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SpaceX Is Planning To Launch a Falcon 9 For the Third Time (arstechnica.com)
According to the senior director of government sales for SpaceX, Lars Hoffman, the company is planning to launch a Falcon 9 first-stage booster for the third time. At the Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium on Wednesday afternoon, Hoffman said: "We've launched Falcon 9 over 60 times. We've landed our first stage booster 30 times now. And relaunched 16 times. We're about to relaunch a booster for the third time. So we're turning this into routine access to space. High-reliability, higher-performance, lower-cost access to space; that opens it up to everybody." Ars Technica reports: The company has not officially confirmed its plans, but at present SpaceX intends to reuse a Falcon 9 rocket for the third time to launch a rideshare mission of dozens of small satellites for Spaceflight. This Spaceflight SSO-A mission currently has a launch date of November 19, according to a calendar maintained by Spaceflight Now. An earlier report in The Space Review previously indicated this mission may involve the third flight of a booster.
I'm sure this time it will work!!
I don't really believe that. Since someone was going to say it anyway, I might as well get there first. Elon can smoke as many doobies on video as he wants, he's shown us a path to space that I had given up hope of seeing in my lifetime. So, I'm a fan.
Bruce Perens.
I'm actually liking the fact that SpaceX is delivering a commoditized platform for LEO delivery, they're getting the basics down and delivering. Now if they could just get their landing vids to work at the right moment..
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
I am really sadden to see how wall street has berated Mr. Musk.
Do we have to believe someone is an Angel or Satan, nothing in between?
For instance, just watching thunderf00t videos, it's kinda obvious Hyperloop is an unworkable pipe dream... that doesn't mean all his projects are such.
Headline: "SpaceX Is Planning To Launch a Falcon 9 For the Third Time".
Body: "We've launched Falcon 9 over 60 times."
Me: ??
The headline may be misunderstood as the third Falcon 9 flight ever. The news here is that a specific Falcon 9 booster is going to be reused for the second time, so it will be its third flight. Not to be confused with Falcon Heavy (Simultaneous boosters landing), which has been launched only once in a test flight.
The real challenge for SpaceX is to launch often enough that they can realize the savings of being able to launch the same rocket 100 times and of potentially being able to have 24 hour turnaround time. They've improved slightly, but they're still only averaging about 2 launches a month.
Not sure if the problem is a lack of customers or slowdowns in the process or what. Perhaps when they start launching their own starlink satellites they'll be able to fill in the schedule gaps better.
This space intentionally left blank
We're about to relaunch a booster for the third time.
That would make it the fourth launch of this booster.
If they land it, the booster will need a movie of some sort, maybe something with aliens and people from the past.
It doesn't phone home, it just goes home.
BlameBillCosby.com
I would not recommend that thunderf00t video, it's sloppy and full of assumptions and false comparisons at best.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Yes, it's depressing. Criticism of Musk is fine, but some posters (like the one with a binary nickname) make literally thousands of derogatory posts on Slashdot.
SpaceX has done some incredible things in recent years, and I look forward to seeing more.
Unfortunately, people who invest in Tesla or short it have extremely one-sided viewpoints, which they are highly motivated to post about on Slashdot.
And it's partly a reflection of the times we live in - Republican or Democrat, Trump or Anti-Trump .... pick a team and rabidly defend it.
IOW, it was done in the same fashion that wall Street analysts operate on Tesla/musk.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
How about we separate the man from the companies. Note plural. Tesla != SpaceX in any way other than sharing a bit of management.
Goals, market, ownership - all as different as it gets. Don't let the propganda confuse you, unless you just want to be dumb.
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As to Elon being a fraud, well if that's the case, we need more Elon-type frauds instead of the usual suspects. Not many would put their entire "FU money" winnings on the line to change the world, and fewer yet succeed as well as he has - even if it isn't as good as he said or as on time. Visionaries are just like that. Gheez - show me your accomplishments and what you put at stake to get there. He could have retired and had hot women feed him drinks and cater to his every whim on the beach of his own island, but we got this instead - and you complain?
I'd expect someone that crazy to have the odd flaw. I have a few - but I deserve to get away with them less. How about you?
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
We're about to relaunch a booster for the third time.
That would make it the fourth launch of this booster.
It would, but it's fairly obvious from TFA that it's the third launch (2nd relaunch), and that the writer and editor were unable to convey this simple fact without screwing it up. It would have been easy to clear this up just by showing a list of dates when the launcher was used. But no; that would be too straightforward and informative.
They probably do need to grow the market though, of 27 US launches so far this year the Falcon has had 17. Even if SpaceX steals some Soyuz launches to the ISS through the Commercial Crew program and a few more from Atlas/Delta there's not a lot of growth potential, unless China/Russia/ESA/Japan/India want to give up their own rocket programs.
To grow the market prices have to fall. There are potentially a lot of economically useful things we could launch into orbit that don't make economic sense at a $100 million price tag but do make sense at a $10 million price tag and even more of them at a $1 million price tag. Lowering cost to orbit is the first task required to grow the market because in many cases it overwhelms or at least increases other costs to the point that only mega corporations and nation states can afford to send anything into space currently. Imagine if they had a built a brand new 747 and could only use it once every time you wanted to fly from New York City to London. That's basically where the space industry has been for the last 50 years.
Or understand your principles enough to defend them even if the "side" isn't your preferred choice. Then it becomes easy.
There was a time that the ACLU defended literal nazi's marching in a town with the most holocaust surviving Jews outside of Israel. Now? Democrats have abandoned principles.
As nice as it is to be able to reuse the boosters, you have to wonder how many times can they be reused before the risk of failure rises to the point where you're almost guaranteed to have an explosion? I'm guessing folks willing to risk the reused rockets probably get a discount from it.
I would not recommend that thunderf00t video, it's sloppy and full of assumptions and false comparisons at best.
So what you're saying is that it's a typical thunderf00t video.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
"There was a time that the ACLU defended literal nazi's..."
No, you confuse them with illiterate Nazis.
So, invent something that may be completely impossible first, rather than using and improving the existing technology? Got it.
He needs to get a giant inflatable gorilla out front and a cheap suit.
"Come on down! To crazy Elon's USED rocket emporium for bottom of the barrel prices. (slaps rocket) These bad boys can fly SO MANY TIMES distributing the one-time manufacturing costs (zoom to close up) so you just pay for the fuel (cue trademark smile). So come on down! To crazy Elon's USED rocket emporium. Ask us about financing!"
It's an old joke, but it's as reusable as rockets these days.
" that the writer and editor were unable to convey this simple fact without screwing it up."
It seems they also have, like some, 'the best people'.
SpaceX is doing so poorly that they have to resort to selling flights on used rockets. Sad. /s
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I would not recommend that thunderf00t video, it's sloppy and full of assumptions and false comparisons at best.
So what you're saying is that at its worst it is on par with the best of APK's posts.
Agreed. I don't have much to add.. just being a drop in the bucket to represent (very enthusiastic) support for what he's doing. A lot of people slinging mud at him ought to be ashamed.
Yeah, I am sure that rockets - which fly only every now and then - are the most environment-impacting form of transportation.
Specially compared to cars, of which there are an extremely large quantity in circulation, which altogether total gazillions of kilometers of distance.
Talk aboutt too early optimisation.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
IOW, it was done in the same fashion that wall Street analysts operate on Tesla/musk.
IOW, it was done in the same fashion that Tesla/Musk cocksuckers claim the 21700 battery "double the current"="200% energy".
Hey wait a minute, that was you WindBourne wasn't it?
So exactly like you and your China rants...
Thunderfoot is all mouth no brains.
Hyperloop an impossibility? Why then is it that the ground work for it is already being laid out? While the tunnel systems he is in the process of building right now, are not hyperloop, all the tech and research that is being generated by his tunnel projects can be applied to making it work.
While it would be cool to travel across the US in a vacuum sled at 1500mph, and very unlikely we'll be doing it anytime in the next 10 years, I'll be more than thrilled if I can just go across town at 50mph, without stopping for lights, or getting caught in traffic, or even having to drive.
Everything past that is gravy.
The way they put it in some Russian news outlets was "Due to their poor education system Americans are losing the ability to make rocket engines so they have to resort to using them many times", LOL.
Thanks for that link, must have missed it the first time. Shows Windy linking to currency manipulators article that specifically mentions China isn't one of the manipulators. Totally contradicts his lies about China being a currency manipulator, and we know he read it.
My favorite is the translated quote of Alain Charmeau, CEO of Ariane:
Bruce Perens.