SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virigin Galactic and other Private Space Companies Thread

[sneakypete]

SpaceX is getting ready to launch its first-ever spacecraft with humans on board, the Commercial Crew Demo-2 mission (DM-2) that will take off from Florida on May 27.

They are truly some brave people. Every bit as brave as Columbus and the crews of his ship,or any other pioneer of history anyone can think to name.

[kevindavis007]

They are truly some brave people. Every bit as brave as Columbus and the crews of his ship,or any other pioneer of history anyone can think to name.

But it is good to see Americans going on a American Made Rocket from American soil into space again.


Make Space Great Again

[Elderberry]

SpaceShipTwo makes first flight from Spaceport America

Space News by Jeff Foust — May 1, 2020

https://spacenews.com/spaceshiptwo-makes-first-flight-from-spaceport-america/

Virgin Galactic conducted the first test flight of SpaceShipTwo from its New Mexico spaceport May 1 as the company edges closer to finally beginning commercial flights of the suborbital spaceplane.

The company’s WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, with the VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo attached to it, took off shortly before 11 a.m. Eastern from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. After reaching a planned altitude of about 15,000 meters, WhiteKnightTwo released SpaceShipTwo, which glided back to the runway at the spaceport.

While SpaceShipTwo has performed many glide flights, all previously took place from Mojave Air and Space Port in California. SpaceShipTwo arrived with WhiteKnightTwo at Spaceport America in February to begin a final series of glide and powered test flights before starting commercial operations.

Pilots Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow performed maneuvers during the glide test to compare the vehicle’s performance against earlier tests. They and the rest of the flight team also used the flight to familiarize themselves with operations in the New Mexico airspace.

More at link.

[sneakypete]

SpaceShipTwo makes first flight from Spaceport America

Space News by Jeff Foust — May 1, 2020

https://spacenews.com/spaceshiptwo-makes-first-flight-from-spaceport-america/

@Elderberry

Somebody PLEASE tell me that thing has power,and ain't a glider/rock.

[Elderberry]

@Elderberry

Somebody PLEASE tell me that thing has power,and ain't a glider/rock.

@sneakypete

It goes Up powered. It comes Down as a glider/rock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipTwo

SpaceShipTwo is carried to its launch altitude by a Scaled Composites White Knight Two, before being released to fly on into the upper atmosphere powered by its rocket engine. It then glides back to Earth and performs a conventional runway landing.

https://www.virgingalactic.com/learn/

SpaceShipTwo is powered by a hybrid rocket motor – combining elements of solid rockets and liquid rocket engines. Both types of rocket engine have important advantages; the hybrid aims to combine the simplicity of a solid motor with the controllability of a liquid. SpaceShipTwo’s rocket motor can be shut down quickly and safely at any point during the flight.

SpaceShipTwo’s most innovative feature is its unique capability to change its shape in space to ensure a repeatable safe re-entry. By rotating its wings and tail booms upwards while in space, the vehicle’s stability and rate of deceleration in descent is controlled by aerodynamic forces. This “feathering” design takes the best from both the traditional capsule and winged space vehicle designs, and adds a little magic of its own. The “feathering” concept is often compared to a badminton shuttlecock or birdie – and proves that sometimes the most disruptive designs can emerge from the most humble of origins.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

It goes Up powered. It comes Down as a glider/rock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipTwo

@Elderberry

Thanks,but that's not really what I wanted to hear.  I guess those Space Cadets are just more trusting than Ground Pounders.

[Elderberry]

@Elderberry

Thanks,but that's not really what I wanted to hear.  I guess those Space Cadets are just more trusting than Ground Pounders.

@sneakypete

Trust can be a strange thing. Reminds me when I was learning to jump. I felt it was better for me to jump than have to ride some more in that plane. I didn't trust those pilots.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

Trust can be a strange thing. Reminds me when I was learning to jump. I felt it was better for me to jump than have to ride some more in that plane. I didn't trust those pilots.

@Elderberry


I didn't/don't trust airplanes. First one I ever rode in was a old C-119 "Flying Boxcar",and the damn thing would hit a airpocket and drop 100 feet or more,scaring the crap  out of me. When I got on it,I was worried about not being able to jump out of it,and suddenly I was afraid nobody was going to open the damn door so so I COULD jump.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX Starship: incredible Elon Musk photo shows the rocket’s true size

https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-starship-incredible-elon-musk-photo

The giant ship has been captured in an image that demonstrates the scale of the Mars-bound ship.

The Starship, SpaceX's under-development ship for sending humans to Mars, has been captured in a new image that reveals its sheer size.

Ahead of a planned static test fire, CEO Elon Musk shared an image on Twitter Monday of the underside of the rocket, with a single Raptor engine attached. The final ship is expected to use six engines, paired with a Super Heavy booster adding up to 37 more that's designed to help the ship leave Earth. From there, it will be set to reach the moon, Mars and beyond.

The "SN4" prototype in the image is set for a static test fire that fires the engine at a stationary position, a precursor to a potential "hop test" that would see the prototype jump in the air. That test may be postponed, however, after Musk posted on Twitter that a Monday morning static fire "seems unlikely right now."





But prototype models of the ship, under development at the Boca Chica facility in Texas, have been somewhat hard to visualize from far-away shots. Photos like these show the impressive design and indicate that it's clearly pretty big, but it's still hard to picture the exact size. This is a ship designed to transport 100 people into space – its size is one of its biggest breakthroughs.

It's not the first time the public has had a visualized peek at the Starship's size. Back when it was known as "BFR," 3D modeler Reese Wilson produced a series of models in 2018 that showed the then-348-foot BFR against a series of landmarks:

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(More photos at link.)

[sneakypete]

I thought the plan was,as always,to "not fight gravity" by assembling sections here on Earth,and then boosting them into low Earth orbit for final assembly?

[Elderberry]

Not Fight Gravity?  Maybe if someone invents Teleportation. No matter where the assembly takes place it takes the same amount of energy per pound to get materials to the moon,depending on the efficiency of the rocket engines. So it behooves us to utilize raw materials not from the earth, such as mined from the moon or asteroids.

[Cyber Liberty]

Not Fight Gravity?  Maybe if someone invents Teleportation. No matter where the assembly takes place it takes the same amount of energy per pound to get materials to the moon,depending on the efficiency of the rocket engines. So it behooves us to utilize raw materials not from the earth, such as mined from the moon or asteroids.

That's the way I see it.  Assembling components in space may be easier in terms of hefting and stacking stages, but it still takes heavy lifters to get them up there.  The most interesting idea I've seen is refueling a rocket in space with a tanker, after it expends its first fuel getting to orbit.  Saves a stage or two.

I like the concept Virgin has been working, where they launch an orbit-bound rocket from 50,000 feet.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX's plan for in-orbit Starship refueling: a second Starship

It seems simple.

https://www.engadget.com/2019-09-28-starship-refueling-spacex.html

During an update on the SpaceX Starship program, Elon Musk just showed off a brief clip that explained part of the plan for using these vehicles to reach Mars. It involved a Starship in orbit around Earth, meeting a similarly-sized vehicle to refuel before it goes on the long trip to another planet. Musk has long touted his desire to make human life "multiplanetary" and expressed this as the way to achieve his goal.

He explained the Starship only requires its "Super Heavy" booster for launches from Earth, so it seems possible that the second vehicle could launch from the Moon powered only by its own Raptor engines.

In a graphic, the process is explained as "Propellant settled by milli-g acceleration using control thrusters." The way Musk described it, having the ability to refuel a Starship means it can carry a full 1200 ton propellant load when leaving Earth's orbit. He also showed off an updated version of the Starship's design, with its 50m-long body covered in 301 stainless steel, with ceramic tiles in certain high heat areas.

[sneakypete]

Not Fight Gravity?  Maybe if someone invents Teleportation. No matter where the assembly takes place it takes the same amount of energy per pound to get materials to the moon,depending on the efficiency of the rocket engines. So it behooves us to utilize raw materials not from the earth, such as mined from the moon or asteroids.

@Elderberry

True,but it is much harder to  build larger and more complex rockets that have enough lift to elevate such heavy items into LEO,and the result is MUCH bigger explosions when a launch goes wrong.

[sneakypete]

That's the way I see it.  Assembling components in space may be easier in terms of hefting and stacking stages, but it still takes heavy lifters to get them up there. The most interesting idea I've seen is refueling a rocket in space with a tanker, after it expends its first fuel getting to orbit. Saves a stage or two.

I like the concept Virgin has been working, where they launch an orbit-bound rocket from 50,000 feet.

@Cyber Liberty

I like it too,and was unaware that was in the planning stage.

[Elderberry]

It would take a whole lot of Virgin's SpaceShipTwo flights to build anything substantial in LEO.

Virgin plans to market the 200 kg (440 lb) payload delivery to Sun-synchronous orbit for under US$10,000,000 per mission, while the maximum payload for LEO missions is 230 kg (500 lb).

Aircraft model: SpaceShipTwo

[Elderberry]

So Virgin is using a 747 instead of a First Stage Rocket to launch small payloads(Tourists). It can't be very fuel efficient.

[Cyber Liberty]

So Virgin is using a 747 instead of a First Stage Rocket to launch small payloads(Tourists). It can't be very fuel efficient.

Maybe not, but it's off-the-shelf.  It's the same reason NASA used a converted 747 to ferry the Space Shuttles around.

[sneakypete]

Maybe not, but it's off-the-shelf. 

@Cyber Liberty

Which will save a TON of money that can be used to fund the development of tech that doesn't currently exist in a usable form.

In the long run,it is a decision to save both money and time.

[Cyber Liberty]

@Cyber Liberty

Which will save a TON of money that can be used to fund the development of tech that doesn't currently exist in a usable form.

In the long run,it is a decision to save both money and time.

I'd be surprised if, after a few years, Branson is still launching from a 747.

[sneakypete]

I'd be surprised if, after a few years, Branson is still launching from a 747.

@Cyber Liberty

Me,too. Innovation breeds even more innovation. It can do nothing else.

[Elderberry]

I'd be surprised if, after a few years, Branson is still launching from a 747.

Perhaps a Verne Gun.

[sneakypete]

Perhaps a Verne Gun.

@Elderberry

Please explain. That term rings some VERY distant bells,but I just can't put it together.

[Elderberry]

Space Gun

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_gun

Not to be confused with Raygun, a type of gun common in science fiction. For other uses, see Space gun (disambiguation).
The Quicklauncher spacegun

A space gun, sometimes called a Verne gun because of its appearance in From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne, is a method of launching an object into space using a large gun- or cannonlike structure. Space guns could thus potentially provide a method of non-rocket spacelaunch. It has been conjectured that space guns could place satellites into Earth's orbit (although after-launch propulsion of the satellite would be necessary to achieve a stable orbit), and could also launch spacecraft beyond Earth's gravitational pull and into other parts of the Solar System by exceeding Earth's escape velocity of about 11.20 km/s (40,320 km/h; 25,050 mph). However, these speeds are too far into the hypersonic range for most practical propulsion systems and also would cause most objects to burn up due to aerodynamic heating or be torn apart by aerodynamic drag. Therefore, a more likely future use of space guns would be to launch objects into near Earth orbit, from where attached rockets could be fired or the objects could be "collected" by maneuverable orbiting satellites.[citation needed]

In Project HARP, a 1960s joint United States and Canada defence project, a U.S. Navy 410 mm (16 in) 100 caliber gun was used to fire a 180 kg (400 lb) projectile at 3,600 m/s (12,960 km/h; 8,050 mph), reaching an apogee of 180 km (110 mi), hence performing a suborbital spaceflight. However, a space gun has never been successfully used to launch an object into orbit or out of Earth's gravitational pull.

[Cyber Liberty]

Branson wants to shoot tourists into space.  I don't think the 10s of Gs produced from being shot out of a cannon is conducive to Branson's objective.