True but it also slams into the ground rather badly wich isnt good for a pactient.
Space Shuttle Replacement?
- Thread starter Ananda
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Ananda
The Bunker Group
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Kato thanks for the corrections. I agree with you that Soyuz would be better for emergencies situations. Afterall the X-37 and the full scale versions (X-40 ?) would be a Space UAV, and not design to support man habitations.
Still a reusable space UAV was not really a new technology. Afterall the first space flight (and the only one as far as I know) of Buran was tottaly automated. Thus it's made Buran as the First space UAV.
Just wandering what new capabilties that X-37 will have that would made it and the full scale productions versions as a capable space shuttle replacements. Perhaps you or any members in the forum have more info on this ?
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
As there seems to be no thread about SpaceX’s Dragon, I will use this thread as Dragon will be a future manned vehicle. Dragon just splashed down about 45 minutes ago. A manned flight should occur later this year.
If I understood Elon Musk correctly, the new SuperHeavy/Starship combo will eventually make obsolete earlier hardware, including Falcon 9/CrewDragon and Falcon Heavy. Think of it as a shuttle on steroids. In one video he showed Starship docked with the ISS and the audience laughed because Starship is so huge.
It seems counter-intuitive considering how large the former is ccmpared to.the latter two but SuperHeavy/Starship will be cheaper to operate because it's 100% reusable only cost being fuel. In fact, he envisions competing against airlines for point-to-point earth travel.
Crew Dragon requires a trunk engine section which is discarded and has the added expense of recovery after an ocean landing by chute.
It seems counter-intuitive considering how large the former is ccmpared to.the latter two but SuperHeavy/Starship will be cheaper to operate because it's 100% reusable only cost being fuel. In fact, he envisions competing against airlines for point-to-point earth travel.
Crew Dragon requires a trunk engine section which is discarded and has the added expense of recovery after an ocean landing by chute.
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The CrewDragon capsule that had recently completed a flawless.unmanned docking with with the ISS suffered a major anomaly during a ground test. CrewDragon is SpaceX solution for ferrying passengers to the ISS and the accident throws a wrench I plans to have it's first manned flight later in the year.
SpaceX's Explosive 'Anomaly' Could Delay the U.S.'s Return To Crewed Spaceflight
SpaceX's Explosive 'Anomaly' Could Delay the U.S.'s Return To Crewed Spaceflight
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
It is unclear to me if the capsule that exploded was the same one that went to the ISS or if it was some kind of test capsule. I guess it doesn't matter as the circumstances for the failure will have to fully investigated regardless of which capsule was involved. Haven't heard much about Boeing's CST-100 lately.
It was a re-use of a capsule - the issue appears to have been with the thrusters intended to brake and arrest the capsule but I don't have any more information than that right now.
AFAIK it was the same capsule. Some speculation going on that corrosion from landing in the ocean may have been a factor in the accident. It would have been a disaster if it had exploded while attached to the ISS.
Correction on the above, I should have said the test failed around issues with the launch abort system which on Dragon, Starliner and Blue Shepherd are all reusable internal systems as opposed to the disposable launch abort towers used in many previous programs.
Dragon uses a hypergolic system which is actually safer in conjunction with the ISS missions than a solid rocket system (which in dock with the ISS would be subject to severe thermal loading many times a day)
So, we'll have to see what went wrong I guess.
SpaceX is about to launch it's first batch of 60 Star Link satellites into LEO as part of it's plan to provide worldwide broadband Internet service. IIRC, it recently received permission to install a million ground stations as well. Eventually, they hope to have more than 12,000 satellites at an estimated cost of $10B but the profits could be huge and finance Musk's Mars colonization program. Some have suggested though that 5G tech could pose a threat to Star.Link
Cool thanks.
This has to be some sort of record, these aren't tiny cubesats. Each satellite is reported to weigh 227kg. Space X will need to launch some 400 satellites to achieve initial.internet capability. Musk is a proponent of vertical integration and the company builds the satellites and can launch them cheaper than anyone else so they'll be a formidable competitor.
FormerDirtDart
Well-Known Member
Star Link's theoretical advantage over surface fiber optic cables is transmission time. And, that advantage is basically fractions, of fractions, of fractions of seconds. In a commercial market, in the initial decade(s) of deployment, given the likely cost prohibitive access to the constellation's bandwidth, the primary customer market would be the financial trading industry.
The launch of the Falcon 9 and it's payload of 60 StarLink satellites went flawlessly. The sight of the ooster returning to earth and landing on it's floating landing pad never grows old. The second stage successfully ejected the entire rack housing the 60 satellites instead of ejecting them individually. The satellites will use their ion thrusters to migrate to their final 550km operational altitude.
Elon Musk Says It's 'So Far, So Good' for SpaceX's 1st 60 Starlink Satellites | Space
Elon Musk Says It's 'So Far, So Good' for SpaceX's 1st 60 Starlink Satellites | Space
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
Boeing's Starliner is inching towards its first test flight with a planned testing of the launch abort system.
Boeing Starliner completes hot firing tests
Boeing Starliner completes hot firing tests
For it's part, there is a possibility Space X may conduct a manned flight to the ISS by year-end. This presumes that they are able to identify the cause of the explosion that destroyed the test vehicle and implement the needed fixes.
NASA says SpaceX readying crew ship for possible flight by end of year
Space X appears to have found the cause of the explosion that destroyed the Crew Dragon capsule a while back. Apparently a defective valve was the culprit. It looks like Space X may be back in the running for the honor of launching a manned capsule to the ISS by year's end as the Boeing Starliner has also been delayed by glitches.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-says-a-faulty-valve-triggered-crew-dragon-explos-1836410450
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-says-a-faulty-valve-triggered-crew-dragon-explos-1836410450