Posted on 12/21/2015 5:37:27 PM PST by Trueblackman
The Falcon 9 Rocket cleared the tower at 8:29 EST and the rocket seem on point to deliver its payload into space as the first stage is on point to return for a landing tonight with the landing burn coming up
This company
http://www.tethers.com/
is working on creating a 3D printer that will create a telescope in orbit that will dwarf the Hubble and the future James Web telescopes.
Elon Musk is one cool African-American (he was born in South Africa). ;-)
Ha! A take off from Dewey wins.
did they use a Russian rocket engine??
No. Musk hired a team of rocket scientists and made one of the most efficient RP1/LOX rocket engines. American designed and made.
It’s good to see American companies working on space projects again. Doing what we do best. I had some NASA funding on more than one of my projects in the 90’s. One first generation hypersonic test chamber comes to mind. There are still plenty of American designers that are asking nothing more than to be turned loose. They really don’t care about the finances. They’re hungry, not for food but work. Even at my age, I can see Mars is within sight. There is an old saying teach a man to fish.
Give a man a job.
Here is a 10 second video shot by Elon Musk at from the site of the landed rocket stage (on Twitter):
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/679145544673923072
Nope, they developed their own. Google it, it's fascinating.
*Orange plume all the way up, then a poof and blue plume.*
Saw an Apollo night shot from S. Fl back in the day.
Did the same thing. Orange burst at separation then bright blue on the 2nd stage which lasted a few seconds then turned into a tiny star moving very fast.
Musk tried to buy a Russian rocket early on but they tried to rip him off so he built his own.
On the Apollo Saturn V and Saturn IB rockets, the first stage burned Kerosene - RP1 and Liquid Oxygen (LOX). The Saturn 2nd stages burned Liquid Hydrogen and LOX.
On the Falcon 9, the 1st and 2nd stages both burn Kerosene RP1 and LOX.
The Spacex first stage never got into orbit. It went higher than Blue Origin’s rocket, and is larger, but they are pretty much equivalent. It is the dragon capsule from Spacex that goes into orbit and docks with the space station.
Video of the Falcon 9 1st stage landing taken from a nearby helicopter (video from Youtube).
The Falcon 9 first stage did not go up and, yes, it did not go into orbit, but it did go down range a number of miles before returning. That’s much more difficult that going straight up and down - not equivalent.
Watch when he brings the second stage of Falcon 9 back and the Dragon capsule from LEO. What will you say then?
I’ll say it is an important step forward, especially towards landing on Mars. Am I supposed to love one company and hate the other? They are both making important leaps forward.
Thanks for that graphic. It really shows the difficulty of what they accomplished. Way more difficult than what Bezos did.
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