SpaceX

[mihalchuk]

Старый пишет:

Штуцер пишет:

Старый пишет:
Показал фотографию мужикам.
Мужики говорят: эта толпа - фигня, у них там сам Маск судя по роже - явный 3.14дор.

Рыбак рыбака....
ЗЫ А две предкрайние подружки слева - весьма и весьма внушительные специалистки в ракетной технике.

А меня ошарашило что наши мужики знают в лицо Маска.

Маск - это кумир нашей молодёжи.

[Старый]

mihalchuk пишет:

Старый пишет: 
А меня ошарашило что наши мужики знают в лицо Маска.

Маск - это кумир нашей молодёжи.

У нас мужики моего возраста. Они то какраз и знают. А молодёжь не знает кто делает Теслу.

[кукушка]

На частный космодром SpaceX близ городка Бока Чика (штат Техас, США) привезли бак для жидкого кислорода.


фотки транспортировки ёмкости LOX:

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Ёмкость на транспортировочнике загнали около передающего комплекса, на следующей фотке предполагаемое место устаноки ёмкости жидкого кислорода LOX.

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[кукушка]

Обновлённый Mr. Steven готовится к очередной попытке поймать половинку обтекателя в ходе пуска Iridium NEXT-7, который запланирован на 25 июля.

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[Astro Cat]

Бгг. Вот это "сачек"! Надо Маску подсказать ловить вертолетом с крючком на тросе.

[tnt22]

Mr. Steven‏ @FairingCatcher 1 ч. назад

I got me a new net for some sky fishing By kegman83 on reddit  

[tnt22]

SpaceX‏Подлинная учетная запись @SpaceX 11 мин. назад

Mr. Steven--now with more net. SpaceX's fairing recovery vessel has been fitted with a 4x larger net ahead of its next recovery attempt targeted for later this month. http://instagram.com/p/BlLYeNnFZNA/ 

[tnt22]

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-falcon-9-largest-commercial-satellite-launch/

SpaceX delivers largest commercial satellite in kick off of Falcon 9 marathon

By Eric Ralph
Posted on July 22, 2018

SpaceX has successfully completed its 13th launch of 2018, kicking off a marathon of three new Falcon 9 Block 5 booster debuts with the launch of the Telstar 19V communications satellite, potentially breaking the record for the largest commercial satellite ever launched at 7000 kg (15,500 lb).

Despite the heft of its payload and partially thanks to a slightly lower parking orbit for the satellite, Falcon 9 booster B1047 - the second Block 5 booster to roll off the assembly line - managed to successfully land aboard the autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY), stationed approximately 650 km (400 mi) off the Florida coast at launch time.

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While the booster was unable to maintain a live video feed through its high-speed reentry and Atlantic landing, SpaceX's cameras on OCISLY managed to reconnect a few seconds after touchdown to show the 50-meter (160-foot) tall rocket safely resting on the drone ship. As the webcast host noted, Falcon 9 Block 5 features a number of prominent upgrades designed to enable levels of reusability and reliability essentially unprecedented in the world of orbital rocketry.


B1047 created an extraordinary ring vortex rainbow as it smashed through Max Q, the point of highest aerodynamic stress on the rocket. (Tom Cross)


B1047 before the launch of Telstar 19V. (Tom Cross)


B1047 before the launch of Telstar 19V. (Tom Cross)


B1047 before the launch of Telstar 19V. (Tom Cross)

ROCKET TRIALS

Now more than two months after the first Block 5 booster's - B1046 - debut in May 2018, the software engineer hosting SpaceX's Telstar 19V webcast was likely speaking more from a place of experience than of hope. Per CEO Elon Musk's press call just prior to Block 5's debut, he noted that SpaceX intended to conduct an extensive analysis of that pathfinder booster, including significant disassembly and perhaps some limited destructive testing of certain critical or high-risk components. Musk didn't expect B1046 to fly for at least another "couple of months".

This is critical because SpaceX's manifest over the next several weeks is fairly aggressive - Iridium-7 is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg, CA three days from today (July 25th), the next Florida launch is aiming for a static fire next weekend and a launch NET 1:19 am EDT August 2, and the second imminent Florida mission is penciled in for launch NET 11:35 pm EDT August 17. Those rapid-fire Florida launches will push both SpaceX's pad and drone ship turnaround capabilities to their limits, requiring almost non-stop work to ensure both are available for the next mission in two weeks or less.

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SpaceX's West Coast landing zone is preparing for its own debut, currently H2 2018. (Teslarati)


Falcon 9 B1047 prepped for launch at Pad 40, July 21. (SpaceX)


Falcon 9 B1043 rolls out to SpaceX's VAFB SLC-4E pad, May 2018. (Pauline Acalin)

Not to be (at least relatively) one-upped, SpaceX's Vandenberg launch pad - known as SLC-4E - is scheduled to push its own turnaround limits by flying two missions in roughly 40 days, just shy of the current SpaceX record of 36 days between launches. Perhaps more excitingly, that September 4 SAOCOM 1A mission looks like a prime candidate for the debut of SpaceX's yet-unused Californian landing zone, barely spitting distance from the SLC-4E launch pad.

Still, the question remains: what boosters are going to launch these four missions?

[/li]
• B1051 is not believed to have left the Hawthorne, CA factory yet, and has been stated by NASA to be reserved for the first uncrewed Crew Dragon mission (DM-1), unlikely to occur before Q4 2018.
  
  
• B1050 is currently on-stand in McGregor, TX and is likely to be shipped to a launch pad within a week or two.
  
  
• B1049 was almost certainly shipped to Florida to support either of the two upcoming August launches.
  
  
• B1048 will launch Iridium-7 on July 25, land on Just Read The Instructions, and likely remain in California for future VAFB missions.
  
  
• B1047 just successfully launched Telstar 19V (July 22) and will be brought back to Port Canaveral over the next several days before heading to one of SpaceX's Florida refurbishment facilities, presumably to prepare for an imminent future launch.
  
  
• B1046 is likely disassembled in Hawthorne, CA, unable to support a launch for another few weeks - perhaps it's nearly ready, however
  

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Three Falcon 9 boosters captured in various states of transport and testing over the last six weeks, two of which are B1047 and B1048. (Teslarati/Tesla Motors Club/Reddit/Facebook)

Put simply, it seems almost impossible for SpaceX to accomplish its ambitious manifest over the next 4-6 weeks without reusing a freshly-recovered Falcon 9 Block 5 booster. B1046 is a possibility, as is B1047 or B1048, although the latter two options would smash SpaceX's previous record for Falcon booster turnaround (~70 days) by more than half, requiring in a return to shore, refurbishment or nondestructive analysis, and preparation for a static fire in as few as ~14-21 days.

Regardless, B1047's successful Telstar 19V launch and landing have kicked off what is bound to be an extremely exciting period for SpaceX and its aspirations of highly-reusable rocketry.

[tnt22]

https://www.teslarati.com/how-spacex-catches-fairing-mr-steven-net/

SpaceX will use a parasail guidance system to land Falcon 9's fairing into a huge net

By Eric Ralph
Posted on July 24, 2018

SpaceX recovery vessel Mr Steven officially departed Port of Los Angeles on the evening of July 23 and is speeding towards its first Falcon 9 fairing recovery attempt since a major series of refits and upgrades. With massive new arms and usable net area increased fourfold, chances are better than they've ever been for the iconic clawboat to at last snag its first true 'catch' of a parasailing payload fairing.

Set to be stationed roughly 900 km (600 mi) southwest of the California coast, Mr Steven's vast new net should dramatically even the playing field, cutting the effective error margin for each fairing catch attempt by as much as 60% on its own. An extra ~30 meters of net both length and width-wise would functionally act as a cushion for the ~50-meter accuracy the fairings have demonstrated thus far (i.e. halves missed Mr Steven's smaller, original net by 50 m).

Still, the question remains for many people: how exactly does Mr Steven 'catch' a clamshell fairing half, and how does that fairing half find its way to Mr Steven?


SpaceX's fairing catcher Mr Steven prepares to debut his new net and arms to catch a Falcon 9 payload fairing, NET July 25. (Pauline Acalin)

A PARASAIL AND A PRAYER

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Each Falcon 9 fairing is a two-piece 1600 kg sandwich of carbon fiber composites and aluminum honeycomb, as well as internal dressings of soundproofing panels, cold nitrogen gas thrusters for attitude control in vacuum, and finally the parafoil and control hardware/avionics necessary to safely recover the fragile halves. Stretching 13m long and 5.2m wide (43ft x 17ft), SpaceX has partially worked with contractors already experts in the art of autonomously guiding parasails with payloads up to 10,000 kg (22,000 lb), and doing so with some level of accuracy.

Ultimately, GPS-guided parafoils have been done successfully many times over in the past two or so decades. For the most part, the problems preventing SpaceX from recovering fairings in Mr Steven's net have been almost entirely solved: the fact that six or more halves have been recovered intact after their Falcon 9 launches confirm that much. SpaceX engineers have somehow found a way to allow a highly flexible, lightweight, and aerodynamically awkward lifting body to survive a journey from heights of 110+ km and speeds of several kilometers per second.


One half of SpaceX's Iridium-6/GRACE-FO just moments before touchdown on the Pacific Ocean. (SpaceX)

Per the extraordinarily minimalist appearance of each half's parafoil recovery hardware and the lack of any clear control mechanism, it's very likely that SpaceX has sided with an in-canopy (canopy=the parachute) system of actuators tasked with subtly warping the parafoil, comparable in functionality to a crude replica of a bird's wing.

WHEN IN DOUBT, COPY BIRDS


NASA's X-38 project demonstrated the functionality of autonomous parasail guidance in 1999. (NASA)


By tweaking, pulling, and tensing or loosening any number of those lines with servo motors and actuators, one can very accurately control the flight characteristics of a parafoil. (NASA)


From left to right, my best guess for each fairing is PAZ, Iridium-6 Half 1, Iridium-5, and Iridium-6 Half 2. (Pauline Acalin)

Once the massive 800-kilogram components can be captured in flight by Mr. Steven, it should be a fairly simple prospect for SpaceX to move from recovery to reuse, potentially saving as much as 10% ($6m) of the cost of each Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch in one simple, fell swoop. Perhaps even more importantly, fairing reuse would remove some of the pressure placed on SpaceX's composite production floor, which currently must support the fabrication of dozens of fairing halves, booster interstages, payload adapters, Falcon Heavy nose cones, and much more, including smaller subassemblies required for both Crew and Cargo Dragons.

BFR is gonna need all the composite design and manufacturing expertise it can get.

[Apollo13]

SpaceX's Secret Weapon Is Gwynne Shotwell

[Apollo13]

SpaceX flexing economic muscle in Central Texas

California-based SpaceX needs land for its activities here, so it pays McGregor almost $500,000 annually to lease more than 4,000 acres on the city's outskirts. That accounts for a ninth of McGregor's $4.5 million general fund budget, City Manager Kevin Evans said.

Asked about potential budget challenges without SpaceX, Evans replied, "We don't even talk about that."

SpaceX paid almost three quarters of a million dollars in property taxes last year, with $138,567 going to McLennan County, $41,229 to McLennan Community College, $364,727 to the McGregor Independent School District and $198,536 to the city of McGregor, according to the county tax office.

Its testing site in McGregor is valued at $26 million by the McLennan County Appraisal District, making it the second-largest taxpayer in McGregor ISD, behind only the Ferguson Enterprises distribution center.

The website payscale.com estimates that a senior test engineer working for SpaceX locally makes $88,250 annually, while a manufacturing engineer makes $55,150, a control systems engineer $77,069, a test engineer $64,505 and an aviation maintenance technician $62,646.

With more than 500 employees, the local rocket testing and development facility is the company's third-largest in terms of employment, Dreyer wrote. It has about a dozen locations.

Не так чтобы сильно впечатляющие зарплаты. И техник получающий больше инженера...

[Старый]

Apollo13 пишет:
Не так чтобы сильно впечатляющие зарплаты. 

Это цифры за час работы? 

И техник получающий больше инженера...

Это великое достижение.  В СССР тоже так было и были достижения.

[Apollo13]

Старый пишет:
Это цифры за час работы?

В год.

[Старый]

Apollo13 пишет:

Старый пишет:
Это цифры за час работы?

В год.

А! Запятая разделяет тысячи! А я подумал: 77$ 069 центов.

[Apollo13]

Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight Aug 7


Ben Cooper is reporting that the next Falcon 9 launch from the east coast after Telstar 18V is in NOVEMBER! This means that GPS III-1 likely slipped due to payload related delays. Can Florida survive over two whole months without SpaceX? http://www.launchphotography.com/Delta_4_Atlas_5_Falcon_9_Launch_Viewing.html ...

[Старый]

Apollo13 пишет:
Can Florida survive over two whole months without SpaceX?

[кукушка]

«КАК ЖИТЬ НА КРАСНОЙ ПЛАНЕТЕ»? ПЕРВАЯ ПРИВАТНАЯ КОНФЕРЕНЦИЯ SPACEX ПО ВОПРОСАМ МАРСА

Ранее на этой неделе под взорами многих SpaceX начал конференцию, посвященную технологическим и стратегическим требованиям для создания и поддержания постоянного присутствия людей на Марсе. В ближайшие несколько лет участников проекта станет куда больше, а посетителями SpaceX's 2018 Mars Workshop оказались как правительственные и академические учреждения, так и частные компании.

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Вероятно, по ряду политических и практических соображений, первый семинар Mars в SpaceX был секретным, все участники подписали соглашение о неразглашении конфиденциальной информации, запретили присутствие журналистов и прессы. В этом случае предварительная шумиха и участие широкого круга представителей NASA сделали чрезмерную гласность мероприятия несколько нежелательной. Космическая стартовая система для ракет NASA (SLS) и медиа-программа «JourneyToMars» -- сами по себе мотивированные прежде всего политическими побуждениями и собственными «подрядчиками» NASA (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet-Rocketdyne,и т.д.) -- все это вполне разумно дает почувствовать угрозу приватности благодаря участию высокопоставленных должностных лиц NASA на семинаре SpaceX Mars.

Dr. Phil Metzger@DrPhiltilЧитать Читать @DrPhiltill

At the inaugural @SpaceX Mars Workshop, planning how to put humans on Mars, then how to have 100s living there. So exciting!


Что взять на Марс
Будут ли произведены первые запуски BFR SpaceX на Марс в 2022 или 2030 годах, зависит от каждого килограмма груза, включенного в данную миссию. Он должен быть точно сфокусирован на том, чтобы автономно создавать и поддерживать инфраструктуру на другой планете. На Земле люди отлично справляются с задачами, хотя и с гораздо меньшей автоматизацией, чем SpaceX необходимо будет воспроизвести на Марсе.

Секретность данного мероприятия означает, что кроме участников никто ничего не знает о событии. Самая ценная информация, представленная до сих пор, является списком групп, участвующих в семинаре. Четыре из присутствующих групп в основном сосредоточены или имеют опыт в области добычи полезных ископаемых, бурения, добычи ресурсов или промышленного оборудования: Колорадская школа шахтеров, Tesla, корпорация Bechtel (проектирование и строительство) , Caterpillar Inc (проектирование и производство тяжелой техники) и Schlumberger (нефтесервисные службы).

Так же присутствует Японское космическое агентство (JAXA), которое, как известно, работает с японским производителем тяжелой техники Kajima с целью проектирования и строительства промышленного оборудования, специально оптимизированного для использования за пределами Земли.


Вначале Schlumberger может показаться неприятным дополнением, но нельзя отрицать, что нефтегазодобывающие компании являются глобальными специалистами по поиску, характеристике и добыче подземных ресурсов в жидком или газообразном состоянии. Компания также специализируется на добыче подземных вод, что является абсолютной необходимостью для разведки и извлечения значительного количества воды из жидкости (если она существует на Марсе) или ледяных водоносных горизонтов (безусловно, присутствующих).

Благодаря своему первому мероприятию Mars Workshop, SpaceX явно ставит перед собой огромную планку в нынешних неизведанных областях межпланетной колонизации, обитания и добычи ресурсов на месте. Если SpaceX решит удвоить количество регулярных конференций с получением какой-либо формы грантовых премий за исключительные исследования, компания может быстро стать основным лидером (и бенефициаром) передовых исследований, которые будут абсолютно необходимы для строительства колоний на Марсе и всей Солнечной системы.
https://mbhn.ru/kak-zhit-na-krasnoj-planete-pervaja-privatnaja-konferencija-spacex-po-voprosam-marsa/?utm_source=https://vk.com/mbhnews

[кукушка]

На судне Mr. Steven прошли тренировки по работе с обтекателем. С помощью крана его помещали в разные части сетки и отрабатывали процедуру спуска на палубу.

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[tnt22]

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-internet-testing-high-performance-govt-aircraft/

SpaceX seeks approval for Starlink internet tests on high-performance govt. planes

By Eric Ralph
Posted on August 15, 2018

According to upd ated regulatory documents and recent Aviation Week interviews with the US Air Force Research Laboratory, it can be all but guaranteed that the USAF has begun working with SpaceX to test the feasibility of using the company's planned Starlink satellite internet constellation for military communications purposes.

In early August, SpaceX updated regulatory documents required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the company to be permitted to experimental test its two prototype Starlink internet satellites, named Tintin A and B. Launched roughly six months ago as a copassenger on one of SpaceX's own Falcon 9 rockets, the satellite duo has been quietly performing a broad range of tests on orbit, particularly focused on general satellite operations, orbital maneuvering with SpaceX's own custom-built electric propulsion, and - most importantly - the experimental satellites' cutting-edge communications capabilities.

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Eric Ralph@13ericralph31

The orbit histories of @SpaceX's Tintin A/B Starlink prototype satellites, launched in February! Some thoroughly intriguing differences in behavior over the six months they've spent on-orbit. Data and visualizations generated by the lovely http://CalSky.com .
8:09 AM - Aug 9, 2018

Per a public summary of the application update, SpaceX is awaiting FCC permission to begin a new series of tests of its prototype satellite internet network, this time highlighting an intriguing interest in applying Starlink connectivity to moving aircraft in order to provide them an exceptionally flexible and powerful suite of communications capabilities.

"SpaceX seeks to modify its experimental authorization to allow testing of two different antennas, both of which will operate on the ground and one of which will also operate from a moving aircraft."

In those same documents, the company states that it is "working with a manufacturer of conformal antennas for tactical aircraft" to design and build "a custom installation kit consisting of mechanical plates for the low-profile antennas and fairings reducing wind drag", seemingly indicating that SpaceX itself intends to supply the phased array antennae itself. Normally, this sort of testing would be fairly mundane and expected for any global satellite network, as one of the largest markets for satellite internet connectivity happens to be commercial aviation, particularly airlines and passenger entertainment.


Fittingly, SpaceX's first Starlink prototypes launched in late February aboard a flight-proven Falcon 9 booster. (Pauline Acalin)


(SpaceX)


One of the first two prototype Starlink satellites separates from Falcon 9's upper stage, February 2018. (SpaceX)

However, the plot thickens beyond that extent thanks to a few select phrases. Most tellingly, the company writes that it "will perform a series of tests with the integrated airborne prototype terminal ... varying motion for representative roll and pitch rates of a high-performance aircraft", later also describing the program the update as a request for permission for "additional test activities undertaken with the federal government."

It just so happens that the US Air Force's Research Laboratory (AFRL) spoke with Aviation Week earlier this year (just weeks after SpaceX's first prototype satellites had launched, in fact) about a nascent program exploring the potential utility of a spate of commercial Low Earth Orbit satellite internet constellations proposed for launch in recent years.

"To explore the art of the possible, AFRL is planning to contract with at least one commercial internet provider for a se t of antennas that can be mounted onto Air Force test aircraft, Beal says. The team will then fly the aircraft ... directly under the associated satellites and establish a communications path." - Lara Seligman/AviationWeek

Rapid and efficient reuse of Falcon 9 Block 5 rockets will be an absolute necessity for the affordable deployment of even a fraction of the several thousand planned Starlink satellites. (Tom Cross)

As of publishing then (March 2018) and now, SpaceX is the only company in the world to have launched a pair of functional demonstration satellites as a part of its proposed megaconstellation, meaning that it's the only company that has a (technically) operational network with which they can test inter-satellite connectivity, connection hand-offs between different satellites, and multi-satellite operations.

While it's currently unclear how that series of tests transpired and if they were or are officially connected to the AFRL's own program, the briefest thought of the USAF (and thus the Department of Defence) as a prospective anchor customer for SpaceX's Starlink constellation is extraordinarily exciting, especially given the apparent difficulties and costs associated with actually deploying even the first wave (~900 satellites) of such a massive constellation (~4500 satellites total).

[zandr]

https://ria.ru/space/20180819/1526801795.html

НАСА предварительно одобрило заправку ракеты Falcon 9 с экипажем на борту
ВАШИНГТОН, 19 авг -- РИА Новости. НАСА предварительно дало согласие на предстартовую заправку ракеты Falcon 9 после посадки экипажа; эта процедура, по мнению управления, не представляет риска для космонавтов, сообщает портал Space News.
"При анализе мы руководствовались безопасностью наших сотрудников, и команда пришла к выводу, что это (заправка ракеты перед стартом после посадки экипажа. -- Прим. ред.) представляет наименьший риск", -- отмечается в заявлении представителя НАСА Кэти Луэдерс (Kathy Lueders), которое приводит издание.
Ранее в сентябре 2016 года ракета Falcon 9 взорвалась при подготовке к запуску коммуникационного спутника для израильской компании. Авария произошла во время заправки ракеты. После аварии СМИ сообщили, что за несколько месяцев до взрыва экспертная комиссия НАСА выражала озабоченность в связи с тем, что заправка ракеты топливом непосредственно перед стартом, после того как экипаж займет свои места, потенциальна опасна.
"Чтобы принять это решение, наши специалисты провели тщательный анализ наземных операций компании SpaceX, дизайн ракеты, системы экстренной эвакуации и историю работы", -- отметила Луэдерс.
По ее словам, предстоящая сертификация корабля и ракеты-носителя для тестового пилотируемого полета потребует "дополнительной проверки и демонстрационных действий", в том числе до пяти "демонстраций посадки экипажа". Первый пилотируемый полет Crew Dragon намечен на апрель 2019 года, уточняет издание.
Технология SpaceX предполагает использование охлажденного топлива для получения большей тяги при старте. Для этого заправка ракеты должна происходить не позднее, чем за 35 минут до старта, что недостаточно для посадки экипажа.
Еще до взрыва сомнения в безопасности такой последовательности озвучивали ряд специалистов, одним из наиболее ярых противников выступил астронавт НАСА, командир экипажа миссии "Аполло-10" Томас Стаффорд. Однако компания SpaceX утверждает, что обладает технологией эвакуации экипажа в случае непредвиденной ситуации на старте.