

 

Pretty sure SpaceX didn't spend that much on this particular feature. They just have a modern design that was built for safety from the ground up. Trying to retrofit that stuff on older designs would probably be very expensive, but the Dragon capsule has the ability to land under its own power, so they're just using that to double as a safety mechanism. Everybody assume that everything cool must be expensive, but developing the first iPhone is reported to only have cost 150m :)

 

As for the ride, yes, you must feel like quite the pancake for a bit. But I suppose that's better than being dead. I was reading on g force earlier today, and rocket sled pilots have been exposed briefly to up to 45+ g forces... Crazy! What astronauts would go through here probably isn't too different from what some fighter jet pilots go through.

 

Sounds like fun actually.  I could see buying tickets for a ride where you get strapped into the Dragon, experience some massive acceleration, then parachute back down.  No going into space at all, but the ultimate amusement park ride.  I'd go out of my way to do it even if it was costly.

 

Maybe they could use a stripped down version of the capsule with large windows built in, since it isn't going into space.

 

I was thinking it would be a great amusement park ride when I first saw the video as well, where do I sign up.

 

On the subject of risk acceptance you only need to look at the history of early aviation and to a lesser extent the early space program in the 50s and 60s. In both there was a sense of urgency, aviation for the prestige and the space program as part of the space race. Today's private ventures ultimately have little of that urgency. NASA, SpaceX and Elon Musk are all taking a long view toward future exploration, letting testing, training and technology catch up to the missions goal of ultimately going to Mars and returning. While a less risk adverse society would be quick to write off the astronauts and push forward with the program (the Apollo 1 disaster for instance) today it's hard to attract funding or new capital after a major disaster occurs and perhaps more importantly it dampens the enthusiasm society has for space exploration. Far too often people ask why spend money on space exploration when ____ is happening on Earth, if space exploration is also perceived as extraordinarily dangerous that fuels the argument. Space will be tamed slowly but surely and it's likely that within the next century a space journey will be thought of like going on a cruise or flying today.

[Liberty]

A lot of the risks of the past were taken because there was not really any way to avoid them.

 

Today, our technology is so much more advanced that we can mitigate many of those risks. Why not? Space Exploration will certainly advance faster if rockets don't blow up all the time and astronauts aren't killed frequently. It's not just to save lives, it's to avoid derailing the whole project and cause a major PR problem.

[rkbabang]

A lot of the risks of the past were taken because there was not really any way to avoid them.

 

Today, our technology is so much more advanced that we can mitigate many of those risks. Why not? Space Exploration will certainly advance faster if rockets don't blow up all the time and astronauts aren't killed frequently. It's not just to save lives, it's to avoid derailing the whole project and cause a major PR problem.

 

Another factor is getting into space costs hundreds of millions of dollars, it isn't something that can be done by hobbyists in their garage.  Airplanes can be built by individuals or small teams for not a lot of money, which is why many people killed themselves when flight was a new thing.  You just aren't going to see people building rockets for fun in their back yards and blasting themselves into space in the foreseeable future.  It is just too hard to do and too expensive.

[Liberty]

 

Onboard view from the recent pad abort test. 0 to 100 MPH in 1.2 seconds.

[Liberty]

http://bloom.bg/1PLkEAr

 

SpaceX won U.S. Air Force certification, letting the company battle a Boeing Co.-Lockheed Martin Corp. venture for national security space missions.

[rkbabang]

SpaceX Is Hosting A Hyperloop Pod Competition And Will Build A Test Track

 

"The Pod competition is open to anyone, and is geared towards university students and independent engineering teams. The competition is open until September 15, 2015, at which point submissions will be vetted by the company, and SpaceX hopes to build the one-mile test track near its Hawthorne, CA HQ by June of next year, at which time SpaceX hopes to host a head-to-head competition of pods from submissions"

[mcliu]

Time for a Team CoBF? ;)

[rkbabang]

Time for a Team CoBF? ;)

 

Sure here's a rough sketch to get you started:

 

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[rayfinkle]

Unrelated: I just finished the book "the Martian" in a 24 hour binge. It was awesome and I'm stoked for the upcoming movie. Funny part was- the one part of the book that struck me as curious is that they included nasa as the organization driving Mars exploration. Maybe spacex would have been more realistic!  Anywho. Highly recommend the book!

[rkbabang]

Bad news:

 

SpaceX Rocket Disintegrates After Launching

[JBird]

First time I've ever cursed out loud reading the morning news. Sad to see that happen, and hope they bounce back quickly.

[Liberty]

Very sad. But it's impossible to do something this hard while pushing forward so many parts of the tech without accidents. They've been through worse before... I just feel really bad for everybody who worked on this launch for so long. Must be a really bad moment to go through.