Posted on 04/08/2015 3:00:10 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
Get ready for another historic SpaceX rocket landing attempt scheduled for Monday, April 13.
This will be the second time that SpaceX will try to land a massive, 140-foot-tall first stage Falcon 9 rocket onto a platform that's floating offshore in the Atlantic ocean. (The first landing attempt took place last January and ended with a fiery explosion.)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches
SpaceX CRS-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_CRS-6
Glad they eventually showed the video of the near miss. Seems they were short of hydrolic fluid and corrected that problem. Close. Perhaps this time
Thanks Jack Hydrazine. Extra to APoD. The next gen engines SpaceX is working on will be methane-fueled, making it possible (mmmmmaybe) to refuel on Mars (where methane is available) and send the rocket back for another trip. The technique of landing on the fins is being developed and practiced on these orbital models, so SpaceX will have this perfected before their really heavy booster is ready.
Elon Musk shares images of the failed Falcon 9 landing
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3247493/posts
How much is it costing us this time for little Elon to play with his toys?
You may wish to read the Wiki listing Mr. Hydrazine thoughtfully placed on an earlier post. It has a launch manifest that has quite a few paying customers other than NASA. What NASA is paying for, it is getting considerably cheaper than if it had launched on Russian rockets or the Delta rockets they had been launching on.
Also, I don’t think SpaceX has taken as much money from NASA for CRS flights as NASA has pissed away on the SLS.
The Feds contracted out with SpaceX to fly their cargo to the ISiS through the Commercial Resupply Services program.
According to this article
http://phys.org/news/2015-04-spacex-resets-crs-space-station.html
“CRS-6 marks the company’s sixth (ed. note: out of 12 missions for SpaceX) operational resupply mission to the ISS under a $1.6 Billion contract with NASA to deliver 20,000 kg (44,000 pounds) of cargo to the station during a dozen Dragon cargo spacecraft flights through 2016 under NASA’s original Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.”
If you include this mission, CRS-6, SpaceX will have lifted 21,358 lbs. to orbit for the Feds.
The cost per pound to lift all 44,000 lbs. for $1.6 billion is $36,363.63/lb. That’s about 3.6 times more than the going rate for commercial of about $10,000/lb. But Elon is only charging commercial customers about $1,500/lb right now. His goal is about $500 or less per pound to lift mass to LEO.
The cost per pound to lift all 44,000 lbs. for $1.6 billion is $36,363.63/lb. That’s about 3.6 times more than the going rate for commercial of about $10,000/lb
...sounds like he's ripping off the people (us) that are loaning him the money to operate. And then he turns around and donates to the same libs that are getting him contracts, while pushing their insane climate change agenda with ‘credibility’ he gets from otherwise intelligent folks who fawn over him. Maybe a little more stylish than most, but sounds like just another arm of a grossly inefficient government to me.
Brevard County, Florida Space ping.Let’s review: A Contract to perform a particular duty, for a particular payment. So far so good. A part of the Commercial aspect of the current program is setting up contracts in such a way that private capabilities are developed. SpaceX is doing just that. For $1.6 billion, NASA has gotten several re-supply flights, and a robust, reliable launch system complete with orbital vehicle.
By contrast, they’ve spent twice+ that on SLS. With nothing to show for it.
Yeah, Musk donates to rats. Guess what? It’s the only game in town. Pay to play. Boeing is a far better player of the Bureaucracy Game than Musk, however. They got a ton of money from NASA as a part of the same program, but.. Look Ma! No hardware! (Yeah, yeah, yeah. They have a cute little capsule. But, it isn’t going to fly all by itself all the way out of the well up to LEO...)
The overarching problem is, as always, Government. Musk has found a way to operate within its strictures and clan system and actually produce something worthy. The man should be applauded for this.
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