Re: SpaceX
Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 2:52 pm
SN20 now back in the paint shop.
A Convivial Aviation Discussion Forum for Aviators, Aviatrices and for those who think Flying Machines are Magic.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/life-styl ... 11138.htmlSpaceX will attempt to catch a massive rocket using “robot chopsticks”, according to Elon Musk.
The audacious plan could be carried out later this year during a major test of the Mars-bound Starship craft, which will see it blasted into orbit by a Super Heavy booster rocket.
The so-called chopsticks refer to mechanical arms attached to SpaceX’s launch tower – named ‘Mechazilla’ by Mr Musk – which will help guide the booster rocket back down onto the pad.
This system could eventually allow for rapid reusability and allow for multiple Starship launches in a single day, though chances of early success are far from guaranteed.
“SpaceX will try to catch largest ever flying object with robot chopsticks,” Mr Musk tweeted on Monday. “Success is not guaranteed, but excitement is.”
In a series of subsequent tweets, the SpaceX boss said the robotic arms will be equipped with tank tracks in order to “slide” the booster back out to line up with the orbital pad.
There have been several high-altitude Starship tests this year – all without the booster attached. All but one of them ended in fiery explosions.
SpaceX briefly assembled the biggest ever rocket at its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, earlier this month, demonstrating the scale of the fully stacked Starship craft.
The two segments – the Super Heavy booster rocket on the bottom and the Starship craft on the top – measured roughly 120m (400ft) when connected together.
SpaceX is yet to set a date for the next major test of its Starship prototype, which will see it fly from Texas to Hawaii in a 90-minute flight, though it is expected to take place within the coming weeks or months.
Canal? Hat?Boac wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:26 pmSpaceX put 51 Starlinks into a semi-polar orbit yesterday (and, boring as it is, then landed the second booster to fly 10 missions on a barge - and, ho-hum, only the 90th successful such.) This was the first launch from the west coast of the USA for which the barge had positioned through the Panama.
Not forgetting the launch tomorrow of the first 'customer-crewed' orbital Dragon flight.
https://www.techspot.com/news/91224-ste ... space.htmlThe big picture: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined forces with former Apple engineer Alex Fielding to launch a private space company. Based on what little we know about the company thus far, it seems as if the startup is all about space sustainability.
Privateer Space aims to keep space safe and accessible to all humankind. In a teaser video on YouTube, the firm mentions “taking care of what we have so the next generation can be better together.” In announcing the startup on Twitter, Wozniak said the company will be “unlike the others.”
So, what does it all mean?
Taken at face value, one could assume that this is simply another private space company in the same category as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic or SpaceX. But, the wording used in the video and Wozniak’s own admission that it’s unlike the others seems to suggest otherwise.
On Twitter, Fielding said he was thrilled to be part of the AMOS conference in Hawaii this week. For the uninitiated, the AMOS conference is described as the top scientific conference in the field of space situational awareness / space domain awareness. Indeed, seems that Privateer Space is all about space sustainability.
In a press release from August, a company called Desktop Metal referenced Privateer Space, calling it a satellite company focused on monitoring and cleaning up objects in space.
Wozniak and Fielding have worked together previously. Back in 2002, the two founded a company called Wheels of Zeus that developed GPS-based tracking tags. The firm’s tech was licensed by Motorola in 2004 but the company shut down a couple of years later and sold its assets to ZonTrak.
The AMOS conference runs from September 14 through the 17th in Maui.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/el ... 21187.htmlIt has not always been easy to get behind the billionaires’ space race. Let them have their midlife crisis. Some of us have taxes to pay. If Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson want to get as far away from our planet as possible, at the greatest expense imaginable, well, good luck – and good riddance. You go on ahead, lads, we’ll be right behind you. It’s all just so embarrassing.
But then SpaceX, Musk’s space company, goes and does something really quite remarkable and you have to stand back and applaud, while picking crumbs of humble pie off your jersey. It sucks.
At 8pm last night in Florida (1am BST, Thursday), SpaceX successfully launched the first all-civilian crew into orbit. The four-person team will spend three days orbiting Earth at an altitude of 575km, which I’m told is 150km higher than the International Space Station and the highest any human has flown since the Space Shuttle missions to the moon. Not only that, but the crew will conduct health research during the trip to try and better understand how humans can survive in space.
The Inspiration4 mission is not, then, a pointless bit of willy waving. It could be a genuinely ground-breaking moment in human history. Why? Because the crew is not made up of professional astronauts. Two members of the team – Chris Sembroski, 42, a data engineer and Sian Proctor, 51, a community college educator – secured their spots via a sweepstake. Beats a dusty bottle of Babycham. Space travel suddenly seems a whole lot more accessible. Inspiration4 feels inclusive, as if we are all invested in its success.
As my colleagues Anthony Cuthbertson and Vishwam Sankaran explained: “If the mission is a success, it will mark a major step forward for space tourism, and for Elon Musk and SpaceX’s plans to make it accessible to anyone with the money to fund a rocket and spacecraft to carry them to orbit.”
Okay, so you could argue that the key phrase there is “anyone with the money” but today is not the day for cynicism. This mission very much feels like progress in the democratisation of space travel. And Nasa astronaut Shane Kimbrough agrees. “To me, the more people involved in it, whether private or government, the better,” he said from the International Space Station.
Space travel and tourism cannot become yet another thing from which the vast majority of us are excluded. Of course we aren’t all going to head off into orbit, but we need to feel that these missions are for the benefit of mankind. That they are research-led, not a game for the rich kids. Which is why we need less of Bezos and Branson in their shiny space suits and more missions like Inspiration4, which has helped to normalise the idea of space travel for all and should throw up a whole heap of interesting scientific analysis.
Elon Musk, man of the people. Never thought I’d write that. Funny old world.
FFSTheGreenGoblin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 10:25 amIn praise of the Elongated Tusk!
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/el ... 21187.htmlIt has not always been easy to get behind the billionaires’ space race. Let them have their midlife crisis. Some of us have taxes to pay. If Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson want to get as far away from our planet as possible, at the greatest expense imaginable, well, good luck – and good riddance. You go on ahead, lads, we’ll be right behind you. It’s all just so embarrassing.
But then SpaceX, Musk’s space company, goes and does something really quite remarkable and you have to stand back and applaud, while picking crumbs of humble pie off your jersey. It sucks.
At 8pm last night in Florida (1am BST, Thursday), SpaceX successfully launched the first all-civilian crew into orbit. The four-person team will spend three days orbiting Earth at an altitude of 575km, which I’m told is 150km higher than the International Space Station and the highest any human has flown since the Space Shuttle missions to the moon. Not only that, but the crew will conduct health research during the trip to try and better understand how humans can survive in space.
The Inspiration4 mission is not, then, a pointless bit of willy waving. It could be a genuinely ground-breaking moment in human history. Why? Because the crew is not made up of professional astronauts. Two members of the team – Chris Sembroski, 42, a data engineer and Sian Proctor, 51, a community college educator – secured their spots via a sweepstake. Beats a dusty bottle of Babycham. Space travel suddenly seems a whole lot more accessible. Inspiration4 feels inclusive, as if we are all invested in its success.
As my colleagues Anthony Cuthbertson and Vishwam Sankaran explained: “If the mission is a success, it will mark a major step forward for space tourism, and for Elon Musk and SpaceX’s plans to make it accessible to anyone with the money to fund a rocket and spacecraft to carry them to orbit.”
Okay, so you could argue that the key phrase there is “anyone with the money” but today is not the day for cynicism. This mission very much feels like progress in the democratisation of space travel. And Nasa astronaut Shane Kimbrough agrees. “To me, the more people involved in it, whether private or government, the better,” he said from the International Space Station.
Space travel and tourism cannot become yet another thing from which the vast majority of us are excluded. Of course we aren’t all going to head off into orbit, but we need to feel that these missions are for the benefit of mankind. That they are research-led, not a game for the rich kids. Which is why we need less of Bezos and Branson in their shiny space suits and more missions like Inspiration4, which has helped to normalise the idea of space travel for all and should throw up a whole heap of interesting scientific analysis.
Elon Musk, man of the people. Never thought I’d write that. Funny old world.