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SpaceX Developing Orbital Crew Capsule
iamlucky13 writes "Private aerospace firm SpaceX has revealed that it has secretly been working on a crew and cargo vehicle since late 2004. Development of the capsule, named Dragon, has so far been funded by SpaceX and its partners, which includes the Canadian company that built the robotic arm for the International Space Station. Dragon would be launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 and dock at the ISS with assistance of the robotic arm. While SpaceX founder Elon Musk is prepared to complete development of the capsule with his own resources, SpaceX is seeking funding from NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, which makes up to $500 million available through 2010 for private spacecraft development."
... and you get performance at a tiny fraction of their price.
Prof. Farnsworth - "Oh a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!"
"Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is asking NASA to help fund the demonstration of a reusable space capsule the El Segundo, Calif.-based company has been developing in secret with its own funding for the past 18 months."
Their own funding? Some guy from a Tribe Called Quest told me he left his wallet in El Segundo, I think I know what happened to the cash that was in it.
Also, until we see figures on how much they've spent on development themselves, I bet it pales in comparison to what they ask for from NASA. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as any tech they develop enters public domain (I wish).
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
The prototype lacks a reaction control system for maneuvering in space and a heat shield that would prevent it from burning up upon re-entry, Musk said, but could otherwise be launched into space.
LOL, that's brilliant. What does it have?
"As part of a top secret project, we've already built a prototype flight crew capsule, including a thoroughly tested 30-man-day-life-support system, which is sitting on our factory floor right now," Musk told Space News. "It doesn't meet all the NASA requirements, so it will probably not see flight, but it has served as a valuable learning experience."
So nothing. You have a tin can. Brilliant.
Neither Dragon nor its Falcon 9 rocket is ready to roll out to the launch pad. But the Falcon 9 is in development for a 2007 debut..
The Falcon I hasn't even got off the launch pad.
Look, I love SpaceX. Elon Musk is trying to dig a big hole in the middle of the overweight aerospace industry and so far he's doing a good job of it. But this is nothing but vapourware. I hope NASA gives them a big chunk of that funding but frankly, it's a high risk proposition right now.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Kerosene is not the most efficent, in terms of mass, but it is rather efficent in terms of density. It's rather much like jet fuel, so there's already hardware to deal with it.
Hydrogen is more efficent in terms of mass, but it's not very dense, so you need huge tanks to store it. Also, it's cold enough to give you nasty materials problems that you don't get with just LOX.
So usually it makes more sense to use kerosene + LOX on the first stage because you are going to need a lot of fuel and you are going to have to push it through the atmosphere and stuff. Then once you are above the atmosphere and have ejected the first stage, the rest of the stages work better with hydrogen as the fuel.
Gentoo Sucks
Actually, another article said the capsule was originally referred to as "magic dragon," a reference to a certain Peter, Paul, and Mary song you might have heard. So the question is, are the engineers at SpaceX role-playing nerds or stoners?
I suppose cost is one of the big reasons a rocket sled hasn't been tried. A full scale ramp would be a major investment. If the sled is rocket driven, you still deal with burning lots of fuel, although reuse of components could be made simpler. If it's magnetic, you're dealing with developing new technology on a very large scale. I'm not sure if pneumatic or steam systems are even reasonably realistic at the velocities in question. Either way, you need a very long and straight ramp, which means a lot of real estate pointed roughly west-east, and you still have deal with high speeds in the densest portion of the atmosphere. As far as alternatives to vertical ground launches go, dropping from a carrier plane sounds like a better way to go to me...unless we can build a space elevator, that is.
I can tell you that something VERY much cheaper than the complex hunk of junk known as the Space Shutle could have fulfilled all the requirements.
I doubt a much cheaper system would have been able to perform the Space Shuttle's most important requirement, delivering a sufficient number of jobs to key constituent districts.
The government DOES NOT monopolize space. It doesn't own it, for one thing.
Where there is commercial gain in going to space, like satellite TV, corporations make use of it. Where there is no commercial gain in going to space, like manned space flight or blue-sky research, corporations don't do it, and it's left to government agencies to do the stuff which benefits humanity overall but doesn't make any money.
If you want to understand these discussions get a clue about the differences between reality and hollywood sci-fi.
*whoosh!* Grandparent was referring to the KKK.
Challenger's o-ring breach was in the solid rocket booster, which is not cryogenic.
Ejecting at hypersonic speeds is *always* more dangerous than hoping your vehicle doesn't blow up. Your vehicle might not blow up. Unprotected exposure to hypersonic flow is generally contraindicated for humans.
On the other hand, the Shuttle lacks a good supersonic ejection capability. The crew escape mechanism works at subsonic speeds, but at supersonic it's a more risky maneuver. However, the mid-deck seats are *inside* the fuselage. Working a supersonic ejection capability in for mid-deck is probably unfeasible, certainly unfeasible given the plans for the Shuttle.
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(I read with sigs off.)