The industrial learning curve with SpaceX and Blue Origin is a lot more
favorable than it was with the SRBs due to the a priori lower cost per
unit. Also, keep in mind NASA's major handicap: Politics. SRBs were,
after all, designed to meet political requirements (hence were segmented
for transport from Utah).
On Tue, Dec 22, 2015 at 7:28 AM, William Claybaugh <wclaybaugh2@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Marcus:
As I recall, two SRB's sank. The remainder were recovered and reused.
There is enough remaining hardware to do the first couple of SLS launches;
I believe the pacing item is rear fulcrum's.
In our enthusiasm for SpaceX's impressive achievement we should not
overlook that reuse of the SRB's never made economic sense: flight rates
needed to hit about 18 per year to reach break even. While the recovery
costs were around $300k per SRB, refurbishment cost many millions--more
than the cost of a new motor. That is the issue SpaceX--and Blue
Origin--now confront.
Bill
On Monday, December 21, 2015, Marcus D. Leech <mleech@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 12/21/2015 09:51 PM, Paul Breed wrote:
The space shuttle tossed most of the hardware and required a billion
dollars of refurb between flights, I've heard it called a 100Ton payload
fairing. ;-)
Yes, STS is a hard one to pigeonhole in terms of flight regimes. They
ditch the LOX/H2 tankage, which is a bit like throwing an apartment
building away on every launch.
They did recover the SRBs, a useful fraction of the time. How often were
SRBs actually reusable? Anyone have stats?
But the Shuttle itself, yeah, is payload that comes back.
I think a boost-back scheme, that SpaceX has successfully demonstrated
tonight, is in a noticeably-different category, and one that deserves
much celebration, even in the context of historical machines like STS.
On Mon, Dec 21, 2015 at 6:42 PM, Monroe L. King Jr. <
monroe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
For some reason the Space Shuttle just didn't seem as real to me as
this. I put it right up there with Niel landing on the moon. I'm not
even sure why it feels that good.
That felt GOOD!
-------- Original Message --------so
Subject: [AR] Re: SpaceX F9 Launch/Update -- Live Link
From: "Tim Wilson" <timwilson3@xxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, December 21, 2015 7:34 pm
To: <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
You missed the whole Space Shuttle thing, right? ;)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Henry Vanderbilt" <hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2015 9:26 PM
Subject: [AR] Re: SpaceX F9 Launch/Update -- Live Link
Nothing wrong with being excited and showing it. I'm pretty pumped
myself... I'm coming up on thirty years pushing these ideas, though,
I tend to remember to also answer the question "did what?" for anyoneUNBELIEVABLE!
who had other work to do and hadn't been paying as close attention this
evening.
Plenty of hard work yet to do there. But, dang! Between Blue Origin's
booster recovery a few weeks ago and this, it's pretty clear it's not
just luck, or a stunt - we really are finally well down the road to
learning how to reuse actual useful space-launch rockets.
Henry
On 12/21/2015 6:53 PM, Monroe L. King Jr. wrote:
So awesome! Please forgive my excitement in my last post.
firstThey really did it! I cried and I'm not ashamed about one bit.
GO SPACE-X! GO!
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [AR] Re: SpaceX F9 Launch/Update -- Live Link
From: Henry Vanderbilt <hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, December 21, 2015 6:41 pm
To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
It's a twofer - the second stage and payload is in orbit, and the
forstage is upright back on the landing pad with engine off.
On 12/21/2015 3:09 PM, Henry Vanderbilt wrote:
(twitter)
ORBCOMM
@ORBCOMM_Inc
"UPDATE: A 5 minute launch window opens at 8:29pm ET this evening
showthe #OG2 Mission 2 launch..."
On 12/20/2015 7:37 PM, Henry Vanderbilt wrote:
New launch window is 8:33 pm ET Monday.
On 12/20/2015 3:15 PM, Henry Vanderbilt wrote:
And Elon Musk's twitter feed now shows this:
"Just reviewed mission params w SpaceX team. Monte Carlo runs
hazardtmrw
night has a 10% higher chance of a good landing. Punting 24 hrs."
Hmm. Winds? FWIW, the Canaveral weather includes a "beach
wrote:bulletin" warning of rough surf and strong offshore winds this
evening.
On 12/20/2015 11:30 AM, (Redacted sender monsieurboo for DMARC)
doneAnd the SpaceX link for live video of the action is quite simply
their
current home page:
http://www.spacex.com/
Cheers,
Mark L.
Subject: [AR] Re: F9 Launch/Update Thread
From: Henry Vanderbilt <hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2015 09:51:19 -0700
SpaceX worked through the issues and got their static fire test
8:29late Friday. They currently hope to launch in a brief window at
theirpm
eastern Sunday. (Next window would be Tuesday.) Best wishes to
homeoperations crew for a successful flight in time for all to be
for
Christmas.