An engineer’s take on Elon Musk’s proposal to make Falcon 9 reusable
Clark Lindsey asked an engineer experienced in building reusable spaceships for his take on Elon Musk’s proposal to make Falcon 9 reusable. The answer is fascinating.
Tag: engineering
NASA now claims it can launch a manned mission to lunar orbit by 2019
Forgive me if I remain skeptical: NASA is now claiming it will launch a manned mission to lunar orbit by 2019 using its Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, the program-formerly-called-Constellation.
Bigelow lays off half its workforce
It’s confirmed: Bigelow Aerospace has laid off about half its workforce.
Orbital Sciences restarts engine testing for its Taurus 2 rocket
Orbital Sciences has resumed engine testing for its Taurus 2 rocket.
While many have doubts about SpaceX, SpaceX has at least flown two successful flights of its Falcon 9 rocket. Orbital needs the Taurus 2 to supply ISS, and this rocket remains untested and as yet incomplete, with the schedule bearing down on them.
Reality always wins
Elon Musk’s talk yesterday at the National Press Club revealed several interesting things, about SpaceX’s rocket effort, about the state of the American commercial space industry, and about Elon Musk himself.
First, the company’s rocket design effort. Musk centered his talk on SpaceX’s new effort to make its Falcon 9 rocket completely reusable. Though he produced little specific details, and the moderator at the event asked no questions about it, it seems the engineering centers around these three concepts:
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Bigelow lays off half its workforce
This isn’t confirmed, but a twitter comment via Trent Waddington suggests that Bigelow Aerospace has laid off half its workforce. (A hat tip also to Clark Lindsey.)
China uses “America the Beautiful” as background music for animation of Tiangong 1 launch
Catch this quick before they take it down: China used “America the Beautiful” as its background music for an animation shown during Tiangong 1’s launch yesterday.
Tiangong 1 reaches orbit
Tiangong 1 has successfully reached orbit.
China’s first space lab module Tiangong-1 blasts off
China’s first space lab module Tiangong-1 has been launched. No word yet on whether it has safely reached orbit.
SpaceX suspends production of its Falcon 1 rocket
SpaceX suspends production of its Falcon 1 rocket.
As much as I am a fan of Elon Musk and SpaceX, and though I realize that they have been focusing on getting Falcon 9 and Dragon off the ground — the payoff there is greater and a failure of Falcon 1 during this time could be very politically painful — this action contradicts SpaceX’s years of claims that they had a slew of signed contracts to launch Falcon 1.
I will be attending Elon Musk’s luncheon speech today at the National Press Club, and hope to ask him about this and other things.
Fueling has begun for today’s launch of China’s first space station module
Fueling has begun for today’s launch of China’s first space station module.
Exploring an abandoned mine in Nevada
An evening pause: From the youtube webpage:
This inclined shaft is located outside of Searchlight, NV. The shaft itself is about 350 feet deep with two extensive drift levels along its length. We found a winze [a vertical shaft] in the lowest drift level that went down to what appeared to be an additional level.
I must emphasize that mines are very dangerous, and should be approached with great care and caution. Unlike a cave, which has had eons to slowly establish its stable structure, a mine is cut into the rock instantly (compared to geological time), and is thus very unstable and prone to collapse.