Rocket revelations

Chris E. — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:46:18 GMT

Well, I tell you what... 95% success or not, these companies have gotten a lot farther than I E-V-E-R thought they would. Heck, the country of Japan can barely launch its own rockets. I think we all know sub-orbital is joyride-type stuff but here we are on the verge of rocketing to orbit and having a pretty sizeable space station to boot! All in what five years??? That’s amazing! I'd love to see these guy's shops. Just no photos, eh? ;)

Rocket revelations

Alan Boyle — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 01:04:53 GMT

I see Clark has further confirmation of the Blue Origin test:

"Michelle Murray of the FAA Office of Space Commercialization talked about the process for obtaining experimental permits such as those needed for the Lunar Lander Challenge competition. There will sponsor a workshop on the topic.

"She says that Blue Origin carried out a test flight this week. Nothing posted about it on the Blue Origin website but they are usually secretive about what they are doing."

Now I know who to call at the FAA who will actually say something about these tests!

Rocket revelations

Gaetano Marano - Italy — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 01:53:23 GMT

.

the "successful fail" of the second Falcon launch (without any flight-test of the two stages) shows that SpaceX is a good (small) company with good engineers (so, the day of a full success is coming soon)

however, the ENTIRE private space-market faces a major problem (we can't hide) that is "the REAL dimensions of this market"

talking of "market" I don't refer to the (relatively simple and cheap) "sub-orbital flights market" (that may sell thousands tickets) NOR the "commercial/military satellites low cost rockets market" (with BIG problem to come for the high-priced-rockets "old" aerospace companies) while I refer to the "1st class market" of the ORBITAL cargo/crew flights

that kind of "high level" private-market surely needs lower-than-past prices but, also, of "highly reliable vehicles" (that, so far, only a few space agencies are able to make) and (most important) MANY TARGETS IN SPACE ("places to go")

unfortunately, the ONLY "place to go" in space is the ISS ...a "small house" for three astronauts that will soon have an EXCESS of "non-private" cargo and crew vehicles to fit (many times) its capacity/needs

when some private companies will reach the same (NASA/ESA/RSA-like) high quality-standards, the ISS will already have/use up to FOUR different cargo vehicles (Progress, ATV, HTV and cargo-Orion) and up to FOUR different crew vehicles: Digital-Soyuz, Orion, ACTS and (I'm sure) Shenzhou

it will be like using a 747 to travel a few dozens of passengers and luggages per year!

someday... COTS and other private vehicles will (safely) fly in space... but... WHERE will they go? ...and WHAT will they do?

the ONLY hope for NewSpace is to have soon some Bigelow's "space hotels" in orbit... however, the number of space-tourists for these hotels can't be high in the short term since all space tourists must be VERY brave, well trained, with a STRONG (Armstrong/Aldrin/Collins-like) health and LOTS of million$ in to spend... :)

.

Rocket revelations

Bill, Los Angeles, CA — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 04:52:30 GMT

Remember that Tuesday's SpaceX launch was their second attempt that day.

Demonstrating a safe shutdown after their engine had ignited was impressive enough - but then they *recycled the countdown to T-11,* and tried again.

Has such a rapid launch turnaround happened to an orbit-rated vehicle before, ever? (Seriously, if someone knows, please post, I'd like to know.)

They had that much confidence in the Merlin engine. And just over an hour later the Falcon was in space. And yes, it didn't make orbit. So what.

Critics should factor in just how radically SpaceX has changed the rules, and how well they've executed these changes, before dismissing what they've accomplished. Something tells me not to underestimate this intrepid company.

Rocket revelations

Tom, Garden Grove, CA — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 06:47:43 GMT

Seems to me that 4 and a half years (SpaceX existence) is really not a very, very long time to achieve what SpaceX has done. Has any country done anything like this? I like the fact that Elon is open about his company's achievements and mishaps. I wish him the best!

Rocket revelations

Van, Seattle, WA — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 06:54:54 GMT

Mr. Bigelow revealed the topic of his announcement during his interview on Coast to Coast with Art Bell. Seemed to be more of an advertisement than an announcement -- that a primary business objective will be to provide a destination for sovereign nations with astronaut corps. (Though I might have heard it wrong. Check out the interview on the web.)

Rocket revelations

neil cornelius, green bay, wi — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 09:59:45 GMT

I believe that Rocketplane Kistler will prevail as the world's cutting edge space tourist/contracting agent. I have faith in the company to set the trend in space travel in this world.

Rocket revelations

Phil Barker, Schenectady, NY — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 13:08:05 GMT

Don't be overly critical of the less than perfect launch of Falcon 1 by SpaceX. It is still a great achievement. You must remember a basic law of physics; this is that the kinetic energy of a moving object increases with the square of the velocity. Let's compare what SpaceX has done to Scaled Composites Spaceship One. The speed that Scaled Composites now famous "SpaceshipOne" reaches is ONLY roughly 2400 MPH. The speed that Falcon 1 reaches (if it makes it to orbit) is roughly 17000 MPH! The energy required to reach orbital speed for Falcon 1 per pound of payload is at least 50 times greater than the typical SpaceshipOne flight profile!

SpaceX is doing something requirng far far more energy than anything done so far by Scaled Composites. Yet Scaled Composites always gets positive press even though they have had their own failures. Remember, SpaceshipOne nearly lost control on one of its flights and they went through literally dozens of test flights finally leading up to the ANSARI X prize.

The fact that Falcon 1 nearly reached orbital speed in its most recent test (only the second flight ever) is testimony to the success and leadership of SpaceX.

I don't want to sound negative on SpaceshipOne. In fact, I'm a big believer in SpaceshipOne and I'm also impressed by their accomplisments too. However, we still must recognize the physics involved here and SpaceshipOne is only an incremental improvement of a factor of 2-3 beyond already commercially available MIG 23 Jet Fighter passenger flights offered in Russia. Whereas, the SpaceX Falcon series of rockets will be the first "truly" privately developed space boosters offering orbital capability. THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE.

Rocket revelations

Frank L. — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 15:24:56 GMT

If this pace of development continues and there is some level of cooperation, a consortium of these entrepreneurs could beat both the US and China to the Moon.

Rocket revelations

Greg Zsidisin, Casper WY — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 17:29:14 GMT

Thanks for linking to my SpaceDaily piece, Alan! I do want to stress that I'm not the Greg who provided your first comment; I'll leave it to others to judge whether he's right.

Rocket revelations

Chris, Apache Junciton, Arizona — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 18:00:05 GMT

I have always said that the only way we will make any real progress in space is for private companies to become involved. Ponderous government entities like NASA are too bogged down in politics and budgetary concerns to make the kind of advances necessary. Additionally hampering things is the pursuit of money wasting ventures like the Shuttle Program. Billions of dollars spent for a system that could have been spent to develop the technologies that put us on the moon. Had we stuck with what worked, built on what we had, rather than advancing the pet projects of a handful of engineers... One can see the proof of this with Project Orion- our return to the moon. Is it any wonder that NASA is returning to Apollo era technologies?

How long before NASA is made obsolete by the likes of Branson and the others?

My hat's off to you guys- the true carriers of the spirit that took us to the stars.

Rocket revelations

Frank Glover, Rochester NY — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 18:53:13 GMT

It's true that Blue Origin is virtually the 'Area 51' of NewSpace, but some images of the SpaceX facilities can be found on their website and elsewhere.

Some details on Scaled Composites' facilities can be occasionally found, especally in documentaries about SapceShipOne, but Burt Rutan generally doesn't say much, until he's also got something ready to present.

On the other hand, Armadillo Aerospace has always been *extremely* open (including posted images/video of their shops and hardware) about what they do, and how they do it (though I'd be surprised if John Carmack didn't have at least a few proprietary details of his own. It's just the way of business, and they're entitled to it).

Rocket revelations

George French Okalahoma City OK — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:54:45 GMT

Just to let you know the announcement of the LOI with Rocketplane and Bigelow was made by George French III son of CEO George French.

Rocket revelations

Chris E. — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 14:57:37 GMT

Boy, they sure did Frank! There was almost a 1000 images from or about Armadillo Aerospace with at least a third of the photos in or in front of their shop.

http://media.armadilloaerospace.com/2003_04_11/newShop.jpg
http://media.armadilloaerospace.com/2002_11_30/bigTools.jpg

My main interest was to see the size of their tooling equipment as I have long been a proponent of having sub-industrial-scale shops right at the home and neighborhood level. It would allow us to disperse our industries away from vulnerable central locations and not only increase our free time (from not having to travel to work) but also dramatically lower our impact on the environment as well. Thanks!

Rocket revelations

Billy Palson — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:28:54 GMT

Far more interesting, updated and expanded info from Elon to NASASpaceFlight.com Saturday night:

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5056

Rocket revelations

Mark, Kansas City, Mo — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:19:19 GMT

There's a document on DARPA's homepage that outlines their strategic research initiatives. I thought it was interesting because the document talks about the Falcon's role in their responsive launch vehicle initiative and the capability that gives the US military (DARPA is a DoD entity after all). If you're like me, you may have read that DARPA and the Dod have funded the first two (three?) launches, but I didn't understand why their funding was significant. Given China's recent satellite kill, it seems the further militarization of space in inevitable.

Rocket revelations

Scott Maxwell Sheridan Wyoming — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:59:16 GMT

Bitch about the private space or bust companies all you want boys. All I believe is that the future of space exploration is NOT with NASA. These hotshots will be working out the orbit parameters for a landing on Titan before NASA can even get back to the moon.

Rocket revelations

Erik, El Segundo, CA — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:03:34 GMT

Greg, although Elon is assessing the mission optimistically, I personally find your comments quite unwarranted. Like Scott pointed out, NASA is not the future of space exploration, so I believe all space enthusiasts will agree that SpaceX is making great progress. When was the last time that a group of less than 200 people attempted to design, build, test, and fly a brand new launch vehicle? In the history of spaceflight there has never been a launch vehicle developed and flown perfectly the first few times – in fact, most launch vehicles fail many times before they achieve success. How many individuals work on Pegasus? How about Atlas or Delta? Why don’t you give the small SpaceX team some credit and root for their success instead of condemning them for their shortcomings. Also, instead of drawing conclusions about price and reliability, why don’t you let time decide. I hardly think two flights are enough to draw conclusions about the vehicles reliability. I admire Elon’s belief in a space faring civilization and I wish the SpaceX team the best of luck. Go SpaceX!

Rocket revelations

rüya tabiri — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:10:06 GMT

thank You...