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SpaceX Successful Static Fire

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the to-infinity-and-beyond dept.

ron_ivi writes "SpaceX's website is announced that they had a " great static fire today" where their Falcon rocket successfully had 3 seconds of thrust. Nice pictures and video of the test; and if analysis shows all was well, they'll be launching Thursday."

4 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Rockets and Explosives by ChicoLance · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Doesn't anybody else think it's odd that the picture of this rocket being fired (very cool, BTW) has a couple of tanks in the foreground. Not sure what's in the tanks (probably fuel), but I'm sure they don't want to be next to an firing rocket if the rocket has an unfortunate explosition.

    It's hard to tell distances in the picture -- there could be a mile separating the two. But having these in the foreground just struck me a little bit odd.

        --Lance

  2. Parent does not appear to be flamebait by Mathinker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Some moderator seems to be on drugs.

  3. In fifty years? Try twenty. by perfessor+multigeek · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Hey, if this story is on the money, in fifty years we may be half way across this spiral arm.

    On a more practical note, with the number of competing vendors and the number of technologies in play, it's not a question of if but of how. Will the laser drives beat the chemical boosters but lose out to the space elevator?

    Unless the dimwits with the guns and bombs manage to foobar our entire world, somebody's getting systems running in the next fifteen years or so. As an old L5 member I say, it's about damn time!

    -Rustin

    --
    Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
  4. Re:Nice, but we did that in the 1950s. by AKAImBatman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The proposed bigger model, the Falcon 9-S5, is comparable to the modern Atlas V.

    With three primary differences:

    1. The 9-S is intended to carry up to 23% more cargo to LEO.
    2. The 9-S will be man-rated with full "engine-out" features.
    3. The 9-S is intended to be somewhat reusable, thus helping keep the costs down.

    These sorts of features are a BIG DEAL in the rocket industry.

    About 2x the price the new guys claim, but then, the Atlas is a proven product.

    Tis' true. That's why we're all holding our breath to see if Musk delivers.

    But the commercial launch market has collapsed. Iridium is done, and nobody wants to launch that many sats again.

    I don't know where you get this idea. There have been healthy numbers of sats going up in recent years to support all kinds of network infratructures. Here's a list of past and planned launches. Looks pretty healthy to me.

    You may be thinking of the slowdown in the market caused by the loss of the Challenger. With the Shuttle out of commission, the market suddenly realized that it had no other way to get to space. Thus the commercial launch business was forced to retool to build rockets like the Delta and Atlas. Russian rockets also became popular, especially after Boeing and Lockheed started buying them up.

    In any case, Musk is aiming for manned space travel. The commercial launches are a side business to help support that goal. He wants to go to Mars.

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade